CFB Playoffs and Realignment, an Honest Proposal That Makes Sense

As we enter the down period of football when seemingly everyone including Nick Saban takes a vacation and writers and reporters scrape the bottom of barrel to find something, anything to write about, I find myself drifting away and fantasizing about an ideal college football realignment/playoff picture and wonder why the god-like rulers of CFB can’t admit that big-time college football is the wealthiest minor league in the world and treat it as such.

In the pursuit for more money, conferences and athletic directors have made the decision to completely ignore the needs of the “student-athletes” that commit to them. They accept conference invites that will place undue burdens on these athletes, forcing them to travel thousands of miles every other week to play conference opponents that are states away that the players have never heard of.  

At the same time, these same athletes are beholden to a university even if the coach that recruits them leaves or if they are stuck on a bench; they are held at the pleasure of the coach or AD.

And if they decide that they want to transfer to another school, maybe a school that will offer them more playing time, is closer to home or one where the coach that recruited them left for, they first must ask for and receive permission from their coach and then sit out a year, thus losing their single greatest commodity, time.

To treat these athletes who have skills and abilities that enrich universities to the tune of millions per year as indentured servants is hypocritical and wrong. What are these rulers so afraid of? Why can’t they admit the truth about big-time college football and then accept them for what they are and move forward with honesty?

There are 120 teams in Division I of college football or FBS. First of all, this is far too many. Realistically, FBS needs to lose about half of these teams. They are simply not good enough to ever be a major power, contend for a title of any kind and are not teams that people are going to watch or create any interest in.

Get rid of them. Create an FBS-II and make these teams a minor league to the FBS. If a team is good enough to rise up (Boise State, TCU, Utah) it can replace teams that don’t draw large enough crowds or win consistently enough to create any interest.

Conversely, teams that fail to win enough (Vanderbilt, Duke) face the possibility of being demoted to FBS-II. This will pressure athletic departments to push to develop their football programs or admit the truth that football is not a priority at the school.

This brings us to the 60 or so largest programs. These teams are broken up into four 15-team conferences based on geography, while at the same time taking measures to ensure that traditional rivalries are maintained and respected.

Each team would play a 12-game season; each is allowed one FBS-II cupcake, then three games out of conference and eight in-conference games. At the end of the season there would be four conference champions who automatically make the playoffs and then  12 at-large teams, the teams that have the best record, would also enter the playoffs, giving us a 16-team playoff.

I realize that this idea is very similar to many others, but here is where my idea differs: These kids, for the most part, are not students. They are at a university simply because they can play football and for the most part, would probably not qualify academically if they were not playing football. Why try to make them something they are not?

They are not academics so don’t force them to go to school. They are recruited to play football so let them play football. Their days should be spent in the gym, in the film room and at practice. They are not students, they just happen to play football for a team that is associated with a school.

Coaches at these top 60 schools should spend their time preparing the athletes to enter the NFL. If they must take classes have them take classes on financial management so they don’t end up bankrupt, despite making half a million a year as a commentator on the NFL network (Warren Sapp, I AM talking to you).

Have them take public speaking classes so they don’t sound like idiots when interviewed for anything. Let them talk to agents and promote themselves as well as their schools. If they can make a profit or get free tats by selling or trading their jerseys, good for them. Let them. These athletes dream of the NFL, give them the opportunity to prepare of it rather than carry on a facade that they are students.

In my idea, if an athlete is good enough to earn a scholarship to play at one of these top 60 schools, then they would get a maximum of four years to play. They would be free to transfer one time in those four years to another school with no questions asked, the only condition being no transfers to rivals. For instance, an Alabama player cannot transfer to Auburn or LSU, a Michigan player cannot transfer to MSU or OSU. Other than that, every other school is open to them.

If, at the end of the four years, the player does not make it into the NFL, they are not allowed to play anymore. But since they have played hard and enriched their university to the tunes of millions, they are allowed something. They are now allowed to become students with tuition, room and board now covered.

If they succeed in school congratulations to them, if they flunk out, well, the world needs ditch-diggers as well.

For those that want to complain about Title IX or other sports, the reality is simple. Golf and baseball do not bring in millions to a school; football is different. Grow up and stop pretending that everything is fair. For those of you gymnasts out there, your scholarship is paid for because Texas football is so profitable.