COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF: Double standards and bias must be addressed

Eight teams can't get here soon enough. I've said that before. But the College Football Playoff needs to make that adjustment soon, lest they fall prey to the same thing that got the BCS blown up.

Human bias. The BCS "faked" using computer rankings, as humans came up with those formulas.

Just look at college hoops. They've got it nailed down.

Conference champs are guaranteed. At-large is decided by a committee, and at that point, if a big time program gets picked off in the conference tourney, nobody has an issue when they are included in the field. Nobody gets too conflicted over snubs as those teams were highly unlikely contenders to begin with. Win and your in. Most folks are good with that.

College football could fix this real quick. I don't want to hear about contracts. Stuff like that gets renegotiated all the time.

Each Power 5 conference champ is guaranteed a spot. Three additional spots? No worries. The committee can hand these out to either a deserving mid-major champ (ex: Boise State), or if a truly deserving big time program that was previously undefeated and rolling trips up at the end, they could be included. I personally wouldn't have an issue if Bama and LSU both made it, as long as another Power 5 conference champ doesn't get cheated out to do it. Put every major champ in, and conference reputation will change quickly enough.

Let the humans decide, however, and bias will always come into play. Just look at the Big 12, and particularly Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys just thrashed TCU, formerly No. 8 in the first CFP committee rankings. Human bias, because of the low regard for OSU's schedule, the Big 12 in general, and the way they've won, will focus more on TCU being a pretender than the Cowboys being a contender. That schedule, however, should not be overlooked.

OSU is the only top team in the Big 12 that had to visit Morgantown. They are also the only top team that will have visited Austin. The only Big 12 contender that played either of these teams someplace other than their own home field was OU, and they were beaten handily by Texas in the Cotton Bowl, who then got run off the field by Iowa State.

You can't logically start trotting out OU as a legit darkhorse CFP contender without giving credit to OSU for winning in Austin. Extend this logic to the SEC, where Ole Miss beat Bama, but then lost badly to Memphis, who just lost badly to Navy. The committee, and pundits, have already forgotten that performance, or written it off to a "fluke." This is what humans will do. They will glorify their flawed logic because it's what they believed going into the discussion. It's a major reason why OSU was kept out of the national title game in 2011. The loss to Iowa State wasn't seen as enough of a fluke, and it also happened too late. Late losses kill a contender, which is another huge reason humans need to take a back seat to this process. Why should a loss late count more than a loss early? Because time heals all wounds. We are a "what have you done for me lately" society, and we tend to rationalize the world around us to fit our own view and belief structure. Logic often has nothing to do with this process, which is why it's a lot easier if your loss is long enough ago that I can "forget" about it.

If the Cowboys win out, chances are extremely high that they will be in the playoff. However, it is not far-fetched to envision a scenario where they get left out. There were 13 teams ahead of OSU after the first CFP rankings came out last week. The Cowboys should jump Michigan State, TCU, and Memphis, but who else? There are still a lot of teams ahead of them that could win out, a number already with one loss, but all it will take is four and our beloved boys in orange could be excluded. Also, I may hate Baylor, but they got screwed last season, not just because the Big 12 itself was wishy-washy, but because the conference champ had no guaranteed spot. The winner should get in...even if it is Baylor, and for that matter, also the Pac12 and ACC champs.

Why in the world is a one loss Bama team that much better than a one loss Big 12 champ, whose one loss on paper would be WAY better than losing to Ole Miss? Because humans control the pencil, and that's criminal. Just take a look at this for "perspective:"

Blown minds #CFBPlayoff #TCUvsOKST had 38 Poss. 78 points (2.05pts/poss.) #BamavsLSU had 22 poss. 46 points (2.09pts/poss.) Same game.

— Austin Chadwick (@AustinChadwick) November 8, 2015

I've been saying that March Madness is incredible, but an eight team CFB playoff would challenge the NFL for supremacy.

Conference champs in....check

Mid-major underdog in...check

Money coming in hand over fist...guaranteed.

Make it happen sooner rather than later.