Beauty Contest

This is almost comical in its vagueness and subjectivity.

But the Playoff Committee is smart and has the answers, right?

Wrong.

I reiterate--and I'm far from alone in this--that the four-team playoff for the college national championship is a cruel joke.

My discontent is not based on the Oregon factor, either, since I'm a big Duck honk.  All the Ducks have to do is win three down the stretch.

Quack, quack...

What I'm saying is that some very good one-loss teams will suffer this method like a beauty queen who is the third runner-up in a Miss America pageant  Everybody in the ballroom will have an opinion.

The tears of rage will supplant the tears of joy among some very pretty women--er, teams.

The Oregonian's Ken Goe put it best earlier in the season:

I've been saying from the moment the College Football Playoff was unveiled, that it is as bad or worse than the old Bowl Championship Series. It's a thinly-veiled way for the good ol' boys to keep their greedy fingers wrapped around college football's money and influence.

It's an exclusive system, standing in stark contrast to the NCAA Basketball Tournament, in which everybody, large and small, gets a shot.

If the powerful oligarchy that runs college football really wanted to determine a true national champion, this thing would be settled on the field in a real playoff.

I favor 24 teams. All conference champions would get an automatic berth. There would be eight, first-round byes. If the two best teams are from the SEC, well, let that be proven between the lines.

The rest of the story


TS