Todd Blackledge Talks 2025 CFP Field

Todd Blackledge, college football analyst for NBC Sports joins the show, as he gives you his thoughts on the CFP selection process, he makes the case for Notre Dame to have made the field of 12, what changes he'd like to see made to the CFP, & more 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Todd Blackledge played quarterback back in the day in my youth.
He didn't let me down at Penn State when he
was there, and now college football analyst for NBC. We
got to talk through the college football playoff craziness and
maybe even break down the field a little bit with him.
Todd black Ledge nice enough to join us here on

(00:20):
this chaotic college football Monday. Hey, Todd, how you doing, man?
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm doing good, man, just kind of surviving and just
kind of enjoyed the weekend of not working and watching
and taking it all in. And yes, it's been a
wild ride of a season, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
We need to go back to the simpler times of
the nineteen nineties where teams just tied and we moved
on right back in the day.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, well, I kind of like overtime. I do like
having a winner, you know, But it's just been It's Look,
I think college football is as strong and as entertaining
and as popular as it's ever been. But there's it
doesn't come without some chaos, and it doesn't come up
without some controversy. And that's probably okay, right, Guys that

(01:09):
are in the media, guys that do talk radio shows
have lots to talk about, so we should enjoy it,
and there's a lot of opinions.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, my talk radio so loves it. But the fan
of me gets worked up about a lot of these things.
There's no doubt about it. And Todd, we do not
need to go back to nineteen ninety four when our
Nitney Lions can go unbeat and not even have a
chance to play for the national title. But I digress,
I digress. This is hey, listen, we've come a long way, right,
you know it when you were into sport and they
had both you had bold tie ins where one and

(01:37):
two couldn't even play each other. Mostly so we have
come a long way, and I think that does need
to be said. You know, we've come a long way
since the two team bcs or even the four team playoff.
We'll now arguing about who eleven in and ten are
and that sort of thing. What did you think though
about the way the committee, even though Notre Dame in
Miami didn't play each other, chose to jump Miami over

(01:58):
Notre Dame the last week. The folks in South nd
we're very upset about that. They you know, basically said
they were blindsided by that. What do you think about
that specific move by the committee?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, yeah, I mean, look, the committee had a very
very challenging, difficult situation no matter how you were going
to look at it, because basically, you were looking at
a group of three teams in Alabama, Notre Dame, in Miami,
and only two of them were going to find their
way in. You know what, especially when you know when
when Duke won the game in the ACC Championship game,

(02:31):
it's just kind of you knew we were headed for
some kind of crazy situation. And look, I'm I'm a
firm believer in head to head competition, right And Miami
did beat Notre Dame in Week one by three points
in Miami, and you know, it was CJ. Carr's first
start as a college quarterback and he did not play
very well in the first half, and he came back

(02:52):
and played well in the second half. But Notre Dame
won the game, and they were the better team on
the field that night. I personally think if those two
teams played again right now, Notre Dame would win. I
think if Notre Dame in Alabama played right now, Notre
Dame would win. I think Notre Dame's one of the
best teams in college football. I covered them a couple
times this year. I saw how they trended as the

(03:15):
course of the season went on, and so but the
committee has to do it the way with their metrics
and the way that things play out. You know, I
don't understand all the you know and what so many
people up in arms about the fact that, you know,
just kind of how the college football playoff rankings went
the last couple of weeks, And I would say this,

(03:36):
I agree with some people that I've heard all the
rankings until the last one are really kind of a joke.
They don't mean anything. It only means something on the
last one. And in that last college football ranking, you know,
Alabama was ahead of both of Miami and Notre Dame,
and Miami and Notre Dame were sitting right next to
each other, and that gave them the opportunity to now say, well,

(03:58):
that had to head matchup was was really really significant.
But and again I think head to head is important,
But for the weeks prior to that, that wasn't the conversation.
When Notre Dame in Miami were separated by a team
or two teams that wasn't the argument, but at the
end of the day, that ended up being the argument.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Todd, you've covered the Big Ten for a long time.
Did you ever think we'd get to a point where
Indiana would be the best team going into a postseason?
And can you put into words really the job that
Kurt Signetti's done in his two years as a Hoosiers
head coach.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I've been covering college
football doing games for thirty four years, and I don't
think there's been a more incredible story in all of
that time that I've seen in what Kurt Signetti's done
in Indiana in two years now. I thought what Nick
Saban did and the dynasty that he built pre portal,
pre nil at Alabama was incredible, right, But what Kurt

(05:01):
Signetti has done, going to a program that had no
history of success and very little, you know, to hang
their hat on, and to turn them around so quickly
and bring all those guys from James Madison with him,
you know, to start that turnaround is remarkable. And you know,
and they are really good and they were good last year,

(05:23):
they didn't play as well in the bigger games. This year,
they were better they played well in the big games.
They played well at Oregon, they played well obviously the
other night against Ohio State team that beat him rather
handily last year. So you know, it's hard to put
into words what he's done. And as I look at
the Big Ten, and I'm not saying this from a

(05:44):
Homer standpoint of covering the conference, but you know, having
watched games yesterday also and watched games all season, not
only is Indiana number one going into the college football
playoff in Ohio State number two, I think Oregon, who
who is sitting there at five in a very favorable position.
I think those three teams are three of the best

(06:06):
four teams in the whole field right now. I think
you throw Georgia in there in my opinion as the
top four now. I was very impressed with Texas Tech
on defense and what I've seen out of them. But offensively,
if I put that offense against Indiana's defense, or Ohio
States defense, or Georgia's defense or Oregon's defense, I think

(06:27):
they struggle and I think they have some problems, but
defensively they are outstanding.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
We're talking with Todd black LEDs from NBC talking about
the He's talking there about the top of the playoff field. Indiana,
what a damn coach Kirksigetti is beats Ohio State for
the Big Ten title. They've got the number one overall seed.
Another talking point, and you can see it comeing Todd.
You can see with two group of five teams making
it in. And I understand that we're in acc country

(06:52):
and that is a conference that played a role in this,
but with two big a group of five teams making
it in, it feels like heck, I heard it on
one the playoff show and it didn't take but like
ten seconds for Rees Davis at kirkerbstret you start talking
about do we need a barometer like they have to
be ranked top fifteen or top twenty to get in.
Do you think we've had people say, you know that

(07:14):
on this show that the group of five should have
their own playoff and shouldn't be including this playoff. This
should be just the twelve highest ranked teams. How do
you feel what's the sweet spot in terms of including
the group of five or would you not include them
at all moving forward?

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, that's an interesting question. You know, I could see
positive arguments on both sides of that. You know, back
when it was four teams, you know, it felt like
there was no chance for a group of five team
to get in, you know, and then Cincinnati did a
few years ago, and then everybody thought that was awesome,
and then they didn't play you know, got beating there. Oh,
they shouldn't have been there in the first place, you know. So,

(07:49):
I mean, I'm all for everybody having access to the playoffs,
just like in every other sport. But at the same time,
college football is is a little bit different, and so
you know, I could see them making an argument to say, Okay,
from now on, it's just the twelve highest ranked teams
that are going to be in the college football playoffs,

(08:11):
you know, the twelve best teams in college football. Because
right now, with those two teams in it, yes, they
deserve to be in because of the parameters and the
rules and everything the way it's set up. But are
they the twelve part of the twelve best teams? Absolutely not.
And so you know, you have a Notre Dame team
sitting out, you have a BYU team sitting out. Texas

(08:33):
Vanderbilt to me, you know, is a team that I mean,
when's when's the next time Vanderbilt is going to have
a ten and two season and have as magical of
a run as they had this year, you know, and
they're kind of on the outside looking into so you know,
last year, the committee and they tweaked it by saying, Okay,
you know, we did it this way last year and

(08:55):
the top four teams were all conference champions and and
that didn't seem to be the right way to do it.
So now we're going to those buys are going to
go to the top four ranked teams. I do think
that was a good, you know, change to make, and
who knows, maybe maybe there's more changes on the runs.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
It feels like they'll do something. I kind of like
having that, like that one kind of underdog story, you know,
sendereal story, But when it's half your first four playoff
games that have these high spreads, it feels different. But again,
I know, I know, Todd, I know what everybody's thinking.
The ACC was involved in this whole thing. Anyway, it's
gonna be fascinating to watch the playoff. And we appreciate you, Todd,

(09:34):
I know, man, thanks for coming on chatting with us.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
We always appreciate you out it. Hey, you know what
one last thing I would say is, you know, the
playoffs are gonna be great. There's gonna be some fun
bowl games. But take a step back this weekend and
watch Army Navy, two really good football teams and just
such a historic matchup and and appreciate that aspect of
college football as well. It has nothing to do with
national championship or the playoff, but it is is worth

(10:00):
the watch.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Definitely.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
No, I love them having that showcase that they have
every year. All Right, Todd be good man, You're the best.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Thank you, see you guys.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Thanks time.