3 while USC and Oklahoma were chosen to play for the national title, the wheels started to slowly move toward the four-team playoff we currently have. But by 2004, when unbeaten SEC champion Auburn was slotted No.
Such a ridiculous system eventually led to the Bowl Alliance and then the BCS, which aimed to match up the No. That system is how we ended up with 13-0 BYU being recognized as the national champion in 1984 after playing a 6-6 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl, or Colorado and Georgia Tech sharing the 1990 title. UPS AND DOWNS: Michigan moves past Alabama into third spot of USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank Then everybody votes, and we never really knew whether the so-called national champion was actually the best team.ĭAN WOLKEN: Brian Kelly's move to LSU shows college football has a real problem on its hands After the regular season, the champions of the major conferences would go to their often pre-determined and traditional bowl games where they may or may not have played other highly-ranked teams. Think back to the 1980s and 1990s when polls and politics determined the No. One of the biggest changes in how we view college football from the pre-BCS era until now with the College Football Playoff is the perception that fewer programs actually have a chance to win a national championship despite more equal access to the postseason system. So what has changed, and why is it happening? Here are four factors that explain how the current coaching carousel spun out of control in recent days.
It also represents a new paradigm in the profession where coaches are willing to leave jobs that their peers and predecessors historically have not left willingly unless it was to retire or pursue the NFL.
It’s not simply about a monetary reset of the coaching marketplace, though 10-year contracts worth $100 million becoming commonplace for coaches without national titles is undoubtedly another threshold crossed with major implications for the rest of the sport. The shockwaves from Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly leaving established blueblood college football programs to rebuild struggling bluebloods at Southern Cal and LSU will be felt for quite some time.