Apr. 23—MORGANTOWN — This is a big week for college football with the NFL Draft and the future of college football altogether. This week, the leaders of the College Football Playoff will meet for the spring meetings, where they will reflect and discuss the future of the playoff format.
These discussions could greatly impact West Virginia because its path to the postseason could change.
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The Mountaineers haven’t been even close to postseason contention since 2018. The highest they were ranked was seven. That was two coaches ago, though, and now Rich Rodriguez is here, who in his final season with WVU had a shot at being in the national championship.
Rodriguez came back to Morgantown to do one thing, and that’s to get back to where he left off.
However, it might be harder for Rodriguez because there might be fewer opportunities in the future than if he coached in another conference.
This year’s 12-team playoff was far from perfect, with seeding being the biggest issue. The highest-ranked conference champions were guaranteed a bye and a top-four seed, and then, the fifth conference champion received a bid. There were some issues with this format because there were a lot of blowouts due to the automatic byes.
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So far, with no major decisions expected during this meeting, the format will be the same. With that said, WVU would have to win the Big 12, last year Arizona State won the bid, or be one of the seven highest-ranked teams remaining to make the playoff.
There are two rumored formats up for consideration to fix it, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
One of the formats receiving the most attention is a 14-team model that guarantees four automatic bids for both the Big Ten and SEC, then two for both of the Big 12 and ACC, one for the Group of Five, and one at-large spot, which will most likely go to Notre Dame each year. Eight of the 14-team field would be made up of the SEC and Big Ten.
West Virginia won’t get the same level of opportunity in the Big 12 compared to if it were in the SEC and Big Ten.
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The Big 12 is pushed to the side with just two entries based on the level of competition and quality of teams over the past couple of years in the conference. It’s believed the SEC and Big Ten are better conferences, which has been the case over the years. There were seven SEC and five Big Ten schools in the final top 25 CFP rankings last year, and there were four Big 12 schools. Most of the Big Ten and SEC teams were closer to the top, too. But will this be the case every year ?
There is skepticism that a format like this would work because the conferences with fewer bids might think it’s unfair. Just this year, West Virginia politicians were upset because the men’s basketball team was left out over North Carolina, who was in because of the strength of the conference. This could be the case again if there are more than two Big 12 teams that deserve bids.
This format might seem slanted, but the Big 12 and the rest of the conferences agreed to give the SEC and Big Ten the most control over the format in the last contract, so they can’t be too upset.
A 14-team playoff with this format seems unlikely to be agreed upon during the spring meetings, but it will be discussed. The final deadline for any significant change will most likely be during the summer meetings in June, according to Dinich, so there’ll be more time to decide if this is the right direction.
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WVU’s path might seem unjust, but at least there’ll be two auto bids with this format than just the one, so that’s a plus.
WVU earns commitment from Southern Illinois linebacker Ben Bogle West Virginia earned a commitment from an FCS All-American linebacker Wednesday morning.
Southern Illinois linebacker Ben Bogle committed to the Mountaineers, per multiple outlets. Bogle had offers from Wake Forest, UNLV, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State.
In just two years of college, Bogle has already made an impact. Last year, the sophomore had 87 tackles, a Missouri Valley Conference-best 16.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Bogle can do it all. His performance earned him an AP All-American honorable mention.
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Bogle has faced Big 12 competition already. In the first game of the season, the Salukis faced off against BYU, in a pay-to-play type of game. Bogle didn’t start, but had eight tackles and a tackle for loss, coming off the sideline.
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley wanted more from the pass rush this spring, and Bogle is a jack of all trades linebacker, but more importantly can make tackles in the backfield. He’ll bolster up Rich Rodriguez’s depth that he wanted and has a chance to start.
Bogle joining the Mountaineers is the third defensive player Rodriguez has added from the portal and the sixth all together.
Bogle has two years of eligibility left and has 11 starts at the FCS level.
