ROWDY TIME SPORTS

So, does Ohio State’s ultimate victory in college football’s first playoff prove the selection committee got it right and that neither TCU or Baylor deserved to get in?

On the contrary. This just proves that leaving them and more schools out was an even bigger mistake. Because it just emphasizes more that anything can happen in a situation like this; if the Buckeyes could take advantage of their position like this, why couldn’t have the Frogs or Bears?

People saying no way that TCU could have beat Ohio State or Oregon – well, those are the same people who said Ohio State couldn’t beat Oregon or Alabama.

Ultimately, TCU wasn’t screwed by a selection committee. They were screwed by a crummy system that was doomed to have the selection controversy we got.

And fortunately, there are people out there agreeing with this who MAYBE could influence change. Even before the playoff or bowl season began, about 60 percent of coaches polled by Sports Illustrated said the playoff field needs to be at least eight schools.

A good sign that the system still needs fixing, but unfortunately, college football has frequently proven that change takes a very long time – especially when the supposed governing body of the sport remains completely neutered in the matter.

It boggles my mind that the NCAA, the organization that supposedly has too much power in the minds of so many cranky coaches and administrators, continues to have virtually no control over the postseason in its biggest sport. The fact that they still cannot sanction a playoff tournament of their own and hand over each year one of those simple wooden trophies they give out for every other sport is beyond disbelief.

What is stopping them? Are they really that afraid of the bowl committees? Could you actually tell me that the NCAA could not work out a television deal for an official “NCAA Football Championship?” Especially since the basketball Final Four remains on CBS while this excuse for a football championship remains confined to the cable bandwidth of ESPN.

Something better can still happen. An eight-team system is more than feasible, cooperation with the bowls or not. And no, don’t talk to me about at-large bids; it’s conference champions only for this thing.

Tell me a tournament that featured, say, Florida State, Baylor, Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama, Memphis, Louisiana Tech and Boise State would not have drawn interest and attention. To have a situation where it was the Boise State Broncos that knocked off that overrated Florida State team or where Alabama found itself struggling against a Memphis team…

It happens every March in another sport; it can happen in December.

For now, though, the bowl committees and the selection committee will pat each other on the back and say how this first playoff was a success, not seeing how much more of a success it could have been.

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