The college football regular season is coming to the end and again there is some major controversy about who should be in the National Championship in early January. In most sports there is a playoff system that consists of six to sixteen teams depending on the sport. In college football there is something called the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The system is odd in many ways and it is time to get rid of the BCS because it is unfair, there are great match-ups to be had with a playoff system, and there is loads of revenue to be made from a playoff system which would benefit other sports as well.
Firstly, the BCS is extremely unfair because of a team’s schedule. It is better to have a hard schedule in the first part of the season than the last part of the season. For example, If you have two teams with 11-1 records at the end of the season then the team that lost their game early on in the season would have a higher BCS ranking between the two teams. In 2008 the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns both finished the season with an 11-1 record.
Texas had already beaten Oklahoma during the season for Oklahoma’s loss but since Texas got upset by the Texas Tech Red Raiders, that opened the door again for Oklahoma to get in the National Championship game. With a playoff system we wouldn’t have this problem because both Oklahoma and Texas would be in the playoffs.
Also, with a playoff system comes great match-ups that we wouldn’t see with the BCS. The BCS determines which teams get into which bowls. Therefore, we see the same games year after year in the same bowl. For example, the Rose Bowl played annually on January 1st is between the Pac 10 winner and the Big 10 winner. Consequently, it is possible for the same two teams to play two or three years in a row in the same bowl. With a playoff system you would have a variety of match-ups as the teams in the playoffs would be seeded differently each year.
Lastly. a playoff system would work better than the BCS because of revenue. If a team makes a bowl game, they get money for their school and conference. If you have a playoff of 10 teams you could possibly be in four extra games. These playoff games would have the same hype and attention as a bowl game. If your team keeps wining in the playoffs your team keeps getting on TV. Therefore, your school would make even more money. For example, the Boise State Broncos are a very small college which has a powerful football team. They get punished every year for being in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). This team would really benefit from extra nationally televised games against teams that are in major conferences. Also, the more revenue a team brings in helps that school keep other lesser sports running. College football brings in 85% of all revenue which helps all sports, not just football.
In conclusion, college football needs to implement a playoff because the BCS is unfair, there are great match-ups to be had in a 10 team playoff, and there is lots of extra revenue to be generated from tv and other sources currently unavailable.
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