CNN TV
SCHEDULE ANCHORS & REPORTERS CONTACT US HLN


January 6, 2009
Posted: 08:28 AM ET

From Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel

I really thought it would be different this time. College football. It’s hurt me time and time again. I thought maybe if I loved it enough it would change!

With Florida and Oklahoma poised to play in the “National Championship” I thought we might have gotten the two best teams playing for it all. And that maybe, just maybe, we might a little less controversy this year.

ALT TEXT

College football: Frustrating for many.

And then the exact opposite happened.

USC goes out and makes Penn State look like a Pop Warner ball club. Utah, a non-BCS school does the unthinkable and upsets Alabama. And Texas, still feeling snubbed after being left out of the Big 12 Championship by the BCS, beats Ohio State.

While none of it reduces the anticipation for Thursday’s Sooners/Gators game, it does dilute it as “National Championship.”

WHAT DO WE WANT?

PLAYOFFS!

WHEN DO WE WANT IT?

NOW!

How great would it be to spend another weekend watching USC play Texas and Utah take on the winner of the Florida/Oklahoma game and then see those two winners play for a REAL National Championship?!!

Oh God!!! If only College football could see the light!

The problem is, College Football won’t see the light. For some reason the Bowls think they’ll lose money if they do which is ridiculous. Playoff games in the NFL sell out even with a Super Bowl.

And what’s more, ratings are DOWN this year for most bowl games suggesting people are losing interest. If you put MORE on the line, you raise the stakes and likely ratings.

But since College Football seems incapable of change, we’ll have to start small. Let’s take the “What About Bob” philosophy and take “baby steps” to get on the bus.

Start with plus one.

I know. Your first reaction is probably ANOTHER bowl game? Don’t we have ENOUGH bowls already?!

Here’s how we do it.

Keep the five BCS Bowl games. Give the winners of the six “major” conferences—SEC, ACC, Pac 10, Big 10, Big 12 and Big East—an automatic bid. The other four would be “at large” ones. The Rose Bowl could keep the Big 10/Pac 10 match up. (Although with the way the Big 10 keeps disappearing in bowl games, they may want to rethink that. That conference finished a dismal 1-6 this year).

Play all five Bowl games on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day so we bring back the tradition of that Holiday and the games.

After playing those five, do a NEW poll, WITHOUT a computer (get rid of that darn computer in the regular season too). Take the new No. 1 and No. 2 and play ONE MORE.

Again, it’s not perfect. A TRUE playoff system is what we need. And after that poll, no doubt there will be controversy.

But once College Football sees how much MORE money it can make from this, I have to believe they will expand it.

The hard part is getting it to take those baby steps. And the first step towards that is admitting you have a problem.

Posted by: ,
Filed under: Sports


Share this on:
Gill   January 6th, 2009 9:26 am ET

Why can’t the BCS just follow what happens with the NCAA basketball system? It seems pretty simple to me just to bracket it the same way, sure the season would be longer but heck, most sports go waaaaaaay to long already. LOL

Miranda   January 6th, 2009 9:30 am ET

Playoffs in college football?? yea right……….. this is probably brought up because Texas didn’t make it to the championship, all i have to say ” There is no crying in football” GET OVER IT, Florida and Oklahoma have proved themselves only the best play in a championship game GO SOONERS!!!

Chris   January 6th, 2009 9:40 am ET

Right ON!!! And especially the New Years’ eve and day games.

Something also that needs to be addressed is the money in the advertisements, like

The Hardees’s Coin Toss
The Kellogg’s Cereal 1st down
The Dunkin’ Donuts 3rd down conversion
The National Tire & Battery Time out
The Campbell’s Soup Score Board Update
…. ;-)

Chris

Jim   January 6th, 2009 9:58 am ET

I would love playoffs in college football, but it would be way too difficult to implement, and what would then happen with the bowls? The bowls are college football and big money makers. Where would they play, and when? Schools are closed over the holidays and they would not be able to fill the stadiums of all the games. It would take astronomical changes in order for it to happen, and I think never will. The bowl system means too much to too many people and places. No Rose Bowl parade??

Robert Mailahn   January 6th, 2009 10:23 am ET

I agree with a playoff in college football. when you have teams with perfect records and not get a chance to play for the national champonship is wrong. 1 example this year is Idaho, undefeated this year and no national champonship.

Jacob   January 6th, 2009 10:34 am ET

The only fair way to declare a national champion is to introduce playoffs into college football. I think a fair way to do this is to have a eight team playoff. This would add four weeks of games to the top two teams. The eight teams could be determined by the BCS ranking. Teams may argue that the season would be too long. However, as it stands now, some teams wait 40 plus days to play a bowl game. The season would not be any longer but more interesting. I do believe that ratings on television would increase as well interest in college football.

Dave   January 6th, 2009 11:12 am ET

AMEN!
Hopefully this could lead to a 3 week playoff of the top 8 teams. The first round could be during the off week(s) between the regular season and the bowl season, the 2nd round would be New Year’s week, and the final game during the first week of Jan.
They could still have the other bowls for all the other schools, but with a higher eligibility requirement to keep them from getting ridiculous- say a .650-.750 minimum rather than the current, “Congratulations, you had a .500 season, you get to go to a Bowl.” Come-on, give me a break.
So my team might not get a Bowl as often, but I think we can all agree the current system is broken.

OneForAll   January 6th, 2009 11:48 am ET

This won’t work…Tell you why. First, the human factor is the problem. You want humans to determine who the king of the crystal football is. Well aren’t there at already a plethera of polls the AP, USA Today , CNNSI and Coaches just to name a few…which do you use? Now the fight begins once again. Texas is ahead in Coaches poll and Florida is beating them out of the BCS number 2 position according to the AP poll and once again controversy. The BCS rating system was created to take some of the human factor out of the equation. Seems to me if the computer was used exclusively then computers will not be judgmental as humans always are. They don’t have favorites, won’t lie, they don’t cheat, they are not swayed or paid off and really doesn’t care about that last second spectacular comeback victory that hoists them to the highest glory that otherwise had a mediocre showing for three and a half quarters. Nope, the chances of a computer based only system are zero…Sports reporters and coaches would be in therapy for years trying to understand why they no longer have control of who is top dog!

Second problem lies in the fact that college ball has way more teams and divisions than NFL to contend with so no matter what a team and it’s fans somewhere somehow is going to get dissed. For example Utah is undefeated…the only team by the way. Do they get even recognized…nope? Sorry Joe you don’t have a mega million dollar program. You’re out!

Finally, lest we forget that this is a very brutal contact sport and every game that is played has the potential to ruin the future of young men that are hoping make a career playing the game they love. Not to mention the fact that we are all one game away from losing our star college players for the next season or end their careers forever. Maybe we should stop thinking of ourselves, our team and our biases just for a sec and think of the players that go out every game and literally put their lives and health on the line every game to provide us with entertainment and allow us all to dream of what we might have been!

The very best to all!

Tom   January 6th, 2009 12:06 pm ET

Why is the NCAA fighting the idea of a playoff? You change the rankings to the top 32. Shorten the break between the end of the season and start of playoffs. The season will be several weeks longer, but all the bowl cities keep their games. The National Championship rotates each year to a different bowl. Number 1 playes number 32, number 2 playes number 31 …… More teams in the hunt, more television money for the colleges, and a real national champion. It’s a win, win. If conferences want to keep their championship games. Fine. They have to play them right away, and during the week. Once again. More college football. Win, win.

Bob H   January 7th, 2009 7:22 am ET

The system is terrible, but there is just too much money involved for the NCAA to change the bowl system. I’m tired of lawmakers getting involved in any way. Stop wasting our money and do the job you are being paid to do!

Mike W   January 7th, 2009 8:24 am ET

All I have to say is 45-35.

Lee   January 7th, 2009 8:28 am ET

Why is the Utah AG worrying about this? Isn’t there anything more important to worry about in Utah? If not, maybe we should find out how they can live in such a happy, peaceful state and mimic them. Sounds to me like the Attourney General needs to be focussing on his job and not on entertainment.

Uh, Div 1 needs a playoff but there’s too much money in the bowls for the presidents to abandon them so we will get another decade of meaningless, subjectively significant contests, ’nuff said.

Rafer the sports guy   January 7th, 2009 8:33 am ET

I’m loving all your comments on this!

Chris, yours is the funniest I’ve read so far.

I love the “Kellogg’s cereal first down”. The advertisements are out of control.

marykate   January 7th, 2009 10:14 am ET

WIth everything being feel good in our society, why dont wont we just issue a national trophy for everyone and engrave participant at the bottom. Just like in grade school sports. Everyone is a winner. Thats what everything is coming to with all the fighting as to who should be national champ.

Michael   January 7th, 2009 1:06 pm ET

A 32-team playoff would be the best solution to all this mess college football got into. I would to see how conference champions from the MAC, Sun Belt, WAC, and Mountain West would do against teams from the Big East, Big 11 (Big 10), and ACC. Right now, all these bowl games other than the BCS national championship game mean absolutely nothing, even more worthless than NFL preseason games.

stix   January 9th, 2009 10:29 am ET

couldnt agree more with your article but with the big ten and pac 10 commisioners running the bcs it will never change the money factor controls here those two conferences would lose money annd with the big ten respect how many years do we have to start the year with big ten schools ranked all over the top 20 then end the year with losses out of the conference makes me say ncaa march madness is far superior to college football

pamela   January 9th, 2009 9:48 pm ET

I think there should be a playoff system this bcs as it stands does not work. besides having a playoff off system will be better for everyone and obviously fair.

Marjorie Parkhill   January 28th, 2009 10:27 am ET

Wiith the bail outs that lead to the filling of pockets and really didn’t do anything to help the US . They could have paid all home owners and others 50,000 or more to equal the bail out money for companies. That would have bailed out banks, cars, and creidit cards and left alittle left over for whatevers and put the US and world back on its feet. Atleast for a time, Not counting the small buesiness that would have been saved. Now having to close and laying off of personal. As it stands now it’s depression time and the president nor the
american people can’t stop it unless we go to all out war. Sorry for the bad forcast. To much greed.

Jerry Mael   February 4th, 2009 11:24 am ET

I think it is sad that CNN continues to report all this ‘bad news’ about Phelps.
You ran a poll and your viewers are basically telling you that this story is not newsworthy.
Still you ladle the point to no end.
There is NO indigenous plant on the planet that has more positive properties than hemp. Yet he can legally drink alcohol which actually destroys brain cells???
Of course, you did not report on either of these facts..so I did.

end the fed
end the nwo
start reporting on real news items!

Leave Your Comment


 

Comments are moderated by CNN, in accordance with the CNN Comment Policy, and may not appear on this blog until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting. Also, due to the volume of comments we receive, not all comments will be posted.


subscribe RSS Icon
About this blog

It's Morning Express like you've never seen it before! Hear from Robin Meade and the rest of the show crew for our thoughts on everything from politics to sports... to those bizarre stories that have us buzzing behind the scenes. Plus, plenty of material you might not see on the air. Don't miss OUR TAKE on what's happening in the world. Then tell us YOURS!

Contributors
Robin Meade
Delivering your dose of morning news, to get you out of bed and off to work.
Robin Meade
Richard Lui
Digging deeper into politics, and the stories behind the presidential race.
Richard Lui
Bob Van Dillen
From tracking storms to airport delays, Bob is your weather and travel expert.
Bob Van Dillen
Jennifer Westhoven
Jennifer has the tips you need to take action on stories affecting your wallet.
Jennifer Westhoven
Rafer Weigel
Rafer gives you his take on wild sports highlights and inspirational athletes.
Rafer Weigel
Categories
CNN Comment Policy: CNN encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. All comments should be relevant to the topic and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. You are solely responsible for your own comments, the consequences of posting those comments, and the consequences of any reliance by you on the comments of others. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying and other information you provide via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNN Privacy Statement.
Home  |  World  |  U.S.  |  Politics  |  Crime  |  Entertainment  |  Health  |  Tech  |  Travel  |  Living  |  Business  |  Sports  |  Time.com
Podcasts  |  Blogs  |  CNN Mobile  |  Preferences  |  Email Alerts  |  CNN Radio  |  CNN Shop  |  Site Map
© 2009 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by WordPress.com VIP