#StayHealthy and practice social distancing.
It’s been brewing for awhile, but the college football post-season is officially broken.
ESPN says last night’s national championship game drew 18.7 million viewers. That is …. yeesh.
Per @paulsen_smw, the previous low for a BCS or CFP title game was 21.4M for USC 55, Oklahoma 19 in 2004.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 12, 2021
Sure there is COVID, and last week’s Capitol Building insurrection that played a role but college football’s post-season issues run deeper than that. If you weren’t a fan of Alabama or Ohio State, it was simply boring. It was a blowout between two of the half-dozen schools that have a realistic chance to win the the national title before the season begins.
Year after year it’s Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and to a lesser extent Oklahoma and Notre Dame.
All-time appearances in 7-year history of @CFBPlayoff
Alabama 6 (8-3, 3 titles)
Clemson 6 (6-4, 2 titles)
Ohio State 4 (3-3, 1 title)
Oklahoma 4 (0-4)
Notre Dame 2 (0-2)
LSU 1 (2-0, 1 title)
Georgia 1 (1-1)
Oregon 1 (1-1)
Florida St 1 (0-1)
Mich. St 1 (0-1)
Washington 1 (0-1)— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 12, 2021
Three teams have won more than 3 playoff games. Now the Clemson fan in me is fine with Clemson’s success. Alabama fans obviously feel the same way. It’s not their job to give other teams a chance.
Last night for me the shoe was on the other foot. I was a casual fan, and could barely get through halftime. It was a blowout, between two schools I found little reason to root for. Most of the rest of the country has felt like that for a good chunk of the last few years.
Alabama and Nick Saban just won their 6th national title since 2009, and without the rise of Clemson could be looking at EIGHT national titles since 2009.
Unless scholarships are reduced, there’s no reason to think it won’t be the same teams dominating the post-season for the foreseeable future. The same teams will be winning the titles, but there’s an opportunity to bring some competitiveness to the College Football postseason.
There are two solutions expand to the 8 team playoff with 5 power five champions (Must ranked in the top 15), 2 Wild Cards, and the highest ranked Group of 5 Team (Top 15). Sure this year #1 Alabama against #8 Cincinnati is probably blowout, but #4 Notre Dame vs #5 Texas A&M and #3 Ohio State vs #6 Oklahoma look like compelling matchups. I guarantee one of those games would be close.
The other solution is the +1 solution after the bowls. Matchup your bowl games however you want, but you are ending up with a bunch of top 15 matchups in the Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, Peach, and Cotton Bowls with with several if not all factoring in the +1. At least you have a reason to watch. Play the games, and then have #1 vs #2 play.
College Football can’t continue down the path of the current post-season.
It’s bad for fans, it’s bad for TV, and it’s bad for the sport.
The current deal run through 2025, and I don’t see it going beyond.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply