Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

1-2-91 A year ago the Colorado Buffaloes were ranked first in the nation going into the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish won, depriving the Buffaloes of a national championship. Ironically, the situation was the same going into yesterday’s Orange Bowl: Colorado was ranked first in the nation and the Fighting Irish could knock the Buffaloes out. But it didn’t happen; Notre Dame couldn’t pull it out. Despite the Colorado victory, however, the coaches voted Georgia Tech [the Yellow Jackets] the national champion by one point in the UPI [United Press International] poll. Colorado was the AP [Associated Press] champion, which is selected by sports writers and announcers. So there is a split in the two major polls. To make things worse, another pollster has Miami [the Hurricanes] ranked first. This split will undoubtedly increase the calls for a playoff system in college football. I’m not sure a playoff would be a good idea, if only because it would “professionalize” what is supposed to be an amateur sport. On the other hand, there’s a national playoff in college basketball that hasn’t undermined collegiate athletics. I do predict that there will be a playoff of some sort within ten years. Whether it’ll take the place of bowl games I don’t know. Fans don’t like uncertainty; they want a system that generates one champion per year. [There is still no playoff system, though people continue to agitate for it. The number of bowl games has increased from 18 to 35 in the past 20 years.]