Playoffs - Changes?
Hey there. How’s it been going? Me, same old. What’s that? Oh… yeah it’s not that kind of blog. Today, let’s talk about the playoffs. Both of the pro and “armature” variety. The NFL is looking (finally) to resolve the old problem of having bad division winners at home against good wild-cards. And, lo and behold, the NCAA may actually consider talking about looking into a Division I-A playoff.
Satan Needs A Jacket
With the NCAA talking about a playoff for the FBS, it must be getting downright balmy in Hades. TALB has talked, at length, as to why a playoff is not likely. But, let’s for a minute presume that one is constructed. The very first thing that we college football fans have to come to grips with is the New York Giants. If the NFL post-season was run like the BCS, the Giants would never have even sniffed the Super Bowl. But when you go to a tournament, a “hot team” can end up with all the marbles. And some college football purists would not be happy to see a team like (just pulling names out of the air) Hawaii, Boise State, or USF hoisting the crystal football. At that point, there would be a cry that the playoffs are “broken” because the wrong team won. If you don’t believe me, think back to just about every year of the BCS before the 2006 season. Nebraska, FSU, Oklahoma, Auburn (left out); all teams that were part of some perceived problem with the BCS. And instead of the BCS saying “this is the system you agreed to, and these are the results,” they changed the system in order to make sure the results more closely matched the expectations.
That is a long winded way to say “Be careful what you wish for.”
Seeds Of Change
That was terrible. Just horrible. I’m sorry. Anyway, the NFL this week will consider changing the playoff seeding such that the 1 & 2 spots will be filled by the division champs with the best records, then the final four spots will be seeded solely based on regular season record. The first tie-breaker will go in favor of a division champion. Count TALB among the supporters of such a change. It makes complete sense. As you may remember, I hated it that so many teams took the last month of the season off this past year. And this can only serve to force teams (like the Bucs) to keep the pedal down as the season winds down.
