The most wonderful time of the year

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When Christmas music filters through speakers in the mall and every department store within the realm of civilization, it means something is just around the corner for college football fans — bowl week. While Hanukkah has eight wonderful days of celebration and Christmas will finish 2008 with a bang, the college football bowl games make the holiday season long lasting and enjoyable.

From the Las Vegas Bowl and the Armed Forces Bowl to the lucrative BCS Bowls, the winter break will be stuffed with NCAA gridiron action. Intriguing matchups or not, the games will fill the holiday menu with enough football to keep fans glued to the television and strapped to their Lazy Boys.
Even self-proclaimed college football fan President-elect Barack Obama will find time to check the games out.

As great as the bowl season is, it could be improved with the implementation of a playoff system. Not only would it improve the bowl matchups, but also it would provide a clear-cut national champion. While the pros outweigh the cons for a playoff system, would a playoff detract from the best regular season of any sport?

Every game in NCAA football is a must-win for teams hoping to compete for a national title or a BCS birth. By contrast, a team in the NFL can sneak into the playoffs with a marginal record and have a shot at the Super Bowl. As long as teams don’t water their schedules down with opponents like Youngstown State and Florida A&M, the regular season will reign supreme.

However, in essence there is somewhat of a playoff taking place every season. As it turns out the SEC Championship game acts as a semi-final matchup most years. Alabama and Florida fought it out this season to see which team would advance to the big game. The final four comes down to the SEC and Big 12 conference championship games. It’s kind of a stretch, but it’ll have to do until the BCS relinquishes its stronghold on college football.