RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sources3 JAN 2003: Tailback Maurice Clarett (13) of Ohio State University scores the winning touchdown against Miami University during the National Championship Fiesta Bowl held at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ. Ohio State defeated Miami 31-24 in double overtime to win the national championship. Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images | NCAA Photos via Getty Images
As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about taking stock of where the Buckeyes are compared to where they were. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Then vs. Now” articles here .
There was no doubts that the way college football used to crown national champions was a bit backwards.
In a way college football had the feel of boxing. Much like how boxing can have a number of champions in the same weight class, there used to be multiple college football teams claiming to be a national champion in a season because they were ranked at the top of a certain poll.
As if this wasn’t confusing enough, there wasn’t many times the top teams in the country would play in bowl games because bowl games had to follow their agreements with conferences.
The Bowl Championship System cleaned things up a bit starting with then 1998 season. What the BCS brought to the table was a combination of polls and computer selection methods to determine who were the two best teams in the country, and those teams would play for the BCS National Championship.
The BCS would also help to determine the matchups for a number of other marquee bowl games. Originally the BCS would rotate the title game between the Orange, Rose, Fiesta, and Sugar Bowls before a fifth game was added as a standalone title game that rotated between those bowl sites.
While there were a few seasons where a deserving team felt like they were snubbed when it came to playing in the national title game, the majority of the time the BCS got it right when it came to determining the two best teams in the country.
Despite the success of the BCS, it wasn’t enough for the powers that ran college football. The advertising money college football was missing out on because they didn’t have an actual playoff was just too much to pass up.
Enter the four-team College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six Bowls. Along with the four prestigious bowl games that were part of the BCS, the Cotton Bowl Classic was added to the mix since there would be an extra two games played in this format.
Another difference with the playoff is we saw some other host cities thrown in the mix, as Tampa, Santa Clara, Indianapolis, and a few other cities successfully bid to host the title game.
Right off the bat there was a major controversy with the selection process for the first year of the four-team playoff. Since the College Football Playoff shifted to a selection committee, there would be more human thinking and emotion added to determining the field, which is something the BCS didn’t have.
After losing quarterbacks Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett to injuries, Ohio State was down to Cardale Jones entering the Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin. After destroying the Badgers 59-0, the Buckeyes were given the fourth-seed in the 2014 playoff, making the field over TCU and Baylor, who each also had just one loss on the season.
The choice to send the Buckeyes to the CFP ended up looking like the right one since they shocked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl before dominating Oregon in the title game, but it left a sour taste in the mouths of the Horned Frogs and Bears.
Schools from smaller conferences felt like they didn’t have a place at the table. UCF twice finished the regular season undefeated but weren’t given a spot in the playoff, as did Western Michigan and Liberty.
Eventually money led to the expansion of the CFP. The 2024 season would be the first year of the 12-team playoff. Not only would more power conference teams get more bites at the apple, at least one team from the Group of Five would earn a spot in the expanded field.
Another major change is the first round games would be played on campus, with the quarterfinals and beyond using the same system the four-team playoff and New Year’s Six games did to rotate hosts.
Ohio State again adapted to the expansion quickly, earning the first national championship in the 12-team playoff field, this time without any controversy when it came to the Buckeyes being included in the field.
Not to say there hasn’t been an oddity when it comes to the first two playoffs. Teams that have earned a first round bye haven’t found much success so far. Teams who received a first round bye are 1-7 in the quarterfinals, with last season’s Indiana team recording the only win.
Now just a couple years into the 12-team CFP there is already talk of expanding the field, with the playoff possibly doubling in size.
If we are being honest, 12 teams might even be too much. Eight teams feels like the perfect size for the playoff field, but now that everyone has gotten a taste of the money from a 12-team field there is no turning back now.
Plus, ESPN loves all the extra content they are getting with this many teams in the playoff, and they can sell any games they don’t have airtime for, much like they have been doing with TNT for a few first round games.
Just think of how annoying it has been having to listen to teams stating their cases for the final spot in the playoff over the last couple years. Now just imagine if the CFP is expanded to 24 teams, we’ll get those teams just outside of the top-25 whining about how they deserve to be included.
At some point the playoff is going to get too watered down and we are very close to reaching that point.
Maybe an expanded CFP field would be a little easier to stomach if we brought back the BCS computations of the field. The committee hasn’t done a terrible job shaping the playoff fields...
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