Revamping the College Football Playoffs

Bring back the New Year tradition.

Tonight (January 20, 2025) Ohio State plays Notre Dame for college football’s national championship.

I’m not a fan of tradition for tradition’s sake, but until the late 1990s, the national championship was usually decided on New Year’s night. Starting with the BCS Era of the late 1990s, it was played within a few days after New Year’s. During the 4-team Playoff Era, it was played a week or more after New Year’s Day. Now, it’s almost three weeks after.

The New Year’s bowl games and the national championship game were a nice cap on the Christmas season, after which we started thinking about the NFL playoffs. That’s the thing: I care about the NFL playoffs even when I don’t have a rooting interest, but my interest in college football wanes the further we go into January; college football is no longer must-see TV for me.

There is a lot of chaos in college football, and the date of the national championship game isn’t at the top of the list of problems. The game may get a decent television rating because of the high-profile schools involved. But we can still have a playoff while returning the championship to New Year’s Day.

Here’s a plan that should be as lucrative for the conferences as the system we have now: