Kirk Herbstreit on 4-team playoff: ‘Makes the regular season really matter’

By Michael Collins | Nov 19, 2015

Kirk Herbstreit has become one of the prominent voices on college football, and the ESPN analyst says that although playoff expansion may eventually happen, he likes the current format for a number of reasons.

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When you talk about the college football playoff, one thing almost always becomes a point of debate – when will we have more teams than just four?

I had the opportunity to chat with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, and ask him his feelings on playoff expansion as well as some other issues in the game and involving this season. When asked about whether or not four teams was enough, Herbstreit said he likes it the way it is now.

“I like the four teams, I like the arguments,” Herbstreit told me. “I think it’s fun, and I think it’s healthy to have these debates. It makes the regular season really matter. Every week, every game, people are on the edge of their seat because they know what’s at stake.

“I think it makes sense to eventually get there [to more teams], but in the meantime I’m really enjoying having it at four. Here we are with just three weeks to go, and I could make a legitimate argument for the top ten teams to get in if they win out.”

But what does it take to be tapped as one of those four playoff teams by the committee? Besides winning your games and looking impressive in the course of doing it, there are also conference championships to consider. I asked Herbstreit if he thought winning your conference needed to be a prerequisite to getting in.

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“If everything is equal, and you’re trying to split hairs, it can be used as a tiebreaker. That’s what happened to TCU and Baylor last year. Because there wasn’t one true [Big 12] champion, that ended up hurting them in a tiebreaker scenario.

“But I don’t think it’s a healthy thing to say teams have to win a [conference] championship. I’m more into let’s get the top four teams in the country in the playoffs, and if one year it just so happens there are two teams from one conference that are deserving of being in the top four, then so be it. I’m okay with that.”

Herbstreit, along with partner Allstate, has a fun #StreitCred Twitter campaign going on each week to bring attention to outstanding teams and performances regardless of their ranking, and with that I asked him who his dark horse teams to make the playoffs were this season.

“Michigan State and Florida,” he said without hesitation. “It has to do with opportunity in who they both have left to play.”

Kirk Herbstreit’s StreitCred 2015 campaign

But there’s more going on than just the playoffs right now, with a number of attractive job openings from resigning or fired coaches. Many times these big programs can be intimidating for a first time head coach, but Herbstreit thinks that one program in particular would be a great fit for a fresh face who hasn’t had the opportunity yet.

“USC,” he said emphatically. “The reason I say that is, they’ve got great facilities and you’ve got unbelievable high school talent. If you’re a go-getter and you know what it takes – you’ve been around great programs, you’ve been around great teams and you’ve been around great coaches, you bring their blueprint.

“Look at Tom Herman at Houston. He’d never been a head coach. He took Urban Meyer’s blueprint to Houston and they don’t even know what hit them. They just keep winning games.”

Since he brought up Houston, I asked Kirk if he felt like the Cougars had a shot at making the playoffs this season if they were able to win out and go undefeated.

“They’ll make the New Year’s Six, but I don’t think they’ll end up making it in the top four, ” the former Ohio State quarterback said. “If you just look at the rankings right now, Iowa is undefeated and they’re up there at number five at 10-0, and Houston’s undefeated at 10-0 and they’re number nineteen. What’s the biggest difference between Houston and Iowa?

“You can make an argument that Houston is more impressive. I mean, they score 43 points a game, and they only give up 20 a game. Why is Houston all the way down where they are and Iowa is up so far? Is it because Iowa is in the Big Ten? I don’t necessarily think that’s fair.”

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What is fair is the Allstate “It’s Good Sweepstakes,” which will award one lucky winner and three friends with a trip to New Orleans for the 2016 Allstate^® Sugar Bowl^® before traveling to Phoenix for the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship. The winner will receive $100,000 and a meet and greet with Herbstreit as part of the grand prize package. Fans can enter the sweepstakes at AllstateCFB.com.