And another one's gone. And another one's gone...
People who say college football NEEDS a playoff just haven't been paying attention this season. WEEK after WEEK of unbelievable upsets make every Saturday night must-watch TV for anyone who says they love college football.
Last night the big DOUBLE-WHAMMY occurred. Unranked Baylor CRUSHED number one Kansas State AND number TWO Oregon got surprised in OT by Stanford.
TWO great games, that would have been rendered MEANINGLESS by a playoff system, now help set the stage for what could be the greatest college season of all-time.
Number three Notre Dame won BIG yesterday. They have just become the only undefeated team left in the top ten rankings. They'll almost certainly move to number ONE in the polls this week. Number FOUR Alabama, who got dumped from number one last week, thinking it's season was lost, MAY now get the number TWO ranking passing both K State and Oregon.
The BCS system and rankings DO make sense. And because that system exists, we get national-championship caliber games every single Saturday night for literally months. WHEN EVERY SINGLE MAJOR GAME MATTERS, EVERY SINGLE GAME BY TOP RANKED TEAMS becomes a television treat.
The teams that play great late in the season are going to have an advantage when the rankings come out, but that's no different than a playoff system. The teams that WIN are the teams that should move on. IF Alabama finishes strong, their loss from a week ago IS better than than Oregon's and K-State's more recent losses.
I remember Kirk Herbstreit on ESPN three weeks ago saying how important a playoff is for college football if you you truly love the game. He said there was a good chance that FOUR teams would go undefeated this year, and it wasn't fair that 2 of those teams couldn't decide the National Championship on the field.
Guess what Kirk? Really stupid analysts say that same stupid thing every single season, and every single season they are proven wrong. I've never said their shouldn't be a PLUS-ONE Bowl (One more game if there are at least 3 "undefeateds" at the end, but that scenario just never happens.) Instead of imaging how great a playoff system COULD be, they ignore the fact that what they have now is unmatched in any sport.
Last night was living proof that college football is better without a playoff. What happened last night sent shudders through the college football world.
Number 5 Georgia has to be excited, too. WHY? Because Number four Alabama and number five Georgia play each other on December 1st. The winner of that game was going to win the SEC championship. NOW the winner of that game will probably play in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME as well. Just one day ago, that game didn't matter at all. NOW it becomes the biggest game of the season so far.
Instead of THREE playoff games at the end of the season, we've had dozens already. And there's way more too look forward to before that championship game comes in mid-January.
Enjoy this season while you can. it will all come crashing down in two seasons when their "real playoffs" start, rendering the entire regular season completely meaningless.
Just like college basketball is now.
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