Five "What If's" for College Football, Pt. 2

I don't believe in preseason polls or rankings.

I'm not going to write about one or vote in one here at Bleacher Report or at my site, The Sports Chat Place, just so I have something to talk about in regards to college football, though anyone with a calendar knows its only June.

Instead, I am just working on my College Football Preview and writing articles about hypothetical situations that could easily occur and take on some of the many issues facing our game as we move into the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century.

Here is my second installment in this series.

What if not enough teams qualify for bowl games to fill in all of the available slots?

I believe this is more of a matter of when than if. The NCAA already allows wins against 1-AA teams to count towards bowl eligibility.

Maybe intra-squad scrimmages will start counting, too.

Last year, the Big 12 and the SEC missed out on a bowl game by not having enough teams with enough wins. That means the conferences didn't collect on all available money.

I don't think they'll let that happen too often in the future.

While we seem to see more cupcake scheduling than ever with the addition of the 12th game, we are going to see even more.

Fans hoped for more big games. What we are getting instead are full-priced tickets for games not even worth watching.

Instead of seeing the games and match-ups we all want to see and seeing renewals of old rivalries that were destroyed by teams joining conferences, we get whining about how tough the other games they have to play are.

While late scheduling of games and fitting them into the schedule are part of the reason we've gotten bad match-ups in the early stages of the 12th game, I'm more than prepared of hearing about how playing Massachusetts and Morgan State do so much for those programs.

What if Randy Shannon has another un-Miami-like season at Miami?

Running the table and winning the National Championship is the expectation at Miami. Whether it's fair or not, that is very clear when any coach takes over the head coaching job.

While Shannon didn't take over a program coming off of probation like Butch Davis did, he did take over a program that was going in reverse.

There was a strong youth movement in Miami and it looks like he has guys who can play, they just need the experience.

I think a common frustration with all college football fans and programs starts when a team continues using game plans and schemes that don't work. For those keeping score at home, Shannon goes through offensive and defensive coordinators on a regular basis.

It takes five years to see what coaches are made of. That's how long it takes to get their players in and establish their ways.

Imagine if the Canes had gotten rid of Howard Schnellenberger before his fifth season.

What if the non-BCS School beats the big time BCS School in a BCS Bowl game again?

The little guy winning these match-ups is normal at this point. While I didn't think Utah beating a lousy Pittsburgh team a few years back, everyone has to admit Boise knocking off Oklahoma and Utah crushing Alabama had to open an eye.

As long as there is a huge pile of money surrounding these bowl games, the big guys aren't going to want them to share. The big conferences have made this statement loud and clear that making money is their No. 1 priority.

The conferences put the almighty dollar in front of their fans, their dignity, and self-respect. I hardly think the WAC or Mountain West even stand a chance. This one is up to the fans, as we now have more of a voice than ever.

Let's use it.

What if they start selling the Bowl games in a Pay-Per-View package?

We are starting to see more regular season games being shown on a pay-per-view basis.

Personally, I think the current people in charge think we are stupid enough to pay for anything.

I will say that last year's bowl games were some of the better and more competitive  I have ever seen from top to bottom. I will also say that there were a lot of teams in bowls that shouldn't have been there and a lot of games I wouldn't have watched if there were any other game on.

I honestly believe that this is also a matter of when and not if. The move of the Rose Bowl to cable is just another step in that direction. My guess is they start with a really specialized game like that one and expand from there.

Of course this will all be done with the NCAA and conferences acting like this is the way it should have been all along and normal. The next generation won't even know that it was ever any different.

We've seen this act over and over again.

What if the officiating gets even worse?

Two years ago, we saw a play where a player signaled for a fair catch, caught the ball and ran it in for a touchdown that stood and was the difference in a nationally televised game.

And we thought things couldn't go downhill from there.

Last season, we saw a game decided as possession changed after the referees spotted the ball incorrectly on two successive plays. Once again, this game was nationally televised.

On every Saturday, it seems to be bad call after bad call, conference after conference between officials.

The game has gotten so bad that we now cheer twice for every touchdown and great play: once when the player actually makes the play, and once when after further review the play stands.

Can it get any more silly?

My Magic 8 Ball simply says "Yes."

I look forward to my next article in this series. I live for this stuff.

---

Visit Mitch anytime at The Sports Chat Place.