I like the bowls. I think it's kind of fun to watch a school like MTSU win a championship.
When did this happen?
I think the beauty of it is a team can have a good season and go out a winner. You can't say that about basketball or baseball. You can say, but you play the game for the championship and nothing else. Well, it's not like there is no championship or ultimate champion- there is a BCS Championship Game. Why does there have to be a month long multi-tiered playoff system? Why can't there be other games where teams win and get to achieve something for their hard work, even if it isn't a National Championship? Why can't there be just one championship game?
I'm in favor of having the playoff system AND other bowl games. Hell, if we really wanted to, I'm sure we could figure out a way to allow the teams that lose in the first round of the playoffs play in a bowl game so they feel better about themselves.
People assume that if you have a playoff, you would have an Alabama/Texas match-up. But what would happen if someone like a 8-4 Southern Cal team all of a sudden got hot, and then reeled off four straight wins? Do they really deserve to be the National Champion over a team like an Alabama? I don't think they should, but that is a possibility if you have a playoff. You could have a team that didn't even win its conference win the NC. That to me seems more jacked up than the system in place.
I haven't seen anybody says that is what would happen if you have a playoff. What people say is that a playoff would prevent what we have now...teams that haven't been beaten being left out.
Does anybody take credit away from the Giants for beating the Patriots a few years ago? No. Nobody takes the credit away from a wild card team that makes the run to the Super Bowl.
Would you argue that the Chargers shouldn't be allowed to win the Super Bowl this year because Indianapolis had a better regular season? How did you feel about a 2 loss LSU team winning the National Championship a few years ago? They lost TWICE during the "knockout regular season" that supposedly exists today! And in fact, at one point, a team that didn't win its conference had a chance to win the national championship...that is until they made one of the many many "tweaks" to the system.
And if we wanted to, we could put a system in place that only allows conference champions. Like the BCS has, we would adjust the playoff system after every year a flaw is exposed.
A playoff would also end the conference championship games in all likelihood. I can't see why a conference would want two of their top teams to play an emotional and difficult game right before the playoffs, not to mention the obvious time constraints so that the college season doesn't go on until the middle of January.
I don't think that has to be the case. Again, if a system was designed that favored conferences having championship games then they wouldn't change. And the championship game is January 8th this year. We are pretty damn close to "middle of January." And those teams will have been off for more than a month since their last games! I don't think the calender is a problem at all. In fact, I think you couild put a system together where the college national championship is played the day before the Super Bowl! Admittedly, they'd have to stop playing the Super Bowl in March in order for that to happen!
Can you imagine the weekend that would be if the college playoff championship game was played the night before the Super Bowl? That would be one helluva football weekend!
Plus, even if you have a playoff, there's going to be arguements about who should have been that 16th team and if all of the teams in the playoff deserve to be there in the first place.
That is a fair point and will not be avoidable unless there is some drastic overhual of college football. However, I think we could also agree that it would be much easier to let teams 12 to 20 argue about who should or shouldn't be in the playoff. At least a good number of teams would have a chance to play their way into the championship game. You don't have that now! Now, we are stuck with several teams that have yet to lose a game which will not get a shot at a championship.
And I'll be honest if they did away with the bowls, I would be at least a little bit disappointed.
I see no reason why they would have to get rid of the bowls.
And I'd also argue that Ole Miss and MSU would have a better shot at a championship via playoff as opposed to the current system. As it stands now, Ole Miss and State would have to start out hot and run the table until the championship game. I think it would be much more likely that they could get "hot at the right time" and sneak into a playoff and stay hot.
