championship games

For those who are regular readers of my blog and who, also, have a long memory, you may recall that prior to 2014 I, annually, railed against the college football system of declaring a champion without a playoff.

However, for the last four years college football has employed a playoff system--and it has worked.  We have gone from a procedure pre 2014 that meant nothing, to a system that has put the excitement back.

Teams jockey all year long for the right to be among the four teams selected for the tournament.  I have not always agreed with the four selected, but the selection has worked as well as it can.  Even in the 68 team NCAA men's basketball tournament there are always 69th and 70th teams who squawk about not being allowed to participate. So, the committee that determines the four division 1 teams has an unenviable job. 

With only four teams eligible, the entire season becomes meaningful. Losing one game early on can severely jeopardize chances of playing for a championship. Two losses make it a real long shot (though this year a 2 loss team may get in). 

Tomorrow there are four conference championship games. These can be very exciting because losers almost certainly will be eliminated.  If undefeated Wisconsin loses to Ohio State, that is it for Wisconsin.  If Auburn loses to the Georgia bulldogs, Auburn is out of the running despite having whipped Alabama last week.

So, for football fans, the new system works.

The problem is that even for football fans like myself, it is almost too much. There are so many games on tv, that one can start watching tomorrow at noon eastern and not budge until around midnight tomorrow.  Even I cannot watch that much. In general, the enthusiasm for football has ebbed in part because, by this time of the season, several of the games blend together. 

I still have not kicked my cold completely though I thought I had done so in the last day or two. I went into the office today where I could not adjust the thermostat and it was an oven therein. The only way to stay there was, on December 1, to blast the air conditioner out to combat the heat that could not be stopped. For this reason, I have been lying in bed pumping aspirin all night. I am between books, and just did not have a clear head to watch anything on tv that required processing of data. So I found the PAC 10 championship game.  It was close. And I was bored nevertheless. Just too much football.

Tomorrow, should be different. Partly because my head should be cleared up some, and also because all four of the games could determine who makes it into the final four. 

My predictions:  Georgia will beat Auburn; Ohio State will defeat Wisconsin; Oklahoma will beat TCU; Clemson will defeat Miami.  And then Alabama will sneak in as one of the four teams in the tournament and take it all.