Building brackets: Forget the playoff blowouts, college football is moving in a good direction
Can all of college football's problems be solved in one column?
Well, maybe, because some of the popular complaints aren't actually serious issues.
There has been plenty of griping about the new College Football Playoff format, after four lopsided games in the first round last weekend. Give it a chance. There were plenty of blowouts in the four-team and two-team playoffs.
What the new format brings is new faces and maybe more parity. We used to get Alabama vs. Clemson every year. The first round had the potential for some fun matchups and it's a pleasant change of pace to see teams like Indiana, SMU and Arizona State get involved.
The biggest issue is the seeding format, where four byes have to go to conference champions. The moment this plan was unveiled, we all knew how it would turn out, with the Nos. 5 and 6 seeds being the most coveted spots.
The solution is actually more expansion — a 14-team tournament with just two byes. In this scenario, Alabama and Miami would have been added to the field and top seed Oregon would get the winner of Indiana vs. Boise State in the second round, which makes more sense than what actually happened.
The next step is to address the strength of schedule imbalance. It's time to stop locking in nonconference games 10 years ahead of time. Create attractive matchups before each season and ensure every Power Four team plays another Power Four. Maybe match up conferences, like SEC vs. Big 12, Big Ten vs. ACC, then rotate the next year.
And Notre Dame needs to be included in the schedule manipulation.
Pay pals
Like most everything else in college sports, NIL started with simple goals and quickly grew out of control. The actual idea here began with “the NCAA can't prevent an athlete from accepting money to sign autographs or endorse a car dealership.”
Now we've got billionaires supporting various programs and kids being promised millions to attend a particular school. Sure, this is different from things used to be. But it's not bad.
Look at it this way: The wealth disparity in America has been widening for decades. The top 1% is out to control 99% of the income. So a billionaire agreeing to spread the wealth to some high school athletes who likely grew up in less-than-comfortable circumstances? This is a win. Finally, an example of trickle-down economics actually hitting home.
“But my favorite school doesn't have a billionaire benefactor.” Yeah, yeah, nothing is perfect. Try a letter-writing campaign. You think Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos wouldn't adore the chance to stand at the 50-yard line of some college football stadium and bask in cheers? They love that, as long as there's plenty of security.
At some point in time, the bosses at the NCAA decided to embrace a policy of, “You athletes need to play more games so we can make more money.” Anything is better than the old system. Athletes getting paid is cause for celebration and should have happened decades ago.
Moving out
The transfer portal is another concern. It's reasonable to give players one immediate transfer, then require sitting out a year if they want to change schools again. But this would likely require college athletes being designated as employees and then agreed to through collective bargaining.
The NCAA has spent decades desperately trying to cling to the status quo, and it's lost so many court cases, it can't enforce any restrictions. Don't forget, the NCAA used to randomly decide which transfers could be immediately eligible at a new school and who had to sit out a year.
Remember former Illini tight end Luke Ford, who asked for immediate eligibility when he transferred from Georgia so his ailing grandfather could see him play one last time? He was denied. Players getting the freedom to change jobs is mostly a good thing.
On the other hand, the college football playoffs now extend well into January. Some players, who actually care about getting a degree, are forced to leave teams still alive in the playoffs to enter the transfer portal.
Not sure how this can be fixed. Classes start in early January. Players can always transfer in the summer if they want to stay in the playoffs.
If you can't handle this new era of college football, I don't know, try transferring your fandom to a school with more billionaires. Fixing a broken system takes time.