Give College Football a Playoff

We are one week into the college football season and already the system has been thrown into chaos, proving that the entire system needs to be overhauled.

Yes, I’m talking about the BCS.

A computer formula was supposed to solve college football’s woes. Instead, it completely trashed it.

Just take a look at what transpired in week one.

Boise State beat up Oregon, almost guaranteeing an undefeated season for the Broncos given their incredibly weak schedule. And an undefeated season gives Boise a strong chance to wind up in a BCS Bowl game.

BYU buried Oklahoma’s national championship aspirations by beating the Sooners at not-so-neutral Cowboy’s Stadium in Irving, Texas. For OU to wind up in the big game, they will have to run the table and get some help.

Meanwhile, Florida showed off all of the reasons why they are number one. And they should be ashamed of themselves. Their game against Charleston Southern was equivalent to a high school bully taking on a third grader. Man up, Florida. If you can’t schedule a quality opponent, at least schedule one that plays in the FBS.

And herein we find the first big problem of the college football landscape.

Florida is undoubtedly the best team. They have a Heisman trophy winning quarterback and an excellent head coach. They deserve to be number one in the preseason rankings

That being said, their schedule is ridiculous. Don’t give me any garbage about them playing in the SEC. The Gators schedule has no Alabama and no Ole Miss on it, so they instantly avoid the second and third best teams in the country until the SEC Championship game. They get to face a Georgia team that lost their two best players at home.

Florida State also has to journey into the Swamp in the final week of the regular season, and half of the Seminole team will probably be suspended by that point. The only really tough opponent that Florida has to take on away from the comforts of home is LSU.

So Florida takes on exactly two ranked opponents, none of them in the top ten. Contrast that to Alabama, which already beat one top ten team and faces still another. Eleventh ranked LSU is also on the Crimson Tide’s schedule.

Florida is by no means alone in scheduling cupcakes in the games that they can control. Notre Dame, Penn State, and Texas have also done their absolute best to ensure that they will put up stats that the computer will love against weak opponents.

Alabama isn’t alone either in scheduling legitimate non-conference games. USC, Georgia, and Virginia Tech each face two top 25 non-conference opponents.

So does BYU. And they face two ranked opponents in conference. Which is why I hate to hear anybody bash the Cougars or any other Mountain West team.

You hear it all the time, “A Mountain West team couldn’t run the table in a BCS Conference.”

Whatever.

Utah, BYU, and TCU would be the best three teams in the Big East. They would also be near the top of the ACC. Granted, none of them could run the table in the SEC, Big 12, or Pac-10, but they would be a tough out for any team.

Yet, a Big East team can end up in the BCS Championship if it is the only BCS team to finish undefeated, while a Mountain West team cannot?

What about USC? The last few years, the Trojans have finished with the same record as the eventual national champions, yet are penalized because they play in the Pac-10.

All of the conference quarrelling by the media is ridiculous, yet it is what determines the contenders in the national championship. I think that most people can agree that the SEC is the best conference, but the rest of the BCS conferences are all bunched together in terms of talent, especially at the top.

So why can’t we see a playoff? Decide the national champion fair and square.

Please don’t pull the old tradition argument out. The BCS is so new that it can’t be considered tradition. Neither can the dozens of new bowl games that have been introduced in the last thirty years.

The point is that today’s college football postseason wouldn’t be recognized by Bear Bryant or Knut Rockne, so there is nothing traditional about it.

An eight team playoff wouldn’t interfere with players’ classes that much either. Most of it could easily be played during winter break.

A playoff might also end the unsportsmanlike practice of running up the score to keep the BCS computers happy.

And how entertaining would a playoff be? Just imagine all of the possible matchups that an eight team playoff offers.

Unfortunately, the plea for a playoff has fallen on deaf ears year after year.

And so, January will come around and we will again see Florida crush an undeserving opponent chosen by a computer. USC will crush whatever victim is served up for them in the Rose Bowl. And Notre Dame will slide into a BCS bowl game with a 9-3 record that they earned by beating up weak teams.

So enjoy the college football season, however meaningless it may be. After all, we penciled Florida into the national championship months ago.

Why don’t we just skip the NFL season and just hand the Lombardi Trophy to New England. Or give the Yankees their World Series rings right now?

College football is great and I love watching individual games. But I am fed up with the big picture. Either crown the national champion on the field or stop shoving one down my throat.

College football is great while the games last. Now the NCAA must take action to leave fans feeling satisfied once the season ends.