A great day for college football

Saturday was a great day to be a college football fan.

With Miami, Florida, Texas, Oregon, and Tennessee playing for a spot in the Rose Bowl, it was do or die time to stay in the running.

Sometimes with so many teams playing, the games don't live up to the hype.

That was not the case on this great college football day, however. These five teams played their games with only eleven points combined separating the winners from the losers. Wow! It doesn't get any better than that.

Sure, most of the college football fans still want a playoff system in place, but this was as close to being a playoff as you could get. Only Oregon played a team that was not in the top 25, and they were playing a great in-state rival in Oregon State. Who needs playoffs when you can have these match ups at this time of year?

I'm sure a playoff system will eventually come, but until then, why can't we just enjoy the sport of college football the way it has historically been?

How would a playoff go anyway? Do you take the top 16 teams, or take the conference champions, or the top four teams? Which poll would you use to take the top teams? How could the teams fit in up to four extra games? I could go on and on.

There will never be a perfect system to get a national champion in college football. This year, I don't believe a playoff system would have been any better than what happened over the last two weeks.

Miami is where they should be, going to the Rose Bowl. They have been the most consistent team all season. They have won when they should have and pulled out close games like they did on Saturday.

If Tennessee wins next week against LSU, they also deserve a shot at the national title. After all, they beat Florida at The Swamp, which has been an impossible place for the Vols, and many others, to win.

I don't really care for either team, but barring a Tennessee loss next Saturday, these are the two best teams to play in the Rose Bowl.

Yes, I know, Colorado, Nebraska, Maryland, and Illinois could all say they deserve a shot at the championship because of their records. The system just didn't work in their favor this year. The bottom line is that you need to win all your games and not lose to inferior opponents to get in the championship game.

This season, at least, will truly give us a national champion that deserves the title.

College football cannot work like college basketball and their tournament. You just can't play that many games in that short of a time and have a final four in a weekend. The travel and having one game a week will not work if there are a large number of teams in the playoffs.

Saturday was the playoffs for most of the teams. Watching all the close games was exciting and produced the better teams winning.

Whoever Miami plays, the Rose Bowl will produce a true national champion without even having a playoff.

College football is alive and well and was especially fantastic on Saturday.