This past weekend was further proof that we need college football injected in our veins. At least the part that takes place between the white lines.

It was sit on the edge of your seat action even if your favorite team was not involved. It was rivalry weekend, meaning the stakes were high regardless of your record. The best part was we got an extra day of nail biting action. From Friday evening right through Saturday night, it was must see TV. It was order in and have the delivery guy bring the food right in to the house where you were watching the games.

Friday night we got an eight overtime classic. Brent Key has done Yoeman’s work at his alma mater, Georgia Tech. The Yellowjackets had already upset Miami earlier in the season, and Key admitted aloud that he hated Georgia. Georgia was assured a spot in the SEC Championship Game, but any hope of an at large bid would go out the window with a loss. With the help of some questionable calls, Georgia finally survived in the eighth overtime. A silly, yet thrilling way to settle a game.

That game lasted past midnight, leaving fans less than 12 hours to be prepared for THE game. Ohio State and Michigan did not disappoint. Michigan was a nearly three touchdown underdog in Columbus. However, the Wolverines have developed a method for beating the Buckeyes and their embattled coach Ryan Day. Michigan turned it into a defensive struggle and, once again, found a way to beat the Buckeyes. Michigan’s season was saved with the win, while Ryan Day may get run out of Columbus regardless of how Ohio State does in the playoffs.

Next up was the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football history, USC and Notre Dame. USC has been the ultimate close but no cigar team this year. Notre Dame has powered through a weak schedule after an upset loss to Northern Illinois early in the season. This one turned into a shootout, as neither team stopped the other with much consistency. Late in the game, USC reached the Notre Dame ten yard line with a chance to tie the game. In typical 2024 Trojan style, USC had a miscommunication on a pass route leading to a Notre Dame pick six. Another 100 yard pick six later and Notre Dame secured a playoff spot while Limcoln Riley went home to a very hot seat in LA.

Saturday night, Texas and Texas A&M returned to their longstanding rivalry. The winner would head to the SEC Championship Game, and for the Aggies it would be their only chance at a playoff berth. Even though this game finished as only a 17-7 Texas victory, it was never really close.

Regardless, it was college football at its finest. It was college football’s version of good cop.

It begs the question of why all of the adults in the room want to play bad cop.

The adults were cool when they got all the money, but when the kids finally won the right to compensation in this billion dollar industry they panicked. They through their hands up, shrugged, and just went with the flow. No guardrails. No regulations. Nothing. Consequently, recruits are mainly going where they receive the most money. Ohio State allegedly spent 20 million dollars on their current roster. Michigan, thanks to an alum dating a billionaire, just spent 10 million dollars on an incoming quarterback. Phil Knight drops bags and bags of cash to make sure Oregon is luring recruits to a place that was never a destination location. If there is one positive here, it is that all the NIL nonsense may have created the parity we see this season.

In addition, the adults realized if they ended the regionalization of the sport and created fewer, but larger, conferences they could all make more money. And isn't that what life’s all about? So here we are with power conferences consisting of 16, 16, 17, and 18 teams. Here’s the rub. That is too many teams. It is impossible to create equitable schedules.

  • Case in point number one: In the SEC, Georgia played Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Florida. Texas played Georgia and Texas Tech.
  • Case in point number two: In the Big Ten, Ohio State traveled to Oregon and Penn State plus hosted Indiana and Michigan. Penn State’s West Coast trip was to underwhelming USC and hosted Ohio State. The Lions next toughest game was hosting an average Illinois. Indiana’s schedule was even easier. The Hoosiers only tough game was a trip to Ohio State. Oregon only had to host Ohio State. The Ducks next toughest game on paper was a trip to Michigan.
  • Case in point  number three: In the ACC, SMU, Clemson, and Miami finished as the 1, 2, and 3 teams in the conference. None of them played one another. 

The schedule discrepancies aren’t the coaches and players fault. You play who you play. With 16 to 18 teams in a conference, it isn’t even the schedule maker’s fault. Here’s the thing. With the smaller, regionalized conferences you would play every other team, creating a true champion at the end of the season. And they could do it without these nonsensical conference championship games. But where’s the money in that.

Finally, there is the twelve team playoff. On the field I am sure it will be great. At least we hope it will be great. But it is the whole set up that they have screwed up.

Let’s start with the byes. I think most people with even a smidgen of knowledge of the game would say clearly there are 6-8 teams better than SMU, Boise State, and Arizona State. Clearly. That doesn’t mean those teams can’t win, but simply the body of work those three teams have put up is lacking. Yet, two of those three teams(Clemson and Iowa State too) will get the three and four seed allowing them a bye into the quarterfinals. That needs to change before next season.

Consequently, it appears the five and six seeds are the prime spots to land. Minus not getting a bye, you get a home game against an inferior opponent and then a neutral site game also against an inferior opponent. In my opinion, Notre Dame should not be seeded higher than seven. They choose not to join a conference, thus not ever battling for a league title and spot in a championship game. In my model, the losers of the SEC and Big Ten championship games should be seeded five and six. If Notre Dame gets the five seed they will not have gone through the rigors of a conference schedule and then they would get two relatively easy games to reach the semifinals. And I don’t think the Irish are that good.

The glitch in my idea is that if Penn State loses to Oregon, the Nittany Lions can’t be seeded above Ohio State because they lost head to head to the Buckeyes.

There will be at least one spot up for grabs at the end of next Saturday. Alabama, South Carolina, Miami, Indiana, SMU(if they lose to Clemson), and Mississippi will all plead their cases. Indiana only has one loss, and I would be stunned if they don’t make it to the playoff. But, are they worthy? They showed they couldn’t carry Ohio State’s suitcases in that game a couple weeks ago. The Hoosiers also struggled to beat Michigan. The Wolverines are a very average one dimensional team. Sorry Coach Day, but it’s true. How much should we value scoring 40 and 50 points against teams like Purdue and Northwestern?

On the other hand, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina had chances to not lose three games. Mississippi lost to Kentucky. Alabama lost to Vanderbilt. South Carolina lost to LSU. And Miami has one of the worst defenses in the country. The whole thing is a mess.

Here is one final suggestion that nobody will take in to consideration. Get rid of the conference championship games. Yes, I know that’s a ton of money to pass on. But when is enough, enough? The regular season champions get automatic bids but not automatic seeding. From there let the computers factor in at least 75% and the stupid committee rankings no more than 25%. Oh, and no automatic bid for a group of five team. Instead, let them have their pick of bowl games.

I mentioned it last week and on my Musings podcast, but I would rather go back to the bowl system. In 1979 there were 15 bowl games, not 36 bowl games. The bowls meant something to the teams. Teams all tried to win, and players didn’t opt out. You turned on the Mizzlou network starting with the Independence Bowl. You were guaranteed BYU being involved in a shootout in the Holiday Bowl. New Year’s Eve was spent watching the Bluebonnet Bowl. The major bowls had tie ins to conferences and they meant the world to those teams. The downside was the national champion was decided by voters. Still, that seems better than this money driven nonsense we have now. Two losses back then took you out of the national championship picture. Now, it just means a slightly lower seed.

College football can’t afford to continue playing good cop/bad cop. Last weekend was a spectacular display of the sport we all love. From flag planting and fisticuffs(maybe cut out the pepper spray Columbus police department) to upsets and never ending games, it was tremendous.

Then bad cop steps in and you realize how disjointed, unfair, and unsustainable college football is currently. If bad cop would stop trying to grab every penny they can, maybe things would stabilize a bit.

For now, I am going to continue enjoying college football Saturdays, but I will continue to hate all the other craziness in between.

Wait, what? Signing day is tomorrow? Oh great. Let’s see how many kids change their minds at the last minute because the Phil Knight stork dropped a giant bag of cash on their doorstep.

Stupid bad cop…

Two Cent Takes

College Football

~So the 5, 6, 7, and 8 seeds will get a huge revenue boost by hosting a playoff game. Yet, the top four seeds will miss out on the extra home game. This won’t last. There will have to be some type of revenue sharing for this setup.

~A good Catholic Notre Dame lad would never…

 

~Speaking of USC, Lincoln Riley will need to win big next year. With each passing season, the Trojan's boosters will grow more weary and less resistant to paying his buyout.

~Mack Brown flip flopped about coming back to North Carolina, so the school ended the debate by firing Brown. Smart move. Mack is too old to turn that program around.

~Neal Brown is out at West Virginia, and there is an Andy Koltenicki on the Mountaineers menu. This could be a bit of a distraction for Penn State. And if he would take the job, Penn State would once again be looking for an offensive coordinator.

~James Franklin won’t be getting a Christmas card from Maryland coach Mike Locksley after hurrying up to get a late score while already up by 31. Kids have a right to play. I get it. That was part of Franklin’s excuse. Generally, I could care less. But it is pretty commonplace for a team with a big lead to just have the backups run the ball to bleed out the clock. Franklin clear.y still holds a grudge against Maryland for not hiring him. My issue is with his excuses after the game. Just come out and own up to what happened. Just say, “I wanted to score one more time.” Don’t say it was so the 3’s and 4’s could score. Don’t blame it on Maryland playing cover 0. And for the love of God, don’t say point spread matters for the playoffs as an excuse. They aren’t moving you up a seed line because you won by 37 instead of 31. This is typical Franklin. He doesn’t own up to anything.

~Speaking of coaches who run up the score, Ryan Day not only lost to Michigan again but did nothing while his players brawled with Michigan players trying to plant their flag at midfield.

 

“What happened?” Really? This guy is right at the head of the line for douchiest coach.

~Speaking of…how about Mr. Overrated Matt Rhule having his captains refuse to shake hands at Iowa.

 

Karma came around to bite Rhule, who is already on the Huskers fans naughty list. That didn’t take long.

~This seems weird for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it came after beating a 2 win Mississippi State team.

 

College Hoops

~Louie Carnasecca passed away over the weekend. I can never think of St. John’s without thinking of Carnesecca and those sweaters. Great coach.

~Can we calm down on the Danny Hurley hate. One, he has won back to back national championships. Two, he is a Hurley so yelling at officials should be expected. Three, he didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. As I said on my podcast, until he goes full Bobby Knight and chokes a player or throws a flower pot at his secretary I am good with Hurley.

~Mike Woodson won’t be the Indiana coach next year. He brought in talent, but he cannot coach. His team put forth zero effort in getting smashed by Louisville in the Bahamas last week. Then they got smashed by Gonzaga in the next round. It could get ugly in Bloomington.

~Kansas is really good. I get moving Auburn to one after they won the Maui Invitational in convincing fashion. Kansas is still better.

~Shout out to my Louisville Cardinals. Pat Kelsey certainly is a breath of competency that was missing the last two years. The Cards will have to shoot better if they want to be a tournament team.

~Best finish so far comes from the undefeated Pitt Panthers.

 

~College basketball officiating has been predictably poor. Here is a still frame of a late game inbound pass by Louisville which ended any chance they had of tying the game. This should have been a technical foul.

 

Notice both officials looking at the same area and neither watching the inbounder. This is why they went to three person crews. So that they would have eyes on everything.

NFL

~The Eagles and Lions are significantly better than everybody else. For now.

~The Bills are the real deal, and Josh Allen should probably win the MVP.

~I don’t know who is winning the NFC West, but it isn’t going to be the 49ers.

~Are the Chiefs lucky? Yes, but good teams tend to have good luck. If that fails, the referees will Help you out. The Chiefs are one Spygate or Deflategate away from becoming the Patriots.

~The hit on Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence was vicious, but I am glad some people have come out and stated that quarterbacks are taught to slide always. It is leading to these types of hits. Defenders aren’t going to just hold up and wait for you to slide. Kudos, here, to Rex Ryan for explaining the stupidity of it all.

 

Steelers

~Yes, the Bengals defense is bad. Do you think any quarterback in the last three or four seasons would have taken advantage of them like Russell Wilson did Sunday? Wilson is the professional quarterback Steelers fans have been longing for.

~When the edge rushers make plays the defense is tough to deal with. It really is that simple.

~I truly don’t get the Minkah Fitzpatrick strategy of having him play so deep. Sure, you can argue that he has prevented big plays, but it isn’t also true that he isn’t making any plays. Fortunately DeShaun Elliott is making many of the plays Fitzpatrick used to make.

~George Pickens has created a target on his back. He is petulant, a bit immature, and goofy as hell. He is also ultra talented, and arguably the best Steelers receiver since another petulant, immature, goofy guy in Antonio Brown. I am here for it, and officials should treat him the same as everyone else.

 

~The Steelers have a two game lead over Baltimore, but the schedule is tough from here on out while the Ravens schedule eases up. It may still be required that the Steelers beat Baltimore at their place to secure the division title.

The Weekly Shiny Penny

The boys at Barstool hit the mark with this video. A Shining Moment worthy of the Shiny Penny.

 

A Penny For My Final Thought…

As I mentioned in the main column, Rivalry Weekend was something else.

Some rivalry games are played earlier in the season, but there is something cool about ending the season against your rival. No matter how your season has gone to that point, you can make everything better by defeating your rival. The teams in these rivalry games truly don’t like one another. Look at all the flag plants or attempted flag plants. UCLA received three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the way to the locker room against USC. In most cases it is true hatred.

It is the essence of sports. We had rivals from little league right through high school. Pro sports has rivalries, and they, too, are fantastic.

Why would you not want to play your rivals?

Ask James Franklin.

It is absurd that Penn State and Pitt don’t play.

It should be the way these two teams end their seasons. Not playing Maryland. Not playing Boston College. Remember when this was the case back in the 70’s? It was great stuff just like all the other rivalry games were this past weekend. Sometimes we even got lucky and snow was added to the mix.

Pitt certainly wants to play the game. Hell, it is all most Pitt fans think about. Whether the Panthers are winning or losing, their thoughts are always on Penn State. Same with their blowhard coach, Pat Narduzzi.

That leaves it in Penn State’s hands. Specifically, James Franklin’s hands. The reason Penn State dropped the game supposedly goes back to Joe Paterno being irked that Pitt helped put the kibosh on his All Eastern league he had drawn up. Think Big East before Big East.

The game has been played sporadically since the turn of the century. Franklin was upset about a ticket situation when they played at Pittsburgh. He claims he has told his AD that the game is important to the fans. He is right. He may also be lying.

Penn State would probably win 8 or 9 out of ten games against Pitt. Still, Franklin has made it known he wants a soft out of conference schedule. Most coaches agree with Franklin on that issue. Making the playoffs is hard enough without adding tough out of conference games. The Playoff Committee needs to fix that by offering some type of bonus for playing difficult OOC games.

 Losing to Pitt would also unsettle a fanbase that is already unsettled by losing to Ohio State every year. Franklin doesn’t want that potential heat.

It is all silly.

Pitt is simply not at the level of Penn State. That doesn’t mean the game shouldn’t be played. Many rivalry games are one sided, but the fans still long for such opportunities. It gives fans a chance to hurl slanderous comments at their rival. And the thing is, win or lose, they will continue to hurl those comments after the game. That is what makes a rivalry game so great.

Penn State and Pitt are natural state rivals. The history of the rivalry is actually fairly close. Penn State holds a ten game advantage. There is absolutely no reason for this game not to end both teams’ regular seasons.

Alabama/Auburn, Michigan/Ohio State, Florida/Florida State, USC/Notre Dame, NC State/North Carolina, South Carolina/Clemson, Georgia/ Georgia Tech, Texas/Texas A&M, Arizona/Arizona State, and on and on.

If Penn State is playing Pitt it fits perfectly into that list. It would sure beat the heck out of Pitt/Boston College and Penn State/Maryland.

For once, put egos aside. Put fears aside. Put shady ticket issues aside. Put past spats aside.

For once, do something for the fans. Play the game.

Just my two cents…