CFP playoff proposal a positive for Temple

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

G5-P5 Conundrum: System Gone Amiss

camel

The problem that faces college football is that the rich go to heaven and the poor can go to hell.

Usually, horoscopes are so general they make you laugh but occasionally one will grab you right where you are that day.

Such was the case for me on the stairmaster at the local gym on Tuesday. I opened the Philadelphia Daily News and, since the sports section is just a shadow of what it used to be (Gary Smith, Dick Weiss, Ted Silary, Tom Cushman, Stan Hochman, Ray Didinger, Tim Kawakami and Mark Whicker have never been replaced and not sure they can be), I went straight to the horoscopes and this is what I found:

gemini

Yes, amiss is a very good word when it comes to the current Group of Five versus the Power 5 conundrum. This is a system set up by the powerful to exclude the powerless. It must be changed. It should be changed.

It probably won’t be changed and that’s why no one should be satisfied and this is a system the G5 should have never signed off on. They have, though, and this year’s injustice is the result.

legit

There’s a good verse in the bible that describes the problem: ” It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (MT: 19:24)

In college football, the opposite is true.

When the rich, the Power 5, set the rules and have taken control of the NCAA, which they have, do not expect them to invite the poor in for a meal. Even the bowl committee president said as much.

College football is the only sport where a team can win all of its games, beat a Big 10 team by 38-10 and beat an SEC team that beat both of the national finalists and NOT be even given a chance to compete for the title.

For Temple, this is what HAS to happen for the Owls to be considered for the four-team playoff next year. They have to win all of their games, like UCF did, and have Boston College win the ACC title and Maryland win the Big 10 title. Heck, they probably won’t get in unless one of those two teams has only one loss under that scenario.

That’s a ridiculous standard for a system that allows a two-loss team into the Final Four.

Basically, college football is telling half of its members that they have no shot of ever winning a championship and never will. If that is not a violation of federal anti-trust laws, I don’t know what is. The G5 should get together and pursue legal relief in this if the NCAA is not going to get involved and expand this playoff.

That’s the only way to get to the bottom of this.

Monday: A Book That Needs To Be Written