In a time where college football is more popular and profitable than ever before and most Universities are facing budget shortfalls; school presidents, athletic directors, conference commissioners and the NCAA are missing out on a huge source of revenue and excitement.
It is a college football playoff. An eight-team, three week adventure that would capture the attention of tens of millions of college football fans and bring in millions of more dollars to college football programs.
Today begins a series, where the idea of a college football playoff will be discussed in great detail, and once finished, the myths used to defend the reasons why there isn’t one won’t make any sense and the need for a college football playoff will be more clear than ever before.
In the first couple parts of this series, the common myths of why there can’t and shouldn’t be a college football playoff will be debunked, brutalized and mocked.
The myths include:
1) There can’t be a playoff because it would take place during final exams
2) It would take away from the most exciting regular season in all of sports
3) Fan’s wouldn’t travel to the playoff games
4) It won’t create more revenue than the current bowl system
5) There would be too many games for the players
Following the myths of why there shouldn’t be a college football playoff, the idea of what playoff system should be used will also be discussed in great detail.
Myth #2: A college football playoff would take away from the most exciting regular seasons in all of sports
Another common myth used to explain the reason why there is not a college football playoff is the notion that it would take away from the most exciting regular seasons there is in sports today.
However, that cannot be a valid reason not to have a playoff. Also, a college football playoff would increase the popularity and importance of the regular season, and here’s why.
Under the current situation, two teams that the BCS determines to be No. 1 and No. 2 play in a national championship game to determine who is on top of the college football world.
Most of the time, the two teams that play in this game are undefeated, and the 2007 LSU Tigers are the only team to win a BCS Championship since it’s inception for the 1998 season.
What this means is that once a team loses once, their chances of reaching the national championship diminish greatly, and if they lose a second time, they essentially don’t have a chance.
Not to mention the fact that even if a team does go undefeated, they are not guaranteed a spot in the championship game. For example, Auburn went 13-0 in 2004, while undefeated USC and Oklahoma played in the title game. Other cases include Boise State in 2006 and 2009 and Utah in 13-0.
While the actual importance of every game played until they lose once is greater under the current system, once they actually lose, the rest of their games are essentially meaningless.
When Oregon and LSU play in Dallas to open the 2011 season this September, the winner of the game will remain in the national title picture, while the loser will essentially have no chance.
If there was a college football playoff that wouldn’t be the case. An 8-team playoff would mean that the conference champion of all six BCS conferences would get an automatic bid, in addition to two at-large bids.
Plain and simple, that would mean that MORE games would matter because MORE teams would be able to play for a national championship at the end of the year.
This means that every single conference championship game, including the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and ACC would all be of great importance because the winner would earn a berth in the playoff.
Last year, the Big 12 and ACC Championship games were essentially meaningless with the winner gaining a berth in the pointless Fiesta and Orange Bowl, respectively.
For this year, during the last couple weeks of this upcoming season when the Big 12 and Big East are fighting to determine who the champion will be, all of those games that involve the top contenders will be of great importance.
(Note: To clear up any confusion. In 2010, the Big 12, ACC and SEC were the only BCS conferences that held conference championship games. Due to conference realignment, the Big 12 will not hold a conference championship game this year, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 will hold their first conference championship)
Bottom line, with more teams with a realistic chance of reaching the 8-team playoff, that means more games will matter to fans than under the current situation.
And when you have more games that matter, that means that the games are more exciting, thus making the college football regular season even more exciting.
Here’s an example of this myth in action, the Oregon-LSU game I mentioned above, with the playoff system, the loser of the game would still be eligible to play for a national championship.
Now, someone might say, well “Oregon-LSU won’t mean as much because the loser still has a chance”.
While that might be the case, that leads me to the second problem of this myth.
Wait, why is something that is SUBJECTIVE determining why there isn’t a college football playoff?
For all the people that still believe that a playoff would diminish the regular season. You can prove that it is an absolute fact that a playoff would diminish the regular season, if you can, show me the facts and show me the research to back it up.
Please email me at jmreiter58@gmail.com with your findings
Bottom line, this is a subjective statement with very little facts surrounding each side.
As I’ve stated before, in my opinion, having a college football playoff would create MORE excitiment because MORE teams would have a chance at the end of the year.
Guess what, you might disagree with me, but at the end of the day it is still an opinion, and something that is an opinion should not determine something that means so much.
While the No. 3 vs. No. 5 matchup during the regular season might not have the same flavor to it with a playoff, I could count the additional games on both of my hands that would actually matter under a playoff system.
Also, are you honestly going to tell me that because there is a playoff, you aren’t going to watch or attend the Oregon-LSU or Boise State-Georgia game the start of the season this year.
The MAIN reason those games are sold out and will be watched by tens of millions of people and advertisors will spend millions and millions of dollars to air commercials is NOT because the loser of that game won’t have a chance to be in the title picture, it is the fact that it will be a great game played by top ranked teams.
While LSU fans might think in the back of their mind, “We better win this game to stay in the title picture”, they are much more concerned with the the Tigers scoring more points than Oregon that Saturday night. Same thing goes with Oregon, Boise State, Georgia and teams all across the country.
Under the current situation, the third ranked team at the end of the year gets an invite to a BCS bowl, and they have no chance of becoming a champion. How fired up do you think those fans are when they show up to that bowl game that means nothing.
While on the other hand, if there was a college football playoff, they would be on the edge of the seat for every single playoff game along with the fourth, fifth-ranked teams and every other team in contention.
Note: That previous statement is a short preview for the myth that will be debunked tomorrow, the idea that fans wouldn’t travel and show up to the playoff games. As said in the movie “Field of Dreams”, “If you build it, they will come”.
Same goes with a college football playoff. If you hold a college football playoff at the end of the year, fans will come and watch, advertisers will pay for sponsorships and Universities will make millions and millions of dollars. Which this is all about anyways.
Back to debunking this myth, as I’ve said before, the most brilliant part of this, and the BOTTOM LINE for why this excuse is an absolute myth. Is that while you might disagree with my opinion, it is my opinion. Something that is SUBJECTIVE should not be a valid reason for there not to be a playoff.
It cannot be proven with facts that a playoff would negatively impact the regular season. However, it’s hard to imagine that a playoff wouldn’t create more excitement because more games would matter.
Previous myths debunked
Myth #1: There can’t be a playoff because it would take place during final exams
