You're not the only one -- I believe strongly that the entire game is being ruined by the obsession with the playoffs. I'm thinking that the game has maybe five more years before it starts a free-fall because of lack of interest: fewer telecasts; bowl games going away one-by-one and a handful of power teams getting even richer and more dominant. A number of schools will lose their football programs because they'll no longer be able to financially support them. Conference championships have already been diminished and will continue to be until no one cares about them at all. LSU and UGA will play in a few days for a playoff berth rather than the conf. champ. that it's supposed to be for. I could go one and on but the game is being ruined because of the insane obsession with the National Championship.

College football was never meant to have a "real champion" -- the national championship was just an award like the Heisman that was voted to the team of the year and given the label of "national champion." The NFL is structured for a playoff -- college football is not. The NFL has 32 teams and college about 130. The playoff is in the NFL are based on your record -- college is not because there far too many teams spread out over far to many conferences and there's really no way to reach into all of that and come up some some sort of equitable drawing of teams. The NFL has about a third of their teams make the playoffs. For college to have that ratio there would need to be 40+ teams to make it to the playoffs -- why does anyone want a playoff that will eliminate around 75-80% of the teams never having a realistic shot of making the playoffs? Even if you went to 16 playoff teams (disaster) there would only be about 30-40 teams around the country that have a shot at qualifying. People years ago understand that college football is a REGIONAL game and not a national one. The "championship" was winning your conference and after the end of the season the exhibition (bowl games) began. The bowls were just good match-ups that didn't matter except for bragging rights and the fans of the teams making a vacation out of their bowl week for fun -- it was all just for FUN! When it was all said and done there was a vote on the "team of the year" and someone got the award. And I have NEVER understood why there is this desperate push to have a playoff and ruin it all. The game will be RUINED if it turns into a playoff sport because it is not made for one!

The one sport that has the biggest following around the country never had a playoff. Stadiums around the country packed to the brim to watch a sport that never had a playoff. Rivalry games had millions of people watching from all around the country on TV, for a sport that never had a playoff. Most every week of the season there was a big game match-up somewhere and millions atop millions tuned-in to watch it...for a sport that did not have a playoff. And now we have many people that basically want to throw away an entire season of excitement so as to have a "playoff" at the end that accomplishes absolutely nothing and at the end of the day ONE team is named National Champion. Just as it's always been.

Kirby Smart knew his defense was not prepared for Jalen and is why he pulled the trigger on the fake punt. His tired defense could not defend Jalen and his ability to get out of the pocket and it would've mattered not if Bama had gotten the ball on the 20 from a punt, or the 50...Bama was going to score

Strength of schedule is one of the most overblown indicators of a team's strength that there is. Was LSU really all that good? They were supposed to be good because they beat Auburn (that has already lost 3 times) and by beating Georgia that hasn't beaten anyone to write home about either. But they were #3 and so Bama has now supposedly beaten a strong team? Baloney. Alabama is a great team, period -- it matters not as to who they've played. A thoroughbred is no less of a thoroughbred just because those in the race against him have all been jackasses. And a jackass beating a bunch of other jackasses, doesn't make that jackass a thoroughbred just because he's highly ranked among the jackasses. Bama may lose a game and it won't be the first time a top team has had that happened to them. But if you can't look at athletes on the field - regardless of who they are playing - and see talent and ability when it's there, then I guess you need someone to tell you who's ranked where in order to know what a good football team is.

Years ago I predicted that the conference championships would become a hindrance to a playoff system and that is exactly what is happening. The conference championships have now become landmines to teams who've already proven their worth during the course of a season. The game last night between Wisconsin and OSU didn't prove who was the best team in the conference anymore than the game between OSU and Iowa did. What it did prove before it even started, was that Wisconsin had nothing to gain and everything to lose, while Ohio State was just the opposite...why was Wisconsin REWARDED for an undefeated season by having to walk a minefield and get blown out of the playoffs? These conference championships are not "championships" at all, they are simply an extra conference game for two teams that is wrapped in hype and glitter and which provide the lesser accomplished teams a backdoor to get into the playoffs.

Yes, that's their argument and it's about as absurd as anything can be. When you have two losses and one of those losses is in NOVEMBER to an UNRANKED team...you should be nowhere in the discussion about a potential playoff spot.

In my view, if you have 2 losses and one of them is being blown-out by an UNRANKED team in NOVEMBER...don't make me laugh with the claim that you deserve a spot in the Final Four. Don't make me laugh. I am not saying that Alabama is a dominant team and I am not sure that would win anything in a playoff. But I am saying that the format calls for FOUR teams and Alabama is the most deserving of all the teams left.

I like Herbie, but I think he's wrong about this one. When SEC fans chant S-E-C, it has nothing to do with trying to lay claim to a national championship, it's simply a pride in our conference and the caliber of football played in it. When Michael Phelps was winning gold medals in the Olympics and folks were chanting U-S-A, no one was trying to lay claim to HIS medals, but rather because HE is a part of OUR country and thus WE are proud. But all in all, I would bet that Herbie made those comments as a way of showing that he is NOT an SEC homer. He gets accused all the time of being a mouthpiece for the SEC -- I am betting he just took the opportunity to say a little something negative about the SEC so that he can say the he DOES take the SEC to task every now and then.