“Playoffs?” I can just hear the NCAA hierarchy doing their best Jim Mora imitation.
I’m sitting here watching Montana play Villanova in the FCS championship game thinking how ridiculous it is that this would be the most interesting college football game being played this weekend.
But if they had followed my plan, instead of nothing interesting happening this weekend with the FBS football teams, two massively over-hyped games would be taking place. The eight teams that would have made the playoffs would have played their first playoff game last weekend - another dead weekend for FBS teams. Those eight teams would be the six big conference winners and two at large bids. I don’t believe you’d get much argument over TCU and Boise St. filling those spots. Seeding may have worked out like this:
#1 Alabama
#2 Texas
#3 TCU
#4 Cincinnati
#5 Boise St.
#6 Oregon
#7 Ohio St.
#8 Georgia Tech
So just for illustrative purposes we can imagine the higher seeds winning their games last weekend. Alabama would have taken care of Georgia Tech. After having beaten one good defense in Nebraska, Texas overcomes another one against Ohio St. In a score fest, TCU outlasted Oregon. And in the intriguing match up between Boise St. and Cincinnati, Cincinnati pulled out a squeaker.
Those results leading to this weekends match ups of Alabama v. Cincinnati and Texas v. TCU with the losers receiving their bowl bids. In this scenario, Oregon could end playing Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl anyway.
And it would be entirely possible that Alabama and Texas would win their games this weekend setting up the exact same championship game that we already have in place. But the teams would have earned the right to play in the championship on the football field instead of being granted the priviledge by voters and computers making it much more rewarding and meaningful. The other bowl match ups determined by these hypothetical playoff results would become Boise St. v. Georgia Tech and Cincinnati v. TCU. Match ups just as appealing as what’s been selected under the current system, perhaps even more so.
Some may be asking where Florida figures into my system and have a problem with them being left out. I’m not saying Florida is the 9th best team in the country. I think it’s pretty apparent that they are in at least the top 5. But this a process to try and determine a National champion and it’s a process of elimination. In my mind, once they lost to Alabama for the SEC championship, their candidacy for the National championship ended. Why would a team that could not even win it’s own conference be allowed to compete for the National championship? And Florida would still have the priviledge of playing in a bowl game. Instead of playing Cincinnati in a BCS bowl, they’d be matched up against a team like Iowa or Penn St. in another bowl. There’s no shame in that. In fact, sounds kind of interesting to me.
Oh wait, I think I’m hearing Mr. Mora again, “Playoffs? You kiddin’ me?” Dang.