No matter where Clemson football fans fall on the spectrum, it does seem that we will have expanded CFB Playoff at some point in the future.
The Clemson football program has been one of the most successful during the CFB Playoff era.
Since the inception of the CFB Playoff, the Tigers have made five appearances in the playoff’s six-season history. The only program with that many? The Alabama Crimson Tide, who also have five appearances.
The Clemson football program has the longest streak of playoff appearances in the country (5-straight) and the Tigers have two CFB Playoff National Titles- which is also tied with Alabama for the most.
Despite the success from the Clemson football program in the four-team field, it does seem almost inevitable that the playoff will expand at some point in the future.
The Athletic’s Brett McMurphy conducted an anonymous survey of college athletic directors across the country in regards to potential CFB Playoff expansion.
The result? 88 percent of those who responded said they are in favor of expanding the playoff system. 72 percent of the athletic directors believe that an eight-team playoff would suffice in terms of the next system.
Another interesting bullet from the survey: More than half of the athletic directors said they would be in favor of playing the quarterfinal round of an eight-team field at the higher-seeded team’s home venue.
While the athletic directors play just a single part in the system of College Football, their role can’t be understated. If nearly 8-in-10 athletic directors are in favor of expanding the playoffs and potentially moving to a shorter regular season or getting rid of the conference title game, it seems almost inevitable that the expansion would be made at some point in the future.
It would certainly be inconvenient for Clemson to have a play another game in the playoffs to get to the National Championship, but that would at least give the Tigers a clear path to the postseason each year without the fear of media bias towards their conference leaving them out.