Nick Saban Has This One Issue With College Football Playoff Expansion

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“I think the playoff, as I said many years ago when we had just two teams in the playoff and expanded to four, that the more playoffs we have the less significant bowl games are going to be,” Saban said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “It’s really not for me, and I don’t even think I’m capable of judging how significant the positive self-gratification that players, programs, and coaches get from being able to go to a bowl game. Now, everything has shifted to the four teams in the playoffs, and the bowls seem to be pretty insignificant. I think if we expand the playoff, you’re going to see a continuation of that trend where the bowl games become less and less significant. Maybe these things can’t coexist. If they’re going to coexist, maybe we should try to leave them pretty much the same.”

“I know there is a lot of interest in the playoff, but the other thing I would be concerned with is how many games do we need to play?” Saban said. “The SEC Championship Game, if you look at it, most of the years we played in those games were playoff games. We were playing somebody in the top five. It had an impact on who got in the playoff or championship game. So, you’re going to eliminate that so you can have more playoff games? Are we going to play less games in the regular season so we can have more playoff games? I think there’s only so many games in these guys. They’re student-athletes. They’re not just football players. I think some of that has to be taken into consideration as well.”

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