Agreed. This is the problem with all modern rules: the slippery slope of expansionism. In the pre-CFP days there were 2 playoff teams, and it was good. The CFP expanded it to 4, and people demanded more. Years from now it could expand to 64 unless there were a way to balance out the expansionism, and the only buttress against expansion is the conference alignment. That is why I am only in favor of expansion if it sets are fairly hard threshold: Power 5 conference membership. If the playoff committee expanded the playoffs in such a way that it favored SEC, ACC, B12, B1G, and Pac-12 then those Power 5 conferences would collude together to prevent Group of 5 teams from stealing their revenue.
To DRU's point on COVID, this all assumes that the vaccines hit the streets as planned, which they are. I have a few friends who were test subjects for Operation Warp Speed. Before I continue, please, no political discussion here. The city that I live in happens to have a some of the key testing facilities for COVID vaccines. It really was fascinating to see how quickly these vaccines made their way through testing in record time. The military bases had a lot more volunteers (all volunteer military) to help bump the numbers up. Yes, there were a few reactions, but not with all the vaccines in the same demographics. BioNTech/Pfizer is already on the streets, and Moderna/NIAID will be distributed in a couple weeks. Johnson & Johnson will probably be next (with Novavax, Inovio, and Acturus right behind them), and will likely be the vaccine that is issued to NCAA athletes over the summer. That last statement is speculation, but everything else I stated here is public knowledge corroborated with information provided by friends, the city, and the military base where I work. The point being that by the time there is even a hint that the CFP committee would change the playoffs, there will be vaccines in place.
Thanks for the latest details/background
...some of it I had already picked up on, but between confirming much of that AND adding MORE INFO, I am overall even more optimistic regarding (EVENTUALLY) “MOVING ON” in 2021
...Take all of that, the further “accumulating information” that suggests things like how “the second shots” MAY turn out to be unnecessary for full immunity after all (still to be determined with further study/research/study and follow up), and a generally GROWING view out there that “side effect”-risks or not, most of us WILL get the shot(s) once given access to them—I know I will!
All of which points to likely SOONER THAN EVER our moving past all this—in sports AND society at large!
More than ever then, a full and proper 2021 College Football Season will all the more likely be just ONE of the great and joyful “RETURNS” we may well all get to live and CELEBRATE TOGETHER relatively “soon”— within the next YEAR after ALL, perhaps.
No, we’re not there yet, and there are trials, disappointments and difficulties between here and there...Some unavoidably no doubt hurtling towards us as we speak. I have that “feeling of foreboding” that our Bowl Game, with all its “missing pieces” for us on the heels of the way EVERYTHING has seemed to fade, even begin to come apart for us this “trying season in a trying year”, is about to put the “capper” on all of the promise falling just short.
I’m personally TRYING to build and LIVE WITH more of a “patient, let’s wait and SEE” attitude now, harden myself to weather a possible “rough patch” straight ahead, looking ahead with some hope and optimism to the spring, summer—and the season & YEAR beyond.
BOTH have the potential to bring us great promise and joy themselves.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Fellow Gators!!!