Imagine a World Series six weeks after the last playoff
game.
Imagine the NBA finals in August.
Imagine March Madness on Memorial Day.
Imagine a World Series six weeks after the last playoff game.
Imagine the NBA finals in August.
Imagine March Madness on Memorial Day.
Get the picture? Monday night’s game between Ohio State and Florida proved nothing other than the Gators are better at dealing with a long layoff than the Buckeyes.
Once again, we don’t know who the best team in college football is. One can argue that last year’s Southern California-Texas game was the real deal. It did have two unbeaten teams so at least we had only one team come through the season unscathed.
But how much sense does it make to crown a national champion more than seven weeks after one of the participants played its last game? None.
If you enjoyed the game, fine. Does this mean the Southeastern Conference is better than the Big Ten? Nope.
Penn State took care of that notion when it beat Tennessee. The Lions were only the fourth best team in the Big Ten, and the Gators barely slipped past the Vols. Also, Wisconsin, the No. 3 team out of the Big Ten, defeated the perceived second best team in the SEC, Arkansas.
So let’s accept Ohio State-Florida for what it was – a college football game between two good teams that had plenty of time to get stale between their last games. For the record, Ohio State faced Michigan Nov. 18. Florida went against Arkansas Dec. 2.
This brings back the debate about whether to have a playoff, like every other NCAA division in football and all other sports. It will never happen as long as the bowls are pumping big money into the NCAA coffers while it gets to hawk products in prime time.
You see, it has nothing to do with the game itself, which is as commercial as the Super Bowl. At least, the NFL big game takes place two weeks after the conference finals, although there are some who believe it should be the following week. Again, the corporate sponsors wouldn’t like it because they wouldn’t have time to wine and dine their clients, so it won’t happen.
The NCAA ought to come right out and say there will never be a legitimate national champion in Division I. And then maybe we could go back to the good ol’ days when the Rose Bowl pitted the best from the Big Ten and Pac-10, and the other bowls had conference winners and worthy at-large teams. Sure, there was controversy then as well but until (or if) there is a playoff system a true national champion will be as much a myth as a unicorn.
If the powers to be really want to give us a perceived game against No. 1 and 2, play it within two weeks of the end of the regular season.
Argue if you will that Florida played its finale two weeks after Ohio State. It’s the choice of the Big Ten to not have playoffs. So play the title game two weeks after the conference playoffs.
And you Gator fans, before you wave your pom-poms and puff out your chests, bring your argument for being No. 1 to Boise State. If the Broncos’ boosters, players or coaches believe you, so will I.
After all, Boise State was the only unbeaten team in the country and its conference came within one point of being unbeaten in bowl games.
So let’s get away from this nonsense of calling a game played the first week of January a national championship. And let’s enjoy college basketball because March Madness is less than two months away.
Now there’s an event where one team can legitimately claim year in and year out “We’re No. 1.”
Contact Marc David at (408) 842-1694 or at [email protected].
