How a playoff would have decided every college football title since 1966 - ESPN

Arguing about sports is forever a growth industry. But we in the college football universe have proven ourselves standouts in this regard: We don't ever have to even change what we're yelling about!

The «playoff or no playoff?» debate raged for almost 50 years, from the mid-1960s to the early 2010s, and when we finally got one, we immediately began debating about playoff expansion. The «super league breakaway» debate that has picked up steam lately? We've been talking about that one since the 1970s, when the Alabamas and Oklahomas of the world got annoyed about having the same NCAA Division I voting power as the Ionas and Mercers. Conference realignment? Conferences have been realigning since conferences first became a thing, but rumors and power moves have been in fifth gear for basically 35-45 years now. All in all, the player compensation debate is still in its early stages: We've only been arguing about it for, what, 15-20 years?

Year after year, decade after decade, we fight on. A playoff will ruin the integrity of the regular season! And what about the bowls? A super league is right around the corner! People will stop watching if the players are getting paid! Mizzou's going to land that Big Ten invitation any day now!

(Hey, don't scoff at that last one. It wouldn't be the craziest thing that league has done in the last few years.)

Since multiverses are all the rage these days, let's hop over into an alternate universe where, 60 years ago, college football magically did something progressive. Let's pretend for a moment Duffy Daugherty's lobbying for an eight-team playoff, with six conference champions and the top two independents (or, theoretically, champions of other conferences), actually worked.

Daugherty's plan