One-sided playoff games involving teams that were questionable participants?
Players leaving programs even before the first attendance was taken?
“Amateur” quarterbacks earning more money than second-round draft picks?
It is not a cranium scratcher to wonder how college football became crazy. It’s always been crazy. And unfair. And controversial.
Many believed there used to be a certain balance in college football, either through legislation or karma. There were make-up calls. And if not, the next field-goal attempt would clank off the goalposts because, after all, the ball does not lie. But the rules — and power — have always been tilted. Despite that, maybe, just maybe, things are better today.
There have been wide-spread complaints about the 12-team College Football Playoff, largely because of the early-round blowouts and the ousting of all five conference champions ahead of the semifinals.
At least the system is now fairer than when sportswriters and sportscasters selected an NCAA football champion, even if the top contenders played different schedules and never met head-to-head. When a committee matched the presumptive two best teams, there were protests that a third and fourth team were more deserving of a berth. A four-team playoff meant a Power 5 conference was not represented, as well as the near impossibility of the participation of a Group of 5 team. The current 12-team format probably has undeserving participants. But at least it includes every deserving team.
It’s never been a meritocracy. College football is following the template of pro sports, in which playoffs are more about wider participation and greater television revenue. It has been that way since the Oakland Raiders became the first wild-card team to win a Super Bowl in 1981. Two wild-card teams met in the World Series in 2002, 2014 and 2023. Does it really matter if an eighth seed wins the NCAA football title?
The rumblings have been equally loud against the NCAA transfer portal, which has been likened to unrestricted free agency. Players may now chase playing opportunities and name, image and likeness paychecks without going through a waiting period. There have been extreme cases, such as Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s. He de-committed from Cal, signed with Oregon, enrolled in classes after meeting his early-graduation requirements from Campbell High in December, then entered the portal to join Cal.
Sagapolutele made use of a revision to a system that had been unfavorable to players for decades. In the real world, if you wanted to change jobs, you put in two weeks’ notice and then started at the new job. For too long in college football, a transferring player had to sit out a season before being eligible to play a game at the new school. The transfer system has been modified several times until it now allows a player to transfer freely and without sitting out the next season.
There have been benefits and drawbacks for the players and schools. For players who grew up attending camps and clinics while training year-round, the investment pays off when a player finds the right opportunity. The risk is that about half the players who enter the portal do not emerge with an FBS offer.
On the other side, schools had been hindered in replenishing rosters hit by transferring players. Until this year, each FBS team was limited to 85 scholarships. Until recently, a team could add only 25 scholarship players each year. Under the previous rules, if a team lost, say, 29 players to graduation and transfers, it still would be four short after signing a full recruiting class. The loophole was the “blue shirt” exemption in which a player joined as a walk-on and was placed on scholarship when the fall semester started. That player’s scholarship would count toward the following year’s recruiting class, essentially a credit card. But if four blue shirts were signed, it meant there would be only 21 initial scholarships available for the next recruiting class, forcing more blue-shirt signings in the future.
Because of the transfer portal and wealthier schools using NIL deals to compensate walk-on players, the NCAA is capping FBS rosters at 105. FBS teams may provide full or partial scholarships to every player on the roster. There also is no limit on how many players may be signed each year as long as the roster does not exceed 105. While mid-majors, like Hawaii, might lose players to the portal, the roster limit means there are more Power 4 transfers available as replacements.
Instead of letters of intent, players now sign one-year scholarship agreements. The pact gives players the freedom to transfer or even back out of commitments. But it also guarantees a scholarship for only a year, and allows teams — usually Power 4 schools — to not renew deals after a year.
It is easy to criticize a system in which some schools can provide better facilities, amenities and NIL deals than others. A salary cap might be a deterrent, but 1) the rich programs won’t go for it, and 2) it does not really work in pro sports. The so-called Larry Bird rule allows NBA teams to exceed the cap to retain their player. NFL teams can convert salaries into bonuses that can be stretched out over several seasons to reduce cap charges.
This is America, which means people can try to earn as much as they can. This also is America, where taxes can cut into incomes. Maybe a way to bring equality to college football is to take away the sport’s tax-exempt status. If TV revenue or contributions over $15,000 become taxable income, the gap between haves and have-nots might narrow.
