On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff committee released the first rankings of the season. This week, they ranked Michigan at #5 which caused me to question the system. Why does the committee always seem to mess it up, and why are there only four playoff spots?

The playoff bracket for college football has broken the hearts of fans across the country ever since its creation in 2014. With the playoff decided by a committee, there are bound to be upset fans especially because there are so few spots up for grabs. For example, this week, Clemson snuck into the #4 spot ahead of Michigan which upset many college football fans. Both teams are undefeated, but they haven’t played each other or any similar opponents. Therefore, there is no good way of determining which team is better other than by using the human element, otherwise known as personal opinion.

There has never been an instance in sports where everyone agrees on an opinion, and there never will be. For this reason, the College Football Playoff should look towards using some form of an equation to decide the top four teams. The committee could use something similar to the MPR equation used for high school by taking into account the team’s record and the team’s opponents’ records. This equation could be used in addition to the committee members’ ethics in order to make all of the decisions more fair and unbiased.

Another big problem about the College Football Playoff is the size of the bracket. Four teams are not enough to encapsulate all of the great teams that college football has to offer. This year, there are multiple teams that I think could make a run at the championship, but only four will have the opportunity to do so. It also prevents the cinderella stories as we see in March Madness that even non-sports fans love. Not only are there fewer spots for cinderella teams to make the playoffs, but it is also almost impossible for a team outside of the power 5 to make it into the playoff. Cincinnati somehow pulled it off last year but didn’t stand a chance against the #1 ranked team from Alabama.

Thankfully, the College Football Playoff has listened to the criticism they have received over the past few years and will finally expand to a 12-team bracket no later than 2026. This will hopefully provide more teams with the opportunity to win the national championship even if they have multiple regular season losses, are not in a power 5 conference, or even a team without a conference. Although the committee is still around, the change to the bracket format is a huge win for college football fans across the country as now their teams finally have a chance of playing for a national title.