BCS Mess

Yes, there is still an argument for a playoff in college football. Just because Boise State lost one game last week and knocked themselves out of the BCS Championship running does not mean the system works. They joined the multitude of one loss teams looking up at Auburn, Oregon and TCU; the last of the undefeated teams. The BCS system only works when there are two undefeated teams from the super conferences, SEC, Big 12, etc. If that is not the case, such as this year with three undefeated teams and many one-loss teams, the BCS is a failure and a playoff would remedy that.

TCU is the odd man out in the BCS Championship. Their undefeated season will go unrewarded, and college football needs to change bowl season into playoff season to fix future disappointments.

The biggest obstacle in starting a playoff is money. The current bowl system is a profit machine. Playoffs would reduce the number of teams eligible for bowls and possibly the number of bowls as well. I think you can keep the number of bowls, though getting rid of a few would not be a bad thing. Some teams are just undeserving of playing in a bowl game, just as an NFC West team will be undeserving of hosting a playoff game this year.

A team deserving of a bowl game, but not an automatic BCS game is UConn. They went 8-4 on the season and finished unranked, but because of the current system, all UConn had to accomplish in obtaining a BCS bid was to win the Big East. UConn received a BCS bid over teams with one loss and will receive a massive amount of extra money. They are in a BCS game and Temple, who beat them and finished with the same record, was left out of any bowls.

NCAA has a mess to deal with, both with apologizing to TCU for not allowing them a chance to play for a national championship, and cleaning up the "pay-to-play" controversy. NCAA makes a fortune off collegiate athletes and the athletes are not allowed to make a dime. This does not seem fair. Athletes deserve some type of compensation for the amount of time put in to their practice. Other students are told to get internships or summer jobs pertaining to their major. If football is essentially the athletes' majors, why shouldn't they be paid accordingly.

This opens a "Pandora's Box" that the NCAA is avoiding. To say student athletes should be paid over regular students, also is not fair. Something needs to change though, because there will always be Cam Newton's or Reggie Bush's who have family members trying to get a piece of the pie. A pie that the NCAA is not willing to share.