We don't need no stinkin' playoff!

Last week the powers that be in division 1 college football decided their sport should be the only one at any level of college football to not crown a legitimate national champion. The division 1 football conferences held a meeting to discuss the future of crowning their national champion, and decided the BCS is still the best way to go about things. So until 2014 division 1 college football fans will have to sit through more BCS "controversy" and the continued crowning of a mythical national champion. It's become a rather sad, petty, and greedy, notion by those in charge of D1 football to continue downplaying the significance of a playoff system. Had this latest meeting gone the way of a playoff, we would have gotten an introductory version of it. Those who can't bring themselves to say the word "playoff" call it a "plus-one" model. The BCS fooled a lot of people by adding a fifth BCS game, making people belive it was apart of the "plus-one" idea. Instead we got another big money cash grab for the major conferences, and put another nail in the D1 playoff coffin. What makes things even harder, is by 2014, playoff supporters have to convince every single D1 conference, and Notre Dame, that a playoff would be better, or else it's still the BCS way. That's right, if one member of this discussion says no, the BCS is still the only option. In essence every single D1 school, but Notre Dame, could be in favor of a playoff system, but since ND would say no, then a playoff system would be scrapped. Do you see how screwed up D1 football is?

Now playoff haters will point to record amounts of interest, and money coming into D1 football, as a sign that the BCS is working. My stance on that is, it's football. It's the new American pasttime. As long as teams are playing for a championship, there will be interest. Just because the BCS happens to be the championship method by force, doesn't mean it's the main purpose for the record breaking numbers. Fans have come to the reality, for the most part, that a playoff will likely never, ever happen in college football, and are moving on. It's a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people, because they look around at every other level of college, and every other sport, and see how a playoff system works just fine. It's amazing to me that those in control of D1 football continue to make their sport the only one that lacks a legitimate championship process. It doesn't matter what sponsor slaps their logo on the front of a trophy, the championship isn't legitmate by the standards of 99.9% of the athletic world.

So fans are left to wonder, how will D1 football continue with the BCS. My guess is by 2014, there will be a sixth BCS bowl added to the mix. More than likely the Cotton Bowl will be added to the BCS, because those in charge of it will not pass up the opportunity to hold a bowl game in a brand new 80,000+ seat stadium in one of the biggest media markets in the country. At the same time, the people in charge of the BCS will not kick out any of the 4 exsisting bowls. So we'll now have 5 regular BCS games, and a BCS title game. If this happens, it'll be the last nail in the playoff coffin. That will be 12 teams playing in bowl games that bring in tens of millions of dollars. What will happen, is it'll give the Big 6 conferences a realistic shot of getting 2 teams in a BCS game every single bowl season. There may be the random year where a non Big 6 team makes it to the BCS, but when it's all said and done, the adding to the sixth BCS game will result in millions more going to the Big 6 confernces. It's not something those in charge of the BCS will admit right now, but there is nothing stopping them from adding a sixth game. However they will stop at six. If they add a seventh, then they'll be forced to take a minimum of 2 non Big 6 conference teams, and let them eat from the big boys table on yearly basis. Won't happen.

My prediction for the future of D1 college football. The BCS will add the Cotton Bowl to their mix by 2010, thus giving all Big 6 Conferences an equal share every year (or close to every year) on the BCS money. Playoff supporters will continue to grow, only to be suppressed by those in charge of the sport, because they will not pass up the opportunity of getting guaranteed millions the BCS offers. And finally, D1 college football will continue to be the only sport to not have a legitimate way of crowning their naitonal championship.