North Carolina players don’t support proposed 12-team College Football Playoff, says coach Mack Brown

North Carolina coach Mack Brown said Thursday that during discussions over the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, his players were against the format and favored six to eight teams.

During an extensive zoom with reporters, Brown mentioned that ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips had asked all coaches to get feedback from players on expanding the playoffs. Last month, the CFP board authorized the commissioners to move forward by expanding from four to 12 teams, and the implementation date must be determined.

North Carolina defender Jeremiah Gemmel told ESPN that none of the team raised their hand in favor of the 12-team playoffs. He said a few players wanted to stay in the four, while the majority was split between six and eight teams.

“I feel like 12 teams have too many games a season for players who want to play long-term football,” Gemmel said in a phone interview. “Sixteen, 17 games a season is a lot of body wear, especially for men who don’t come out while playing.”

Players also strongly felt that conference champions should get an automatic seat in addition to the top 5 champions in the group. There would be no automatic bidding in the proposed 12-team format. In addition, Brown said some players wondered if the 12 teams were good enough to win the national championship.

“Because they wanted the playoffs to be about who is good enough to win all the games or win the national championship, not just involved a bunch of teams,” Brown said.

Interestingly, North Carolina may have benefited from the 12-team form last season. The tar pants ended the regular season 8-3 and took a place in the New Year’s six-a-side match against Texas A&M in the Capital One Orange Bowl when they finished 13th in the CFP’s final standings. There is no doubt that they would definitely have been in the debate to get to the last place.

“Just talking to teammates, when we let Virginia and Florida slip, you can’t get those games back,” Gemmel said. “I don’t feel we deserve to be in the playoffs if you lose two such games during the season.”

In a statement last month, when the board approved progress with enlargement, the league said the league was waiting for student athletes to participate in discussions about what is best for post-season football.

Mr Brown complained that the enlargement debate and the subsequent decision proceeded as quickly as they did without receiving as much input as possible from all stakeholders. The CFP Management Committee is currently conducting a summer review of bowl games and ESPN to determine the feasibility of a 12-team plan. The board will meet next in September.

“I said we need more involvement with the athletes who play, I think, and we need more involvement from the coaches who coach it, so the voice needs to be heard,” Brown said. “The decisions aren’t finalized yet, but I thought it was important that our commissioner wanted reactions from our players. We’re just trying to make sure everyone understands everyone’s thoughts when we go to such a huge jump from four to 12 instead of just happening.”

Gemmel added that while expanding the playoffs will open up the field for more teams, he and his teammates have only one goal in mind: Win all matches and become ACC champions.

“It gives us a better chance of getting into the playoffs, but that really isn’t our reason at the moment,” Gemmel said. “We’re trying to win every football game and win the ACC championship, so we want to be in the top four no matter where we get to the College Football Playoffs. and we’ll win the ACC championship. Why worry if we come in 12th, we’re in the playoffs? We don’t think so. I think I’ll be the nation’s number one team. That’s a good thing. ”