OU football coach Bob Stoops: Everyone's a winner with four-team playoff

In a statement released Wednesday by OU, Stoops applauded the new four-team playoff format approved Tuesday by university presidents in Washington. The format was agreed to last week in Chicago by conference commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director.

“We are allowing the best teams in the country to determine a national champion on the football field, and as a coach, that's what you want,” Stoops said. “Our student-athletes, our universities, college football and the fans are all winners in this new playoff format.”

Beginning in the 2014 season, four teams will be selected at the end of the regular season to participate in the new tournament to crown a national champion. A selection committee will choose the participants, which will be seeded and play in semifinals, which will rotate between existing bowls.

“I've long advocated the many positives of maintaining the bowl system as part of the postseason,” Stoops said. “I'm very pleased that student-athletes competing for a national championship will still get to enjoy the rich part of college football's tradition that is that week-long bowl experience.

“To me, this decision further enhances the importance of our regular season games, and is good for college football and our student-athletes all the way around.”