Nick Saban: What I most feared about the playoff happened
Nick Saban had a big fear going into the inaugural College Football Playoff. And he says it came true.
On Wednesday, Saban spoke before the Regions Traditions Pro-Am and revealed what he most feared about the playoff.
“I learned what I feared the most would happen,” Saban said via Al.com. “All the attention, all the interest would be about the four teams in the playoffs, which is exactly what happened, which was great to be a part of.
“But what I was most fearful of is college football is unique. A lot of young men get a lot of positive self gratification from being able to go to a bowl game and that’s always been a special thing. That by having a playoff we would minimize the interest in other bowl games, which I think is sort of what happened and I hate to see that for college football.”
We aren’t sure what the heck Saban is talking about, though it’s sure a familiar refrain.
We know that a year isn’t enough to make a sweeping judgment, but if the CFP was bad for the traditional playoff system, we’re not sure there would be a record number of bowl games for the 2015 season.
And little fundamentally changed about the bowl system with the College Football Playoff. With the BCS, 10 teams were selected for more prestigious bowls and two of those teams played for the championship. With the Playoff, 12 teams were selected for New Year’s six bowls … and two of them played for the championship.
Yes, the weeks during the season were dominated by the discussion surrounding the CFP rankings, but the BCS had weekly standings too. Nothing changed there, except the debate was expanded from two included teams to four. The teams going to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl had no chance for the national title before the BCS, during the BCS and after the BCS.
Saban also wondered (again) if the bowl system should stay intact or be entirely replaced by a playoff. While we’re all for expanding the playoff to eight or 16 teams, we’re pretty sure the bowl system will stay intact in some form outside of an expanded playoff if or when it happens. Why? If bowls didn’t make money, they wouldn’t exist. And as long as the bowls are making money – and people are still watching – they’re not going anywhere.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
