MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) 鈥� While fans trickled into the Orange Bowl stadium for a quarterfinal where tickets were going for as little as $39, the commissioner of the Big 12 said 鈥渆verything is on the table鈥� when it comes to rebooting the College Football Playoff, including potentially moving more games onto campus.
The commissioners to figure out what the playoff will look like next year. Expansion from the current 12-team format and automatic bids have been the two biggest headlines in that discussion, though the idea of keeping more games on campus will factor in.
鈥淲e have to examine that, too,鈥� Brett Yormark said Thursday, about a half-hour before kickoff of the . 鈥淥perationally, can we do it? The first-round games have been fantastic in every respect. I think it’s a differentiator.鈥�
Under the 12-team format, now in its second season, first-round games involving the fifth through 12th seeds have taken place on the campus of the better-seeded team. The rest of the rounds are at traditional bowl sites, with this year’s final coming to Miami Gardens.
Oregon’s 23-0 win over Texas Tech kicked off in front of thousands of empty seats at Hard Rock Stadium. The Ducks traveled 3,200 miles to get to Miami and will next head to Atlanta for the semifinals in the Peach Bowl. If they return to South Florida for the final on Jan. 19, they will travel around 17,500 miles in the span of three weeks.
鈥淭his is a playoff. A playoff in my opinion should’ve been played in Lubbock, Texas,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. 鈥淭here are a lot of people who do playoffs. Playoffs have looked a certain way for a long time. We’re trying to serve two purposes here. The amount of time between games, obviously it’s tough for teams. We experienced it last year.鈥�
Including Oregon’s loss last year (in the Rose Bowl after a bye) and on Thursday, teams with first-round byes in the 12-team playoff fell to 0-6 with two quarterfinals left. Yormark said the sport’s 鈥渃lunky鈥� calendar 鈥� an issue that encompasses long layoffs, the transfer portal and an ever-moving coaching carousel 鈥� is another issue the commissioners will discuss.
There has been a wide gap between the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten visions of what the next iteration of the playoff should look like. The SEC sees a 16-team field filled with at-large bids; the Big Ten has pushed for a field of 16 or more with more automatic qualifiers.
Under terms of the agreement that goes into play next year, the other two Power Four conferences 鈥� Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference 鈥� are presumed to not have decision-making power in what comes next, though Yormark insisted 鈥渨e have a big voice in that room.鈥�
Yormark would not bite on the question when asked whether Group of Five conferences still belong in the tournament. Counting the first-round and this year, those teams have lost by an average score of 41-19 over two seasons.
鈥淓verything鈥檚 on the table and, and hopefully we鈥檒l be very thoughtful about it, and if there鈥檚 change, we鈥檒l announce it in due time,鈥� Yormark said.
Commish says disputed CSC agreement will get signed
Yormark also said problems keeping schools from signing the participation agreement sent out by the new College Sports Commission are being resolved, and he expects the 68 Power Four teams to sign the contract soon.
A number of state attorneys general the agreement the commission sent out in November. Among the issues were that it stripped universities of their right to legal action regarding decisions the CSC makes.
Yormark says the agreement is being reworked in a way that all the schools can sign it so, as he said, 鈥渨e’re all signing up for the same rules of engagement.鈥�
鈥淏ut one person’s opinion is, you don’t need a piece of paper to enforce鈥� the rules, he said.
In a separate earlier this week, Texas Tech head of regents Cody Campbell also said he suspects the agreement will get signed, though he’s not sure it will have any impact.
鈥淚 don’t think it’s going to be that helpful in terms of creating any kind of stability,鈥� said Campbell, who would like to see Congress set up a completely new entity to run college sports. 鈥淎nd it’s going to be challenged in court, already is being challenged in court, and it’s not going to go well for the CSC.鈥�
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