5. The College Football Playoff has to be expanded.
No, it’s not like Cincinnati or Texas A&M or Coastal Carolina would’ve won the national championship last year – that’s not the point. Teams need and deserve a shot. That’s all.
If it’s Alabama vs. Clemson again, okay, but it’s not right that as you’re reading this, roughly 75 teams are already effectively eliminated from the CFP no matter what they do.
That’s just downright un-American.
The solution is so painfully simple. Power Five champs, top ranked Group of Five champ, top two other teams in the final CFP rankings all join hands for an eight team tournament with the first round played on the home field of the higher seed in mid-December.
And don’t argue that it’s during finals, or that it’s too soon after the season, or any other bullspit excuse you want to throw out there.
The 2020 SEC championship was played on December 19th.
4. This year will be the real test for the machine programs.
For all of those annoyed and already bored with the same tired old superpowers being predicted to be in the College Football Playoff again, here’s where the playing field gets leveled a bit.
Experience.
Thanks to the COVID season, seniors are allowed an extra year of eligibility. That means that team after team after team gets back a ton of starters – because what guy wouldn’t take living the college football life for one more year rather than go out into the real world?
That doesn’t mean a Central Michigan or Utah State will suddenly challenge for the national title, but it does mean that Alabama, Ohio State, and other top programs that lose stars to the NFL will have to retool and reload a bit – don’t include Clemson in that, by the way, with what’s returning on D – while others who might get back 20-something starters are going to be major players.
So …..
3. PLEASE don’t be so predictable, 2021 college football season.
There was some joy out of all the ugliness of 2020.
Who saw Coastal Carolina coming?
Ball State, San Jose State, and Liberty were top 25 powers?! The Sun Belt and MAC had multiple teams in the top 25, Indiana went off on the Big Ten, and Iowa State got to the Big 12 Championship.
Of course, Alabama beat Ohio State for the national championship after taking down Notre Dame and Clemson, respectively, in the chalkiest of chalky College Football Playoffs, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some fun along the way.
With all of the experience returning across the board, and with so many programs having a real offseason again, and with the transfer portal providing instant help, maybe it’s not going to be the same old big name programs – or an LSU-level team – in it.
Maybe, just maybe …
2. Let’s do this, Iowa State.
Iowa State was a traditional college football doormat, and now it’s coming off a phenomenal season with almost everyone returning. The fan base is jacked, the program is having fun with it, and yeah, it’s awesome when a program that has never tasted any real success starts to shine.
Go on, Cyclones, and hope the program under Matt Campbell becomes what Kansas State turned into under Bill Snyder back in the 1990s.
Come on, Indiana. Yeah, the season ended with a weird bowl loss to Ole Miss, but prove that 2020 was no fluke and build on the wins over Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Let’s go, Cincinnati. Beat Indiana, take down Notre Dame, and storm through your slate to make the College Football Playoff committee work.
Go you, Northwestern, and do that again. Keep it going, Tulsa, Coastal Carolina, Liberty and San Jose State.
And let’s go all you teams that no one is giving a second thought to.
Rise up and rock, Maryland. Be a thing, Georgia Tech. Rip through the Pac-12 under new head man Jedd Fisch, Arizona.
And finally …
1. Let’s have some fun this college football season. PLEASE.
We’re still working through the nightmare of a global pandemic.
Mental health issues, physical well-being, depression, despair, poverty, unemployment, hunger, the latest season of Saturday Night Live – we’ve all seen and/or endured unimaginable horrors. Throw in anything political you’d like to get into, and we’re going to need and deserve a massive break.
Let’s get into the Heisman debate, and my-team-doms-your-team-sucks banter, and even more national championship talk, and all the joy and fun of the diversion.
That’s not to say that college football can’t and won’t and shouldn’t be at the forefront of the real issues of importance to make the world a better place, but, assuming everything COVID-wise is close to okay …
Let’s have some fun this college football season – and offseason. Please.
[protected-iframe id=”361699434b6d70baf15f631ed2408ac1-97672683-92922408″ info=”https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” ]