Time for a new college football tradition: A playoff

Kevin Sherrington 11:55 CST Wednesday December 9, 2009

My fine colleague, Tim Cowlishaw – a man who never entertained any JFK conspiracies, dislikes instant replay and would probably object to a cure for income tax – has come out with his annual defense of the BCS. As a result, the boss asked for a counterpoint.

In the interests of fairness and sanity, not to mention a big, fat softball of a column topic, here goes.

First, a concession: The only good argument against a playoff is the question of how 80,000 fans would travel from site to site to follow their teams as they advance through the system. Fortunately, a proposal is forthcoming later in this very column.

All the other arguments – playoffs would lengthen and cheapen the season, put too much pressure on players, cut into class time, bloody the bowls, dull your unborn children – are either bogus or easily remedied.

But first, a little hypocrisy: While college officials have used length of season as an argument against a playoff, they've been quietly adding games to the schedule for years.

Either cut back the seasons, or, better yet, eliminate conference championship games. Lost revenue would be made up in TV playoff money.But first, a little hypocrisy: While college officials have used length of season as an argument against a playoff, they've been quietly adding games to the schedule for years.

BCS defenders also contend a playoff would ruin the only regular season in sports that matters.

Question: In an eight-team playoff, how many games do you suppose you could afford to lose during the regular season?

Answer: One. Maybe.

Educational issues? Football players miss fewer classes than athletes in any other sport. Basketball players are practically on a correspondence basis.

Harm to bowls? Not if you do it right. Keep all the minor bowls and use the majors in a system to be discussed later.

As it is, reasons for a playoff far outweigh arguments against it.

Besides the concept that the best teams ought to earn the right, this season has produced yet another case: the Cinderella story.

As I watched Hoosiers again the other night, it occurred to me that this will never happen in football, where the little guy can't even get a shot at the championship.

Under the present system, there will be no N.C. State. No Villanova.

No Cincinnati. No TCU.

Take this season. Alabama and Texas seem to be the best choices for the BCS title game. But that's only a guess. Experts can argue the strengths of teams or conferences, which is all you can do now. But, until they play, we don't really know.

Just like we had no idea Texas would come within a second of losing to Nebraska.

And we still don't know if TCU could beat Texas or Alabama or Florida.

We won't find out, either, because TCU won't play Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Instead of that Mountain West-SEC matchup, like the one that produced Utah's upset of Alabama last season, we get a rematch of TCU and Boise State in the Fiesta. Let 'em keep playing each other, the system seems to be saying, because if they prove they can play with the big boys, the field widens and robs the odds of the privileged few.

Another thing: BCS defenders like to use tradition against us, as if playoff proponents want to cut down the hedges in Athens or force Aggie yell leaders to go coed.

No one likes history better than me. There's no greater annual sporting event than Texas-OU in Fair Park.

College football's tradition is precious, all right. Especially for the privileged few, who would like to keep it that way.

The remedy for the rest? Take the eight best teams in the four major bowls, just like now. Add a bowl to the rotation (Hello, JerryWorld). A day or two early, bring the semifinalists to the same site, where they play on Friday and Saturday. The winners – teams and fans and bookies – hang around a week for the national title game.

The solution cuts down on travel, guarantees crowds, creates a unique tournament-style feel and wears out the hosts, who get four years to recover.

Hey, it's not perfect. But it's fair. Might be nice for a change

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