College football desperately needs a playoff.............

[CAHUSKY]

How incredible would today have been if those two amazing games actually meant something? Simply tragic that they can't figure it out.

 

[bmayuc]

I can't gin up any interest in the BCS bowls, including the Champ game. Just feels illigitimate. Really a black eye for college fball. I can't believe that the money whores at the top of the BCS can't see the benefit of having 8 or 16 games that actually had a tournament atmosphere. Idiots i tell you. Bowls are so frigging stupid

 

[metsfan2323]

College football reminds me alot of professional boxing, a fragmented mess. These bowl games should be called "Winter Practice".

 

[geordi]

A playoff all sounds perfect, but there are still a number of problems with it conceptually. Nowithstanding the fact that any team can beat any other on a given day, unless you get down to about 16 teams, someone is going to get screwed. The number 9 team is always going to claim they weren't given a shot, especially if it is a non-power conference team like Boise that may be 12-0 or 11-1. The games yesterday may have been great (I didn't see them) but that presupposes that at least 8 teams should be involved since LSU-Alabama is coming up at least and maybe two other teams that might be added.

Clearly the money generated by the bowl games as they are is a factor. No one wants to give up those paydays.

But the real problem, even with a 'playoff' of only 4 teams is that they would be playing in half empty stadia. During March, many of the preliminary games are played to non capacity crowds and that only requires that a school sell 3-5K tickets. Imagine that a school has to sell 40,000 tickets, not once, but at least 3 consecutive times. Ain't going to happen. Sure, you could seed the 4 'best' teams and play on campus, but that creates an inate unfairness that impacts who will advance. Those games might generate good television revenue, but for fewer teams and still not result in a deserved national champion. Championship tournaments don't decide who is the best team, just the hottest during those couple of weeks.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

A playoff all sounds perfect, but there are still a number of problems with it conceptually. Nowithstanding the fact that any team can beat any other on a given day, unless you get down to about 16 teams, someone is going to get screwed. The number 9 team is always going to claim they weren't given a shot, especially if it is a non-power conference team like Boise that may be 12-0 or 11-1. The games yesterday may have been great (I didn't see them) but that presupposes that at least 8 teams should be involved since LSU-Alabama is coming up at least and maybe two other teams that might be added.

Clearly the money generated by the bowl games as they are is a factor. No one wants to give up those paydays.

But the real problem, even with a 'playoff' of only 4 teams is that they would be playing in half empty stadia. During March, many of the preliminary games are played to non capacity crowds and that only requires that a school sell 3-5K tickets. Imagine that a school has to sell 40,000 tickets, not once, but at least 3 consecutive times. Ain't going to happen. Sure, you could seed the 4 'best' teams and play on campus, but that creates an inate unfairness that impacts who will advance. Those games might generate good television revenue, but for fewer teams and still not result in a deserved national champion. Championship tournaments don't decide who is the best team, just the hottest during those couple of weeks.

False arguments.

Money that the schools generate from the bowls would be dwarfed by the rights payments for a playoff. Absolutely no comparison, and you would cut out a very expensive middleman by eliminating the bowl games.

There were very few pan away shots in any of the bowl games except the Rose yesterday because there were so many empty seats in the upper decks of the stadiums. Fans are voting with their feet already on these glorified exhibitions. Play all the playoff games but the Championship on the field of the higher ranked team and I guarantee you every game would be sold out even at double the ticket price, and the atmosphere would be tremendous.

Not being able to compete is a lot less fair than playing on the road. I am sure Okie State or Oregon or Stanford would happily play a second or third round game at LSU for the shot to play for the National Championship. We know the current system doesn't decide the best team, and it costs the schools a fortune. It should be eliminated.

 

[Palatine]

A playoff all sounds perfect, but there are still a number of problems with it conceptually. Nowithstanding the fact that any team can beat any other on a given day, unless you get down to about 16 teams, someone is going to get screwed. The number 9 team is always going to claim they weren't given a shot, especially if it is a non-power conference team like Boise that may be 12-0 or 11-1. The games yesterday may have been great (I didn't see them) but that presupposes that at least 8 teams should be involved since LSU-Alabama is coming up at least and maybe two other teams that might be added.

Clearly the money generated by the bowl games as they are is a factor. No one wants to give up those paydays.

But the real problem, even with a 'playoff' of only 4 teams is that they would be playing in half empty stadia. During March, many of the preliminary games are played to non capacity crowds and that only requires that a school sell 3-5K tickets. Imagine that a school has to sell 40,000 tickets, not once, but at least 3 consecutive times. Ain't going to happen. Sure, you could seed the 4 'best' teams and play on campus, but that creates an inate unfairness that impacts who will advance. Those games might generate good television revenue, but for fewer teams and still not result in a deserved national champion. Championship tournaments don't decide who is the best team, just the hottest during those couple of weeks.

Somebody always gets screwed in NCAA basketball. It's still the best system by far. A playoff for football would be much better than this mess known as the bowl system,

 

[junglehusky]

Yeah someone gets left out of a playoff, just like in March Madness, but with the current BCS setup the fans and football in general are losing out too. And the winners of the status quo are the bowl organizers (and the congressmen they were bribing). We need some sponsor CEO's, TV people, college presidents and a couple politicians to get together and figure out how to make a playoff work. But the status quo is always easier.

 

[upstater]

Have you guys been checking out the stadiums?

They are empty.

Even the marquee games are half to two-thirds empty.

Hardly anyone is going to these bowl games.

I think UConn fans were a bit ahead of the curve last year.