Three Burning Questions for Next College Football Season

With another Super Bowl in the record books and football as a whole just about put to bed for yet another season, many of us are already experiencing withdrawal symptoms and counting down the days until spring practice and yet another exciting college football season. The BCS (Bowl Championship Series) let us all down yet again by leaving out legitimate title contenders like undefeated Utah, Texas and USC while crowing Tim Tebow and Florida yet again. Although this offseason is sure to bring further cosmetic changes to our beloved sport, here are a few burning questions for the 2009 college football season.

Playoff?

Thanks to the current length of the BCS television contracts, there is no chance that a playoff in division 1 college football will be introduced in time for next season, but with a commander in chief that has asked for it by name and a country tired of rankings and bowl games that don't seem to settle anything, the drumbeat for a playoff seems to be growing in intensity. Many football experts have pointed to a plus-1 game that would be tacked on and likely played in the week between the NFL conference title games and the Super Bowl, but such a game wouldn't have resolved anything this year with four legitimate teams claiming ownership to the top spot. What a playoff all comes down to is money. The kingpins that run the current bowl system aren't convinced (for some bizarre reason) that a playoff would bring any additional cash into their coffers than it would otherwise. They cite academic demands by the NCAA, the unrealistic expectations of asking fans to travel to multiple bowl games scattered around the country and continued controversy from the decision of who gets in and who doesn't, but in reality, these issues are minor compared to the striking benefits a playoff would bring. Honestly, which game would you rather watch? The GMAC Bowl between a Conference USA team and an at-large school or a first round playoff game between Utah and Ole Miss? Yea, I thought so. These bowl games also have the fact that college football season is still the shortest of all sports seasons, so adding a few extra games, especially playoff games, is sure to increase fan attendance and ratings, not diminish it. In the end, it is going to come down to how much the conference commissioners can wring out of the networks for a playoff. Once that dollar sign becomes high enough, a playoff will happen.

BCS Expansion?

Since the BCS isn't going anywhere, how about expanding it to include more conferences, or possibly doing a rotating membership where the worst conference gets booted out and the best non-BCS conference gets in, a la Premiere League soccer? We have all heard the gaudy stats the Mountain West Conference put up this year versus the Pac-10 and the terrible records both the ACC and Big East had against rival competition, but this sort of major BCS change is no slam dunk. Some purists point to simply including all D-1 schools in the BCS, but can you really compare a Sun Belt conference game or even a MAC conference game against The Red River Shootout or Ohio State - Michigan? Of course not, and there is no way you can invite the Mountain West and ignore the WAC, which has given us Boise State and Hawaii in recent BCS bowl games. This situation is likely going to come down to an all or nothing proposition, and since no one outside of the Sun Belt wants everyone in, don't expect to see a lot of change on this front in time for the 2009 kickoff.

Two Heisman Trophies for Tim Tebow?

As rumors circulated around in the days before the last national title game that Tim Tebow would return to Florida for another shot at a second Heisman and possibly three national titles, talk began to surface that if he did indeed return, could he end his college career as the greatest college football player of all time? Your point of view on this question is likely connected to your love or hatred of Gator Nation, but the stats and his record can't be denied. The question the football world has to ask itself is what are the chances that Tebow plays another relatively injury free season at his hybrid quarterback/running back/fullback position? Also, when you consider stars like Percy Harvin are headed to the NFL early, will he have the tools around him to win another SEC title, which will likely be mandatory for him to be considered for the Heisman? If there is one thing sports writers have learned, especially after last year's Ole Miss loss is that you don't underestimate Tim Tebow. If he does manage to pull off another Heisman and another national title, he will have cemented his place in college football history as one of the all time greats.

 

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