It’s official, the NCAA university presidents have agreed to change the awful BCS system and it only took three hours for the decision to be made. Reports from the NCAA is that the four-team playoff will roll out in 2014, and continue until 2025. Am I excited? A little bit. I have grown tired of the BCS system, especially after last year’s SEC rematch between LSU and Alabama. The new playoff system, while it gets rid of the old computer pick system, it doesn’t get the job down. Here are some of the reasons that a four-team playoff just will not work for NCAA football.
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Favoring the Big Teams:
The new playoff system is still going to favor the power conferences. You know the ones, the big schools that load up there schedule with high school teams and then roll through the season claiming that they are the best in the nation. Forget the fact that some of these great schools do not dare play a tough road game against a respectable out of conference opponent. This will still be a big thing, and schools like Boise State will not be invited.
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Four Just Isn’t Enough:
Think about it, would you see March Madness with only four teams competing for the National Championship? It’s hilarious! I definitely don’t think we should have a 64-team playoff system, but four just isn’t enough. Seriously, who thought of that number? A reasonable number would be eight, at least. With the expansion of teams, it would add more excitement to football season.
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Subjective Criteria:
The plan for the BCS committee is to pick the participants in this members-only event. Therefore the fun “strength of schedule” factor and all the human polls will again lead to a small group of schools that are essentially judgment calls. The Coaches Poll? The only film the coaches are watching is of their opponent for the following week’s match-up. And don’t you dare mention the computer polls to me. People programmed them bad boys!
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen:
I have been a football fan for my years so I understand that you have to have a number of people to get involved with someone like this, however; I think the reason the BCS is inadequate is that too many people had to be happy before it was approved. NCAA officials and the conferences are still a large group of disjointed individuals whose egos are so big that they can’t agree on this type of process. In addition, the NCCA basically has no part in this. They continue to show their weakness, which has been all too evident during disciplinary procedures and so called “investigations” of corruption involving high-profile athletes.
Definitely Not about the Fans:
Progress? Maybe a little bit However, this isn’t about the student-athlete or the fans. This is about money. The powers that be are doing this because they believe it will definitely put more green in their back pocket. Case closed! This is not about making the fans of football happy or making sure athletes go to class, remember student comes before sports. This is about TV deals, endorsement contracts, and naming rights. It will only work as a lucrative business transaction instead of a sporting event.
What the university presidents decided just isn’t going to be enough. In the end, many of football’s finest fans could find themselves walking away from a sport they love to watch every Saturday.
