In Reply to: Theoretically it might make things better. posted by hotspot on December 30, 2023 at 23:58:13
Good post!
imo the expanded playoff will definitely be better. (It's far better to have arguments over who is really #11 and 12 than who is #3 and #4.) But your points are very well taken.
Not sure what one can do about the kids (the injury chances are so high in FB it makes sense at the point where a youngster has played all his life for the chance to be drafted and that chance is finally here. Latu's case - given his past history - was a pure no-brainer but i do get the conflict.
But with coaches - perhaps a rule hitting schools with a one year post season ban if they hire someone else's HC prior to the end of the bowl and playoff season?
Wouldn't stop all cheating but might help some.
But such a ban would have to go hand in hand with changes to the recruiting calendars (both HS and the Portal) which encourage kids to make their moves early at this point (and prevent coaches from having any winter time to unwind or have family vacation time). Perhaps limit the early portal period to say January 20- February 5 or so? That would prevent kids from leaving their teams prior to bowl and playoff season anyway. More significant, it would remove some of the pressure on schools to make their coaching changes earlier and earlier every year so recruits would know who the new coach will be before they make their decisions. Just off the top of my head.
The mega conferences may be just a step toward the establishment of a major schools division for football with its own governance outside the NCAA. That seems to be what's coming. Take those top 40-50 schools and then see how to reorganize them into playing divisions - or just to leave it all open scheduling. A conference of 20 schools works well only for media negotiations and TV networks