This season is a turning point in college football.
Here are some of the many reasons:
• Expanding the College Football Playoff field from four to 12 teams, including four first-round games played on campus.
• A realignment that rocked the Pac-12 and resulted in 17 schools moving to new conferences. The Power Five is not the Power Four.
• The ever-growing transfer portal and the increasing influence of NIL money.
• The House-NCAA settlement that awards $2.8 billion to former athletes and could allow college athletes to become school employees and bargain collectively.
• The resignation of seven-time national championship coach Nick Saban and its impact on the Southeastern Conference power dynamic.
• The 12-year CFP contract expires after the 2025 season, with the number of playoff teams and other features yet to be determined.
The latter is a very touching point because the future of the 90-year-old Allstate Sugar Bowl is at stake.
The on-campus playoff games could lead college football decision-makers to realize that the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds — which are only scheduled for the New Year’s Six bowl sites through next season — might be better played on campus as well. The consequences for the Sugar Bowl and the rest of the top games would be devastating.
“I don’t think the fate of the free world depends on it, but it’s certainly important for all of us involved in the college football postseason,” said Jeff Hundley, CEO of the Sugar Bowl, whose Jan. 1 game will be a playoff quarterfinal this season. “It’s going to be a learning experience, figuring out what works and what doesn’t, how the schools respond, how the fans respond.”
“We’re a little nervous this year, but that’s a good thing. It’s important that we do our best.”
New CFP CEO Rich Clark agrees.
“Our job right now is to make sure this 12-team playoff is spectacular,” said Clark, who retired as an Air Force lieutenant general and head of the Air Force Academy to replace Bill Hancock in that post. “We want this first year to go smoothly, for people to love it and embrace it, and for it to put college football in a good light.”
“Going forward, it’s about helping commissioners and presidents think through things at the championship level and helping to ensure college football continues to be a sport that America loves.”
Warde Manuel, Michigan State’s athletic director and New Orleans native, is of the same opinion and is chairman of the CFP selection committee.
“There is still a lot of work to be done,” he said. “But we have the opportunity to make progress in college sports.”
“We definitely have a different business model. But now is not the time to wish for the past or just want to stay in the present. The future is here.”
For Hundley and the Sugar Bowl, the key is adapting to a new reality of what was considered the “bowl experience,” diminished by teams’ desire to make the playoffs.
This includes teams arriving in New Orleans three days before the game instead of the usual five and there being fewer outside activities.
More importantly, however, there are more tickets available for in-house ticket sales, as each team’s ticket quota has been reduced from 12,500 to 10,000 due to the additional travel options for fans brought about by the expanded tournament schedule.
So far, the Sugar Bowl has done its part. Hundley said 99% of the tickets the bowl is responsible for selling have been sold, although the exact number is not available.
“In the past, our focus has been on tourism and attracting as many fans as possible, and that’s still the case today,” Hundley said. “We work very hard to make the city interesting while they’re here.”
“But we also need more local support, and we’ve been saying that for a year. The quickest way to screw that up would be not to sell tickets.”
The Sugar Bowl is doing all this not only with an eye toward maintaining its place in the playoff rotation, but also securing the championship game in 2027.
After four BCS title games, New Orleans has hosted only one CFP championship – LSU’s win over Clemson in 2020. Future championship games are expected to face competition from new venues such as Las Vegas (the game is expected to be played in 2026), Nashville, Tennessee, Charlotte, North Carolina and even Cleveland – where the Browns are pursuing a covered stadium.
“We haven’t received any indication that we won’t be in the playoffs in the future,” Hundley said. “But it’s up to us to give them every reason to want us there. That’s why a less than full stadium is not an option.”
Clark is currently in favor of maintaining the status quo.
“Personally, I like the way the format is set up,” he said. “Bowl games have a rich tradition in college football.”
“There’s a lot of excitement about the games on campus, but the quarterfinals and semifinals are logistically more difficult than the first round. We’ll just have to wait and see how these two years go and get through it.”
Another element up for debate is whether to keep the current committee system, although there has been criticism of the lack of transparency as there was no formula to determine the rankings. In BCS times, this was done through a combination of polls and computers.
Manuel says the committee format is necessary.
“We have a tremendous amount of data to work with,” he said. “But then we can condense it, talk about it and even watch film. It’s more than game statistics and scores and who beat who. You have to consider the human factor.”
Manuel’s job this year is to explain the rankings at the release on Tuesday and the final release on December 8th.
“I know the setup and have been in front of the camera before,” he said. “But when you sometimes have five minutes to explain two days of very complex work, it’s not easy.”
“I can assure you that we will show our full focus and responsibility in the vote to determine the 25 best teams.”
