Georgia Coach Kirby Smart Convinced College Football Playoff Will Expand to 8 Teams

Selection day for college football's postseason bracket is much different the college basketball version. Instead of whopping 64 teams, the College Football Playoff features just four programs. There tends to be outrage over which elite teams end up missing the cut-- but there could some change on the way.

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart fully expects that the CFP field will expand to eight teams in the near future, and he is preparing for it through aggressive non-conference scheduling year in and year out.

Change wouldn't happen until at least 2025, when the 12-year contract for the current four-team-playoff format runs its course. However, that isn't stopping Smart and the University of Georgia from preparing. UGA putting up an undefeated run or a one-loss conference championship season full of attractive non-conference wins would make it next to impossible for the selection committee to leave them out.

As Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity told Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports of Coach Smart, "We both feel that [the playoff] is going to eight teams, eventually."

UGA is taking a risk with such aggressive scheduling into the future, however. The current format might not end up changing in due time, and the school would just hurt their playoff chances by scheduling so many difficult opponents in addition to the unrelenting Southeastern Conference slate. However, it's a risk that Smart and his school are willing to take.

Other schools are following suit by beefing up their scheduling into 2028 and 2029. With so many teams willing to take the risk, an expanded playoff field could bring much more excitement to the regular season and create an intense playoff atmosphere that's far more interesting than endless bowl games.