Think of any major sport in this country, NFL football, major league baseball, NHL hockey, or NBA basketball, and consider what do they all have in common. One thing is consistent with those sports, they all have a playoff system to determine the two best teams to play in a championship series or game. Now take NCAA FBS college football, formerly Division 1A, and you clearly see they are not on par with the other major sports in the country. Even NCAA basketball and baseball have a playoff system, so why not NCAA college football? The answer is bowl revenue, plain and simple money. NCAA college football needs a playoff system now more than ever and each passing year we do not have one is a missed opportunity.
The primary obstacle to this cause is the bowl system and the revenue it brings to the participating schools. www.collegefootballpolls.com states that each conference whose team qualifies automatically for the BCS receives approximately $18 million in net revenue. A second team qualifying brings an additional $4.5 million to its conference. Notre Dame receives approximately $1.3 million. Army and Navy also receive $100,000 each, and the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision conferences share approximately $2 million. Now with that kind of money on the table you can see why the NCAA and collegiate athletic departments don’t want to change the current system for a more balanced and fairer playoff system. The problem is when you let money dominate the game, you are ruining the integrity and pureness of it.
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system was put in place in 1998 to try to appease the folks who wanted a playoff system as well as the college football programs that benefit from millions in revenue from bowl games. The system is a good start, but year after year we have the argument of “who’s really number 1?”. The system takes into account human polling, from coaches and media, as well as a computerized ranking system to determine the two best teams to play in the BCS National Championship game. Can you imagine the National Football League using a computerized ranking system to determine who plays in the Super Bowl? There would be outrage and riots to say the least, but college football continues to use this ineffective system. We have seen in previous years of three or more undefeated teams at the end of the season, so how do you fairly decide which two play for the title? Did the other school not deserve to, or did it not defeat their opponents by 40 points like the other two? If you simply took the winner of the eight major conferences, or expanded it to sixteen, and had a playoff system to determine the two remaining teams then it would solve all of the controversy and misery from the teams and fans who felt left out of the title game. Take last year for example, TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise St were all undefeated along with Texas and Alabama at the end of the regular season. So because of coaches, reporters, and a computer said they were not good enough to compete with the “big boys”, Texas and Alabama, so they instead were shunned from the title game. A quote from the BCS director on www.bcsdebate.com says it all, “It’s a fair question,” said BCS executive director Bill Hancock. “The fact is that the charge of the BCS is to match 1 and 2 in the bowl system. It’s a limited charge. It’s what the BCS is designed to do. Based on the season’s play, we’re confident we’ve matched 1 and 2.” Nowhere did he say we did in fact match the two best teams, just that they were confident they did.
A playoff system in college football is needed. Although it might be a little late for schools like TCU and Boise St, a playoff system can still save other schools the same hardship and anguish. The fact that a computer is used to help determine the two best teams says it all, it’s time for a playoff system.
Works Cited
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bcs_explained.html
