Quote:
Originally Posted by corporatejay
how anyone can say that a playoff system is not warranted after today is beyond me. Utah goes undefeated, dismantles Bama but won't win the national championship, or at least even get to compete for one.
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There are many issues with a playoff system - many that I've never seen mentioned here.
That's not to say the BCS system is perfect because it's far from that. It's quickly becoming out of date with the growing parity in college football (primarily due to scholarship amount rule changes). It needs some tweaking in a big way because it's pretty obvious that the Mountain West deserved that automatic bid much more that the Big East did.
It's a hell of a lot more complicated that saying "Utah won! Playoff! Rabble, Rabble, Rabble!". If you actually think about it, in most logical playoff scenarios Utah still most likely doesn't get their shot.
Plus one: Florida/OU winner vs. USC or Utah (either way there's the same complaining as in BCS scenarios)
4 team: Florida, OU, Texas, Alabama
8 team: 6 conference winners, Texas, Alabama
The only playoff scenario Utah would even get a chance in is a 16-team playoff and that's the last thing college football needs. 3-loss teams are not national championship material. I'm sure a 3-loss team could win a 16-team playoff on occasion, but then the winner is simply who's hottest at the end of the year, not who's been the best all year.
The biggest problem with a 16 team playoff system is that it'll completely destroy all non-conference play. BCS schools will simply schedule 4 non-BCS cupcakes and then hope they can get through conference play relatively unscathed. Except when this happens there's a hell of a lot more 2 and 3 loss teams and there's the same complaining as there is now.
Plus that playoff system puts the emphasis on games featuring mediocre teams and not great ones (like the NFL). Florida/Alabama becomes a petty game for seeding (#1/2 vs. #3/4) and Oregon/Oregon St. is the important game on the last weekend of the season. Reminds me of the NFL where Indy/Tennessee has zero attention, but the game NBC options is between two very mediocre teams. College should never become like that.