Bigger is not always better. Why further College Football Playoff expansion would be detrimental

~ Grady Leatherwood ~ Leave a comment
Photo by Grady Leatherwood
The 2021 Georgia Bulldogs celebrate their national championship after winning the CFP

Following the implementation of the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014 to determine the national champion, the system has faced frequent scrutiny from players, coaches, fans, athletic directors and the media. Originating as a four-team playoff, the flaws in the system were fatally exposed during the 2023 season, in which the undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion Florida State Seminoles were left out for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion Alabama Crimson Tide, who had one loss. Immediately following the season, the CFP was expanded to include 12 teams and the top five highest-ranked conference champions.

However, the system once again came under fire during the 2025 edition, when the selection committee left out the one-loss Notre Dame Fighting Irish while three-loss Alabama made the field.

“It should be 16 teams in my opinion,” Pete Bevacqua, the athletic director at Notre Dame, said. “It creates more opportunity, more narratives around schools and yet it preserves the integrity and importance of the regular season.”

Bevacqua is not the only one calling for expansion of the current format. The Big Ten Conference and Fox Sports have come out as staunch supporters of a 24-team playoff. “We feel strongly about it, and we’re working really hard with our colleagues and the other conferences,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said. Petitti’s push has been supported by all members of his conference, in addition to the ACC and Big 12 Conference.

However, Petitti’s push for a 24-team College Football Playoff would be detrimental to the college football regular season, as well as bowl games.

In a 24-team playoff, teams with several losses would be included in the field, rewarding, rather than punishing, teams for losing. Brad Crawford of CBS Sports published an article showing what a potential 24-team playoff would’ve looked like for the 2025 season. His scenario includes Iowa, who finished the regular season with an 8-4 record, equating to losing a third of games played. Rewarding Iowa with a playoff berth would significantly diminish the importance of games during the regular season.

Big games during the regular season would feel less important because their playoff implications would be nonexistent. The rivalry between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines is one of the most iconic and fierce in all of sports. Michigan entered their 2025 matchup with Ohio State needing to win to keep any playoff hopes alive. The increased playoff stakes of the game added extra fuel to the burning rivalry. In a world with a 24-team playoff, Michigan would’ve been safely in the field of the playoffs, and the game’s significance would’ve been greatly abated.

Photo by Grady Leatherwood
Kirby Smart, 2022

Additionally, a 24-team playoff would ruin bowl games. After missing the playoffs in 2025, Notre Dame opted to skip a bowl game in protest of missing the playoffs. As a team, we’ve decided to withdraw our name for consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season,” the team announced. “We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we’re hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026.”

Expanding the field to 24 teams would make bowl games feel even more like a participation trophy rather than a reward for a successful season. “I think those bowl games are great experiences. I played in them, I’ve coached in them, I love them, that’s an opportunity,” said Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart. “But the more teams you give an opportunity to decide things on the field, like you do, whether it’s college basketball, high school football, old 1-AA football back when they had the playoff.”

While Smart advocates for the importance of bowl games, he supports playoff expansion in the name of inclusion. However, Smart compares playoff expansion to the NCAA tournament in college basketball, known for upsets. However, basketball has more parity between the top tier and lower end teams. Because basketball teams have smaller rosters and the game is more volatile, it is more likely for upsets to occur. In two seasons of the 12-team College Football Playoff so far, Group of Six conference teams have yet to be competitive in games.

As a die-hard fan of college football, more football is usually better. However, expanding the playoffs would diminish the quality of games and result in a poorer product.

Currently, the 2026 edition of the College Football Playoff will feature 12 teams for the third straight year.

Drake ; The Culture Vulture

~ uripowell ~ Leave a comment

By Uri Powell
Alpharetta High School

Hip-Hop. One of the most respected and recognized genres of music. Hip-Hop is a huge makeshift of culture, authenticity, and history. Hip-Hop has many notable and remarkable artists including DJ Kool Herc, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, and more. Even though the story of hip-hop is changing over time, there are many modern artists who continue to shape the genre like Eminem, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar. Especially Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

The whole feud began in 2013, When Kendrick Lamar was featured on a song by Big Sean named “Control”. In the song, Kendrick Lamar mentioned various names of other notable rappers such as J. Cole, ASAP Rocky, Pusha T, Jay Electronica, and even Drake multiple times along with six other artists. Drake specifically did not love how he was called out and dissed in the song. Over the next few weeks, Drake stated that he took it personally, lost respect for the song and was uncertain about working with Kendrick Lamar.

For the next decade, Drake refused to work with Kendrick Lamar under any circumstances. Over time, the two developed the habit of underlying disses and insults about each other in songs. If you forward this timeline to oct. 2023, J. Cole released a song named “First Person Shooter” stating that himself, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar were the ultimate undisputed “Big Three” of modern hip-hop. Not too long after, Kendrick Lamar released a song titled “Like That” where Kendrick very clearly expressed that he would not like to be grouped with J. Cole and Drake and stated there is no ‘Big Three’, And that there’s only a “Big Me”. Many say this was the spark to recent rap battle between the two.

After Kendrick Lamar released “Like that”, Drake responded with a song named “Push Ups” which made fun of Kendricks height and his contract. Kendrick soon fueled the fire by releasing “Euphoria” which completely just disses Drake’s personality just after Drake released his song “Push Ups” in Apr. 2024. In May. 2024 Kendrick also released a couple more songs dissing Drake completely. One of those songs were named “Not Like Us”. The song “Not Like Us” states that Drake steals music from multiple locations in America, especially Atlanta, because he has no culture of his own. Kendrick included lyrics in the song aimed towards Drake like “How many opps you really got? I mean, it’s too many options”, “Certified boogeyman, I’m the one that upped the score with ’em”. Those lyrics reveal that Kendrick still does not associate himself with J. Cole and Drake in response to the song “First Person Shooter”.

Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us” became a historical global number-one hit. The song stayed at the top of charts, and took over social media. The song broke the all-time record for the longest running number one song in history of the hip-hop charts for 22 weeks. The day the song released, Spotify, the biggest music streaming service in the world, broke the record for the biggest single day streams with over 6.5 million streams in one day for a hip-hop song in U.S history.

In my opinion, the historical song of “Not Like Us” by Kendrick was proof he was one of the best rap/hip-hop artists of all time. Drake had his time to shine, and now it’s Kendricks time to take over. Since Drake fueled the fire, Kendrick put him out instead of the fire. Drake isn’t from America, he just utilizes it for money and fame. He invaded the hip-hop culture, he is a culture vulture and he got burned from trying to take over. Kendrick has remained popular and is considered impactful. Kendrick is such a great artist that he has 27 Grammy Awards which makes him the most recognized and awarded rap in history while Drake only has 5 Grammys, none of them are recent. We obviously can’t forget to mention that Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize for his album “DAMN”. He is also the first rapper in history to win any kind of award so important that he is also named one of the best poets in history. Kendrick makes history, Drake watches it, he’s probably sitting in his bed right now thinking ‘How can I write like Kendrick?’…Truth is, he can’t. He never will. Kendrick is one of kind. Kendrick could ruin his whole career is he wanted to.

A couple months after the song “Not like Us”, Drake sued his record label Universal Music Group. Why didn’t he sue Kendrick? Because he knew he would lose and most likely end up as a meme truthfully. Drake accused the record label of advertising Kendrick’s music more than his. I feel the judge was right the dispose the lawsuit, it’s his fault he can’t win a rap battle. Kendrick Lamar is just better, I’m listening to him while writing this article anyways. At the end of the day, Kendrick was ultimately right, Drake might have some people wrapped around his finger but when it comes to culture and true music, he’s not like us.

A Rising Tide: The Athens Music Scene Uplifts Everyone Involved

~ fiogna_ ~ Leave a comment

It’s no coincidence that Athens, Georgia is home to so many thriving artists. Iconic groups like R.E.M., The B-52s, and the Drive-By Truckers as well as less well-known (but equally loved) artists like Katie Pruitt and Daddy Upright all got their start as a part of the Athens music scene.

“The live scene [in Athens] is wonderful. It’s like, You can find everything from, like, big concerts to little niche bands… to basement shows,” says Atlanta-area local Madeline Willocks-Hodlick.

The diversity of the Athens music scene is one of its defining features. Not only does it host a wide range of events with musicians at all parts of their careers, but the community has artists from every genre. “Athens has a wonderful music scene with a wide mix of cultures and musical influences. ” Says Athens producer and drummer Shawn Collins. “I’ve worked with mainstream country, rock, indie punk/hardcore and alternative country bands from Athens and they all have the same love of performing live with their friends and being a part of the scene,” he explains. “The most common attribute has been their love of music. All music, not just what they are writing.”

The enthusiasm for music in Athens extends past the bands’ love of the art. Fans, artists, and venues work together to create a supportive environment for everyone involved.  “I immediately noticed the community in Athens where artists were supporting each other,” says Collins of his experience moving to Athens. “Rowdy shows at Tatsy World, Little Kings, The Roadhouse and the old Wild Wing Cafe in Athens were the best. The bands would ignore the setlist and invite friends up to sing and play along–never did that in the old rock bands. It was a new communal experience that changed my expectations of a performance.” 

This communal attitude extends to fans as well, notes Willocks-Hodlick: “There was this tiny show, it was just a lineup of local bands. And I freaking loved it because everyone there was just so kind… I actually fell over and then someone instantly started helping me up and asked me if I was okay. Like, total stranger.  I just love the culture around here around music.”

Stream Daddy Upright | Listen to Daddy Upright-This Is Where You Came From playlist online for free on SoundCloud

The support and enthusiasm of the community helps artists improve their craft. Collins grew up playing music in New York and moved to Athens as an adult. “Everything from the bands we performed with, the people that worked at the venues or went to the shows and even the climate in Georgia was a welcome change,” he says. “Being a part of the Athens music scene… and meeting all of the musicians along the way had a huge impact on my drumming and production skills.”

“I just love the culture around here around music, because the people who are in it are in it to make it better.” After the show where a total stranger helped her up, says Willocks-Hodlick, “I’ve kind of treasured the Athens music scene a little more ever since.”

Hooked on the Scroll.

~ Jeremiah M ~ Leave a comment
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By Jeremiah McKinney
North Cobb High School

A single notification. A quick glance at a phone. A few minutes spent scrolling through a social media feed. For millions of people, this routine seems harmless, yet it often turns into hours of continuous engagement. Social media has become deeply integrated into modern life, transforming the way people communicate, consume information and interact with the world around them. However, researchers have increasingly begun to question whether these platforms are simply tools for connection or systems deliberately designed to capture and maintain users’ attention. As rates of social media use continue to rise, scientists are examining the psychological and neurological mechanisms behind this behavior, revealing striking similarities between excessive social media use and other forms of addiction. Understanding the science behind social media addiction is essential for recognizing its effects on mental health, behavior and daily life.

“We’re all vulnerable to social approval,” said Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, in an interview with Big Think. Harris argues that social media platforms are intentionally designed to take advantage of basic human psychology, particularly the desire for connection, validation and acceptance. According to the Cleveland Clinic, social media interactions can trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of pleasure and reward. Each like, comment and notification provides a small sense of satisfaction, encouraging users to repeatedly return to their devices. The Cleveland Clinic also notes that these rewards can become habit-forming because they are unpredictable, resembling the reward systems commonly associated with gambling. Rather than simply serving as tools for communication, social media platforms have evolved into systems that continuously compete for users’ attention. As a result, what begins as casual social media use can gradually develop into compulsive behavior that many users struggle to recognize and control.

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The consequences of social media addiction extend far beyond excessive screen time. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), heavy social media use has been associated with increased levels of anxiety, depression and loneliness among adolescents and young adults. Researchers suggest that constant exposure to carefully curated online content can encourage unhealthy comparisons and negatively affect self-esteem. These findings were reflected in interviews conducted with North Cobb High School senior Lidia Sidorova. When asked about a time she realized social media was affecting her life more than it should, Sidorova recalled the COVID-19 pandemic and the feelings of exclusion that came from constantly viewing the lives of others online.

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“I knew that social media shouldn’t be making me feel bad,” Sidorova said.

Social media addiction can also affect students’ ability to focus and succeed academically. According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine, excessive social media use has been linked to decreased attention spans, lower academic performance and increased procrastination among students. The constant stream of notifications, videos and online interactions can make it difficult for users to maintain focus on schoolwork for extended periods of time. This concern was echoed by North Cobb High School senior Sebastian Zambrano, who said his frequent use of short-form content on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels contributed to a decrease in his attention span. When asked whether social media helps or hurts academic performance, Zambrano said it primarily hurts students because of how distracting it can be. While social media can provide educational resources and opportunities for communication, research suggests that excessive use often interferes with concentration and productivity, making it more difficult for students to perform at their full potential.

Despite the risks associated with excessive social media use, many researchers acknowledge that social media is not entirely harmful. According to the Pew Research Center, social media allows users to maintain relationships, access information and connect with communities they may not otherwise encounter. The impact of social media often depends on how it is used and the amount of time spent on these platforms. This perspective was shared by Sidorova once again, who said social media can have both positive and negative effects on mental health and academic performance depending on how it is used. While social media can provide opportunities for communication, creativity and learning, experts warn that problems arise when usage becomes excessive and begins to interfere with daily responsibilities, relationships and overall well-being. Understanding this balance is essential when examining the growing concern surrounding social media addiction.

As social media continues to play an increasingly important role in everyday life, understanding the science behind its addictive nature has become more important than ever. Research from organizations such as the Cleveland Clinic, the American Psychological Association and the National Library of Medicine suggests that social media platforms can influence the brain’s reward system, affect mental health and impact academic performance. The experiences shared by Lidia Sidorova and Sebastian Zambrano further demonstrate that the effects of social media addiction are not limited to research studies but are evident in the lives of students who use these platforms daily.

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Although social media has transformed the way people communicate, learn and share information, its addictive nature cannot be ignored. The research demonstrates that social media platforms are designed to capture attention by appealing to the brain’s reward system, while the experiences of students such as Sidorova and Zambrano highlight the real-world effects these platforms can have on mental health, attention spans and daily life.

As social media continues to evolve, users must become more aware of how these platforms influence their behavior and develop healthy habits that promote balance rather than dependence. Understanding the science behind social media addiction is not simply about limiting screen time. It is about recognizing how technology affects human behavior and ensuring that people remain in control of the platforms they use, rather than allowing those platforms to control them.

How many transfers are too many? Why college athletes need a transfer limit

~ Reese Johnson ~ Leave a comment

By Reese Johnson
Tombs County High School

For centuries, college athletics have been built on loyalty, but the transfer portal has decided to throw away the culture athletes across the country have dedicated their lives to creating. While athletes should have the opportunity to find the best fit for their academic and athletic careers, there should also be a line drawn on the number of transfers allowed. Without restrictions, it creates an environment of distrust and disloyalty .

Team bonds take time to be developed, and teams are unable to do that with the transfer portal. The culture of different athletic departments is beginning to be lost due to a lack of stability provided by the athletes. Coaches spend countless hours investing in athletes only to watch them leave after one season. Teammates who have bonds require chemistry and time spent together, but the transfer portal creates a space of wondering what your teammates’ next move will be. College teams were once about overcoming adversity united as a team, but now, once a conflict arises, the team scatters.

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Another aspect of the game that the transfer portal has created is uneven playing fields. Larger schools have more influence over where a player goes due to having more resources and a greater opportunity for exposure. Smaller schools often become used as stepping stones for athletes to find their footing as they experience the college sports world for the first time. This creates harder playing situations for the smaller schools that are constantly having to rebuild their rosters during the offseason.

Supporters of an unlimited number of transfers for athletes argue that athletes should get the same access to transferring schools as academic students do. While that can be viewed as a fair point, Athletes have different privileges than regular students, such as, scholarships, training, and unique opportunities.

A limit of one to two transfers still allows athletes to seek better situations while still keeping the integrity of college sports.

College Athletics should consist of development, commitment and stability. The transfer portal has granted athletes with valuable opportunities, but unlimited transfers create unintended consequences. Setting boundaries with the amount of transfers per athlete can give athletes the freedom to find better opportunities while also keeping the culture of college sports. Finding the right balance is essential to preserving the future of athletics.

Batman is better than Superman

~ samcrumly ~ Leave a comment

By Sam Crumly
Stonehaven Upper School

One of the main reasons why Detective Comics (DC) has any traction at all is because of these two characters. They have been around for over 87 years. DC has never really had a successful career in building a cinematic universe unlike Marvel. But the few movies that have done well have a common theme. They are either about Batman or Superman movies. But who is better? Batman, it’s Batman, Batman is better.

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Christopher Nolan states that, “Superman is essentially a god, but Batman is more like Hercules: he’s a human being, very flawed, and bridges the divide.” Superman was an alien who was given powers by virtue of just being on earth at all. Batman is a human who actually had to be creative to beat his villains. The thing that makes Superman interesting as a character is how he deals with a god complex. That is not a relatable struggle at all, his whole thing is that he is too overpowered for all of his bad guys, it’s boring and not relatable. Batman is just a rich dude who isn’t built like a cyber truck. He has to actually think about how to beat the bad guy, and even though he doesn’t have all the powers of a god like Superman, he is still responsible. Both Batman and Superman have a no kill rule, but Batman is dealing with a much worse situation. It’s easy to have a no kill rule when you’re fighting some budget humpty dumpty. Batman is being nice in Gotham. Everyone likes Batman, even Barack Obama, he doesn’t just do things operatically he has to put effort in.

In the 2000s when the Dark Knight movies were coming out, everyone loved them. Even Barack Obama praised the movies made by Nolan. Along with Kevin Hart and Henry Cavil. The literal actor for Superman knows it too. Batman is just better, the whole man of Steele movie was just larping Batman the whole time. Superman isn’t bad, but Batman is better. Even now the new Batman movie is better than the new Superman movie. they are both extremely different, Batman still bets out Superman. Just look at the box office numbers the new Batman movie made 772.5 million while Superman made 670.1 million. They both made a lot of money but still, Batman beat Superman in the box office.

When asking a student about this debate they agreed, “Batman is just better.” Because he is! Who genuinely is saying Superman is better? I don’t know, because they don’t exist, because everyone agrees Batman is better. He, Superman, and Wonder Woman carried DC for many years, but that doesn’t change the cultural effect Batman has had on the world, and in the DC Universe.