There will always be controversy. There will always be debate.

College football is the scorpion. It is its nature.

This is a sport that spent roughly a century crowning champions without championship games, leaving the task to writers and coaches who leaned on box scores. Later, computers were asked to help pick title-game participants. When a playoff system was finally created, it featured fewer spots than there were power conferences, decided by 13 committee members with varying qualifications and inherent biases.

The four-team playoff didn’t have enough room for every deserving team. Last season, it excluded undefeated Florida State and Georgia, the two-time defending champion that held the No. 1 ranking for more than three months. The 12-team playoff solves several issues — even guaranteeing at least one Cinderella a chair at the table — but it also now feels as if the bouncer has left the bar.