College Football’s Dubious Path

I remember listening to the radio in 2007 or so when South Florida had risen up the Big East ranks and was rated No. 5 in the country by the Associated Press.

This was about nine years into the Bowl Championship Series format and formula for choosing a championship seemed to vary as much as the wind direction. Connecticut also was gaining traction as a player on the national scene.

UConn and South Florida? Contenders in football, not hoops? Really? One of my radio colleagues talked about how much he didn’t like that. At the time, I didn’t really agree with his assessment. I thought that if South Florida was worthy, it should be considered.

Since then, having watched what’s happening in the college football world, I think I agree with him now. College football resembles youth leagues that give everyone a trophy.

Yes, that’s what college football has become. The College Football Committee expanded the playoffs to 12 teams (from four), which I think is entirely too many. When talk of a playoff percolated 20 years ago or so, I advocated and eight-team playoff. I reasoned that you could get that playoff done in about three weeks to a month, you could start it the week after the Thanksgiving-week games and be done on Jan. 1 as has always been the case with college football. And an eight-team format wouldn’t affect the bowls that much.

With eight teams, that No. 5 team crying it got left out of the two-team or four-team mix can find a home in a quarterfinal. Yes, the No. 9 team will grouse that it didn’t get a fair shake, but that’s going to happen with the 12-team format, when the No. 13 team will pout.

“So let’s expand to 16 teams.”

Okay, fine. Then the No. 17 team has a reason to complain. This is a perpetual problem no matter what kind of format they implement. There must be standards. I’ve said the Committee should pick the 12 best teams and not worry about the Group of Five schools bellyaching. Beating Tulsa and Bowling Green, then winning the Sun Belt, in my estimation, doesn’t qualify you for one of the 12 place settings.

Chaos has already taken hold in the college world. The TV contracts are out of whack. CBS skewered itself by abandoning the SEC for the Big 10. CBS could have kept the SEC package had it just offered the league $10 million more to cover the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. CBS balked and signed a bad deal with the Big 10.

Meanwhile, ABC parachuted in and said, “we’ll be glad to pay the SEC what it wants.” The ratings speak for themselves. CBS has taken a bath. At least the Big 10 folks have to deal with Gary Danielson now.

I’ve talked to people who used to play college football at the highest level. Without mentioning names, you probably know who they are, if you know me at all. They aren’t happy with they way things are going.

One of my colleagues, Tony Barnhart, college football TV analyst for ESPN, once predicted a decade ago or more, we’d have four super conferences. We are approaching that now. And it’s becoming more and more of a pro game. Consider the expanded leagues (and we’re not done yet), the NIL deals that are spiraling out of control and the transfer-portal situation that has brought free agency to college football and it is fast becoming a game I’m not familiar with.

Saturday night, during the LSU-Texas A&M game, I don’t know how many times the announcers said, “well, he played with Texas A&M last year and now he’s at LSU,” or “he came over from Alabama/Penn State/Southern Cal/ Hofstra.” Soon, coaches won’t be able to manage their teams. Bench a guy he pouts then  enters the portal.

Things devolved about 15 years ago or so when Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey couldn’t be bothered to join his teammates in the Sun Bowl because he wanted to get ready for the NFL. Now, that’s commonplace. It’s not about playing football and eventually earning a degree (I’m not sure it ever was that). It’s not about the program or the prestige. 

It’s all about the cash cow that college football has become. Some players are in it for themselves and not the program.

I just think there’s something wrong with that.

Last week, the bottom three teams in the rankings included  No. 23 Army, No. 24 Navy and No. 25 Vanderbilt. Of course, Navy and Vandy lost this week, so that likely will change. Conspicuously absent from the Top 25? Southern Cal, Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida State, normal challengers for a national title.

Last week, Indiana put 56 points on the board against Nebraska. I never remembered Indiana ever putting up 56 points against Nebraska, unless there were a backboard, rim, net and roundball involved.

How the mighty have fallen.

With NIL and the portal, I believe we’re going to see more of this. For example, a player gets benched at Alabama or Notre Dame, he sits, pouts and the next day, he tells the world he’s entering the transfer portal.

I think some of the adjustments in college football were a good thing, if managed properly. Today, however, kids could play five years of college football at five different schools. There should be regulations regarding how this should be handled.

I think parity in the college game is a good thing, but not at the expense of the game itself. I’ve often said that if you are tired of losing, get better. But in the current climate, it’s harder to improve.

Folks, I don’t have answers to the potential chaos headed college football’s way, but somebody had better come up with solutions.

I shudder to think what college football is going to look like in five and 10 years.

Jim Steele is a correspondent for Richardson Media Group and can be reached on X @steelesports or via email at pressbox1@gmail.com