Another College Football Playoff proposal has been made, once again expanding the championship tournament to 14 or 16 teams.
This proposal could be good for Tennessee, opening the door for the Vols to make the Playoff with another ten-win season, but would ultimately be bad for college football.
Yahoo Sports' Senior College Football Reporter Ross Dellenger reported in February that the Big Ten and SEC have been gaining support for a potential expansion in the College Football Playoff.
This would expand the Playoff to 14 or 16 teams and guarantee a spot in the tournament for the top four teams in each conference, regardless of record.
Dellenger followed up on this report, saying, "The four power conference commissioners held an in-person meeting in New York on Thursday to discuss several issues, including a future playoff format. Big Ten and SEC—they control the future format—continue to favor multiple AQs (automatic qualifiers) for their conferences."
This seemed inevitable once the Big Ten and SEC gained leverage over the College Football Playoff committee and entered format negotiations. Automatic qualifiers secure a certain number of spots for the two biggest conferences, guaranteeing a significant payout every year.
While automatic qualifiers are good for the SEC and will likely benefit Tennessee, they are not good for the sport as a whole.
Not only would another expansion with AQ tie-ins dilute the College Football Playoff, but it would also continue to dilute the regular season and Bowl season.
The Cinderella runs we see in college basketball might happen once or twice every decade, but playoff expansion has and will continue to be a flawed format that props up the Alabamas, Georgias, and Ohio States of college football.
While Playoff expansion could benefit Tennessee by making it a consistent CFP team and eventual national title contender, never-ending expansion and automatic qualifying bids for certain conferences will never be the answer to improving college football.