Why Not Playoffs in Football?

Editor's Note: Nick Brien, a senior at Randolph Union High School, is completing a senior project in journalism, working with Herald sports editor Jill Montgomery as mentor. This sports column is the result of some of that work,

By Nick Brien

Even the mention of a playoff system in college football is enough to spark an uproar of conversation among any sports enthusiasts. The excitement of competition between players for recognition and pride could be executed in no better way, right?

Not according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Since 1998, the NCAA has supported the Bowl championship series, a system so incredibly flawed that it has sparked some kind of controversy and format change in just about every year that it has been present.

According to the newest formula introduced following the 2006 season, ten teams compete in five games that determine five champions in college football.

Wait a minute. Five champions? What happened to being "number one"? This is where sports experts, analysts, and the common viewer have debated the credibility of the entire BCS system.

Undeniably, one of the bigger issues that the BCS has spawned is the "BCS Conferences." The six major conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, and Big East), as well as the independent colleges (Notre Dame, Army, Navy, Temple), safely secure at least one spot in the BCS bowl games. For the remaining colleges in Division-I, there are only three available "at-large" spots in bowl games.

Let’s say, for example, that four non-BCS conference teams finish the season undefeated, and the computers let Big East champions Syracuse, which finished the season with two losses to non-conference teams, into the BCS. What happens, then? The answer: change the formula–again. It’s a recurring trend.

Who would not like to see some kind of eight-team tournament in college football? This tournament would be one determined by actual people and not computers.

I mean, look what playoffs has done for college basketball. Every March, 64 of Division-I’s best basketball programs compete to determine which deserves to be number one.

There is a reason they call this tournament "March Madness." It is a thrill to wake up the morning that brackets are announced and to fill out your bracket sheet. You fill out the bracket, you pick your upsets, and have a reason to watch these games.

It’s all about ratings, is it not? It’s why we watch college basketball in March. The excitement of the underdogs triumphing over the higher ranked teams, thus destroying your bracket entirely, is great.

I personally would enjoy seeing college football in a bracket format. It works for so many other sports, so why wouldn’t it work for college football too?

Change can happen. Last year, NCAA football began using coach’s challenge, in which the coach can risk a timeout to change a bad call, so why not the bracket system.

But change is not easy. In order to change the system, a majority vote would have to be cast by NCAA Division –I presidents.

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