By Taylor King
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Well the day has come to where we will have a college football playoff. Praise to the college football Gods right? Not quite. The wool has been pulled over the sheep's eyes with carefully constructed press releases and quips from athletic directors and college presidents. There are quite a number of points in which I want to dispute that seems to be spewing out of analysts, fans, and athletic administrators mouths over the new college football playoff.
Now it will be resolved on the field. This statement has really confused me. What has the BCS done since its inception in 1998? Every national champion has been declared on the field of play. Pretty sure all the number oneās ended up playing number twoās in the BCS National Championship Game. That was hardly the case before 1998. The previous system was more flawed than the BCS. No, not everyoneās team ended up in the final pairing but with only two top spots available, not everyone could be invited to the dance. Yes there were a few years where there was one controversial pick that may have got left out but overall the BCS did what it was intended to do.
The playoff is a step in the right direction. Well if itās a step in the right direction, where are we going? What is the ultimate goal? There is never going to be a perfect system and someone will always complain. Iāve heard so many people say that a four team playoff is the ārightā number. Playoff expansion is going to occur and folks, its going to be sooner rather than later. There is too much money involved for the powers at be to keep it at a four team playoff. This is the primary reason I prefer the BCS over March Madness and the new college football playoff.
We are giving the fans what they wanted. Fan input has some but very little to do with this decision. There is going to be so much more money involved with the new college football playoff and ultimately that is what decided this playoff. There are going to be millions and millions of more dollars with the new playoff especially once it expands to six or eight teams. What most people do not understand is these universities and conferences are getting their cake and eating it to because the bowls are not going anywhere. We are still going to have 30+ bowl games each season which is fine. Some people question why bowls are still going to be played. My answer is who has ever gone to the Independence, Sun, Armed Forces, Gator, Liberty or any other minor bowl expecting to see a national champion declared? If your answer was anything other than zero, you would be incorrect. And most bowl games still do pretty well in attendance and in television dollars.
This is a more fair system. How is this more fair? An undeserving third or fourth team is going to get a chance for a national championship. Quick, name the best third place team in the country since the BCS was instituted? Auburn in 2004 comes to mind. They deserved a shot for a national championship. Maybe UGA in 2007 but did they honestly deserve a shot for the national championship? Probably not. Oklahoma State last season jumps to mind but the team they were supposed to be in place of won the national championship in Alabama. Okay those are the best third teams. Please name me a fourth best team since 1998. You canāt honestly say that any fourth best team in the country deserves a shot for a national championship. SEC fans think about this: Oregon is the fourth seed last year in a playoff and upsets LSU. Oklahoma State loses to Alabama but in the game, Trent Richardson goes down. Somehow Oregon upsets Alabama in the national championship game. Pretty sure some folks in the Yellowhammer and Bayou states are going to be complaining about how unfair and stupid a playoff is.
(Insert non major BCS team here) will get a shot now. Hahahaha. If you donāt think the major āfiveā conferences are going to control this show, you apparently do not know the dynamic of college football. Its still going to be just as hard for a Boise State, Houston, or any other non Big Five conference member to get a spot in the playoff. It will almost be impossible for a team that is not a member of a major conference to get in the new playoff system and that is one of the biggest travesties of the new format. Television and money (a bit redundant) really control what is happening and just like before, a non BCS team does not have the clout to get in the playoffs.
A selection committee is better than computers and polls. If you need to see how a selection committee can screw up a playoff look at March Madness and the controversy that is involved every year. See the number one and number two teams are usually easy to pick out. Number three is sometimes right there and we can pencil them into that spot. But the fourth best team in the country usually doesnāt have a much better resume than the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth best teams. People cry now because the (insert said privileged conference here) is getting all the love and gets a shot for championship crystal. Now anytime the fourth seed is picked and its controversial, which will be EVERY SINGLE YEAR of the playoff, we will hear more rumors of behind the scenes payoffs, favoritism, secret conference love, selection committee alumni picking their team or conference, etc.
Am I totally against a playoff? No and I am anxious to see how long this playoff format lasts and how well it works. By the way, I give it less than three years until there is a major format change and less than 10 until we expand to at least six teams. But one thing we can all agree on is that college football is now going to be forever changed.
Twitter | Contact Taylor King | RSS
Well the day has come to where we will have a college football playoff. Praise to the college football Gods right? Not quite. The wool has been pulled over the sheep's eyes with carefully constructed press releases and quips from athletic directors and college presidents. There are quite a number of points in which I want to dispute that seems to be spewing out of analysts, fans, and athletic administrators mouths over the new college football playoff.
Now it will be resolved on the field. This statement has really confused me. What has the BCS done since its inception in 1998? Every national champion has been declared on the field of play. Pretty sure all the number oneās ended up playing number twoās in the BCS National Championship Game. That was hardly the case before 1998. The previous system was more flawed than the BCS. No, not everyoneās team ended up in the final pairing but with only two top spots available, not everyone could be invited to the dance. Yes there were a few years where there was one controversial pick that may have got left out but overall the BCS did what it was intended to do.
The playoff is a step in the right direction. Well if itās a step in the right direction, where are we going? What is the ultimate goal? There is never going to be a perfect system and someone will always complain. Iāve heard so many people say that a four team playoff is the ārightā number. Playoff expansion is going to occur and folks, its going to be sooner rather than later. There is too much money involved for the powers at be to keep it at a four team playoff. This is the primary reason I prefer the BCS over March Madness and the new college football playoff.
We are giving the fans what they wanted. Fan input has some but very little to do with this decision. There is going to be so much more money involved with the new college football playoff and ultimately that is what decided this playoff. There are going to be millions and millions of more dollars with the new playoff especially once it expands to six or eight teams. What most people do not understand is these universities and conferences are getting their cake and eating it to because the bowls are not going anywhere. We are still going to have 30+ bowl games each season which is fine. Some people question why bowls are still going to be played. My answer is who has ever gone to the Independence, Sun, Armed Forces, Gator, Liberty or any other minor bowl expecting to see a national champion declared? If your answer was anything other than zero, you would be incorrect. And most bowl games still do pretty well in attendance and in television dollars.
This is a more fair system. How is this more fair? An undeserving third or fourth team is going to get a chance for a national championship. Quick, name the best third place team in the country since the BCS was instituted? Auburn in 2004 comes to mind. They deserved a shot for a national championship. Maybe UGA in 2007 but did they honestly deserve a shot for the national championship? Probably not. Oklahoma State last season jumps to mind but the team they were supposed to be in place of won the national championship in Alabama. Okay those are the best third teams. Please name me a fourth best team since 1998. You canāt honestly say that any fourth best team in the country deserves a shot for a national championship. SEC fans think about this: Oregon is the fourth seed last year in a playoff and upsets LSU. Oklahoma State loses to Alabama but in the game, Trent Richardson goes down. Somehow Oregon upsets Alabama in the national championship game. Pretty sure some folks in the Yellowhammer and Bayou states are going to be complaining about how unfair and stupid a playoff is.
(Insert non major BCS team here) will get a shot now. Hahahaha. If you donāt think the major āfiveā conferences are going to control this show, you apparently do not know the dynamic of college football. Its still going to be just as hard for a Boise State, Houston, or any other non Big Five conference member to get a spot in the playoff. It will almost be impossible for a team that is not a member of a major conference to get in the new playoff system and that is one of the biggest travesties of the new format. Television and money (a bit redundant) really control what is happening and just like before, a non BCS team does not have the clout to get in the playoffs.
A selection committee is better than computers and polls. If you need to see how a selection committee can screw up a playoff look at March Madness and the controversy that is involved every year. See the number one and number two teams are usually easy to pick out. Number three is sometimes right there and we can pencil them into that spot. But the fourth best team in the country usually doesnāt have a much better resume than the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth best teams. People cry now because the (insert said privileged conference here) is getting all the love and gets a shot for championship crystal. Now anytime the fourth seed is picked and its controversial, which will be EVERY SINGLE YEAR of the playoff, we will hear more rumors of behind the scenes payoffs, favoritism, secret conference love, selection committee alumni picking their team or conference, etc.
Am I totally against a playoff? No and I am anxious to see how long this playoff format lasts and how well it works. By the way, I give it less than three years until there is a major format change and less than 10 until we expand to at least six teams. But one thing we can all agree on is that college football is now going to be forever changed.
