This may be the first and last time you read that headline on Say Anything, but anybody who wants a BCS football playoff is in my good graces for at least one day!
President-elect Barack Obama would like a college football playoff. The BCS’ response? We’ll listen, but ...
BCS coordinator John Swofford responded to a stepped-up playoff push by Obama that was broadcast on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday. President-elect Obama also lobbied for a college football playoff in an interview with ESPN that was broadcast the night before the presidential election during halftime of Monday Night Football.
“First of all I want to congratulate newly elected President Obama and I am glad he has a passion for college football like so many other Americans,” Swofford said in a statement. “For now, our constituencies—and I know he understands constituencies—have settled on the current BCS system, which the majority believe is the best system yet to determine a national champion while also maintaining the college football regular season as the best and most meaningful in sports.”
Swofford added: “We certainly respect the opinions of president-elect Obama and welcome dialogue on what’s best for college football.”
Obama said he will use his influence to create such a system.
“If you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system,” he told reporter Steve Kroft.
According to Obama’s proposed system, eight teams would play over three rounds to settle the national champion.
“It would add three extra weeks to the season,” he said at the conclusion of a wide-ranging interview. “You could trim back on the regular season. I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Now if some of the wealth could be spread around and he could provide some of those $1,000 tickets I’m really on board.