Does College Football Need to Have December Madness?

College football has become on of the greatest events in America’s sporting world. The beginning of autumn beauty now has serious competition, as die hard fans from every team in the nation eagerly await college football’s start every year. As great as the college football scene is, many fans are irritated with the current bowl system that is in place. While many of these fans are screaming for a playoff, how many of them have actually conceived the possibility that a playoff could damage the rivalries of college football?

The basis of college football is formed around the huge rivalries, whether it is Alabama and Auburn, or Ohio and Ohio State, or even Florida and Florida State. These rivalries usually occur during the last week of the season and if a playoff system were in place, these games would lose their meaning. With a playoff, college football would be more like the NFL. Most people who watch the NFL know that most playoff spots have been filled coming into the last week, therefore, the games mean nothing. Most teams play their second string players. Imagine a rivalry game that means nothing. The intenseness is replaced with fear of a starter being injured. No possibility of an upset from an in state rival, because who cares, the playoffs are already set. All of the rivalry fire has been lost!

However, the rivalries are not the only essence that would be lost to college football fans. The excitement of every game during the regular season would be diminished. Currently, every game in college football is meaningful. Whether it’s the challenge of actually making a bowl game, or trying to remain in the championship hunt, each and every regular season game means a lot. Many compare college football to college basketball, because basketball has the NCAA tournament. Oh yeah, March Madness is great, and very entertaining, but does anyone know what happened during the regular season? What about major upsets? College football fans know every major upset that occurs during the regular season, but most college basketball fans can not name the upsets, unless they happen during the tournament. Who cares if their team loses during the regular season, as long as they win during the tournament? As great as this tournament is, it steals its greatness from the regular season.

Experts believe that creating a playoff system would eliminate the controversy of the BCS. However, there is even controversy in the NCAA basketball tournament, and 65 teams are allowed to participate in that. If there is an eight team playoff, then the ninth team that got left out could argue that they belong. The same with a sixteen team tournament, the seventeenth team could argue the same point. There will always be controversy, no matter which system is in place.

Another idea is to not determine the National Championship game until after the first four BCS bowl games have been played. This would be fair to the players and schools, but would not be fair to the fans. Most fans who travel to watch their team play in a bowl game, have to save all year to make this trip. However, they could not make two trips for two bowl games. If this system were in place, it would be unfair to the fans. And there would still be controversy as to whichever team gets left out.

The system that is in place now is truly the most fair and balanced of any of the above mentioned systems. Instead of complaining about the current system, why not adapt to it? The weaker conference teams should schedule higher ranked non-conference opponents, instead of non-ranked teams. That way they could prove that they belong in the championship game, instead of crying because they cannot get into the game. This system is by far the most exciting and makes college football what it is today: without it, the regular season of college football would be as exciting as the college basketball season.

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