BCS Vs. Playoff System In College Football

BCS vs. Playoff System In college football, the BCS system has been around since 1998 and has become well established. The BCS system is well established but has accumulated much criticism over the years due to inefficiencies with the system. Like history shows, as time passes, people find better and more efficient ways to do things. In this case, a large percentage of college football fans would like to see college football take on a playoff system versus the traditional BCS system. According to collegefootball.procon.org, 85% of college football fans support changing to a playoff system, according to a 2007 Gallup Poll. The BCS system has been great and has had a good run but based on the results, the fans are ready for a change.
The BCS has been around for a little over a decade and has seen many college football seasons. In the BCS system, at the end of the season, the top two teams (#1 and #2) are given a bid to play in the national championship. In most cases, both teams are undefeated and have been voted as a top team by the Coaches Poll. In order to win a bid to play in the national championship, it has become the norm for teams not to lose any games during the season. If a team loses a game, their hopes of going to the national championship are cut down significantly. The only way that a team can go to the national championship is if they are the number one or number two seed out of over 100 teams; the best that a team with a loss can look forward to is a bowl game at the end of the season. The exception happens every once in a while, where a team loses a game but still wins a bid to play in the national championship. This year, there was much controversy between three football programs: Oklahoma State, LSU, and Alabama, who were all fighting to win a bid to the national championship. LSU was the number one seed, so they automatically won a bid but the controversy was that Oklahoma State was an undefeated team as Alabama had lost one game but it was to LSU (the number one team). When Alabama was voted by the Coaches Poll to play in the national championship for a rematch with LSU over Oklahoma State, there was much controversy and major disappointed from college football fans. This is just an example from similar occurrences that have happened in the past. Without a doubt, this is not the first time that something like this has occurred; fans have been making complaints for years in this regard and would now like to see the playoff system established. The playoff system gives teams a better chance to make it to the national championship versus the traditional BCS system.
The playoff system would allow for smaller schools to have an opportunity to play in the national championship. A couple years ago, the Utah football program went undefeated throughout the whole season but was not given a bid to play in the national championship because they were a small school compared to the powerhouses, such as Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Florida, etc; the same goes for Boise State who defeated powerhouse Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, on their way to the national championship but were not given a bid because of the BCS system. Some argue that they should not have been given a bid even though they went undefeated because the strength of their schedule was not equal to powerhouse teams. With the new playoff system, it would allow teams like Utah or Boise State to prove whether they belong in the national championship or not through the process of elimination versus computer generated polls. The playoff system has been adopted in college basketball and a large percentage of football fans would like to see college football do so as well. The number one and number two teams at the end of the season would not automatically win a bid to the national championship but would have to defend their number one and two seeds throughout playoff play to the national championship. It may not sound good to a number one or number two seed team but
it gives other teams a chance at the national championship and provides more entertainment for the fans. Out of over one hundred teams, it goes from just the number one and number two teams to a larger scale of teams, all looking for an opportunity to play in the national championship. A large percentage of fans would like to see the playoff system take effect but there are still fans that are content with the current BCS system. Schools and some fans are content with the current BCS system because it is safer for the student-athletes who would have to play extra games and games during the holidays in a playoff system; it generates large sums of money for the schools and it is still entertaining. The BCS system generates large sums of money for schools but only the schools that qualify for a bowl game or the national championship; the smaller teams do not gain a profit at all. It would be like the strong continuing to get stronger and the weak continuing to get weaker. Collegiate football is on a major stage and the ability for teams, and the BCS to acquire large amounts of profit sometimes overshadows and takes away from the game itself. As a result, fans suffer and if it gets too bad, the BCS would eventually have to make a change because less support would then add to decrease in profit. According to collegefootball.procon.org, football has such an impact that it plays a crucial role in the funding of the college or university, which is major. With the playoff system, it would allow smaller schools to challenge the powerhouses, not just for the national championship but for the exposure and profit as well. Naturally, it is safe to assume that the powerhouses are comfortable with the current BCS system, as they are the main ones benefitting from it but the people that invest in tickets, memorabilia, and concessions are the fans and if the fans are not happy, then the money aspect will begin to suffer. Most fans would like to see the playoff system become a reality, as the same teams are claiming the top spots each year.
You can almost predict at the beginning of the season who will be in the national championship or who will be in the running to play in the national championship because each year it happens to be a team from the SEC. Here is a list of teams that have won the national championship since 2006: Florida (2006) (SEC), LSU (2007) (SEC), Florida (2008) (SEC), Alabama (2009) (SEC), Auburn (2010) (SEC), and Alabama (2011) (SEC). The last six national championships have been won by SEC conference teams when there are twelve conferences in Division 1-A football. People can argue about why the BCS is better or why the playoff system would be better, as they both have positives and negatives but looking at that large of a margin of SEC success versus other conferences is pretty major. It is clear evidence that the BCS system supports powerhouse football schools over smaller schools. One could say that it is fun to watch one conference dominate all of the other conferences but the fans have had enough and are looking for change. According to a national survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 63% of fans favor getting rid of the BCS system in favor of the playoff system as only 26% say that they want to keep the BCS system. The playoff system would be beneficial to fans as it would add entertainment, to the media as it would provide more stories and reviews,
and to schools as it would generate more revenue for the colleges and universities. The only party that would be negatively affected is the student-athletes, as they would have less time to study due to more practices and also more physical strain (The Associated Press 1). As fans would like to see the playoff system administered, it is really something to think about as once it is implemented, there is no going back (You could go back but millions of dollars would be wasted; not good). The BCS system has been great and has had a good run but based on the results, the fans are ready for a change. The fans are not satisfied with computer generated contenders for the national championship and are looking for a system that is more entertaining, which the playoff system would be (The Associated Press 1). The fans are important as their opinions and ideas are valued and in order to progress in the future, the college football scene may have to graduate to a playoff system to keep college football at its peak for college football fans. College football needs an upgrade and a playoff system might be just what it needs.

Works Cited
"Fans Don 't Want Congress Poking in." ESPN.com. the Associated Press, 29 Dec. 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. .
"College Football - ProCon.org." College Football. 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. .