Urban Meyer: New College Football Playoff model creates ‘panic’ for two-loss, three-loss teams
The first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night, and with them a whole wave of new concerns for several coaches whose teams are on the brink of contention.
FOX analyst Urban Meyer , a former coach at a couple blueblood programs, weighed in on the issue they'll face.
"I think once a team gets knocked officially out of the playoff, especially if you're a blueblood team — I'm looking at A&M Penn State ," Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. "I'd put there. I'd put Ole Miss with high expectations. You lose that third game, there's some conversations going on in that locker room that aren't comfortable."
In the age of NIL and the transfer portal , a move to greener pastures is always just around the corner.
College coaches might soon have to contend with the fact that once their team is out of playoff contention, reality will set in as players begin to ponder their next move.
"Reality is I've been there. Not in this format, but right now why do players play?" Meyer said. "And there was a time years ago you played because you're supposed to play. You go play in the Rose Bowl, you go play in the Fiesta Bowl. Some teams you're just excited to go play in a good bowl like the Outback Bowl. But times changed right now."
The allure of playing in a bowl game isn't quite as strong when players are already raking in NIL deals. A bowl gift suite used to be a serious prize, a light at the end of the tunnel. Now it's just more of the same.
Making the playoffs, though, that's a prize worth staying up for.
On the flip side, there will be pressures to move once a team is realistically eliminated from playoff contention.
"There's going to be some agents, which I just wish they weren't in the locker rooms in college, but they're going to be having conversations with their player and with their coach saying, 'Why isn't he getting more touches? I'm going to move onto the NFL. I'm going to maybe transfer,'" Meyer said. "That's when it gets nasty, uncomfortable and there's... you can say panic or patience.
"There's a lot of panic on those two-loss teams right now that are real good programs."
Meyer wondered out loud where the cutoff line might be for teams on the verge of playoff contention.
"I wonder if we're going to find out that three's that magic number with a blueblood," he said. "When you get three losses, unless you're in the hunt for the (conference) championship you're out."
