Every college football fan has an opinion on how the College Football Playoff should work. Some say it should be all about conference champions. Others say it needs to be the “best” teams, even if that means multiple squads from the same conference. But if you ask Rece Davis? He says there’s no such thing as a “right” answer at all.
The longtime College GameDay host didn’t hold back during a recent episode of the College GameDay podcast, offering a brutally honest take on the ongoing CFP expansion talks.
“No matter how many good intentions there are, and no matter how many hours they spend in committee, and no matter how many studies they do and data points they analyze, they’re not going to get it right,” Davis said. “Because they can’t. There’s no such thing as right.”
For context, the College Football Playoff just switched to a 12-team format, but the noise around expanding even further—to 14 or 16 teams—is only getting louder. Some coaches and fans think that’ll finally fix the system. Rece Davis clearly doesn’t.
The CFP Might Never Get It Right—and That’s the Point
Davis pointed out what many fans already feel deep down: no matter how big the playoff gets, somebody’s always going to feel left out. Even with a 16-team bracket, there’s always a 17th team that thinks it got robbed.
That argument was on full display in 2023, when undefeated Florida State was left out of the four-team playoff. And guess what? That kind of controversy isn’t going away. Whether it’s the 5th team, the 13th team, or the 17th team, the debate is always going to be there. It was on display last season with Alabama fans who felt they were deserving, even if they weren't.
To try and create a better system, Davis pitched a new approach—one that combines data with a touch of subjectivity. His idea? Take a set number of conference champions, and then use a weighted formula (similar to the old BCS days) that factors in computer rankings, strength of schedule, and human committee evaluations.
It’s not a magic bullet. But at least it’s something that tries to remove some of the randomness fans have come to expect from the CFP committee.