With President Obama "throwing his weight around" this week as he promised immediately after his election, we're back to the BCS/playoff debate.
Abuse of the presidential bully pulpit aside, I think replacing the BCS with a playoff would destroy college football as we know it. In my perception, three distinct constituencies want a playoff for mostly distinct reasons:
- Fans of high-profile teams not in the BCS conferences, for the obvious reason that their teams can't make the BCS championship game; their conference schedules aren't good enough, and rarely can they schedule enough quality out-of-conference games to cover for it. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), whose state has two such teams, has abused his own bully pulpit for years on this group's behalf.
- Fans of the 6 to 8 teams that can count on contending for the national championship nearly every season. They're tired of (a) not having a clearly defined path to the championship game before the season begins, and (b) even if they do make it, having their credentials challenged by talking heads taking the cause of the first group.
- People that watch college football on television and have either never been to a game or only went to home games in their student days. They don't understand why I-A football can't act like NCAA basketball or pro football and give them playoffs to <strike>gamble on</strike> watch on the same weekday at the same time every year.
Group one we can give a pass to. They're operating purely on informed self-interest, and they're upfront about it. The others, though? Not so much.
