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What A Crappy System - Elseworlds
R. Alex Whitlock
Note: You can certainly disagree with any of my individual picks, but I could write an equally bitchy and moany case for any of the teams that I included in the tournament.
Pick your NCAA Division I-A Football Playoff Paradise:
Elseworld 1
Configuration: 11 Conference winners + 5 at-large bids
Teams: USC, Boise State, BYU, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Central Michigan, Florida, Troy, Wake Forest, Louisville, Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, LSU, and Cal
One can only imagine the anger felt by TCU, West Virginia, Rutgers, Arkansas, and Auburn at being left out of the only NCAA Division 1-A post-season games that matter.
In fact, the Big East only got one invite (Louisville) while the Big Ten got three (Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin). The Big East got precisely as many invites as the Sun Belt Conference, who will be represented by the Troy Trojans, whose only out-of-conference victory was against I-AA Alabama State. WVU and Rutgers also turned in equal or better records against BYU (10-2) and Houston (10-3).
Auburn, meanwhile, points out that they not only have the same record as LSU (10-2), but beat them 7-3 during the regular season. Arkansas (10-3) points out that they beat Auburn decisively and that they have not lost a single game against a team not in the tournament. This is to be contrasted with Houston, who lost to the Louisiana-Lafayette, Miami, and Southern Miss, none of whom were invited to the tournament and only one of whom even turned in a winning record for the year.
Virginia Tech (10-2), the highest ranking team in the ACC, was also denied an invitation.
Defenders of the playoffs point out that BYU and California could have secured a bid into the tournament had they managed to avoid losing the games that they did. How this differs from the the plight of either Florida or Michigan, either of whom would have been in the national championship if they'd have avoided losing the game that they did, in the much-maligned BCS system that used to determine the national championship is unclear.
Elseworld 2
6 "Power" Conference winners and 11 at-large bids
Teams: USC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Florida, Wake Forest, Louisville, LSU, Wisconsin, Boise State, Auburn, Notre Dame, Arkansas, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Rutgers
Conference winners California and BYU are apparently very upset that they didn't get an invite to the only NCAA Division 1-A post-season games that matter. California, the Pac 10 co-champion, believes that they were the odd man out because they scheduled SEC powerhouse Tennessee. Had they instead scheduled creampuff I-AA Tennessee State, they almost certainly would have ended the season 10-2 and could have captured the spot taken by 10-2 Virginia Tech, who squeaked through in what has generally been considered a "down" year for the ACC.
BYU, like fellow non-invitees Houston, Troy, and Central Michigan, won their conference. Unlike the others, however, they played a difficult out-of-conference schedule and believed that they were punished for doing so. Boise State went undefeated, they pointed out, but half of their conference games were against teams in the Mountain West, where BYU went undefeated, and another included I-AA Sacramento State. The bottom four teams in the WAC conference went a staggering 1-13 in out-of-conference games against I-A teams. Boise State aside, the main point that BYU continues to stress is that they won their conference, while over half of the invitees did not.
Defenders of the playoffs point out that BYU and California could have secured a bid into the tournament had they managed to avoid losing the games that they did. How this differs from the the plight of either Florida or Michigan, either of whom would have been in the national championship if they'd have avoided losing the game that they did, in the much-maligned BCS system that used to determine the national championship is unclear.
Elseworld 3
32 team playoffs
Teams: Just about everybody that matters, minus the Miami Hurricanes
Hey, you can start paying attention now. Now the games that actually matter are being played! This is in stark contrast to the most of the regular season (including but not limited to Florida-FSU, Arkansas-Florida, Arkansas-LSU, USC-UCLA, USC-ND, OSU-Michigan, and Louisville-Rutgers), which we will in the future refer to as "glorified scrimmages" because they only really matter for seeding purposes and have no bearing at all on which of the 32 teams gets to be champion.
Just in case, remember that a 9-4 regular season team that wins its last five games (ie the tournament) ought to be considered superior to a 12-0 team that has an off-day and loses in the second round of the tournament.
Observations
Thank heavens we don't have these problems in I-AA. :)
High school football doesn't have those problems, either! :)
Okay, now that I'm done being glib, you make a point that many others make.
As far as playoff schemes go, something like the I-AA system (as I understand it) where every conference that wants representation gets it.
If the goal were to give every team a shot at the national title, I'd be much more open to the idea. The goal, however, is a greater sense of cosmic justice among teams that (except in years where 3 or more go undefeated) had a chance at the title but lost a game or two.
It's the same (relatively noble) sense of justice that drives the Instant Replay regime that causes as many problems as it solves. You can't solve ties at first base by moving it to 91-feet.
The I-AA (FCS now) scheme does the best job it can, I think, in giving everyone a shot at the title.
Are there inequities? Sure there are. I'm sure every single PSU fan could argue passionately about how Montana State hosed them out of a playoff shot; as well as Furman fans who had to wonder how they could be conference champs and still end up on the road.
Plus, let's not even mention the huge home field advantage for the seeded teams.
You have to draw the line somewhere, though, and it will most likely be arbitrary.
I still think that I-AA (and lower) gets it right. You an only get so many teams in the bracket before it becomes cumbersome, or you have to either start the playoffs in September, or drag they playoffs out until February.
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