As an avid college football fan, I have been wanting
to address this issue for a while now. My question is this - why is
there no post-season playoff in college football? There has been much
speculation over the past few years that points to the eventual
implementation of a playoff, but so far nothing has come to fruition.
With so many reasons for a playoff, I simply can’t fathom why college
football authorities are so against playoffs. What reasons you ask?
Well, here are just a few:
1. Every other sport in America does
it. Why do you think that is? Because it makes sense! What playoffs
provide that the current bowl-game program does not is a clear-cut
winner. There is never any debate as to who deserves the title unlike
in the BCS bowl series.
2. Sometimes the polls disagree over who
should be in the title game. Currently, three polls are used to
determine the championship match-up - the AP poll, the BCS poll and the
Coaches poll. In the past, these polls have disagreed about rankings.
If these supposed flawless, algorithm-run super computers can’t decide
on the top two teams, how are we supposed to know?
3. Scheduling
- There are only 11 or 12 regular season games for each team during the
college football season. This means that some of the best teams in the
country simply don’t have enough room in their schedule to play other
great teams. If they don’t ever play each other (like they would in a
playoff), then there is no way to know who is the best aside from mere
speculation.
4. Every year some team or another gets left out of
the title race because of the limited number of teams (2) vying for the
No. 1 spot. Last year, Boise State went 13-0, but were snubbed for a
chance at the championship. Now, were they as good as Ohio State or
Florida? Maybe, maybe not. But we can’t know for sure. This is just one
more reason why there should be a playoff - so teams with perfect
records can square off against each other in order to find out who is
really the best.
5. Last but not least, let’s forget about being
fair and giving all the deserving teams a shot at the championship. Why
should there be a playoff? Because it would be the most exciting event
of the year, that’s why. Just think about the matchups - USC vs.
Oklahoma, LSU vs. Wisconsin, Florida vs. West Virginia, and Texas vs.
Michigan. Who wouldn’t want to watch? I am on the verge of drooling
just thinking about it.
To sum up, without a playoff we can never
really know who is the best team in college football. We can know who
is the better of two good teams, chosen by computers to compete in the
championship game. But we can never know who is the outright best in
the entire country.
On the other hand, there have been certain
arguments against a playoff in the past. But as I see it, these
arguments do not hold water anymore. First, it used to be true that the
NCAA didn’t want the season to go past January 1st. But seeing as how
the bowl games go well into the first week of January, that argument
can be thrown out the window. Second, college football authorities are
worried that an extension of the season to accommodate a playoff would
make the season too long, subjecting the players to an overly rough
season. But even in a playoff system, only 4 teams would play more
games than they do now. Furthermore, half of those would play only 1
more game. Come on!!! College football players, especially the ones who
play for the best teams in the nation, can handle an extra game or two.
And here’s the kicker - more games = more money.
I
just don’t see a downside. Implementing a playoff structure to college
football would bring in more money for those involved and more
attention to the game as a whole. Conversely, the changes (# of games
and length of season) would hardly be noticeable. I think that college
football does, in fact, have a playoff in the future. However, the
powers that be need to hurry up and do it already. There are so many
reasons for a playoff and none against it.
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