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' Playoff system disputed
Two teams rarely claim bragging rights
The argument has raged for years.
Supremacy among the nation’s Div
ision IA college football teams is an
important — maybe the most impor
tant — issue among fans. And through
the years, the desire for a playoff sys
tem to decide the nation’s No. 1 team
on the field has increased among Amer
ica’s Monday-morning quarterbacks.
Last Thursday, a proposal by a spe
cial NCAA subcommittee created a
plan for a one-game playoff system at
the end of the year that would match
the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams at
the end of the regular season.
The idea obviously spawned from
last season, in which fans of the playoff
Chuck
Green
system got a quick fix when top-ranked
Miami faced No. 2 Penn State in the
Sunkit-Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2. Both
teams were undefeated and the game
lived up to all its billings, as a Penn
State interception at the goal line in
the game’s final seconds ended Mia
mi’s come-from-behind title dreasm.
When playoff advocates failed to see
through all the meda hype, pageantry
and last-second heroics, they missed
, one of the most obvious questions
raised: Were Penn State and Miami
truly the best college teams in the
nation?
Granted, both teams were 11-0 going
into the game, which is all anyone
could have asked from them. Their
schedules, however, left much to be
desired.
Penn State sque ' ed past teams
like Temple and Rutbers, while Miami
blasted the likes of Cincinnati, West
Virginia and East Carolina. The Hurri
canes defeated Florida State easily
when the Seminoles were without their
starting quarterback. Oklahoma also
fell to the Orange Bowl turf under a
strong Hurricane passing attack, but
Sooners have a notorious recent history
of sluggish Septembers. How badly
would Nebraska have routed Oklahoma
in the season’s fourth game?
The point is, there are very few sea
sons in which only two teams can claim
No. 1 bragging rights. In my mind,
Oklahoma was the best college team in
the country last Jan. 1, with Nebraska
and Arizona State only a step or two
behind. Penn State and Mami were not
top-five material.
A one-game playoff would raise more
questions than it would answer. But
the subcommittee’s proposal was a
step in the right direction — just not
far enough.
Division IA football is the only col
lege sport in which a national cham
pion isn’t decided on the playing field.
A playoff is needed from the start, and a
look at recent seasons supports this
idea
In 1969, Penn State was undefeated
but finished No. 2 behind Texas because
Longhorns had what many considered
to be a tougher schedule. In 1975, Ariz
ona State finished 12-0, including a
17-14 win against Nebraska in the
Fiesta Bowl. The Sun Devils also fin
ished as the “best of the rest” behind
Oklahoma, which was also undefeated.
Which team was better?
A one-game
playoff would
raise more ques
tions than it would
answer.
More recently, Clemson won the
crown in 1981. The Tigers went 12-0,
but Penn State — which had one loss
— was likely the nation’s best team at
the end. In 1984, Brigham Young was
undefeated and No. 1, but the Cougars
played no top-20 teams. And last sea
son, had Nebraska defeated Oklahoma,
the Comhuskers likely would have
faced Miami in the Orange Bowl for the
national title. If Miami had won, the
Hurricanes would have been national
champs, but Penn State, also unde
feated, never would have had a chance
to prove its field value.
Why has it gone on so long? The main
reason is money. Ask any bowl repre
sentative. A playoff system would mean
doom for the bowls, the argument goes.
It would also extend the season and
disrupt the athletes’ academic lives —
that’s the favorite among coaches.
Finally, some people say, a playoff just
wouldn’t be as much fun as arguing the
matter all year.
In 1981, Sport Magazine proposed an
ideathat would quickly dismiss all the
debates.
The Sport plan, along with a few
modifications, would go like this:
Step 1: A computer ranking, like
that of the New York Times poll, would
be organized. The nation’s top 16 teams
would be established, taking into ac
count the individual teams’ win loss
record, schedule difficulty, offensive
output, defensive input and Individual
nlavprs’ statistics.
Step 2: The 16 teams would be
paired according to their computer
rankings. Number one would play No.
16, No. 2 would face No. 15, No. 3 would
be paired with No. 14, and so on. These
first-round games would be played in
the lesser bowls, such as the Peach,
Sun, Gator, Bluebonnet, Florida-Citrus,
etc., and would be played one week
after final exams ended, on Friday and
Satruday, Dec. IS and 19 of this year.
All eight games would be nationally
televised, earning the “minor bowls"
more money than ever before — dis
missing the "loss of money" argument.
The minor bowls not included in the
playoff, such as the California and Hol
iday Bowls, could merge with the bowls
that were involved, enhancing media
coverage, advertising, and overall fi
nancing and popularity of the playoff
system.
Step 3: After reducing the original
field to eight teams, the quarter final
games would be played. The four games
would pit the remaining teams in order
of their rankings (as before) in the
Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Sunkist
Fiesta Bowls on Saturday, Dec. 26.
Step 4: The four remaining teams
would face each other in back-to-back
semifinal games on Saturday, Jan. 2, in
the Rose Bowl. The two winners would
play for the national chi mpionship in a
prime-time game one week later at the
same site.
The idea has the potential for the
biggest sporting event the country has
ever known, possibly even bigger in
popularity than the Super Bowl. The
best thing about the system is that
everybody would win — the bowls, the
schools involved, the advertisers and
the players.
And especially the fans.
Green is a junior news-editorial
and criminal justice m^jorfrom
Lincoln and is First Down Mag
azine editor.
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