BCS Playoffs: Where you Lose Me EVERY time

General Media NCS Football On the Record Sports Junkies32

It is that time of year again!! Time to whine about college football’s bowl system and lack of playoffs!

I have engaged in dozens of fantastic conversations with friends in recent years regarding the topic of a hypothetical playoff system in college football. You may be surprised to learn that in the past I have been steadfastly AGAINST any proposed playoff that I have ever seen in print or heard discussed in the media.

This year, I have started to change my mind on the topic a little. I have come around a little to the idea as I have allowed myself to dream just like everyone else. (SFN’s own BJD has blogged the topic very recently and also suggested a workable playoff solution last year that is worth visiting.)

But, everytime that I try to go along with the playoff idea…they push me back away!!

Terry Bowden’s recent article on Yahoo that dreams of a National Championship playoff system served to remind me exactly why I don’t like the playoff idea — because the idiots running college sports (and the average fan) will NEVER actually get it right when it is time to organize the undertaking..

For the sake of discussion, take a look at Bowden’s suggestion for an eight team playoff before I obliterate it with common sense. (Link to article) and brackets are included below Just as important as Bowden’s comments, take a look at this entry and the 20+ comments following the entry from one of the best blogs in the country; notice how EVERY fan was so blinded by the dream of the playoff that not a one of them was astute enough to think of the most simple of hurdles to Bowden’s dream.

Bowden\'s Playoff

Let me clue you in to the #1 PROBLEM with 95% of the “proposed playoff systems” that exist out there — LOGISTICS.

Quite simply, nobody EVER thinks of HOW this proposed playoff is supposed to be pulled off in the necessary timeframe. It isn’t that it can’t necessarily be pulled off. It is just that nobody seems to ever think about the issue (and many others) in their proposed ‘solutions’.

Take a look at Bowden (and many fans’) proposal with a discerning eye and imagine how IMPOSSIBLE the logistics that such an undertaking would be for everyone involved – teams, fans, bands, cities, venues, hotels, etc. It takes cities and programs about a month to arrange the logistics and travel for a single bowl game…and these Einstein’s want to squeeze three different bowl games and trips across the country into a three week period?

I always LOVE the one about how a hypothetical playoff system will be “for the fans”. Riiiiight. It will be for the 50 fans per school that can afford to support their boys traveling all around the country on five days notice in the middle of the busy holiday travel season. ROTFLOL!!

Take a look at Bowden’s proposal through the eyes of an Ohio State fan. Bowden’s simple oversights and resulting logistical nightmare is exactly why this idea loses credibility every year.

A Buckeye fan’s “reward” for being #1 in the country all year would be to travel to San Diego, California a couple of days before Christmas to battle a team from California of all places. (Makes perfect sense!!!) Why shouldn’t the #1 team in the country travel across the country to battle an #8 seed a few hours drive from their campus?

So, your Buckeyes win at Cal (so much for playing a tough regular season schedule to earn a #1 seed) and within seven days you need to find another couple of thousand to book another set of travel arrangements to get to Dallas, TX to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl in about 7 days. You ever tried to book a flight from Columbus to Dallas on 5 days notice…in the middle of the holidays!?

After your Buckeyes win in Texas where the Longhorn fans are going to out number your fans 4 to 1 if you are lucky…and now it is time for you to take out that 3rd mortgage to get flight arrangements and travel BACK to California for the National Title game in less than a week. Of course, that will be a breeze!

At this point, you should consider the unhappiness of your shareholders for you spending so much time away from the company that you own. You see, you most definitely own the whole corporation – not just your own jet (which you obviously need to own) – because nobody else in America could have afforded this month long, dream vacation. Thank goodness that you own a company, because no other employer would allow you to miss over three weeks of work to travel the country and watch football!!

To be fair, you probably do have a little extra money saved to spend on the playoffs because you didn’t go to as many Buckeye games during the regular season. Why should you have gone to all of those stinker games against cupcakes? Now that the regular season doesn’t mean as much as it used to the Buckeyes changed their scheduling philosophy and dropped all of the interesting games (like Texas) to pad their results with enough wins to insure their appearance in the playoffs.

You also saved money during the year from not buying ESPN’s Gameplan now that games like FSU-UF, Miami-Louisville, Auburn-USC, Michigan-Notre Dame, Oklahoma-Oregon, Cal-Tennessee and USC-Notre Dame aren’t played anymore.

(sarcasm) Please never forget that any proposed playoff system is all for the fans!!!

(Note: I will follow this entry in the coming days with an attempt to propose what I think could be a logistically feasible solution that I might be able to get on board with. Unfortunately, it will be too reasonable and will never fly.)

General Media NCS Football On the Record Sports Junkies

32 Responses to BCS Playoffs: Where you Lose Me EVERY time

  1. wufpaxno1 11/16/2006 at 7:16 PM #

    Jeff,

    The logistics surrounding 75,000 fans that the D-1 schools have that the D-1 AA schools do not have will be handled just as they are in the NFL play-offs and every week in major college football and in the NFL, by the 75,000 fans. All the NCAA and the participating Universities need to concern themselves with is the teams, support staff, cheerleaders, and bands, etc. Just as they do in the current bowl systems. If the 75,000 people want to get to and see the game, they will find a way and the accommodations to support themselves. They do every week of the season.

  2. Tau837 11/16/2006 at 11:01 PM #

    Original post:

    I have long had the following idea about a workable playoff system, which I humbly submit is a bit better than the one posted by SFN:

    1. 8 teams.

    Why? Primarily because it mimics the number of BCS bowl teams prior to this year, and thus leaves the rest of the bowl system intact. Also because the driving reason for a playoff should be to ensure we crown the right champion… and it is unlikely that a team that does not qualify for the playoff in this system would have had a shot.

    2. BCS conference champs get an automatic bid.

    Why? Same as current BCS system. No reason to change it.

    3. One wild card must be from outside BCS conferences.

    Why? Keeps the Cinderella factor alive all season every year, and ensures there is at least one David vs. Goliath game every year. Also, from the flip side, provides more incentive to finish as the #1 seed. This also makes the regular season even more important to the BCS conference teams, as they can count on only one wild card per season. Note: Notre Dame does not enjoy special status, although they may well be in position to often fill this slot. But use of a committee should help to ensure that they earn it.

    4. A committee is used to select the wild cards and to seed the teams.

    Why? Because no formula, Sagarin ratings, etc., can automatically take all important factors into account. If the committee chooses to use BCS ranking formula, Sagarin ratings, etc., that is their choice. But they do not have to blindly follow any particular system. All the same reasons it is appropriate in basketball apply here. Also, it preserves a bit of the unknown until the final conference championship game is played, which should only add to the drama down the stretch of the regular season.

    5. Higher seeds play at home in the first round.

    Why? It is too much to expect fans to travel on three consecutive weekends. Also, this provides incentive for all contenders to impress the committee, via their scheduling and their play.

    6. BCS bowl sites are used for the “Final 4″ games, with a rotation system used.

    Why? Primarily to appease those bowl committees and to try to retain a bit of the old bowl tradition while still facilitating a needed playoff. The odd bowl out could still be played, as the “NIT� bowl… or it could just be skipped. Or instead of a rotation system, we could just choose to cut the Orange Bowl and always use the other three, simply rotating which is the title game. Or whatever.

    That’s about it. Some of the commonly used arguments against a playoff system:

    1. Too many games for the kids (academically and/or physically).

    Not really. All these kids would play a bowl game anyway. Only 4 teams will play more than the normal amount. And only 2 teams will play 2 extra games. And it is done at other levels of football. As for the academic side of it, the extra game(s) comes right at the start of a new semester at most schools, so it is doable.

    2. Will reduce the current emphasis on the regular season, which is what makes college football great.

    On the contrary, the fact that at most 7 BCS conference teams can make it, with only one conference getting 2 teams, at least maintains the current sense of urgency. And the need to impress the committee for seeding purposes adds to it.

    3. Will take away from the other bowls.

    Not so. Already there is a distinction made between the BCS bowls and non-BCS bowls. It would simply maintain that same distinction.

    I am convinced that such a system would eclipse March Madness and be the most popular annual sports event other than possibly the Super Bowl.

    —

    Some arguments raised in the first thread:

    To those saying OOC scheduling would no longer be important: not true, because even if you qualify, you want the highest seed possible for (a) best matchup (b) home game in first round. In an 8 team format, it is just as important as it is now in the BCS format.

    To those saying a playoff would ruin things for other teams and fans: not true with an 8 team playoff. Does it ruin things now for teams that are not BCS contenders? Of course not. All the existing bowls would continue as they do today.

    To those saying fans cannot travel to the games: play first round games at home. So four teams travel for the first round, four travel for the second round, and two travel for the third round. A total of 10 road games amongst 8 teams. And it is unlikely that any team would travel 3 times, since it would have to be a 5-8 seed who reaches the title game. Meanwhile, this is offset at least a little bit for the fans of the top 4 seeds, who get an extra playoff game at home, likely a more exciting game than any those fans get today.

    IMO this would be much more exciting than the BCS format. I am a college football fan, but I don’t watch every BCS game every year, because I don’t find some matchups compelling. I’d be much more likely to watch in a playoff format, because it would add to the drama and excitement.

    —

    Thoughts?

  3. TNCSU 11/17/2006 at 9:35 AM #

    Tau837 — I wholeheartedly agree with your post. NICE JOB!

  4. TomCat 11/18/2006 at 1:52 AM #

    There’s no perfect solution. A playoff based system may not be perfect- but it’s a helluva lot closer than what we have today- only in D1A football…

  5. Jeff 12/02/2006 at 7:50 PM #

    How many times in the history of college football have their been EIGHT teams that deserve a shot at the National Title after the regular season?

    Why even have a regular season if eight teams are good enough to get a shot?

    Why not just play one big tournament as the season and no regular season games?

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