Having watched quite a few of the 357 bowl games leading up to the 12-Team College Football Playoff, it is hard to argue a few points, though some of you probably will argue those points anyway.
Here’s my thoughts and observations.
1. The CFP with 12 teams has created a two-tiered system for bowls. If a team makes the playoff, teams take their games seriously and their players go all-in to win, to seek the national championship. Teams that do not make the playoff have lost interest in their bowl games.
2. The bowl games outside the CFP have become little more than a December version of spring practice. One team, Marshall, had to cancel their bowl because so many of their players hit the portal after their coach left. My team, the Hawkeyes, lost our All-American running back, two quarterbacks, our best defender, and it certainly showed when we played Missouri. They’d lost some players too. Lots of teams lost ten, fifteen, twenty, or more players into the portal during bowl season.
Because of this, the 15 practices of bowl season become a time to look forward to next season. The Hawkeyes got to look at who would be there next year, to try out new running backs, to check out younger players. (We haven’t had a real quarterback in about 3 years, so let’s not talk about that.)
The luster has gone off of bowl games outside the CFP. I am a pretty passionate fan, but I barely watched the game and when our boys lost their lead at the end of the game, I didn’t lose any sleep.
3. On the other hand, the games in the CFP have been brilliant! Some of the best football we have seen in years has been played in the games. With the exception of a couple of first-round games and the dominant performances of the Buckeyes of THE Ohio State University, most of the games have been down-to-the-wire breathtaking affairs. In the old days when two teams were chosen by a committee of idiots…uh, experts… to play for the championship, a blowout was not unusual. The more recent four-team playoff still produced its fair share of lopsided games.
It is impossible to know if this year’s tournament is a precursor to great years to come or an outlier. Will next year be like this year or will game after game be a 3-TD shellacking? Who knows. This year certainly seems to indicate that the system is good.
4. ESPN talking heads like Kirk Herbstreit owe the selection committee and the schools selected a big apology. They bashed them relentlessly and said this team and that was undeserving. Alabama should have been selected, supposedly, then lost its bowl game to a mediocre Michigan team. Miami should have been in! They lost to a BIG 12 school – far and away the weakest conference in the land! They labeled Indiana an embarrassment! They lost by 10 (granted, a late comeback) to a Notre Dame team that is playing for the chip.
The fact is, ESPN won’t be happy unless the CFP is 5 champions and 7 at-large SEC schools.
Just a question for you SEC folks. Does anyone down there take that fella Paul Finebaum seriously? Asking for a friend.
5. Can this old curmudgeon complain about the NIL and the transfer portal and what it’s done to college sports. I don’t mind players being able to transfer, perhaps once or twice in their 4 years (this 6 years of playing has GOT to end!). Coaches are often abusive and players should have freedom. I don’t even mind players getting paid.
However, this system is awful. I used to joke with Crimson Tide friends that I felt bad for Alabama players who had to take a pay cut when they went to the NFL. That was (mostly) a joke, but the backup quarterback for Texas is getting 6 million a year! That’s more than megachurch pastors make!
Some tweaks need to be made to this system. I don’t know what to do with the NIL system, but I believe some common sense transfer portal changes should be made.
Why does the portal have to open BEFORE the season ends? Why not open the portal for a month (or whatever) when the national championship game ends? One portal session – after the season. Is there a reason the quarterback from Penn State, who had decided to transfer, couldn’t wait until the season was over to do so?
That’s a LOT of opinions, but here’s the summary.
Bowl season is ruined, and rescued. If you make the playoff – BULLY! If you miss it – BLAH! It’s two worlds out there, the haves and the have-nots, the innies and the outies (uh, um, never mind). The CFP has been riveting and enthralling. The rest of the games, not so much.
I know you guys love to talk sports, so have at it!
