The Playoff Is Proof That We Should Remain Open To Change In College Football

It’s amazing that it took us this long to stumble upon something so wonderful. The College Football Playoff may not be the savior of the sport, mainly because it didn’t need saving, but it is changing the game for the better.

And more importantly, the playoff is already changing itself.

With the BCS and bowl system before it, it felt like every change, however minor, depended on a new contract, or at worst, an outside source. It seemed like every season ended with a computer based anomaly, or conflict in the major polls. The best response the powers that be seemed to be able to muster usually relied on a re-weighting of the various input methods.

And the playoff isn’t that different.



There are still the usual complaints of an injustice here or there. As a matter of fact, in its first year, the committee snubbed two deserving teams, both hailing from Texas. So they made adjustments. When Oliver Luck vacated his committee spot for a position with the NCAA, they replaced him with Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt, thus adding more representation for the Lone Star State.

When complaints surfaced that releasing a weekly ranking too far in advance could influence the committee’s selection process, or even just the public perception associated, they cut them. Now, we will be in the dark until November, and isn’t that more exciting?

There are a limited number of slots, and ten conferences trying to fit 128 teams into them. There will always be problems, and always be people left out on the stoop. But the playoff committee has shown us something that seemed to be a rarity in the world of major college athletics; flexibility.

It’s a trait that was missing from the BCS, and one that I hope will carry through the entire lifespan of the playoff. There are undoubtedly aspects that will soon be set in stone. That is the nature of doing anything for the first time. We find what works and settle on the mindset that this is how it should be done.

College football, and really college sports in general, are spoiled with tradition. But just because something worked once, doesn’t mean it will always work. And I’m not advocating for wholesale change year to year, or a reactionary stance where every little discrepancy is compensated for.
Let’s just agree that the wisdom of today’s committee will set the groundwork, and guide future decisions. Realignment has shown us just how quickly individual schools and conferences can change. That should be our pace when it comes to deciding the champion, and really, when deciding anything in relation to college athletics.