The 2017 College Football Playoff

Through the eyes of a Buckeye

Let's talk about the College Football Playoff. Ever since Division I-A college football moved away from the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) and adopted the College Football Playoff, it's been a volatile experience, especially as an Ohio State football fan. The College Football Playoff couldn't have started off better for the fan base.. In 2014, OSU rolled into the CFP after a 59-0 beating, and I mean beating, of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game. The rest is history. Incredibly satisfying history. Ohio State beat Alabama 42-35 in the semi-final and then capped it off with a 42-20 victory over Oregon to win the title. The College Football Playoff was good to us then.

Fast forward to now.

The "Great Debate" between Ohio State and Alabama. To say that Alabama is this years Ohio State of 2016 is wrong. Ohio State had four top 15 wins, three of which were actually top 10. Plus, the at the time, fifth straight win (sixth now) against #3 Michigan to end the season. Having said all of that, I think Ohio State deserved to be left out of this years College Football Playoff. Every fan has heard it Ad nauseam - the 31-point loss to Iowa. Every talking head on TV had it memorized off-prompter. I get it, it was bad. I remember thinking while watching the game that it was more than likely the most disappointing loss I could remember as an Ohio State fan. My biased argument for the loss is bringing in real-life sports as an example. I believe that anyone who has played competitive sports knows what it's like to go up against an opponent that just can't miss. That day was their day and nothing Ohio State did could have stop it. It seemingly will always remain a gigantic "What just happened?" game for the Buckeyes.

Nevertheless, the CFP Committee couldn't let a team with at 31-point loss into the top four. For Ohio State fans, look at like a ticky-tac basketball foul called against you. The truth is, you would probably want that same call made for you on the other end. If the situation was reversed, Ohio State fans would burn cities if Alabama had lost by 31.

Even though I concede that Ohio State was deserving of the fifth spot rather than the 4th, I do have an issue with the CFP Committee, specifically with the method of how they are choosing teams. Don't tell me that the committee's job is to pick the four best teams. We already have a committee that does that, it's the AP Poll. The AP Poll is a large group of people that ranks the top 25. How is that different than what the CFP Committee does? March Madness is a monumental part of sports culture and that process has stipulations, one of them being that there are 32 automatic bids to the tournament that go to the conference tournament champions. It's an honor bestowed upon a team that earned the spot fair and square. That's what missing from the College Football Playoff at the moment. The selection, at times, feels like underserving teams make it in ahead of teams that won their way to a championship.

I submit a change to six teams. Consider stating that there will be five automatic bids that go to five conference champions. The stipulation does not need to be that it's the "Power 5" winners, but just five in general, leaving room for a potential weak conference winner (i.e 2016 Penn State) to be jumped by a non-power five undefeated (2017 UCF). The sixth spot would be considered an at-large bid, much like the CFP Committee chooses four teams now. The top two teams determined by the committee get a first round bye and other four teams play to move into the semi-final. This allows there to be a set criteria (five conference champions), but also room for discussion (the sixth team as well as the first round byes).