The Conference Championship Saturday games were a lot of fun. Virginia, who was ranked #17 going in, if they beat five-loss Duke, was a shoe-in for one of the slots of the 12-team football playoff. They lost, so they’re out. Alabama lost to Georgia. But, they are not necessarily out because they are high enough ranked that they may still slip in. When talking about the bracket and the possibility of Alabama slipping into one of the final slots, one of the sportscasters said that Alabama should still get in, for “they should not be penalized for losing their conference championship.” You know, because we want “fairness.”
And that is the flaw in the system. If you want the college football conference to operate true and fair, the solution is simple, but they would never buy into it because the money would be as great; they believe.
As it stands now, the five conference winners ranked the highest get an automatic bid, and the remaining bids go to at large teams. Virginia is out because they are not a conference winner with a high enough rank to surpass the next seven highest non-conference champs. Duke, now as ACC Conference Champ by beating Virginia is not ranked high enough to be a conference champ automatic bid, and with five losses they aren’t ranked at all so getting in as an at large is pretty much impossible for them. But the loser of the SEC Championship Game, Alabama, to be “fair,” should still be let in?
There are ten conferences in the FBS (Division 1A College Football). The solution to make it a true playoff is simple. Regardless of ranking, place all of the Conference Champions into the playoffs. You win your conference, you’re in. You lose that final game as one of the final two teams of your conference you are out…unless you are ranked high enough after it is all over to secure one of the final two slots available (of which an independent team like Notre Dame could also slip into). This will make the Conference Championship Games matter (because if Alabama is in, did the SEC Championship Game really matter like it did to Virginia?) And, it eliminates the chatter among not-so-big-conference champs saying they deserved to be picked but didn’t because a bunch of opinions by committees decided their strength of schedule, or some other thing, kept them out. Let them prove it on the field, regardless of their situation. If they win their conference, they deserve a chance. If they get slaughtered by an Ohio State or Georgia in the first round, so be it. You got your chance. In the end, the top teams will still wind up in the final, and along the way teams who should have gotten a shot were given the opportunity. And you never know, maybe one year a James Madison or North Texas might make the run and win it all. Would that be so bad? Frankly, I think that’s the reason they have it the way they do. They are afraid of that ever happening, and they are doing whatever they can to maintain the tyranny of the largest schools and the largest conferences.
See, politics even exists in sports.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
