Poll: College Playoff Yes or No?

[OH10]

Originally Posted by BayBuck

Boise State is undefeated and still only merits 9th in the human polls--by what rationale should they get a shot among the best 6-8 teams in the nation in a playoff for the NC?

You're basing your entire argument on the human polls being the indicators of who does or does not deserve to be in a playoff? There's one objective factor that can and should be taken into account - whether a team is undefeated.

Again, I must say it... Auburn 2004. If a team like the 2005 Texas team existed in 2002 to challenge Miami, Ohio State would have never played in that Fiesta Bowl. The voters wouldn't have allowed them in because they played in too many close games. (which gets us to another absurdity of the system - style points are very important).

The BCS, flawed as it may be, does indeed give these teams a chance at the NC--that is, if they earn it, by scheduling and beating high-caliber teams during the all-important regular season.

I love this assumption that big schools like to schedule small schools that actually have a chance to beat them... let alone that the big schools will come to their place to play. This argument is tired as it is not, and has never been realistic for a good small school to pull off.

Could you possibly see Ohio State scheduling a game to play the Broncos on the blue field? Not in a million years. If you answered 'yes' to that question, you lose all credibility.

In fact he is correct that a National Champ decided by a playoff only demonstrates who was the best team in the playoff and not the best team of the entire season.

If the NFL did it like college football does it, then the Colts would have been in 6 straight Super Bowls by now - because they were the best in the regular season.

But if there were playoffs in college football, of course, we'd also have to deal with the annual controversy that surrounds the Super Bowl - that the two teams that are there are undeserving. Oh, wait nevermind, I can't recall that ever being an issue with a football playoff.

[buckeyegrad]

For those who would like to see college football go back to before the BCS when we only had the polls, you do realize that Ohio State would still be without a national championship since 1968 under such a scenario. Miami would have been voted #1 in 2002 in both polls and we would have been left with nothing, much like the 1994 Penn State team.

Personally, I favor an 8 team playoff system with a current BCS style formula to determine pairings.

[Saw31]

No playoffs. Ever!!

[OH10]

Originally Posted by buckeyegrad

For those who would like to see college football go back to before the BCS when we only had the polls, you do realize that Ohio State would still be without a national championship since 1968 under such a scenario. Miami would have been voted #1 in 2002 in both polls and we would have been left with nothing, much like the 1994 Penn State team.

The system is always great when you benefit from its flaws, and it sucks when it screws you - just like the BCS could have screwed Ohio State in 2002 if another major conference team would have gone undefeated (i.e. Oklahoma).

[coastalbuck]

Just keep tweaking the BCS, my only problem is stringing out the BCS games over so long a period. Let them play and get it done. A playoff system in college football is just like teacher incentive pay. There is no way to properly judge it.

[Oh8ch]

How is that we have a system in place where Auburn could go undefeated in the SEC, do everything asked of them, and have no shot at the championship in their division of football? It's absurd, and that's why it is not a close argument.

You have cited one of the few instances where a playoff would have added something. And to confess my deepest darkest secret - I could live with a four team playoff.

But the argument that a playoff somehow 'settles things' doesn't wash IMO. Go to four teams and some day #4 will win it and then we will argue over how good #5 is. Or, we will have a team like Rutgers or Boise St slipping in at #4 and argue that the playoffs need to be expanded to include the 'real' #4.

So I will give you Auburn. But when is the last time you could make a case for #5 being the best in the country in the same year you couldn't make a similar case for #20?

I believe in bell curves. In football that means you have really good teams and really bad teams at either extremes. Cut a bell curve in half, turn it on its side and you have something like a pyramid (not a funnel - turn it the other way).

Start moving down that pyramid and as it gets wider the distinction between teams becomes smaller and smaller. It is easier to distinguish #1 from #5 than it is #8 from #17 (could Rutgers REALLY beat Texas, Cal and Tennessee?). Forget about #16 versus #33 when they come from different conferences and have different SOS and one team won via blowout every week while the other only squeked by, etc, etc.

That is the problem CBB ran into last year with George Mason. They were the poster child for the team that didn't belong. Oops.

[Jaxbuck]

The passion people feel for CFB will always leave a little something wanting playoff or no playoff. First and foremost, no other sport save soccer on a global scale, can say this.

Playoff's detract from the regular season, reward the team playing the best at the time of the tourney and often diminish a dominant regular season teams accomplishments. The positive is one loss doesn't kill your regular season and the champ is truely settled on the field.

The current system obvioulsy is the opposite. Regular season is emphasised and rewarded but you can never really say who the champ is for sure when opinions and natural human bias enter the equation(polls and never actually settle it on the field).

Personally either is preferable to me over what we used to have. The poster who brought up 2002 made the perfect point i always try and bring up when some say go back to how it was pre-BCS. 2002 Miami pounds a B12 team in the Orange Bowl and gets the NC in both polls regardless of what we do in the RoseBowl vs USC. [censored] that noise.

So to me its pick your poison but don't think for a minute a playoff will stop all the bitching and moaning. Thats part of CFB and to me, its good to have something so many people feel so passionately about.

P.S. if you do a playoff, do it NFL style or not at all. Seeding/home field will keep regular season very important.