Northern Iowa: The Best and Worst Thing to Happen to College Sports

So it occurred to me while watching the online gamecast of Northern Iowa upsetting Kansas that I was missing one of those monumental upsets that will be on highlight reels for years. When Ali Farokhmanesh took that 3 he put a dagger in the heart of Kansas, but the ramifications of that shot may eventually affect more than just his teams fate. There are 2 major consequences that could come from not just the UNI win, but the all the other upsets this year.

The first is an expansion of the tournament to 96 (or 97) teams from the current field of 65. While I am for expansion, it is to a field of 68. Changing the play-in games from two automatic qualifiers who deserve to be in the field of 64 to making the last 4 at large spots play in games between bubble teams. At worst, keep the current format and just make the last at large spot a play-in game. However, seeing these at large teams seeded 11th or 12th win games will make other cry for their spot.

The second consequence is a little more far-reaching, but not totally insane. Games like this only make the BCS conferences more uneasy about a football playoff. In basketball you need to win 6 games in a row to become National Champion, but in most of the proposals for a college football playoff it's only 2 or 3. Now a 4, 8, or even 16 game tournament is definitely a better option for football due to its violent nature, but with the current system no non-BCS school has ever truly competed for a spot in the title game. For the Boise St. and Utah's of the world to ever have a shot they need to go undefeated and hope everyone else has at least 2 losses. With an 8 team playoff, both TCU and Boise St. would have played in the tournament, and would have had a legit chance to win. Imagine an 8 team playoff based on the BCS rankings. The first round would be Alabama vs Ohio St, Texas vs Oregon, Cincinnati vs Boise St, and TCU vs Florida. Everyone wins with that, but the conference commissioners get together, all they'll see is the potential to lose significant revenue by allowing the smaller schools in, which is a shame.