Non-traditional teams with great seasons and little hope for a national championship cause fans and writers to holler for a playoff system in college football every year. The ruckus often starts mid-season, as one non-traditional team separates itself from the pack as that year’s great hope of the non-powerhouse football teams. This year the chatter started even earlier, as there are six or seven unexpectedly great teams in the top 25.
It’s hard to change anything in college football, because there’s so much money tied up in it for so many parties. That’s why adding a game (the BCS championship) to the season was the only way that anything got changed originally - no one wants to give up their piece of the pie.
The problem with a playoff system thus far is that in most proposed systems, the major bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, Rose) would lose their elite status. They wouldn’t be able to have the best teams playing in their games because they would already be playing in playoff games. The people in charge of these bowls would do everything in their power to squash a system that lost their games money and status.
If there was a system that minimized the amount of money lost, kept all the bowls intact (including the elites) and had legitimacy in the eyes of the people, that system would have a valid chance at being adopted. Here’s a way it could happen:
Since we can’t eliminate any post-season games and have the plan be accepted, we won’t. We’ll create more games in the form of a seven-game, eight-team playoff including the top eight BCS-ranked teams. First obstacle avoided: we won’t alienate the moneymakers up at the BCS.
The match-ups will be paired March Madness style, with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7, 3 playing 6, and 4 playing 5. The playoff’s first four games will start December 15, after finals week at most colleges (knocks out the “a playoff places strain on student-athletes” argument). After the first four games are decided, the winners will move on to the next two games, to be played on December 22 (giving athletes and coaches time to be home for Christmas, knocking out the “anti-family” argument). The final game will be played at the same time as the current BCS championship.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
I've seen a lot of playoff proposals, not buying into any of them, but this one's got some new elements.
Some of them are curious, though. Having a BCS championship game in South Bend actually sounds cool, but in reality it'll be cold. To have a championship game outdoors in January? That might not be too fun to watch, and it might disadvantage, say, an Ohio State/Florida rematch, or a goofy Boston College/LSU game.
Same with Temple/Philadelphia, but the MAC's championship game is played in Detroit's domed Ford Field, and the NCAA's home is Indianapolis. Hey, lookit that big plush RCA Dome they got there.