A reading of the latest college football playoff proposal that goes before the university Presidents promises something for Temple football.

Relevancy.

At least more relevancy than the limbo that has existed since the end of the 2016 season.

If you accept the premise that the powers-that-be at Temple want to fix a football program that has gone 9-11 over the last two seasons (and I do, more on that later), than just getting Temple back to its 2015-2016 level of excellence promises relevant post-season participation.

That’s because a careful reading of the proposal mentions this important phrase:

“The six highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot.”

Wait. What?

Every playoff proposal we’ve seen since the beginning only guaranteed the Power 5 conferences a spot and made no such guarantee for Group of Five teams.

Since there are only five P5 conferences, it seems logical that most (really, every) year, the American Athletic Conference champion would be guaranteed a spot.

Take last year for instance. Cincinnati was the fifth highest-ranked champ (ahead of PAC-10 champ Oregon) and Coastal Carolina was the sixth-highest ranked champion, also ahead of Oregon.

Temple, though, has to commit to a return to the same kind of excellence that put it in AAC championship games in consecutive years.

The fact that the Board of Trustees hired a football guy, former Stanford player Dr. Jason Wingard, is a big hint the football guys are still in charge of the BOT. Maybe Wingard can get the stadium proposal moving forward, but I’d rather see Temple winning the AAC championship again than any stadium.

What good did it do Akron building a beautiful new stadium and lose like crazy after starting to play games in it?

Nothing.

Lombardi said it best: “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”

If Rod Carey doesn’t move the program in a significant direction upward (and we’re not talking four-five wins here), Wingard must look elsewhere because time is of the essence.

The earliest the new playoff can happen is 2023. Temple plays Oklahoma in 2024 and Penn State in 2026. The Owls have to be competitive with those kind of programs again, just like they were with PSU and Notre Dame in 2015-16.

Either Carey is going to get his act together and win now or another guy should get a chance. There is no time to waste.

Friday: A player to root for

Monday: Pay to Play