This is what you asked for, college football fans. For years you complained about the Bowl Championship Series that set teams up in five bowl game matchups. You wondered why college football couldn't have playoffs like nearly every other sport in the country. You cursed the computer rankings run by nerds who wouldn't know a quarterback from a Quarter Pounder, and then scoffed at the human polls voted on by coaches with ulterior motives or people with no connection to college football.
Well, you've won. You hated the old system, so here's your chance to hate a new system. Starting this season, the BCS is out and the College Football Playoff is in. No more computer polls and coach polls. Now we get a committee of dedicated people who will select four teams to play in a pair of bowl games (this year the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, though they will appear in a three-year cycle alternating with the Orange and Cotton Bowls and the Fiesta and Peach Bowls). These will now receive the less exciting title of "semifinals." The winners will meet on Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
So the question remains, is this better? For all the maligning of the BCS, it did manage to give a legitimate number one vs. number two matchup almost every season. The biggest advantage of the new CFP is probably that no longer will an undefeated team from a major conference be left out, as happened to USC in 2004.
The other big plus to the CFP is there's a much deeper slate of meaningful regular season games. Most ranked teams will still have a shot (or at least believe they do) much further into the season.
Oh, don't worry, college football fans. You love debate, and there will still be plenty of debate. In fact, with four spots up for grabs, the arguments only get larger and more complicated. In all, CFP should provide excitement and a well-deserved championship as promised. Let's see how the CFP procedure plays out, and then we can start debating an eight-team playoff.
