How to ruin college football

There was a huge buzz when the Bowl Championship Series rankingspoll was released Monday afternoon. Here we are in November, andthe world of college football has another great debate brewing.

This debate defines college football. It adds interest to everygame. The debates will keep us talking for years.

Football fans around the country vigilantly watch and discussthe BCS rankings on a regular basis. Who is No. 2? SouthernCalifornia or Louisiana State? Both are claiming that coveted spot,and most fans in the country can tell you why their team is No.2.

Before this weekend Ohio State and Texas Christian were in themix as well.

Let’s think about what a college football playoff systemwould mean for the game, and stop insisting that we eliminate theBCS.

Yes, without the BCS you would find out without any questionwhich team is No. 1, but at what cost?

In my opinion, a playoff system would ruin the game of collegefootball.

The best part of the current system is it makes every gamematter. When USC played Auburn in August, it impacted the nationalchampionship race.

The same was true in September, when Miami came back from 23points down to beat Florida, or when Florida State lost to Miami inOctober.

If you have a college football playoff, you lose the impact ofthese games.

A college football playoff system would feature the six bigconference champions and two at-large teams for an eight-teamtournament.

There is no question that the football would be great; howeverMichigan’s win over Ohio State this weekend would have beenjust another game because both teams would still make theeight-team bracket. The same goes for Florida’s upset of bothGeorgia and LSU. Both Georgia and LSU would make the eight-teamtournament, making the upsets meaningless.

The Georgia loss to Florida last year that knocked Coach Richtand the Bulldogs out of the title hunt would have been meaningless,because they still clinched the SEC title and would have made theeight-team playoff. That one loss kept them from thechampionship.

Instead, those losses changed the college football season.

As great as the NCAA basketball tournament is, it has itsshortcomings. The games played during December, January andFebruary are meaningless.

In NCAA basketball, when No.8-ranked Florida plays No. 4 Arizonaon Nov. 28, it will be a great game, but it will have no bearing onthe national championship. No matter who wins, both teams will makethe tournament come March and their title hopes will be unaffectedby the outcome of this game.

The exact opposite is true in college football. That earlyseason game has everything riding on it.

A loss and your national championship hopes may be gone. Acollege football playoff system would take the thrill, suspense andchallenge away from early season games.

College football is the only championship in sports that rewardsthe entire season of play. To finish No. 1 in the country, you haveto be great for four months.

The day will come when college football goes to a playoff.

And when it does, you will miss the August and September gamesthat have the season riding on them and the November debate aboutwho deserves to play in the championship game.

Clearly the BCS has some flaws, and I’ll be the first topoint them out, but eliminating the BCS for a playoff system wouldruin college football.