Neal Brown discusses increased access, West Virginia's path into College Football Playoff

The expanded field for the College Football Playoff means more opportunities for teams and head coaches to dream big about earning a berth in the 12-team field. That includes West Virginia’s Neal Brown.

After guiding the Mountaineers to a 9-4 finish a year ago, the goal for Brown and Co. now, he said at Big 12 Media Days, is to try and push the envelope and be in a position to earn a berth in the new playoff format. And Brown doesn’t think it’s that lofty a goal with the increased access.

“And for us, our real challenge is ‘How do we go from a nine-win team that was on the cusp’ — lose on a Hail Mary, lose right at the end versus Oklahoma State — how do we take that and become an 11-win team that maybe can get to Dallas and then get in the playoff?” Brown said on ESPNU.

Being an 11-win team playing in the conference title game of a power league might just be enough to get in the 12-team field. Brown, like conference commissioner Brett Yormark, believes the Big 12 will produce multiple teams worthy of bids, not just the conference championship game winner.

“Well for the Big 12, it means access, right?” Brown said. “And you go from four to 12, you’ve given access to a lot of really good football teams and the competition’s going to go later in the year, as well. And so that’s what we’re excited about, is just the access. Because I think — definitely two teams from the Big 12 get in. If the schedule falls the right way, might even be three, four teams have an opportunity in the Big 12.”

Yormark shares Brown’s view about the Big 12 getting multiple bids

Yormark is bullish on what his league can do in the new format.

On top of the winner of the Big 12 championship game getting an automatic bid and Top 4 seed, Yormark is confident the league can be a two-bid entity. It’s an optimistic, but not impossible hope for the Big 12 entering the 12-team CFP era.

“But very excited and as you said, the winner of that championship game is going to the CFP and that was not necessarily the case,” Yormark said on ESPNU at Big 12 media days. “But I’m hoping that we have more than one team. That’s the goal. I think I said it yesterday, we have the deepest conference in America. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had multiple teams that represent the Big 12 in the 12-team format, and that’s our goal. So, very excited about it.”