Even more interesting than the rejection of the concept of a
plus one playoff system are the excuses that some of the participants are
giving for refusing to even put it up for a vote. According to John Swofford (commissioner of
the ACC and BCS coordinator) only the SEC and ACC representatives wanted to
continue the discussion. Evidently talk
isn't that cheap after all.
By Bill Smith
Jim Delany,
the Big Ten Commissioner, was quoted as saying that a 4 team playoff like the
plus one formula would quickly lead to expansion to an 8 to 16 team playoff
system and stain college football with
a brush of professionalism. Maybe we
need to eliminate playoffs for Division 2 and Division 3 football. That would help keep professionalism out of
the game at that level.
Delany also
was convinced that the current system is what the people want because the
revenue continues to grow every year.
Evidently what we were all starved for was more bowl games because the
NCAA agreed to add two more bowls to the plethora of nameless faceless matchups
between two 6-6 teams. I have already
set my TIVO to record every second of both of them! I am particularly thrilled with the idea of
the Congressional Bowl in Washington
D.C. Who says there is a no win attitude in our
nations capital?
A college
president said that a 4 team playoff would dilute the regular season of college
football. I am sure that if neither Ohio State
nor Michigan
were in a position to play for a championship, the game would be played in an
empty stadium without television coverage.
Yea, that's going to happen.
Several
spokespeople for college football suggested that the Big 10 and Pac-10 would
resist a playoff because it would detract from the tradition of the Rose
Bowl. Of course those conferences jumped
into the BCS even though it would mean the traditional match up would be lost
every 4th year. Money seems
to count more than tradition. I wonder
just how long it will be before the Rose Bowl will become the Flowers.com Bowl
to pay the conferences more money. That
of course would do nothing to dilute the tradition of the game.
Can anyone
really look at March Madness and believe that a real playoff in college
football would not capture the total nation in the excitement? If the BCS is working so well, let's cancel
the NCAA tournament and let the BCS formula or the power rankings determine
which two teams play for the basketball championship. Look at all the time we could save for the fans
so that they could do their St. Patrick's Day shopping.
The NCAA
and the BCS are moving into K-Mart mentality.
K-Mart forgot who their customers were and started to see themselves as
an upscale store. They replaced their
lower cost goods with designer fashions and drove their company into financial
disaster.
Maybe
someone had that perfect plan for a playoff that would solve all the problems
of the various detractors but their dog ate the plan before it could be
presented.