it is anachronistic \u2026 a remnant of a bygone era<\/a>. It seems that having more teams from the SEC participating in a 24-team playoff should come close to covering the lost revenue \u2026 if not exceeding it. <\/p>\nPlus, with the conference becoming so big now, and the absence of the East-West subdivisions, selection rules for which team plays in the SEC championship leaves out teams with identical records, making the SEC championship game seem artificial. <\/p>\n
To me, getting rid of the SEC championship game and embracing a 24-team college football playoff system is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n
ANSWER: College football is a flat circle. Alabama is 100 years removed from its first national championship, and in a lot of ways it feels like we\u2019re looping back to the old days.<\/p>\n
And I mean the really old days.<\/p>\n
Let me explain.<\/p>\n
College football was an unregulated mess at the turn of the 20th century. At Alabama, the president of the school was sick of it. Believe it or not, in 1898, the university killed the football team.<\/p>\n
Big mistake. The students did like that one bit. The stodgy president didn\u2019t last much longer, and football returned in 1899.<\/p>\n
At the time, Alabama\u2019s administrators didn\u2019t feel like supporting football aligned with the ideals of higher education. The irony of that, when compared to college football today, almost makes me cry from laughing so hard. <\/p>\n
The problem with football back in those days is that schools were fielding teams with players who had no interest in earning a degree. Some players even moved from school to school just to play football, and the ones who did that were called \u201cscabs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sound familiar?<\/p>\n
Think football is changing too fast these days? When Alabama quit football in 1897, a touchdown was worth four points and a field goal was worth five. When Alabama resumed playing football in 1899, a touchdown was worth five points.<\/p>\n
Imagine what the old-timers thought?<\/p>\n
\u201cTouchdowns are worth the same as field goals? I don\u2019t even recognize this sport anymore. It\u2019s called foot-ball for a reason.\u201d <\/p>\n
When offenses started throwing the ball, that\u2019s when people really lost their minds. Ultimately, I guess you could blame John Heisman for ruining the game.<\/p>\n
Some of Alabama\u2019s big donors are uninterested in pumping money into a sport they no longer recognize, and I get it. The scabs are back. The loyalty is gone. It\u2019s like winning is suddenly all that matters \u2026<\/p>\n
In an effort to regulate the sport back in the old days, schools got together and formed conferences. Charters were established and committees were formed. Governance was the grand idea. Rules like \u201cno paying players\u201d came along next.<\/p>\n
And now here we are again. Back where it all started. The flat-circle theory.<\/p>\n
There are some people in the SEC who want the conference to break away from the NCAA. Once again, like 126 or so years ago, college football is an unregulated mess. It doesn\u2019t work anymore, or so they say. It\u2019s time for a change.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure those people are really smart, but they might want to brush up on their history.<\/p>\n
The SEC is annoyed by its players leaving for the Big Ten and Notre Dame. Is the answer to break away and only play games between schools in the same conference? That\u2019s what a few presidents are now suggesting.<\/p>\n
Fools.<\/p>\n
Something tells me if that happens, then those presidents won\u2019t be around much longer. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a radical thought. If the SEC does break away, then the league should go back to banning freshmen from playing on the varsity. No money. No football. Let the kids focus on school for an entire year. Pay checks and playing time have to be earned in the classroom.<\/p>\n
With crazy thoughts like that, I suspect no one will be naming me commissioner of the SEC anytime soon.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s gotta be some way to preserve school spirit, though. Otherwise, what\u2019s really the point? <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. The point is money.<\/p>\n
So, consider this. Imagine how much money the SEC would stand to lose in tuition from out-of-state students if the league suddenly decided to separate itself from the NCAA. Who wants to go to a school that doesn\u2019t even compete for national championships in football against the rest of the country?<\/p>\n
The SEC doesn\u2019t want to give up its conference championship game because it makes so much money for the league. The answer isn\u2019t breaking away, though. I got news for the league\u2019s presidents who think the SEC can somehow stand on its own. It can\u2019t. There\u2019s plenty of regional pride in the South, but people like college football because it\u2019s a national sport.<\/p>\n
The SEC just needs to figure out a way to once again beat those teams up north. That\u2019s the real game.<\/p>\n
Would more playoff games on campus preserve school spirit? I\u2019m guessing it would. Would annual rivalry games between SEC and Big Ten schools rekindle the flame for donors? Just a hunch, but yes.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure Alabama could muster a good enough team to play Indiana every year, but maybe Minnesota would like to get away from the cold every now and then.<\/p>\n
MAILBAG SOUND OFF<\/p>\n
Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what\u2019s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything for the reader mailbag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is an opinion column. The college football transfer portal is closed and the national championship is on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-413237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}