Why playoffs in college football?

Why Playoffs in Football?

I have less than an hour before kickoff, so I need to jump right in this so I can have time to watch the games today. Before I do, those who have read my first part of the wrestling blog can catch the rest on blogspot.com, which is where I will be blogging out ideas on how to get wrestling fans.

So, let’s look at this, why should there be Division I playoffs in football?

Lots of media whine and cry about this all the time, and they get upset when the teams they think should be in the championship mix are left out. Ironically, this is interesting because Penn State is currently undefeated, but has been left out of the championship picture before, even with an undefeated record.

So let’s chew on this for a second. Why do we want playoffs?

I wonder a lot about this, and I personally think it is a personal belief of the media. It just seems to me that the media wants to force the NCAA to have playoffs for Division I, but the hypocrisy here is that when you report news and sports, you are to do just that… report it, not CREATE it.

We all have our opinions when it comes to sports, I am no different, but we cross the line when we start thinking that the sports world ought to do what we want them to do. This is one of the reasons there is such a big debate for playoffs in college football, especially in Division I…

(and YEAH, I know it’s the FBS or CBS or CSI or something, but hey, it’s my blog!)

So why have playoffs? What is the real reason behind it? Well, as you know, the playoffs is a tournament styled form of competition which gives more than 2 teams a chance to compete for a championship.

Sounds simple but follow me….

The key words being “more than two”. If it’s just two, then it’s called a championship, a competition between the two BEST teams. But to imply that there should be a playoff means that there are more than 2 teams that could make a case as being the best.

Now, factor out professional sports because we’re talking about college kids here, remembering that those guys in the pros get paid for it. So the idea of playoffs in Division I is based on the idea that there should be more than 2 teams competing for the National Championship.

THIS is where the argument really begins. Every year people in the media start creating the hysteria, many times they start after 2 weeks. What if this team and this team and THIS team finish undefeated, what happens then?

In fact, we can use the current BCS ranking as an example. Currently Texas is number one, followed by Alabama and Penn State. All three are undefeated. What if all three finish the season undefeated?

Well certainly the Big 10 will cry out for justice because they felt that the conference was slighted a chance in the National Championship (although they’ll GLADLY take the Rose Bowl and all that MONEY!).

But there’s another argument here, one many don’t really say much about. Many people want to see the playoffs because they want to give the “little guy” a shot at the championship.

The “little guy” being teams out of the power conferences. I bring to your attention Boise State, currently ranked #12 and came off a win last night over San Jose State.

The media wants to see schools like this in the national spotlight, and I don’t blame them. It’s always a “feel-good” story when teams out of the power conferences go undefeated. Several teams have had some success, and several others are in the mix… they call them “BCS Busters”. Teams like ECU, TCU, Utah, BYU and others have made news because of their early or continuing success.

And because of that, the media wants us to root for the “little guy”. So when a team goes undefeated, we immediately want the world to crown them champions, or put them in the National Championship. And when they can’t get that, they try to force them in with the idea of “playoffs”.

But how legit is this?

Now it might sound like I’m talking in favor of the power conferences, as if that rich cat in Oklahoma State just sent me a whopping donation on my blog, but that’s not it. I mean, I graduated from a Southern Conference school (not to be confused with SEC), so I know about the “little guy”. But many times the media, in an attempt to look for a great story, tries to create one.

Still….should there be playoffs in football?

As mentioned earlier, the reasons for playoffs in Division I are theoretically to give the overachieving “little guy” a chance, and to place more than 2 teams in competition for the National Championship. But there are so many other factors, such as money, but the media doesn’t care about that…only the colleges and universities.

But let’s say there is a playoff…who gets invited? Right now the teams out of the power conferences that are ranked are Boise State and Utah…but that’s 12 teams down. You can’t have a post season with that many teams and hope to finish before the end of the year. That’s too many teams! So if the idea is to get the “little guy” in, the idea becomes a crusade just to get teams like Boise State and Utah in. And even though those teams are good, where do you draw the line on who is good, and who are the BEST?

How many teams would be in it, or should there be a “sliding scale”? For example, if Texas and Alabama finish undefeated (just saying) and all the other power conferences lose at least one game (including Penn State) then is there REALLY a need for a playoff if you have the two best teams?

But what if Boise State…

NO! I said the two BEST TEAMS, not the feel good stories of the year! I am not going to argue about Boise State being good, they are very good and have proven it year after year. And we know about that game where they beat Oklahoma. But you cannot tell me that this team, which has only beaten ONE top 25 team in #17 Oregon State is in the same category as any power conference team that goes undefeated.

If Boise State goes undefeated, they would have beaten 2 teams that were ranked throughout the course of the year (Oregon State and Fresno State). That’s fine… but tell me how many ranked teams Texas and Alabama would have beaten, not to mention the conference championship game?

We’re talking a whole different plane of competition. So if a power conference school goes undefeated, they get greater favor than a team not in a power conference school. Now, Utah has a legit argument too, if they go undefeated, and I personally think they might jump OVER Boise State because if they go undefeated, they would have had the tougher schedule.

And all this is fine when we talk about undefeated teams…but it really gets wild when there are NO undefeated teams…what do you do then? What if all the undefeated teams lose, who then is the best teams to compete in the BCS Championship. Well of course we have the rankings to identify that, but it still makes for debate.

I know there is no real answer to the playoffs issue, but I wondered how much easier it would be if some of the conferences took some measures to help themselves. For example, the Pac-10 and Big 10 don’t have conference championships, which means in theory they can have two undefeated teams that don’t have to play one another…just a theory. Why not get the power conferences to at least 12 teams so they can have a championship like the SEC, ACC and Big 12? Would it be so hard for the Pac-10 to absorb Fresno State and San Jose State for example, making them a 12 team conference?

Would it be too hard to get the MWC and WAC together again, so you’d have Boise State, BYU, Utah, Air Force, TCU and others in a much more competitive conference? You’d have enough to have a conference championship, and if anybody comes out of THAT undefeated, then you’d have a real argument for a BCS Champion contender.

I think before you start throwing teams in the playoff mix, you first have to identify the best teams. Until you do, we’re just picking the teams as the rankings show it, and lots of times those rankings can be deceptive…I mean, where is that #9 Clemson team now? Where is that West Virginia team now that was so highly ranked, or that Wisconsin team? Let the teams prove it in their conference, and in the conference championships. Would it be too hard for the Big 10 to add one more team? Now, I can’t help you with the Big East, but you get my point.

Anyway, just something to run my mouth about. I’ve been typing too long and I got 7 minutes to get some pancakes, bacon and get my spot for college football!!!!