Texas AD Chris Del Conte advocates for an earlier start, no conference title games, and a larger playoff, reshaping college football's season.
In his annual town hall meeting on Wednesday, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte highlighted his ideal college football schedule.
Del Conte said he'd like to see week one moved a week earlier, when week zero games are typically played. He's also a big proponent for eliminating conference title games.
These changes would help support his ideas of an expanded playoff and a season that ends much earlier than January 20th, the date of this year's national championship game.
"Why have a conference championship game?" Del Conte said. "Start the playoffs that week, and let’s play every single week, and the semifinals are played on New Year’s Day, which is college football, and the national championship a week later."
“That’s what I’d like to see, but I’m one vote."
The possible expansion of the CFP has been a highly debated topic among fans and analysts for years now.
It's no surprise that Del Conte is in favor of expansion, given the Longhorns' omission from last year's playoff. However, his reasoning for his position was quite interesting.
Del Conte made it clear that he's a huge fan of marquee non-conference matchups, and that the future of those early-season heavyweight clashes is in jeopardy with the current postseason system.
While he did confirm Texas will honor the return matchups with Ohio State and Michigan, anything beyond that is fair game at the moment.
If the playoff were expanded, that would give teams more cushion for an early-season setback, limiting the risk of playing an Ohio State, Michigan, or Notre Dame.
"I want our fans — Longhorn Nation — to be able to watch Ohio State in this stadium. I want fans in Longhorn Nation to be able to watch Michigan, along with our SEC slate," Del Conte said.
"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, and value those great games, as long as we have an opportunity to get into the postseason."
Whether you agree or disagree with a further expansion of the CFP, Del Conte makes a great point.
The sport thrives on elite programs going toe to toe, and taking those games away would severely hinder the quality of non-conference viewing for fans watching in person or on TV.
"Evolution is coming, and I firmly believe that the way we do the playoff is coming," Del Conte said. "We have to expand that playoff... At the same time, we’ve got to honor strength in the regular season."