Mr. CFB: After the CFP Championship Game College Football As We Have Known It Will Be Over
On Sept. 25, 1965, I attended my first college football game. Georgia was hosting Vanderbilt at Sanford Stadium in Athens. The week before the Bulldogs, in Vince Dooley's second year as head coach, had upset Alabama 18-17 on a touchdown and two-point conversion frrom Kirby Moore to Pat Hodgson with 3:14 left.
Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 24-10. Preston Ridlelhuber returned a punt for a touchdown.
I was 12 years old and fell in love with college football that day. I have been in love with the game ever since.
So I hope you'll forgive an old college football writer if he's a little melancholy as we enter the stretch drive of the 2023 season. Because once the CFP national champion is crowned on Jan. 8 in Houston, college football as we have known it and loved it will be over.
Now don't overreact here. We will certainly have a college football season in 2024 and it will be great.
In fact the game that we see on the field every Satuday is better than it has ever been. There are more good players, more good coaches, and more schools that have made the financial commitment to be competitive in the sport.
Again, the games will be wondeful. College football always delivers when it comes to competitivness and drama. It's just a helluva product.
But it will be different and those of us who have grown up loving the game are going to have to adjust. Specifically:
**--The 12-team CFP playoff changes everything. In the final week of this season we had about eight teams in the discussion for one of the four playoff spots. When we get to late November of 2024 there will be at least 20 teams with a chance to be in the playoffs. Teams with three losses could make the field. That's a huge change.
**--How teams will view the 12-team playoff depends how they are seeded by the selection committteee. Seeds 1-4 get a bye in the first round. That is gold. Seeds 5, 6, 7, and 8 get something that is almost as good as gold: They get to host a first-round game on campus or another stadium of their choosing. Seeds 9, 10, 11, and 12 are just happy to be in the tourrnament with a chance to pull an upset.
**--Conference realignment. Follow me here if you can: In 2024:
Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC to form a 16-team conference with no divisions.
USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon join the Big Ten to form an 18-team conference with no divisions.
Cal, Stanford and SMU will join the ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE to form a 17-team league witht no divisions.
Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah will join the Big 12 Conference to form a 16-team conference with no divisions.
The two remaining teams in the Pac-12--Oregon State and Washington State--have entered into a scheduling arrangement with the Mountain West Conference. There will be no Pac-12 champion.
**--You already know what the transfer portal and NIL have done to the sport. It has turned this bowl season into a shadow of its former self. And, quite frankly, I don't see that changing anytime soon.
So here is the ultimate question: How does all of this change impact your love of the game?
I have had friends--college football lifers--tell me that they are sick of what they see as an endless money grab where fans are asked to pony up more and more while coaches become multi-millionaires and players have become free agents with unrestricted movement (which many people believe is a good idea.)
These same friends have told me they are moving on to the NFL.
And what did I tell them?
Simply this:
On Sept. 28 Georgia will play at Alabama in a rematch of their 2023 SEC championship, won by the Crimson Tide, 27-24. The win put Alabama into the College Football Playoff and Georgia's loss cost the Bulldogs a shot at their third straight national championship.
So on Sept 28 in Tuscaloosa, do you think the Georgia fans are going to care that their quarterback, Carson Beck, has a sweet NIL deal?
Do you think that Alabama fans care that Nick Saban is the highest paid football coach on planet Earth (and should be)?
Nope.
Yes college football is beginning a transition from the game I fell in love with in 1965 to a model that someday is going to look a lot like the NFL. How long that transition will take and what it is going to look like is anybody's guess.
But I do know this: Fans are going to still pack the stadiums, tailgate with their friends and family, and celebrate the game that remains a big part of their lives.
That part will not change.
Happy New Year.