College Football Playoffs: An Idea From Satan’s Loins

I hear a LOT of people bitching about wanting a playoff in college football.

I am not one of them.

The old bowl system was quirky but awesome: it ensured that the regular season was packed with meaning and it gave us New Year’s Day- a day when 2, 3 or even 4 high profile matchups would have a say in the national championship picture.  Was it perfect?  Far from it.  But it maximized the amount of sheer drama week to week.

Not content with the possibility of occasional split national championships, the people clamored for a better system and got the BCS which is now one of the most reviled institutions in America?  Why?  Because to the critics it highlights the political flaws of college football.

I hate the BCS because in their relentless pursuit of a national championship game they destroyed New Year’s Day.  Only one game matters.  The rest are meaningless scrimmages.  Well, meaningless to the fans, anyway.  everyone else [except the players] gets paid.

So not content with having destroyed the bowls, many of the same critics are now calling for a college football playoff.

This is a horrible idea, one that if implemented will likely destroy any remnants of meaning in the regular season.

The magic of college football is in the upset.   Not that any team can win on any given Saturday but that any team can change the course of the season on a given play.

In short, college football fans, in a rush to make the post-season slightly more meaningful want to destroy moments like this:

or the Appalachian State win against Michigan in 2007.  These games have meaning because every game counts in college football one loss damages a team’s shot at a national title.  Two losses ends it entirely.  Change college football to a playoff system and you’ll see meaningless games in November, teams losing early but still feeling alive and all the nonsense that the NFL season has.

This year, there’s been a celebration of the best 30 college football plays in the past 30 years.

There’s a reason that the NFL doesn’t have promotional spots like that.

The NFL doesn’t have that many meaningful plays.

Don’t turn college football into another NFL.

Keep it unique.

Keep it special.