Volume 4, Issue 1 University of Houston
Nebraska’s luck pays off; College football
needs playoff
By Christian Schmidt
Breaking News Staff
Nebraska has now claimed the title of luckiest team on earth. Last week, it appeared the Cornhuskers had no chance of playing in the Rose Bowl, and would be fortunate to get a spot in any of the Bowl Championship Series games.
In the final BCS standings, Miami is in first place by a comfortable margin. Nebraska finished .05 points ahead of Big 12 champion Colorado. A mere five hundredths of a point will send Nebraska to the national championship game despite the fact that Colorado beat these same Cornhuskers 62-36 just three weeks ago.
Once again, the BCS system has failed. Last year, Miami was left on the outside looking in, despite having just a single loss and a win over Florida State, which played in the title game. The system was adjusted to prevent something like this from happening again, and yet the exact same thing happened this year. Colorado will not get a chance to play for the national championship despite the fact it is probably playing better football than any team in the nation right now.
It is time to have a playoff system in NCAA Division I-A football. The BCS has not achieved a true national title game as it promised it would. The only way to ensure an undisputed national champion is to have the teams play it out on the field. Division I-A football is the only NCAA sport that does not have some form of postseason playoff system.
There should be a 16-team playoff during December with the final game coming on the traditional New Year’s Day. This system would only require four weeks of playing and would generate just as much revenue as the current bowl system. The Peach Bowl would be far more interesting as a first-round playoff match than in its current incarnation.
Many people have objected that a playoff would take student-athletes out of class for too long. But by simply eliminating preseason "classic" games and conference championship games, few teams would have one or two extra games to play.
Teams like 10-1 Oregon, 10-1 Illinois, 10-1 Maryland and 12-1 Brigham Young deserve a chance to play for a national championship. But in the current system, they have no shot. The time has come to crown a true national champion.
In Cougar football news, The Sporting News named redshirt freshman
safety Jermain Woodard to the Third Team Freshman All-American squad. Senior
wide receiver Orlando Iglesias and junior safety Hanik Milligan were chosen
for the Conference USA Second Team, while Woodard was also a Conference
USA All-Freshman selection.
Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu.