This might come as a shock to some people, so sit down before you read further. Grab a stiff drink, something to fan yourself with and prepare to be stunned by what I’m going to say.
The multitude of changes made to college football this season didn’t make everyone happy.
The 2024 season’s kickoff brought with it bigger conferences, destroyed conferences, realigned conferences and a shiny, new 12-team playoff system. Yet, as the regular season concluded, it seems that for every issue we hoped the changes might have resolved from previous years, a new one has cropped up:
- If one had been tired of arguing over the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-best teams in the country, now we’re debating the 10th-, 11th-, 12th- and 13th-best teams.
- If one griped about the exclusion of non-power conference teams from the playoffs, now we’re analyzing WHICH specific non-power conference team belongs in the field.
- If one grumpily pointed out the disparity in strength of schedule for teams from different conferences, now it’s impossible to unsee similar inequality WITHIN conferences because of newly oversized and unwieldy leagues.
- And, finally, if it was maddening to watch gray-haired individuals — nearly all with a Y chromosome and consisting of a bevy of coaches and players who haven’t been closely involved with the sport for many years — pick those playoff teams, well … I guess some things never change.
Personally, as I look at the 12-team field announced this morning, I think the tweaks in college football have been a net positive. More teams involved in the playoffs mean more important games during the regular season, instead of simply competing for pride or meaningless bowl berths. I also enjoy the mid-major teams having a guaranteed seat at the table now, even if it’s just a single spot. And, while bloated conferences do cause several issues, it’s fun to see games between Oregon and Ohio State or Texas and Georgia pop up on the schedule.
I’m also just as irritated when I see and hear anything from the playoff committee as I was a year ago, so there’s little change — positive or negative — in that regard.
All this is to say I find the last few weeks’ wringing of hands and sweating of brows about the aforementioned issues rather comical. It proves nobody around this sport ever seems to be really happy.
It was easy to foresee objections boiling up owing to all the changes. Yet, how anyone was surprised the new concerns reared their heads is beyond me. Still, here we are bombarded by one tiring argument after another on various sports media mediums — quarrels that sure sound familiar to ones from previous years, just with slightly different verbiage.
History not only repeats, but it spins in a flat circle.
College football seems to be built on making people unhappy. Why else would any sport lean on bowl games for so many decades to help select a champion? Everyone should just relax and realize this weird, illogical mess of a sport will never be perfect enough to leave everyone smiling.
So here’s a suggestion for an alteration to the sport, but one specifically for the fans and media who glom onto the game: Sit back, crack a beer from the delightful holiday pack just released by Shiner, and simply chill out to watch the games.
I guarantee it’s one change that will make nearly everyone happy.
Who else was happy or unhappy after this championship weekend of college football? Let’s go to the Hangover Highlights and see!
- Texas continues to look for a signature win this season … or just a win over a good team … or just a win over a bowl-eligible team … or just a win over a team with a pulse. The Longhorns’ best victory to this point undoubtably came against a Texas A&M squad last week, one that faced massive identity problems on offense because of a quarterback quandary. Otherwise, Texas enters the CFP hanging its hat on beating Michigan back in September when the Wolverines were still fiddling about with a one-time walk-on at quarterback. After the A&M and Michigan wins (who both combined for only 14 wins this season), fond Texas fans will have to replay victories against Florida, Vanderbilt, Arkansas or Colorado State for highlight films.
- None of this is to say the Longhorns are a bogus or bad team. Despite a 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, Texas appears to be a group not to be taken lightly. Still, at some point, potential must meet reality, and we’ve never seen that reality with Texas this season. The Longhorns have played just two games against teams currently ranked, both against Georgia, and lost each time. On Saturday, the Bulldogs pulled out of a three-point halftime deficit behind a backup quarterback. These facts don’t bode well for the Longhorns as they face a Clemson team that survived by the skin of its teeth Saturday.
- I’ve said for weeks in my Hangover Highlights column that the road to the CFP was the “Georgia Invitational.” Nothing in the last month has disproven my theory. The only question is the health of Bulldogs’ quarterback Carson Beck. An arm injury put Beck out of the game on the last play of the first half against Texas. While his backup performed admirably, Beck is a certain first-round NFL draft pick, and that type of player isn’t easily replaced.
- When I was a sports writer at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, my fellow sporties and I would regularly talk shit to one another about our alma maters in football, basketball … hell, Tiddlywinks. Earlier this season, I referred to Arizona State’s football team as a “paper tiger.” I was unimpressed by the Sun Devils’ schedule to that point, and one of my former coworkers, a graduate of the Tempe-based university, thought little of my description. Let me go ahead and eat crow as I apologize to my former Hub City sports desk jockey. While I still doubt the viability of Arizona State in the upcoming CFP, the Sun Devils’ validity is beyond anyone’s doubt. Kudos to you, Mr. Kevin Murphy.
- Murphy’s alma mater massacred Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 Championship Game. I admit, I’m not 100 percent sure why Iowa State was there, after losing back-to-back games to the likes of Texas Tech and Kansas this season. Yet, thanks to the byzantine tiebreaker rules of the Big 12 Conference, there the Cyclones stood … right until they got steamrolled. Regardless of my aforementioned apologies, Arizona State itself didn’t exactly enter with an impeccable pedigree after losses to Tech and Cincinnati. Still, ASU has played its best ball in the last month, with wins over Kansas State, BYU and Iowa State, and the Sun Devils could be a spunky underdog against the blue-blood Longhorns or Clemson Tigers in the second round of the upcoming playoffs.
- Elsewhere on Saturday, Penn State did what it always does when faced with an equally matched opponent: The Nittany Lions folded like a pair of unlucky boxers going into my armoire. When will anyone ever learn that Penn State, under head coach James Franklin, is one of the biggest paper tigers in the history of the entire sport? After a loss to Oregon in the Big 10 Championship on Saturday, Franklin’s team is an ungodly 1-14 against top-five teams and 14-27 against all ranked squads.
- I will give Franklin’s team credit for rebounding from a 28-10 second quarter deficit to make it an interesting contest in the second half. Twice, in the second half, the Lions closed within eight points of the top-ranked Ducks. Still, Oregon held on to claim the top seed in the upcoming playoffs.
- Similar to Penn State, SMU dug itself an early hole in its ACC Championship Game against Clemson. The Mustangs, however, managed to dig completely out of what turned into a 17-point pit in the third quarter, and they tied the game with just 20 seconds left. Incredibly, behind a big kickoff return, Clemson managed to give freshman kicker Nolan Hauser a shot at a walk-off 56-yard field goal. Hauser’s boot was a no-doubter, and his Tigers clinched the ACC’s automatic berth in the playoffs.
- That fascinating finish created the biggest question for the CFP committee to mull overnight. As Saturday turned into Sunday and millions tuned into the playoff bracket reveal, the committee’s decision was comical — not for being wrong, per say, but for how it handled the ACC runner up. The Ponies had entered Saturday ranked eighth by the playoff committee, but neither the ACC, nor the formerly mid-major Mustangs have engendered much respect around the sport this year. Nonetheless, the committee placed ACC champion Clemson 12th and SMU 11th, ending a long-obnoxious love affair with Alabama by leaving the Crimson Tide out of the bracket.
- Yes, that means OU functionally prevented Alabama from earning a playoff birth in 2024.
- Meanwhile, speaking of mid-majors, Boise State clinched a ticket to the playoffs — and the third seed!? — after a 21-7 win over UNLV on Friday. Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty capped a sublime season with 209 rushing yards. Boise’s only loss this season was a nail-biter against top-ranked Oregon back in September. While the Broncos will almost certainly be an underdog against whichever major-conference school they face in the playoffs, Jeanty and a stiff defense give them a legitimate chance to advance.
- In other games this weekend, Army’s rushing attack ground Tulane into fine talcum powder for a 35-14 American Conference Championship Game win Saturday. The Black Knights had 335 rushing yards and only attempted two passes — both completed, by the way — in the win.
- Jacksonville State, Ohio and Marshall won their respective conference championship games in blowout fashion. None of the three teams could be considered world-beaters or any semblance of a contender for a playoff berth. Yet, the Gamecocks, Bobcats and Thundering Herd will all take conference trophies home this season. Good for them, as it remains fun to see the sport thrive beyond the spotlight of the playoffs.
- In a rarity for those who follow and deal with the sport closely, it all makes me happy.
