Sports > November 6, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

“I think it is about time we had playoffs in college football. I’m fed up with those computer ran kings. Get eight teams – the top eight teams – right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide a national champion.” Those were the words of President-elect Barack Obama just hours before the polls opened in an interview on Monday Night Football.

He got my vote. Just about the only way college football will ever have a playoff is if Obama and his administration throw their weight behind it.

Even then there is no guarantee. The head coaches of the teams that annually compete for the national championship want it and that hasn’t been enough. Just this week USC Head Coach Pete Carroll and Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno spoke out against the current BCS system.

The President-elect wants it, the coaches want it, the players want it and the fans are dying for it . . . so what the hell is the problem?

Money, money, money, money, money and money.

There have been a number of bogus arguments against replacing the current BCS system with a playoff. I will now easily diffuse these arguments.

Students will miss class.

This is absolutely ridiculous. First of all, most teams play their last game toward the end of November and don’t play a bowl game until over a month later. What takes place over that moth? Answer: winter recess. Not to mention that, when traveling, the majority of football programs in the country miss little to no classes. And what about basketball? They play two to three games a week, and their tournament takes several weeks to play.

A playoff would be hard on the athletes.

If this is true why did the NCAA increase the amount of games a team is allowed to play? These are world-class athletes who are preparing to play on Sundays. They play 16 regular season games in that league. Even high school teams have playoffs.

The players would LOVE a playoff scenario.

A playoff would take the focus off the regular season.

Teams will be just as inclined to play hard and get into the top eight. Wouldn’t a second loss still all but eliminate you from a championship shot?

A playoff would grow from eight to 16 and then to 20 like the Bowl Subdivision.

So don’t let it happen. You have that power.

The national championship would become a corporate event like the Super Bowl.

The bowl games now have corporate America plastered all over them and fans still cheer passionately.

There are enough fans with enough interest to support a playoff. Critics will continue to invent these excuses knowing they are illegitimate. They are invented to mask the real issue: greed.

There have been a number of years without a clear-cut national champion and that must end. It is almost impossible to find a schedule that will be difficult enough to give you a quality strength of schedule and give you a chance at running the table and still comply with TV contracts.

Under a playoff bowls could still exist they would just be organized in a bracket format. The BCS games could be the semifinals and finals. Those three bowls could rotate, as they do now, so that each has a chance to be the championship

Unfortunately a playoff won’t come to fruition, for reasons few can understand. One would think a playoff would mean more money, but its the distribution of that money that is an obstacle. Also, university presidents are concerned about college football becoming like a professional game.

But, that doesn’t mean we can’t keep talking about it. Hey Barack – motion to vote?