Every year, professional and college football have a number of teams vying for a championship. The National Football League (NFL) has a system based upon evidence and consistency. The College Football Playoff System however, can involve subjectivity and judgment, and that will persist until it becomes “more professional.”
In the NFL, before the season even begins, rules are set out, so you know what it takes to win a division, and get in a wild card. These rules are based on precedent. Even when there is an unprecedented event, like the game that was canceled last year due to a terrible injury, a ruling is made before the playoffs identifying a new standard based upon the fairest situation possible.
In college football, the decision to pick the playoffs seems to be based upon whichever teams the judges “think” are the best. This is often based upon how good the voters “feel” the teams are, using weighted terms like “the eye test.” If you hear those terms, you could expect a bias for offense over defense, and perhaps favor those the pundits personally have a history of liking.
In the NFL, you make the playoffs if you follow the rules set out before the season begins. If your star player is injured, you are not excluded from consideration. If you win several games by narrow margins, it does not factor into the decision to include a team or not. Can you imagine the NFL Commissioner removing a team from the playoffs because it is accused of having “a weaker strength of schedule?” The games are decided on the field, not in some backroom.
Recently, I watched a documentary on the 1972-1973 Miami Dolphins, the only “perfect team” in NFL History. Much like the 2023 Florida State University Seminoles, they won several games by close margins, in the regular season and playoffs. They lost their starting quarterback, Bob Griese, for eight games. College football pundits would probably claim that the Dolphins were not “the best.” It’s the same sentiment that led the committee to move FSU down a spot and miss the playoffs for winning their conference.
According to FSU’s VP and Athletic Director Mike Alford “Wins matter. Losses matter. Those that compete in the arena know this. Those on the committee who also competed in the sport and should have known this have forgotten it. Today, they changed the way success is assessed in college football, from a tangible metric – winning on the field – to an intangible, subjective one. Evidently, predicting the future matters more.” Alford added “The consequences of giving in to a narrative of the moment are destructive, far reaching, and permanent, not just for Florida State, but for college football as a whole.”
It is also a shame that the #1 University of Georgia football team could lose to Alabama by three points on a neutral field, then tumble several spots to #6 in the standings, despite being #1 almost the entire year. Ohio State University made a similar plunge after a close loss to Michigan.
This goes beyond football. The entire episode has struck a chord with any American, who has ever achieved a top score, yet is passed over in favor of someone who “looks better.”
In the end, if we are to rescue the College Football Playoff System, the NCAA needs to develop, and actually implement, objective standards before the next season begins for determining who should get in, the way the NFL does it. Otherwise, we’ll continue to see something other than on-field performance decide the winners.
And that would clearly be “less professional.”
John A. Tures is Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the Political Science Program at LaGrange College, in LaGrange, Georgia.