From a perspective of a lifetime college football junkie, I am flying my flag at half mast.  With little hope of raising it back to full height in the foreseeable future.

I have been aghast at the wave of transfers that has permeated college football the past year.  “If I ain’t startin’, I’m certainly departin’ ” seems to be the mantra of the day.   Oh, my feelings have been slightly mixed as players should certainly deserve a degree of autonomy, particularly when there is a coaching change.  But I do not appreciate the players from Group of 5 programs, spurning the programs that took a chance on them out of high school, for greener pastures.  The blue blood programs have so many advantages, the ability to cherry pick players from lower-tier programs perpetuates the growing inequities among the Group of 5 and the Power 5 (or is it Power 4 after the probable Big 12 exits of Bevo and Boomer?).

I love the story of David besting Goliath.  But  Goliath is getting too big in the 2021 football landscape.  I pine for the days of my youth.  Can you imagine Southern Miss beating its SEC neighbor in the eastern part of the state in consecutive years?  The Golden Eagles did so in 1967-68.  Central Michigan traveled an hour south to East Lansing in 1991-92 and emerged triumphant in both years.  Stanford pulled off a big upset of undefeated Michigan in the 1972 Rose Bowl.  That same Indian team was stunned, 13-12, by San Jose State.  I have a hard time envisioning similar, stirring upsets in the rich-get-richer scenario in which we find ourselves.

Certain players will benefit from the new Name, Image and Likeness rules (“NIL”).  Some handsomely.  From the standpoint of parity among teams,  such revolutionary rule change is the equivalent of Jeff Bezos getting a grant from the US government.  An untested Alabama QB, Bryce Young,  is reportedly getting endorsement deals  totaling near $1 million dollars.  Teams used to go on probation when the NCAA found out that a star was getting a fraction of this money under the table.  Will NIL money create resentments among teammates?  Stay tuned.

Group of 5 teams simply do not have the same level of deep-pocketed boosters to take comparable advantage of the new NIL rules.

The latest domino to drop is the specter of a super conference.  UGH!  With Texas and Oklahoma courting the SEC, the fragile equilibrium of the other conferences is threatened.  If the Sooners and the Longhorns leave the Big 12, that beleaguered conference has two distasteful options:

  1. Disband altogether, as the Big East did in football after the previous bout of conference musical chairs in 2010.
  2. Become watered down:  Hello Houston, SMU and certain other usual suspects.  Have fun negotiating your next TV contract!!

 

My son and I admire the manner in which England’s Premier League works.  Each year 3 teams are relegated to a lower-tier league as  three teams are promoted.  If the SEC does become the “Super 16” perhaps this might give the lower-tier a reasonable carrot.  Since college football is changing so dramatically, why not?

However, recent trends suggest that most Division 1 programs will increasingly be picking up the crumbs from a small number of super powers.  I really hate to quote Donald Trump BUT:  “Sad”.