SALT LAKE CITY — In the wake of certain comments, perhaps even hot takes — cue exaggerated eye roll here — made by ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum Wednesday morning, the nationwide debate surrounding Utah and its inclusion in the College Football Playoff has taken off.
While many have argued the merits of Utah making the playoff, or backed Oklahoma or Baylor instead of the Utes, Yahoo’s Pat Forde took a different approach.
Rather than just add fuel to the who-is-most-deserving fire, Forde decided to take a look at what the impact of Utah making the CFP would be. And in his eyes, it would be the best thing for the health of the sport.
“It would be good for the sport if they make the playoff field,” Forde wrote. “Don’t get it twisted — Utah would have to deserve the spot. It would have to stack up at least evenly with a Big 12 winner with the same record (Oklahoma or Baylor). It cannot be admitted as a Pac-12 charity case. But if all things are equal, the Utes in the playoff would be the best outcome for the health of college football.”
His reasoning was twofold.
The first reason was that college football is a national sport, so it is about time the season-ending showcase represent the nation as a whole.
“This is a national sport, with national interest, and it would be better if the playoff is national in scope and not a regional tussle that excludes a large swath of the country,” Forde said. “If the Pac-12 produces a team that deserves a bid, it should get a bid.”
His second reason, meanwhile, was one of hope.
If Utah were to qualify for the CFP, it would give hope to every other non-blue blood program out there that there is an avenue by which to reach new heights in a sport that so often caters to traditional powers.
“Utah is new in these parts,” wrote Forde. “Its Power Five membership extends back less than a decade, having upgraded to the Pac-12 from the Mountain West and before that the Western Athletic Conference. Even the school’s best teams, like the Urban Meyer-coached 2004 squad, had no access to the national title despite going undefeated. (The historical discussion of that season focuses on Auburn as the unfortunate unbeaten left out of the national title mix while USC and Oklahoma played for the championship. Nobody ever mentions the Utes.)
“A Utah playoff bid would represent the strivers of the 2010s — TCU, Louisville, West Virginia, et al. — who worked their way into The Club. And perhaps a Utah playoff bid would inspire the strivers of the 2020s, should the door ever crack open wide enough to give Memphis and Cincinnati and Central Florida and Boise State a shot.”