A Whole New College Football World
In a little over one month, the entire landscape of the last 100 years of college football has been turned upon its head. We are about to live in a world with a 12 team playoff, player endorsements and massive conference re-alignment with Oklahoma and Texas heading to the SEC. And fellas I gotta say, I love it all. Both the NCAA and college football have needed sweeping overhaul for over two decades. Let’s break the changes down.
- 12 Team Football Playoff is Announced
We will now have 11 playoff games instead of 3! How the hell can this be a bad thing having more games that actually matter in the postseason?!?! Bowl games have become glorified exhibition games with top players opting out left and right. Adding 8 more teams to the playoffs improves the postseason ten fold. This will encourage teams to play much tougher schedules as 3 loss SEC teams will now have a great shot to still get in. Sign me up for less cream puff wars and more exciting regular season games plus a much better postseason. And to all those fans saying this hurts the regular season, just please shut up and give this a chance. The regular season is going to be incredible with so much on the line every week and the top 4 teams will still get playoff byes if they go undefeated or have 1 loss.
Count me in among the folks who think it is time for the G5 to have a playoff too. Who would not want to watch an 8 team G5 playoff to go along with the 12 teamer? That would be a whopping 18 games total that have real meaning instead of the current 3. We have to stop pretending that allowing the top G5 team in a BCS bowl actually has meaning.
- Endorsements for Players Became Legal on July 1
Thank God. This has been overdue for over two decades! It is an outrage that these conferences and schools have been allowed to make millions and millions of dollars off the backs of these players who sacrifice their bodies every week. The TV money is staggering and there is more than enough for all parties. ESPN is paying the SEC over 300 million dollars a year in the new TV deal! The schools still get to keep all this money and the players can make money off their likenesses. So many of these football players come from poor backgrounds and deserve to be compensated. I am so happy for those guys. I never could understand the righteous fans and coaches saying the players did not deserve the money. This always struck me as such an empathetic attitude towards others. We all know paying players has been going on under the table forever and it is time to bring it into the light.
- Oklahoma and Texas Are Heading to the SEC and Destroying Big 12
This monster bombshell broke during SEC Media Days last week while Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher was fielding questions. The Big 12 is dead after this news. There is no recovering from losing their top two schools that brought in all the revenue. Their other schools are going to do everything they can to get in the Big 10 or PAC 12 to survive in the new world of four super conferences.
The rich get a whole lot richer in the SEC. The thought of Oklahoma and Texas playing the SEC powers every week is mind blowing. Who does not love the thought of an LSU/Texas or Oklahoma/Alabama matchup in the regular season?!?! And with the 12 team playoff, a 9-3 record in this super conference will still make it more times than not. It feels like the SEC is all but seceding from the NCAA and going to do their own thing. The separation has never been greater between the power conferences and the G5. It will be fascinating to see if the rumors are true about the SEC trying to add the other top schools in the sport in the next 5-10 years.
To sum it up, both the regular season and postseason improved a ton and the players finally get to make money…. I love the new world of college football! Embrace the change or get left behind!