Sports

College Football Playoff Unlikely to Expand Beyond 4 Teams, Says Condi Rice

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The College Football Playoff (CFP) is a huge success in its first year and the committee does not seem to want to change anything, especially the amount of teams.

According to ESPN, committee member Condoleezza Rice spoke on her experience with the inaugural CFP at the Stanford Graduate School of Business Sports Innovation Conference.

"[It was] one of the best committees I've ever served on," Rice said in what was the first time she talked about her personal CFP experience since the season ended.

"I feel pretty strongly about four now because I thought that the rivalry weekend - that Saturday after Thanksgiving - almost felt like a play-in game," Rice said. "Now the Iron Bowl, Alabama has to beat Auburn. You could imagine the circumstances in another year where the Civil War, Oregon really has to beat Oregon State. There are questions whether they will.

"I agree that if it got much larger, I don't think you would have that momentum coming out of the regular season, so it's the best possible scenario."

In addition to serving as U.S. Secretary of State in the George W. Bush Administration, Rice is also the former provost at Stanford University, where she currently teaches classes. Underneath all the titles, Rice is a Birmingham, Ala. native and a lifelong college football fan.

With just four teams allowed in the CFP, at least one Power 5 conference has to be left out and last season it was the Big 12. While adding two more teams to the CFP could be more inclusive, it may wind up subtracting from the experience overall.

"I think we're all lamenting regular-season college basketball not being more popular right now, at a time when March Madness has never been more popular," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said at the conference. "To me, that's a great example of the field being so big that the regular season doesn't matter anymore.

"There's something about that drama, that tension that makes it very special and keeps a lot of value in the regular season, which is good for all of our schools."

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