| Part III: Just Say No to the Playoffs
The league has played 16 seasons and has never had a team in the NCAA playoffs. Never mind that the PFL has never applied for an automatic bid. No PFL team has ever been selected at large. Those rejected include two with perfect records. --1996 Dayton Flyers: 11-0. --2006 San Diego Toreros, 10-0 when playoff selections were made. The NCAA's playoff committee system--designed as much to obscure accountability as to select the playoff field--favors a few scholarship conferences. However, the possibility that the NCAA will expand the playoffs to 24 teams has some people optimistic that the PFL will eventually be granted an automatic bid (if the league applies for one). Players, coaches, and fans are understandably frustrated. For some, a playoffs bid is the Holy Grail that the league must seize in order to gain the respect they feel the league has been denied. But let's back away from our emotions and consider what might happen if the PFL is given an automatic playoff bid. First, what the committee giveth, the committee can taketh away. The committee's policy is to limit automatic bids to half the field. If the bracket has 24 teams, up to 12 could be automatic qualifiers. With the Northeast Conference and Big South in line to receive future automatic bids, the NCAA already has plans to expand the playoffs to 20 teams. In a 24-team setup, an automatic qualifier from the PFL could be added with room left over for either the Great West or the Southwestern Athletic Conference to participate later. But if the Great West (currently too few members to qualify) and the SWAC both apply for a future automatic bid, the PFL might get squeezed out. With regard to the PFL's reputation, it may be better for the league to be disrespected and never given a chance at the playoffs than to be granted a short term opportunity, ending with the selection committee feeling vindicated for denying the PFL a playoff bid all these years. Second, playoff success will be elusive. The SWAC, a conference with football scholarships which regularly puts alumni in the NFL, decided to stop sending its champion the playoffs following the 1997 season. SWAC schools have played 16 playoff games--all losses. The PFL, with its small stadiums and (usually) unranked teams, would certainly get few home playoff games. As important as home field advantage is, the PFL could ultimately challenge the SWAC's standard for postseason futility. Third, playoffs don't belong in Division I football. On this point, I don't expect to change anyone's mind. You're either a playoff person or a bowl person. I'm a bowl person. Playoffs are fine for Pop Warner, high school, and Division II football. But the PFL plays in Division I. The membership of the Football Championship Subdivision reads like a roster of Division II schools, circa late 1970s. Eastern Kentucky, Delaware, Lafayette, Lehigh, Montana, Northern Iowa, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and many others came from Division II and brought their Division II traditions to (what was then called) I-AA football. Prior to the NCAA's subdividing of Division I football in 1978, there were no football playoffs for any Division I schools. Drake went to three major bowl games. Dayton played Houston in a bowl. Davidson had a bowl matchup against Toledo. One of the best things about bowls is that half the participating teams will finish the season with a win. You can't say the same thing about a 24-team playoff. The Gridiron Classic, the PFL's bowl game, is worthy of continuing if the league takes it seriously. Just as the Drake Relays is not the biggest track meet held the last weekend in April (let alone the rest of the year)--the Gridiron Classic is not the biggest event of the bowl season. But like the Drake Relays, the Gridiron Classic can develop its own charm. The next version of the Gridiron Classic needs to be improved with corporate sponsorship, a television agreement, and a neutral, warm weather location where local residents will support the game. Click Here to Continue to Part IV... |