Big Ten and College Football Playoff: Why It Surpasses Basketball Final Four

College football may be one step closer to a playoff format as the Big Ten conference has thrown a proposal out there.

They would like to take the top four teams from the BCS pool and have those teams participate in playoff games. Home field for the semifinal game will go to the two highest seeds and the championship site will be picked every year like the Super Bowl. And of course the winner out of the four teams is declared champion.

The NCAA basketball tournament is something that draws in fantastic ratings every year, but if this plan goes through, they will take a backseat to college football. These two events may take place a couple of months apart, but the new football playoff will draw much bigger ratings than the NCAA tournament.

Here's why.

We've Been Waiting

Being blessed with a college football playoff would be better than Christmas. And since we've been waiting for it for so long, fans everywhere will be all over this. We've seen the NCAA tournament for so many years that it's really nothing new to us. A college football playoff is something every college fan has been begging for, for decades now. 

It's kind of like having a new toy when you were younger. Once you receive a newer and much cooler toy, you no longer want to play with the other one. Well, you may revisit that toy when you get bored or lose your newer toy for a day or two, but that's about it.

In this case, the NCAA tournament is old news and we'll likely still watch it because it takes place in March when the sports world is pretty much dead. But the college football playoff is what everybody will be waiting for every year.

Taking the Top Four Teams

What makes the NCAA tournament so great is the fact it gives many teams a chance to win. But that makes the regular season much more irrelevant and increases the possibility of having a weak championship game. 

Under this playoff format you're getting the top four teams that are probably the best in the country. Who knows what you're getting in the basketball tournament? It only takes a few great games from a sub-par team to end up in the finals, and only one bad game from a fantastic team to be sent home. Of the last six NCAA tournaments, only one was decided by five points or less. Three of them were decided by double-digits.

I know we love our Cinderella stories, but should be really sacrifice the quality of our national champion?

Outdoor Weather

Oh, yes.

There is nothing better than football being played in crummy weather. More rain, snow and freezing temperatures equals more awesomeness. You never know what you're going to get when games are being played in January in cold weather places.

Under this new format, the top two teams will get the playoff game played at their house. This means teams like Ohio State, Michigan or Wisconsin have the possibility to host a game played in outstanding football weather.

With basketball you don't have that same joy. The game is played in the gym and you don't have to factor in the weather. Now, if the tournament was being played like the North Carolina vs. Michigan State game was, this may be a different story and draw in even more viewers.

It's Football

Every sport has its passionate fans, but I'd go out on a limb and say football is a more popular sport than basketball is. Now while there may be no concrete way of proving this, we do know that college football by far brings in much more money than college basketball does.

There are far less games, which make the fans even hungrier for more football. And a college football playoff would just push the ratings through the roof.

The NCAA tournament is cool and fun to watch, but football dominates and would really take things to another level in college sports if a playoff took place.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].