Dixie - In Memoriam
New member
I know this has probably been discussed before, but what the heck...
I keep hearing people complain about it, and it occurs to me, there may be some misunderstandings as to why there isn't a playoff for Div. 1A college football. WinterBorn lamented that he thinks if TCU and Boise were in a NCG, it would "cause the powers that be to reconsider a playoff." Well, this isn't the problem. The "powers that be" would love to have a playoff, it's the academia who control the "powers that be" and they don't give one whit about football, who plays where, or for what, or anything other than the big fat pay check football brings to their university. As far as they are concerned, Harvard and Yale could play each year for "the championship" and that would satisfy them just fine.
The problem is the length of the season, and it has been hard to budge these academic pinheads very much on that. They refuse to let the NCAA extend the season another 4-5 weeks, to accommodate a playoff, and especially given the "student-athlete" would have to travel each week to a venue way from campus, at a time when other student are taking finals, etc. So, while us football fans can bitch and moan about it, and come up with 'systems' and ways we think it could be done, the real problem is not finding a way to incorporate the bowl affiliates, but rather, how to satisfy academia.
Then, there is the underlying issue which is seldom ever considered... What happens when we do have a playoff, and what is clearly the best football team in America, slips up and has a poor performance out of the gate, and gets knocked out of the brackets? Will we then have fans clamoring for a "best of 3 series?" Will people then be saying, yeah, so-and-so won the title, but they weren't the best team in college football that year? Seems to me, there will always be a controversy or question as to who is best, even WITH a playoff system. While I would love to see it played out and settled on the field, I think we already sort of do that now, and I can live with what we have.
I keep hearing people complain about it, and it occurs to me, there may be some misunderstandings as to why there isn't a playoff for Div. 1A college football. WinterBorn lamented that he thinks if TCU and Boise were in a NCG, it would "cause the powers that be to reconsider a playoff." Well, this isn't the problem. The "powers that be" would love to have a playoff, it's the academia who control the "powers that be" and they don't give one whit about football, who plays where, or for what, or anything other than the big fat pay check football brings to their university. As far as they are concerned, Harvard and Yale could play each year for "the championship" and that would satisfy them just fine.
The problem is the length of the season, and it has been hard to budge these academic pinheads very much on that. They refuse to let the NCAA extend the season another 4-5 weeks, to accommodate a playoff, and especially given the "student-athlete" would have to travel each week to a venue way from campus, at a time when other student are taking finals, etc. So, while us football fans can bitch and moan about it, and come up with 'systems' and ways we think it could be done, the real problem is not finding a way to incorporate the bowl affiliates, but rather, how to satisfy academia.
Then, there is the underlying issue which is seldom ever considered... What happens when we do have a playoff, and what is clearly the best football team in America, slips up and has a poor performance out of the gate, and gets knocked out of the brackets? Will we then have fans clamoring for a "best of 3 series?" Will people then be saying, yeah, so-and-so won the title, but they weren't the best team in college football that year? Seems to me, there will always be a controversy or question as to who is best, even WITH a playoff system. While I would love to see it played out and settled on the field, I think we already sort of do that now, and I can live with what we have.