A Jersey Guy: Bowl System: If it Ain't Working, Fix it
We have only a handful of bowl games left in a season which has produced a pair of embarrassments at the New Year's Six level and only sporadic entertainment at the next level.
As we finally morph into next year's 12 team playoff system, it is clear to even the most tone depth college football fan that the system can not continue in its current format.
The latest debacle took place Saturday in the Orange Bowl in what should have been an entertaining, match-up between two-time defending national champion Georgia and unbeaten and shunned Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State.
FSU also played the role of mistreated champ because of its snub from the Fiinal Four despite being an unbeaten Power 5 conference champion.
That argument faded quickly when the Seminolest came to their meeting with Georgia, minus more than two dozen players from their roster for a variety of reasons.
Included in that total were 6 starters and their first two quarterbacks.
Final score: Georga 63, FSU 3--the most one-sided outcome in bowl history
That posting was made a day after Missouri and Ohio State pushed back the level of college football 100 years following a chop fest;which produced a 13-3 Cotton Bowl victory.
Again the tempo of the game was set by who WASN'T there as much, if not more so, than who was there.
"People need to see what happened and they need to fix things,'' said Georgia coach Kirby Smart. "It needs to be fixed.''
Or rebuilt.
Here's how to do it.
The reality is that NFL football lite is now being played under the title of Power 5 college football.
The system failed this year when five worthy teams--FSU as a healthy unbeaten ACC champ was more than worthy--could not be squeezed into a 4-bowl system.
And it failed again in the Cotton and Orange Bowl.
One can only imagine the potential for carnage in the Fiesta Bowl if Oregon shows up with its A game and Liberty gets exposed as a team with lots of wins and few, if any quality opponents.
There is still hope that this season can be saved in terms of image. If Alabama and Michigan and Texas and Washington stage a pair of games for the ages in the CFP semifinals at the Rose and Sugar Bowls.
And that is followed by another classic championship game next week in Houston.
College football has a strong enough foundation to allow that to happen.
But it won't be the future. nor should it.
What needs to happen is very clear.
The bowl system shrinks to an ESPN festival in Orlando each year as part of Disney Holiday entertainment package played out in a 'studio-stadium''. Let ESPN create the match ups and story lines.
The college football post season billion dollar package starts in early December with 4 Conferences staging their own playoffs among its four group of 5 team divisions.
The four conference champions and 4 runners up or wild card teams will be part of 4 quarterfinal bowl games, played on January 1.
Two semifinals games will be held in two other bowl games a week later and a national champion will be decided a week before the Super Bowl at a site TBD.
Players won't leave their teams early-or not as many will--because, the players will be employees not called student athletes and they will be well compensated.'
The transfer portal will be CLOSED until the first week of February and then opened for a month. Signing date for recruits will be March 1.
On March 15th, spring practice can begin and close no later than May 15th.
On May 15th, the transfer portal will open again and be open until August 1st.
On August 1st fall practice will open, with the first game of the year of an 11 game regular season opening a month later.