The College Football Playoff is on the way, which is exciting for many fans of NCAA football.  The Bowl Championship Series (BCS),  which the new playoff is replacing, was terrible for the sport.  The BCS was completely subjective, as the two teams to compete in BCS National Championship were picked using a combination of several computer rankings and human polls.

The bowl selection made it so the two teams in the championship generally came from major conferences.  The teams were thus chosen by perceived skill rather than actual performance on the field.  Who is to say that the undefeated team from one conference is any more deserving of a berth than an undefeated team from another conference?

“It’s unbelievable that [the selection committee] can determine the better team without ever having the two play,” said senior Connor Bailey of such a hypothetical situation.

This has led to numerous instances of good teams with impressive histories being selected over teams that have stormed into the national spotlight, but don’t have the same history.  The Texas Christian University Horned Frogs have gone undefeated in multiple seasons, but have not been chosen for the National Championship game because the team hailed from the Mountain West Conference, which was considered to have weaker competition.

The new playoff system, which will come into effect in the 2014-2015 season, will hopefully eliminate the bias in team selection.  The playoffs will allow for four teams to compete in two semifinals games with the winners advancing to the National Championship. These teams will be selected by a committee of representatives hailing from all over the college football landscape.

Junior Michelle Zhang mentioned that she thought “[the new playoff system] would be a welcome change for fans and coaches alike.”

While this may not be the ideal setup, it is certainly a step in the right direction.  More teams will have the opportunity to prove that they are worthy of playing in the National Championship game, which means that we’ll likely see more teams from smaller conferences competing rather than having to switch into a major conference as TCU did in switching to the Big 12 Conference.