Ah playoffs. The great equalizer in everyone’s mind, that truly allows us to determine who the best is, who the true “champion” is. For years NCAA Division 1 football was pretty much the only sport to not have a playoff to determine the overall champion.
Without a playoff, it was said to be a broken and dishonest system that favored a select few and ignored the rest, no matter how deserving they may have been to earn a chance to play a game to be crowned champions.
Now, we have the playoff, where a committee selects the four best teams, usually from the power five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, PAC Twelve and SEC), to determine who truly is the best team in Division 1 football. But is this truly the answer, truly the best way to go about it? Is it possible that this too could be a flawed system that favors a few?
Some might, and I definitely will, argue yes. And this season will probably turn out to be a perfect example of how and why. Currently, there are eleven undefeated teams in the top-25: #1 Alabama, #2 Ohio St., #3 Michigan, #4 Clemson, #5 Washington, #6 Texas A&M, #8 Nebraska, #9 Baylor, #12 West Virginia, #14 Boise St., and #20 Western Michigan. Alabama and Texas A&M will face each other this Saturday, and Michigan will play Ohio St. in the final Saturday of the regular season, so theoretically, nine, that’s right nine, teams could end the regular season and go on to win their respective conference championship game, undefeated. Now, how to you determine the four best from nine undefeated teams. It’s safe to say that Western Michigan probably has no chance of making it to the playoff, no matter if they are undefeated and deserving. It’s also a safe estimate that neither will Boise State, even though they have made it a theme of theirs to play and defeat top-tier teams in premiere games. Things could, and probably will, get very confusing and frustrating when it comes time to choose college football’s final four, and it’s safe to say that many, many people are going to be very, very angry about it.
I will argue that the BCS was in fact a better system than the current college football playoff format, as it inherently had created a playoff; we just called it by a different name. The playoff under the BCS was known as the regular season. Under the BCS, any loss, at any time, could destroy a team’s chance for the title. It didn’t matter if you lost in Week 1 or Week 12, a loss and your championship hopes were pretty much over. When other teams around you started to lose as well, that’s when things got really interesting.
Now there were arguments, disagreements, and disappointments with the BCS, but the same is true for the current playoff. No matter what happens, someone is going to be unhappy. I just preferred a season-long playoff as opposed to a single day playoff.
Without a playoff, it was said to be a broken and dishonest system that favored a select few and ignored the rest, no matter how deserving they may have been to earn a chance to play a game to be crowned champions.
Now, we have the playoff, where a committee selects the four best teams, usually from the power five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, PAC Twelve and SEC), to determine who truly is the best team in Division 1 football. But is this truly the answer, truly the best way to go about it? Is it possible that this too could be a flawed system that favors a few?
Some might, and I definitely will, argue yes. And this season will probably turn out to be a perfect example of how and why. Currently, there are eleven undefeated teams in the top-25: #1 Alabama, #2 Ohio St., #3 Michigan, #4 Clemson, #5 Washington, #6 Texas A&M, #8 Nebraska, #9 Baylor, #12 West Virginia, #14 Boise St., and #20 Western Michigan. Alabama and Texas A&M will face each other this Saturday, and Michigan will play Ohio St. in the final Saturday of the regular season, so theoretically, nine, that’s right nine, teams could end the regular season and go on to win their respective conference championship game, undefeated. Now, how to you determine the four best from nine undefeated teams. It’s safe to say that Western Michigan probably has no chance of making it to the playoff, no matter if they are undefeated and deserving. It’s also a safe estimate that neither will Boise State, even though they have made it a theme of theirs to play and defeat top-tier teams in premiere games. Things could, and probably will, get very confusing and frustrating when it comes time to choose college football’s final four, and it’s safe to say that many, many people are going to be very, very angry about it.
I will argue that the BCS was in fact a better system than the current college football playoff format, as it inherently had created a playoff; we just called it by a different name. The playoff under the BCS was known as the regular season. Under the BCS, any loss, at any time, could destroy a team’s chance for the title. It didn’t matter if you lost in Week 1 or Week 12, a loss and your championship hopes were pretty much over. When other teams around you started to lose as well, that’s when things got really interesting.
Now there were arguments, disagreements, and disappointments with the BCS, but the same is true for the current playoff. No matter what happens, someone is going to be unhappy. I just preferred a season-long playoff as opposed to a single day playoff.