College Football Playoffs: Eight Bowls Could Be Used, Up From Six

Some good news surrounding the non-major leagues for when the 2014 college football playoffs goes into effect. Originally there were to be six bowls in the rotation which included the four playoff teams and then eight other teams vying for major bowl games.

This left out the Big East -- who currently don't have a major bowl tie-in yet -- as well as the other smaller leagues. Now there is news coming from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany via the Wall Street Journal that there could be eight bowl games in rotation.

Somehow talks shifted to allowing access to their small leagues, and the BCS officials meet with the agenda covering access and revenue sharing. With eight bowl games -- minus the national title game -- two will be designated for the semifinals leaving six other bowl games.

That makes 12 teams eligible for major bowls, and really is it really major bowl any more once we get to 16 teams. With that many teams, there should at least be one or even two non-major schools in a major bowl.

However, Delany and others could be setting up something bigger, because 16 teams is the magic number for a perfect playoff. This could be a coincidence, but most every college football person thinks that the 10 year agreement to hold a four-team playoff would eventually expand, and even before the initial 12-year deal.

Regardless if this is the initial stages of a large form playoff (PLEASE BE YES, PLEASE BE YES, PLEASE BE YES) or just gives more access to non-major leagues, it is a good thing since it will allow these teams to prove themselves against a good opponent, plus make some decent cash in the process.

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