The President has made it clear he wants to see a college football playoff. AP photos modified by Kevin McGuire
If you are like me, when you hear the term "SEC" you probably think of the Florida Gators, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Georgia Bulldogs before the thought of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission come to mind. Like you I live and breathe college football. I want to see college football all year round and I want it to be the primary reason for getting up on Saturday mornings in the fall. this is why I want what is best for the game of college football.
I have long been a supporter of a playoff system because I feel that in order for college football to end their season with a true sense of a legitimate champion, a playoff structure is the best way to go instead of going by ranking systems based on polls and computers. I want to see champions crowned based on their performance on the field, not by numbers off of it. While I realize that the Bowl Championship Series system is not going anywhere soon, I am OK with it. There is no doubt in my mind that more often than not, the BCS gets the correct teams in the championship game. Is it perfect? No. But I accept it.
Twelve days after being elected as President of the United States, Barrack Obama was quoted to saying in a one-on-one television interview on 60 Minutes with Steve Kroft what he wanted to do for college football's maligned championship game selection. Kroft asked "As president of the United States, what can you do, or what do you plan to do, about getting a college football playoff for the national championship?"
"I think any sensible person would say that if you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner that we should be creating a playoff system.
Eight teams. That would be three rounds, to determine a national champion. It would it would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm gonna throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."
- Barrack Obama, via 60 Minutes, November 16, 2008
First, if a playoff format is to be implemented I would prefer to see a plan that would include champions from each conference, but that is another story. At the time college football fans were excited to hear those words come out of the country's future leader (see, he's a sports fan like us! He gets it!), but I honestly thought it was nothing serious.
Now it seems I was wrong.
Yesterday the news broke that the President, fresh off his first State of the Union address, has responded to a letter from Utah senator Orin Hatch (R) addressing the concern of the fairness of the current BCS system. Hatch of course is a leading political voice from a region that has seen a pair of BCS busters in the past couple of seasons go unrewarded for an undefeated season. Now the Justice Department is going to determine whether or not to open an investigation into the BCS to see if it is violating any anti-trust laws. According to Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, who wrote the response letter to Hatch, could as far as ask the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.
Are they trying to tell me the BCS may be illegal? Is it any more legal than the bowl system that has been in place for the past however many decades? I would never dream of claiming the BCS is illegal and deceiving to consumers, but this is what it has come to. College football fans are now being labeled as consumers. No matter what happens next the government may have already crossed the line.
This is sport, not a government program. I do not feel the government should be getting involved with this. Instead here is what I would like to see happen.
The NCAA crowns a national champion in each level of college football except for the Football Bowl Subdivision. The only way the NCAA can crown a champion is by way determining the winner through a playoff system. It is long past time for the NCAA to regain control of their top sport. It should be the NCAA's responsibility to put together their own playoff system and invite teams from the FBS to participate. Let conferences and schools know that the national champion that will go down in the record books will be the winner of the officially sanctioned NCAA tournament and that any BCS champion will not be left in the official record books. With all of the money involved with the BCS it will be a hard sell at first, but if they give it time eventually it could work.
What are your thoughts on this whole situation? Should the President be getting involved with this? Should there be a playoff in the top level of college football? Why or why not? Leave a comment below to join the debate. I look forward to seeing what you have to say.
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