A recent post by CafeLA has inspired me to begin a new feature here on BN about UCLA and college sports history. Each edition, I will dig up an interesting article from the Google News archives as a kind of "blast from the past". I think it is important that we know more about UCLA and college sports history, and these old newspaper articles are an excellent tool to aid us in that quest. I hope that some members here will have much to say about the topics we look at from week to week.

via sportsfieldguide.com

The Division I College Football Playoff (aka December Derangement).

Sounds nice doesn't it? On the heels of another thrilling Final Four I began to wonder--"wait...why can't this happen in football?". Although a 96-team football tournament will never happen (that's almost all of Division I), there's no reason to assume that and eight or even four team playoff isn't feasible. There are countless articles written about better ways to find a champion. Division I-AA has a playoff system that has worked for decades. So that got me wondering... How long have Division I college football fans been clamoring for a playoff?

The answer after the jump...

Check out this article from November 1st, 1966 courtesy of the Nevada Daily Mail.

Yes, the date is correct. It seems that the idea of a playoff in College Football has been common sense for OVER 50 YEARS. Now try this exercise: change the coaches names and fix the names of the major conferences as you reread the article. You could publish this word for word in any newspaper today. The same reasoning has existed for at least half a century. I guess we'll just have to learn to love the BCS.

So how's that for a Blast From the Past?

Next week I'll look at some UCLA related history.