The nature of sports is winning and therefore a team's won-loss record is the defining factor. That all changed some years ago when conferences split into divisions. The team with the best record in the conference may not win the conference championship. That's because the leaders of each division have to play each other for the championship even though one team may have a poor record. In other words, even though all teams play the same number of games and therefore have the same chance, a team with a poor record is given a second chance. That in itself goes against competition.
The CFP committee makes the selection even worse by their own process of how to rank the teams by using a number of criteria they impose on teams who have the same won-loss record. The problem is once you get away from a won-loss record, the criteria used is flawed and worthless. For instance, lets look at what Baton Rouge sports writer Scott Rabalais reported in a Times Picayune New Orleans Advocate article 11/25, the day before LSU played Texas A&M as follows: COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN BOB CORRIGAN SAID LSU's STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE AND BETTER LOOKING DEFENCE ESPECIALLY IN THE WAKE OF USC's SHOOTOUT WIN AGAINST UCLA ON SATURDAY WERE THE DIFFERENCE IN LSU's FAVOR. I THINK SOME OF THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS WANTED TO SEE A LITTLE MORE FROM USC's DEFENSE, AND THE OVERALL STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE FOR LSU DROVE THE DAY.
The commissioner's comment and criteria used about LSU's defense was destroyed the very next day when Texas A&M destroyed LSU's defense and the Aggies had only won one SEC game at that time and had an overall losing record. Plus a so called shootout in the USC-UCLA game has no value. Saying the overall strength of LSU's schedule was a factor is a fairy tale criteria.
When choosing playoff teams rankings and getting away from the win-loss record you have to make up faulty criteria for judging what team to put ahead of another team. This writer believes that playoff teams should be teams that won something and with the best won-loss record. Losers have no right to a second chance because all teams have the opportunity to win during the regular season and play the same number of games. If they don't win they go home and try again next year. The same thing can be said about rematches. The loser does not deserve another try, that is not competition. If the loser wins the rematch it proves nothing because they will have played two games and each would have won one.
The BCS and college football playoff committee are talking about a greater expansion to the playoffs. It will get worse because there will be more teams and losers rewarded with a playoff berth and the criteria will become more of a fairy tale than it is now. This writer believes the teams that have the best won-loss record should be the only ones in the playoffs and every year it is usually only 5 or 6 teams that have the best won-loss record. It will be interesting to see how the committee handles and rates the teams in its final poll coming out this week. Any surprises will not be surprises. And that really says it all.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
