Is the College Football Playoff Format Here To Stay?
September 25, 2019
The first College Football Playoff was in 2014, and when it was first introduced as an alternative to the BCS National Championship, there was confusion amongst fans of college football. No one was quite sure how it would fare as the traditional BCS format of college football had worked just fine for the previous 16 years.
As an avid college football fan, I was one of the many who was also confused by this decision to create a new way to crown a “National Champion.” The BCS format in college football was all I knew as it had been the only format used in the first 12 years of my life. This new method seemed foreign to me, and I couldn’t quite decide how I felt about it, mainly because I didn’t know how it was going to affect College Football.
First and foremost, implementing the College Football Playoff has made it clear that it doesn’t necessarily matter who a team loses to, but it matters when they lose. In the 2018-2019 season, Ohio State, who was ranked number two in the country at the time, lost to Purdue by 29 points. This game took place in the 8th week of their season out of 13. Because this game was later in the season, Ohio State has fewer games to try and get back into a top-four spot and missed out on the College Football Playoff.
Contrary to Ohio State, Oklahoma in the 2018-2019 season was expected to make a run at the Playoff, but a loss in week 6 against Texas slowed them down. However, because this game was earlier in the year, they had more of a chance to make a run at a top-four spot and get into the Playoff, and that’s exactly what they did. Oklahoma won out, and after beating Texas in the Big 12 Championship game, and earned its way into the top-four and spot in the Playoff.
With all of that being said, the College Football Playoff has given more teams a chance to compete for a shot at the National Championship than the BCS format did. In the BCS format, the top two teams in the AP poll would face off against each other in the so-called “National Championship Game.” After the College Football Playoff was put into effect, it now allowed the top four teams a shot at the National Championship rather than the top-two.
The College Football Playoff has also received some backlash for the number of teams allowed in the Playoff, as some believe that it should be expanded. Others believe that expanding the College Football Playoff would make the season too long, and would hurt the players in the long run, as 17 or 18 games is a lot more than the usual 13 or 14 games.
The College Football Playoff is still young and is still expected to make some amendments to make it better for the players and the fans. Only time will tell if it was a step-up from the BCS format, or if we need to rethink how to end the College Football season.
The first College Football Playoff Rankings of the 2019 season will be released on the night of Tuesday, Dec 8
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Joey Goodsir • Sep 25, 2019 at 5:36 pm
I think that changes will come in a few years, but they have to keep in mind that they can’t water down the regular season too much. As it stands currently, CFB trades a less exciting postseason for a more exciting regular season – and I’m fine with it.
I sound like a broken record, but here is my proposal again:
Get rid of bland conference championship games in half filled NFL stadiums, conference championships decided by standings once again.
Then, replace conference championship game Saturday with the first round of an eight team playoff (occupied by power 5 conference champions and 3 at large, one of those can be an undefeated group of 5 if applicable).
Here is the catch though: each game of this round of 8 is hosted by higher seeds (Just think about how cool that would be!!, we could have gotten Alabama vs. Wisconsin in Madison two years ago, for example).
Then, proceed December/January postseason as normal, with round of four and national championship at same times (Jan 1 semifinals, etc.) and at neutral sites.