What do you think it will take to get a playoff for college football?

Question

I mean, if this year doesn't do it with all the upsets, I don't know what will. Right now a Ohio State v. Boston College BCS title game looks pretty likely. No offense to those teams, but I don't think they're the two best in the country. Neither one would survive long in the SEC, or even the Pac-10 or Big 12. The level of competition is just so much different.

Answer 1

Sadly, it will take a miracle. It would improve the game dramatically, but College Football is so infatuated with the dozens of lucratively sponsored bowls they play every year that the almighty dollar will probably keep that from happening indefinitely.

So in short, it would take someone figuring out how to make a playoff system MORE profitable to college football than the current bowl system.

Answer 2

Both. There is to much parity anymore for the polls to work. In 2007 you had a 2 loss team win the championship. In both 2007 and 2008, the team that won the championship won it in their home state. Hardly an unbiased system. It's been a while, so I will give you the Blibity plan. You take the 6 BCS conference winners, and two at large, and put them in a playoff, and you start it thanksgiving weekend. Some conferences will have to move up their championship game, and that is fine by me. You would have your national champion by Christmas. In reality I only want the top 4 teams, and 8 insures this. So I really don't care if the 9th team complains it should have gotten in. As for the bowls, you take the top 5 teams in each BCS conference, and place them against teams placed the same in other conferences. You have a round robin between the conferences, with the winning conference hosting the following years national championship game. That makes the bowl games much more exciting, and you have a true national champion. What I don't want to see is including the current bowls and making them a playoff. Why should the national champion be determined 40 days after the end of the regular season? Why should some teams get home field,, while others never get it?

Answer 3

There you go down grading level of competition in Big 10 and Big East with out support. Before conference games this year Big 10 had as many ranked as SEC or close. With exception of UM's losses to a top 1AA team and the current #5 in country. The Big10 did well in non-conference games.
AS for a playoff, be careful what u wish, in a 8team bracket end of last year would have included 3 Big 10 teams. How is that lower comp.
To answer question, I think they would have to shorten regular season, to make up for extra games, and that isnt going to happen

Answer 4

The BCS Ranking system is based on 3 polling systems:

In the USA Today Coaches Poll, the football rankings are compiled by the USA Today Board of Coaches which is made up of 63 head coaches at Division I-A institutions. All coaches are members of the American Football Coaches Association.

For a listing of coaches who participate in this poll see:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaches_Poll#_note-0

The Harris Interactive poll consists of 114 panelists that include former coaches, players, administrators, and media. For a listing of current Harris Poll participants see:
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters/bcsnews/BCS_Sept_21_2007.pdf

Computer Average: The BCS uses six ranking systems. In the calculation, the highest and lowest ranking for each team are dropped. Then, it will give a team 25 points for a Number 1 ranking in an individual system, 24 points for Number 2, and so on down to 1 point. Each team's set of numbers is then added, conveniently making the number compatible with the percentages from the two polls. To address concerns about loss of the schedule strength factor, the description of the computer rankings explicitly included schedule strength as a consideration.

So after all this, I find it amazing there are so many people that think they know more about college football than these people who were selected based on their knowledge of the game.

Sabes99,

Did you read anything I wrote. It is a compilation of 6 additional ranking systems. Nothing to do with mathematicians.

The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking accounts for schedule strength in its formula.

Answer 5

here is the sad truth: there is NOTHING that will get us a playoff in college football in this lifetime, because the bcs generates too much money and makes all the big schools too rich for them to pass it up in favor of a playoff...and you can't blame them from their point of view, because you wouldn't pass up guaranteed money, would you?

but as a fan, i think almost all fans of college football want a playoff

and to mr. z, the people who run the computer averages were not selected based on their football knowledge, they were selected based on their mathematical knowledge, they create a mathematical system and implement it, it doesn't mean they know the first thing about a football game

Answer 6

Nothing. The best you will get is a plus one system of an additional game.

And it all boils down to money. Certain conferences will want more and others will refuse less. A playoff system simply will not happen in College Football. (On the Div.-1 level anyway)

Answer 7

The only way at all ever is
If the whole or majority of the fanbase boycotted the college games and products and demanded a playoff system

Unless fans smarten up nothing will get done

Answer 8

more BCS controversy with 4 teams undefeated.

Answer 9

Jim Delaney's head on a pike.

Answer 10

a miracle