Coaches, Columnists Near Unanimous In Favor Of College Playoff
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Brown Hopes Season Serves
As Catalyst For Playoff System |
Univ. of Texas football coach Mack Brown “hopes this season serves as a playoff catalyst, even if it involves only four teams,” according to Chuck Carlton of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Brown: “I thought there were four or five [teams] capable of playing for a national championship.” Meanwhile, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has proposed a 32-64 team playoff system “similar to the lower divisions of college football or high schools.” Leach: “The fear would be if they do some little thing like just have some extra game [such as a plus-one format]. All that is going to do is perpetuate the problem. I think they need a big one.” Leach said the plus-one model “would be a complete waste of time” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 12/4). USC coach Pete Carroll: "Every sport in college sports has a playoff. Every professional sport has a playoff. I can't imagine there are many coaches who would not want to do that" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/3).
...AS DO COLUMNISTS: In Dallas, Kevin Sherrington writes, "If every game in a 16-team tournament paid $20[M], which is what Fox pays each of its four BCS bowls, it would draw $300[M], almost three times the payday for Fox's BCS bowls and ABC's Rose Bow." But the Rose Bowl's deal with ABC runs through 2015, while Fox' deal with the other BCS games go through 2010 (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 12/5). In Oregon, John Canzano wrote, “If the goal of the BCS is to generate controversy and enthusiasm, and name a champion, and raise loads of money for conferences, then it’s working beautifully. … Also, if the goal is to create a headache, it’s working” (Portland OREGONIAN, 12/3). In Charlotte, Scott Fowler: “We vote to elect our presidents and American Idols, sure. But that should not be the way the two berths in the national championship are decided. Not having at least an eight-team college football playoff … is un-American, absurd and indefensible” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 12/4). In Louisville, Rick Bozich wrote BCS officials “believe college football does not need a playoff because their system has made the entire regular season a playoff. I’ll pause for laughter” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 12/4). In Las Vegas, Joe Hawk: “As long as the major bowl games are run by corporate committees backed by big-time TV advertising, the system isn’t going to change. You can opine/whine all you want, but the world bows to the almighty dollar and those who control it” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 12/4).
SENTIMENT FOR PLUS-ONE? SI.com’s Austin Murphy wrote the “way we choose a national champion in this sport is pathetic,” but there are “two conferences, two men, [who] stand in the way” of a Plus One game. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen on separate occasions “told me basically not to hold my breath.” Murphy: “It would remove from the hands of the power conferences the knife they use to cut the pie of TV revenues” (FANNATION.com, 12/3). In Denver, Bernie Lincicome writes a plus-one format "would work no better than [the current system], though there would be another level of income" (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 12/5). Former ABC college football announcer Keith Jackson said, "You'd be better off leaving the bowl games alone. Once you get through the bowl games, pick four teams and let them play for (the championship) and be done with it. To me, that's enough of a playoff" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 12/5).
LOOKING FORWARD TO JANUARY: In Long Beach, Frank Burlison wrote the LSU-Ohio State national championship matchup is “about as good as we could expect in a season when I think it would be hard to proclaim any one team as truly of the exceptional variety” (Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM, 12/4). ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said the system "worked itself out and the right two teams are in there” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 12/3). But ESPN's Michael Wilbon said of this season's BCS games, "All of the matchups are unsatisfying" ("PTI," ESPN, 12/3).
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