College football, at least at the so-called big-time level, has so much going for it.
It has a die-hard fan base. It has an excitement level that many, myself included, believe tops even the professional level. Yet even with everything it has going for it in a positive way, there is something which is a such a glaring negative that it leaves the sport with an ugly black eye.
Without a playoff system, the fans are robbed each year of a true national champion. I don’t buy into the pyramid scheme we have now. I don’t care how much the powers-that-be try to tell me a computer system has determined who is No. 1. I don’t care that this “expert” or that “expert” says that the right two teams are playing for the national championship. Unless a playoff system is used, then we only have a mythical national champion.
I’ve followed the sport for as long as I’ve know what a forward pass is but for the life of me I cannot figure out why they are so against a playoff system. I guess it’s similar to the way the old group of men decades ago didn’t want to allow women the right to vote.
This was the way it had always been and they weren’t going to give up that the system they had without kicking and screaming and telling you how it wouldn’t work and how disastrous it would be over and over. I guess they figure if they say it enough times that people will become foolish enough to believe it.
Well, I never have believed it, I don’t believe it now and I never will believe it. A playoff system for the highest level of college football would work. It works in high school. It works in the pros and it works at every other level of college football.
I just watched the Division III national title game Saturday and the semifinals for the Football Championship Series level (formerly Division I-AA) were played Friday and Saturday, including one game which included Georgia Southern.
You can’t say it won’t work when it does work. You can’t say it would be too much on the student-athletes when student-athletes are already taking part in the exact system that you are contending would be too much for them.
I realize change is difficult. However, this is a change that should have taken place decades ago. I don’t buy the argument that the current system is a good one because it allows people to argue about who is No. 1 throughout the offseason. Quite frankly, that is about as absurd an argument as there is. You are telling me you would rather not determine a true No. 1 team so you could debate the matter?
Unfortunately, I don’t hold out much hope of things changing. The old guard is still clinging to the past and show no signs of letting up.
And despite a publicity stunt from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban who said he would fund a playoff system, nothing indicates a change is on the horizon.
So don’t kid yourself. The winner of the upcoming game between Auburn and Oregon will be a mythical national champion. Without a playoff system, the winner can be nothing more than that.
It seems this Christmas gift continues to be the toughest one to receive.
Chris Bridges is the sports editor of the Barrow Journal. Send comments about this column to cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
