Ohio State Football: NCAA Tournament provides blueprint to a better CFP
If Ohio State and three other deserving teams had been included in the CFP it could have been as interesting as the NCAA Tournament has been.
As the Ohio State football team headed into its spring practices, I swore that I would not look ahead to the fall and obsess about the College Football Playoff Invitational. Instead, I would focus solely on the development of the 2019 team.
I had every intention of keeping that commitment until watching all the Elite 8 games this past weekend.
Every single game was phenomenal. The outcomes reminded me of what college football is missing.
The games gave us a glimpse into what the postseason can become if the power brokers break from tradition and have the resolve to fight for a better ending to their season.
I realize basketball is different and the success of its tournament is not an apples to apples comparison to the shortcomings of the playoff.
The college football community clings to the sanctity of the regular season more than any other sport. In doing so, the community continues to be blind to the possibility that its postseason can be equally good as college basketball, or all other sports for that matter, while protecting the importance of the regular season.
I don’t know if I am in the majority or not, but it is fair to say schedules among the teams and conferences are not created equally.
Coupled with pundits continually pushing an agenda throughout the season, e.g., Alabama can’t be beat, and inflated preseason polls giving undeserving teams advantages, using a system that relies on an eye test made by biased committee members to determine which four teams are better is fundamentally flawed.
Increasing the playoff to eight teams allows additional worthy teams to compete for a national championship and potentially give us a Cinderella story from time to time. That feels more reasonable and is good for the long-term health of the sport.
I recognize that the arguments against expansion are compelling too. Player safety, scheduling demands, occasionally including an undeserving team in the mix and keeping the conference championship games are all valid concerns.
I am just shocked at the reluctance by the power brokers to address each concern.
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We can start the season a week earlier. We move back the early signing period into January. We can rule out automatic qualifiers. We can close the gap between the last game of the regular season and the start of the playoff.
All the hurdles, except safety, have reasonable solutions.
By comparison, as I sat with hundreds of people with varying backgrounds watching the games, I did not hear anyone complaining about the regular season losses Virginia, Michigan State, Auburn and Texas Tech incurred. Or did I hear any debate around conference strength to justify saying these four teams are not worthy of playing for a title.
Quite the opposite. Everyone I saw was feeding off the intensity of each game. They were emotionally invested in the games, regardless of whether their team was playing or bracket was on the line.
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That’s what college football needs. The postseason feels a little hollow. The time is ripe for change.