"Anything can happen": Clemson HC Dabo Swinney expresses excitement for 12-team CFB playoff format
After featuring four teams for the last ten years, the college football playoffs will expand to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
The expanded format has been critiqued and praised. Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney is in the latter category.
Swinney went on College Sports Radio on Friday to express his thoughts on the expanded format.
You get in the playoffs, anything can happen. We're excited about the opportunity,” he said.
Under Swinney, the Clemson Tigers made it to the four-team college football playoffs for six consecutive seasons between 2015-2022. Clemson made it to the national championship game four times during this period and won twice.
The Tigers have made it to the college football playoffs seven times, the second-highest appearances behind the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Under the new 12-team format, the four teams to win the ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 will have an automatic spot in the playoffs, They will also receive a bye into the second round.
Then, seeds 5-12 will be given at large bids to seven programs. These seeds will not be bound to any conference and will be given to the eight best teams that did not win their conference.
Swinney believes this format should guarantee the Tigers a spot in the college football playoffs:
We’ve proven we can do it with four, so we definitely feel like that with 12 or 16 or wherever it’s going to end up that we’re a playoff-caliber team
However, this format has been criticized by some. They feel that this will only strengthen the gap between the powerful teams and conferences and those in smaller conferences. It may give strong teams like the Tigers a guaranteed spot in the playoffs, even if they come third in their conference.
A further expansion? Dabo Swinney is still excited
But the 12-team college football playoff, debuts this year, will not be here for long.
It is already rumored that the college football playoffs will be expanding again in a couple of years.
This could be a 14-team or even 16-team playoff.
As with the 12-team playoff, Dabo Swinney sees a further expanded playoff as something to be excited about:
"We're going to 12 for a cup of coffee and then we're going somewhere else, so it'll be fun."
Whatever the playoff committee and the conferences decide, college football playoffs will not just be accessible to the four best teams.
They will be getting bigger, maybe leading to a 12-seeded team with eight wins for the season, winning the national championship one day.
Do you think that expanding the college football playoffs will make them more exciting?