College Football Playoffs?

[vbird53]

A 16-team playoff will never happen. It'd be insane. You're asking these kids to play another month of football against the best teams in the country. The risk to the players, especially the seniors trying to make it to pro ball, would skyrocket. Not to mention trying to take finals in the middle of this tournament. For a team like USC, who would constantly be in these tournaments, your asking the freshmen to play an entire season's worth of more football over their careers than their counterparts at a place like Oregon State. With the 85-man scholarship limit, and all the injuries that already happen, this is just not possible.

And does a #16 seed deserve a title shot anyway? I say they don't. If you want a title shot, don't lose three times in the regular season. If the SEC is too tough, go to the Big XII North. We'll gladly get rid of Iowa State.

Another reason against a 16-team playoff - over four weeks, talent will win out. Just like in NCAA basketball, the teams in the finals almost certainly aren't going to be the cindarellas. I can already see LSU and Ohio State playing each other. I don't need to wait four weeks to see the same game.

The solution might be a combination of BCS playoff and traditional system. The top four BCS teams play a Final Four. The remaining teams play in traditional bowls, like the Sugar, Rose, Holiday, etc. This season it would look like this:

BCS Championship Western Semifinal (Phoenix, AZ)
1 tOSU
4 Oklahoma

BCS Championship Eastern Semifinal (Miami, FL)
2 LSU
3 Virginia Tech

The winners of each semifinal play in BCS Championship Final.

Your final four looks ok, but what about USC, who might just be playing the best football in the country. Or Kansas, who stubbed their toe against Mizzou, just like OU stubbed their toe against Colorado or Texas Tech. How about Georgia or undefeated Hawaii?


Obviously, I'm playing the devil's advocate to prove that nobody is quite sure who should be included in the national championship game, let alone a final 4. That's why you play the games. Don't give me injury either. How can the NFL manage to play 16 games, and then a playoff. It can happen. Two things are for sure, one won't happen:

1) We absolutely need conference reallignment. (Won't happen)
2) We need to either get rid of conference championship games or force every conference to play one.

[SubGod22]

Only one post season game matters with this system. And many times the participants of that game are debated before and after it's played. This is the main reason I can't get into college football. I spend more time watching the FCS division than I do the FBS division because of this.

[CharlieHog]

If you don't make the playoff's, then they can play in one of the other bowls. Like the Holiday, Capital 1, Cotton, and etc. It would be just like the NIT.

I bet the bowl sponsors that give the schools millions of dollars would be cool with becoming the football NIT.

Aren't the bowls outside the BCS already the football NIT?

I admit that I don't pay much attention to college football, but when I did, it seemed like if it wasn't one of the big 3 or 4 bowls, the only people who cared were the host city and those connected with the two participating teams.

The bowls see themselves as their own entity, not part of something greater.

[Indy23]

BA, I didn't mean that each team plays each other. I worded that poorly. The Big XII, SEC, etc., should keep their eight-game conference schedules, with three non-conference games. The Pac-10 can either keep their nine-game conference schedule or rotate a team, whatever they want to do. The point is to keep the regular season to 11 games but allow for a few non-conference games.

VBird, I just took the 1-4 in the BCS standings to get those pairings. I agree that the USC Trojans are playing great football, but they lost at home to a Stanford team that finished 4-8 and also lost to an Oregon team that fizzled late in the year. A few teams are going to be left out every year. This time it would be USC's turn. I wouldn't feel sorry for them.

The only way a team like Hawaii gets in the Final Four is if they go undefeated several years in a row. Such is life for the WAC.

And there's also a reason NCAA basketball teams don't play 82-game schedules like their NBA counterparts. Or why NCAA baseball teams don't play 162 games.

Adults getting paid millions can take the wear and tear of 16+ game NFL seasons. They have insurance policies that protect their families if they get injured. They aren't studying for finals and tests all year. I know it's easy for someone sitting at home to say "it's no big deal playing a few more games," but put yourself in the shoes of the student-athletes. Go through August two-a-days and know you will play until January and not get paid a dime for it. And be ready for Spring ball eight weeks after the season is over!!! It's just not going to happen. Stop comparing 19-year-olds to 30-year-olds.

It shouldn't matter anway. A 16-team tournament includes four-loss teams. That's exactly what the Meineke Car Care Bowl is for. There are reasons why a team is ranked in the double digits. Over the regular season they weren't as good as the single-digit teams. Look. I just elimitated a week of unnecessary games!

[ShockerFever]

I'm looking through the BCS Top 16 and there is only one 4-loss team - Tennessee at 16.

Wait a second. You think if a team's ranked in double-digits means they're not good and they're Mieneke Bowl material? I don't think so. Any team ranked in the Top 25 is obviously a very good team. The Mieneke Bowl is reserved for those 6-5, 6-6 teams that are from weak conferences and are barely qualified to be bowl-eligible.

The whole point of a playoff is to make sure there's enough deserving teams eligible to play the games off.. 2 or 4 teams does not provide the total clear picture and total answer.

Again, if a team goes undefeated throughout the season and by no fault of their own their conference sucks and maybe they tried to get big games on the schedule but couldn't, they shouldn't be penalized and have to do something ridiculous like having back-to-back-to back undefeated seasons.. haha.. ya right. That's why you implement the playoff system.

And if you're gonna blame 4-loss teams for being up in the polls maybe you should take that up with the AP voters and coaches that are ranking them that high.

And finally, high school teams are having to play 13 times in this state to win a championship. That's right on par with the NCAA and they're a big step lower. What's the difference? Maybe you should blame the big conference commissioners on trying to make the most money possible by forming these ridiculous 16 team conferences and causing so many conference games to be played.

It can be done and hopefully someday will.

[BA2929]

I think an 8 team tournament, or even a 10 team tourny with the top 2 BCS teams getting a BYE, would work just as well as a 16 team tourny. I'd rather have the 9th-12th teams complaining about not getting a shot at the national title than the 3rd-8th ranked teams.

[Indy23]

I'm looking through the BCS Top 16 and there is only one 4-loss team - Tennessee at 16.

Wait a second. You think if a team's ranked in double-digits means they're not good and they're Mieneke Bowl material? I don't think so. Any team ranked in the Top 25 is obviously a very good team. The Mieneke Bowl is reserved for those 6-5, 6-6 teams that are from weak conferences and are barely qualified to be bowl-eligible.

Admittedly, the Car Care Bowl was a bit tounge-in-cheek. Of course Tennessee isn't going to the Car Care Bowl. But I'm trying to make a point. The idea is these teams should be rewarded for winning in the regular season. If they don't, they'll get a bowl that no one cares about. Remember, the top 25 in college football is a fifth of the entire Division 1-A. It isn't a mark of greatness. Schedule really light and you'll probably be on it.

The whole point of a playoff is to make sure there's enough deserving teams eligible to play the games off.. 2 or 4 teams does not provide the total clear picture and total answer.

The picture should be made in the regular season. That's what it's there for. Not for weak little girls to cry for a playoff so their three-loss team can play for a championship. Three-and-four-loss teams absolutely do not deserve to play for a championship if there are other teams with better records and similar SOS ahead of them. Not if we're going to keep the regular season at 12 games.

Again, if a team goes undefeated throughout the season and by no fault of their own their conference sucks and maybe they tried to get big games on the schedule but couldn't, they shouldn't be penalized and have to do something ridiculous like having back-to-back-to back undefeated seasons.. haha.. ya right. That's why you implement the playoff system.

I'm not saying it's fair. I just think a 16-team tournament will never happen. Are you seriously going to put Hawaii over Oklahoma? Sorry, but SOS counts for something. Hawaii's was dead last.

And if you're gonna blame 4-loss teams for being up in the polls maybe you should take that up with the AP voters and coaches that are ranking them that high.

Ok, I'll do that? Maybe they know something you don't? Maybe it's the East Coast bias?

And finally, high school teams are having to play 13 times in this state to win a championship. That's right on par with the NCAA and they're a big step lower. What's the difference? Maybe you should blame the big conference commissioners on trying to make the most money possible by forming these ridiculous 16 team conferences and causing so many conference games to be played.

So in your assessment, HS players face the same type of beating NCAA players face? Number of games isn't what matters. The beating the kids take is what matters. OU/Texas isn't exactly East/Heights.

And dude, I'm sorry, but there aren't any football conferences that have 16 teams. In basketball, yeah, but not in football. The closest is the Mid-American with 13, but I'm sure you meant 13, not 16. But I'm not sure you had the Mid-American conference in mind. Of course, as you know, the larger conferences rotate teams, and if they played 11 regular season games, it wouldn't be an issue.

It can be done and hopefully someday will.

Obviously we agree that the current system is inadequate, but I am putting more emphasis on the regular season than you, and would like to keep the number of games down while keeping the enjoyable non-conference match-ups. It's okay. Agree to disagree. Someone much smarter than myself or most likely anyone reading these posts will figure something out. Then we can whine about what ever they come up with. Again, I actually would like a larger playoff. No one can complain after a playoff. But I just don't think it's possible.

[rayc]

ShockerFever:
It can be done and hopefully someday will.

Amen to that.

It not only can be done, it is being done (as everyone knows) in every level of football except D1. That fact, in itself, belies any and all arguments that BCS apologists attempt to use to justify the current system.

[BA2929]

I'm looking through the BCS Top 16 and there is only one 4-loss team - Tennessee at 16.

I'm sure that if a 16 team playoff existed the voters wouldn't have stuck Tennessee at 16, even though they did finish 2nd in the SEC and all 4 losses came to Bowl teams. Anyway, the voters seem to take more care during the last week of the season to make sure they at least get the top 5 spots correct (ex: LSU jumping from 7-2). Right now, the 16th spot in the polls mean nothing, so the voters probably don't care who they put there. If there was a 16 team playoff, I'm sure a team like Texas, BYU or Wisconsin would be there in place of Tennessee.

[Shox151]

Are you serious, if you want to use the regular season to mean something, it has to mean something for everyone, IMHO, Hawaii, KU and OhioSt all did the same thing, only Hawaii finished undefeated. If you punish HU for playing in the WAC the you have to do the same for Ohio State that played in a sub-par big 10 this year. KU played the weaker part of the big 12, less Mizzou. Ohio State wouldn't be in the BCS game if they wouldn't have started out ranked so high preseason. BA is right the at large type teams would have plenty of scrutiny before getting selected to a playoff.