Gary Patterson Advocates for 6- or 8-Team College Football Playoff Format

Many saw the inception of a four-team playoff as merely a prelude for a more inclusive college football championship tournament, and TCU head coach Gary Patterson made the argument the College Football Playoff should grow to six or eight teams.

"I just don't think you can have five power conferences—I think you need to take the winner of all five and then you have an at-large or you have three more," Patterson said Tuesday, per Travis L. Brown of the Star-Telegram.   

Patterson has reason to take umbrage with the current format. His team narrowly missed out on the playoff last year, finishing sixth in the selection committee's final rankings. The Horned Frogs' two losses this year have also eliminated them from Top Four consideration.   

On one hand, you can see Patterson's argument, since including all the Power Five conference winners would eliminate the need for a lot of debate regarding the playoff.

Then again, it's not hard to envision a future in which a conference champion has two or three losses and clearly isn't one of the six or eight best teams in the country.

The Bowl Championship Series was an improvement on the old system but still had plenty of flaws. The CFP improved upon the BCS but came with its own problems. No perfect system will ever exist to crown a college football national champion.