The single elimination play pretty much guarantees that the best team doesn't win. It's fair in the sense that all the teams have agreed to the arrangement and it puts more emphasis on the individual games, but it also increases the impact that fluke events (or bad calls) have. (Would the "tuck rule" call be a big deal if the Patriots and Raiders had played multiple times?) Of course, football doesn't lend itself well to a multi-game series.

Because college athletes are supposed to be student-athletes, I think the single-elimination tournament makes sense. But let's even begin to claim that it identifies the best team. There's just too much uncertainty in the outcome of any single game for that to be true.