Monday, October 15, 2007

It is Time for a Playoff in College Football?



Any college football fan will tell you that this year has been the craziest year in college football ever. There have been so many upsets this year that the rankings have been turned upside down. Division II Appalachian state flexed its muscles and beat a pre season ranked number five Michigan, the great University of Southern California lost to Stanford in a thriller at the Coloseum. Who would have thought that the University of South Florida would be ranked number two in the country and argueably the best team in the great football state of Florida. How has Ohio State already come all the way back to be ranked number one again?

It is clear to see that college football is becoming a more balanced playing field and as we have seen this year anything can happen. The BCS is holding back what could be a lot more exciting football season if everyone had a chance to run for the national title. We have seen many preseason top ten teams completely knocked out of the rankings and teams who have never even been ranked in the top 25. It is unreasonable to keep our old system in hand because it is completely unfair to lower ranked schools who have talent and can come up and beat the bigger and more prestigious programs.

A playoff tournament with the top 24 would definetly make the college football season more fair and would truly crown a national champion who has been tested by all the best teams within the top twenty four. I am not saying that we should get rid of the ranking sysytem all together, I just think that the rankings should be used to form a bracket at the end of the season in which all the teams in the bracket have a chance to win the national championship. Rankings are changing so fast that who can really tell who should be ranked where. With a playoff system it would not matter as much because everyone would have a chance to make a run at the end of the season in a playoff.

2 comments:

CGoldslager said...

I absolutely agree that college football is in desperate need of a playoff system to determine a national champion. Many of my friends who love the NFL and not barely watch college football say that it is stupid to root for a team who can lose one game and have no chance at winning the national championship. Even though I have turned into a big Canes over the years, I find myself less interested in watching their games after they pick up a second loss because they most likely can't win the national title. Even though they can still have a high winning percentage with a 9-3 record, and can win the ACC and Orange Bowl titles, and finish with a top 5 ranking in the country, if the overall goal of the program(the national title) is gone by week 3 or 4, then why would I still be as devoted to watch them? We need a playoff.

Ara Basmajian said...

Yo Danny, i absolutely agree, I think it should be expanded though, beyond the top 24. If you are goig to have a playoff, make it really count. I'm niot saying it has to be NCAA basketball style, with 64 teams but if you are going to do a playoff system, it might as well be inclusive to those teams that are more deserving than what the BCS might indicate because in my opinion the BCS and the Coaches Polls are absolutely bogus. None of it can ver be justified, so if you are going to have a playofff, have it be more like 48 teams, allow more representation from all conferences, and since it is so much more evenly matched in different conferences than we originally believed, it might just make for some exciting upsets. Who knows, maybe App State could win it all...
-Ara Basmajian