Without “Chaos,” College Football Season is must see TV!

by Mike Sonntag, Let’s Play Football

If you count a two team season between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, it is hard to believe it has taken 155 years for college football’s highest level to adopt a playoff system that will eliminate all doubts of who the national champion is.

In early September Notre Dame lost a shocker to Northern Illinois, a 28-point underdog, at home in what likely qualifies it as one of the top-five biggest upsets of all-time. More recently, Indiana embarrassed Nebraska 56-7 to improve to 7-0 on the season. Meanwhile, LSU failed to beat USC in a marquee season opening match-up on national TV.  These are three examples of results that in the past would have left these programs out of the the discussion for a national playoff berth.

It’s an entirely different landscape now that college football has expanded its playoff to 12-teams. Notre Dame and LSU have kept themselves in the conversation despite those early losses. Historically even an undefeated Indiana team would be overshadowed by Ohio State or Oregon in the new 18 team Big10 conference.  Now teams have more runway to redeem and prove themselves worthy of consideration to compete for a national title.  Week after week there are 4-5 games that really carry intrigue and excitement for the fans.  ESPN starts highlighting the upcoming week’s games by Tuesday and includes “win prediction” chances of making the college playoff with a win.  Army and Navy are both ranked in the top 25 together for the first time in decades. How much fun will that game be in December? What if a berth in the 12-team playoff is on the line?  That possibility was unthinkable just a year ago.

Viewership of the NFL still reigns supreme across our great country, but my goodness college football on Saturdays this season has become more than just an appetizer for Sunday.

Gone are the days when if there were not four undefeated teams from the power five conferences all the talking heads would profess chaos for a selection panel to pick the four teams they believed deserve to challenge for the national championship.  

Now it feels like 20 to 30 teams are still in the conversation heading into November which just adds to the build up.

I, for one, can’t wait to watch the games.

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