The 2024-25 season is one that will live long in the memory of college football fans. The start of the super conferences, 12 team playoff. The College football landscape changed tremendously this season. Recently the TV viewership numbers were released for the National Championship game. The ratings dropped 12% from the previous season. Could it have been Inauguration Day? Perhaps. Was the game marketed poorly? Possibly. But I have some big pictures thoughts on this season overall.

The 12-team playoff delivered some interesting games. It was thrilling to see opening round games on college campuses. The crowds were electric. With that said we sure did have a lot of non-competitive games. Penn State hammered SMU, Ohio State handled Tennessee and Notre Dame took it to Indiana. The two best games probably involved Texas. The matchup with Clemson was good and that Arizona State game was great. But was the 12 playoff a smashing success? To me it was not. I get the 4-team playoff wasn’t perfect. Usually, one team would have a pretty good gripe about not qualifying. But typically, you’d get at least 2 or 3 conference champions competing and then at large SEC team or a Notre Dame. Did we need an 11th ranked SMU in the playoff? I really don’t think so. The regular season had massive stakes in the past. That’s the college football I grew up on. What was Ohio State’s punishment for losing a home game in which they were 20-point favorites? Hosting a home playoff game.

On the new conferences, I think it’s an absolute joke that you get a team with the schedule of Georgia who faced several ranked teams over the course of the season. And then Indiana who largely got off scot free and lost in there biggest game of the regular season. Looking ahead to next season a team like Illinois won’t have to face Ohio State, Penn State or Oregon. Same goes for Maryland. On the other hand Northwestern faces Oregon, Penn State, USC and Michigan. As it stands the Big Ten has 18 teams, and the SEC 16. This is simply too much.

Hopefully this isn’t just rambling nonsense. I love college football, I’ll continue to love college football I’m just not sure I love the direction it’s headed.

On Twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!