The Playoff Comes to College Football (In 2014, That Is)

The piece of crystal known as the Coaches’ Trophy is the most coveted object in college football. Up until now with the BCS, how said object has been won has been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny, but the end is near.

The fans appear to finally be getting what they wanted: a college football playoff. Is it the one we wanted, however?

That is impossible to know right now, because all the details are not yet in place, but there is a basic idea. The long and short of it is that we’ll have a “seeded four-team playoff” and those teams will be decided by a selection committee. Brett McMurphy describes succinctly where we’re headed:

"That model [preferred by the commissioners], multiple sources told CBSSports.com, would be the “best four teams” chosen by a selection committee with the committee putting emphasis on conference champions."

Everyone who follows college football on a regular basis is aware that a playoff was on its way, but there are a lot of elements that must be considered here, both with regards to Boston College football’s place in the mix and the FBS structure as a whole.

I don’t need to tell any Boston College fans that we won’t be competing for a national championship any time soon, and probably not by 2014, either, so this story has little immediate relevance to us on that front. What it could also mean, however, is that the superconfrapocalypse is nigh. Might we be looking at the advent of four repulsively titanic football conferences which totally run the show? It’s possible.

Then there’s also the matter of what happens to the rest of the bowl system. I would imagine it’ll stay in place as is, because it’s far too big of a cash cow for the commishes to jettison.

Watch for the details to come out in the months to follow.