Plus One System Right For College Football
College Football Playoff a Necessity
College Football Playoff Negatives
Unfortunately, a playoff does not crown the best team as champion. In College Basketball it is quite rare for the number one overall seed to actually win the tournament. In Major League Baseball, only three times in the past 20 years has the team with the best record won the World Series. Over the same time period, only 6 times has the NFL team with the best regular season record won the Super Bowl.
A true playoff rewards the hottest team, not necessarily the best team. It just so happens that right now, the two hottest teams are Oklahoma and Florida. Last year at this time, it was USC and Georgia, neither of whom was in the national title discussion and both of whom went on to romp their overmatched bowl opponents.
BCS Solution
This is where the “plus one” format comes in. To get into the top 4 in the BCS, you would have to play very well throughout the season. The plus one system only adds one more game for just two teams so for the vast majority of college football teams (117 out of 119 currently in the bowl subdivision) the schedule wouldn’t change.
The biggest advantage to the plus one system is it lets in the elite without worrying too much about a plucky underdog ruining the season of the best team in the country. They make great stories, but Cinderella doesn’t help the best team win the championship.
Take this year.
In a New Year’s Day Bowl, perhaps the Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma would host Alabama since the Sooners finished atop the BCS and the Crimson Tide finished fourth. Then, in the Orange Bowl, Florida would host Texas. A week later, the winners would play off for the title.
Past Filled With BCS Controversy
It would help settle some controversy, but certainly not all. In 2005 Oklahoma was ambushed in the Orange Bowl 55-19 by USC while Auburn beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl 16-13 to finish 14-0. The Tigers had a legitimate claim that they should have played USC instead of the Sooners. This doesn’t mean at all that they would have beaten USC but simply that they deserved to play USC.
A plus one format would have proven which team was better. Under that format, 13-0 Oklahoma would have played 13-0 Auburn in the semi-final while 12-0 USC played 11-1 Texas. That way, it would have been impossible for two of the top three teams to finish undefeated.
Non-BCS Conference Teams in the BCS
There will always be proverbial flies in the proverbial ointment such as Utah crashing the party twice, Boise State once, and Hawaii once. It makes for a fun bowl season but are they the best of the best? No, they aren’t. If there’s ever going to be a playoff, it should be limited to four teams. That way, only the best get in and only the best come out.
The way it should be.
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