It's no longer a concept...it's a reality. |
We've been clamoring over a playoff for years now. We've been clamoring over how ugly the computer ratings can be. We've been clamoring to get rid of the Bowl Championship Series. So the announcement of the addition of a college football playoff to the BCS system has been the best news the NCAA has given us since they took away Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy. For once a true winner will be decided and in a true fashion.
Most importantly a playoff removes the possibility of co-champions, which is uglier than the cash incentive USC boosters throw at their potential recruits. There should never be a co-champion in any sport, that's like saying a tie is a legitimate way to end a game. That's like saying, "Well bud you had a good regular season and won the second most important bowl game, so we'll give you a little compensation." Actually no, you're just ruining the glory for the team that actually won the National Championship game. A winner should always be unanimously decided, just like a National Champion. Remember when LSU and USC somehow split the National Championship in 2003? No, I don't either. USC won that National Championship game because they were clearly the better team. Ladies and gentlemen, a playoff will rid college football of controversy. Well, actually it won't. Only a new controversy will be born between the #4 and #5 BCS teams, or as as they'll see it, the difference between getting into the playoff or not. But at least the controversy will be further away from affecting the National Champion.
When I read of the details of this new playoff system I actually was pleasantly surprised. Instead of rotating all three playoff games through the four major bowl sites, the BCS committee actually gave the higher seeds an opportunity to play the semifinal at home. Absolutely stunning. I thought the bowl site rotation was going to be a stunt that the BCS put forth to truly avoid a true playoff, but no, they took a more pure route. Giving the top seeds home advantage in the semis makes this playoff system viciously exciting. Imagine Stanford coming into LSU in Death Valley or Alabama heading to Michigan in the Big House? How about last year's match ups? Andrew Luck vs that vaunted LSU defense? Justin Blackmon vs. Dre Kirpatrick? Epic. I'm like a giddy school child thinking about these raucous crowds in a seriously meaningful game. College football just got a whole lot more exciting and got a whole lot more attractive to a nation way more interested in the NFL.
I give credit to the BCS, as weird as that sound. They'd been the committee that was strangling college football by looking at producing revenue more than benefitting the game. But this playoff system is a true mixture of revenue and purity in college athletics that should help college football expand to great heights. Don't be surprised if this is just the tip of the iceberg. This system is going to be wildly successful, and if the BCS realizes it, expanding the playoffs even more will help the NCAA explode with revenue.
So while everyone can rejoice in the fact that we'll have playoff football in 2 years, realize that this is only the beginning of good things to come to college football.
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