Why Mississippi State should support 30-team playoff expansion

Playoff expansion was a popular topic this week at SEC Media Days and it reached its peak Thursday when Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke.

While talking about playoff expansion and whether or not the SEC should add another conference game, he suggested the College Football Playoff should expand to 30 teams.

“Now you’re talking about an opportunity for 30 teams, 30 fanbases to be excited and engaged,” he said. “You’ve got 30 teams with players who have access to compete for a championship.”

Drinkwitz’s proposal drew the range of actions you can expect from college football fans. But if any other team or coach should come out in support of expanding the playoff to 30 teams it should be Mississippi State.

For the Alabama, Georgia and Ohio States of the world, expanding to 30 teams doesn’t help much. They’re usually in the playoff or just outside of it. Sure, an expansion that large would help make sure they never miss the playoffs, but it’s not necessary.

But for teams like Mississippi State – who has never made the playoff and only had one season it came close to making the playoff – the chances of making the playoffs increase dramatically.

Bulldogs’ second-year coach Jeff Lebby wasn’t asked directly about playoff expansion. But he was asked about the possibility of the SEC adding a ninth conference game, which is a decision that will largely be made based on the next iteration of the playoff.

“I think for us from a scheduling standpoint, it is, at the end of the day, it's going to be what's best for the league,” Lebby said on Wednesday at SEC Media Days. “I think all of us as coaches have our own opinions, but the conference at the end of the day is going to do exactly what we need to do to continue strengthening our position. That to me is exactly what it's going to look like.”

Playoff expansion is coming, even if ESPN’s Dan Wetzel makes a compelling argument that expansion isn’t necessary or should at least be slowed down. Nobody really knows what it would look like, so random ideas like expanding to 30 teams can be thrown out.

And it’s not that crazy. The FCS playoff has 24 teams and the Div II and Div. III playoffs have 32 teams. If they can do it, why couldn’t FBS do it too?