The New College Football Playoff Schedule is Perfection

*This is my first blog post-wedding/honeymoon so I apologize for the occasional rambled jargon

Unless you’ve been Patrick Star living under a rock, or Section 400 member Matt who apparently doesn’t use the internet after he didn’t realize Darren Waller came out with a music video in the last podcast, you’re probably aware college football is switching up its playoff system next season.

That system, which expands the former four-team format to a 12-team one, will feature four rounds of games, beginning with the first round and ending with the championship. On Tuesday the College Football Playoff Committee released the schedule. It is simply beautiful.

Before we get into the actual scheduling the glaring surprise on this graphic is seeing TNT Sports having the broadcast rights to a pair of first-round matchups. TNT, which of course is about to lose the NBA, may be trying to save some face by venturing into the football realm. While Kenny, Chuck, Shaq, and Ernie may lack the credentials to shoot the shit over Cover 3 defenses and UTSA women, I wouldn’t put it past Turner to give us another All-Star pregame show cast to challenge that of ESPN’s College GameDay.

Now to the actual scheduling, it is pure “chef’s kiss”. The choice to have the first round the weekend going into Christmas/NYE break is simply phenomenal. The triple-header on Saturday the 21st is even better. I’m already scheming up live stream and Bowlmas (Yes Bowlmas will be back for Year 2 this Christmas) around that first weekend of games. The true triple header of noon, 4, and 8 is just so logistically sound it warms my heart. I can only pray the 8 PM game is reserved for an east coast game so it can be played under the lights like every prime time game should.

After we move past the first round, and the inevitable moans I get from my coworkers when I tell them we’ll be live streaming for nearly 12 hours on December 21, we end up at the Quarterfinals. As much as I love the schedule for the first round, this move is even better. The New Year’s Day Pedialyte, Advil, and football (and Dr. Pepper if you are a Level 7 Susceptible) triple-header is the ideal scenario fans could have asked for. I do wish it started around 11 AM eastern with the other two games subsequently starting two hours earlier but beggars can’t be choosers.

My favorite part of the quarterfinal round actually comes on New Year’s Eve, where the first game will be played at 7:30 Eastern. I think I’m in the minority of fans that actually liked the semi-final round more when it was on NYE, but I do really enjoy having a football game on in the background while I’m either getting ready to pregame or aggressively sipping Miller Lites at the pregame. Ohio State missing game winning field goals as the clock striked midnight in the eastern time zone was a little egregious, but 7:30 should allow plenty of time for this game to end before Ryan Seacrest and Andy Cohen start rambling nonsense as the new year approaches.

As for the Semi-Final and Championship rounds, I love the Thursday and Friday games and I’ll continue to absolutely hate the Monday at 8:30 rubbish. Just play the Natty on Saturday. Despite that, this schedule is a major win for college football and football fans -and Bowlmas/Section 400 😉 .

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