College Football Reprot - College Football Playoff a Major Step for NCAA:

College football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has been called many names over its 14 years, worthy not being one of them. Come the end of the 2014 season, however, the BCS system becomes about as useful of a program as a Charlie Sheen self help book series.

On June 26, NCAA conference commissioners and an oversight committee, along with school presidents, passed a four-team seeded playoff system for college football, effective at the end of the 2014 college football season.

A four-team playoff system, or any playoff system in college football, is one giant step in the right direction in a sport where fans, writers, coaches and even US Congress members have been reaching out for a playoff for over two decades.

The plan is to have two semifinal bowl games, most likely on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, with the National Championship a week later in hopes of creating a “Championship Monday.” The deal is setup to be in place for 12 years.

Most had been calling for something larger than a plus one model, but conference commissioners were reluctant to infringe on what many refer to the best regular season in sports.

Expanded playoffs in professional sports like baseball and football, along with an expanded postseason in college basketball, have diminished the pressures of their regular seasons.

A current plan on how the four teams will be selected is yet to be determined, but a selection committee, like that of college basketball’s postseason, has been discussed as an option. The semifinal bowl games will rotate between six traditional bowls, with almost a guarantee of the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange taking part.

The National Championship game will go to the city with the highest bid, creating a steady stream of increased revenue for the NCAA and college football conferences.

While it looks as if the four team playoff system should ease critics for now, fans calling for a larger playoff system will always exist. Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman knows controversy is far from over.

“I don’t think any of us are naive to assume it ends the controversy. We’ll pick four teams and there’ll be a fifth.”
It’s hard to argue with Perlman, who along with everyone else knows there’s always going to be college basketball teams pleading their case, even in a 68 team field.

Obama has been all in favor of a playoff

One thing a four team playoff eliminates most importantly is the chance of an undefeated school being left out, like that of the 2004 Auburn Tigers. The Boise State’s and TCU’s of college football may have farther to go, however, as strength of schedule figures to weigh heavily.

If anyone can be happy the BCS kicked the bucket with an adapted playoff, it’s President Obama. The Commander In Chief campaigned for a playoff before he became president, claiming to “Throw my weight around a little bit.”

Its unlikely Obama’s weight was what broke the BCS system, but he does have one more promise kept to add to his next campaign.