I followed college ball there in the late 2000s while dating a US girl. As a hockey fan it was a fun experience to learn about the game, and the fans, until it came to the stakes involved on judging how to filter over 120+ teams into a playoff system of bowls that couldn’t accommodate all of the teams in a fair way. At that stage there was even pressure on Obama to get involved to “fix” the system.
I’ll take the grueling best of 7 playoff series over that noise every time. Mind you the tailgating and the fan culture was still the tops. Such a great time.
Oh man, the weird cultural and historical quirks that led to interscholastic, nominally amateur “U23” football being a top 5 sports entertainment business in the US could fill volumes!
And basically yes, every single system designed to name a champion is doomed in a sport with (1) no enforced parity (either by salary cap or by relegation), (2) a huge number of teams nominally in the same tier, (3) a 12-game regular season, and (4) vast and barely concealed corruption. Honestly, the stupidity of college football is a non-negligible part of its charm.
the stupidity of college football is a non-negligible part of it’s charm
100% and I feel like the bowl system was a much better reflection of this than any playoff will ever be. The ridiculousness of 2+ schools claiming the same titles on a regular basis, and everyone else mostly agreeing both claims are valid but still bickering over which is more valid, was a big part of the sport’s charm.
There will still be outrage that some team got snubbed, but it won’t make as many headlines as no one ranked 9-25 really has a chance of winning in a playoff.
You’re right. Just look at this year, the two deserving teams got in Michigan and Washington. The next 3 teams are essentially wild card. The problem is that the playoff system was supposed to make sure those outlier teams like FSU got in when there wasn’t enough room when it was just 2 teams. Under the old system, there wouldn’t be a controversy at all, but now there’s a controversy to rival 2 SEC West teams snubbing everyone else.
The next controversy I was expecting was 2 G5 teams getting in over an unranked P5 champion. But with the Pac-12 almost certainly dissolving, that seems wildly unlikely to ever happen.
I followed college ball there in the late 2000s while dating a US girl. As a hockey fan it was a fun experience to learn about the game, and the fans, until it came to the stakes involved on judging how to filter over 120+ teams into a playoff system of bowls that couldn’t accommodate all of the teams in a fair way. At that stage there was even pressure on Obama to get involved to “fix” the system.
I’ll take the grueling best of 7 playoff series over that noise every time. Mind you the tailgating and the fan culture was still the tops. Such a great time.
Oh man, the weird cultural and historical quirks that led to interscholastic, nominally amateur “U23” football being a top 5 sports entertainment business in the US could fill volumes!
And basically yes, every single system designed to name a champion is doomed in a sport with (1) no enforced parity (either by salary cap or by relegation), (2) a huge number of teams nominally in the same tier, (3) a 12-game regular season, and (4) vast and barely concealed corruption. Honestly, the stupidity of college football is a non-negligible part of its charm.
100% and I feel like the bowl system was a much better reflection of this than any playoff will ever be. The ridiculousness of 2+ schools claiming the same titles on a regular basis, and everyone else mostly agreeing both claims are valid but still bickering over which is more valid, was a big part of the sport’s charm.
The format’s changing to a 12 team playoff next year, so this will all be fixed, at least
There will still be outrage that some team got snubbed, but it won’t make as many headlines as no one ranked 9-25 really has a chance of winning in a playoff.
Yeah any argument about who’s ranked 10-15 is not going to make headlines
You’re right. Just look at this year, the two deserving teams got in Michigan and Washington. The next 3 teams are essentially wild card. The problem is that the playoff system was supposed to make sure those outlier teams like FSU got in when there wasn’t enough room when it was just 2 teams. Under the old system, there wouldn’t be a controversy at all, but now there’s a controversy to rival 2 SEC West teams snubbing everyone else.
The next controversy I was expecting was 2 G5 teams getting in over an unranked P5 champion. But with the Pac-12 almost certainly dissolving, that seems wildly unlikely to ever happen.
Except for who gets a bye week.
If FSU is good enough they’d win their first round game under the new system
The 4 major conference champs next year (rip PAC 12) get bye weeks
Yeah now we just have the ability for a 10-2 bama to win the ncg. That’s a downgrade for me