College football needs an elite eight playoff

The quicker college football gets to an eight-team playoff for the national championship, the better.

It’s simple because such a tournament should include the champions from the five power conferences and the best team from the group of five (what we used to call midmajors). And then you have two more spots for at-large teams.

Not everyone agrees that eight is great, but most of the reasons I hear against expanding are specious.

1. Missing too much school

There might be an argument here if so much of the postseason wasn’t covered by winter break. And, when I hear this, it brings back memories of watching the Hawaii women’s volleyball team studying during practice for exams later that day at the final four.

2. Injuries because of more games

Lower levels of college football play a five-week tournament after an 11-game regular-season schedule.

3. Too many empty seats since fans won’t travel three times in a month

Play the first-round games at the higher seeds’ home stadiums.

There are real stumbling blocks; one has to do with combining two systems — bowl games and playoff games.

College football brags that every regular-season game means something. Now, it has 43 postseason games, with just three for which the same claim can be made.

But if you really boil it all down, this year the old system would’ve been fine — any system would have worked, since it probably would’ve matched up Clemson and Alabama. By record they’re the best two teams in the country, and their fitness was verified when they dispatched Michigan State and Oklahoma with ease on Thursday in the semifinals.

Right?

Well, after its 45-16 Rose Bowl blowout of Iowa on Friday, maybe Stanford has something to say about that. Or even Ohio State, which clobbered Notre Dame 44-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. Those four teams would’ve filled out the field of an eight-team tournament, if you use the playoff committee’s rankings. (Houston, which improved to 13-1 after beating No. 9 Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, would’ve been the group of five rep).

Now, we don’t know if the Cardinal or Buckeyes could beat the Tigers or Tide. But yesterday they both looked much better than the Spartans and Sooners.

If we’re looking at the complete body of work, a two-loss Stanford team can’t complain about being left out of the four-team playoff. But this is definitely a different squad than the one that lost 16-6 at Northwestern to start the season. The lone slip-up since was by two points to Oregon, among 12 wins, including five overranked teams.

And Ohio State also didn’t have a case over Michigan State, since it lost in their head-to-head. But now the Buckeyes — their quarterback controversy finally sorting itself out — looks like the team that won it all last year.

The entire resume from the beginning of the season is in play when you choose four for the playoff. But if you want all of the teams that have improved to the point they could possibly win it now without a miracle, eight is the way to go.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.