If you’re reading this, then you’re most likely a college football fan like me. For as long as I can remember, college football has always had a special place in my heart. In fact, I can go all the way back to when I was seven years old and reminisce about watching games. Does the Miami/Nebraska national championship game ring a bell?
Over the years, the sport has changed for the better or for worse, depending on who you ask. We have a playoff system that expanded from four to twelve teams, and possibly another expansion on the horizon. West Coast schools in East Coast conferences and regional rivalries are fading away.
Oh yeah, and the players are getting paid not just by fans anymore, but the schools as well. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for a player to make millions of dollars in just one season, and we have even gotten to the point where players are holding out for more money.
As crazy as things seem right now in the college football world, I am afraid they are on the verge of getting even wilder. Going back to the playoff topic, keep in mind that the Big Ten and SEC hold the majority of control over the format going forward.
And if you think that Greg Sankey (SEC commissioner and Tony Petitti (Big Ten commissioner) aren’t going to sabotage the playoff system, then I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
This week, College Football Playoff leaders are set to meet in Las Colinas, Texas, for their annual spring meetings, and among the topics of discussion will be the future of the playoff format. And while no major decisions are expected to be made this week, several important topics will be discussed in detail, including the playoffs.
“The current 12-team model and another 14-team model that includes guaranteed spots for the Big Ten (four), SEC (four), ACC (two), Big 12 (two), Group of 5 (one) and one at-large spot (Notre Dame if it’s ranked high enough) have gained the most publicity, but multiple sources have indicated that some commissioners would like the CFP to present other options this week,” Dinich writes. “It’s also possible other league leaders come to the table with ideas, as there is both private and public resistance to the idea of leagues having guaranteed spots to the postseason before the games are played.”
This means that eight spots of a 14-team playoff would automatically go to the Big Ten and SEC. Does anyone outside of SEC or Big Ten country think that is the right thing to do? Absolutely not. But guess what? The leaders of the SEC and Big Ten don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone but themselves. They are willing to screw anyone and anybody over as long as they get the biggest slice of the pie.
This past year, the Big Ten had four playoff teams, and one of them (Ohio State) ended up winning the national championship despite not even playing during conference championship weekend. So even without the potential new model, they got four in. However, if the SEC had a fourth team get in last season, then we would have had a three-loss SEC team get it in. And by the way, six teams in the SEC had three losses in conference play, so good luck figuring out who would have gotten the nod.
While that all seems crazy to me, here is what is even crazier. Dinich writes, “One possibility, which could be viewed as a compromise, is having conferences earn automatic bids through their play each season. A model in which each Power 4 league can earn guaranteed spots through a combination of its teams’ overall records — and maybe even TV ratings, according to a source — could be presented. The highest-ranked conferences would earn the most automatic bids.”
Where are we in college football when we let television ratings become a factor for determining who gets into the playoff? When are we going to stop letting the greedy, fancy-suit-wearing bastards ruin the sport we all love? These same people who told us that having a playoff would ruin college football are now the ones pushing for an expanded playoff.
Some of these people still have the audacity to call players student-athletes. Yet these same people treat college football like it’s Amazon or Apple. It’s a big business to them, and there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. Well, which one is it? They just do and say whatever is convenient for them at the time.
I, for one, am sick and tired of watching the suits kill the sport we all love. Maybe they won’t kill it today, tomorrow, or even a year from now, but at some point, they will. These people don’t care about you, me, or even the players, for that matter. All they care about is money. And when you think like that, then you really start to lose sight of why we all fell in love with college football in the first place.
