Forget Marijuana, Legalize a College Playoff

It seems to be something that a lot of people are interested in, but few will stand up and actually admit it. It’s recreational, it’s fun, and it’s the cause of a lot of potato chip and pizza sales.

No, I’m not referring to marijuana, but rather college football, or more so the need for a playoff.

I don’t necessarily condone, or condemn, smoking marijuana, though I do consider the very much legal “alcohol” just as dangerous if not even more. Have you ever picked up the newspaper and read about a man getting ‘high’ and beating his wife?  

But I digress.

I just find it funny how there seems to be more traction in legalizing ‘pot’ than there seems to be in creating a college football playoff, with no real clear explanation in sight.

I realized early in life as a child, that if I felt I had a strong case in an argument with my mother, the answer “because I said so” was not only inevitable in coming, but would also represent the final take in the argument, by either side.

I had to accept it from her, then. Nowadays our debates center around politics and not whether the grass actually needs to be mowed or not.

No pun intended on grass. I swear.

So after living on this planet for over three decades, and paying taxes for over two of those three, I thought I had heard the last of “because I said so” a long, long time ago.

Enter the decision makers of the NCAA College Football world.

“Why can’t we have a playoff to determine the National Champion?”

“Because it’s not what people want.”

“Yes it is.”

“Because it wouldn’t make as much money.”

“Yes it will.”

“Because it would be too hard to do.”

“No it wouldn’t.”

“Because we said so.”

Oh. Ok.

I haven’t seen as many people so sheepishly accept such a blatant falsity as this, since the ‘single gunman in the grassy knoll’ theory.

How can we be taking this lying down? Why isn’t something being done?

The arguments against a college playoff, aren’t even as strong as my “why should I mow the grass when it’s just going to grow again” defense.

Some say it will water down the importance of each regular season game. That by adding a playoff to the end of the season, the urgency to win every week would not be as great.

The reality is, that with the system the way it is now, by Week Three or Four of the season approximately 95 percent of the teams are eliminated from any possibility of appearing in the championship game. Talk about losing your sense of urgency early.

With a playoff, a lot of these teams would still be in the hunt deeper into the year.

With as many ‘one loss’ teams as we currently have vying for one or both of the slots in the current BCS championship game, imagine how many teams would be playing with a deeper sense of urgency near the end of the season to secure the seventh or eighth slot in an eight team playoff.

Note that out of the “Big Four” (Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey), considering the college and professional level, college football is the only entity that doesn’t have a tournament to decide their champion.

We let writers, media, coaches, computers, and everything else in the world but the teams themselves decide who is best.

USC Trojan detractors would finally get what they want and force Pete Carroll's team to play more than one or two big games a year.

Texas Longhorn players and coaches would have had a legitimate shot to prove their worth on the field instead of having to through the media.

Ohio State fans could save embarrassment by being bounced in the first round instead of being blown out in the National Championship game two years in a row.

Florida Gator fans might not be celebrating two of the last three seasons, if they had another powerhouse or two to play.

I’ve heard arguments that a playoff system would affect the integrity of the bowls.

There are currently 34 bowl games. It’s a little late to be worried about their integrity.

The four main BCS venues could certainly stand to be the sites of the first round of an eight-team playoff. They already rotate and reuse one of the BCS bowl sites for the championship game a week later as it stands. (Miami, this year, was the site of the Orange Bowl, Jan. 1, and the BCS championship game Jan. 8).

With a playoff, two of those BCS stadiums would get a second round game also, and one of the remaining two could get the title game. You would now basically be rotating which BCS site wouldn’t be getting two games from year to year, instead of which site would be.

Then there is the argument I find the weakest of all.

Detractors will tell you that a playoff would lengthen the season too long, and take kids out of the class room.

With an eight team format, only four teams would be playing an extra week, and only two of those going two extra weeks. All detractors should also consider two years ago, there were 32 days between one team’s conference championship game and its subsequent appearance in the national title game.

32 days? Of no football?

But if we add two weeks of meaningful football, than we are making the season too long?

One more note to those who argue that we would be taking kids out of the class room. The FCS (formerly Division 1-AA) called and said their students are doing just fine after three decades of playoff history.

Or maybe we just aren’t worried about those students.

The need for a playoff is direr now than it ever has been. With parity becoming the new age ‘dynasty’, fans are left hungrier for closure than ever before.

I thought for sure if one thing was certain, it would be the SEC’s overall dominance in the game today. But after writing a recent article about that, I found that my very intelligent readers brought up some very good points to the contrary. 

We need to settle this on the field.

College football is modern day’s version of the ‘Greasers vs Socias’, and there is no way that Ponyboy  and Johnny would allow the local sheriff and/or principal to vote and decide who the winner was. There was only one way to settle that dispute as well.

The answer is simple.

Not only can it be done, it should be done.

So here is a note to the great decision makers of college football.

Put down the potato chips, get off the couch, and give us a playoff.

Because I said so.