What Does Eric Morris Think About on 24-Team Playoff, End of Big 12 Championship Game?

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STILLWATER — On Tuesday night, Oklahoma State returned to the CFP Top 25.

​Although being ranked 25th in the country should be cool for the fans and the players, it likely doesn’t mean much where the actual playoffs are concerned this year, as it’s tough to imagine Oklahoma State finishing high enough to earn a spot in the field unless they run the table and win the Big 12.

Next season, this would be a different story entirely considering the bracket expands to include 24 teams.

“The cool thing that I think is about to happen with 24 teams, which I supported the 24 team, is these on-campus games that are going to happen,” coach Eric Morris said on Tuesday morning. “And I told y’all four or five weeks ago, like for me, just to imagine this place, you know, in that kind of environment is such a cool thought in my head.”

To host a playoff game next season, the Cowboys would need to secure a top 16 seed. To put that in context with this season, it would be tough, but Oklahoma State could potentially play its way into that by winning out even if the Cowboys didn’t make it to Arlington.

Of course, if Oklahoma State doesn’t make it there this season, they won’t play in a Big 12 Championship game in the future, as the Big 12 has joined other conferences in scrapping those games to make room for the expanded playoff.

“That seems a little silly to me. … (but) how you can make it all kind of come together and use the championship to advance, I have no clue,” Morris said. “I haven’t done enough studying about it, nor have I talked to ESPN or FOX lately about what they think about it. … Like why are we gonna have these conferences still if there’s not gonna be a champion at the end? So there’s a lot of processing to do to see how this thing all works out, there is probably not a perfect answer to it.”

As much as Morris will miss the Big 12 Championship Game, he acknowledged that the bigger postseason is already testing the upper limits of how many games teams can play each season. For a team seeded ninth or lower to compete in the national championship game, it will have to play 17 games beginning next season.

“Yeah, I’d say that’s getting there (at the limit) if you play 17 games,” Morris said. “I know you know the NFL has problems with it already. They all think that they play too much right now, and just kind of looking at it right now and building, you know, depth on these teams and building the rosters the way we are right now, you know, obviously that’s going to become an issue at some point. And it already is, right, for a bunch of teams around the country dealing with some depth issues, and so injuries are a part of the game. Always have been, always will. I get that. At some point, you know, they’ll look into it and see, hey, where’s the line we draw for player safety.”