Assessing the Consequences of an Eight-Team College Football Playoff

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has been an interesting experiment over the last few years, as college football has looked for a "fair" system of determining the national championship. Of course, it has not proven to be a perfect system, as each year there always seems to be one, two, or more teams that feel they have been jilted by voters, computers, or numbers.

Some have proposed a playoff system, and many fans have jumped on that particular "bandwagon," hailing it as the savior that will bring order to the football universe. However, there are considerations before launching into such a system. Here are a few thoughts on the consequences of an eight-team college football playoff.

Just Eight?

If college football went to an eight-team playoff, one question might be whether or not "eight is enough." At some point, the No. 9 team would claim that it was just as good as the No. 8 team, if not the fifth, sixth, or seventh.

Also, what poll would be used? Would the current BCS calculations be accepted, or would some other calculation be necessary? These are questions that would need to be answered.

Location, Location, Location

Another issue would be the location, dates, and logistics of a playoff system. Would the teams be allowed to play any home games, or would they have to play at "neutral" sites? Would the current bowls play some sort of role in the process? Again, there would be issues of fairness, particularly since SEC teams often play a large role in bowl games and many of them are connected to warm-weather stadiums.

Conferences

Finally, there is the issue of conferences. Currently, there are several conferences that have specific relationships with the BCS system. Other conferences only get teams into BCS games if they have exceptional seasons, such as the 2008 Utah Utes. If there was an eight-team playoff, would there be automatic bids from particular "power" conferences? This is yet another detail to be worked out.

Overall, the playoff system has some merit as a concept. However, there are a number of logistical issues that would have to be worked out. While some people see the playoff system as a simple solution, the details might be more than could be easily worked out.

What people have to keep in mind is that there is a lot of money attached to the BCS system. Sometimes the most "fair" system is not the most profitable. College football administrators might tell fans that they want the most fair system, but in the end they will pursue the system that maximizes revenue.

*Update*

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a playoff system for college football more than anyone, but let's have a system that's concrete and not left for the BCS heads to nitpick over.