College football is moving closer and closer to a playoff beginning with the 2014 season. President Barack Obama has been a big proponent of a college football playoff and recently sat down with Grantland.com’s Bill Simmons to talk about that issue, among others.
Obama told Simmons that he prefers an 8-team playoff, but that “four is a good place to start.” Here is the full transcript of their chat on the playoff issue:
BS: Tell me about the college football playoff system that you once upon a time pushed for.
Obama: Looks like — I hear there’s talk that they’re going to at least start maybe with a four-team playoff, which —
BS: So you’re happy about this?
Obama: Well, I’d rather see it eight teams, but four is a good place to start. I think that gets us on the right trend. Nothing is more frustrating than at the end of the season, nobody knows who won. And what, there is some poll? Coaches make a decision? Nobody knows what that means. Because part of what makes sports great, part of what makes March Madness great, the NFL playoffs great, is every once in a while something happens during the playoffs that shows the character of a team.
Look at the Giants this year. Nobody would have picked them. They wouldn’t have been crowned as champions if you had a coaches’ poll at the end of the year. But they made the plays when it counted.
With the BCS contract set to expire after the games in January of 2014, the time is ripe for a college football playoff to be implemented in time for the 2014 season/January 2015 games. A four-team playoff appears to be the most plausible scenario.
How the conference commissioners will determine the four teams that make the playoffs is another issue. Do you have to win a conference championship to qualify? Or will the playoff teams be the top four in the BCS or AP Poll?
Whatever the case may be, a college football playoff in any fashion is a big step in the right direction.