The Pros and Cons of a Playoff System for College Football

This time of year, almost every year, a debate rages on about whether or not ‘Division I’ college football should join every other collegiate sport and create some sort of playoff system to determine it’s champion. No matter which side of the fence you sit on, there are obvious pros and cons for both cases. I will try my best to stay impartial in looking at both sides; in fact, that should be easy because I am torn as to which I think is truly best for the ‘game’ I love. Please note that some of these pros and cons maybe myths and not facts (we’ll look at that as well).

First, let’s look at the pros of moving to a playoff system which determines its winner ‘on the field’ (this is just my list from 30,000 feet – literally, I am on a plane, I’d love to hear your additions to the list):

1. We get just that, ONE winner at the end of the day, no multiple Bowl Games that leaves the outcome in doubt.
a. Does one winner = the best team or just a champion?
b. On any given day one team can beat another
c. Does anyone really believe the Arizona Cardinals are ‘better’ than the Carolina Panthers?
2. Revenue – sure the Bowl System is a sweet bonanza to the schools, the conferences, the BCS and the network it is on, but imagine the potential revenue for a ‘Super Bowl’ amongst college football.

Next, let’s move onto the cons of a playoff system:

1. The beauty and uniqueness of the current system is devalued. There is some value here – the Bowls (at least the big ones) are special. Now the counter argument is they can still be incorporated into a playoff…ok
2. The ‘student-athlete’ will have too much time added onto their season and they won’t be able to concentrate on Final exams. This is BUNK and we know it, those in favor of the current system need to stop using this argument. It’s like saying our prisons are there for rehabilitation - BULLSHIT
3. What would be the format? A ‘plus one’? 4 teams? 8 teams? - on this one there is no myth…but what exactly works for football? Look back over the last 20 years and you will rarely find a time that 4 teams are deserving of a playoff let alone 8 teams.
4. A playoff system would ruin the regular season and make it meaningless. In my opinion this is the MOST compelling argument. Look at College Basketball, where a champion is determined ON THE COURT and they have the most successful tournament and excitement in March Madness. Proponents of a playoff will say EXACTLY…however, football is NOT basketball #1 and #2 the college basketball regular season IS MEANINGLESS; TV ratings are ABYSMAL and everyone knows that wins and losses on a regular basis are meaningless unless you are on the ‘bubble’. Right now, the college football regular season is pretty compelling, especially in conference play.

That is a good start to the playoff scenario; let’s turn our attention to the current system – the BCS. The BCS has already gone under several tweaks but yet has gotten things completely correct.

Again, we start with the pros:
1. The Bowls have been consolidated so Conference Champions are not forced to their original bowl alliances so an actual Champion can be determined. Here is believe is the greatest success of the BCS. Take this year’s game, or all of them. In the OLD BOWL lineup we would have NEVER gotten Florida-Oklahoma, OR Florida-USC, OR USC-Texas, OR Florida-USC, etc…bowl tie in’s would have sent USC to the Rose to still play Penn State; Florida would have gone to the SUGAR…maybe to play Utah; Oklahoma (or Texas) would have gone to the ORANGE and played Virginia Tech and who knows who Texas in the FIESTA.
2. Money – the BCS is a financial boon for the Schools and their Conferences. Could a playoff bring more? I think so, but right now the rich are getting richer.
3. The debate! In many ways the sheer fact that we are even having the debates are a good thing for college football and the BCS. As much as you want to bitch it keeps the sport and topic relevant all year long.

On to the cons:
1. We are left feeling empty on a usual basis that there is at least one team getting ‘screwed’ by the system. Ok, I can’t see any untruth here except life sucks and isn’t fair…a good lesson for college kids to learn ☺.
2. Coaches and players may continue to feel disconnected and not content and this might leave the college ranks earlier than usual for greener pastures. Ok, that would suck, especially on the coach’s front, but the kids are going as soon as they can and who can blame them?
3. Conferences are left to determine how they want things done – do they have their own Championship game? How they handle tiebreakers (did you see that Big 12 – lol)? In general, the NCAA is shut out of the BCS and the Bowl System and that is a little weird…

There you have it, a look at both scenarios with no answer, just some of the pros and cons and the start of a healthy debate. I don’t have an answer and like I said early on my opinion on the matter changes nearly daily. I do think the creation of the BCS was the first step to reforming a broken system. Whether a playoff system is the next step in that evolution is yet to be determined.