While March Madness was still going
on, I was wondering about the implications of having a playoff system in
college football. This is a topic that’s been hotly contested over the years,
but I think it’s finally time for a change and that a playoff system should be
implemented. I believe there would be an increase in competition with the
potential to contend for the BCS championship despite not being the #1 or #2
team, but instead, through winning a playoff of perhaps 8 teams.
In 2009, the Boise State Football
team was undefeated, and they went 13-0 through the season. However, Boise
State’s biggest weakness was their strength of schedule, but that was largely
only because they were part of the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) so their
schedule was not as difficult as the two teams playing in the BCS Championship
– Florida and Oklahoma. I believe that Boise State should have had the
opportunity to compete for the BCS Championship but because of the lack of a
playoff system, they had to settle for winning the Fiesta Bowl against another
undefeated team, TCU.
This year, the BCS championship was
Alabama vs. LSU, a rematch of their regular season game. A playoff system would
have been much more interesting since it would’ve allowed similar caliber teams
like Oklahoma State and Oregon for the opportunity to win the national
title.
There
is a playoff system for football at the high school level and there’s one that
exists in the NFL, yet there are only a series of bowl games for the college
level. Personally, I think that a playoff system is much fairer for all college
teams because they will have a much greater opportunity to compete for a
playoff spot rather than a #1 or #2 seed to compete for the title in the
current NCAA football “post-season” structure. Similarly, competition would
increase because of the greater potential for playing for the national title
rather settling for a lesser bowl game. What do you think? Should there be a
playoff system for college football, or is the current system sufficient?
I think that everyone can agree that a playoff system in college football needs to be put in place. Bowl games don't settle anything, who cares if a team wins the motor city bowl? The reason they haven't changed the system is clearly because of the money. A lot of money is made from the sponsorship and such. Each and every year a playoff system is discussed by the higher up, but it never seems to get any traction. Hopefully one day it will change, because a playoff system would really prove who the best team is. An 8 team playoff seems like the most realistic scenario, in single elimination fashion. I think it would be better for college football programs and their fans, but these days it's all about the money.
ReplyDeleteThere has been increased talk of a playoff system especially in the past couple months, and I think there is good chance that we'll see it in the near future. It seems very necessary, but it has become extremely apparent in the past couple years such as with the teams you mentioned. However, I agree with Justin. Money is the underlying factor. Bowl games all have sponsors and each game selects the teams they want based somewhat on the amount of the crowd that a team can attract. People were pretty sure that Michigan was going to get one this year, but what sealed the deal was the fact that Michigan has a large fan base and travels well, meaning more fans at the game. I'd love to see a playoff system put together, but it's dependent on the money factor. It would be nice to see this factor eliminated though, especially from a college sport.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic and something that I have studied in a class last semester. We had to do a semester long project that required a lot of research. Our question was exactly what you explored here. We wanted to know if the Michigan student body wanted a playoff system and if they did, how many teams would they want in a playoff system. Our hypothesis was that a 16 team playoff would win over any other playoff system or the current system, and we were correct. Our choices were a 4,8, or 16 team playoff system. Not surprisingly the 16 team playoff won because of Michigan's football record last year. We were ranked in the range of 10-15 for a majority of the year, and would probably have not made an 8 team playoff but would have most likely made it into a 16 team playoff. While we were only able to give surveys to Michigan students, I think it would have been interesting to do a national survey similar to the surveys done on the show SportsNation on ESPN and found out what system the country as a whole prefers.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, I think a major criticism of the playoff system is that it wouldn't generate as much money for the BCS. I think that is absolutely not true. If there was a 16 team playoff, we could continue to keep the bowls that are currently in place so sponsors and old traditions wouldn't be lost. At the same time, there would be a huge interest in new companies wanting to sponsor new bowls. In the current system there are 6 bowls including the National Championship. In the 16 team playoff, there could be 15 games including the National Championship. That would provide companies the unique opportunity to lock down a sponsorship with college football, and the numbers are clear. 15 games would generate more revenue than 6. Every collegiate sport at the Division I level has a playoff system that fairly determines a national champion. Even the Football Championship Series (FCS) has a playoff system. It is time for big time college football to do the same.
While I see the benefits of a playoff system, I do see some weaknesses. The main problem, in my opinion, of making a playoff system is that it may take away from the competition of regular season games. For years my favorite thing about college football was how important each regular season game is. Every team in title contention knows that if they lose, they very well might lose their chance to win the national championship. I think that is actually more competitive, and it lasts all season! It's like having a playoff game every week! While I do still see flaws in the system that is now in place, I don't know if a playoff system would be best suited. I'm not a big fan of the BCS, however. I think that the best choice would be to think of alternatives, like the plus 1 system that many analyst have suggested in the past.
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