31/01/2016
Not so fast my friend! Why College Football needs a 6 team playoff
Yes, you heard me right, a 6 team college football playoff. It seems to me like the happy medium between 4 teams, which looks like a lot of people are already bored with even though it is only in its second year, and doubling the current format of teams to 8. Much like the NFL, it would pit the 6 seed against 3 and 4 to 5 in an unconventional first of its kind college football wild card game. 1 and 2 have the luxury of sitting back on a bye week and watching the 4 teams in their own mini representation of the larger playoff picture to be had later. I guess you want to know my reasoning for a change already, even though the current format has already given us a great deal of what we want from college football and more.
My first reason is parity in college football. The whole landscape of college football has changed since the previous decades where teams like Oklahoma, USC, Ohio St, Alabama, and Notre Dame had an absolute monopoly on the big game. And to be honest, most of those listed still are perennial powers but gone are the days when Texas would walk away with a win against TCU or Baylor without breaking a sweat. Who would have guessed at some point the winner between the horned frogs and bears would be Texas state champs.
CFB playoff
There’s still more information to add to my parity conversation. The teams outside of the power five are good, and I mean really good. Let’s start with Boise State, ah good ole Boise State who captured all of our hearts and minds around 10 years ago with that spectacular game against Adrian Peterson and Oklahoma. But forget just the fairy tale endings, Boise State has had a great resume of bowl games in the past few years. Last year the Broncos knocked off then number 10 ranked Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl and recently crushed a Northern Illinois team that gave Ohio State all they could handle in the Poinsettia Bowl.
Navy also has a very good team, so does Temple, and Western Kentucky but now here’s the big one to burst onto the stage… the Houston Cougars. Yes, the Houston Cougars, who once competed and competed very well with the likes of A&M and Arkansas in the Big 8 before conference realignment. Home of Heisman winner Andre Ware and the air raid attack the left defenses reeling. This year the Cougars stunned a highly favored Florida State team in the Peach Bowl. When I say stunned I should really say any and every word for stunned. It didn’t take a miracle or any trick plays to beat the Seminoles. Houston controlled that game from start to finish against a Florida State team that looked very much like a playoff caliber team to start the season.
Now enough with the “underdogs”, let’s look at what an expanded playoff means for the power 5 bullies. Right now the controversy is 4 spots for 5 champions, and yes Notre Dame I hear you and I’ll get to you in a second. What I’m saying is we missed out on seeing some potentially great games with a lot of NFL talent and coaching phenoms on display. For instance, Stanford and Ohio State pretty much toyed with the likes of Iowa and Notre Dame. I really thought the Rose Bowl would select Stanford of course and Ohio State for the game. Think about the games within the game of that match-up. McCaffrey vs. Elliot, Shaw vs. Meyer, and Hogan vs. Barrett.
An expanded playoff would have given Stanford, the Pac-12 champs, who I thought looked as good as any team in the final weeks and especially the bowl game a bid in and, at least, solved the issue of which champ is left out. Not to mention a spot remaining for who at the time had as an impressive resume as any Notre Dame a potential spot or who in hindsight would get the nod over them, Ohio State. Then again Houston led by Greg Ward, who has looked as impressive as any dual-threat quarterback, could know how well they played against Florida State be given a shot at the title. No seriously Houston looked as good as any power 5 school on both sides of the ball.
Before we really start talking about expanding know that there are a lot of things to be handled prior to any change that takes place. My take was just the game side of it. There’re a lot of issues dealing with the financial side of it, the locations, the travel and hospitality side of it. The scheduling part which seems small at first is actually I’m sure a huge headache and takes tons of planning. Also, the most important part will be the concern for player safety and academics. All other issues should take a back seat to this. They are after all college student athletes. Anyway, I hope my post was enlightening or, at least, entertaining and gave you that a discussion I have with my buddies who are huge sports fans too feeling. For now, though the current format has given us everything that makes college football what it is, drama, action, history, and most of all a sense of community.
