Islamic Insights | Inspired by the Holy Quran and AhlulBayt

College Football Playoffs?

Currently, Division One college football uses the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), a computer poll which decides the best two teams who play for the National Championship every year. It is possible for a team to be ranked number one in the country in both major polls (Associated Press and Coaches' Poll) and not make it to the national championship. This happened in 2003, when University of Southern California (USC) was ranked number one in both polls and did not play in the National Championship. That season USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and had to settle for a shared national championship. For the past two seasons, one can argue that the best team in the nation has not won the BCS National Championship. Last season, it seemed that the Georgia Bulldogs were the best team in the nation, and this year USC could make the case that they were the best team. It is time college football switched their postseason to a playoff system.

Proponents of the BCS argue that a playoff would take away from student athletes' academics. Ironically enough, in March of every year, both men's and women's basketball hold two tournaments (conference and national) determining the national championship. These tournaments stretch for nearly a month. Not only that, in Division Two college football, a tournament is held to determine the national championship. If it is done in other sports, what is the problem with a playoff in college football? If a tournament is to be held in Division One college football, the majority of the tournament will be held after finals.

Currently, every school that plays in a BCS game receives a whopping 17 million dollar payout. Supporters of the BCS say that a playoff system would take the money schools receive from BCS games. Proponents of the BCS argue that if there was a playoff, many other teams would not be allowed to play in a bowl game, because a season would be predicated on only making to the playoffs or not. Well, there is a suggestion that proves otherwise. Here is a proposal that accommodates both of those points.

The fairest system that gives the most teams a chance is an eight-team playoff. Six of the eight teams would be the conference champions from the six major conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, Pac 10, and SEC), and the two remaining teams would be at-large bids, essentially the two best teams not to win their conference. The teams that do not make it to the playoffs would be slotted in the bowl games that are played every year. The playoffs would be played at the four sites of the BCS bowl games on January 1, with each school receiving the 17 million dollar payout. The four winners would then play in the semifinals the week after at a neutral site. The winners of those two games would then play in the national Championship the week after.  If that plan is implemented, some would argue that the season would last into mid-January, which is too long. If that is the case, then simply start the season a week later than usually to accommodate the extra week in the season.

Division One college football is in desperate need of a fair system to determine the national champion. Even president-elect Barack Obama stated in an interview on 60 Minutes that there is a need for a playoff system because of the mere fact that there are so many teams with legitimate arguments that they should be playing for a national championship. If a President-elect states that he will push for change with the current sports system, then there must be a problem.