BSC, And 1 or playoff system?

[Cuda1447]

After seeing yet another crazy BCS season you can't help but talk about how the BCS needs to go, the formulas are all F'd up and the sport needs a playoff system. But does it really?


I used to be a big believer in a playoff system. Maybe 8 teams 3 weeks extra.

However, wouldn't that put a lot less emphasis on the regular season? This year (being a ND fan) I was dying in week 3 when ND lost to Michigan horribly. All I could think is DAMNIT, there goes our national championship. Now Im also a Dallas fan, and when the Cowboys lose one or two games this year I said blah, no big deal. We'll get it back.

One of the things that makes college football so special is that EVERY single game matters. Granted, teams get screwed from time to time. And maybe an And 1 system would fix that? But for the most part the BCS is this - Play the hardest schedule you think you can handle. Play your guts out each and every week. If you are good enough to run your schedule, and ballsy enough to actually have a difficult schedule - you'll have earned a shot at the national championship. But you have to PROVE you deserve it.

You lose, you're going to need to get lucky to get in. You can't lose. You have a cake schedule, sorry. You're not getting in, regardless of how good you do. Schedule a couple out of conference games against Texas/Oklahoma/USC/Florida/OSU/Miami or whoever else you need to make your SoS go up if you want to make a run at the national championship.

If we had a playoff system wouldn't it totally deemphasize all the regular season games? Take out a lot of the drama that you get each and every week of the college football season?


An And 1 would be awesome, watching the top 4 teams compete to go to the national championship would be nice. But then you are still going to have the same result you have now. The 5th place team getting screwed?


I dunno, just rambling I suppose. What are your thoughts?

 

[Tom]

I think it's fine the way it is.

Compare it to the most interesting playoff, college basketball. There, you have a 64 team playoff, which is great fun, but it isn't really any better at getting the two "best" teams in the final, it's just different.

The truth is, there isn't any such thing as the two "best" teams, one way of assigning that label is as good as the other.

 

[Nick5324]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447
An And 1 would be awesome, watching the top 4 teams compete to go to the national championship would be nice. But then you are still going to have the same result you have now. The 5th place team getting screwed?

I like this idea the best. I know the argument against it; your moving the problem of the number 3 team "getting screwed" to the number 5 team. Sometimes, it's easy, it's obvious who is 1 and 2. Most years, there are 3 or 4 teams to consider. Sometimes, there are more than 4. How it is now, only in years where there is a clear cut 1 and 2 is there "no problem". Going to the plus one puts us in a "most years" there is little or no problem situation. While it may not be as good as an 8 or even 16 team playoff, I think it, unlike a playoff, has a chance of being approved by University presidents.

Also, the BCS doesn't use the word "best". It says it will match the top 2 ranked teams. Ranking is subjective, and given the various things to consider, one's rankings may or may not reflect who they feel is best, next best, next best, etc.

Edit: Speaking of a plus one, this would introduce a new problem. In this set up, getting ranked in the top 4 is the goal. If it is structured as 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3, and then the winners play, this could lead to voting controversies. Being ranked 3 vs. being ranked number 4 becomes significant b/c of who you play in the "semi-final", and you could have voters trying to force certain match-ups for various reasons. Maybe a random drawing of the top 4 would be done to determine the "semi-final" match-ups.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Cuda1447

An And 1 would be awesome, watching the top 4 teams compete to go to the national championship would be nice. But then you are still going to have the same result you have now. The 5th place team getting screwed?

Who cares?

You're trying to figure out the single, best team...Not trying to sort out who the 3rd, and 4th best are.

Having three teams with a valid claim to being the best team is pretty common. I can't think of the last time when there were four teams (Admittedly, a non-choke by USC would have made this such a year)

 

[ElFenix]

the only reason people are complaining is that they think that the #2 team is almost always the wrong one. nevermind that the #2 team has won more than the #1 team has (so obviously, the #1 team is usually wrong). the pollsters are full of crap and no better judge of a football team than anyone else (remember how ESPN spooged all over itself in its race to crown USC the best team of all time last year?). and they're the ones that bitch when their #2 team isn't in it. even though their #1 team is wrong too.

not to mention that it's ESPN that's paid all the big bucks to have the BCS (well, fox this year)

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Tom

The truth is, there isn't any such thing as the two "best" teams, one way of assigning that label is as good as the other.

True.

Think about last year's national championship game. Of course, Texas won, but I doubt I'd get many arguments if I claimed that if USC and Texas played each other ten times, USC would win at least half.

Now, suppose you had an 8-team playoff. If Ohio State plays its worst game of the season on the same night that its opponent Boise State plays its best game of the season, does that make Boise State the "best?"

No, but underdogs being named national champions is one of the things that makes college football fun.

 

[classy]

It should be the top 4 teams of the BCS in a playoff 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Then a championship game. And those 4 teams square off in the top 2 bowl games and they could rotate those, Like Orange and Rose one year and Sugar and Cotton next. Then the week after they have the championship game.

 

[James3shin]

Playoffs please. U of F is a good team and all, but if they were to play Michigan head on in a playoff system, all of the heckling and jeering from my lab mate would cease. God damn UF alumni, I want to throw him to some real gators.