Playoff Is Bad For College Football: Part I

Every year in college football we hear the same argument from schools in smaller conferences. that argument is that college football needs a playoff to decide the national champion. They will tell you that a playoff is the only fair thing to do. But it's not a fair thing to do. It's not even close to being fair.

Last year Boise, Alabama, Texas, Cincinnatti, and TCU ended the regular season with perfect records. In the mind of small conference fans like those of Boise and TCU that is all that matters. But that's where they are dead wrong. This isn't the NFL. Not all wins are equal so not every season can be judged purley on based on wins and losses without looking at the competition. As much as Buster Bronco and Boise Nation would like you to believe that their season was equal to Alabama, I'm not ignorant enough to just take their word for it.

There is no denying the reality that Boise has gotten fat off of weak competition over the past decade. Wins over the UC-Davis' and Idaho's of the college football world have been much more frequent that wins over Oklahoma and Oregon. Every year they benefit from 5,6, and even 9 week stretches where they don't play a team of consequence. So if you want to make a playoff in the name of fairness, then doesn't it make sense that every team would have an equal shot to get to the playoff? But as long as the schedule of the WAC champion is much easier than that of any BCS team then the idea of a playoff isn't really in the name of fairness. In fact, all it does is give Boise an un fair advantage because they'll get a free ride to the playoffs every year while BCS teams slug it out for 13 weeks.

For example, the last 9 teams on Boise's schedule this year are New Mexico State, Toledo, San jose State, Louisiana Tech, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Fresno State, and Utah State. Now compare that to Texas A&M who ends the year with Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas, and Nebraska. Now try to tell me that Boise and Texas A&M would have an equal shot to make the playoff.

Here is one more fun fact for all you giant killers. During the 2009 regular season there were 14 times when a team ranked in the top 15 lost. None of those losses came at the hands of Boise State.