How do you win the expanded college football playoff?

The schedule, volume of games, and format of the playoffs has changed substantially. What will define winning teams?

We’re about to get an expanded playoff that will answer a lot of questions that have existed in the past about who can win a title and how it can be accomplished. If you’re inclined to root for an underdog or are drawn to underdog strategies, as I often am, this is going to be really fascinating.

There’s now going to be opportunities for a few smaller and less resourceful programs to enter a playoff bracket and take a swing at the title. Can a Boise State or Liberty put together a run in the playoffs? What about a big but still non-elite (in resources) program like NC State or anyone from the Big 12?

There’s going to be a lot of theorizing on what will make for playoff champions. Some of it will be obvious and true, other dimensions maybe less obvious, I’m going to try and do justice to them all.

We’ll see how things play out in the actual playoffs as they occur over the next few years, but right now I’m pretty sure there will be some dominant factors we can identify.