College football adds BCS four team playoff
Fans have clamored for years that a playoff system is needed in NCAA football.
Photo/Sf46 via wikimedia commons
Now the wait is over as conference commissioners met with an oversight committee of university presidents and chancellors on Tuesday to approve the four-team seeded playoff, consisting of two semifinal games in bowls and a national championship game that will be put up for bid.
Commissioners presented the plan and then took questions from the presidents, who deliberated for about three hours before announcing their approval.
FOX detailed the history as decision-makers had balked at any type of playoff because they said it would diminish the importance of the regular season. If only two teams had a chance to win a championship in the postseason, even one loss could be too many. That made for some high stakes regular-season matchups. As recently as 2008, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive proposed the type of plan adopted Tuesday, and it was quickly shot down.
“It’s a great day for college football,” BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said. “As soon as the commissioners realized they could do this and protect the regular season, the light went on for everybody.”
“A four-team playoff doesn’t go too far,” said Virginia Tech President Charles Steger, chair of the presidential oversight committee. “It goes just the right amount.”
“Where we’ve arrived I think is a consensus built on compromise,” said Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford, who called the new system “a milestone that’s good for college football.”
The presidents also endorsed the concept of the semifinals rotating among six bowls.
“I don’t think any of us are naive to assume it ends the controversy,” Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman said. “We’ll pick four teams, and there’ll be a fifth team.”
