Playoffs!? Playoffs!? How about trying to win a game?

After this weekend, the final piece of the BCS puzzle will be in place. The rollercoaster ride college football fans have been on this season has certainly been rewarding and insightful. Real college football fans were reminded why a playoff system would not do college football any good. And this observation is coming from an ex-pro-playoff lobbyist.

The past two years, I have been complaining that the BCS was a bunch of BSC (Bull Spit and Crap). I felt the college presidents were afraid to relinquish their stranglehold on their postseason cash cow and allow the teams to settle the game on the field like true gentlemen instead of some paper champion elected based on popularity. Yet, after the way this season has gone, I have changed my tune.

Unlike the vast majority of fans, including ASM's Evan Plunkett, I believe this season didn’t strengthen the advocates of a playoff system argument at all. It actually hurt it.

A playoff system in college football would take the luster off the regular season. I thought that wouldn’t be possible, but then I thought about how that affects the weight of each loss. Just recently, Kentucky men’s basketball program lost to Gardner-Webb, a mid-major program from the Atlantic-Sun Conference; a loss that undoubtedly will have no bearing if the Wildcats storm through the SEC and right into the Sweet Sixteen. The loss to Gardner-Webb is insignificant and would be classified as the team’s galvanizing point.  Now compare Kentucky’s loss to the domino that started this collegiate football season.

On the flip side, Michigan lost to Appalachian State, a Bowl Subdivision affiliate, and was immediately excluded from BCS title game talk. The Wolverines’ title hopes were dashed before the season started; yet three weeks ago there were those same Wolverines right on the cusp of a BCS Bowl berth. However, once again, the Wolverines were beaten soundly at home and retreated to nurse their wounds.

Now, this is pure speculation, but under a playoff system, Michigan’s early loss wouldn’t have penalized the Wolverines much since they still would control their own destiny. The Wolverines could end up getting hot toward the end and beat Ohio State to get in the NCAA playoffs. Once there, they could continue their hot streak all the way to the title. Now, the NCAA Champion is a team that lost to their minor-league equivalent.

Does that make much sense?

No. Plus we would start see other trends eerily similar to the NFL.

Teams would begin saving players just for the playoffs. Urban Meyer would not have attempted to play Tim Tebow in the Georgia game; instead he would have sat him down for a few weeks to ensure his availability for the home stretch.   

Teams would schedule even more cupcakes. Auburn’s non conference schedule of Kansas State, South Florida, New Mexico State, and Tennessee Tech probably turns into Kansas International, South Florida Institute of Technology, Mexico State University, and Tennessee Tech. (Let’s face it, Tennessee Tech is already low enough.) This trend would definitely be rampart in the SEC because the conference is so tough on a week-to-week basis and is also highly respected.   

The games would not be that exciting, especially during late-game situations. LSU probably doesn’t attempt that many fourth-down plays against Florida if the winner only had an inside track to a top seed in a playoff, not a berth in the championship game.

Yet, the biggest argument against a playoff in my opinion is where to cut off the number of entrants, which is always a glaring deterrent during March Madness. Eventually, the NCAA Tournament instituted a play-in game, but now the 66th team feels robbed. How many teams should be eligible in college football? Is it eight teams, or 16 teams, 10 teams with two receiving a bye or 12 teams with four receiving a bye?

If there are eight teams included, then the ninth team is crying foul because they were left out. If there are 10 or 12 teams and byes have to be given, how do you dole them out? Maybe all conference champions receive byes, but that’s unfair to the SEC, Big XII, and ACC, because the Big East, Pac-10, and Big Ten don’t have conference championship games, which means that the best two teams in the conference might not get to play each other and those conference champions didn’t have to play an extra game.  

Some trivial, but important aspects that will become null under a playoff system is the ranking. Every week analysts produce an article about the NFL Power Rankings, which means about as much as a coach’s word to honor his contract.

The New England Patriots are everybody’s No. 1 team in the NFL Power Rankings, but if they had loss to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night then nothing would change. The Patriots would still be viewed as the best team in the NFL, Tom Brady or Randy Moss would still be in contention for the MVP award, and the Patriots power ranking wouldn’t drop.

Instead, the Patriots’ loss would be viewed as long overdue, because a perfect season in the NFL is almost as impossible as an imperfect season. If that is good for the goose, why can’t that be good for the gander?  

All across college football, teams are getting better and better. No longer are there a few powerhouses and whole bunch of also-rans. Through the powerhouses’ whole conferences have strengthened. Look at the Big XII; two years ago Texas beat Missouri 70-34 in the conference championship game. This year, Missouri will play an Oklahoma team that won an early meeting by just 10 points in the conference championship game.  

Honestly, Missouri is not a top-5 team. If I had to rank the five best teams in the nation, I would rank them in this order:  LSU, USC, Oklahoma, Florida, and West Virginia.
Yet, only West Virginia currently has a chance at the title. I think the BCS should tweak the system a little bit.

The best compromise, which the BCS seems to be leaning toward, is the plus-one system. The No. 1 seed versus the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed versus the No. 3 seed; the winners of the two games play in the championship game a week later.

This format is as close to a playoff system college football could do, because there isn’t enough uniformity across the board. All conferences don’t play the championship games, teams don’t play the same number of games and independents like Notre Dame, would complicate the matter further.   

I know the BCS formula is not the best solution, but it is the most equitable solution available. The BCS uses multiple human polls and an unbiased computer formula. This is a pretty diplomatic approach considering the champion was usually elected. Retrospectively, this current championship format is better that the old one that rewarded the same universities year in and year out.