I spent a lot of time this weekend thinking about how to express my feelings on the loss that my alma mater, Oklahoma, sustained on Saturday. I'm pretty sure I've been through the entire grieving process, and this blog post is my opportunity to complete the process. It goes a lot further than just Oklahoma for me, though. It is the entire state of college football.
This weekend, #7 BCS ranked Oklahoma went to College Station and suffered a season ending loss to the Texas A&M Aggies. No, the season isn't technically over, but for Oklahoma fans, as well as Alabama, Ohio State and others, the season may as well be over. You see, our bars are set extremely high. We recruit the best athletes, pay the best coaches and have the best facilities. This is done for one reason: Championships.
That probably sounds arrogant. In fact, it is arrogant. We are spoiled fans. We expect the world from these 18-22 year old kids. We expect the coaches to be perfect. Why? Because they have before and we know they can again. So, I put my $1000+ toward a donation and season tickets and for that, I expect championships, dammit!
Now, this is where my post goes away from my alma mater. You see, this is the inherent problem with college football today. In a perfect system, two losses wouldn't knock you out of a chance at winning a championship. In a perfect system, my alma mater would be fighting for a place as the 12-16th seed in a playoff. How cool would it be if Alabama, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Stanford, etc., were all still alive for a championship? You're telling me that wouldn't be a compelling regular season?
You see, that's the argument we hear against a playoff from the media. Why ruin the "best regular season in sports"? What? How is this end of the regular season compelling? Oregon has NO ONE left on their schedule that should challenge them. Auburn has a challenge at Alabama. That's it. Beyond that, TCU and Boise are waiting to replace Auburn. No one else is alive. That's compelling? Wake me up in January!
I started reading Dan Wetzel's book "Death to the BCS" last night. I recommend anyone who is interested in college football and hasn't come around to the idea of a playoff to read it. It's amazing what the media has done to form our opinions. It's more amazing WHY they are doing this. The money that exchanges hands is amazing, and, despite what the media will have you believe, VERY little of it is going to the schools involved. A playoff system, as proposed by the book, would generate $500 million more than the BCS, would allow for extra home games for the highest seeds and would make the regular season MORE important. It's a great read so far.
So, forgive me if I go to sleep for the end of the college football season. I'm bored to death. Bowl season will be upon us before you know it, and I'll watch bits and pieces of a few of those bowl games. The more compelling matchups might get my full attention. I can tell you this much, though, if it were a playoff, I'd watch EVERY game.
Remind me again why college football has it right?
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