The last blog post I did was on the last day of the regular season in college football. South Carolina had just beaten Clemson, Ohio State lost to Michigan again, along with many more wild finishes to the regular season. What I have learned since then… that was only the beginning. Within the next month we were riddled with shocking results, more calls for the committee’s head (mostly by Lane Kiffin), and a multitude of Dr. Pepper Playoffuary commercials. However now with the dust settled, let's recap it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly of the first 12-team college football playoff.
Let’s start with the end. The National Championship. Ohio State vs Notre Dame. Two teams that had BAD losses in the regular season (Notre Dame losing to Northern Illinois in Week 2 and Ohio State failing to beat a mediocre Michigan again). These both would’ve normally knocked out both teams from the 4-team CFP, but this is a playoff format made for second chances, and man did they make the most of it. Notre Dame won out the rest of the year, then beat Indiana, Georgia, and Penn State to get to the championship. An extremely good run, only bested by Ohio State, who after hitting rock bottom post Michigan, went ballistic. They rattled off clobberings over Tennessee and Oregon, followed by a well-fought victory over Texas (who by the way, was the only team to make last year’s 4-team and this year’s 12-team CFP). Two storied programs who came back from the depths to battle it out for a title. For the sake of TV excitement regarding the National Championship, I’d say the CFP nailed it. The game itself looked to be another blowout in favor of Ohio State (it was 31-7 in the third quarter), until Notre Dame woke up, however too late, with the Buckeyes taking the crown 34-23.
Though the playoff was an overall success, there were still many grievances to go around. Many people believed teams such as SMU and Indiana should never have been included in the first place. Others that Boise State and Arizona State should’ve been included, but never should’ve been awarded byes. So I am here to give you my take as a professional fan and amateur sports media writer/broadcaster.
Firstly, I think that 12-teams is a great number. I can see this being expanded to 14 or even 16 in the future, but for now I am happy with 12. No matter what number you put it at, someone will always be mad that they were left out, so changing from 12 will not fix that situation. Also, any more than 16 would just make it too many games for the players, so if they were to adjust it again, 16 would have to be the max.
Secondly, there are two main problems we need to fix. The first is the format. Like I said, 12 teams are fine. How they are seeded is not. Let’s take inspiration from the true great college tournament, March Madness. They seed their teams not by conference champion, but by the best 68 teams that qualified for the tournament. Being the second best team in the country, but with your one loss being to the best team who went undefeated, doesn’t therefore make you a 9 seed in the tournament. You are more than likely a 1 still, with at worst a 2. College football doesn’t agree with this sentiment. The four best conference champions are ranking 1-4. Respectfully, Boise State isn’t a 3 seed and Arizona State is not a 4 seed. They absolutely should be in the playoff, because I think winning a big conference should be rewarded with a berth, but they shouldn’t be given a bye.
The other problem is how we rank the teams. They are chosen by a thirteen member committee who all have high level college football experience. Meaning THEY HAVE TIES TO SCHOOLS AND CONFERENCES. Whether or not you say you aren’t biased, humans are inherently biased, so this is a massive issue when the fate of the season is decided by thirteen biased individuals. My plan, scrap the committee all together. We’re bringing back the numbers. Being a statistics major, I have learned the numbers can tell you a lot of things. Another thing numbers can do is give you objective results. The numbers never played for Ohio State. They never coached Alabama. They were never a Big 12 committee member. All they do is tell you what you want to know. So the solution would be to develop a formula that the college football community as a whole can (at least mostly) agree on, and go from there. The importance of different factors aren’t changed throughout the year. We can stop yelling at the committee when our team gets snubbed. The objective 12 best teams are chosen. Everyone is happy. Wouldn’t that be great if someone could develop a formula to do that? And made that formula public? Well what if someone already did? You’ll have to read the next issue of the On the Bench blog to find out.
Hey y’all! My name is Nate and I’m a statistics major with a sport and entertainment management minor. I am one half of the show “On the Bench” at WUSC. If you love sports, especially Gamecock athletics, you should give it a listen!