It’s the most controversial time of the year. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, it’s bowl season. Already the BCS griping has begun.
Everybody and their mother thinks a college football playoff is the only solution. That is, everybody except me. Despite the problems that the BCS has, a playoff format would ruin college football and here’s why.
First of all, a playoff devalues the regular season. For example, this season both Ohio State and Michigan would have made any sort of playoff bracket that was implemented. If both teams have an equal shot at a title even after OSU’s thrilling 42-39 victory over that Michigan team on Nov. 18, then what was the point of playing? Why did we passionately fill the Horseshoe on that day?
I’ll tell you why. It was winner take all, loser go home. Whoever lost that game lost their hopes of a national title. Everything was on the line. That’s what college football is all about.
To make this point more clear, take a look at college basketball. I’m sure we all remember OSU’s loss to Florida just a few weeks ago. I was bummed, but did anybody really care? Is that loss to the Gators going to negatively impact this team at all? The answer to that question is no. The Buckeyes are still going to make the NCAA tournament come March, and still have a shot at a national championship.
Most importantly, it’s the big rivalries that suffer. Everybody knows that Duke and North Carolina are huge rivals in basketball, but when they play in the regular season, what’s on the line? Bragging rights, and that’s about it. Both teams will still make the tournament.
Do you want to see college football like that? Do you want Ohio State-Michigan to be just another meaningless game? There are no meaningless football games. I’d prefer to keep it that way.
People who want a playoff say it would do away with the controversy that the BCS creates, which makes sense until you think about it. All we ever talk about today is who was left out of the title game. In an eight or 16 team playoff system, all we’d be talking about is who got left out of that.
After a champion is declared, there are really only two possible outcomes. If one of the top two teams wins it all, then the playoff wasn’t an improvement from the BCS. If one of the other teams wins, then whoever beat them will say “why couldn’t we make the playoffs?”
For example, let’s say that Oklahoma had risen up and beaten everybody in a playoff. Texas trounced the Sooners earlier in the season, but likely would have been left out of a playoff. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have been champions had they been invited to a playoff?
It’s pretty clear to me the controversy wouldn’t go away. If anything, it would grow. Instead of one team griping about being left out, we’d have situations where two or three teams could make a case for why they should have been in. What then? Should the playoff include all 117 Division 1-A teams? Why don’t we just scrap the regular season all together and give everybody a title shot?
Another stance that seems to be picking up steam is the belief that a small conference school like Boise State has no title shot. This theory is getting ever more popular after the Broncos’ thrilling victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday. This theory is also wrong.
To anybody at Boise State that complains they had no shot, my reply is that if Boise State wanted to win a title, they should play against real college football teams. I realize BSU is a Western Athletic Conference school and is obligated to play eight games against WAC teams, but that still leaves four games that BSU got to schedule for themselves. Instead of calling USC, Texas or OSU to try to schedule a game against a real football team, who did Boise State play this year? Sacramento State, Oregon State, Wyoming and Utah. Oregon State is a good team, but when the Beavers are your marquee win, you don’t deserve a national title shot.
If Boise had gone to Auburn and taken them out, and a few weeks later gone after Louisville in place of Wyoming and Utah, just imagine how high they would have been ranked. My money says in the top two. You can’t tell me that a team that ran the table and had wins against Auburn, Louisville, Oregon State and Hawaii would have been left out in favor of a one loss Gators team.
Finally, some people claim the BCS doesn’t produce a true national champion. My counter to that is the playoffs don’t always produce a true champion either. Look no further than the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers. They got hot at the right time and beat some pretty good teams on the road, but does anybody out there honestly believe they were the best team in the NFL that season? Anybody? Didn’t think so.
Winning a championship in college football is simple. Play against good teams and beat them. All of them. That’s all it takes. There’s been controversy almost every year the current system has existed, but only the 2004 Auburn Tigers have a legitimate gripe if you ask me. Everybody else lost. If you lose, you’re lucky if you get a title shot, you’re not entitled to one. That Tigers team lends credibility to a “plus one” game argument, but that’s another debate for another day.
The fact of the matter is the BCS works. Every game counts and I like it that way. I don’t want to see meaningless college football games and I don’t want the great rivalries to be nothing more than bragging rights. Trust me folks, it ain’t broke, and a playoff definitely won’t fix it.
Josh Lehman is a pre-journalism major who was denied admission to Boise State and is currently looking for a job with the BCS. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
