Column: College football needs 16-team playoff

The weekly polls and standings for college football were released Sunday.

There are four undefeated teams atop the Bowl Championship Series standings, the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll.

Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Baylor are those four perfect teams.

While looking through the polls and standings published Nov. 10 and Nov. 17, there were some things that were confusing.

The new college football playoff system, slated to debut in 2015, cannot come soon enough, as it could correct some of the ranking issues in polls. Other polls are too sensitive to things like strength of schedule and margin of victory.

Only the BCS standings should be used in college football, as the other polls don’t actually mean anything in the end. College football teams are trying to be ranked 14th or higher, giving them an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game.

The playoffs should consist of more than just four teams, which is how it currently stands.

Sixteen teams should compete for the National Championship. This would help clear up the difference between a team ranked fourth and fifth, as those two teams might be separated by just a few points. Both teams would make it instead of just the team that is ranked fourth.

If the college football playoffs don’t work, then something else needs to be put in place that can correct college football bowl season.

Nov. 10’s polls and standings had Alabama and Florida State ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, atop the BCS standings, AP Top 25 Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Ohio State was ranked third in all three polls.

Baylor was ranked fourth in both the AP Top 25 Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll. In the BCS standings, it was ranked fifth.

Sunday’s newest polls and standings had Baylor ranked fourth in the USA Today Coaches Poll as well as in the BCS standings, where Baylor was listed behind Alabama, Florida State and Ohio State, respectively.

Baylor ranked third in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Notice something different?

Baylor moved up one spot, as it replaced Ohio State for the third spot.

Ohio State fell one spot down to fourth in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Ohio State played a weak opponent in Illinois, while Baylor played a quality opponent in Texas Tech.

Baylor beat Texas Tech by 29, but Ohio State defeated Illinois by 25.

Florida State’s last two games are against teams with losing records.

Ohio State has one game against a team with a winning record and one game against a team with a losing record.

Baylor plays two of its last three games against teams with winning records.

Baylor might even move up to No. 2 in the polls and replace Florida State based on opponents.

The four teams atop the polls have each already beat a couple quality opponents.

Is it fair that one of those teams’ schedule is back-loaded with horrible, weak teams?

No, it’s not.

Baylor shouldn’t have moved up to replace Ohio State in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Surprisingly, for once, it wasn’t the BCS standings that made a mistake.
 
Alabama plays Chattanooga next before it plays in its regular season finale against No. 6 Auburn.

Chattanooga competes in the Football Championship Series (FCS), which is a level below the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). To appear in a bowl game, an FBS team must win at least six games against other FBS teams or five games against FBS opponents and one against an FCS school.

The sixth win against the FCS school will only count toward bowl eligibility if the FCS school meets scholarship requirements.

Not that Alabama needs this win.

Alabama should easily handle its opponent, while Baylor might have trouble with ranked Oklahoma State.

If both teams win, will Alabama and Baylor switch spots in the rankings and polls?
Hopefully not.

The 16-team playoff should start immediately. The AP Top 25 Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll need to be forgotten.

­— jayljohn@indiana.edu

Follow columnist Jaylen Johnson on Twitter @nelyaJohnsonIDS.