A Four-Team Playoff Doesn't Affect The MAC At All

12 games is a very small amount. Baseball teams can crank that out in two weeks. Starting in 2013, college football teams who are considered champions will play a total of 12 games, plus maybe a conference championship, plus two more games. So, 14 to 15 games. On a sliding scale it is so much easier to go undefeated in college football than basketball or any other sport in which, like, 20 games are required. Simple math.

Twelve games is not many. A team can get lucky and run into 10 or 11 wins with the right mixture of talent and scheduling. Heavier in the minds of a selection committee is still the name "Ohio State" and all the fans (eyeballs with wallets) that would come with it. No number of MAC teams in the world could compete with that.

So here's what we think about all this playoff stuff:

The mythical season we saw in 2006 with Boise State and 1999 with Marshall (or even 2003 with Miami) will remain just that. They'll be a great team who "didn't play a good-enough schedule" and will be left out in the cold. 2006 Boise State finished around No. 8 or No. 9 in most major polls before the bowl games. 2003 Miami finished 11th. 1999 Marshall was 12th.

A four-team playoff for college football changes nothing as far as the MAC is concerned. I consider it a new toy that large conferences get to play with, fight over, and get their grubby, spit-covered hands dirty with. The MAC Championship is still the cherished grail of any MAC team, and a bowl win-loss record is their collective "bonus level" round. It's enough for us.