Despite a historic pandemic that is still raging across the USA and cancelling scores of games every weekend, college football is doggedly sticking to their old- school model of a four team playoff and...ahem… a bunch of Bowl games that mean nothing. If there was ever a year to expand the playoffs to sixteen teams this would have been it. It’s hard to believe that between all these institutions of “higher learning” they couldn’t come up with a plan different from the one they used in 2019. Talk about a lack of creative thinking.
Let’s start with reason number one, and always the most important factor: money. Eight win or go home games would pump up TV ratings and cash flow to help offset the loss of revenue in every other area.
How about we jump to the actual most important factor, the health of the “student athlete.” Sixteen teams seems like a lot but considering the CFB has 130 teams it is a small number. And a number that would get cut in half every week. Duh. Imagine if in August CFB told all teams, play at least a 6-game schedule and we will have a committee choose and seed the top sixteen teams. The power five conferences will be guaranteed two teams each with six wild card spots after those are decided. Hell, I’d be willing to bet just the TV show announcing the playoffs would quadruple the ratings for the Weedeater Bowl.
Ah yes, the bowls. How stupid is this? I mean, traditional bowl games were already a pretty flimsy concept to begin with, but now we have kids flying together to meaningless games and having to stay quarantined inside their hotel. Yeah, that sounds like a fine reward for a successful four win season.
Sure the expanded playoffs would make room for schools like Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina to take a shot at the big boys, but it would have given other traditional powerhouses something to play for as well. Take Penn State for example. They lost a heartbreaker on a blown call against Indiana in week one and then played Ohio State tough in a home loss in week two. At that point the Nittany Lions’ season was effectively over. There was nothing to play for. No fans in the stands, no chance of winning anything all while being quarantined in your dorm room. That sounds fun. All this showed in their week three blowout loss to Maryland. However, with the expanded playoff, PSU could have played back into that 16th seed. Or had at least a little bit of hope of sliding into that spot. And all those fans would have had a reason to tune in and watch games.
And don’t get me started on my hometown conference, the Big Ten. First we cancel the season in August hoping others will follow, which they don’t. Then we talk about... talking about...playing for over a month wasting precious time before the predicted second virus wave arrives. Anyone notice that everything the scientists predicted happened? I suppose that’s why they are considered experts.
So on September 16th the Big Ten has a big press conference to announce they will begin playing on…October 24th? Five weeks? And the schedule has no off weeks. No flexibility to deal with a possible covid outbreak. Nice going guys. Well thought out plan. That’s how we ended up with Ohio State vs Michigan cancelled for the first time in gazillion years.
It is also worth noting that the Big Ten decides that nobody can attend games despite our massive outdoor stadiums and the fact every other league on the PLANET is allowing some spectators. I’m sure all those students spectators stayed socially-distanced in their dorm rooms. AND our quarantine time for an infected player is 21 days, which is seven days longer than ANY scientific recommendation anywhere. WTF?
As a Buckeye fan it’s all water under the bridge now. If OSU defeats Northwestern in the “Big Ten Championship” game they will punch their ticket to the final four. Sorry Texas A&M, even if Justin Fields and company only win the game 2-0 in OT, the TV executives will demand Ohio State be included. Money Money Money.
No sweat, Aggies, I’m sure the Weedeater Bowl will extend you an invite. That’s a fine reward to a successful season.
Colin Gawel wrote this at Colin’s Coffee. You can listen to his song Still Love Christmas on Spotify.