This is an open letter to Texas Rep. Joe Barton for wasting taxpayer time and money to attempt institution of a playoff system in college football. There are many problems facing Texans and Americans, and those are the issues that should be addressed by Mr. Barton and his colleagues. Changing the national champion selection of a sport of increasing popularity should not be the priority of our government.
Consider this also an open letter to those who consider a playoff system “good” or “necessary” in college football. I am one who supports our current system, while realizing it may has its flaws. However, completely giving up on the current system and switching to a playoff is the absolute wrong thing to do. Without getting into the logistical and theoretical discussion of how a playoff would be constructed, and also without going into the intricacies of what would need to happen between all the involved parties like the athletic departments, university presidents, conferences, TV networks, etc, suffice it to say that those conversations are meaningless because a playoff system would critically hurt college football.
First of all, I am not whole heartedly supporting the BCS. I recognize the current system has its flaws. However, I do completely support a “non-playoff” system as opposed to the playoff system proposed by Mr. Barton. Furthermore, the playoff systems that most sports employ are bad because they allow mediocre teams an unearned chance to play for the championship and their sport. Two prominent college football writers (Stewart Mandel and Ivan Maisel) for two prominent sports websites (CNNSI.com and ESPN.com, respectively) are experts on the subject of college football, both with regular writings published on these websites and books about college football. As I regularly read their columns and have read their books, I believe they also agree that a playoff system is bad for college football, and who would know better than them. Playoffs devalue the regular season, and an exciting regular season is exactly what makes college football’s the most intriguing of any major sport.
If the goal of a final, national championship game of a season is to determine which team was the best during the season, then the college football’s current non-playoff model accomplishes this better than a playoff. This past season in the NFL, for example, the Arizona Cardinals went 9-7, made it to the Super Bowl and could have been deemed champions. So a team that won only 56% of its regular season games would have been named the best team of the year? 11 teams had better records than the Cardinals, but somehow everyone would accept that they were the best team, simply because of a playoff system. Something is wrong with that. In NCAA baseball last year, Fresno State went 33-27 and would likely have not even been invited to the NCAA tournament had they not won their conference’s playoff (another example team getting a chance at the national championship who didn’t earn it). Fresno State won the College World Series, a “Champions” title they didn’t earn after a mediocre regular season, but they were the benefactors of 2 playoff systems (the WAC’s and the NCAA’s). A nice story, but if your goal is to crown a most-deserving national champion, this is not the way to do it. Why even schedule a regular season? Take a look at this year’s NBA Playoffs. I think most people would agree that the Cavaliers and Lakers are the best teams in their respective conferences, but we have to go through several rounds of series with the hope that we see the 2 best teams. Why wait? Why risk undeserving teams, including two .500 teams and one team with a losing records, having an equal chance to make the championship round? It just doesn’t make any sense.
I grew up in the south and was raised by parents who graduated from SEC schools, now also love the ACC school from which I graduated and currently live in Austin, TX. College football is king in the south, has always been a major part of my life, and I plan to keep it that way. College football arouses a spectrum of emotions from its fans. It is unique, and its uniqueness makes it great. College football is already wildly popular, and I could argue that the BCS has made it even more popular. Last fall, ESPN signed on to pick up the broadcast rights of the BCS games once the current deal with Fox expires. They obviously realize that, despite the public outcry against the BCS, college football is going to continue gain in popularity as it has done since the inception of the BCS. If the non-playoff format is so terrible and unfair for the game, then why is ESPN signing up for the rights to broadcast it? Why are attendance and ratings as high as they’ve ever been?
Again, I will say that the current BCS system has its flaws, but it is better for the good of college football than a playoff. The current system awards elite performance. If you want a ticket to the final game, play a tough schedule and win your games. It is that simple. Every week is a playoff of sorts because each team knows their national title hopes can be vanished with a loss. The teams that complain about the BCS are those who don’t earn a spot. It’s interesting that University of Texas fans are currently complaining to no end about the BCS but I don’t remember anyone from Texas complaining about the BCS during the 2005 season in which the BCS system awarded the Longhorns to the national championship game. In a sport with 120 teams and a 12 week season, it is obviously impossible to have all teams play similar schedules. Opinion has been a part of college football since the beginning and is another component that has made it great.
Opposing the BCS is a very populist stance since, year after year, it is basically disliked by virtually every team except those in the top 2 positions. We don’t hear any anti-BCS sentiments coming from Florida or Oklahoma this year do we? Thus, it stands to reason that, like 2005, you would not be making this push if the University of Texas had made it to the BCS championship game. If the Longhorns had won the National Championship, would you honestly even be considering this discourse? Furthermore, if Utah had made the National Championship game, we probably wouldn’t be hearing anything from the representatives in Utah either. This is a simple case of jealousy, and it is certainly not a justifiable reason to change the history of college football. However, given the position you are in, I understand why you would take this stance as part of your job requires being popular amongst the people you represent and accumulating votes, and what better way to be popular than to take the ever popular stance against the BCS, one that even our President has publicly taken. Yet, just because a system doesn’t work out in your favor does not mean it needs to be changed. Political parties don’t go and change the election system because their respective party doesn’t win an election. The Big 12 coaches even recently decided against changing the rule that kept UT out of the Big 12 Championship game. If the Big 12 isn’t even going to change their tiebreaker rule, why in the world do you think we need to revamp the entire postseason, and all its history and greatness, for all of the NCAA?
The bottom line is that, while the BCS format may need improvement, it’s the best system in the history of college football and it is better than a playoff format. Even Mack Brown said there are a lot of good things about the BCS and that it is much better than the system that was previously in place. Another common argument is that a playoff system would have the champion determined “on the field.” I’m not sure where those who hold that viewpoint think the games are played on Saturdays from September to December, but I’m glad that every single one of those games matters. And, personally, I would rather have 4 months of important games as opposed to 3 weeks of playoff games. Ask USC if their game against Oregon State last year was important. Ask Penn State about their game against Iowa last year. Finally, talk to the University of Texas about their trip to Lubbock and ask them if they feel losing that game impacted their season. College football is great because fans hang on every minute of every game because they are all important. With a playoff system, those games don’t have the meaning they do without a playoff, and then we turn college football into every other sport, and that would be horrible, turning me, and many other lifelong college football fans, away from the game.
Mr. Barton, please don’t continue your quest to change college football. It is already great and continues to grow in popularity. As they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Please focus your efforts on more pressing matters of government. College football is doing just fine.
I know you are a busy man, but I would be honored with a response if you are able. Thank you very much in advance for your time. Have a nice day.
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