Following their huge win against Oregon last week, the Washington State Cougars and head coach Mike Leach enter this weekend’s action at 6-1 on the season ranked ranked 14th nationally.
They are the last bastion of hope for the Pac 12 when it comes to a potential College Football Playoff spot. Set to take on No. 24-ranked Stanford this coming weekend, Leach and Co. want to continue this recent run of success.
No matter how they finish this season, the Cougars remain a long shot to earn one of the four CFP spots. Everything would have to work out in their favor. And that’s apparently not sitting well with the always-boisterous Leach.
In a recent appearance on The Players’ Tribune Les is More podcast with former college coach Les Miles, Leach sounded off on the current four-team playoff structure.
“They need an expanded playoff system, minimum 16 teams.” Leach said. “I haven’t quite figured out how everybody from rec league softball on down can figure out how to put together a tournament and Divsion 1 can’t.”
In one way, Leach is 100 percent correct here. What happens if Washington State finishes 12-1 and earns the Pac 12 Conference Championship title only to finish No. 5 overall?
On the other hand, expanding the current CFP to more than four teams would require a major adjustment when it comes to regular-season schedules around the nation. The NCAA can’t ask players to suit up for 16-plus games like we see in the NFL.
Also important to note, expanding the CFP to 16 teams wouldn’t change the drama we see come selection time. No one can objectively say that the first or second team out wouldn’t have a gripe.
At the very least, the NCAA has turned the page from its previously inept system to provide some sense of a tournament. That bodes well moving froward, even if Leach himself isn’t happy.