The yearly debate is going to come up again sooner than we think. Everyone will begin to voice their opinion as to whether or not the NCAA should have a playoff system for the National Championship or continue to use the BCS rankings to provide a bowl game schedule for the schools. I'd like to see what the sportsfans have to say about college football and the use of a playoff system.
Should College Football Use A Playoff System?
- Yes (89%, 205 Votes)
- No (11%, 25 Votes)
Total Voters: 230
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It
Many people feel that the BCS ranking formula is already effective and provides the fans with the best 1 v. 2 game in the national championship year after year. The top two ranked teams based on the coaches poll, AP poll and computer rankings get the opportunity to showcase their talents in the final game each season.
Not since 2003 has a team that won the national championship (LSU) not been unanimously ranked #1 at the end of the season. USC was ranked #1 in the AP poll after the 2003 national championship that the Trojans didn't play in.
25 Team Playoff?
A playoff system in college football has many pro's and con's, just as the BCS ranking system does. The debate about a college football playoff system would truly decide the best head-to-head team in the NCAA that season. The bigger question would be, without a ranking system, how would the teams in this playoff system be seeded.
Three main questions I would have about a playoff system would be:
1. How many schools would be eligible to make the playoffs of the 119 NCAA Division 1A teams that we have?
2. How would the seeding be decided for those teams allowed in?
3. How can we compare different divisions competing against others when they don't play each other in the regular season?
If all of those questions could be answered fairly, I think a playoff system would be great. Without those decisions being made well in advance, I'm not sure the NCAA can make the leap from the BCS to the playoffs right away.
Thanks to Jon Fravel for the picture of the NCAA National Championship Trophy.
A CFB playoff would be pretty easy to pull off…the NCAA does it with every other sport they have. Here is how a 16 team tourney could break down
-11 Conference Champs get an AQ.
-Of the five remaining teams they could choose 5 of the “runner-ups” from those conferences using the current BCS computer rankings, ensuring that at least one team from a smaller conference gets in.
-16 teams adds an extra month of playing to the season, so instead of all of the meaningless “bowl games”, that is when the playoffs happen.
-Instead of the one game BCS big bowls, each sponsor would have the entire Fri/Sat “round” as their own (e.g., the Tostitos First Round, or some shit like that).
I agree that a 16 team playoff could be successful overnight. What concerns me is the other 9 teams that would have been in the top 25 now being eliminated from bowl contention because of that.
There would need to be a solid ranking system in place that would still seed minimum 25 teams.
Maybe playoffs for each conference could send their conference champion to a playoff bracket, but it would take some time to sit and figure it all out first.
I do like how you could cut right to it and get something set in stone in a short period of time if there were to a playoff system immediately. Do you think there should be a playoff system or do you like the BCS rankings and bowl games the way they are, Ryan?
8 teams max. The NCAA won’t implement anything bigger because it’ll cause havoc on the education side. Plus, these are college kids, the 12-14 games they play is already strenuous.
I’d settle for a 4 team playoff though, all I really want is for the 1-2 undefeated underdogs to just get a chance.
Prestige ain’t everything.
Oh, and with a playoff system we could still have bowl games. Top 8 teams go to the playoffs, the rest play bowl games.q
All NCAA leagues have a playoff except 1A football. You could have a 16 team playoff no problem. If you are concerned with the rest of the teams, just do like NCAA basketball and have a NIT equivalent tournament for football. The amount of teams could be up to the league but i see no problem in another 8 or 16 teams. You play games to determine who’s best, leaving it up to a computer system is like simulating a season in Madden, the games and scores may be close to what should or may happen, but as we see week in and week out, things don’t always go as we expect.
Cliff, I also love the idea of a playoff, I just think the reality of “how to” is starting to set in and I see why they don’t. A Not In Tournament for NCAA football is insulting, teams would rather be invited to bowl games than the equivalent of the NIT for bowl games.
I think we will eventually move to a playoff system Cliff, I just think someone will need to think outside the box of how it’s going to be done. The top 16 from the top 25 with an NIT sounds feasible, don’t get me wrong, but is it efficient and most effective? Maybe they need to start knocking off some of the conferences and start setting up divisions that would compete and be ready for a playoff. Combine the SEC with the Big 12? The Not so Big East with the ACC? There’s an idea, run with it.
Thanks again Cliff, I appreciate you taking the time to give us your opinion, which I do like, I just think too many of us all have that idea so there has to be a greater solution that we won’t all agree on.
There’s no real reason for college football to not play a 8 or 16 team playoff. The games end up being played over break (not interfering with studies) and are over before the NFL playoffs begin. The argument for the remainder of the ranked teams is moot, since ranking 25 teams was an arbitrary choice in the first place. The method for deciding who plays in the tourney: top 16 in the BCS standings, the seeding: same. Another benefit: the subjective and usually self-serving Coaches and AP polls are finally out the window. It’s pretty simple and the NCAA ends up on the winning end of MAJOR sponsorship and attendance dollars. March Madness in 3-4 weeks played over winter break sounds pretty good to me. Plus, we’ll get to see if Boise State has the nuts to knock out the Gators, or if there really is disparity between the conferences, which I seriously doubt is as significant as the Big12 would have you believe.
Thanks Patrick. That’s all some very good points. I agree with you about the seeding for a 16 team playoff, the flaw, the rest of the top 25 teams. I don’t agree with the AP and coaches poll not being used for the top 25 though and relying solely on the computer polls.
I think we already know there is disparity between conferences, there’s just a powerhouse in every conference as well that can beat the Oklahoma’s of the world by using a statue of liberty play in overtime.
Thanks again, Patrick, great stuff here.
Rankings are just that, rankings. They can be used in determining the 5 “At-large” bids after the 11 conference champs get their AQ’s, or in seeding the 11 conference champs as well.
As for teams in the top 25, maybe shape the tourney like the basketball tourney. The 16th/17th ranked teams play a play-in game to see who gets to square off with the #1 overall seed, and then follow the seeding from there (2v15, 3v14, etc.) There will inevitably be teams who get snubbed. Whether its teams 17-25 in the this hypothetical system, or the 10-12 teams each spring who have their bubbles burst during March Madness.
As for working around the “academic schedule”, teams already play in bowls games that need tweaking with the academic schedule in mid to late December, so that should not be an issue.
A 16-team playoff would only add 4 more games max for the two teams that make it all the way to the championship game. Most of these kids have aspirations, or will be playing in the NFL some day, in which a max playoff season runs for 19 or 20 games. ‘Bama and Texas only played 13 regular season games this year, so if they had to run through a playoff system to reach the national championship, they would max out at 17.
Above all else, if you ask any athlete in any sport where a playoff could occur, they would pick a playoff opportunity over the alternative. No matter who wins tonight, Boise state will be in the discussion as “co-national champs”. Having a playoff will eliminate that discussion
By the way, I hate the BCS. Too complicated of a system which knocks too many teams out of contention before the first kick-off of the season. That is pretty ridiculous.
Thanks for the input Ryan. As I’ve stressed, my biggest concern is the 9 teams that now get pushed out of contention from a playoff because there is only a 16 team playoff bracket that everyone is talking about.
What if it was a 32 team bracket that added one extra game for the two final team, then those two NFL ready teams would play 18 games? That would be effective and would also add teams past the top 25 so that there is no issue of the 17-25 teams complaining of getting “snubbed”.
I’d love to see it work and I think it will eventually happen, there just needs to be a decision on how before they try to make it work. Thanks again Ryan.
There shouldnt be a playoff system. People say that it would get rid of doubt for the national champion, but thats not true. People will always doubt on who should be the last few teams in, no matter how many we allow in.
Also, this would deeply concern the academics of the students, the students would be playing during there semested exams and would barely be able to do any studying.
Another reason is injury. If the season was extended then there would be alot higher risk of players getting injured, and possibly ending there careers before they start. The point of college football is to get them ready to play in the NFL and what good is that if we would be putting the players more at risk and would lose some of the players that could end up being great NFL players?
It just does’nt make sense to me.
I would also like to add that if the non-BCS teams want a better shot at the title than they can choose some larger and harder teams to verse.
You raised, and supported, some very good points Jeff. Although I disagree, you definitely gave me some great reasons to think on the other side of the fence as well. Thanks so much for the input.
the bcs is dumb and its time for playoffs. everyone is ready
Here Is what the bcs should do… First off they should take th teams from the top 6 confrences (my opinion Sec,big 10,big12,pac 10,Acc and mt west opion the aravel of biosie st. Nevada and Fresno St.) and the teams who won thoes confrences and on at-Large team atoamatiqlue qualify.Now here the twist in my opioin the fans should get to choes something so you could go online of text in or something and vote for To teams from the bottom 5 confrence(Big East,Wac,C-Usa,Mac,Sunbelt)they choes two team that one their confrence that they think shouldnt make it. so for an example let say the chose troy(sunbelt)and Nothern illiniois(Mac)and then they choes a team that was ranked in the top 25 that didnt already make the playoffs to play one of thoes teams so let say Kansas and Lsu didnt make it so they could play in to by plaing one of thoes weaker confrences.
So their you have it please send me an E-mial if you have a question.
In my humble opinion, we should have a stringent 12-16 team playoff system at the end of every college system.
Noone would be “excluded ” from the playoffs, and the chances to be national champion.
The way that the BCS is structured now, with the 38 ridiculous bowls that noone really cares to watch, is one of the most stupid systems around.
I have been watching college football since the 70s, with the five big bowls that the schools will get a shot to play for. Lets dump the joke of the football world, that calls itself the BCS( Bowl Championship Series). We don’t need it.
Put the millions of dollars in the BCS to better use and build a satisfactory PLAYOFF system.
How would it work?
Have ALL of the 12 conferences evenly represented. Not just the SEC and the ACC. Those two think that they are the greatest of all time. No, I say they aren’t. The BCS sucks in my mind since I believe that they are so completely biased towards ONLY the SEC and ACC. They don’t care at all about the Boise States, Utahs, USCs and a plethora of others in other conferences.
GIVE US A PLAYOFF SYSTEM that works…. and one that is fair etc. Not this joke of a biased bunch of regional fans , coaches , players and schools that think that they are KING.
After all top schools play each other in the elimination tournament called the play off system. Whomever is left standing.. would be the NATIONAL CHAMPION.
Not like it is now.
Once a school is #1, then they should not get priviledge or anything like that. Once you are national champ one year.
Its not necessarily that you will stay there for 6 yrs running.
I’ve gone back and forth a million times, but i love the idea of having every team in a conference (no independents)with 16 total conferences and the top two teams in each conference can play a “play-in” game for a 16 team playoff.
However, it will need much more thought than that to perfect a playoff system for college football. Until they can make it perfect, stick with what you’re doing for the time being.