Are The Proposed Changes To The College Football Playoff Good For Nebraska?

On this week's bonus episode for I-80 Club subscribers, Jack Mitchell and Josh Peterson broke down the potential College Football Playoff formats coming to the sport and tried to figure out what it would mean for Nebraska, as well as their overall enjoyment of college football. Is the sport moving in a positive direction? Is the 5-11 model better than the 4-4-2-2-1-3 model? Will any of this matter when the season arrives and games are being played?

Below is a lightly-edited transcript of their conversation.

Josh: I find myself not despising the [4-4-2-2-1-3] plan as much as I did a few weeks ago.

Jack: Now that I took the time to talk to you , and hear and understand all of the arguments, I definitely don't despise it. The principle of hating the quotas, that's that was my take for a year on this. And I still have problems with it. And the bigger question about this podcast, Josh, how worried are you? In the end, I think we're splitting hairs, because the season's still gonna be pretty good, right?

To the extent that there are flaws with the plan, it's not gonna be enough to make me be like, “you know, I'm kinda out on this sport. I really don't enjoy it the way I used to.” It's not gonna be close to that. I think that was kinda the plan for this episode. We really didn't do it in kinda the bigger picture stuff, but until it's got a way bigger impact on how the season feels as a consumer of it, I'm not that worried about it, to be honest.

Josh: Honestly, Jack, we talk a lot about our jobs and like what you do and what I do on the show. This is one of those times where I'm like, man, I kind of like the idea of “ignorance is bliss” and not knowing about all the machinations. I know about all the damn machinations with this whole story. And I can give you two hours on “here's the arguments, here's what's being laid out, here's what's being proposed.” I can give you all of it. And you're like, “so what's going on?” Like, I'm jealous of you in that way.

Jack: I'm tired of that news. I am tired of college football news that feels like work; that feels like politics, right? That I'm tired of. And what does that include? All this stuff, reform of NIL, all of that, money for stadiums, all of that. It makes it feel like politics and I cover politics daily for my job and you know how I feel about it. I can't do a damn thing to change any of this for the most part. And so, I am not going to stress myself about it. And I wish I could get away from it and just take the negativity out of my life.

That's how I feel about a bunch of these college football topics. I'm not gonna change them. My opinion, if they suck, isn't gonna do a whole lot. It's gonna go where it's gonna go. And so, I would like to just be blissfully ignorant of it. Enjoy the season. I guess if the politics start to affect my life, I can't make a living anymore. I guess if the college football season sucks when I watch it, then I'm gonna start to be interested, but I'm not there yet.

Josh: Or Jack, if it comes from Nebraska in a negative way. If the changes come from Nebraska in a negative way. And thankfully, if there's one silver lining of the last few years in Nebraska being [crappy], it hasn't affected the sports intake of them. If something happened that resulted in Nebraska not having an opportunity at something; not their own failure or their own doing, then we're having a different discussion right now.

Jack: Right. And the same way with politics. there was a law that changed, let's say, and my federal tax return all of a sudden means that I'm paying in $5,000 this year where I was getting $5,000 last year and that law changed it. Now all of a sudden, I'm really f’ing interested in what they're doing, right? But until that happens, it's kind of hard to be, you know?

Josh: Yeah. [Subscriber] Matt says, “I'm willing to think, discuss, and argue, but not burn bridges over it or stop watching over it. I suppose the changes could eventually be so bad that I don't like the sport but unlimited transfers are much closer to doing that than the playoff format.”

Jack: Yeah, but when you watch the season are you're be like, “oh no, too many transfers!” Give me the brands. Why do we love college football? We love it because of the entirety of the country being involved. We love it because of the very specific cultures in different locations, right? The helmets, the memories, all of those things.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas players take the field for warm up at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. — Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas players take the field for warm up at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, September 7, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Josh: The atmospheres, the stadiums.

Jack: There's gotta be upsets.

Josh: It’s not the best version of football and yet I love nothing more than a Saturday afternoon and evening and morning and whatever hour of the day.

Jack: And one of the big things I'd be afraid it would be taken away is the possibility of just like interesting games and the potential of upsets and those sorts of things. And when that happens, I'm concerned. But, you know, I think they've done a sort of a good job of making that still pretty relevant with this plan. And again, the upside on it, as a Nebraska fan, I'm way more interested at when they're 4-2 going into the game against whatever Ohio State, then I would have been before. Because like, wow, “they win this and things could get weird.”

Josh: Well, Jack, I did a little figuring on the math earlier in the offseason, and I know people hate when I do this, but if Nebraska would have beaten Illinois and beat Iowa last year in this format that we've been proposing this entire podcast was in existence, Nebraska would have been in a tiebreaker for that sixth spot. And so, I know that it seems throughout the entire time that we've been doing this pod that Nebraska is so far away, but dude, they are that close. And when we unveil the Groin Kick Chronicles, you will see how close they have been as they lost to Illinois and Iowa among many, many, many, many, others since 2014.

Watch the clip below!

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