After waiting patiently for many months, College Football is here. This weekend, Week 0 will start the season. The 2024-25 season will have a new wrinkle with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff and new conference realignments in the SEC, Big 12, and Big 10. The Pac-12 does not exist anymore.
In conversation with College Football Expert Dennis Buttaccavoli, part one of the series examined what makes the sport so good—the debate around the best team in the land. In Part 2, we discuss how injuries will play a role as teams advance in the 12-team playoff.
Injuries Will Play a Role in the New College Football Playoff
While the top four teams with the best record get a bye, the other teams potentially have to win four straight games to win the National Title. That is going to take a toll on the body. This NFL-style playoff in College Football has significant unintended consequences.
If we look back on the four-team playoff, injuries played a factor in the games. Some players got hurt in the semifinals and could not play in the National Championship. Sometimes, those players would try, but they were not 100 percent.
However, with this pro-style playoff in college football, injuries will be a more significant factor than before. Remember, it is no longer just two extra games. Some teams will play three to four additional games, which will take a toll on the body.
“With the intensity of college football, with the kids getting bigger, stronger, and faster, and I think having to play two strong games at the end of the year or more, if they do more, which is crazy, the toll on these kids is going to be incredible,” College Football Expert Dennis Buttaccavoli said.
Imagine if the best team in the country based on rankings gets decimated by injury and can’t field a team the next week or can barely field a team. That does not make for a good game.
“The thing is, you are going to see a team play two massive teams back to back. Suppose they get decimated in the first game, especially if one team is number one,” Buttaccavoli said. “Say USC is number one going in. Say they drew Ohio St. in their first game, and they got their guys hurt. They lost the quarterback, which happened.
Is the New College Football Playoff Format Setting Up Teams for Injuries?
If you remember the Penn St. – Florida St. game, he refers to when Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno were still at their respective clubs. The game was played in the Orange Bowl and went through multiple overtime periods. Both teams lost several key players in that game. There is no way either of those teams could have played the following week.
“A couple of years ago, Florida St.-Penn St. played one of the most exciting bowl games ever,” Buttaccavoli said. “Those two teams could not have played next week. They wouldn’t have been able to field a viable team that would been able to compete against somebody else. So, I think the toll it will take on these kids is not worth it.”
Again, this happens in professional football all the time. But this is college football. These are still kids, but now they are being treated like pros with NIL. Still, when decisions are made, nobody factors this into account.
The risk is not worth the reward for the expanded college football playoff. As mentioned, we see players sitting out of the bowl games when they do not make it into the College Football Playoff. What will happen if a slot in the League Championship is already sewed up? Could we see NFL tactics play out in College Football?
That is coming, too. Just wait. There are so many unintended consequences that are touching the surface. Stay tuned for our continuing coverage of the Unintended Consequences of the expanded College Football Playoff here on Total Apex Sports.
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