2007 showing why College Football needs a playoff

Southern Cal, California, South Florida, Boston College, and Oregon.

The above is the list of schools to reach the nation's #2 ranking, only to lose shortly thereafter. It started with USC, who spent four weeks at #1 before suspiciously falling to #2 in week five. That weekend, USC was upset at home by Stanford. Cal moved into the #2 spot for the following weekend and lost to Oregon State. South Florda followed suit by losing to Rutgers after taking over Cal's position. Boston College moved to #2 and stayed there for two weeks before getting upset by Florida State. Finally, Oregon lost Dennis Dixon in the first quarter and subsequently lost to Arizona, ending their national championship hopes.

Here's a prediction for you: Kansas defeats Iowa State this weekend, moves to #2 in next week's rankings, then loses at home to Missouri, effectively ending their improbable championship aspirations. And that is just the problem with college football. It is absurd that a team can lose their shot at the National Championship in the period of just three hours.

College football needs a playoff system. Desperatly. This season has shown just how unbelieveably exciting and intriguing a bracket would be. Look at the above list. USC, Boston College, and Oregon could all beat anyone in the country on a given day and win the National Championship. On the flip side, they have shown that they can slip up and lose to anybody. Stanford? The 2007 Seminoles? ARIZONA? Who would've ever thought? College athletes, as great as they seem, are flawed. They are a collection of 18-22 year olds, who aren't far removed from their high school days. They make mistakes- a lot of them- and that's why we've seen the powers fall more frequently this season. That is the beauty of college sports, particularly college basketball, which has the greatest postseason set up of all sports- pro and college.

There is no reason to think that a 16 or 24 team playoff would be any less exciting. This season, more than any other in the past, has shown that any team is capable of winning every Saturday. Appalachian State won in Michigan for God sakes! Imagine the top 24 teams in the country fighting for the championship. College football's playoff might actually be more exciting then March Madness because every team in the bracket would have a shot, and there would be no watered down talent in the bracket. The only problem with upsets in college basketball is when those "lesser teams" go upset crazy, they ruin the later rounds because the top seeds that make it through will almost always win without the dramatics that fans long for in march.

Think about a Boston College v. West Virginia match up. That would be a pretty good National Championship indeed. With a playoff system however, that would be a first round game in this year's bracket! Or how about a second round game between the winners of Oregon/Michigan and Florida/USC? I'm not a big college football fan, mainly because they don't have a January Madness, but I can promise you that I would be college football biggest fan if and when they decide to go to this format.

This plea to the NCAA shouldn't be about me, or you, or the television ratings, or sponsors. It should be about the student athletes and coaches who dream about playing for the National Championship their whole lives, only to lose that dream in the matter of hours. Every team deserves a chance, and that is what March Madness provides teams in college basketball.

To the higher ups in college football, it's your turn to follow suite. With a playoff system the "Curse of #2" wouldn't be a curse, just another bump in the road for a championship caliber team.

Until next time,
DTM