Mark Madden: College football needs better system to determine national champion

Lots of things are stupid about sports. Idiocy isn’t the sole reason why viewing numbers are down for almost every big-time league. But it certainly isn’t helping.

Replay review has bogged down the pace and robbed sports of its emotion and spontaneity. We don’t look forward to big plays anymore. We look forward to replay validating those big plays. By the time that happens, the plays don’t seem as big.

Baseball purists wet their pants in outrage when making the designated hitter permanent in the National League is discussed. I like the DH, because nobody turns on the TV to watch managerial strategy. But Pittsburgh Pirates announcer Greg Brown and the Paleozoic Bob Costas are among those who get bug-eyed angry when the possibility is broached. Why is it that important?

Few in Pittsburgh care about college basketball. The City Game between Pitt and Duquesne was an annual oasis for casual fans. But Pitt, even when scrounging for foes this year, won’t play Duquesne. Pitt got Northern Illinois instead. Tell Pitt coach Jeff Capel he’s not in Durham or Norman. When covid subsides, attendance at Petersen Events Center won’t get much better.

I could go on and on.

There’s no shortage of stupid.

But the college football playoffs are especially moronic.

College football does not have a “national champion.” It never has.

For years, it proclaimed a “national champion.” From 1998-2013, two teams were proclaimed finalists and played in a “national championship game.” Since 2014, four teams have been proclaimed semifinalists and have a playoff to crown a “national champion.”

It’s all a crock. It’s designed to finagle big-name schools into big games to draw high TV ratings and keep networks and sponsors happy.

Before this season, I’d have bet on Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Ohio State being the semifinalists. Televisions get turned on to watch them.

Sure enough, there they are atop the rankings. They have one loss between them, it must be said.

But Cincinnati, Brigham Young and Coastal Carolina were a combined 26-0 going into the weekend and were ranked Nos. 7, 13 and 18, respectively. Coastal Carolina beat Brigham Young on Saturday, but that won’t help Coastal Carolina’s chances.

I’m not suggesting Cincinnati, Brigham Young or Coastal Carolina could beat any of the anointed four. But even if they could, it wouldn’t matter.

In 2017, Central Florida went 13-0 and got zero consideration for the playoff. Should they have? Perhaps. They beat tradition-dripping Auburn in the Peach Bowl.

In NCAA basketball, every Division I team theoretically could win the national championship. The path is defined. If you can’t make a 68-team tournament, you had no chance.

In NCAA football, only so-called Power Five schools have a shot. There’s no specific way to make the playoffs. Even conference winners have no guarantee. It’s not fair.

Fair doesn’t matter. But there are superior options.

The better way: Do a six-team playoff using the winners of the Power Five conferences and the highest-ranked team from outside the Power Five. Only two things would be subject to judgment: The seeding (two teams get byes to the semis) and picking the non-Power Five team.

The best way: Dissolve the Power Five and put the 44 best programs in four conferences of 11 based primarily on geography. Each conference plays a 10-game round-robin. The conference winners advance to the semifinals. Independents like Notre Dame and Brigham Young would have to join a conference to be playoff-eligible. Teams would enter the season knowing exactly what needs to be done to win the national championship.

Perhaps the current way is the most lucrative. Maybe it super-serves name programs, power brokers, networks, advertisers and certain traditions.

But it’s subjective. It proclaims. It finagles. It’s not a true national championship because it’s not decided on the field from beginning to end.

One thing is certain: Pitt won’t ever make the playoff regardless of method used.