I fell asleep in the third quarter of Ohio State-Alabama, but that won't stop me from commenting:
1. The playoff has clearly been vindicated. Under the BCS rules, Alabama would have played Oregon or (more likely) Florida State with OSU completely out of it. Plainly, these wouldn't have been the best teams.
2. It's equally clear that the SEC has been overrated: most likely, a combination of inertia and the conference publicity machine fed by TV networks. Not only did Alabama lose, but Mississippi was creamed by TCU and the other SEC teams didn't overimpress, either. That's another reason why you need a playoff.
3. Although four teams are better than two, I think it's an unsustainable number. The exclusion of TCU, which I think would have clocked Florida State and maybe Alabama as well, is a particular case in point. I think we will see eight teams and possibly more soon enough.
BTW, while I still think Rutgers made a mistake joining the Big 10, the decision looks a little better now than before. They won their own bowl game, and the big conference powers (Ohio State, Michigan State, etc.) did pretty well, also. The Big 10 "brand"--a sort of midway between the SEC and the Ivy League, good sports and good enough academics--thus looks better now than it did a few months ago. I still think that big time college sports are headed for a fall and it would be better to distance one's self while you still can. But if professors really mattered, they'd be football coaches.
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