College Football: Throw The Fans a Bone

College football is, of course, big business.

And big business sometimes leaves a bunch of fans feeling fickle or, perhaps, even a bit bitter.

So how about some fast fan fixes to make the game a better built event for the average fan?

A playoff system would be my ideal fan friendly event. The playoff system has many powerful enemies aligned against it.  Entrenched enemies that include certain conferences and commissioners, certain cities and politicians, and certain special interests and businesses invested, or in bed, with politicians, power brokers, networks, and event planners that make bundles of bucks from bowls just the way they are.    

It's a tangled web of politics, politicos, big money, big businesses, bigger greed, and special interests that would take the Warren Commission to unravel.

So a playoff system in the near future is about as likely as the Beatles reuniting.

But lets try a few fun easy fixes?

Bring back Penn State vs Pittsburgh.

One thing estranged Pennsylvania politicians and university football fathers should be able to agree on is the necessity to play this game every year for the mental well being of an increasing economically depressed state.

Penn State v Pitt why did they stop it? What were they thinking?

Speaking of unnatural stoppages why did the powers that be in the Big 12 halt Nebraska vs Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Friday?

Black Friday was a day where the womenfolks went shopping and the men devoured cold turkey, drank colder beer, and watched Nebraska battle Oklahoma.

Unless, of course, the womenfolks liked football and cold beer then they watched football too.

Why did they stop that? Why bring on the Colorado Buffalo's and trounce the traditional rivalry game? Why, Big Twelve, why?

How about Auburn Tiger traditions?

Why doesn't Auburn play Florida and Tennessee every year? Why play Furman and Ball State and not nearby long time rivals Georgia Tech or Clemson? Why destroy those traditions? Traditions the fans loved.

Why doesn't Florida and Miami play each other every year? Florida, Florida State, and Miami should play each other every year. Maybe South Florida should be thrown in the mix. Florida needs a state champ.

What muddled collection of athlete directors and misguided alumni thought ending the Florida and Miami matchup was a good thing? That pair and the Seminoles always played for the crown in the land of Ponce De Leon. Why disrupt it?

What genius did that? What the battle for one of the biggest hot beds of football talent didn't draw enough national interest? Enough intensity?

Teams want early season give me games but that's another gripe. What happened to the early season inter sectional rivalry games?

Why not Alabama vs Penn State? USC vs Alabama? Ohio State vs Georgia?  Texas vs LSU?

Why not a weekend of Big Ten SEC match-ups? A Blue vs Gray weekend away? Why not?

Or a weekend of PAC Ten and Big 12 match-ups?

USC vs Texas anyone? UCLA vs Texas A'M? Oklahoma vs Oregon State?

Or the Big East vs the ACC?

The travel time would be short and some old bitterness over Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech jumping ship still lingers.

Why not an early season inter-sectional rivalry weekend? The fans, the players, and the network ratings would all love it.

The last week in September would be a fine time for Inter sectional Saturday.

Unless, of course, the Big Ten and SEC want to get it on each year on the mid September anniversary of the Battle of Antietam.

Make those big money season tickets worth it. Play some meaningful non league match ups.

Why not do something about the long, slow Big Ten December siesta? Why not add a conference championship game?

Split the Big Ten into east and west conferences, with the addition of a team, and have a ratings blockbuster in December? That would open up the early part of the schedule for a inter-sectional rivalry week or an in state rivalry game.

Penn State could play Pitt and old, but now faded, rival Syracuse every September.

Michigan could match up with Texas or Tennessee. Ohio State, like its son Sherman, could march south into the SEC.

If the Big Ten frowns on splitting into east and west why not tie itself into a Yankee Playoff Game in which the Big Ten plays the Big East champion every December. The Big Ten's Rose bowl birth would not be affected by the game and it would be fun. Sure the Big Ten braggarts will say why waste time with the puny Big East.

But why not? Ohio State vs West Virginia would make for an early, exciting Christmas present. Why not add luster for the fans and the networks? The Big Ten, a very staid, stale league should not be afraid of change.

Even old Joe Paterno, a conservative child of the Great Depression, knows something is amiss with college football, and the Big Ten in particular, constant resistance to change.

Why not start the change by rolling the dice and perhaps, at least, playing the Big East in December.

Folks will say schedules are made decades in advance. Things can't change. Some things must remain the same.

Cut the Gordian knot. Slice like Gale Sayers through the sludge and the drudgery. Feed the fans something fantastic. Or at least throw them a fun football bone.