Aldous Huxley published his world-renown novel Brave New World way back in 1931.
In his dystopian piece of fiction (one of my favorite genres), Huxley described a future still unidentifiable to modern readers even almost a full century later. Without burrowing in and describing the many details and nuances of the plot, I’m pretty sure after my most recent read of the book, I realized something startling.
Huxley would have been a damn-good modern-day sportswriter.
Among the AP top 10 poll in college football entering this week were No. 3 Indiana, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 5 Mississippi and No. 7 Texas Tech. None of these teams would be described as a traditional heavyweight in the sport, as the only one with an outright national title was Texas A&M way back in 1939. Indiana has the second-worst winning percentage of all time among Division I schools. Ole Miss has not won a conference title since 1963.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, celebrated its last “conference title” in 1994 when they finished in a FIVE-way tie for second in the Southwest Conference. First-place Texas A&M was ineligible that season because of NCAA sanctions, and Tech “claimed” the title because it was picked to represent the conference in Cotton Bowl since the Red Raiders had gone the longest without appearing in the bowl game among the quintet of second-place finishers. That’s some serious “conference title” mental ju-jitsu right there … although Tech sure isn’t ashamed.
For many reasons, we certainly have reached a brave new world in college football for both the traditional elite and the great unwashed masses. It’s to the point Peter Venkman’s quote in Ghostbusters about “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together … mass hysteria!” offers a solid description of how those steeped in college football’s long traditions feel right now.
To understand how everyone has come to belong to everyone else, we must review a pair of major additions to the college football scene over the past five years: NIL (name, image, likeness) payments and the transfer portal. With the capacity for schools and their supporters essentially to pay players for their service — without the salary cap, contracts or other guardrails you usually see in professional sports — and the ability for those players to transfer wherever they’d like every year, football fans are seeing greater parity than ever before.
Long-established powers have found themselves in unexpected dogfights to recruit talent. The ability to pay players has lessened the influence of tradition-packed trophy cases and increased the importance of cash-filled briefcases. It automatically gives an advantage to oil-rich schools, like A&M and Tech, whose catalog of successes and championships is dwarfed by their lists of millionaire — and even billionaire — donors.
At the same time, the transfer portal has made it much harder for traditional programs to keep players they recruit — especially younger, uber-talented backups antsy for a starting gig. Less-heralded programs — such as Indiana — can make serious waves in the portal, recruiting players who might not be starters at traditional programs but are still plenty good enough to make major impacts.
It’s one reason the long-bedraggled Hoosiers were able to lock up their outstanding head coach, Curt Cignetti, to a long-term contract this week. There’s little reason for Cignetti to look elsewhere, as he can win at Indiana nowadays just as easily as he can at place like, say, Penn State.
Of course, opinions on all of this upheaval likely vary with the mileage one gets in enjoying parity. College football fans are notorious for being snooty to “Cinderella” teams, looking down their noses at nouveau-riche programs as the unwanted usurpers to a much-preferred fight between the biggest bullies on the block. At the same time, more schools having a real shot at conference, and even national, titles means a sport with broader appeal.
As a person who regularly touts games involving schools like New Mexico State and Bowling Green in this space, I enjoy parity and can relish this new world order. Still, I think there’s a saner middle ground that keeps former offensive linemen with billions of dollars from simply purchasing a competitive team for their alma maters.
Whatever happens, I suspect we will continue to plunge forward into a future that Huxley himself would no doubt call brave and new — one that sees upstart programs like Vanderbilt defeat established football schools like Louisiana State this past weekend.
It all gave me acid indigestion this weekend, unaided by the many ales I quaffed, and it left me parsing through another edition of Hangover Highlights:
- I can be a bit bitchy about the OU football team, focusing on its foibles. With that in mind, fair is fair, and when the Sooners absolutely whip someone’s ass, I should acknowledge it as well.
- That’s what happened Saturday in OU’s 26-7 win at South Carolina. The Sooners pretty much dominated every aspect of the game, particularly on the lines of scrimmage, en route to about as comfortable a win as one could expect in the Southeastern Conference.
- Sure, things seemed a bit dicey around halftime when South Carolina cut the score to 14-7. Considering, however, the only Gamecocks scoring drive took 11 plays to go a whopping 47 yards, helped by no fewer than THREE OU penalties along with a questionable first-down measurement, it wasn’t exactly like they had grabbed momentum.
- The second half of the game constituted the best 30 minutes I’ve seen the Sooners play all season. They allowed just 113 yards of total Gamecock offense — only 30 of which came in the third quarter when the game was being decided. OU’s offense may have been unspectacular, but it felt consistent and effective. When you have a defense as dominant as the Sooners displayed Saturday, those offensive adjectives make for a winning formula.
- It reminded me very much of 10 years ago when OU came off a gross loss to an inferior Texas team, only to regroup and play its best game of the season in a blowout win on the road at Kansas State. That proved to be the spark for the 2015 team to make it to the College Football Playoff. Will history repeat itself?
- I really don’t have a lot to add about Oklahoma State football, which lost … again … this week to Cincinnati, 49-17. The Cowboys did keep it competitive for a while, trailing just 28-17 going into the fourth quarter. Yet, I’m on record saying I despise “moral victories,” so I’m not going to change my thinking now.
- It was another week and yet another disaster behind center for the Cowboys as Sam Jackon V, again, had to take the snaps, despite being a wide receiver by trade. He honestly didn’t fair tragically, going 11-of-19 passing for 149 yards and an interception. When you set the bar at “catastrophe,” however, it isn’t hard to clear.
- Honestly, what’s been happening off the field in Stillwater has been far more interesting than what happens on the field. This weekend’s homecoming featured another shirts-off showing from fans, as well as a conga line of boys in banana costumes.
- And then we have the calamity and hilarity of watching the spat between @OKSTProbs and a former federal inmate local business owner, which has featured a lawsuit filing and other dramatic developments. With a 1-6 record to ponder, Oklahoma State fans should probably watch this soap opera instead. It’s a bit like when Harry got mad at Lloyd in Dumb And Dumber.
- Anyway, OU will have its hands full next week against an Ole Miss team indubitably irritated by a 43-35 loss at Georgia on Saturday. The Rebels led for most of the game, only to see their defense finally tire out at the end. Ole Miss was ahead 35-26 going into the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t hang on between the hedges.
- I’ll be interested to see if Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who started the season as a Division II transfer and the Rebels’ backup, can continue his own Rocky Balboa story against the Sooners’ defense. Is Chambliss as good as his stats say, or has he benefited from playing mostly questionable defenses like Arkansas, Tulane and Washington State?
- Second-ranked Miami was stunned by Louisville 24-21 on Friday night at home when its quarterback, Carson Beck, couldn’t quit throwing to the wrong team. Beck had four interceptions in the game and had a fifth called back on a spurious roughing-the-passer call.
- If Miami were an airplane crash, however, then — to borrow from the old joke — they should have built the entire plane out of freshman receiver Malachi Toney. Like the fabled black box on an aircraft, Toney was the only Hurricane who emerged from the wreckage unscathed, at least in my opinion. It was the first time I’ve really had the chance to watch Toney play and not be distracted by other games, and he might be the best player in the country.
- Nebraska didn’t last long in the top 25, celebrating its No. 25 ranking by immediately dropping a road game at Minnesota, 24-6. If OU fans want to feel better about the Sooners’ running game and woeful offensive line performances, just look at the Big Red of the north. The ’Huskers might have the worst offensive line on any team identified as being “pretty good.” I’m sure OSU or North Carolina or some other objectively terrible team has a worse line, but Nebraska manages to be decent despite the leaky sieve that is its front five.
- Texas Tech finally met its maker, and it came in the form of a Sun Devil. Tech fell 26-22 at Arizona State in a wild game where both teams scored in the final two minutes.
- Tech played the entire contest with its backup quarterback, Will Hammond, who has been a true find this season when thrust into the quarterback role because of injuries. But it may have been too much to ask him to win on the road in Tempe, Arizona. With the loss, it’s hard for me to imagine Tech making the College Football Playoff without winning the conference title — a possibility that might face every Big 12 team at this point.
- There’s a reason traffic gets jammed up in the OPPOSITE lane of a wreck. I call it “gawker’s block,” and I had a case of it this weekend as I watched a bit of Penn State’s 25-24 loss to Iowa — leering eagerly to see the smoking wreckage of what’s left of the preseason No. 2 team.
- The game was surprisingly competitive, but it was weird not to see James Franklin patrolling the sidelines as PSU’s head man after he was shockingly let go last weekend. Hey, one thing you can say about Penn State University is that whenever there’s an issue in its athletic department or with the football coach, the administration is absolutely quick and decisive with necessary action.
- Finally, I mentioned Vanderbilt earlier as being an upstart program, particularly after a 31-24 win Saturday against No. 10 LSU. It marked the first time the Commodores were Las Vegas favorites against LSU in 77 years, and it was the first time they’ve been favored against a top-10 team in 77 games.
- My everlasting man-crush on New Mexico State/Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia reached fever levels Saturday on the patio of Cowenstan National Stadium. Pavia passed for 150 yards, rushed for 86, and combined for three touchdowns between his throwing and running. At this point, if he’s not at least a contender for the Heisman Trophy, then I don’t understand the qualifications to be one.
