You know, watching all those games Saturday made me think how careful we need to be with college football. I was glued to the TV and flipping channels between Fox, CBS, and ABC to watch teams in front of us in the polls. I'd watch anyway, but it won't matter as much in 2 years when we have the 4 team playoff. In 2 years, by now teams wil simply be jockeying for position. K-State is a virtual lock for the Big 12 title and in the mix with 4 teams, even at 11-1. They don't even think about playing a banged up Klein this week. Oregon needs only to beat Oregon St. and then win the Pac 12 title. The games against Cal and Stanford aren't worth kids getting injured. Georgia and Bama are just counting down to playing in the Dome. Even a loss to A & M or a colossal upset to Auburn won't ruin Bama's chances. Win in Atlanta with 1 or 0 losses, and they're in. Heck, even if we lost to Tech and beat 12-0 Bama, we're probably in. Then, we're all simply watching Notre Dame, because if they lose, an SEC team or FSU is probably in the mix. Florida St. and Florida are probably playing for a spot in the top 4 then. What if FSU beats Florida but loses a crazy game in the ACCCG…but Clemson goes 11-1? Does Clemson get to go even though they didn't win their division. Does South Carolina go in that scenario if they beat Clemson, even though they finished THIRD in their division, behind 7-1 UGA and Florida?
I've been a propoent of the 4 teams because I think scheduling is simply too varied these days. The thought that we could go 12-1 with wins over the #2 and #1 BCS teams, win the toughest conference in the land that currently has 5 of the top 8 BCS teams in the nation while Notre Dame's best win will end up being over Oklahoma and Oregon's best will will be over Oregon St. Well, it makes you think that maybe 4 is the way to go.
However, watching AJ McCarron weep on the sidelines made me think we need to watchout. He understood the significance. Lose, and those guys aren't going to Atlanta or Miami this year. Not again. And all the hard work and dominating wins are for nought. But in a 4 team playoff in most years, 11-1 Bama who didn't win their division, but lost a tough night game in Tiger Stadium and dominated everyone else…they probably get in. And I don't know that THAT'S good for college football. What is good for college football is watching that kid hug his parents because he had the sele-awareness to know that he had just had is Belue to Scott moment when all the chips were on the table. Had Bama lost that game, we would have stayed at 6 and Bama would have dropped to 5, with LSU at 4. They would have only needed 1 team to lose to get back in the top 4.
That's why this SEC guy was on the Jim Delaney bandwagon of having only Conference champions in the playoffs. However, we will have a committee select the teams. My hope is that they give preference to conference champions and only choose teams that didn't win their division or conference as a last resort. But sometimes even the last resort won't be a good resort.
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