Matt Chatham: College Football Needs Eight-Team Playoff Format

The new college football playoff format might be a step in the right direction, but it’s far from perfect.

That’s according to former New England Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham, who details on his website Football By Football that while the new system is better than the mess of the method of the Bowl Championship Series, the new four-team playoff still needs tweaking. Most notably, Chatham writes, the field must double in size.

“If you want to ensure that your champion is truly the best team in college football … not the benefactor of someone’s opinion on who’s best … it must be proven in a tournament format on the field. And the field must be a minimum of eight teams.”

The inclusion of more teams would ensure the deserving teams get a fair shot at playing for the title while also ensuring schools don’t go to great lengths to fight for a spot — like Baylor University, which hired a public relations firm to make its case for one of the coveted playoff spots, ESPN’s Jake Trotter reported Monday.