re: If we had a college football playoff, would that diminish a game like LSU/Bama?

An 8 team playoff in college football would be perfect IMO. It may take away a miniscule, and I mean a nanoscule, of intensity from a few regular season games, but the excitement of the playoff would vastly outweigh that.

It would have to be well thought out of course, especially on how teams are picked for the 8 spots, such as do we simply go by rankings, or do we go by conference champions. But this is why it is different than the NFL and other sports, college football uses a ranking system. If a BCS style ranking system was used to determine the playoff spots, nearly nothing would be lost in the regular season. We've seen plenty of teams drop numerous spots in the polls after one loss. Do you honestly think if Alabama was ranked #1 going into Auburn, they would simply rest their starters and take the loss at the risk of having a computer system and sports writers determine their final ranking?

And no rational thinking mind can honestly say that there are only 2 teams capable, out of 116 (or whatever) teams, of playing for the national championship. The difference between college football and the NFL is there is a much larger pool of college teams, and it is almost unfathomable to think that only 2 could compete. It would not be nearly as watered down as the NFL.

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If we had a college football playoff, would that diminish a game like LSU/Bama?

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It damn sure does lose its luster once you start letting in conference runner-ups, which you infer could happen. If you can't win your conference, you damn sure don't have any business playing for a national championship. You're not good enough to win the SEC, but you should be in the BCSCG?



So lets say LSU's only loss is at Bama (one point loss on a controversial referee call). Let's say the only other one loss teams are Oregon (Pac 10 champ) and West Virginia (Big East champ). Should LSU play Bama in the BCSNC game even though they didn't win their conference?

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Hell no. And since when is a football game decided by one play. Don't like the controversial ref's call? Tough snot. What about the fumble, the interception, the missed tackle, the missed blocking assignment, the overthrown pass to the wide open wide receiver, the missed FG, the penalties, the poor play call by the offensive coordinator, the bad defensive call by the defensive coordinator, etc, etc?

The winner of the game...Alabama or LSU...goes on and wins the SECCG and plays in the BCSCG. The loser doesn't. Period.

I wonder how many of these playoff proponents are actually fans who go to bowl games. Personally, I think that most fans...normal professionals with limited funds and vacation time...will have little interest in spending the money and time to fly across the country for a national semifinal game when they can save their money and leave time for the championship game the following week. Playoff proponents are quick to say that every sport has a playoff. It's a completely irrelevant point, because NO SPORT requires the fans of both teams to fly across the country to attend a quarterfinal or semifinal game.

Until a rich relative leaves me a big pile of cash, if I have access to the tickets, there's no way in hell I'd ever go to see, for example, Alabama-Ohio State in the semifinal in Pasedena, when the championship is in Glendale the following week. I'm saving my money for Glendale. And if we lose and I don't go, that's too bad.

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If we had a college football playoff, would that diminish a game like LSU/Bama?
What if Boise State goes undefeated with their toughest game maybe UGA and they had all summer to prepare for them. What if there is only one undefeated AQ team say, Wisconsin by the end of the year and Boise were allowed to play for the BCSC. Would a one loss Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon or LSU think they got their fair shot?

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Don't lose. Plain and simple.

I am an anti-playoff guy (although not actually opposed to a plus one system in theory, I don't support it because it would never stay at just four teams). In addition to the obvious reasons for the bowl system - increased importance of regular season, preservation of big match-ups, etc., I think there is something else that shouldn't be forgotten.

The vast, vast majority of teams play the entirety or majority of their seasons without any shot at the NC. In a playoff system, the whole CFB game becomes solely about who takes home the trophy. But it is so much more than that. A playoff is a complete focus-shifter. Not that that the NC isn't #1 now, but I think a playoff diminishes the other really great aspects of the game. You can turn on a C-USA game in Nov. between two 8-2 teams vying for their conference championship and see a rocking packed house and players laying their guts on the line. Why? To win their conference, to go to their premier bowl, etc. etc.

I don't think you get that in a playoff. In a playoff, everything outside those games with NC implications lose all value. That's a shame, esp. when you consider that that is the vast vast majority of college football games.

Beating Saban will never get old.