Humans once lived in caves, bludgeoned their food with rudimentary weapons and communicated through crude grunts, clicks and scribbles. It’s easy for us to think now that modern man is far removed from those prehistoric times. That humanity has evolved through eons to its current, more enlightened state. We feel unable to relate to the dimwitted Neanderthal.
But then you remember that in our lifetimes – in fact, barely more than a year ago – there existed living, breathing, presumably functioning human beings who felt that college football was well-served by the BCS system and that a four-team playoff would ruin the game ... and suddenly our unevolved, small-brained ancestors don’t seem so ancient and unrelatable.
Now the very first College Football Playoff is in the books, with Ohio State “upsetting” Alabama and Oregon to win the national championship, and we know the truth: college football is better, stronger and fairer with a playoff in place. The sport has evolved and improved. In fact, the playoff was even better than our greatest thinkers imagined it could be.
Try to imagine a college football world in which we didn’t know any of the following:
The best college quarterback might be a third-stringer
Cardale Jones has started three games in his college football career: a 59-0 blowout of then-No13 Wisconsin, a 42-35 “upset” of No1 seed Alabama in the playoff semi-final and a 42-20 destruction of No2 Oregon in the final. He outplayed one of the three Heisman finalists in each game, throwing five touchdowns, running for another, and displaying poise, strength and mobility. He’s 6ft 5in, 250, nearly impossible to bring down, and has a strong and accurate arm.
It may be a small sample size, but the sample is about as perfect as can be. Did Urban Meyer accidentally hold his quarterback depth chart upside-down to start the season? Is Ohio State’s fourth-string quarterback a combination of Aaron Rodgers, Ironman and Jesus Christ?
Now the question the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have to decide at the top of the draft is not: “Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston?” But: “Mariota, Winston or a guy who has played three games?” Three nearly flawless games.
Without the college football playoff, Jones is probably nothing more than a third-stringer who once wrote a regrettable tweet, won the Big Ten title game and then helped Ohio State beat an overmatched team in the Rose Bowl. An interesting story. A college football footnote. With the college football playoff? He’s set to become a multimillionaire and a first-round draft pick. The College Football Playoff: Making dreams come true since 2015.
Marcus Mariota is far from a sure thing
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said Mariota is a “system” quarterback during the broadcast. Ouch. That’s especially brutal because Oregon’s system didn’t even produce a championship while undercutting their best player’s future.
Mariota wasn’t helped any by his receivers dropping well-thrown balls early in the game, but there was already a question if he is even a better prospect than Florida State’s Winston – and then he got outplayed by Jones, too.
Sure, it’s nice that Mariota doesn’t have any crustacean thefts on his permanent record, but is there really all that much about his on-field performance against top opponents that should make NFL teams line up to take the guy?
Ohio State’s Meyer said after the game that Mariota “will be a great NFL player.” So that’s one endorsement. But why should we listen to Meyer on quarterbacks? He said the same about Tim Tebow in the NFL. Even worse, he thought Cardale Jones was the third-best quarterback on his roster. The man knows championships, not quarterbacks. The College Football Playoff taught us that.
There’s more to college football than the SEC
Ohio State slipped by Alabama 42-35. Ohio State then manhandled Oregon 42-20. Therefore, it can be reasoned that an Alabama-Oregon game – which is what the BCS would have given us – would have ended with a fairly easy win by the Crimson Tide. Then we all would have heard the same old, same old from the supposed college football experts: THE SEC HAS NO PEER. ALL MUST SUBJUGATE THEMSELVES BEFORE ITS GREATNESS. EVERY TITLE GAME SHOULD JUST BE TWO SEC TEAMS.
Instead, an SEC didn’t even earn a spot in the college football title game and has now gone two years in a row without winning the championship, two facts that will hopefully prevent “S-E-C!” chants from breaking out for at least the immediate future.
Granted, it’s no given Alabama would have beaten Oregon in a theoretical BCS title game. The transitive property doesn’t always works in sports. If it did, 7-6 Virginia Tech, who handed the Buckeyes their only loss back in September, could claim to be the best team in college football. Heck, so could Duquesne of the FCS.
DONT SIT HERE AND TELL ME DUQUESNE FOOTBALL CANT PLAY IN THIS FINAL 4!!! WE GOT ROBBED!!! pic.twitter.com/renUMKk8ay
— Karlo Zovko - 247 (@Kzovko) January 2, 2015
And no one is ready to claim that the SEC would be no match for Duquesne. At least not yet.
An eight-team playoff is inevitable
Now that college football has experienced the delicious, addictive crack that was the Playoff – and the NCAA and its partners start swimming Scrooge McDuck-style through the piles of money the three games brought in – we’re that much closer to an eight-team playoff.
And that’s only fair. And right. And good.
Ohio State were the No4 seed and won the national title. TCU had just as good of a case, if not a better case, to be included in the field, but were left out. We’re in the playoff era now. We don’t need to screw good teams out of a title shot. We’ve evolved, remember? For all we know, Ohio State-TCU would have been the most competitive title game. What’s the harm in expanding the field to eight teams (or six, with the top two seeds getting a first-round bye)? Giving more deserving teams a chance to win a championship? Giving fans an additional week to sit on the couch and watch great football? OH, NO!
An expanded playoff system is good for everyone. It might even give a team from the lowly SEC a chance to play for a championship. Like back in the prehistoric age of the BCS.
