Opinion: The College Football Playoff has failed us so far

The College Football Playoff is still in its experimental stage. And just like any other experiment, adjustments are gong to be made along the way toward some final format.

Recently, the CFP Committee adjusted to last year’s ratings catastrophe. Because the Rose Bowl has to be on New Year’s Day — and because the locations of CFP semifinals rotate every year — college football’s biggest games were played on New Year’s Eve last season. The hardcore football fan had no problem with this slight inconvenience, but the casual fan had better things to do. As a result, the dates of the 2018, 2019, 2024 and 2025 CFP semifinals were moved from New Year’s Eve to the preceding Saturday.

This is a huge step for the CFP because it has been one massive failure so far.

It was odd watching those games on New Year’s Eve. It just didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel American. New Year’s is a perfect day for football because let’s face it, millions upon millions of people are nursing hangovers. They’re going to stay inside anyway.

But what really could’ve worsened any hangover was the lousy product. Alabama blasted Michigan State into the stone age 38-0, while Clemson easily took care of Oklahoma 38-17. Both games were excruciating to watch because for the second consecutive season, the committee either had the wrong combination of teams or improper seeding.

The BCS wasn’t as horrible as its detractors make it out to be. It was an imperfect system, but for the most part, it accurately selected the top two teams in the country. But the CFP was the obvious progression. Arguably the biggest controversy associated with the BCS was that it didn’t give the little guy (i.e. the Boise States of the world) much of shot due to strength of schedule. That’s what makes the playoff system a superior model. It provides the opportunity for a non-power conference school to compete for a championship. In addition, the BCS was a computerized system, so the eye test wasn’t necessarily taken into account, whereas the CFP committee does take the eye test into account. However, where the playoff exceeds in its concept, it has failed (thus far) in its execution.

The committee immediately faced a complicated situation during the playoff’s first year in 2014. Three teams were a virtual lock — Alabama, Oregon and Florida State — but because the Big 12 didn’t have a conference championship game, TCU and Baylor (both 11-1) basically canceled each other out, leaving the last spot for Ohio State. Had the Big 12 played an actual conference championship game, then the Buckeyes wouldn’t have stunned the Crimson Tide and flattened the Ducks en route to an improbable championship.

But the real crime that few acknowledge is the Seminole’s inclusion in the first place. Had the committee correctly left Florida State out of the semi-final, the Rose Bowl could’ve featured a match-up between Oregon vs TCU/Baylor or Oregon vs Ohio State. Any one of those three would’ve ran circles around the Ducks’ 59-20 destruction of the hopeless Seminoles. But that outcome was fairly predictable because Florida State — despite being undefeated in a power five conference and the defending national champions — was not a playoff-caliber team. They squeaked out unimpressive victory after unimpressive victory against mediocre competition the entire season. The Seminoles spent the season watching Jameis Winston repeatedly make costly mistakes early in games, only for the Heisman Trophy winner to perform miracles in the clutch.

THAT IS NOT WHAT A TOP FOUR TEAM IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL DOES.

To make matters worse, the committee committed a crime this past season so baffling that President Obama should’ve invoked an executive order to stop the madness. Of course, I’m talking about placing the Michigan State Spartans in the semi-final over Ohio State or Stanford. In fairness to Michigan State, they did defeat the Buckeyes and ultimately won the Big Ten, but we’re talking about a team who struggled against juggernauts like Air Force and Purdue while an inept Australian punter from in-state rival Michigan gift-wrapped them a victory. The eye test is important. The Spartans failed that test. If the “they beat Ohio State head-to-head therefore they’re a better team” logic is going to be applied in this situation, then it must be applied in every situation in college football history. I venture all hell would break loose at that point.

The playoff was supposed to be an improvement upon an old system, not an extension. It was supposed to line up the four highest-quality teams in the nation, not continue to put 100 percent emphasis on the win-loss record. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a significant piece of the puzzle, but it doesn’t provide the whole picture. TCU, Baylor, Ohio State and Stanford all were robbed of opportunities to rightfully compete for national championships. Florida State and Michigan State deserve credit for winning their respective conferences, but after both teams were pelted into oblivion by a combined score of 97-20, questions should be raised over the validity of their inclusion.

As time goes on, the system will improve. Placing the games on the right day will boost the ratings, but that’s only the first step. Now it’s time for the committee to evaluate teams in a creative way rather than continuing to lean on the principles of the BCS.

Edited by Nathan Odom

Featured image by Prayitno Photography