College Football Playoff

As an avid Buckeyes Fan, I feel as though our backs are always against the wall. No matter what we do, our schedule is never tough enough and even when it is the teams we beat (if we do), those teams are having a bad game and does not mean the other conference is weak. The old BCS system was a computer program created to put the best teams at the front of the line, competing for a National Championship. The BCS put two teams in the National Championship every year, no more and no less. However, with the creation of the College Football Playoff system, 13 experts are thrown into a room and told to create a list of the best teams in college football. Some would say this is awesome, some would say this is a joke. I, for one, think there are many cons. First and foremost, the replacement of computer programs to human beings is a bad idea. 13 people deciding on what teams deserve to be where is subject to bias. There is no way for bias not to enter the equation. This past Saturday, Ohio State beat Minnesota in 20 degree weather, with snow falling. Alabama and Mississippi State played in 60 degree weather, with nothing but sunshine above. Will this be taken into account once the committee releases their top 4? Should it be? Are the conditions, with which a team has to play in really that important? I would contend that they most certainly do. For any team to travel into a different climate, that is drastically, the results could reflect a totally different outcome. Could any team outside of the Big Ten play and dominate in the weather Ohio State just played in? This is where bias comes in, in regard to what different members of the committee understand and know from experience.

Even if Ohio State’s wins at Penn State and Minnesota are not impressive, but still result in a W, the environment is the reasoning. I just watched an ESPN clip, where the hosts were discussing the #4 spot in the playoff rankings that were being released. Once analysts said they feel Ohio State should be #4, but that they won’t get it because of their resume. The other analysts said they wouldn’t have even mentioned them at all, that the loser of Mississippi and Alabama deserves to be in that spot. Ohio State is overlooked because the argument is never had on national television. While the committee members have to make a choice, if any portion of that choice is based upon television super powers, which choice has to take into account the growth of a team, not the blemishes of that team. To say the Buckeyes are not worthy of the 4^th spot because of Virginia Tech, is to say that a late season loss is college football suicide. In the interest of fairness, is this not the case? At this point in the season, conference championships are what matters.

Why should a conference champion be substituted for a one loss (at the moment) SEC team? This in my opinion is the exact reason for why the Playoff Committee is useless. If the BCS system were expanded to include 4 teams the rankings would be based solely upon computer programing taking into account key aspects of a game. Secondly, a 4 team playoff is far too short for anything meaningful to happen. This playoff formula needs to include 6 teams, which would include the Conference Champions, then two other wild cards that could come from any conference. I believe Ohio State will end up in the 4 team playoff because of this, by the time Ohio State gets to the Conference Championship, Wisconsin should be in the top ten, which if Ohio State wins the Championship, that win will be more impressive than anything TCU and Baylor has, considering the entire country knows how dominate the running game of Melvin Gordon is, especially posting 400+ on Nebraska. If Ohio State stops him, and wins the Championship, we are in. Is there any other team that can boast that dominant of a running game?

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