Right or Wrong, College Football Provided Virus Relief
What a strange season this has been. Then again, what an unfamiliar world this has been...A pandemic will do that.
As we look back on College Football 2020, there are things we should be thankful for.
At the top of the list, of course, is the fact that any college football was played at all. Even at this point, I am not sure how good of an idea that was, in terms of putting Coronavirus in the nation’s rear-view mirror.
But in terms of giving a shutdown-weary nation something to watch, something to look forward to—something uplifting at a time when it was needed most—having a college football season, no matter how disrupted and troubled, was a very welcome thing.
Remember the complete shutdown of sports last spring? With no live games in America, television served up vintage fare and documentaries.
There were games from a year ago. Twenty years ago. Games for the ages. An endless series on the Michael Jordan-era Bulls became a national obsession.
Live sports finally tiptoed back with Korean baseball. Then a bit of golf. When Major League Baseball returned, I remember realizing what a void that had been, with no sports. I am sure watchers of the NHL and NBA felt the same way when their mid-summer playoffs returned. There was a new meaning to the phrase “bubble teams.’’
Here at TMG, when we speculated on whether college football would return, we were not optimistic. There were too many hurdles, too many factors that were more complicated than pro sports.
What we didn’t realize was how pervasive the determination to play college football was. And how essential salvaging some revenue was.
There were, of course, fewer games, especially in the conflicted Big Ten, which could not make up its mind about To Play or Not to Play. And then, there were all of those postponed/canceled games, which were troubling reminders that playing college football in a pandemic was probably not the best way to control the pandemic.
But there also were positives.
For one, the late starts of the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 opened viewers’ eyes to the depth and quality of Group of 5 leagues. The Sunbelt, led by Coastal Carolina and Louisiana, had an early spotlight and used it well, notching some impressive victories. That was even more true for the American Athletic Conference, where Cincinnati led the way, with several other teams playing entertaining, quality football.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco was right to stomp his foot at the College Football Playoff selection committee’s snub of Cincinnati.
But there is a silver lining here.
One of the biggest developments of this sawed-off season might be the growing discontent with a four-team playoff.
When my friend and colleague Tony Barnhart, a traditionalist who does not need to question a system that rewards the SEC's best-teams-forward stance, is open to considering an eight-team playoff, that’s a sign that change is in the wind.
The rank-and-file college alumni and fans who are so important to the game are starting to realize that this four-team Waffle House Invitational approach to crowning a national champion does not cut it.
No question, Alabama and Clemson have been the most deserving of playoff bids, with other SEC teams lurking for a third bid. But one or two bids for the rest of the nation is a regional, not national championship.
And an uintended consequence is that the rich get richer. The playoff regulars now have that exposure as a recruiting lure that benefits only a handful of teams, further widening the gap.
I have believed for 25 years that an eight-team playoff was where college football needed to go. And I believe it is closer to that than ever.
It’s not heresy. It’s basic. Win your league and advance. If you are a second banana, no matter how good, you had your shot. That said, with eight teams, there will be room for deserving also-rans.
And it’s not complicated. You don’t have to muddy up the bowl system with games on-campus before Christmas. An eight-team playoff simply adds three more games and two more weeks to four quarter-finals that are part of the traditional New Year’s Day feast. Since we already have a plus-one CFP championship game, it’s really only two more games and one more week.
The upside is that Power 5 conferences would have something to play for—a playoff spot. Maybe an Oregon would get smoked by an Alabama. But that matchup would add meaning to the Pac-12 season. And it would be appropriate reward for an Alabama that had earned its playoff seed.
This would also be a way to give a chance to the Cincinnatis and UCFs of the world. Make rules about a minimum entrance requirement, if you want. And figure out how to cut up the money.
What the bedrock of the sport—the people who embrace it, watch it and support it in so many ways—care about is the sportsmanship, tradition and pageantry of it.
All of those things will be enhanced when eight teams square off for the championship.
Troubled as it was, that was one of the biggest things this pandemically altered season showed us.