College football will look a lot more like pro football next year. Many of the changes are good - at least some players are getting paid, finally. And I'm sure the 12 team playoff will exciting. But I will miss the regional nature of the college football I grew up with including the regional designated bowl each team dreamt of reaching. In the old bowl system, if your team had a good year, you stood a good chance of finishing the year with a win. With the playoff, all but one good team will finish the year with a loss.
Four things will happen from here for sure (ok, likely.)
1. The conference championships will mean nothing ...
When teams already know they can make the playoff. Both Georgia and Alabama knew they'd be in the top 10. Would they have gone all out to win the SEC knowing they have a playoff game coming up?
Florida St. would have survived losing to Louisville. Both Oregon and Washington would be in. Both Michigan and Ohio St. would be in out the de facto Big 10 Championship (yes, I know I'm skipping the already meaningless Big 10 Championship.).
The only argument is to play for seeding. But a team can also get a week off by just not playing hard in the conference championship, especially if they have no change at a top four spot.
Texas could have afforded a loss to Oklahoma B. And Oklahoma A got the week off and at #12 would have been in the playoff.
Which leads to another possibility. Will some teams "tank" and lose their last game on purpose, knowing they are already in the playoff? Oklahoma A "won" a week off by losing two games. Either Alabama or Georgia could've comfortably lost their last game under the new format.
Both the Big 10 and SEC (arguably the only two majors left) are switching to a "best two" format for the championship instead of having division winners. This will further encourage top teams to tank in either the final week or conference championship week.
2. The playoff will expand.
As the conference championships lose their luster, there will be cries to expand the playoff. If six or eight of the top teams are freed from conference championship week, why not expand the playoff to 16 teams ... or more?
Once the playoff is 16 or greater then we will *really* have an NFL-type situation where a lot of teams can coast during the last week of the season.
3. All of these forces will make the traditional bowls mean even less.
Kids are already skipping the bowls (and I don't blame them) so they can transfer or declare, or just avoid injuring themselves in a meaningless game.
Bowl games in the new playoff era will be a lot like the basketball NIT tournament. Does anyone want to watch two dozen games where the greatest achievement available is being ranked thirteenth?
4. Eventually, more new good things will happen and it'll be fun.
Will all the kids get paid to play in lucrative playoff games? Let's hope. Will ridiculous things happen in a 16 or 24 or 32 team playoff? For sure. Will one the top four teams decided by a bunch of old men in the meeting room always win the championship? No, and that will be wonderful. I look forward to the first eight seed wining it all and the first 16 seed advancing. There are reasons everyone loves March Madness and one of them is that the top four seeds are never the final four. The games are decided on the floor. I look forward to football season being decided on the field. As a fan, I'll be trading the hope of ending the season with a win in a bowl with the thrill of making the playoffs.
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