Texas AD DeLoss Dodds prefers an eight-team playoff

Even though the College Football Playoff is still a over a year away there are more people who are coming out and wanting a larger post season tournament. The latest to speak out is Texas Longhorns athletic director DeLoss Dodds who told ESPN.com's David Ubbent that four teams is a start, but he would want eight:

"It's a baby step. It's a good step," Dodds said on Thursday at the Big 12's annual spring meetings. "I'm kind of an eight-team person."

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"I think there'll be a lot of conversation about the fifth team and who didn't get in and an 11-1 team that didn't get in because somebody's 12-0 that maybe wasn't quite as good as 11-1," he said. "If you take eight, you're not going to have that. The ninth team is going to have a concern, but it's not like the fifth team."

Dodds' comments follow up on Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson who said he is not sure how long a four-team will last, but Bill Hancock and others are dead set at the current model lasting 12 years.

Dodds has a very valid point about trying to differentiate between the fourth and fifth team compared to the eighth or 10th spot. The best example is from this past year where Oregon had a better record, and ranked higher, yet Stanford won the Pac-12. At four teams that is a real possibility of happening in leagues with a title game.

Getting Dodds to voice is opinion about wanting a bigger playoff is a big deal since he comes from a top-five football university, and his words carry some serious clout.

For a selfish reason, an eight-team model provides more meaningful football, and for a chance that a very good Mountain West team could get into the field and get a true shot at a national title.