Talk over the last month has focused on changes to the College Football Playoff. Most of the focus has been on changing what teams might get what seeds, though there has also been some mention of expanding the field. Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule is very much in favor of that.
In fact, Rhule favors expanding it even further than most people would think.
Matt Rhule just gave a wild answer on College Football Playoff expansion
“The more spots the better, man. Make that thing 40 and let’s go,” Rhule recently told On3.
Rhule doesn’t believe there should be 40 teams in the playoffs. However, he does believe there is currently some lack of consistency in how a team makes it into the playoffs and how it doesn’t. Specifically, the Big Ten has nine conference games per team, and the SEC only has eight.
It’s not the first time he’s brought up the issue. Rhule has talked openly about how Nebraska might have a more manageable non-conference schedule in the coming years, precisely because they play an “extra” conference game while the SEC is scheduling FCS cupcakes.
“I think that puts you at an automatic disadvantage,” he added in his discussion with HuskerOnline.
Rhule also believes that while he may not actually believe 40 is the magic number, more teams should make it in. He believes in a “prove it on the field” playoff format. And he once again talked about thinking the Big Ten should get four auto-bids.
“So the more spots, the better,” Rhule added. “We’re playing in a really, really tough league. We’re playing really, really good teams. And you know what? If you play in this league, you deserve a chance to get to the postseason and see what you can do.”
The Nebraska football coach has an interesting way of bringing these topics to light. But he also knows that when he speaks, people will listen. His comments about wanting 40 teams are more about pointing out that it doesn’t work to have different conferences doing it differently. But he’d also take 40 teams getting in if one of them was the Cornhuskers.