Is Newer Really Better?

1st College Football Playoff rankings are here: 1. Mississippi State 2. Florida State 3. Auburn 4. Ole Miss pic.twitter.com/82bbyx9fNJ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 28, 2014

This past week, the very first College Football Playoff poll was released. If you do not follow college football or are unfamiliar with the College Football Playoff, allow me to explain what it is. The College Football Playoff is a single elimination tournament to determine the national champion of all the football teams that compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Four teams will be chosen at the end of the college football season to participate in the College Football Playoff, with the winner being crowned as the national champion.

How are these four teams chosen?  A special committee consisting of 13 members that range from former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to former college football coach Tyrone Willingham will choose which four teams will compete for the national title at the end of the season. This new system of determining who will play for the national championship is supposed to be better and less controversial than the Bowl Championship Series that was in place from 1998-2013.

Personally, I think that this system is not much better than the BCS system that was in place for the last 15 years. I understand that the BCS system generated a ton of controversy, but a four-team playoff in which the teams are picked by a committee? This too is going to produce a large amount of debate. For example, if the committee picks a team that has one loss over a team that is undefeated as the fourth and final team in the College Football Playoff because that one loss team is in what is perceived as a stronger conference, the undefeated team that is left on the outside looking in is going to cry foul.

The only difference I really see between the Bowl Championship Series and the College Football Playoff is the number of teams that get to compete for the national title grows from two to four, and the anger associated with a team not being selected will be shifted from the computers that were used to determine the two teams that played for the BCS National Championship to the 13 members of the selection committee that choose who competes for the College Football Playoff National Championship. In other words, it increases the number of competing teams from two to four and gives angry college football fans a new target to blame and criticize.

If I were running the show, I would have a 16-team tournament. There are currently 10 conferences in Division I FBS, and under my system, every conference champion gets an automatic bid to the playoffs. There would then be six open spots for wildcard teams or teams that are considered Division I FBS Independents, such as Notre Dame. The wildcard teams that get the six remaining spots can be determined by a selection committee much like March Madness is. Should the sponsors want to keep the big bowls alive, then the “Elite Eight” of this tournament will play in four of the six current College Football Playoff bowls. The “Final Four” would then play in the two remaining bowl games with the winners advancing to the national championship final.

My system is not perfect, but I think it is much better than the one in play now, and since everything comes down to the almighty dollar, I also think it could be more lucrative with more teams having the chance to play for the national title. It also gives the schools in “non-power” conferences a chance to shine in the national spotlight and take on some of the best teams in the country.

However, the current College Football Playoff might actually work. According to its website, all ten conferences and Notre Dame are involved with it, so there is the possibility that this system could be the answer. I doubt it, but it’s possible.