On Tue. Oct. 30, the College Football Playoff Committee released the four teams that will have a shot at playing for a National Title. Those teams are: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma, respectively. Multiple top tier playoff caliber teams were once again left out of contention. Nearly every year of the playoff era, there’s been at least one team left out.

A direct solution to this would be to expand the playoff to eight teams. This way, there would be no controversy over a top team not getting in.

This year, Ohio State had the second ranked offense in the country in terms of points to go along with a Heisman finalist in quarterback Dwayne Haskins who had one of, if not the most prolific seasons in the history of the Big 10 Conference, and a boatload of talent across the board.

Not only did this Ohio State team not get in, but an 11-2 SEC runner-up Georgia team who played tough games against top seeded Alabama, tenth ranked Florida, and a tough loss to eleventh ranked LSU did not get in. Georgia won two of the three losing to only Alabama.

In previous years, teams like Texas Christian University (TCU) in 2014 and Big 10 Champions Penn State in 2016 have been snubbed from the playoff, and a shot at a national title.

In an eight team format, each of the power five conference champions (Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12, ACC and SEC) would automatically get a bid into the playoff. The next three spots would be given to the best team from the Group of Five (GO5) conferences, so smaller schools can be given credit and equal rights, and the next two spots would be given to the two best teams remaining. If there is no team from the GO5 deserving of making the playoff, there won’t be one put into the playoff.

This would not only make fans happier and be more fair, it would also generate millions of more dollars for the NCAA, the universities, and the television companies. It’s a win win.

It just doesn’t make sense to me how there could be five power conferences, but only four spots. Why does winning your respective conference (which is very hard to do) not automatically punch you a ticket to the playoff?

In the lower level of Division I, the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), there is a five game playoff system, totalling 16 games in a season. If FCS could do this, why would it be such a task for the higher level to also?

Now, one could make the argument that players have a higher risk of injury playing 16 games in a season. But that doesn’t make any sense. It’s football. It’s what they signed up for. There’s gonna be contact and there’s gonna be hitting.

The time for change is now. Why wait? Why risk jeopardizing the chance of top teams winning championships. Would it really be that hard to do?