Poll: College Playoff Yes or No?

[OH10]

Boise State is undefeated and still only merits 9th in the human polls--by what rationale should they get a shot among the best 6-8 teams in the nation in a playoff for the NC?

You're basing your entire argument on the human polls being the indicators of who does or does not deserve to be in a playoff? There's one objective factor that can and should be taken into account - whether a team is undefeated.

Again, I must say it... Auburn 2004. If a team like the 2005 Texas team existed in 2002 to challenge Miami, Ohio State would have never played in that Fiesta Bowl. The voters wouldn't have allowed them in because they played in too many close games. (which gets us to another absurdity of the system - style points are very important).

The BCS, flawed as it may be, does indeed give these teams a chance at the NC--that is, if they earn it, by scheduling and beating high-caliber teams during the all-important regular season.

I love this assumption that big schools like to schedule small schools that actually have a chance to beat them... let alone that the big schools will come to their place to play. This argument is tired as it is not, and has never been realistic for a good small school to pull off.

Could you possibly see Ohio State scheduling a game to play the Broncos on the blue field? Not in a million years. If you answered 'yes' to that question, you lose all credibility.

In fact he is correct that a National Champ decided by a playoff only demonstrates who was the best team in the playoff and not the best team of the entire season.

If the NFL did it like college football does it, then the Colts would have been in 6 straight Super Bowls by now - because they were the best in the regular season.

But if there were playoffs in college football, of course, we'd also have to deal with the annual controversy that surrounds the Super Bowl - that the two teams that are there are undeserving. Oh, wait nevermind, I can't recall that ever being an issue with a football playoff.

 

[buckeyegrad]

For those who would like to see college football go back to before the BCS when we only had the polls, you do realize that Ohio State would still be without a national championship since 1968 under such a scenario. Miami would have been voted #1 in 2002 in both polls and we would have been left with nothing, much like the 1994 Penn State team.

Personally, I favor an 8 team playoff system with a current BCS style formula to determine pairings.

 

[Saw31]

No playoffs. Ever!!

 

[OH10]

For those who would like to see college football go back to before the BCS when we only had the polls, you do realize that Ohio State would still be without a national championship since 1968 under such a scenario. Miami would have been voted #1 in 2002 in both polls and we would have been left with nothing, much like the 1994 Penn State team.

The system is always great when you benefit from its flaws, and it sucks when it screws you - just like the BCS could have screwed Ohio State in 2002 if another major conference team would have gone undefeated (i.e. Oklahoma).

 

[coastalbuck]

Just keep tweaking the BCS, my only problem is stringing out the BCS games over so long a period. Let them play and get it done. A playoff system in college football is just like teacher incentive pay. There is no way to properly judge it.

 

[Oh8ch]

How is that we have a system in place where Auburn could go undefeated in the SEC, do everything asked of them, and have no shot at the championship in their division of football? It's absurd, and that's why it is not a close argument.

You have cited one of the few instances where a playoff would have added something. And to confess my deepest darkest secret - I could live with a four team playoff.

But the argument that a playoff somehow 'settles things' doesn't wash IMO. Go to four teams and some day #4 will win it and then we will argue over how good #5 is. Or, we will have a team like Rutgers or Boise St slipping in at #4 and argue that the playoffs need to be expanded to include the 'real' #4.

So I will give you Auburn. But when is the last time you could make a case for #5 being the best in the country in the same year you couldn't make a similar case for #20?

I believe in bell curves. In football that means you have really good teams and really bad teams at either extremes. Cut a bell curve in half, turn it on its side and you have something like a pyramid (not a funnel - turn it the other way).

Start moving down that pyramid and as it gets wider the distinction between teams becomes smaller and smaller. It is easier to distinguish #1 from #5 than it is #8 from #17 (could Rutgers REALLY beat Texas, Cal and Tennessee?). Forget about #16 versus #33 when they come from different conferences and have different SOS and one team won via blowout every week while the other only squeked by, etc, etc.

That is the problem CBB ran into last year with George Mason. They were the poster child for the team that didn't belong. Oops.

 

[Jaxbuck]

The passion people feel for CFB will always leave a little something wanting playoff or no playoff. First and foremost, no other sport save soccer on a global scale, can say this.

Playoff's detract from the regular season, reward the team playing the best at the time of the tourney and often diminish a dominant regular season teams accomplishments. The positive is one loss doesn't kill your regular season and the champ is truely settled on the field.

The current system obvioulsy is the opposite. Regular season is emphasised and rewarded but you can never really say who the champ is for sure when opinions and natural human bias enter the equation(polls and never actually settle it on the field).

Personally either is preferable to me over what we used to have. The poster who brought up 2002 made the perfect point i always try and bring up when some say go back to how it was pre-BCS. 2002 Miami pounds a B12 team in the Orange Bowl and gets the NC in both polls regardless of what we do in the RoseBowl vs USC. Fuck that noise.

So to me its pick your poison but don't think for a minute a playoff will stop all the bitching and moaning. Thats part of CFB and to me, its good to have something so many people feel so passionately about.

P.S. if you do a playoff, do it NFL style or not at all. Seeding/home field will keep regular season very important.

 

[PrincetonBuckeye]

I think there should be a playoff system but with all the money coming in with the corporate sponsers on bowl games its going to be hard to really change what we have now unfortuantely I think......

thats just my 2 cents....

 

[Buckeye86]

The positive is one loss doesn't kill your regular season and the champ is truely settled on the field.

How so? What happens if #1 beats #8 but in the process loses their best player to injury. Further down the line #1 minus their best player gets crushed by #2. Is that really an example of the champ being truely settled on the field? And there are probably better examples than that of how something like that could work out and cause problems in a playoff system.

A playoff system would make the championship game between two teams who are battered and bruised from making it through the opening rounds of the playoff. The current bowl system leaves teams fresh and at their peak come game time with several weeks to prepare for their oponent, making for a "truer" settling of whos the best on the field in my opinion (and that of course leaves out the problems caused by undefeated teams being snubbed by the championship game).

The bottom line is that the current system has flaws, having a playoff solves some of those flaws but at the same time opens the door for at least as many new problems for people to complain about.

 

[Oh8ch]

The positive is one loss doesn't kill your regular season and the champ is truely settled on the field.

In other words, an "upset" during the regular season is an "upset", but an upset during the playoffs is somehow different? An undefeated OSU losing to a two loss Oklahoma in round one "proves" beyond all argument that Oklahoma had the better team because the game was played in December/January?

No, it is simply that only the games played in December/January 'count' - which is the crux of my problem with playoffs.

 

[OH10]

You have cited one of the few instances where a playoff would have added something. And to confess my deepest darkest secret - I could live with a four team playoff.

But the argument that a playoff somehow 'settles things' doesn't wash IMO. Go to four teams and some day #4 will win it and then we will argue over how good #5 is. Or, we will have a team like Rutgers or Boise St slipping in at #4 and argue that the playoffs need to be expanded to include the 'real' #4.

I would support a 6-team playoff, with the top two teams earning byes and home field advantage in the semis. Sure the third team would bitch about an extra game, but fuck 'em, because they would have had no chance under the old system.

Plus, the third team would get to play an undefeated mid-major in their first game as sort of a warm up anyway. And make no mistake about it, I think an undefeated mid-major deserves a spot at the dinner table, even if they're only bringing plastic silver ware. Let them get beat by the team on the field, not by the system.

#7 would obviously bitch and moan (see #66 in college basketball), but again fuck 'em. Unless it is the strangest season in the history of college football, they'll have one, probably two losses, and no credible argument.

That is the problem CBB ran into last year with George Mason. They were the poster child for the team that didn't belong. Oops.

I'm hoping you're not serious. When you beat the teams they beat to get to the final four, you belong. I didn't hear anybody from UConn bitching that they got beat by a team that didn't belong. They were bitching because they overlooked a team that DID belong, and they blew their chance.

UConn was the most popular subjective pick to win the tournament, but I didn't hear anyone complaining that they got jobbed. They had to actually prove they were better than a mid-major on the court and failed - and thus, were exposed.

In other words, an "upset" during the regular season is an "upset", but an upset during the playoffs is somehow different? An undefeated OSU losing to a two loss Oklahoma in round one "proves" beyond all argument that Oklahoma had the better team because the game was played in December/January?

No, it is simply that only the games played in December/January 'count' - which is the crux of my problem with playoffs.

I don't buy this argument that the regular season games wouldn't count if there a small playoff system. You just need to gear the playoffs to benefit those teams that excelled in the regular season.

But ultimately, when you're talking about college football, you're talking about a team that has to start the season often with 1) A number of young and new starters; and 2) Limited practices. So, by necessity, your team has to grow into the team it will be by the end the season with your finished product, and that should count for something.

How so? What happens if #1 beats #8 but in the process loses their best player to injury. Further down the line #1 minus their best player gets crushed by #2. Is that really an example of the champ being truely settled on the field? And there are probably better examples than that of how something like that could work out and cause problems in a playoff system.

I can't think of a worse argument againt a playoff than "injuries would affect the champion." Injuries affect the champion now. Your best player could get hurt at any point during the regular season. It's part of the nature of football. Troy Smith could have gotten hurt during the Texas game, or any other game for that matter.

 

[berrienbuck]

The problem with College Football having a playoff is that teams can't play 2 games 2 days apart, like CBB. If too many teams are in, the playoffs are strung out too far. On the other hand, if there are only 4 teams there will be complaints that someone was slighted.

I say they can keep the current 4 BCS Bowls, Fiesta, Rose, Sugar, and Orange and include the BCS championship game. Take the top 6 teams in the BCS standings at the end of the regular season. The #1 and #2 teams get byes. #3 and #6, #4 and #5 play each other in two of the bowls. The winners of those move on to play #1 and #2 in the other two bowls with the winners of those games playing in the BCS Championship game.

This system will take two weeks. Of course, you are going to have the argument that a #7 team deserved to get in but that's inevitable with any system. The thing that needs to be done is to eliminate the preseason polls. The polls should come out after folks see how good/bad a team really is.

 

[Buckeye86]

#7 would obviously bitch and moan (see #66 in college basketball), but again fuck 'em. Unless it is the strangest season in the history of college football, they'll have one, probably two losses, and no credible argument.

What if #7 is an undefeated mid major team? Your whole premise of all undefeated teams should get a shot at the title would go right out the window in that case wouldn't it? Bosie State is undefeated and ranked #8 right now.

I can't think of a worse argument againt a playoff than "injuries would affect the champion." Injuries affect the champion now. Your best player could get hurt at any point during the regular season. It's part of the nature of football. Troy Smith could have gotten hurt during the Texas game, or any other game for that matter.

I'm sure I could think of something worse if I tried hard enough.

 

[OH10]

What if #7 is an undefeated mid major team? Your whole premise of all undefeated teams should got a shot at the title would go right out the window in that case wouldn't it? Bosie State is undefeated and ranked #10 right now.

That's the beauty of creating the a system in your mind. An undefeated team would automatically be in under the system I propose.

 

[TSKCoug]

No playoffs. Ever!!

That says it all, I agree 100%! Playoffs = some kind of evil orbital laser mind control shit!