What is a college football offseason without the usual digs at the playoff committee? Time and again, over the last few months before the schedule, experts and fans dish out their criticisms regarding the playoff criteria. The attacks largely stem from the chaos that unfolds at the end of the regular season, when programs meet their fate. And now ESPN’s Rece Davis delivers his polarising take on the much-debated playoff situation ahead of the season.

When you’ve given your level best and more in the season and still fail to make it to the playoffs, there are grounds for people to call out the judgment of the CFP committee. The calls for a level playing field only moved the needle enough to widen the playoff berth from 4 to 12 spots. In the new format’s inaugural season alone, the committee managed to anger fans once again. A deserving few were left out for the sake of a surprise, and others all for a hotly debated factor: strength of schedule.

Rece Davis, in an August 6 episode of College GameDay Podcast, called out the difference in judgment of the schedules between the SEC and Big 10. “I’m going to say this, and I’m going to keep saying it on the pod until the aggregators pick it up and create some type of controversy because of it. In my judgment, the dumbest argument of all of the arguments between the conferences is number of games played,” he said. The SEC and the Big 10 play 8 and 9 in-conference games, respectively. And there are no clear rules to suggest when either is better than the other.

“I think they should play 10 conference games. I think it’s better for the sport… But nine versus eight, which nine in the Big 10? Which eight in the SEC?” Davis added. In his eyes, Oklahoma’s 2024 schedule was much tougher than that of Texas. The Sooners’ 2024 was an absolute nightmare. And, they had to opponents like Florida, Auburn, LSU, Alabama, South Carolina, and Ole Miss. The Longhorns, on the other hand, did not have many fierce SEC opponents save for Georgia and Florida. “I would argue that Florida’s and Oklahoma’s eight-game schedule greatly surpassed Indiana’s 9-game conference schedule,” Davis said.

The SEC has historically been accused of having a way in with the playoff committee, asserting its dominance. Many programs are also unwilling to add an extra game unless they have a clear picture of how the playoff format pans out by the time 2026 arrives. Once again, Oklahoma and Florida are coming back with the most brutal schedules in the FBS. But others have a relatively easy ride. Rece Davis also had a plan in mind to soothe the blow delivered by his controversial comment.

Rece Davis’ solution to end ‘dumbest’ argument

The number one demand of fans from the committee is that the playoff spots be awarded on fair grounds. Because each conference has its own criteria for making it to the playoffs, that notion becomes a tough system to maintain. Davis threw in his solution to this problem. “I think they should play 10 conference games. I think it’s better for the sport… Whatever we devise, take the schedule in its entirety,” he added. And, he also suggested his own method to spice up things for the season.

“I also don’t care if they play a representative schedule if they play one FCS game. You know, Jimbo Fischer, for instance, used to advocate for that because he came from playing at that level and talked about how it helped sustain football,” Rece Davis highlighted. Non-conference games are crucial for FBS programs.

At the end of the season, they have enough juice to flex these wins to win a playoff spot.  They’re usually deemed as one of the confirmed victories needed to make it to a bowl appearance as well. Unless, of course, something like ‘The Horror’ from 2007 repeats itself – where FBS plays FCS programs more or less for this reason.

With the uproar we saw last year after three SEC programs were left out in the playoffs, a similar situation could unfold this season as well. But the question lingers: When and where will the conferences come together to arrive at a mutually-agreed set of norms?