Do you want a college football playoff?
Here’s who to root for this weekend.
* Pull for No. 3 Texas (vs. No. 22 Nebraska, Big 12 Championship). If you want a playoff like I do, you believe teams like No. 4 TCU and No. 6 Boise State should have a chance to play for a title.
But not this way.
Each time a smaller school takes a stiff-arm to the face from the BCS, the complaints about the current system get a little louder. Good, let’s keep that going.
Let the Longhorns and Southeastern Conference champs duke it out, and let the shunned teams start complaining.
A UT loss means the Horned Frogs could go, and as far as anti-BCS sentiment goes, TCU would be in a lose-lose situation if it makes the title game.
Obviously, a win against UF or Alabama would be incredible for the program, but it’d be bad for our hopes of a playoff. The newly created propaganda tool known as the BCS Twitter account would light up with something like “Horned Frogs are BCS Champs! See, the system does work! — sent five minutes ago from the Ninth Circle of Hell.”
No, we need to keep showing the system does not work, and the best way to do that is to keep having undefeated teams left out of the running so the championship isn’t truly decided on the field.
And if the Frogs went to The Big One and lost, there’d be discussion that they’re inferior to the bigger programs and don’t deserve that chance ever again. Let them annihilate Georgia Tech or Clemson in the Orange Bowl and do some chest-thumping.
And TCU coach Gary Patterson is doing us a real disservice with his comments this week that he likes the current system.
We need him to be jilted, angry and on our side.
* Root for No. 5 Cincinnati (at No. 15 Pittsburgh, Big East Championship).
The Bearcats are a key component here, too.
If they go undefeated through a BCS conference and get shut out, they’ll raise quite a stink.
And can you imagine all that complaining with a Midwestern accent?
That’s enough to break down even the most cold-hearted BCS exec.
*Pull for No. 6 Boise State (vs. New Mexico State). Yeah, the Broncos probably don’t need your help, but we need them undefeated.
With a Cincinnati win, it should be a safe bet that Boise would be selected to a BCS bowl, making this the first year with two at-large teams from non-BCS conferences.
That’s a step in the right direction.
I know that rooting for underdogs to get screwed feels dirty. And I have to admit, if the stars ever align and East Carolina is involved, I’ll totally go against what I’m advocating right now.
But my goal here isn’t for a small school to win a title I don’t really believe in anyway.
I want a playoff, a true champion, and for now, the best way of getting there is to create the biggest mess possible every year.
