IF, Ohio State defeats Wisconsin in a semi-impressive fashion tonight at the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis, the Buckeyes will make the four-team college football playoff and Horned Frogs will be relegated to a - ahem - "less visible" bowl appearance. You heard me. If everybody wins out, the Buckeyes slide into the last spot and FSU jumps to #3.
"But, TCU is is currently number 3? And they killed Iowa State today? And their strength of schedule…"
Yeah, yeah, numbers, numbers, eye test, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…..
Yeah, I've got a a number for you: 261,587- TCU total football attendance.
Texas Christian University coached by good old "what's his name," featuring "I've never heard of him" and "who is that guy?" only has an enrollment of 8,200 students who seem more inclined to study than to attend football games. In fact, the lack of fan support has been so noticeable that the media has been covering it. Check this out or this picture or even this
In contrast, The Ohio State University football machine drew over 740,000 fans in the same season. Almost a HALF MILLION more butts in the seats. And those tickets require a much more serious financial commitment. Face value for the 2014 Michigan game was $150 for a single ducat. And that was the worst seat in the house.
Meanwhile, back wherever TCU plays, you can purchase a SEASON TICKET for $250. That's right, every game for a grand total of just $250. And that is the "Championship Level" which I assume means you aren't jammed into the end zone bleachers.
Let's cut to the chase. The reason ESPN and the College Football powers got rid of that pesky computer ranking and put humans back in charge is because computers don't factor in the most important number of all: the numbers that starts with a dollar sign. The next time big college football turns down big money it will be the first time. In a long time. There is just no way on God's Green Earth that if OSU is a viable candidate it will be left out of the first ever final-four football playoff. The Bucks have too many fans, too famous of a coach and it's too important to keep all those Midwestern TV sets tuned into the games to keep advertisers happy that their money was well spent.
And with the possibility of a team winning and playing another travel game just one week later for all the marbles, I can only imagine the various Bowl committees will be pressing for schools with the biggest and most dedicated fan bases to fill all those seats and purchase all those plane tickets. TCU would be a huge financial drag on this, the very first season of the new four team playoff.
There has been a lot of chatter about who comprises the playoff selection committee and how they will avoid a conflict of interest situation among the various conferences and teams. However, the most important committee members have not been mentioned up to this point. They have no conflict of interest. They are the men behind the curtain and they only show up at the very end of the very last selection meeting. It is the ESPN/ABC head of programming and the director of advertising sales. They will walk in, ask to look at the playoff list, take out a red marker and make a slash through TCU and circle OSU with a smiley face next to it.
Mark it down. If the Buckeyes win tonight and look decent doing it the Buckeyes will be playing on New Year's Day. - Colin Gawel
Colin Gawel created Pencilstorm at Colin's Coffee, plays in the band Watershed and wrote the story "Lebron James Will Return to Cleveland" back in June 2013. So doubt him at your own risk.