Oh What Could Have Been: The Case For A Playoff

The Case For a Playoff
By Tim Hawver

It’s a seemingly endless argument. Playoffs or bowl games?

Every year as the college football season winds down and the holiday season approaches, one argument seems to dominate family gatherings. You and your Uncle from another city have very little to discuss but when a particular three words get said a debate ensues. Those three words are Bowl Championship Series.

Traditionalists will argue that college bowl games are sacred and would be tainted by a playoff system. I’ve always felt that there is room for both. An eight team, seven game playoff would be a perfect way to settle the national champion and leave plenty of room for other bowl games.

The eight teams should be let in by this order:

1) Any undefeated Division 1 team. This year that would get Ohio St. and Boise St. in.

2) Any BCS conference champion. This gets Florida, Oklahoma, Wake Forest, USC, and Louisville in.

3) Any remaining slots would be at-large bids determined by BCS rating. This year the lone slot would go to Michigan.

4) All of the bowl eligible teams that didn’t make the playoffs could go to the second-tier bowl games (Cotton, Holiday, etc.).

Once your eight teams are selected, seed them according to their BCS rating. The top two teams would get a first round home game and the other five games would take place at the BCS bowl sites. By giving the top two teams a home game, you preserve the season-long drama of ‘Who’s number 1 and 2?”

This year’s match-ups would be:
1) Ohio St. vs. 8) Wake Forest in Columbus, OH.
2) Florida vs. 7) Oklahoma in Gainesville, FL.
3) Michigan vs. 6) Boise St. at the Fiesta Bowl.
4) USC vs. 5) Louisville at the Sugar Bowl.

The semifinals would occur at the Rose and Orange bowl and possibly feature two marquee match-ups (Ohio St.- USC and Michigan-Florida). Then, of course, you’d have the National Championship game in Arizona.

This system would keep the regular season as exciting as ever because the conference championships would have an enormous value (a likely playoff birth). It would make the non-BCS conferences exciting, if one of their teams could go undefeated. All other teams would strive to stake their claim to a possible at-large birth.

This system proves there can be a playoff and keep every game meaningful. Take a look at the Big 12 this year. The Texas-Texas A and M game would have been enormously intense, because Texas would have had a potential playoff birth on the line. The conference championship game between Oklahoma and Nebraska would have essentially been a play in game.

This system would have provided many thrilling moments this season and given us a true champion. The regular season excitement would not only have been preserved, but also enhanced. It is a shame that such an exciting sport can be spoiled by a flawed system. The sport that brings us so much joy from September to December needs to find a way to spare us the bitter sweetness that comes to us in January. This system allows that and needs to be implemented as soon as possible.