| 10 January 2012
As we close the book on this college football season with Alabama's 21-0 thumping of LSU I can only qualify this past fall as a disappointment if you're anything other than an Alabama fan. There's no need to go through the myriad of ways the season was disappointing for Rebel fans. The 2-10 disaster has been well-chronicled and shall not be spoken of here other than to say it was a long, sad autumn. We sought consolation in the hiring of a new head coach and in trying to enjoy competition between other teams. From that perspective, the 2011-2012 bowl season was fairly lacking. There wasn't much joy to be found during bowl season. I blame the anticipation of the rematch between LSU and Alabama for my lack of interest in most of the other games. I was entertained by the Baylor-Washington track meet and the Oklahoma State - Stanford Fiesta Bowl was certainly competitive. But for the most part it was hard to get wrapped up in games that were really meaningless to everyone but the schools, players and fans involved in their particular bowl. For television purposes and for the casual fan, there was no drama and and you could see it in the effort given on the field. Players just don't have much to play for in these bowls where nothing is on the line but a watch that says "Music City Bowl Champions."
The bowl season is starting to become like the NFL Pro Bowl. It lacks purpose. When games lack purpose they also want for excitement. I know it hasn't always been this way. Maybe it's just the times we live in. We want Champions and Winners, not also-rans and average. That's what you get in 95-percent of the bowls games now - also-rans and average. The bowls this season weren't exciting and they weren't compelling. They were just excuses to veg in front of the TV and that's really about it.
That's why, after years of resisting, Jake's Ole Miss Blog is now changing parties. After years of careful consideration and even stubborn demand for the status quo (Don't take away Ole Miss's chance to go to the Liberty Bowl you elitest ESPN Gameday Playoff proponents!), I have decided to officially endorse an FBS playoff system. It's time and there's really no longer any reason to resist it.
Look how exciting the NFL Playoffs are. I watched some amazing football last weekend and it was caused by men playing for their football lives. Lose and you go home. Nobody wants to go home. That mentality created drama. It created mystery. There was reason to watch the Texans play the Bengals (not a game I'd usually watch). And if Tebow's overtime win over the Pittsburg Steelers wasn't one of the best moments in football at any level this year I don't know what was.
The bowls are boring now. It's time for more.
It's time for a playoff system in college football. I probably would have stayed awake until the end of that Oklahoma State - Stanford game had I known the winner would meet Alabama for a shot at the title. Without that, the Fiesta Bowl meant incredibly little to me, and that's a shame because it was a good game between two good teams.
If the NCAA wants to make December better, if ESPN wants higher ratings, if the people want exciting football after the regular season is over, it's time for a playoff.
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