I, for one, like the idea of bowl games. National championship-winning coach Gene Stallings made one point: With playoffs leading to a championship game, we have one winner and the rest are losers. With 25 bowl games, we have 25 winners. My own favorite point is that with bowl games, we get to see what the coaches are really capable of. Injuries and player talent mean less, and brains mean more, when teams have a month to prepare. Further, it should be noted that the team that wins the championship isn’t always the best team, particularly when there is only one championship game played. The NBA and MLB have seven-game championship series. In a single game, a chance play, bad officiating, or a couple of star players having good or bad days (or the flu) can be the winning factor. With a month to prepare, these factors – and random nonsense in general – mean less than the quality of the overall program. Finally, the real reason we don’t have the playoff system is that the bowl sponsors and managers contribute a lot of money to the NCAA, and the NCAA isn’t ready to rule against them.
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