“God forbid?”

     “God forbid if Cincinnati wins it all!” That’s one of the first ESPNU radio comments heard Sunday Morning on the  show with Matt Schick and Myron Medcalf.  Really?   We believe God has many more issues to be concerned about than who wins the CFP this year.  We were on the way home after attending the Bearcats impressive 35-20 win over 11-2 Houston to win the American Athletic Conference Championship the night before! 

Defenders of the status quo – why?

     What’s with these media guys?  Why is it so important to them to maintain a desired status quo among specific teams that should be among the chosen few to win the College Football Championship every year?  How many people’s lives depend on this?  Alabama, Georgia, and/or Michigan fans and alum are not going to commit mass suicide if the Cincinnati Bearcats win this year’s title.  Do these guys sitting with microphones in front of them know things other human beings aren’t aware of? No.  Our proposed system would spread the wealth of talent rather than leave it to the handful that right that now basically vie for the CFP every year.  Let’s get past that!

    From Collegefootballfan.com’s perspective, and probably that from a lot of others, Cincinnati winning could be one of the best things to happen to college football.  It would break the boring status quo.  It would prove to fans, players, coaches, recruits, and anyone else who enjoys or thrives on the competitive world of college football, that maybe someday, all soon-to-be 133 FBS programs have a real shot at the national championship. 

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Break up the monopoly

     Of course, we know that is impossible, but as we explained in our recent article of Steveo’s Salvos on November 18 entitled, “Expand playoffs to Champions only…”, for various reasons, this could break the CFP “monopoly.” The same top seven or eight teams attain the best talent to vie for a perceived championship every year.  The media hypes much of their opinions based on this before seasons even start every year. Spread the talent more among as many schools and conferences as possible.

    “God forbid?”  College Football is a great tradition and great entertainment, but these guys have to wake up and look beyond their little worlds behind their microphones.  Their vision seems be limited to influences around them that make them think the world can’t survive unless just a handful of college football programs need to win the national championship every year.  And to their amazement, there’s even a bigger world beyond this great sport.  The Lord has greater concerns than the CFP.  In their little worlds, they should also consider the bigger picture for our favorite sport as well.

2021 W-L record of 210-119; Cincinnati tops at 13-0

     Collegefootballfan.com attended 22 regular season college games so far this season. One more exists this Saturday, Army-Navy.  Of the 22, 18 were played between FBS schools and four among FCS teams.  We plan at least three more bowl games, hopefully four. Of the 28 FBS schools we will see by the end of this season, 18 will finish with winning records.  Six finished their regular season at 6-6. All are in bowl games, so they can add to our teams with winning records and/or losing records.  

Only four finished with losing records, but Hawaii (6-7) plays Memphis (6-6) in the Easy Post Hawaii Bowl.  Our FCS slate included four of five teams with winning records.  East Tennessee (11-1) lost to UT Chattanooga (6-5) when we saw them battle, but ETSU continues to play for the FCS Championship this week in the quarterfinals when they will meet perennial champ North Dakota State.

   Needless to say, we have seen a lot of good teams and great games this season. Ten teams seen won 10 games or more.   Of course, we witnessed our Top team just last weekend.  Only No. 4 Cincinnati (13-0) remains undefeated among all 130 FBS programs.  If they win their next game vs. Alabama, we hope to see them again in the CFP championship game. Stay tuned to what has already been a great season for Collegefootballfan.com.

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Our playoff plan for 2021

    Referring back to our Salvo for WEEK 12, click here to review our proposals.  If you look back on it, we provided our plan to select the Top 12 teams from a season based on 10 conference winners, one independent, and one at-large. The seedings would be done then based on a selection by Commissioners of all conferences. Without the benefit of our proposed “Independent playoff” (this year hypothetically between Notre Dame and BYU), and using Georgia as the at-large despite a very weak schedule (more on that later). This is how we perceive our 2021 bracket would be established based on our proposed criteria:  

Round 1

No. 12 Northern Illinois at No. 5 Notre Dame

No. 9   Oregon at No.  8 Pitt

No. 11 UTSA at No.  6 Baylor

No. 10 Louisiana at No. 7 Utah

Round 2

NIU – ND winner at No. 4 Georgia

Oregon-Pitt winner at No. 1 Alabama

UTSA-Baylor winner at No. 3 Cincinnati

Louisiana-Utah winner at No. 2 Michigan

    All these games will be played at the higher seeds’ home stadium.  Winners of Round 2 go on to the CFP semi-finals at venues designated that year like they are now.   Final game played at a neutral site.  All other traditional bowls or “consolation games” to be filled by the committee based on records and locations.  All ratings here are hypothetical but provide the effectiveness that such a playoff format can enhance the interest among all conferences and fans of college football.

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SOS=BS

     How does Alabama get ranked #4 overall for strength of schedule (SOS)?  Mercer, Southern Miss, New Mexico State as we harped on all season long?  Miami at a neutral site?  A 32-game winning streak against the SEC East?   What does that say about that level of competition? “SEC?  SEC?”  Those folks should be chanting “Alabama! Alabama!” 

Quantity wins, not Quality

     Where’s the quality, non-conference wins among the SEC foes Bama’s beaten?  UGA over Clemson with no offense, 10-3.  Mississippi (Louisville, Liberty?), Mississippi State (lost to AAC Memphis), Arkansas (5-7 Texas?), LSU (lost to UCLA), Auburn (lost to Penn State), Tennessee (lost to Pitt), Florida (5-7 beat FSU, 27-24), and BAMA lost to 8-4 Texas A&M (won at 4-8 Colorado, 10-7).  So, the total wins among their conference brethren are against each other. Just like every other conference, but that SEC East only won three games against the West this year – Georgia’s two wins and South Carolina over Auburn without Bo Hicks. Wins among conference foes don’t add up to quality if they can’t beat anyone of significance on a regular basis in our estimation.

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Scrooge would be right in this case

    Maybe the SEC East fans should chant, “SEC West!  SEC West!”  Alabama No. 4 SOS?  In the spirit of Christmas, “Baah!  Humbug!”  Just another media tool to hype the SEC. Cincinnati defeated Notre Dame in South Bend. The Bearcats ended the Irish’s 24-game home winning streak. That’s nothing to sneer at. Neither are wins against UCF and Houston. Let’s see what happens when these two meet Florida and Auburn in their respective bowl games.

Coaches Poll, More “Baah! Humbug! “

    We heard plenty of evidence this past week after Championship Weekend and the announcement of CFP match-ups to strengthen our feeling about any Coaches polls.  We stated that head coaches voting for the top 25 only know about two teams – their own and the last one they played. They have to get ready for the next one.  Every interview last Sunday went like this, “So coach what do you know about your upcoming foe and what will you have to do to beat them?”

    The answers seemed brutally honest from, “We don’t know anything about them.”; “We have to start looking at film.”; “Not much.”; “Nothing.”; “We’ll enjoy this tonight and start looking at them tomorrow.” These came from guys who supposedly voted for Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, and Cincinnati as the four top teams they and their fellow head coaches voted for among 25 other teams chosen among 130 in all.  How do they do that not knowing anything about these teams.  It’s a joke. Do away with the coaches’ polls. Meaningless.

ArmyNavy – Upset this weekend

One game only, as it appropriately should be, to end the regular college football season will be played this Saturday.  Army-Navy!  It will be our ninth in a row (tenth had all tickets not been cancelled last year) and our 13^th overall.  This year, the 122^nd edition will be at the Meadowlands in NJ in honor of the people killed across the Hudson River in New York City, 20 years ago on 9/11/2001.  Many graduates from both these service academies since then have served, fought, and died against the terrorism that has threatened us since.  We plan to meet with several friends Saturday who graduated from Annapolis who have served during this time.

  As for the game, Army has won the last five clashes, comes in with a record of 8-3, trails only Air Force as the second leading rushing team in the nation averaging 301.2 yards per game, and defeated the Air Force, 21-14, on November 6 to have a chance at winning the Commander in Chief Trophy outright if they beat Navy. They’re favored by 7.5 points over 3-8 Navy.  We believe this is prime upset territory. 

  Navy has struggled this season, but emotions will be high! They won the 14 previous contests.  Their schedule was much more demanding than Army’s. The threw a scare at undefeated No. 4 Cincinnati when they fell, 27-20.  They gave tough games to SMU and to No. 21 Houston falling, 31-24 and 28-21 respectively.  They beat up on Temple last game and lost by three to an improving East Carolina squad, 38-35 before that.  They fell to Air Force early 24-3 without starting QB Tai Lavatai.  If he’s healthy, the Navy offense will be well led.  If it’s any offense the Mids are ready for, it’s the triple option.

  When Navy fell, it’s been to mostly pass-oriented teams. Army will throw a few surprises at them.  While the Mids played in the improving American Athletic, Army lost to ball State, Wisconsin, and Wake Forest, their most formidable foes. Since their OT win over Air Force, they’ve beaten lowly FCS Bucknell, 1-11 UMass, and a floundering 7-5 Liberty we saw get crushed by Louisiana.  This game will be a typical ArmyNavy fight to the finish.  We think the Mids have the incentive here to win this close one by less than a TD. Go Navy!

• By Steve Koreivo, ed. Author of “Tales from the Tailgate: from the Fan who’s seen ‘em all!” Click on the title to get your copy, or a Christmas present for someone else today!

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