The imperfect College Football Playoff has changed college football history

The new College Football Playoff is here to stay. The inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Ohio State and Oregon on Monday night ushered in a new –and possibly permanent- era for the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The game itself was worth watching in it’s own right. The Ohio State Buckeyes (14-1), who had been underestimated all season, proved all of their doubters wrong. After enduring injuries to their top two quarterbacks (Braxton Miller and J.T Barrett) over the course of the regular season, it took their third-string signal caller –Cardale Jones- to lead the way.

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First they endured a grueling regular season to win the Big Ten’s Eastern Division title. They followed that up with a 59-0 thrashing of West Division Champion Wisconsin in the conference title game last month. This was after many expected the Badgers to do the same to OSU.

Then in their semifinal playoff game –the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day- they shocked the world by taking down the powerful Alabama Crimson Tide in another game that they weren’t supposed to win. They followed that up with a dominating 42-20 victory over the No. 2 Oregon Ducks (13-2) for the CPF trophy.

They beat the same Oregon Ducks who swept through the Pac-12 like a Juggernaut, leaving opposing defenses in it’s wake, while being led by quarterback Marcus Mariota (the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner). This was one of the best games in college football history.

Even though this new system is far from perfect, and perhaps the CFP could be expanded in the future; but for the first time in a long time, the national championship was decided on the field by teams who earned the right to be there by playing for it as opposed to being decided by poll rankings (AP, USA Today, Harris) and computer formulas (the complete failure known as the Bowl Championship Series).

But that’s not the only change, Monday’s game has forever changed college football in more ways than one. For starters, the Big Ten is back. The Buckeyes gave the conference it’s first national title since 2002 which happened to be won by, the OSU Buckeyes.

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Since then the Southeast Conference has won eight titles (2003, 2006-2012), the PAC-12 has taken home two trophy’s (2003 and 2004), and the Big 12 (Texas, 2005) and Atlantic Coast (Florida State, 2013) have one title each. Aside from the championship drought, the Big Ten also struggled in head to head competition against SEC, PAC-12 and other power conference opponents in both the regular season and bowl games.

OSU capped off a 2014-2015 bowl season which saw the Big Ten win six bowl games, the conference’s best mark of the 2010’s. The Buckeyes win over Alabama on New Year’s Day ended the streak of national championship appearances by the SEC which ended at eight in-a-row. The balance of power in college football has now shifted.

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With Ohio State ending the SEC’s postseason reign, a more level playing field has now been created. The CFP proves that anyone can win on any given week. This is evidenced by the many upsets that took place this season, and the fluctuation with the CFP rankings on a weekly basis.

The biggest effect that this game will have is on recruiting. Having this playoff in place means more opportunities for other teams, especially those who have difficultly competing against upper echelon programs. This could mean that high school recruits could be inclined to be more selective in choosing a school as opposed to just settling for an SEC or PAC-12 institution because it’s the popular thing to do.

Ohio State has left their mark on college football lore. This should be a very interesting offseason for the FBS.

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