Last year Texas Tech broke on to the national scene by taking out the hated Texas Longhorns on a last second touchdown pass from Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree. The Lubbock fans stormed the field in the most memorable moment of the 2008 college football season, a moment that will be etched in the minds of college football fans for years to come. This Saturday, ABC brings to you a re-match between the Big 12 rivals in a match-up featuring the hottest quarterback in college football Taylor Potts and last years Heisman runner up Colt McCoy aka Cindy Lou Who. What some short sighted college football fans fail to realize that if there was a college football playoff system last years game of the year between Tech and the Horns would’ve meant nothing-absolutely nothing. In case you forgot last years game-see the video above.The majority of college football fans seem to think that a playoff would crown a true champion and would create viewer excitement that rivals the NCAA March Madness tournament. However, there are some aspects to college football that would be truly missed by college football fans if the NCAA were to shift away from the current bowl system to a playoff system. Here are two major reasons that the NCAA needs to fight the public sentiment of shifting to a playoff:
1.Under the current system every game matters, every game. Last weeks premier game between Ohio State and USC was so entertaining because it had national title implications. Under a playoff system, which presumably would grant automatic births to conference champions, that game would’ve meant nothing because Ohio State and USC could go on to win there conferences and make the tournament without regard to the outcome of last Saturdays game. Would I have watched Ohio State-USC last week if it meant nothing? Would Ohio State have packed 100-plus thousand fans into the stands if that game meant nothing? Cal travels to Minnesota this week, it is a must win game for Cal if they want to play for a national title (Chad Z). If we had a playoff Minnesota could plaster Cal by 50 and it wouldn’t matter to Cal one bit. Every game matters!!
2. The BCS almost always matches up the best 2 teams in the championship game, whereas rarely do the top 2 teams in college basketball end up meeting in the finals. The real passion for the NCAA March Madness tournament isn’t the championship game or even the final four, it’s the round of 64 and 32. My guess is most people rarely even remember who played in the basketball championship game because the thrill of the tournament is lost by the time we reach the finals. Only 6 times in the last 30 years have two number one seeds met in the final game of the NCAA
basketball tournament. That means less than 20% of the time do we get a match-up between two of the elite teams in the country. The few times there have been 1 vs 1 seeds in college basketball we’ve gotten memorable finishes: 2008 Kansas vs Memphis-the KU comeback; 2007 Florida vs Ohio State- Florida going for a back to back title against future #1 pick Greg Oden; 1999 UConn vs. Duke-UConn preserves a great victory with a steal on the final possession; and of course 1994 UNC vs Michigan-the Chris Webber Timeout game. These are the games we remember, not Jared Jeffries and Tom Coverdale pissing down their legs against Maryland, and if you don’t know who Jared Jeffries or Tom Coverdale are that is my exact point. America wants to see the clash of the titans, the irresistible force meets the immovable object, Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior. We 
want Texas vs USC in the Rose Bowl, with Vince Young carrying the Horns on his back against Heisman Trophy Winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. If we had a playoff during the 2005 season we likely never would’ve seen Texas vs USC in the greatest national championship game in the history of college football. We probably would’ve gotten to see USC beat Utah by 28.5 points. It’s kind of cool to see Utah play an Alabama in a bowl game or Cincinnati play Virginia Tech. But does anyone want to see Cincinnati and Utah pull of a few upsets to play for the national title-Not So Fast My Friend
Russell,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more. I think your two points are spot on (regardless of what Neal posts on here about those games still meaning somthing because it would mean momentum going into the conference season or whatever else he'll try to argue). The bowl system is great. I never even thought about the college basketball argument, but you're right, the first two rounds are by far the most exciting of the tourney and when they're done, all but the most die hard fans, and those who still have a chance to win their pool, are no longer interested. Two more points (not really universal, but for us):
1) Without the bowl system, there is no Bowl Bender, and that's a national travesty in and of itself
2) Pete Carroll sucks!
For two guys that voted Utah as the #1 team in the country last year it amazes me you still support the bowl system. 20 years ago when the gap between the haves and have nots was at its largest the bowls often matched up the top two teams in the country for the title. But now with teams like Utah and Boise State demonstrating they can consistently beat the 'big boys' they will never get a shot at a national title.
ReplyDeleteThe only other argument I will make for the playoff system is that you will get a continuation of football that will lead to better quality of games. You cannot with a sound mind say that level of play on January 8th after almost 6 weeks off is better than starting a playoff a week after the regular season ends and is complete by Christmas