The College Football Playoff System Reeks With Flaws
The College Football Playoff system isn’t perfect — it’s far from it
With the first college football playoff upon us, you might expect to see those who have shouted for it for years leaping with joy. Yet we don’t, and that is because the system is illogical and insufficient for a sport that garners so much passion.
Yes, the manipulated end result seems acceptable. The four teams participating appear to belong. The problem is, the process is loaded with flaws, and it has been from the start. We need more than a process that meanders aimlessly, only to find itself ultimately corrected at the last moment behind closed doors.
To start with, college football fans are now at the mercy of a small group of decision makers. At least with the BCS, we knew the decision rested partly in the hands of a large group of coaches who teach football every day, and a large group of writers who analyze it.
As the committees playoff rankings came out, we quickly saw that the writers’ and coaches’ views did not necessarily coincide with those of the committee. Most notably was Notre Dame’s drop to tenth. And as the results were released from week to week, we found teams climbing and dropping without any identifiable rationale or reason.
Then we were fed the manure. The ¨eye test¨ is the difference-maker, we were told. Well, if the committee saw so well, why did Ole Miss look so wonderful for most of the season and then slip all the way to ninth? Was the committee’s vision impaired all along?
Then reports said that injuries were arbitrarily accounted for. Well then why did it take so long for Ohio State to climb up the committee’s poll? Remember, the Buckeyes were decimated at the quarterback position.
“Ohio State’s situation has not been impacted to this point due to J.T. Barrett’s injury,” playoff committee chair Jeff Long said according to Bleacher Report on December 2. “We will evaluate his injury and his replacement in this championship game. The No. 5 ranking of Ohio State is not impacted at this point.”
Even more puzzling is why injuries considerations are made at all? Are we not looking for the four best ENTIRE teams? And if not, what incentive is there to build depth if you are given a break due to injuries? What happened to the old adage that you are only as good as your bench?
Florida State was the only team to finish undefeated, yet they are rated third in the playoff. In past seasons, their undefeated record would likely have left them no worse than second, since they are members of a major conference. Sure, they are in, so they have the same chance as any of the other teams.
But let’s say all four teams had finished without a loss. Would the committee have once again relied on their subjective ¨eye test¨ to arbitrarily create its own strength of schedule to sort it all out?
This brings us to yet another flaw, the committee´s lack of transparency. How much do we really know about what they are doing? How do we know that regional affiliations or conference ties are not swaying its members? They could very well be fans too, right?
At one point in the season four of the committee´s top five teams were from the SEC. Let´s say that all four finished in the top four in the final vote. Obviously, due to head to head competition, this is not likely. But remember, the committee did place two one-loss teams ahead of Florida State.
Name me one other sport that fills up its playoff selections with teams that are in the same division or conference. Imagine if Major League Baseball overlooked the other divisions and only picked teams from the American League East, if it felt that was the strongest division based on its own ¨eye test.¨
Well, that doesn´t work in college football either. “It’s one of those things if you didn’t want to be disappointed you need to be undefeated,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said according to ESPN. “It’s the only way you can control your own destiny and we didn’t do that.”
Whether or not the SEC is truly the best conference is irrelevant. The point of the playoff is to end the season with the best team winning. If the SEC is truly the best conference, its team will win.
As for the future, the playoff should expand to eight teams immediately. That will increase the probability that the team that is playing the best at the end of the season will win the championship. It will also diminish the effect of bias toward one conference such as the SEC, because other conferences would have more shots at getting teams in.
And throw out the committee´s rankings until after the regular season. Since the committee can make any ranking changes at any time, releasing standings during the regular season are meaningless, only serving to tick fans off.