5 Takeaways from the Inaugural CFP National Championship

The first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship is complete, and it confirmed what we all suspected: College football is better off without the BCS.

After Ohio State's 42-20 win over Oregon to cap a Cinderella season at AT&T Stadium Monday, that fact—to borrow from the Buckeyes' title hats—should be undisputed.

It was only fitting that the Buckeye heroes were Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliott, a third-string quarterback and an under-the-radar running back, respectively, who were catapulted onto the world stage by the new playoff system.

Ohio State may not embody your prototypical underdog, but by overcoming injuries and winning it all as the No. 4 seed, the Buckeyes certainly helped justify the merits of the CFP.  

That's the conclusion, at least, that CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock drew.

"

Bill Hancock on No 4 Ohio State winning: "it validates what we've known for the last month. That the committee got it right."

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 13, 2015"

Going forward, what are the implications of the inaugural CFP for the major parties involved—Ohio State, Oregon, the conferences, the NCAA and the players themselves? Here are five big takeaways.

The Playoff Served Its Purpose

Associated Press

The inaugural College Football Playoff achieved its goals, both stated and unstated. The stated goal? To improve upon a confusing, corrupt BCS system by eliminating convoluted equations and ensuring that, in the end, the best team has a chance to hoist the trophy.

Baylor and TCU might beg to differ (more on that later), but the fact that No. 2 Oregon and No. 4 Ohio State met in the title game—which under the BCS would have probably featured Florida State and Alabama—is a testament to what's possible when more teams are given a shot.

The first CFP also succeeded in creating massive hype and profits for schools, conferences and ESPN. The two semifinal games on New Year's Day—Florida State vs. Oregon and Alabama vs. Ohio State—were the two highest-rated shows in the history of cable television, as Joe Nocera of The New York Times notes.

ESPN reported that Monday night's championship game scored the highest overnight Nielsen rating (18.5) in the history of the network, a 21 percent increase over last year's final. 

And the worldwide leader capitalized:

"

Cost of 30-second commercial tonight is in between $800K & $1M, according to @WSJ

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 13, 2015"

One backhanded benefit of the BCS, from the perspective of the NCAA and media, was that it came with intense debate that kept fans interested. In other words, the system itself created headlines.

"As a writer, it always made for great copy," wrote Deadspin's Matt Hinton in October 2013.  

But this year, the teams themselves provided more than enough storylines. No narrative was better than that of the Buckeyes, who lost at home to Virginia Tech in Week 2, lost their top two quarterbacks to injury and were led to the promised land by third-string QB Cardale Jones, who dethroned all three Heisman Trophy finalists along the way.

Ohio State Has Dynasty Potential

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

"

JT Barrett just told me: "I'm not leaving. I don't think Braxton is leaving. I don't think Cardale is leaving."

— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) January 13, 2015"

Imagine a QB battle this spring between Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones. Imagine one of those three handing the ball consistently to Ezekiel Elliott, who exploded for 246 yards and four touchdowns in the title game to finish the season with three straight 200-yard efforts. 

That dream will be reality for the 2015 Buckeyes.

Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel notes that only six of Ohio State's starters this season were seniors, and none of the team's underclassmen are expected to declare for the draft. Four of five offensive linemen are likely to return, as are defensive lineman Adolphus Washington and first-team All-American Joey Bosa.  

It's almost hard to believe how thoroughly Urban Meyer's squad picked apart Marcus Mariota and the Ducks on Monday. Even with the inexperienced Jones at quarterback, the Buckeyes scored 42 points, the most Oregon allowed all season. And despite losing the turnover battle, 4-1, Ohio State held Oregon to a season-low 20 points. 

Meyer has now coached three national championship teams, the first two at Florida in 2006 and '08. In three seasons at Ohio State, he's 38-3. For his career, he's 141-26, including 8-2 in bowl games. 

Everything Meyer touches, it seems, turns to gold. With him at the helm, the Buckeyes have every reason to believe they'll be title contenders for several years to come.

The Big Ten Is Big Again

Morry Gash/Associated Press

Big Ten teams went 6-5 in 11 bowl games this winter. That may not sound like anything special, but consider this: According to Sagarin rankings (h/t Associated Press sports writer Noah Trister), all Big Ten bowl teams were considered underdogs. 

Ohio State's title run is, of course, the most remarkable outcome, highlighted by victories over SEC champion Alabama and Pac-12 champion Oregon. But there were other triumphs as well: Wisconsin beat Auburn, Michigan State beat Baylor and Penn State beat Boston College.

Yes, the Big Ten still has a ways to go. The Buckeyes have accounted for all two of the conference's solo championships over the last 45 years.  

"

Since 1970, the Big Ten has one solo national title -- Ohio State in '02. (Michigan split in 1997).

— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) January 13, 2015"

Nonetheless, the bowl-season performance is not too shabby for a conference that B/R's Adam Kramer declared dead four months ago. 

Urban Meyer's efforts have gone a long way in kick-starting the resurrection process. Will Jim Harbaugh do his part for archrival Michigan? 

Kevin McGuire at NBC Sports sums up the state of the conference nicely:

"

The Big Ten still needs Michigan’s expectations with Jim Harbaugh to live up to the hype.

The Big Ten still needs Penn State and Nebraska to be relevant.

The Big Ten needs Wisconsin and Michigan State to keep the momentum going as well.

Is the Big Ten back? Well, not exactly, but it sure as heck is a better conference now than many thought it was in week two of the 2014 season.

"

Expansion Makes Sense, but It's Not Coming Yet

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The switch to a playoff format made lots of college football fans happy, but it wasn't enough to knock the chip off the shoulder of TCU and Baylor supporters. Both Big 12 teams were on the bubble of the four-team playoff picture, and both—if you ask their fans, at least—got snubbed.

TCU destroyed Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, 42-3, before a few Horned Frogs supporters made their way to the national title game in Dallas to remind people they weren't invited to the playoff party.

"

Banner here reads, "Winner Plays TCU''...at this point, I might buy that..

— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) January 13, 2015"

Some things never change. 

Given that the No. 4 seed Buckeyes came out on top of the first-ever CFP, there's certainly a case to be made for expanding the playoff field to make room for the likes of TCU and Baylor. But it doesn't sound like expansion is coming anytime soon.

"It's a four-team tournament for 12 years," CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock told B/R's Barrett Sallee in December. "There hasn't been any discussion in our group about expanding."

There are many proponents of an eight-team playoff—including President Barack Obama—and considering how much money there is to be made by stretching the season out, it's hard to believe it won't happen eventually. 

For now, though, the field will stay at four. I guess Baylor will need a better PR firm.

"

Baylor has hired a PR firm (Kevin Sullivan Communications) to advocate its case for a playoff spot. Firm says they were hired last week

— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) December 1, 2014"

The Larger System Is Still Broken

Tyler Kaufman/US Presswire

Economically speaking, the inaugural CFP National Championship went swimmingly for all the adults involved: the Power Five conferences each made $50 million, the coaches got bonuses, ESPN charged $1 million for ads and Nike put dozens of swooshes in front of millions of eyeballs.

But knowing how much money was swirling around the event served as a reminder that the players don't see a dime.

Taking in the CFP media-day circus in Dallas on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times' Bill Plaschke observed: "[I]t truly seems ridiculous that the players are not sharing even a small piece of this value they create."

"It is clear this new College Football Playoff system has rocketed the sport into a new stratosphere," Plaschke added. "The surroundings have changed. The feeling is different. These might be college kids the rest of the year, but this weekend in Dallas, they are being sold like professionals...and should be somehow compensated for it."

It's fitting that one of the on-field heroes Monday night was Cardale Jones, the Buckeyes quarterback who until a few weeks ago was best known for a tweet he published on Oct. 6, 2012, that read: "Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS" (h/t ESPN.com news services).

On Monday, as the college football world celebrated Jones' performance and waxed poetic about his underdog story, a new semester of classes began at Ohio State.

The first CFP was a success in so many ways. But fixing the playoff system is hardly the same as fixing the larger system at work. The athletes, BCS or CFP, are still exploited.