My entire life, I have watched these bowl games because I was a diehard college football fan. I suffered through the Redbox Bowl. Not only that, but also the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. I even watched the infamous Cheez-It Bowl (or should I say, Cheez-INT bowl). Why do we do this? 

No seriously, why? What did Michigan State get by winning the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl? Sure, the university got money and the players received recognition, but what did they actually win? The answer is absolutely nothing.  

This is not to discredit Michigan State or any other program for saying their season meant nothing, but rather a critique on the college football postseason system itself. This season, 78 teams will participate in bowls, but only four of those teams will actually participate in the only thing that truly matters after the conference championship games: a national championship. 

As we approach the College Football Playoff Selection show, there are eight teams that currently have a valid argument to be in the playoff, but only four will make it. LSU, Clemson and Ohio State are all essentially locks barring an unprecedented meltdown in their championship games. Georgia, depending on how the SEC Championship goes, has a chance. However, you still have Oklahoma, Baylor and Utah on the outside looking in. 

So this begs the question, why does the NCAA have a system that only allows at most four of the conferences to participate, when five of them produce playoff caliber teams each season? 

It is time to reform the postseason of college football because frankly, it is well overdue.  

First, let's eliminate the bowl games. The bowl games each season have little meaning. The marquee athletes i  these games end up sitting out to avoid risk of injury. Shouldn’t that tell the NCAA something? That a player would rather skip out on their last game than play in the bowl. However, under this proposal, this wouldn’t be the absolute end of some of the historic ones like the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl. 

Next, let’s expand the playoff to at least eight. I, as a fan, would prefer 16, but I also understand having up to 17 games for student athletes just is not fair at the end of the day. Then, give an automatic bid to each Power Five school (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) and another automatic bid to the highest ranked non-Power Five school. Then make the last two remaining spots at large bids for the highest ranked remaining schools. The first four games would be named and played at the historic sites that we all know and love like the Orange Bowl in Miami, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  

Under this system, every team across the country would have a chance to compete for a title. As it stands now, the non-Power Five schools such as UCF and Boise State have zero chance to truly compete. I understand that they are not the cream of the crop, but how can programs improve if they have no chance at a title? 

An eight-team system would help make sure that a deserving team would not be left out of the discussion. Yes, there would be years where a team thinks they were screwed and there will be years where a team that gets in probably shouldn’t be in, but the eight-team system will offer more tams a fair shot. 

I understand that if you do not make it into the eight-team playoff you have nothing to play for with no bowl games. However, how many sports can you name that have .500 teams, or even in some cases a losing record, competing in the postseason? The only time you see that is in rare cases in the NFL or currently in one of the worst Eastern Conferences the NBA has ever seen, and even the NBA is considering changes to their postseason. 

In an ever-changing world, companies and sports are changing faster than ever. It is time college football changes, too.