SEC Spring Meetings are underway in Destin, and there has been quite a coordinated effort from the conference to try and bolster its position within the college football world. Between rumors of guaranteed playoff slots, Alabama whining about losing to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, and Lane Kiffin wanting a 16-team playoff, the SEC isn't out to make friends across the country.
This brings us to Florida's AD Scott Stricklin chiming in with a quote that is posturing for the good of Florida and the SEC but isn't beneficial for the sport as a whole.
Florida Gators' AD Scott Stricklin doesn't like committees
Stricklin gave a quote at the SEC Spring Meetings that has drawn the ire of the rest of the college football world:
"A committee is not ideal to choose a postseason…I question whether it is appropriate for college football."
He would later go on to say:
"So I think anything we can do to make the postseason more objective and less subjective is going to be better. Whether you could do that some other way than automatics? I don't know, but I think that's the goal."
It's no secret what he is posturing for here. The SEC has been lobbying for automatic bids into the College Football Playoff, and the SEC has floated some ideas that include a mini-playoff to earn those bids.
And at the end of the day, Stricklin's job is to lobby for what is best for the Florida Gators.
However, there is a risk that Stricklin and the rest of the SEC are taking on by pursuing this zeal for even further expanded playoffs and guaranteed slots.
Part of what makes college football special is that there are only 12 games in the regular season, and every Saturday feels like must-see TV. A move to guaranteed slots introduces the possibility of a good chunk of Saturdays not mattering.
This is college, not the NFL
The NFL moved to 17 games and added a 7th team from each conference into the playoffs.
The end result was a good chunk of teams twiddling their thumbs to close out the regular season.
Likewise, the NBA and NHL let half their league into the playoffs, and then people wonder why the regular season of 82 games feels like a drag at times.
Some of the backlash of the 12-team playoff not feeling special was a bit overblown. While some losses didn't sting as much for fan bases, some games held extra meaning due to the 12-team playoff.
Florida's win over Ole Miss, for example, felt special because the Rebels were eliminated from the playoffs.
But if we continue to expand to 16 teams, who is to say the powers that be won't eventually move to the 24-team model used by the FCS?
Would the Florida Gators as a football team benefit from a move to expanded playoffs with guaranteed slots?
Sure.
Would Florida Gator fans benefit from expanded playoffs?
Well, let's phrase it this way:
You know how at graduation the student with the 4.0 GPA and the student who skipped class 100 times, vaped in the bathroom, and got into fights at lunch both wind up with the same piece of paper after they walk across the stage?
Do you want making the playoffs to feel like an accomplishment, or do you want it to feel like a participation trophy?