College Football Playoffs
A look into the future.
The BCS is finally dead. Starting in the 2014 season, a 4-team playoff system will be what decides the college football national champion. I admit, it’s a small gesture that shows that the current system has been flawed, but it is far from being a perfect, ideal solution to the game’s postseason. As of right now, college football at the bowl subdivision level is the only collegiate sport without some sort of playoff system to decide its champion. The result of such has been confusing computer rankings, uninteresting BCS bowl games that are supposed to mean something, and a lot of head-scratching about who is in charge of the game. Under this system, an undefeated Auburn team was left out in 2004, an SEC vs. SEC repeat match-up in 2011, and a 2-loss LSU became champion. A lot of weird stuff has gone down. But hopefully that is a thing of the past.
If you apply the 4-team playoff scenario to this year’s final rankings, it is pretty unappealing. The playoffs would feature Florida State vs. Michigan State in all likelihood, which would be an intriguing match-up. It would also, however, feature a rematch between Auburn and Alabama. A rematch is exactly what this playoff system should prevent. Much like Alabama vs. LSU #2 in 2011, a repeat of the Iron Bowl is simply unappealing to most. Especially if the game is at a neutral location other than Birmingham.
Every playoff system has that one weird year every decade or so, and this year would have provided that in college football. Just like when the 7-9 Seahawks made the playoffs in the NFL. It happens. Just by looking at recent history, however, I have noticed that many times two SEC schools finish in the top four. So, this 4-team playoff system is not going to be enough to prevent SEC vs. SEC (or any other same-conference match-up) in the post season. And there shouldn’t be anything to prevent it if those two teams, are in fact, the best two teams. It is hard to simply vote for that. It needs to be proven on the field. The best scenario for the future of college football is to expand from 4-team playoffs to either 12 or 16 teams. It may seem like a lot initially, but both have their advantages.
This year, a 12-team playoff would look like this:
- Stanford vs. Clemson (winner to face Michigan State)
- Baylor vs. Oklahoma (winner to face Alabama)
- Ohio State vs. Oregon (winner to face Auburn)
- Missouri vs. South Carolina (winner to face Florida State)
Yes, several of these match-ups will have same-conference match-ups, but that will be common if the playoffs are open to more teams. At least those games are in the first few rounds, and if two teams from the same conference meet in the championship, it would be because they earned that privilage by beating everyone else.
A 16-team playoff would look like this:
- Florida State vs. Bowling Green
- Auburn vs. Louisiana Lafayette
- Alabama vs. Marshall
- Michigan State vs. Fresno State
- Stanford vs. UCF (winner faces Michigan State/Fresno winner)
- Baylor vs. Oklahoma (winner faces Alabama/Marshall winner)
- Ohio State vs. Oregon (winner faces Auburn/Louisiana Lafayette winner)
- Missouri vs. South Carolina (winner faces Florida State/Bowling Green winner)
Teams like Marshall, Fresno, and Louisiana Lafayette are in because they won their conference. So yes, under a 16 team playoff, every conference champion would be included in the playoffs. This way, revenue is distributed more evenly throughout the entire league and more interest will be generated among the smaller conferences. It should also increase competition as a whole and cause for stronger out-of-conference schedules.
Hopefully, this is a glimpse of what the future will hold for college football. But at the very least, we can finally say that the BCS is no more. And that alone is a huge relief.
