College Football Playoffs… HOPE

EDITORIAL -

by TexCane

The national media has been hot and heavy recently on the College Football Playoff format. Everyone has their opinion. Most media folks support their employer’s best interests. But what about the fans interests? What about what’s good for college football? What about parity? What about HOPE?

Those of us at CaneReports land on the side of the fans. That’s why we are presenting our take today.

For decades, the NCAA has used a balanced methodology in selecting the schools going to the March Madness national basketball tournament each year. March Madness has been the most successful national championship tournament of all. Why?

HOPE…

Even if your school is not a blue blood in the sport, you can earn your way to an invitation to the national tournament. You earn it on the court of competition. No automatic qualifiers other than winning your conference championship.

So why is the NCAA not duplicating this recipe of success? The answer is simple…they don’t control their own business. The media conglomerates control because they provide the big money. Greed throughout college athletics dominates amateur athletics.

Our proposal…

The NCAA has ten conferences plus a few independents participating in Division I athletics. That’s roughly 130 schools, give or take. Our proposal calls for a 8-school tournament that includes conference champions only.

Here are the conferences that we propose would make up the NCAA Division I in the future. (alphabetical order)…

American Athletic Conference

Atlantic Coast Conference

Big 12 Conference

Big Ten Conference

Conference USA

Mid-American Conference

Mountain West Conference

Pac-12 Conference

Southeastern Conference

The eight champions of each conference earn their way into the tournament.

But wait, there’s problems.

There are currently nine conferences that make Division I. We propose moving the Sun Belt Conference to Division II.

In addition, the PAC-12 is in the process of rebuilding their conference to the minimum number of eight schools required to keep their power conference status. For the PAC-12 to be eligible for the playoffs, they must reach at least eight full-time members. If not, the PAC-12 schools will be assimilated into other conferences.

OK, but we still have one small problem. The independents. We have only three schools remaining independent at the Division I level. Notre Dame, UConn and Massachusetts. Until they join one of the Division I conferences, they will not be eligible for the CFP.

BOTTOM LINE:

Tough love, but it's for the good of all college athletics. You earn your way into the CFP by winning your conference. No conference gets more than one playoff berth, their conference champion. The regular season once again means something significant.

Geographic-based conferences will bring college football back to the fans.

An even playing field, no more automatic berths unless you are a conference champion. Hope restored for the little guys. Fairness returns. More parity! Sanity returns to the game we love.

Can it happen? Yes.

Will it happen? Doubtful.

Power and greed trumps everything else. Sad.

GO CANES!