Dabo Swinney Has 2 Notable Ideas For College Football
Dabo Swinney took a swing at the expansion proposal for the College Football Playoff when speaking with reporters on Tuesday afternoon. However, he’s already come to terms with the fact that he won’t be able to change the trajectory of the sport.
“My opinion doesn’t mean anything,” Swinney said on Thursday. “That train has left the station. The playoff expansion is inevitable.”
Although he might not be a fan of the proposed expansion, Swinney has put some time and thought into a few changes that he would make to college football. He shared them with ESPN’s David Hale.
Swinney head coach first proposed to shorten the regular season by one game, an idea that has gained some traction in recent years as the College Football Playoff continues to lean toward expansion. However, the Clemson head coach doesn’t want to nix the game entirely. He suggested replacing the normal regular season game with a matchup against an FCS opponent in the spring.
Swinney’s second idea would try to tackle two major areas at once. He proposed that college football should try to save bowl games by having them offer name, image and likeness compensation to players. In doing so, athletes would be more willing to participate in the postseason events, even though they wouldn’t be able to compete in the playoff.
Talked to Dabo earlier and two things he suggested to allay his expansion concerns:
– cut a regular season game and play FCS spring game
– save the bowls by having them provide NiL compensation to players. For ex: Give every player 10K and they’ll wear bowl sponsored apparel.— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) July 22, 2021
Earlier this week, the Clemson head coach claimed that his team and staff was firmly against the expanded playoff. He worried that a 12-team format would make the season less and important and questioned where the sport was headed.
“Our team isn’t for it. They don’t want to play more games. And to be honest with you, I don’t think there’s 12 teams good enough,” Swinney said, via 247Sports’ Anna Hickey. “The more you expand it, the less important the season becomes and the more you become the NFL. I think the bigger question is where is college football going from a structural standpoint.”
Swinney has never been afraid to speak out against the way that college football is headed and his latest suggestions are just another example of that. Although he might not get these ideas heard, he’ll surely come up with others down the line.
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