College football season demonstrates need for playoff
By CHUCK SAMPLES
ISL Correspondent
Once again, the Bowl Championship Series is poised to demonstrate its true purpose.
Pinpointing the need for a playoff system to determine the Division 1-A champion.
Four undefeated teams can all say they are worthy of the BCS No. 1 spot. Alabama, Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame have taken on all comers and beaten back every challenge. Now the fun part — saying who plays in the BCS title game if all four teams stay perfect.
Alabama cleared what many people believe was its biggest hurdle Saturday, getting a late touchdown to edge past LSU in what has become an annual SEC classic.
Kansas State continues its surprising, rather methodical chewing up of the rated opponents on its schedule, rumbling past Oklahoma State despite losing Heisman candidate Collin Klein to the dreaded unspecified injury.
Oregon got 62 points and over 700 yards of offense against USC…and needed just about every yard.
Notre Dame won, although many people viewed the triple-overtime Irish win over average Pittsburgh as a moral and symbolic loss.
Of the four teams left, it would appear Notre Dame and Alabama have the easiest road to a perfect regular season. Notre Dame has get-well games against Boston College and Wake Forest before closing out the regular season against USC. That’s good, because it gives the Irish three whacks at reversing the perception the Irish have done just enough to win against mediocre opponents, the thrashing of Oklahoma aside, and it also gives the Irish a chance to get a big win on a national stage before the BCS slate is settled. The victory against Pittsburgh, though, did not help, either with the computers or the all-important perception-is-reality thought process.
Alabama can’t rest after its tough win against LSU because it has surprising Texas A&M next, although its schedule eases notably after this upcoming weekend. The kicker? The rivalry game against Auburn to end the regular season.
If it wasn’t for that aforementioned injury to Klein, K-State would have the inside track to tangle with Alabama. That injury throws everything into question, especially with scoring machine Baylor next and the regular season finale against roller-coaster-ride Texas.
Oregon has two rated foes left, Stanford and archrival Oregon State. Stanford could challenge, but it needs almost perfect quarterback play from redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan. Having a freshman match score for score with Oregon? Talk about a tall task. Then it’s the Civil War.
So who takes on Alabama for the crown? A lot of people would like to see Oregon for the contrast in styles, and I think Oregon really has the best chance of beating the Tide simply because of the machine-gun pace they run at every game. Like I wrote last week, never write off a K-State team coached by Bill Snyder (unless your Heisman candidate can’t play). You can also say the same thing for a Brian Kelly-coached team, although the Irish need to have a strong finish (i.e., show no mercy or flaws) to be considered from here on out.
Regardless of whether you favor a 16-team playoff, as I do, or you like the plus-one model, a season like this just screams for some sort of a playoff system. Thankfully, we will get our way soon. Unfortunately, it has to happen after a stellar season like this one.
