I will give the BCS credit for the fact that for the most part they do get the top two teams matched up in the final game. There has been plenty of controversy about this in the past and that includes this year where a still undefeated TCU team and their fans can only grow old wondering "what if". That said I think the match up tomorrow night is the right match up but there is that slight doubt in all our heads. Now wouldn't this all just be easier if we had a playoff that left no doubt in any one's mind?
Let's address the issues that are commonly brought up as why this wouldn't work:
1. A playoff would interfere with the kids school work. Not buying it. Kids seem to make it through their classes just fine the rest of the season. What is so special about the extra couple of weeks that would be needed for a playoff? Also, how are the FCS, D2 and D3 kids able to do it and these are the kids that school is actually important to as they most likely do not have a professional future.
2. A playoff would ruin the special mystique of the bowl games. REALLY!? I am mean REALLY!?!?!? Now the BCS games (Orange, Sugar and Rose especially) have a rich tradition of top teams, conference alignments and star players which should continue if possible. But let's not kid ourselves that the following games are beloved traditions where families across the country make a holiday season tradition of gathering in front of the tv to enjoy the pomp and pageantry:
- New Mexico Bowl
- uDrove Huminatarian Bowl
- R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
- Beef O'Brady's
- Maaco Bowl
- San Diego County Credit Union Poinsetta Bowl
- Little Caesar's Bowl
- Insight bowl
- Military Bowl
- Texas Bowl
- Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
- Pinstripe Bowl
- Meineke Car Care Bowl
- TicketCity Bowl
- GoDaddy.com Bowl
- And something called the BBVA Compass Bowl
This year there were 35 bowl games, just 10 years ago there were 25 and 20 years ago there were only 19. That means that 10 of these tradition rich games haven't even been around for a decade which I don't think counts for much of a tradition and one of the new games is the BCS Title Game.
And here is the most ludicrous part of this argument. Not one person has ever said that these other bowl games still can't be played in conjunction with a playoff system. No one is saying if we institute an eight team playoff that a 6-6 Louisville and their fans can't travel in mass to cheer on their team in the Beef O'Brady's annual classic. Just don't fool yourselves into thinking that the importance of the Beef O'Brady's Bowl is diminished with a playoff. No offense to the schools playing, the fans, the families of the players and the community hosting the event who do their best to make these games a memorable event in these young men's lives and everyone else involved, but the cold fact is in the overall picture these games already are of little or no importance to anyone outside the groups mentioned above. Again, I am all for these kids continuing to enjoy the Beef O'Brady's Bowl game and events but there is no way that a playoff hurts the game at all.
3. Money. Again, the only response that comes to my mind is REALLY?! While there no doubt is a good amount of money spread around thanks to the bowls this would be dwarfed by the amount of money that would be generated by a playoff system. All of the other bowls could continue to exist and their money would still be there. While the BCS games would have a different look and feel as there would be seven playoff games in an eight team format (my personal bias is that this is the best option) compared to the five that exist today and every single game would have huge implications driving a larger viewing audience. Today, while there might be compelling match ups that people want to watch with the BCS there is only game that has to be watched and that is the title game.
4. The regular season becomes less important. This one might have some slight truth but how much can the regular season mean when TCU doesn't lose a game but can't get a shot? In past seasons Boise St., Utah and Auburn have all been denied a shot at the title in an undefeated season and let's not even get into the debate on who the most desrving one loss team is in those seasons. In This is why you limit the playoff to 8 teams. This will keep the participants most likely limited to undefeated and one loss teams. Expanding to 16 brings too many two loss teams into the picture and I think that should be avoided if possible. I am not a huge proponent of the TCU's and Boise's of the world getting into the existing BCS title game as they don't play the same level of difficult schedule week after week which takes a toll on teams as the season goes on. This is a major factor from teams from the major power conferences to get through their schedules undefeated while battling injuries and hostile crowds to a greater extent than what non-AQ schools do. But, I have no problem giving then a chance in a playoff and see how they do. TCU was very impressive in the Rose Bowl and I would love to see how they would do one week later in a semi-final against Auburn or Oregon.
In the past 10 years we have been robbed of the chance to see matchups of heavyweights like Florida-USC, Florida-Texas, Alabama-Oklahoma, LSU-USC, not to mention giving Utah, Boise St and TCU their chance to see how they measure up. I don't care how they schedule it, either have the quarterfinals on New Years day to bring back the prominence of that day, which by the way is a tradition that has fallen by the wayside, or have the title game be played that day. Make it eight teams and you can still use the BCS process to determine the teams with some small changes. The top 8 are in, no automatic conference qualifying, no dumb limits on teams per conference, just the top 8 teams in the country squaring off to figure out who is best. That would spare us the indignity of having UConn as part of the process this year along with the ACC representative until they get their act together again.
This year could have featured quarterfinal matchups of Auburn-Arkansas, Oregon-Oklahoma, TCU-Ohio St and Stanford-Wisconsin. You could tweak it if needed so that teams from the same conference didn't play first round giving us Auburn-Oklahoma and Oregon-Arkansas instead. Also, if you do the New Years thing these games can be played using the current BCS Bowl games.
The bottom line is that the University Presidents, AD's and conference heads can't get together and figure this out and they need to. There should be plenty of brain power involved in these groups to get this done. It seems like it gets a little closer every year, maybe Obama will make good on his promise to get involved or Mark Cuban can make his scheme work. Regardless, please, someone get this done.
