National Championship Game

[Wayne SW/MO]

I'm more concerned with the other BCS bowls and how some teams will be screwed, IMO. I can't really swallow Mizzou and OK State, at this point, playing UCF and NIU in BCS bowls. Their, the two latter, march through minor teams hasn't impressed anyone. They're both hovering around the same area as LSU and OK, both of whom worked a lot harder to be where they're at, but have no chance, rightly so, of playing in a BCS bowl. It just doesn't work when two top teams end up playing teams they will be expected to run over, yet they may end up losing to teams who have practiced all year for a big game without giving any hint of all of their plays.

I'm gla the present BCS is leaving, but I'm not confident in the new because like so many things we get saddled with, they fix one obvious problem and leave three almost as bad untouched.

[Feathers and Fins]

I am going to say it again all be it sounding like a broken record, there is only one way to get a true National Champion and its simple. To do it you have to have a legitimate play-off series based off records for the year and it can be done. But before that let me lay out arguments against it and the contradiction to the arguments.

1. Adding more games is dangerous to the players. Counter is how many games to basketball player ( Approximately 32 ), Volleyball players ( Approximately 28 games ) and Baseball players ( approximately 54 games ) in College play a year not including tournament play? They average double to triple the amount of games player so the justification that it is more dangerous to players in null and void as they just like the previous athletes share a universal risk to injury all be it football is more contact the risk for injury to any player is always present.

#2 They are there to get a education; Ok so are the other players of other sports yet anyone who does not believe money is an issue is purely blind. Players pick schools that have the potential to get them in the pro’s. So they are to a degree not their for an education but further their careers.

#3 It could but a mediocre team that gets lucky against a team that deserves it more. Sure it could happen, but it happens in the pros as well. It is the nature of the beast. But still puts the record against the record and gives us a true champion based souly off performance on the field and not off voters, polls or computers.

Those are the top three arguments against a true play-off scheme and the counter to them. If you agree or disagree with it that’s your view and I appreciate it. I would like one person to point out a viable non-counterable argument why we should not have a true play-off where it pits record against record which in my opinion is the only way to decide a true Champion as it is in all other sports.

That all said here is how I believe College Football Championship Game should be decided.

#1. We would have to take the current 128 teams and break them in to 8 conferences.

#2. Each conference would have 16 team in it. ( Break the down by region, geography however )

#3. Have two conferences play each other ( no games out of those two conferences ) For you NFL fans that’s 32 Teams same amount as in the NFL.

#4. Now Play those two conferences against each other just as they do in the NFL ( the prototype or if you will well established model for football )

#5 Using the NFL model again you play the regular season and a post season just like the NFL and you end up with a champion for those two conferences.

#6 Take those 8 champions and play them in a final play-off till there is only two teams remaining.

#7 The final two teams play for the National championship and we have a true National champion.

That is a total of 23 games still below the average for most other college sports regular season and far below the average when you take in tournament play. The season would start the first weekend of September ( Traditional start date ) and be completed by the second weekend of February.

Each year you rotate conferences so they don’t play the same conference each year. Making it more competitive and removing some of the weaker schedule arguments.

Just for the record the NFL season including Pre-season ( 4 games ), Regular-season ( 16 games ) and Post-season ( up to 4 games ) then SUPERBOWL for a total of for the Super bowl champion of 25 games.

Interesting that both College and Pro could have the exact same amount of games played for a National Champion / Super bowl Champion!

[ozark trout fisher]

I'm really only going to argue the player safety issue of a large playoff, because that is the single issue that stops it dead in its track IMO. You can't compare football to Volleyball, basketball, or anything else. Obviously I'm not going to explain why, because it is unnecessary.

You also can't just say "well, it's just four more games, it shouldn't be that important" because injuries are often (usually) cumulative in that sport, as everyone's bodies get worn down. For each extra game the injury risk goes up. In other words, you are talking about more of an exponential than a linear increase. At 16 games on a college team, you might have a hard time putting a decent team on the field by the time its over. The championship game would be decided essentially by who still had some healthy players left.

Add in that these are unpaid (beyond the scholarship) athletes and that long of a grind is just too brutal. College players are not NFL players. They are not as strong, generally more prone to getting hurt. And once again, they are not making millions for whatever injuries they incur. And the vast, vast majority (even at Alabama) will never sniff the NFL.

[Feathers and Fins]

OTF my counters to your arguements are posted the injury issue is not an issue in my opinion as an injury can happen at any time and if you look over the stats its remarkably low when you look at 128 teams and all the players it is a low percentage of the players who are injured severly. Championship games in most sports are decided in some degree by health anyway be it from peewee to pro. The injury arguement to me will never hold weight especially now with so many more rules designed to make the game safer. Maybe 10 years ago I would have agreed but with new technology in safety geer and rules in place to protect players is not an issue anymore.

As to the to brutal arguement. I know many people in the workforce same age as these players who work 6 days a week in dangerous trades/job that would love to have it so easy as to be playing a sport. Brutal is loading a roof by hand up a ladder 6 days a week or working in a steel mill 6 days a week, but playing football and all that goes with it I would not even think of putting on the same level as hard working people. They are even if injured still getting an education on schoolarship and when they are done can go in to whatever office job they want. So they get the education and they still have a degree for a job after they get out.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The problem is you are wrong in many of your assumptions F&F. First off I don't believe that the facts support the theory that players go where they think they will end up in the NFL. They go for a lot reasons, and few go for that and that is why many NFL players come from small colleges and some from high school. They want to start 4 years first if possible.

As far as mixing mediocre teams, happens all the time. I'll play my broken record, several computer programs based on nothing but strength of schedule. No team coming in at the last of the season with an outstanding record beating poor teams. No conference bias, no team bias, no money bias.

College football does not need to mimic pro ball, we don't need a baseball like training camp, it's already close enough. I want amateurs to play amateurs and pros to play pros, I have both now and that's fine with me.

We already, or will have a 4 tier playoff for most and that's enough. The NC game will feature teams that have played in 3 elimination games in all likelyhood, that's plenty for college players.

[ozark trout fisher]

OTF my counters to your arguements are posted the injury issue is not an issue in my opinion as an injury can happen at any time and if you look over the stats its remarkably low when you look at 128 teams and all the players it is a low percentage of the players who are injured severly. Championship games in most sports are decided in some degree by health anyway be it from peewee to pro. The injury arguement to me will never hold weight especially now with so many more rules designed to make the game safer. Maybe 10 years ago I would have agreed but with new technology in safety geer and rules in place to protect players is not an issue anymore.

As to the to brutal arguement. I know many people in the workforce same age as these players who work 6 days a week in dangerous trades/job that would love to have it so easy as to be playing a sport. Brutal is loading a roof by hand up a ladder 6 days a week or working in a steel mill 6 days a week, but playing football and all that goes with it I would not even think of putting on the same level as hard working people. They are even if injured still getting an education on schoolarship and when they are done can go in to whatever office job they want. So they get the education and they still have a degree for a job after they get out.

Agree to disagree. But putting players through that for our enjoyment doesn't feel right to me.

I agree with Wayne, the current system needs tweaking, but not a complete overhaul. It's fun to think about the 16 team superconferences, but you'd be losing a lot if you did that. There is still an element here that is about rivalries and tradition and I think superconferences would officially be the death knell of that. It's one thing to have conference realignment, but in reality most of the old conferences are still somewhat intact. We need to protect what is left.

We don't need NFL part II, college football is the game I really love. A four game playoff may end up being just about right. I'll certainly go into it with an open mind.

[stlfisher]

We all need to summon whatever voodo magic we can muster cause Auburn sure seems to have a lot of juju on their side. I need a Malzahn Voodo doll so I can stick him every time he attempts that fist pump and boom chant.

I agree with Wayne that matchups for Okie State and MU are yawners. Your reward for a great season...is to play a yawner of a matchup in which you have everything to lose and nothing to gain. I would rather lose to Auburn than play UCF in the Sugar bowl. Seriously. We play UCF next year anyway.

A 4 team playoff is the optimal for me. No more than that. One of the great things about college football is that every single game is in essence a playoff game....lose and your pretty much out. IF you add to many teams it will take away from the intensity of the regular season. The BCS may not always be fair, but it sure does make it dramatic. 16 or 32 is just not feasible for division 1 and it would completely ruin the regular season. I don't think there are much more than 3-4 championship contenders each year anyway. Basketball does not matter until March for this reason.

Let's go Mizzou and I hope the juju is on our side this weekend.

[Wayne SW/MO]

We will actually have an 8 team playoff next year, after a division elimination for most.

[stlfisher]

I see what your saying, but It is not 3 additional games to crown a champion after the regular season which is what I would consider a true 8 team playoff. Depends on ones perspective though. I just don't want to add to many more games to the season 1 is enough for me.

[Blazerman]

Next year there will be another blog here about how the top four teams got ranked to be in the playoffs and why this team or that team should of been in the top four instead of this other team based on strength of schedule, conference, etc etc.

The top four will still be decided by the rankings and will always be prone to everybody’s interpretation of how they should be ranked. The only difference will be one of those four will end up as a true national champion after the two game playoff.

There will still be other bowl games that people worry about with which teams go where and the end of the year ranking for the spots 5-25 that will probably get people going too.

I think it is actually what makes college football so much fun. On Saturdays I end up flipping around the channels trying to see how all the different top teams are doing regardless of where they are located or what conference they play so I can try and stay up with where teams are ranked and how they got there.