The NCAA Division I-A Playoff

The BCS isn’t broken, and never has been. It is a system designed to bring two teams that distinguished themselves for a season to play in a spectacle of a game and theoretically crown a champion of college football; it does this.

What it doesn’t do is produce a true champion. And that’s why this post is here.

I’ve had long and interesting discussions with a few other college football fiends, and there’s no question about it: we’re all in favor of a playoff system in Division I-A (no, not Football Bowl Subdivision here) college football.

The problem is the plan.

Our Fine Little Mess

It seems likely that in moments, the talking heads on the BCS Selection Special will confirm that Ohio State and LSU will meet for the BCS National Championship Game or some similar amalgamation of capital letters in January. The Tigers have surmounted several teams to reach #2 in the USA Today poll, which is factored into the formula, and the Associated Press poll, which is not; Ohio State profited off losses by Missouri and West Virginia to reclaim a #1 position it held for much of the year.

The question, obviously, is not whether it will happen, but whether it should.