Michael Wilbon not impressed with reportedly new CFP development: "I don't like exclusion when it comes to sports"

College football is one of the most unique sports out there, but another shift to the makeup of the College Football Playoff could soon alienate even more programs, according to ESPN personality, Michael Wilbon. Conference realignment has already shaken the core of the sport

Wilbon is a trustee for his alma mater, Northwestern, but isn't afraid to speak his mind on the matter.

"I'm sure I'm going to make people who deal with me in the Big Ten cringe," Wilbon said Wednesday on "Pardon the Interruption." "I don't like exclusion when it comes to sports. I want inclusion."

The powers of the landscape, the Big Ten and SEC conferences, reportedly want four automatic bids apiece within a new layout, while the ACC and Big 12 would receive two each and the highest-ranked Group of Five champion one.

Wilbon isn't a fan of that proposed format. According to him, that method wouldn't quite be fair to sports fans supporting teams in less-prominent conferences.

"When you cut out fan bases, you cut out regions of the country, not just just conferences," Wilbon said. "You can absorb those teams under another umbrella. I get that. USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon can be in the Big Ten and you sort of don't exclude, but you do exclude. You exclude rivalries. You eliminate them.

"You chop down, when you do this, a big part of what college football really is and I find it loathsome. So, I'm not going to deal with whether it's deserved. It distracts, in a major way, from college football to me."

Robert Griffin III suggests changes to CFP as it fights to maintain popularity

Former Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III has an idea on how to make things fair in college football's sports playoff landscape. Four conference champions received an automatic bye this past bracket. All were defeated by opponents who had won on-site home games in the previous round.

"The change the College Football Playoff needs is for Conference Champs to have a home game in the quarterfinals after the 1st round bye," Robert Griffin wrote Monday on X/Twitter. "Otherwise they are getting blessed with the bye and then screwed with a neutral site game instead of having home field advantage.

"Semifinals and Finals can be neutral site, but if we are going to reward conference champs then let's reward them all the way and give them that home game in the Quarterfinals. Their fans deserve it."

With the way they've had a hand in running the sport, the Big Ten and SEC should see that as a topic to address, too, being that both of their conference champions last year — Oregon and Georgia — were bounced from the postseason earlier than they would've thought.