I've said it before and I'll say it again: College Football Needs a playoff system

Its time to beat that old dead horse again.   It maybe dead, but I'm going to beat it until College football gets playoff system.   Most every other sport has a playoff system.  All the other divisions of College football have playoff systems.  Even highschool football has playoffs.    Why not College football.  How many Undefeated teams not making the Championship game does it take?   How many situations like what happened with Oklahoma and Texas(Oklahoma going to the Championship even though Texas beat them) does it take?  The BCS is just BS.   It is clearly unfair.   Teams outside of the big 6 conferences don't have a chance to compete for a National Championship.   I have a question for all those that don't think College football should have a playoff system,  Should the NFL get rid of theirs and just let polls and computers decide who plays in the Superbowl?   In 2007, when the Pats went undefeated in the regular season, should it have just been the Pats verses the Colts in the Superbowl and forget about the Giants(who beat them in the Superbowl) and the rest of the playoffs?  I'd be very upset if Baseball did this.   The Phillies  probably wouldn't have made the World Series either this year or last.   Anyone who is in favor of the BCS, please tell why/how you think it is fair to have over 100 teams play 12 games and elimination all but 2 teams afterwords?   How can you possibly think that such a system can be anywhere near accurate at deciding who the 2 best teams are?   Does anyone know if there is a petition like ours for the OOT,  for a College football playoff system?

I agree with you Warb, and my main argument is this: All the other college football divisions have a playoff.  There's absolutely no reason the top division can't do it as well.

I can't remember the exact formula, but I don't think it's only based on polls.  There are also computer ratings that take into account strength of schedule and won-loss record, but the whole thing is still a joke.

I have a passing interest in college football, but college basketball is really where it's at for me.  And the tournament is a large reason for that.

yes college football uses a combination of polls computers to rank the teams each week.   The top two teams in the final rankings of the regular season, go to the national championship game.   In a year when you have 5 undefeated teams(such as this year),  3 are left out in the cold.

You can click here http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/eligibility and scroll down to BCS standings for an in depth explanation as to how it works.

Warbler said:

You can click here http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/eligibility and scroll down to BCS standings for an in debt explanation as to how it works.

You mean you have to pay? ;-)

I just know they need something other than the BCS.  A playoff system would be great, but there are a TON of things that would need to be straightened out for it to work. 

a few things need to be straightened out, but not a ton.

well Frink, seeing as the BCS is so complicated, I wouldn't  be surprised if you had to pay in order to get an in depth explanation as to how it works. 

whoops, double post, sorry.

huh?  you have something against Football?

What's so bad about it?  Its fun. 

Ok Warb, do you have an idea of how to handle automatic qualifiers in a playoff system?  I'm not looking for a fight, I'm just curious to see what you think.

C3PX said:

Warbler said:

huh?  you have something against Football?

No, not really. It is well documented here at OT.com that I am far from a fan of the sport. But I've nothing against it, I suppose.

I didn't know that.  oh well.  Not everyone has to like to football I guess.

Sluggo said:

Ok Warb, do you have an idea of how to handle automatic qualifiers in a playoff system?  I'm not looking for a fight, I'm just curious to see what you think.

are you asking how to decide what teams get in and what ones don't?  Well, I think we need a 16 team playoff.  You could do it one of two ways. 

1: all the conference champions get in and the rest of the spots are decided by committee, like they do for college basketball.

2: keep the BCS formula and instead of selecting the top 2, select the top 16.

Warbler said:

are you asking how to decide what teams get in and what ones don't?  Well, I think we need a 16 team playoff.  You could do it one of two ways. 

1: all the conference champions get in and the rest of the spots are decided by committee, like they do for college basketball.

2: keep the BCS formula and instead of selecting the top 2, select the top 16.

I think 8 could be enough, and 16 would take a month to complete the tournament.  Although not perfect, I could see just having the top 8 BCS rated teams compete.  Sure, it wouldn't be ideal, but you wouldn't have these problems where undefeated teams like Boise State, TCU, and Cincy get left out.

I don't like the idea of automatic qualifiers in college football.  You end up with a team like Nebraska, which plays in the weak Big 12 North, only needing to upset one team in the conference championship to screw everything up.  Almost happened this year.

meh, it wouldn't have been a disaster.    If Nebraska had Beat Texas, they would have deserved to get in.  Texas still would have gotten into the playoff via committee spot.    No big disaster.  

As for eight teams:  over the years, I've seen too many good teams in the 9-16 to say eight is enough.  Perhaps eight could be enough if you had a rule in place that undefeated teams are automatically in.

I've never lived on a College Campus,  what is the big problem with the football culture? 

the orange isn't just for the football team,  that is your college's colors.   All your sports team wear those colors.   I can't see how stores being empty on Saturday would be an annoyance.  As for the Sportstalk,  if you don't like it, don't listen.   Surely there must be other radio stations to listen to.   4 hours a day is nothing.  In Philly,  we two stations that talk Philly sports 24/7.  What's wrong with people  being nicer and friendlier.   As for putting your pride in a bunch of 18-22 year olds,  I guess if you aren't a sports fan, you wouldn't understand.

I don't what to say.   To me,  watching sports is fun.  When you are talking about a team sport, the team represents some entity,  be it a city, a highschool, a college, or even a nation(the Olympics).  Its really not about pride in the 18-22 year olds, its about pride in what they represent.   When they win,  your city/school/country wins, you win.  When they lose, you lose.  When you cheer on a team for your whole life, after your father and grandfather did as well, you tend to get attached to the team.  You tend to live and die by them(not literally, but figuratively).   When the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, my family opened champagne to celebrate.   When they lost in 1993 via Mitch William's  pitch to Joe bleeping Carter,  believe it or not, I cried.  It can get to you.  Can it go too far?  you bet.  A example of this would be the people in Texas who treat highschool football like its the NFL, and put way too much pressure on the kids.    It sounds like your problems aren't will football per say, but with all sports.  

perhaps the creation of a different thread for that subject is in order.