The worst thing that could have happened in college football happened tonight. Alabama, who for the second time won a national title without winning the SEC or their own division, slapped the college football world in the face and got away with it. Alabama, who so many fans and writers railed against for their insipid ways of having Nick Saban lobby for a spot in a playoff that many felt they did not deserve, shoved us into the mud once again by winning, and as entertaining as the finale was, it still proves how broken the system remains.
Think of it in these terms. No other conference has had multiple entrants into a BCS national title game, or a national playoff since the inception of either systems. The reality is that there is no other conference that will likely see this happen in the near future. We should have had it happen a year ago with Penn State and Ohio State, but alas, that was not to happen. This is now the second national title game with two SEC opponents facing off in the modern era, and we had to see it coming.
During the early BCS era, UCLA was charging through, in 1998, with an undefeated record coming off of a win against arch rival USC. A date with Miami was rescheduled due to a September hurricane, and UCLA chose to play that game. They lost, and with it, lost their path to a national title game appearance. Kansas State had a similar experience, losing to Texas A&M in double OT, and found themselves in an Alamo Bowl.
None of that has happened with SEC programs. Watch what happens when non-SEC teams lose during the regular season and are ranked in or near the top 4. They plummet as low as ninth or lower, and never can maneuver their way back. An SEC team in the same position loses? They drop a spot or two, and get right back in the conversation, sometimes with not even a week passing. That is the definition os a broken system.
People may scoff at UCF claiming a national championship, but is it so stupid? They beat Auburn, the team that beat both participants in the national title game tonight in the Peach Bowl. It may very well be the only way a group of five team actually has a shot at a national title. They just have to stake a claim to it themselves.
When BYU won the national title in 1984 by beating Michigan in the Holiday Bowl, the powers that be made a promise to themselves. Never would that be allowed to happen again. UCF should have had a shot to compete as the lone undefeated team in the nation in 2017, but they have the BYU title and how it shook the core of the halls of power some 33 years ago to thank for their lack of inclusion.
Somehow, those same power brokers that all agreed to create a system that would pay lip service to the mid to lower tier division 1-A conferences all got old, weak, tired, or all of the above, because they have now also allowed themselves to be pushed to the side of the road by the SEC, and with the most powerful overlord in the sport as an ally in ESPN, we cannot begin to expect this problem to change. SEC operates the SEC network, so it empowers them to create an SEC monopoly. They make all the money, televise the game, and get all of the spoils. As a network, why would they want it any other way? There will be no move to correct a mistake that over 80% of the nation can clearly see. ESPN is tone deaf, and even though they are bleeding cash like a harpooned whale on a Japanese fishing expedition, they will keep on wielding that power until the last drop has left the body, which could be sometime in 2025 by the looks of it.
Once ESPN bleeds out, and current estimates are unclear if they can survive in their current form that long, especially if Disney can somehow spin them off to any buyer they so choose, the game changes dramatically, and nobody knows what that game will look like or resemble. The rules will not apply as they do now, because the power will change hands once again. That is the only hope for the future of college football, because it is painfully obvious that ESPN will fail to do the right thing, and will continue to pay conference executives off with bundles of cash and nothing more to say that everything is fine, and nothing needs to be changed. Group of Five execs will continue with their pattern of take the money and shut the hell up, because in some twisted way, they think that is for the best. You could not tell the Mountain West folks that ESPN wanted to kill their families and get a reaction worth anything at this point, because they still believe that hand is somehow still feeding them.
Until ESPN fails, and takes a last, gasping breath, nothing is going to change. Group of Five schools will still talk about breaking the barrier, like it's some feat that could ever be accomplished, non-SEC conferences will still play second fiddle to the ESPN money bag, and while we may get an entertaining game or two, the system will still be fatally flawed and broken. Until then, enjoy getting sand kicked in your face, because the beach is loaded with it.
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