It's championship Saturday, Ohio State is struggling on offense, somehow the Minnesota defense has found the formula to shut down one of the best offenses in the country. On the other side of the ball Chase Young has been out since the 2nd drive with an apparent hamstring injury and the Gophers offense has used that to their advantage. Minnesota is holding a 13 point lead with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Suddenly Ohio State has life, Fields starts finding his receivers and the Buckeyes march down the field and get the game with 6 at the 3 minute mark. Ohio State elects to kick it deep with 3 time outs remaining. Minnesota obliges and Ohio State gets the ball back with 2:35 left on the clock. Fields again gets it going as the Buckeyes drive the 68 yards and score a TD as time expires, it's pandemonium, the roof is ready to blow off Lucas Oil Stadium, the Buckeyes need an extra point to win the Big Ten Title and finish the season 13-0. They snap it back and a Minnesota LB Carter Coughlin blocks the kick, defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. scoops it up and runs the ball 90 yards the other way and converts giving Minnesota a 29-27 win and they win the Big Ten Championship. PJ Fleck is rowing his way to the Rose Bowl, somewhere the Gophers haven't been to since 1962. What an amazing moment, you can't believe it happened, you look on social media and what is everyone talking about? Fox throws it to the studio show what are they talking about? You watch Sportscenter, what are they talking about? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE PLAYOFF. An incredible turn of events ruined by one talking point, "does Minnesota belong in the playoff?" And that my friends is why the playoff sucks.
The college football playoff is a cool idea in theory, we take 4 teams let them settle it on the field. My problem with playoff though is it takes moments like the one above, possibly the most unlikely scenario in the history of football, (aside from the kick 6 and Michigan vs Michigan State 2015), and makes it the second part of the story because of the all important playoff. The playoff hangs over college football like a cloud all year long. Lose a game in September, what does this mean for their playoff chances. A "surprise" team is 8-0 entering November, "why doesn't the playoff committee respect us." Alabama, "how is the playoff committee going to make sure they make it." The playoff which let's be honest really only affects about 8 teams in college football, is the driving force behind every conversation about the game. No other sport has these discussions because the margin for error is much broader in every other sport. It riles up fan bases and makes their expectations super high.
To me college football is special and unique, it has it's flaws. Mainly the CTE without getting paid, but that's slowly changing. I prefer the college game to the NFL, not because I think it's a better game but because I like seeing guys with flaws make plays. There is an excitement to a college game that you just don't get in the pro's, that's my opinion it's probably wrong just me though. Part of the specialness of the college game is playing your neighbors, and all of your neighbors have a team. College is built on rivalries, whether it's OSU-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, Army-Navy, even Colorado State-Wyoming, which I didn't know was a rivalry until Josh Allen called Colorado State the sheep last week. Being regional is what drives the game. What the playoff does, is it takes some of the edge out of that rivalry. 2 weeks ago a small but vocal group of Iowa fans called the Minnesota game "meaningless" after Iowa's loss to Wisconsin thus leaving Iowa out of the B1G Championship Game. When you play Minnesota for Floyd of Rosedale it isn't meaningless, it's a big ass game and I don't care if Minnesota is 9-0 or 0-9, it means more. But the playoff has changed the narrative, as soon and someone not in the chosen ones loses a game their season is "over" and the bowl game is "meaningless" and winning 9 games is "mediocre" and so on and so on. Basically the playoff has given fans another thing to bitch about and they don't need more to bitch about.
And that's the next point, the playoff just turns into a big bitchfest. Why does the SEC and ACC only play 8 conference games while the other 3 conferences play 9, THAT'S NOT FAIR. Your cupcakes were softer than our cupcakes. We play our cupcakes September not November. They haven't played anyone, And on and on it goes. College Football lives for debate, but the playoff hasn't squashed any of the debate, in fact it's enhanced it. Instead of arguing over 2 teams claiming a National Title, we're arguing over why Penn State was ranked ahead of someone they lost too when Penn State had a huge game in 4 days and when the new rankings were coming out they would either have earned that spot by winning their huge game or fallen back behind by losing that game. Look I did this dance in 2015, I yelled at the TV, demanding respect for Iowa, but I also said if they go 13-0 they will get in. The debates are so over the top they are basically political all the time, there is so much "what about isms" it's a joke. People brag about who they lost too, well our loss is better than your loss so we should be higher. That's so stupid, winning doesn't matter anymore it's all about who you lose too.
Another thing about the playoff is 2 of the last 3 years it was unnecessary, Alabama and Clemson destroyed their opponents both years as #1 and #2, now it doesn't always happen that way but we everyone knew they were the best 2 teams them seasons, the semifinals were formalities. It's just and unneeded extra game that gets played on weird nights because of when New Year's Day is and the Rose Bowls refusal to not be New Years Day in the late afternoon. In the BCS, or even the prehistoric preBCS days the champ game could be played without the crappy 31-0 drubbing in the semifinal. Those games aren't entertaining and that's what the playoff is, a television show for entertainment.
That brings me to my final point, what is the goal of college football every season? Crowning a National Champion is cool and all, but to me it isn't the most important part of the season. If winning a National Championship was the goal for everyone then after week 3 80% of teams would be done. To me college football is about everything I've written about, it's about your rivals first, then your conference, and if you're good enough then we can talk National Titles, but with the playoff those first 2 things become mute because winning a conference title isn't a prerequisite for the playoff. The playoff is fine if it's put in proper perspective, but it isn't. The playoff drives the narrative of college football year round and drives fan bases crazy for no reason. Let's go back to the BCS and with just 1 game, let's get the magic back in college football, and let's have fun arguments instead of these silly playoff discussions 1 minute after every game.
That's all I got for this one, I know my opinion is unpopular but I'm ok with that. This was kind of a jumbled mess but I think I got my points across. Hit me up on twitter @derekbredeson. Come back next week for more, maybe.......
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