Part of the reason we have a College Football Playoff to begin with is because of the frustrations with the previous BCS system.
But when it comes to CFP selection, Penn State’s James Franklin believes the sport needs look to its past in order to combat the bias’ of the present and future.
The inconsistencies of the tournament’s selection committee are well-documented at this point. And Franklin believes the BCS provided the least-biased way of selecting a national champion.
“It’s funny, because I think there’s all these complaints about the BCS,” Franklin explained. “But then we go to this, and I think it goes back to really my answer. The problem is, everybody voting and everybody involved in the process, whether you want to be biased or not, we all are biased, right?”
“So I think in a lot of ways, you could make the argument a formula could be better. But we didn’t love the formula. So we went to this other system. But there’s a lot of challenges, right?” the coach continued. “… So, there’s just, in my mind, a formula makes the most sense. Because it takes the bias out that we all have. But I also think maybe there’s a way to kind of do both.”
“But again, I don’t mean to beat a dead horse here. But I just feel like there’s never going to be a perfect system on the back end,” Franklin concluded. “So, let’s try to make it as perfect as we can on the front end, so at least everybody has the ability to compare an apple to an apple.”
Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
As it stands right now, the Playoff committee kind of selectively applies metrics that it deems important. But there hasn’t really been much uniformity to it.
Last season marked Franklin and the Nittany Lions’ first appearance in the expanded 12-team bracket. And we’ll see if they’re able to go just as far, if not further, regardless of selection process in 2025.
Related: NBA Finals Taking Heat For National Anthem Decision
