No Asterisk Needed For College Football Playoff Champion
The 2020 college football season is one unlike any other in the past and will without question go down in history as one of the most memorable seasons of all time.
After news broke that the Big Ten and Pac-12 were going to sit out the 2020 fall season, chatter began to grow in discussions around the playoff and if the college football champion should include an asterisk due to two Power 5 conferences sitting out.
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit was a major voice on that stance but not everyone across the college football landscape agreed with the longtime college football analyst member of the college gameday crew.
I actually find it disrespectful that an asterisk was ever mentioned at all. Regardless of who was or wasn't going to play this fall. Because at the end of the day, nothing changes. Teams still have to come out and earn it week in and week out. Games are at a premium this season and nothing will just be willingly handed over to anyone.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made it known during fall camp that he believes whoever wins the title will be a deserving champion and quite possibly the best ever.
"I think whoever wins this has the chance to be the greatest champion ever," Swinney said. "With all that's been in play and all that everyone has had to deal with--especially these young men." He went on to say that (at the time) the exclusion of the Big Ten and Pac-12 didn't lessen the season or champion in any way in his mind.
"It's hard to win, period. I don't care who is in the mix. Whoever wins it is going to have to earn it. Nobody's gonna give nothing to nobody. You control what you can control."
The last eight months have been unprecedented in the sports world and while things have settled down we've all been learning on the fly and doing the best we can.
Sure, teams aren't playing a traditional full schedule. Stadium capacity is limited taking away from the true home-field advantage we've grown accustomed to over the last several decades. We've already seen teams like Virginia Tech, Florida, and Wisconsin run into major Covid-19 issues leading to a limited number of players available to even dress out.
Heck, the Florida-LSU game originally scheduled for Oct. 17 was postponed after the Gators reported 18 positive tests among scholarship players and three additional covid-19 positive results from walk-ons. Wisconsin's games with Nebraska and Purdue have both been canceled due to Covid-19. On Tuesday, the school reported 27 active cases of the virus.
I get it, I really do. But you can't punish or discredit this year's champion for any of these reasons. The winning team will still have to prove it and win the semifinal matchup before taking care of business in Miami.
The ACC chose a 10-conference game model plus one non-league game. The SEC is only playing 10 games within the conference eliminating key rivalry matchups with the ACC. The Big Ten is only playing eight conference games and Pac-12 teams are only playing six conference games.
The playoff committee's criteria will have to be tweaked this season and there's simply no way around that. But regardless of the number of games or who played who, the team that wins it will have to earn it.
The CFP committee may have the toughest decisions in the history of the panel but when it's all said and done, it will come down to the best teams earning their way on the field.
Whether the champion is a 14-0 Clemson, a 12-1 Alabama, or 11-0 Ohio State, the winner will have had to make through its conference slate, likely won the conference title game, and passed a seminal test en route to Miami.
Throw in the chaos of Covid-19 and all the various testing and protocols along with the usual injuries and I think that in itself gives this year's title winner adequate weight to be recognized just like any other squad in any other year would.
It's hard to win a championship, it's even harder to win a championship during a global pandemic that has changed every aspect of how programs operate.
Not only do teams have to be physically strong and prepared but the mental aspect is as big as ever before. The pressures on these college athletes and athletic departments as a whole are unlike any season in the past.
All these teams have had to overcome just to play at all has been incredible and from COVID-19 to the push for social justice and a larger voice for college athletes, one wouldn't have to look hard for the distractions.
These aren't professional athletes getting paid millions to suit up and play. We're talking amateur athletes playing college football in a pandemic. I believe anyone who thinks this year's champion is any less impressive due to the nature of the season is doing college football as a whole a major disservice.
The debate will be ongoing and this season will be talked about for years to come. And when someone asks me 20 years from now which CFP championship teams stand out in my mind, the 2021 champion will always be on my list--no matter who it is.
