On 'Bush Push' Anniversary, College Football Loses Its Soul

The College Football Playoff potentially moving to 24 teams would change what has made the sport special for over 100 years.

Oct. 15, 2005; South Bend, IN, USA; Southern California Trojans quarterback Matt Leinart runs the ball into the endzone for the game-winning score against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday Oct. 15 at Notre Dame Stadium. USC won 34-31. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

21 years ago, Thursday was perhaps the greatest single day the sport of college football has ever seen.

October 15, 2005.

For Notre Dame fans, it was an upstart team led by new head coach Charlie Weis and offensive stars Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija that nearly upset a USC team that had won 27 straight contests.

That is, until a 4th-and-9 miracle pass and a controversial push from eventual Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, sent Matt Leinart into the end zone, and kept USC headed to another national championship game.

A Notre Dame win would have likely sent the Fighting Irish to the national championship game instead, as it entered with one loss on the year.

But that was just part of what made the day so great.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan scored on the final play of the game to knock Penn State from the unbeatens.

In West Virginia, it was the Mountaineers staying in the national championship race with a 17-point fourth quarter comeback over Louisville, that finally ended after three overtimes.

College Football Playoff to Expand to 24 Teams, Ruin DNA of Sport

News came out Thursday afternoon and it was what most die-hard college football fans have long feared: the College Football Playoff is close to expanding to 24 teams starting next season.

It's not a done deal yet, but it appears to be on the goal line. The move to the playoff format already lessened the importance of every single regular-season game, the expansion to 24 teams from 12 would put a nail in the coffin of what once was.

In 2005, USC losing to Notre Dame would have knocked the Trojans out of the national championship race.

Put that game in the 2027 season and you're looking at USC simply moving down to perhaps the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, with its national championship chances still alive, had it lost.

Notre Dame still would have had a second loss on the year, but it's almost certain its resume would have still been strong enough to host a First Round College Football Playoff game.

And sure, Penn State got hit with that last-second loss at Michigan, but that would have just moved it down a couple of spots, just like it did to USC.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

I've never been one that watched college football strictly to see how the postseason goes.

Yes, the craziness of bowl season and how things could flip like crazy, especially before the BCS, was unreal.

However, this sport has turned into a sport that's built on the postseason now, no longer will it be built on the regular season.

TV executives that only care about money were adamant in getting this in place, despite the extreme majority of passionate college football fans being so strongly against it.

While the change in the sport has slowly occurred since the CFP was implemented for the 2014 season, the season we're in will end up being the last year one could argue college football was truly a regular season sport.

It's officially gone the way of NASCAR with the Chase, something that did more harm to the sport than good.

Expanding the College Football Playoff to 24 teams is like if Christmas got spread out over a full week. Yeah, there would be more days or games to celebrate, but the leadup to it and specialty of it would never feel the same.

And that's exactly where we're headed next year with college football.