Well, it's that time of year again. Not only will millions of overpriced gifts be bought, but fans of every single college football team will ask for one thing and one thing only: a college football playoff to determine the outright national champion.
Now, even though I am not the biggest BCS fan, I believe the bowl system brings an interesting flavor to college football. Moving to a playoff system would be a disaster to college football.
Before you call me crazy and consider my knowledge of college football worse than Kirk Herbstreet's, let me explain myself.
In any college postseason system, teams are going to complain. For example, in basketball, fans of undeserving teams like last year's Syracuse squad bug out over the fact that they were left out. They then have to play in the Not In Tournament (a.k.a. the NIT). No matter what you do, some people will be unsatisfied.
Teams that do not play in the BCS national championship play in bowl games that actually mean something. Sure, maybe a few people care about the Meineke Car Care Bowl. But for the two teams in that bowl, it's a chance to gain bragging rights and to end their season on a winning note.
That brings me to my next point. By allowing teams to win their last game you have 32 teams ending their season on a high note and giving them momentum heading into the upcoming season. I find that quite unique and do not know why more people can't see this.
Let's look at the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Do you remember the Georgetown/Vanderbilt game in the Sweet 16? To refresh memories, Georgetown's Jeff Green made a game-winning bucket with 2.5 seconds on what seemed to be a travel.
Now this was an improbable and great ending to a very exciting basketball game. But did Georgetown end their season on this? Not quite, and this is why very few people remember this. Georgetown lost to Ohio St. in the Final Four, and were sent packing without a big trophy to show Georgetown students/future politicians. .
Let's say you were watching Live Free or Die Hard?? and Bruce Willis just survived jumping off of a helicopter. That's some crazy stuff you'll always remember. But what if he caught a bullet in the chest right after he landed? That just ruined all that action Bruce Willis did to survive.
Now go back to New Year's Day 2007. After a whole day of Champaign-popping, upset-minded Boise State played Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. That was one of the craziest games I have ever witnessed. Boise State used more tricks than the Minnesota Vikings on a boat to win that game.
Imagine if Boise State's season was not over, and then played Florida and lost by 30 points. All the magic that the Oklahoma game possessed would go right out the window. Their season would be remembered more for the blowout loss to Florida than their instant-classic victory over Oklahoma.
I will now bring the hard facts as to why a playoff system will never exist in college football.
Imagine a 16-team playoff system. This would be the only plausible possibility, since an eight-team playoff would be too small for an 11-conference division, and a 32-team field would leave watchers with a month-long playoff.
You would automatically have 11 bids handed out to the conference winners. Now you have five bids to hand out to the next-best teams. This is when the complaining starts again. This season you would potentially leave out teams like Tennessee, Arizona State, Clemson and Texas, leaving some of the best teams sitting at home on the holidays, drinking eggnog to drown their sorrows.
But the biggest reason why a playoff system will never exist is that the schools make way too much money from the bowl system. The NCAA makes Trump-like money every year from all the sponsors of the bowl games. Would anyone drop millions for the chance to have a playoff system that many people would not like?
Am I saying the BCS is better than March Madness? Not at all. Am I saying the BCS is a great system? No. But I am saying a playoff is not made for college football. So tough luck to fans of all the 6-6 and 7-5 teams in the nation. You get to see your team play on national TV, make some money, and end their season with a win.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
