Why college football went so long without a playoff: History of bowls

[@Mbarnstein62891]

To be fair, the FCS has had a playoff system in place for a long while now. The FBS is just now figuring that out.

[@anthony0358]

This was an excellent video. Amazing research. I truly enjoyed it. I need to point out the following issues. In 1983, Miami was Ranked #4 going into that epic Orange Bowl. #2 Texas lost to Georgia in the cotton bowl and #3 Auburn defeated Michigan in the Sugar Bowl but Miami jumped over Auburn who lost to Texas in the regular season. Finally until 1992 team routinely negotiated bowl appearances prior to the end of the regular season. Notre Dame did this in 1989 and 1990 and that impacted the national championship both years

[@troyturner173]

Truth

[@Grafknar]

At the end of the day, it’s quite simple: 130+ teams, not enough Saturdays. What developed instead was the most amazing regular season in all sports, with a tiered reward system in the postseason for teams w winning records, providing plenty of excitement even for teams not at the top because there was a big difference between going 8-4 and 7-5. 20 years from now, CFB will be a glorified Minor League. Playoffs are one reason why.

[@Grafknar]

Excellent video! Very grateful that someone actually cares about the history of the sport enough to delve into why it is the way that is. However, sadly once you understand, the nature of college football - you understand why the rampant changes are literally going to gut what makes the sport unique, and beloved. You stand before a rabbit hole, my friend.

[@OffTheHookSports]

Well said. I hope you're wrong!

[@thenumberquelve158]

I never realized how big of a deal it is to *have* the NCAA exist in the first place to standardize all these rules so that we stand a chance at all of comparing different teams. I like that the contests we now take very seriously just started out as fun exhibitions *well* after the bulk of the season (which you would attend via train because there weren't commercial airplanes back then.) I have Asperger's Syndrome and I like to look at things very objectively, so I prefer a playoff format, but I do appreciate what you said at 19:52. The volatility of a 12-game season can lead to extremely entertaining contests.

[@donaldharper8632]

The older I get, the more I appreciate videos without profanity and sarcasm to explain things I am interested in. 😊

[@OffTheHookSports]

@@donaldharper8632 amen

[@ryandowning2956]

They’ve been crowning an NCAA D1 football championship since like the 70s

[@Grafknar]

Nope. No official NCAA CFB national championship. Ever. The AP Poll begin in 1936, and was traditionally seen as the National championship crown - though sometimes there was a split with the coaches/UPI poll.

[@ryandowning2956]

@@Grafknar they’ve been crowning a D1 natty champ tho, SDSU is the back to back champs rn

[@trackstar1337]

@@ryandowning2956lets go aztecs

[@ryandowning2956]

@@trackstar1337 play us pussies

[@Beachbum4ever]

Good History lesson Caleb! Great stuff!

[@tommykeeran6776]

NCAA football is the ONLY sport in the country that needs a big playoff, and is instead the only one that doesn't have one. The NFL needs a playoff because of the limited number of games, but we really don't need 14 teams in it. 8 (each division winner) would suffice....everyone else already proved inferior by not winning their division. MLB could balance the divisions and schedule in a way where you only need 4 divisions, and again, with the long season those who don't win those divisions PROVED inferior and shouldn't qualify. So you only need a 4 team playoff there Basketball, hockey....meh. You can never convince me that a 41-41 team is better in any way than a 60-22 one, even if they happen to beat them in a best of 7 series. 82 games trumps 7. College basketball has it right with their tournament, although it may even be a bit too big with so many mid pack teams getting in. But college football, with it's limited number of games NEEDS to have at least 10 in their playoff because all 10 conference champs deserve a shot. Instead we get 12 and exclusion of certain conferences. In an era where every other league has gone overboard with needless playoff games to get TV money, NCAA football is stuck in the mud and afraid of inclusion. It's quite sad honestly.

[@charlesmcfall9825]

Great job Caleb!

[@samuelrinercustomknives2765]

Great video!

[@OffTheHookSports]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ranul2]

the first baseball champion was 1857 national association of Baseball players

[@stephaniegormley9982]

21:19 Not exactly. Nebraska was number 1 but Miami was number 5. Their win along with higher ranked Texas' loss in the Cotton Bowl and higher ranked Illinois' loss in the Rose Bowl had the voters giving Miami the nod. This of course angered higher ranked Auburn who won the Sugar Bowl, but remained at number 3.

[@genephillips856]

Good is there a part 2?

[@OffTheHookSports]

It'll post next Sunday morning.

[@genephillips856]

@@OffTheHookSports thanks

[@someperson3883]

21:21 If Texas won the Cotton Bowl that year they would have been national champions, but they lost

[@DNSKansas]

Alabama was punished in 1966 for having an all-white team and George Wallace as governor.

[@chaos0852]

There are playoffs in the lower divisions of college football, only greed stopped a division 1 playoff all these years

[@stout8807]

There has been a DIV1 playoff for decades. FCS is NCAA sponsored D1 playoff

[@erinnarmstrong993]

The playoffs haven't changed anything. Its the BCS with more bells and whistles

[@ryandowning2956]

There is a D1 playoff, has been for decades

[@coments101]

​@@erinnarmstrong993Would've had 2017 UCF in the playoffs, ya know, the team that beat the team that beat the 2 teams that were in the National Title game that year? Would you old school CFB dickriders prefer the extremely flawed system where the top 2 teams play for the title, while everyone else gets fucked?

[@austinunderwood]

Alternate title: "why did college football finally ruin high level regular season games like all other sports?"

[@OffTheHookSports]

That's a great point.

[@evanrozsa]

It still has by far the most important regular season of any sport in North America

[@kylethomas2993]

The regular season doesn't matter right now for 97% of teams

[@austinunderwood]

@@kylethomas2993 if people would stop saying bowl games don't matter (they do) or they were better then their games would matter more. Don't see a reason to punish the best/most profitable brands in the sport to prop up 10-2 ole miss's schedule at the expense of the game or the iron bowl's late season importance. 🤡

[@w.s.659]

Tell me which 1 of FSU’s 13 games during the regular season mattered

[@k7j6]

Not much of a fan of that kind of Football to think of why there was no playoff in College Football! I normally only watch it if it involves my favorite colleges. Or if the Oregon Ducks are losing. My favorite thing to do during any part of the College Sports Season is to see the Oregon Ducks LOSE. For 2 reasons mainly! 1-They are based in Oregon where it is a disgrace of a State & 2-They dope their athletes & that Crooked Founder of Nike Phil Knight seems to do whatever he can to make sure Oregon never gets punished for their doping. It is also possible that their head man Charlie Baker has ties to Phil Knight. I was hoping last season after he took charge of the NCAA that Oregon would finally get a taste of their own medicine by losing more games! But unfortunately! They won all but 2 games including a Bowl Game when they should’ve been banned. Which made the matter WAY WORSE than when Mark Emmert took charge before him. I on the other hand will be happy for those that love that kind of Football if they get that playoff! But before I can be with them there! What needs to happen first are these key things. Charlie Baker needs to be fired & replaced with someone who will take better action on those Doping Oregon Ducks & Oregon needs to lose way more games &/or finally be majorly punished for their doping. So again! Before I can hope with those that enjoy that kind of Football better than I do for a better playoff system! Those Top 2 or 3 things need to happen THE WORST in College Football.