BCS Trophy
Flickr image by chasingfun
There are a number of things that will make college football fans start arguing with each other. Some of them are a bit trivial. An example of this might be whether some random 1980-something SEC team was better than some random 1990-something Pac-10 team. Like I said, it can be pretty trivial. We’ll also debate things like who has the most exciting or esteemed football-related traditions, like Howard’s Rock, 12th man, Paternoville, etc. Still trivial, but at least it’s something you can experience on any given weekend this fall. But what seems to be the most hotly debated topic amongst college football fans is whether we should get rid of the BCS and institute a playoff system.
Now you have a topic that’s worth debating. Hell, even politicians have tried to bring this one to the floor of congress. Not exactly what I want to see our federal government addressing, but I can see why certain elected officials would want to carry the banner for their state’s college football programs (yes, I’m talking about Utah). And why wouldn’t Utah, or Boise State, or TCU or any other non-BCS school want a seat at the table. What team wouldn’t be frustrated to have a perfect season and not have a shot at the national championship? Would removing the automatic qualifier or the BCS conference affiliations address this? Will a playoff make the difference?
Let’s start with the playoff debate. The net-net of this is that most fans want a playoff system, so in the interest of capitalism, give the consumer what they want…right? This leads to the next argument that advocates make: Playoffs can be very lucrative. Just take a look at March Madness. This brings up another argument. Every other NCAA sport manages to pull off a playoff of some sort (College World Series, Frozen Four, March Madness, etc.) Why not football?
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