With the news this year that the highest level of college football will finally implement some sort of playoff system, I wanted to talk about how this is a very long time coming. Plus, I haven't written in a while so hey, why not...
I have been saying for many years now that the BCS is bad for Division 1A college football (now titled the FBS level). I understand the tradition of bowl games but the last decade has just proven, in my mind, that the BCS is a broken system. I even wrote a couple papers in college about how terrible the system is and how much they need a playoff.
If you look at the level of college football right under FBS, the FCS (or any other level of play for that matter), you can see how successful a playoff system can be. They have a great combination of using conference champions as well as at-large bids to create an exciting environment for finding the best team in the nation. It's been working for them for a long time.
So, why has it taken the FBS level so long to catch up? The obvious answer is money. Then there are also those fools who say that the BCS system works. But how do they explain the situation in 2003 back when USC and LSU split the national title? That's simply outrageous.
There are also times like this past season when the championship game was a rematch of a game we had already seen: LSU vs. Alabama. LSU had won the first game, Alabama won the "championship" game. OK, so each team beat each other once...what has this solved? Some could make the argument that Alabama got it done when it counted most, but do you know how hard it is to beat a team twice in one season? Extremely hard, especially in football and especially when it's already a rivalry game.
Alright, now that I've gotten my little rant in about how awful the BCS is, the question now becomes...what kind of playoff system will they create?
I am extremely hopeful that they will go about this the right way. The best thing to do, in my opinion, would be to adapt a similar system to what the FCS level has, but I know this is just a fantasy. There is too much money to be made in bowl games for them to completely eliminate them. However, the next best solution would be a 1, 2, 3, 4 system. Simply have a committee (similar to the type of committee they use to select the field for the NCAA Tournament every year) pick the top four teams in the nation, seed them #1 through #4, and have then playoff against each other. This way, you can still play the other bowl games while also finding a TRUE national champion.
There are some that are saying they need to keep the BCS involved in the selection process, which would just be insanity. The BCS should be put to death, buried and forgotten. If they find a way to keep the BCS involved, I'll be furious.
There is also the question of where they would play the semi-final rounds of the playoff (the championship would obviously be on a neutral site). There are basically two ways of doing it. One is to play them on a neutral site. This would likely involve making say, the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl semi-final playoff games. The other way to do it would be to have the higher seeded school host the game.
I think both ways are actually good ideas. Looking at the first one, it's a great way of keeping the bowl game tradition alive while also implementing the playoff. As for the second one, how awesome would it be for a school to host a playoff game? Imagine the type of atmosphere if a school like Ohio State or Michigan got to host a playoff game. I know that some are saying that there are some schools who's home towns are just too small to host such a big event, and maybe that's true. But I have faith that they could find a way.
Truth is, no matter what kind of a system they develop, it will be better than what they have had. No longer will I have to suffer through watching a team like Boise State, the year they beat Oklahoma and went undefeated, not even have a shot at the title.
I hope you enjoyed this and feel free to argue with me.
