Projecting the College Football Playoff and Why the Committee Will Screw This Up
Tonight the initial college football playoff poll will be released on ESPN as college football fans around the country will watch with anticipation to see where their team ranks and what kind of shot their club may have to reach the inaugural college football playoff.
Granted we still have several weeks until the final poll is released and this thing could change on a dime, but tonight we get a good measuring stick of what the committee is thinking and which way they may go.
I personally like the poll coming out now and each and every week until the end of the season, but there are some that do not and you can read why here.
For years I, along with many have called for a playoff to determine the best team in college football. It’s just the right way to do things. After all, the NFL has a playoff, high school football has a playoff and every other sport has playoffs at every level except college football at the Division-one level; until now.
When the first announcement came out about the playoff we were all ecstatic proclaiming, “Finally a true champion will be crowned!” Then, the proverbial committee was released of thirteen participants, all with different back grounds and resumes.
Many in the sports media proclaimed immediately “this is a screw up waiting to happen and you just think you got mad at the BCS – wait till you see this.”
At face value this is easy greasy in selecting these teams – it’s not rocket science. You are looking for the top four teams in the country in college football so just look at all the polls and it’s pretty clear.
Obviously this will change by the time the final poll comes out, but let’s look at it today.
Mississippi State and Florida State should be easy shoe-ins. Both are undefeated and Florida State has defended their national championship up to this point. That’s the easy selections.
When looking at the other two spots, right now they should go to Alabama and Auburn. It’s that cut and dry and anyone with a brain and objectivity knows the SEC, particularly the Western Division, plays the best brand of football in America.
Now will this selection be this cut and dry down the road? Probably not since Alabama, MState, Auburn and Ole Miss play basically a playoff of their own starting this weekend, but for now it’s that cut and dry.
But, I will be shocked if this happens tonight due to several reasons. One, the gnashing of teeth that will come out around the country proclaiming “SEC bias” and two, major politics is sadly going to come into play in these selections.
When you break down the committee you have two representatives from the SEC, 1-ACC, 2-Big10, 1-Big12, 1-PAC10, 1-Big East, 1-reporter, 2-US former government employees, an ex NCAA officer and one former head coach.
You can review the committee members resumes right here.
Of the thirteen people selected I only trust a small minority of them to make the right decisions. Tyrone Willingham coached major college football and you should feel comfortable with his selections. Tom Osborne and Archie Manning (while out at the moment), are college football stalwarts and should be a part of this process as well as former Wisconsin great Barry Alvarez. I also do not have a problem with former college football reporter Steve Wieberg as he has been covering college football for decades.
But – the rest I have to scoff at and here’s why.
The rest of the committee is made up of people entrenched in politics and academia. Yes, there are a few former athletic directors on this panel, but that still classifies as academia. And yes you could say the same about former coaches, but anyone will tell you that football coaches and coaching offices, while on campuses are in worlds of their own out there.
So that’s five people presumed to be objective against eight that will probably not be and here’s why.
Politics and academia have become one in the same and if you don’t believe me, go hang out at your favorite college for a few days and visit classes, conferences and more.
We live in a country now that’s constantly politicized and I hate to make this about politics, but that’s what we will get.
Everywhere you go people are moving in the direction of good ole socialism. Everyone gets a toy, a trophy, everyone is equal and everyone should spread the wealth.
This is the direction a majority of our politicians lean now days and universities are teaching this concept as well.
Academia and politics do not live in the same world or by the same rules as you and I and they will not in this selection process.
People are now taught to hate and despise the one-percent and in college football the SEC is the one-percent and they will not be catered to in this process.
Per the playoff website they state, “Every FBS team has equal access to the playoff based on its performance. The selection committee will choose the four teams for the playoff based on strength of schedule, head-to-head results, comparison of results against common opponents, championships won and other factors.”
They also state:
“There is a coat rack just outside the committee’s meeting room, and each committee member was given a white hat with his or her last name on it as a reminder to the members to hang up their allegiances before they enter the room. While there is a recusal policy in place, one of the biggest questions facing the group has been whether or not its members would be able to be objective in spite of longtime loyalties to particular schools.
“Those hats will be posted outside that door for every time we go in, and it’s to remind us we’re leaving those things outside and we’re acting within the best interest of college football, and we’re checking those things at the door,” Long said. “While it is somewhat humorous, there’s a point to it.”
At first glance that’s easy, but words like “equal” and phrases like “other factors” are the key here.
This should be a simple easy process, but I can promise you this committee will screw this up in the name of equality and “fair play.” It doesn’t matter about coat rack symbolism or ways to represent everyone “checking their ego at the door.”
At the end of the day the committee doesn’t want to deal with people screaming “how dare the SEC get two spots or God for bid- three?”
With so much diversity at the committee table and so many people tied to politics and academia this will be about giving everyone a chance.
If I had to guess right now, they will roll out a playoff poll with Florida State and Mississippi State one and two, followed by Oregon and Notre Dame.
The first two make sense and are from separate conferences. The second two scream fair play and spreading the love. Oregon beat Michigan State and they have the inside track to the Pac-12 Championship. Notre Dame is the media’s football darling and has the biggest fan base in the country.
This type of selection would insure everyone gets a shot, multiple conferences and champions are featured and the one-percent gets what they deserve – to be left out.
Granted at the end of the day, when the final poll rolls out, this could change, but I can almost promise you the final poll will be something like this.
It doesn’t matter that the SEC has dominated college football for almost a decade and it doesn’t matter that they are dominating college football in 2014.
The panel represents what America is today and this is not an attack on their character as individuals, but it represents the movement we are seeing in this country and in academia. Spread the wealth, spread the love.
It doesn’t matter that the one-percent (The SEC) deserves it and busted their butt to get there. We want everyone happy and everyone to have a chance. It’s the new American way and college football will follow suit.
This panel will turn a simple process into a political fiasco. That’s what we do now in America and if you don’t believe me just look around. Every situation in this country is politicized and people do it on a daily basis. The college football playoff will tote the company line because everyone deserves a shot and a trophy.
The playoff committee will cave to political pressure like everything else in this country, making us long for the days of the BCS. Making everyone realize this grass seemed much greener, but in reality we were just fine on the other side of the fence.