Alabama’s Nick Saban, right, and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer. (Matthew Emmons-USA Today Sports) The College Football Playoff made its debut last season, and it appeared to be a success. The weekly rankings issued by the selection committee provided plenty of intrigue, and the first-ever national semifinals were a massive ratings hit, as both games delivered the biggest audiences in cable TV history for ESPN. Plus, we saw the magic of a playoff format right away, as Ohio State, the last team to make it into the final quartet, went on to win the whole thing. So what’s not to like? Well, if you’re Nick Saban, head coach of fellow CFP participant Alabama, plenty, apparently. The three-time national championship winner offered these comments Wednesday (via AL.com): “I learned what I feared the most would happen,” Saban said. “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.” … “Maybe we need to go one way or the other,” Saban added. “Either have bowl games or have playoffs but not try to have both.” Well, bowl games are certainly not going away. In fact, the NCAA recently certified three new postseason contests, bringing the total number of bowl games to 42, requiring the participation of nearly two-thirds of the 127 FBS schools. If there’s a major concern about minimizing the interest in bowl games, wouldn’t adding more games make that situation worse? Plus, the CFP semifinal games, played as the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl, added so many more viewers in 2014 than watched those bowls the year before that the only reasonable conclusion one can draw is that the brand-new playoff greatly increased interest in college football overall. In fact, even with the dizzying proliferation of bowl games in recent years, TV viewership remains relatively high. The New York Times reported that of the whopping 38 bowl games carried by ESPN last season, none had fewer than 1.1 million viewers, which is more than watched nine early-round games in the supposedly must-see NCAA basketball tournament. So what does Saban have against the CFP? Perhaps he’s just bitter about having been knocked out in the semifinals. …
Continue Reading: Nick Saban is not a fan of the College Football Playoff. Wonder why?
