The landscape of college athletics is changing at an unprecedented fast rate. Legal, financial and regulatory guidelines are constantly shifting, which has forced athletic directors throughout the country to adapt accordingly.
At the Texas Athletics Town Hall on Wednesday, athletic director Chris Del Conte addressed the public to talk about updates and news regarding his athletic department. One of these changes became a prominent topic of conversation: football scheduling and its impact on the College Football Playoff.
“When we joined the (Southeastern Conference), it was an eight-game schedule,” Del Conte said. “I was an absolute proponent of going to nine games.”
Del Conte has his fair share of grievances with some of the changes implemented in college football, and he wasn’t afraid to articulate them during the town hall. When it comes to scheduling and the playoff, he believes even more change might be the only remedy.
“We’re trying to preserve an old system of bowl games,” Del Conte said. “We’re trying to preserve this whole idea of what college football was 30 years ago, 10 years ago, four years ago. Evolution is coming, and I firmly believe that the way we do the playoff is coming. We have to expand that playoff.”
Expanding the playoff, Del Conte argued, helps mitigate the incentive behind teams dumbing down their regular seasons to build a better record for playoff selection purposes. Texas has already taken heat for their future nonconference games scheduled against teams like Ohio State and Michigan, games that he believes fans deserve to see.
“I will tell you that college football is built around your regular season,” Del Conte said. “Do you guys really want nice, good games in (Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial)? We can play three cream puffs, and we can play an SEC schedule. But if the playoff is going to expand, which I prefer the playoff expands, you want to then have great games, right, and value those great games, as long as we have an opportunity to get into postseason.”
Texas has also scheduled Notre Dame as a nonconference opponent in 2028 and 2029, further demonstrating where Del Conte and Texas football stand in terms of nonconference scheduling.
Just like many of the other topics addressed by Del Conte, the future of the playoff format is always subject to criticism and new feedback.
The NCAA seems to always have a new curveball or development, but Del Conte, alongside every other athletic director in the nation, seems to simply be doing his best to stay ahead in a system that is always evolving.
“That’s what we’re dealing with right now,” Del Conte said. “It’s straight bananas. So, if you want to be an (athletics director), come take my job.”
