How the College Football Playoff expansion proposal immediately impacts LSU Football

The College Football Playoff announced on Thursday that a proposal has been presented by a sub-group of CFP’s management committee to expand the playoff to 12 games.

“It’s important that we consider the opportunity for more teams and more student-athletes to participate in the playoff,” said members of the four-person working group in a statement. “After reviewing numerous options, we believe this proposal is the best option to increase participation, enhance the regular season and grow the national excitement of college football.”

If a change is made (and it certainly seems inevitable at this point), it won’t happen for at least two years according to College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock.

The news on Thursday will have an immediate impact on LSU football, despite the fact that a change won’t occur to the current format for a couple of years.

Why the College Football Playoff expansion proposal will impact LSU football

The biggest reason that the College Football Playoff is considering expansion is likely because of the lack of parody in college football.

There are very few teams that have a legitimate chance to win a national championship. Group of Five programs have virtually no shot to reach the playoff.

And lower-level Power-5 programs — schools like Wake Forest, Kansas, or Vanderbilt — don’t stand a chance, either. There’s no way one of those programs is going to sneak into the top four of the CFP rankings.

However, it’s certainly possible — albeit unlikely — that Wake Forest could catch fire one season and sneak into the top 12. That’s a possibility that a program like Wake Forest can sell in recruiting starting today.

And if that’s what Wake Forest is selling, then LSU will certainly be selling an annual College Football Playoff appearance.

Look, outside of Alabama and Clemson (and maybe Oklahoma), there aren’t any programs that can legitimately tell recruits “we’re going to be in the playoff every year no matter what”.

But LSU can tell recruits they’re going to be a top 12 team on a yearly basis. And that’s something they can immediately start selling on the recruiting trail.

If a player is on the fence about committing to Alabama or LSU, the fact that Bama is in the playoff every year could be what seals the deal for the Crimson Tide.

But with an expanded playoff, that annual top four ranking suddenly isn’t quite as important. The players that LSU is recruiting right now won’t be on campus until 2022 at the earliest. So this is a piece of news that directly impacts the players that Ed Orgeron and his staff are talking to on a daily basis.

Knowing Coach O as we all do, I bet he’s already mentioned the expansion proposal to the recruits he’s talked with today.

Recruiting never stops. And neither does Coach O.