The Bernstein Brief: Let's Make It Eight
By Dan Bernstein-
(CBS) The system worked, pretty much.
It's hard to complain about the final four decided by the inaugural College Football Playoff committee after they made the easy call to give the final spot to Ohio State. For all the talk about transparency in the process, they ended up making up whatever they wanted in the end to get it right for the most compelling national television. Nick Saban versus Urban Meyer is good stuff.
It would seem there's no need for any rankings before the final one, really, because they don't matter. Convene the decision-makers as they do before the basketball tournament, put all the information on a table and figure it out.
Ideally, the power five conferences would have automatic bids attached to respective championship games, and then three at-large teams would complete the eight-game playoff. That'd create less worry about scheduling disparities and the bad-loss-avoidance contest that these seasons have become, and more opportunity for all.
If you are of the belief that subjectivity, uncertainty and outrage are essential aspects of the college football postseason experience, you'll still have enough of that romanticized silliness around the edges, even as a rightful winner is better determined through an increasingly professional structure.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.