Conventional wisdom suggests it’s best to let bygones be bygones. However, nothing about the 2024 CFB resonated with the convention. At the risk of reopening old wounds, cast your minds back to Selection Sunday last season. One look at discourse on new and traditional media alike would’ve had you thinking the revamped playoff field’s about 24 teams, not 12. Every fanbase believed their school was getting in. Or at least was making the case for it. The homers were even divided over what weapons they were deploying. Strength of schedule, quality wins, quality losses, and whatnot. Even prestige and stature became arguments. Unfortunately for them, fans of Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes had to sit out. But that may soon be changing. After the latest rule change to hit College Football since… about last week!

Hindsight is 20/20. For a sport that’s based as much on hypotheticals as actual games, that’s even more resoundingly true. Nobody knows how the playoffs would’ve transpired if the teams that were left on the periphery were also included. But one thing is known. More teams mean more games. Which in turn means more money floating about. A simple equation that has infested the sport over recent seasons. Conference realignment was the epitome of this. So was an already expanded playoff. Now, there’s even further expansion on the horizon. At least that spells good news for “smaller” programs like Colorado, right? At least we get to see Deion Sanders coach in the postseason. Likelier for sure. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger dropped news of a potential restructure of the College Football Playoffs. “Within the Big Ten & SEC, momentum builds for an expanded playoff with multi-AQs per league. Ahead of the SEC-B1G joint meeting, the industry is closer than ever to a new CFP,” he posted to X. The Big 12, where Deion’s Buffs reside, are a mere ancillary. However, a rising tide lifts all boats. The proposal being floated will have four auto-bids each for the SEC and B1G. As well as two each for the ACC and Big 12. The total number of teams will either be 14 or 16. The auto-bids will naturally go to the top 2/4 teams in the conference at the end of the season. But how does this aid Deion Sanders?

Last year, the Big 12 only got one representative in the playoffs. Conference champs Arizona State – showed they deserved their place against Texas in the Peach Bowl. Taking the bluebloods to double OT in a thriller, ASU finished the year 7-2 in conference play. The same as Colorado. As well as Iowa State and BYU. This suggests the Big 12 did indeed have quality, given how ASU performed. A 2nd automatic spot theoretically doubles the chances of Deion Sanders and co. making the playoffs. Something they came egregiously close to last year itself.

The clock indeed struck midnight on Coach Prime and his Buffs’ fairytale run. They lost their visit to Arrowhead party-poopers Kansas while holding an 8-3 record. Winning the last two games would’ve put them in the Big 12 championship game with a shot at going through.  Deion Sanders caught flak from all directions for falling at the penultimate hurdle. The floodgates opened. All that pent-up condemnation that Deion and, by proxy, the Buffs had avoided? It manifested itself in full effect. The naysayers were loitering around, almost praying on a slip-up. When it came against Kansas, the skepticism had been facilitated. Alas, things may well be different next year around. With Deion Sanders though, things are perpetually different. Just take his weird stance on recruitment for instance. A microcosm of his eccentric, atypical coaching style.

Deion Sanders continues rejecting traditional coach mechanisms

The advent of NIL has meant the recruitment process has become a more arbitrary process now. It is no longer simply about if a coach praises your mom’s cooking when they visit your house, trying to explain your fit in the program. Recruitment is undercut by a binary equation of how many zeroes are at the end of your cheque. Deion Sanders recognizes this. Forget visiting recruits at their house, a practice still very prevalent. He doesn’t hit the road to see recruits at all!

Coach Prime has made a grand total of zero visits to see high-school prospects in his two years at Boulder. “Head coach Deion Sanders did not make any in-home or off-campus recruiting visits,” the school told USA Today. Compare this to some of the other big-ticket coaches such as Ryan Day, who do so consistently. Heck, even Bill Belichick drove across the country with his son and DC Steve Belichick after their arriving in Chapel Hill. If it’s good enough for the proverbial GOAT, why not Deion?

“I don’t go to nobody’s school or nobody’s house. I’m not doing that.” Coach Prime stated. “I’m too old to be going [around]…All the kids that I’m recruiting? They’re in the (transfer) portal. They’re grown men with kids. They don’t need me to come around their crib and try to convince them to come play for me. Nah.” Well, it’s naive to expect conventionality from Deion Sanders, who did recruit Travis Hunter after all. Just as it is to expect from the people who govern this sport. The rulebook has seen more rewrites than a confused romantic writing a love letter. It remains to be seen if the 2nd expansion of the playoffs in as many years goes through. There will be plenty of pushback from the traditionalists.