College Football Review
With 235 days separating me from the next Badger football home game, there's a long offseason to ask myself "what if?". What if college football had a playoff? Florida took care of the Ohio State University without much trouble, but would Boise State, Louisville or even Wisconsin have done the same, given the opportunity?
In the past, college football bigwigs could diffuse the playoff talk after the season. Sure, there may have been a slew of 1-loss teams vying for a slot in the National Championship game, but when the dust settled, the team that everyone expected to win, did win. Pundits could point out that, in the end, it didn't matter who was #2 because #1 was so darn good. All was right in the college football universe. But that didn't happen this year. Sure, Florida won the title game, but the field was littered with teams with just as good of credentials that didn't get their shot. The way the Ohio State Buckeyes played last night, any good team would have beaten them. Florida was just lucky to get on the same field.
I love college football. Absolutely nothing in the sporting universe compares to the atmosphere of a big-time college game. But, for a game that gets so many things right, it gets the end of the season so, so wrong. It's not even just the lack of a playoff, it's also the incredibly long layoff between the regular season and the bowls. Teams get sloppy and players get hurt. The whole thing is an anti-climatic mess.
235 days is a long time to have such a bitter taste in your mouth.
Posted by kris at January 9, 2007 10:06 AM
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| # January 9th, 2007 10:29 AM BVBigBro |
| Watching the game I thought OSU was a bad team poorly coached. After all the talk about how the players could be affected by the 51 days off, it was the coaches that were on vacation.
Florida had an excellent defense, but there is no way their offense with those noodle armed QBs has any business putting more than 14 points on the board against anyone. Lots of teams could have beaten the two that played last night, and a playoff would have resulted in two different teams in the final. The college football championship game should be played the Saturday after Thanksgiving after a 16 team playoff. |
| # January 9th, 2007 11:56 AM james |
but when the dust settled, the team that everyone expected to win, did win. hasnt the #2 team won like 6 of the last 8 title games? |
| # January 9th, 2007 11:58 AM kris |
| But those were cases where both teams were undefeated...tOSU v. Miami or last year, for example. |
| # January 9th, 2007 12:00 PM james |
| BV, i thought florida looked outstanding. in the end, they were just too fast for OSU. tressel made a couple of bad calls (going for it on 4th & 1 on your own 30?), but I don't think coaching was the problem. it looked to me that OSU spent the last 2 months feeling like everyone, even denny green, had already crowned their asses. whoops. turned out that OSU was not team they thought they were. |
| # January 9th, 2007 12:04 PM james |
| kris, how could "everyone" expect the #2 team to win? by definition, everyone expects the #1 team to win. that's why they are ranked #1. |
| # January 9th, 2007 12:07 PM kris |
| that's true...i'm just saying it doesn't matter to my point if both teams are undefeated. Has a 1-loss ever defeated an unbeaten team for the national title in a season where there were numerous other 1-loss teams? |
| # January 9th, 2007 12:20 PM james |
| i dunno. who do i look like, tony freaking reali? |
| # January 9th, 2007 12:25 PM kris |
| rhetorical question |
| # January 9th, 2007 8:30 PM themandownthehall |
| It is interesting how the layoffs can impact teams. Tenessee and Arkansas were on rolls and then came across Penn State and Wisconsin and lost. Iowa and Nebraska had terrible seasons but after getting players healthy, were able to compete in bowls they should have been pounded in. I won't talk about UM and OSU. Yick. I kind of expected USC to kill us, they always do, but Florida? Dang.
I really like the bowl games. One of our annual traditions is to go to the Car Care bowl here in Charlotte. It's ACC vs. Navy/Big East so we have no dog in the fight, but the kids (4 and 7) love the experience. The restaurants (we get club seats) and the pregame stuff. My son was cheering for Navy because every time they scored, they fired off that cool cannon. They also have their jets fly over the stadium after the anthem. Way cool. That being said, I would like to see a playoff. The reasoning of the A.D.s and presidents at the schools is seriously lacking. Their typical reason is that they don't want to extend the season that long. What do they think the teams are doing up until the bowl games in January? Playing cards? Well, UM and OSU may have, but the other teams were doing 5-6 practices per week. With a playoff, those weeks would have ended a lot sooner for all but the final 2. We can have both the bowls for non playoff teams and a playoff that utilizes some of the bowls. If March Madness can put 63 games in a month, certainly football can put 8 teams in a playoff that would have a total of 7 games. They could do it in a month too. C'est La Vie. American Idol starts next week. Look forward to the commentaries. Take care! |
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