Prepare to say goodbye to college football as you know it. OK, maybe that’s a little extreme. But, the 2023 college football season will be the last before sweeping changes in conference alignment and postseason structure.
The four-team College Football Playoff will give way to 12 teams in 2024, at which time Oklahoma and Texas will be in the SEC and Southern Cal and UCLA will be in the Big Ten.
As two conferences strengthened, others scrambled the deck.
What do those changes mean for college football, on the whole?
On this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, host Blake Toppmeyer and guest co-host Gentry Estes debate whether these evolutions are good, bad or otherwise.
They give the 12-team playoff a thumbs up. More conferences will be represented, which is good for the sport, and the Group of Five will gain guaranteed access. The SEC also stands to benefit. Not only will it amass several bids in some seasons, it’s also going to become increasingly likely that at least two SEC teams occupy semifinal spots.
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Estes, though, suggests that a 16-team playoff would be even better: One automatic bid for each conference champion, with the remaining spots filled by at-large selection.
As for conference realignment, Estes is no fan of this round of shuffling, or past realignments. Toppmeyer, though, takes up for the SEC’s expansion. Not only did it bolster the SEC, it restored some lively rivalries, like Texas-Texas A&M and Arkansas-Texas. In contrast, rivalries were lost in the sweeping realignment that occurred in the 2010s.
Toppmeyer worries, though, whether the SEC and Big Ten’s successful raids will make college football less compelling in the Big 12 and Pac-12.
Later in the episode
– Jimbo Fisher’s latest overanalyzed press conference moment, in which he tried to land a playful jab at the Houston Chronicle and Sports Illustrated, was way overblown. The fact that this registered on the sports ticker at all shows how scrutinized Fisher and his Texas A&M Aggies are going to be this season.
– Georgia exits the spring with some apparent answers at quarterback. Carson Beck generated positive buzz throughout spring practice, and he backed it up in Saturday’s spring game. Brock Vandagriff also played well, but if he’s headed for the backup role, he’ll face the decision of whether to eye the transfer portal. Meanwhile, questions persist over Alabama’s quarterback competition. Toppmeyer explains why he doesn’t believe a late transfer will be the answer in Tuscaloosa.
– Estes stumps for a surprise dark horse in the SEC East.
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Gentry Estes is the columnist for the Tennessean. You can subscribe to their podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
A multi-lingual talent head, Allen is fluent in languages such as Spanish, Russian, Italian, and many more. He has a special curiosity for the events and stories revolving in and around US and caters an uncompromising form of journalistic standard for the audiences.