The 2012 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship game featured two of the biggest college football programs in the country. However, both teams were from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), pitting No. 1 ranked Louisiana State University (LSU) against No. 2 Alabama, ranking the Crimson Tide over other one loss teams, most notably No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Stanford. This selection became a major source of controversy and led to the call for a four-team College Football Playoff, with supporters wanting to even the playing field, claiming the BCS system had an SEC bias. In 2014, this idea became a reality, with the introduction of the four team playoff. In determining the top teams in the country, rather than using a computer like the old BCS system used, the rankings would be determined by an exclusive College Football Playoff selection committee. However, disagreement in determining the national champion of college football still would not settle.
One of the major problems not just in this system, but in all sports, is the presumed “East Coast bias” — the greater tendency for people to focus and give their attention to teams on the East Coast. There are several factors that go into this bias. One is that most of the major sports networks, such as ESPN, have their headquarters in East Coast cities. Another major reason is the time zone impact. For example, in 2015, Stanford would often have their games at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, which is 10:30 p.m. on the East Coast. As college football games are often at least three hours long, West Coast games can end well past midnight Eastern Time. As a result, the selection committee often misses parts of these games, which results in a lower ranking for West Coast teams. Therefore, the West Coast teams get less hype and respect. In the past two years of the College Football Playoff, teams of West Coast conferences such as the Pac-12 have been consistently ranked lower than those in the rest of the country. For example, in the 2014 Playoff, No. 2 Oregon (12-1), quarterbacked by eventual-Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, was ranked behind also No. 1 Alabama (12-1), who many considered was having a down year.
Another problem is the so-called “strength of schedule.” This criteria causes many teams to schedule games against strong out-of-conference opponents, giving fans an opportunity to see “dream matchups” such as USC vs. Alabama and Ohio State vs. Oklahoma, both of which took place early in the 2016 season and had a major impact on the selection committee’s final rankings. With future matchups scheduled between Michigan and Washington, Ohio State and Notre Dame, and Alabama and Florida State, there will plenty of excitement in the coming years. While this may arouse the college football world, many of the teams’ games are scheduled up to ten years in advance, such as Tennessee vs. Oklahoma in 2014 — a matchup that was scheduled in 2005, when Tennessee was a football powerhouse competing for the national championship. Furthermore, it has often viewed teams who play weaker opponents as not as good as those who play tougher opponents. For example, based on their strength of schedule, No. 4 Washington (12-1) is ranked below No. 2 Clemson (12-1) and No. 3 Ohio State (11-1) because it played in a supposedly weak Pac-12, despite having quality wins over No. 18 (No. 7 when they met) Stanford, winning 44-6, and No. 10 (No.9 when they met) Colorado, winning 41-10, as well as being conference champions — a claim that Ohio State can’t make.
The solution: many have called for the expansion of the playoff to eight teams. By keeping the playoff limited to only four, drama and chaos will ensue every year, as demonstrated on Dec. 4, when Ohio State (11-1) was selected over Big Ten Champions Penn State (11-2). Furthermore, in the past few years, at least one team was left out that many argued should have been included. In 2014, it was Texas Christian University, who destroyed the University of Mississippi in the Peach Bowl 42-3. In 2015, Stanford was left out, instead taking on and consequently destroying Iowa 45-16 in the Rose Bowl. This year, Penn State, was left feeling upset due to its exclusion from the playoff. An eight team playoff would likely mitigate this risk and gives the committee more flexibility to select teams they think are the best.
Nonetheless, the implementation of the College Football Playoff has been a major upgrade over the BCS and will hopefully be in place more many years to come. With this year’s installment of No.1 Alabama vs No.4 Washington in the Peach Bowl and No.2 Clemson vs No. 3 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, fans still have these New Year’s’ Eve matchups to be excited about.
