The Debate That Will Likely Never End

If you debate on a College Football Playoff you are firmly on one side or the other. As for myself I am in the minority who prefers the current system over a typical playoff. Sure the BCS has it's faults. They should lose the conference affiliation for starters. But it is a huge improvement from the process before it and it makes plenty of money for those involved. The following is a exert from a post I had on 11/10 of 2008.

Thank you Iowa. Thank you from saving the college football fans from Penn State being the sacrificial lamb to some elite team in the National Championship Game.I also want to think you Iowa from saving us from the constant chatter of playoffs in college football. I am sure by the end of the season the talk will return but for a couple of weeks we will be spared from the playoff conversation.
I am one of the minority who doesn't want a playoff. I feel college football has a playoff and it starts opening week. Win your games and you will be where you deserve at the end of the year. Please spare me the mid-major argument(Boise St. 06 Utah 04Marshall 99) schedule top tier programs in your non-conference schedule and you will be included.
For all the criticism the BCS gets it sure does do a great job of getting the best teams in the final game. I would argue that more than any other sport the College Football National Champion is the best team. Were the Giants better than the Patriots last season? Were the Phillies, Cardinals, White Sox the best teams in baseball when they won their titles? Every time mentions a playoff in college football they use the college basketball comparison. Perhaps more than any other sport the best team rarely wins the tournament. In postseason play the hottest team wins. More often than not the hottest team isn't the best team throughout the season.
A playoff would cripple the importance of the regular season. It is undeniable that college football has the most important regular season of any sport. Texas vs. Oklahoma was huge, Texas vs. Texas Tech was much of the same. Oregon State and Iowa knock of USC and Penn State both are considered major season changers. If we had a playoff both would have been meaningless. Unless you are a diehard fan of college basketball the sport has no social relevance until March. Yes, March captures everyones attention but the other 4 mos. or so are meaningless.If you don't believe me just look at the basketball ratings.
Playoffs would take away from exciting late season matchups. Ohio State vs Michigan(normally a big game) and conference championship games are the last games of the regular season. These games feature at least 3 of the top 8 teams in the country at a minimum. In many of these cases teams would have the luxury to rest certain players for the "playoffs" knowing that even with a loss they would be in the playoffs. Many college football fans feel this would never happen but a the first time a star player went down in one of these games a new trend would start.
Auburn 04'. Every argument has that one occasion when it show some weakness and this is my kryptonite. As we all know Auburn did what it needed to do in 04 and went a perfect 13-0. The only problem for them was the fact that USC and Oklahoma also had perfect seasons so someone had to be left out in the cold and in this case it was Auburn. What made matters worse was the fact that Oklahoma was torched by USC 55-19. Here came all the Auburn supporters claiming that the Tigers should have been given the oppurtunity against the Sooners and their request seemed reasonable. I feel Auburn's fate would have been the same as the Sooners. The Trojans 04' squad was one of the best of all time and the Trojans and Tigers had faced off the year before in Auburn and the Trojans won 23-0. Auburn also didn't help themselves with their lackluster performance against a inferior Virginia Tech team in the Sugar Bowl winning 16-13. This is the only example of a team having the right to wine about a non-playoff however this scenario has presented itself 1 time since the inception of the BCS in 98. Given the balance of talent all over the college football universe the chances of 3 quality teams running the table is becoming less and less.
The BCS will get it right like it always does. Just give it some time and let the teams decide it on the field. Sounds like a playoff to me.

I understand why people who support playoffs choose to do so. The definitive process of playoffs takes out the hypothetical and what if process of the BCS. A playoff certainly gives you the chance to play it out on the field. However, what makes College Football special to me is the week to week importance of all the matchups. I am a fan of one team however I spend countless hours on Saturday following what this team did and what that team did. Would I still do this if their was a playoff? I would like to think that my interest would decrease but truth be told I would still religiously follow the sport. What I am certain about though is that a College Football season is defined by a hundred different moments and every one of these moments change the entire landscape of the sport. You just can't have that same drama week after week with a playoff.