So now the NCAA is studying a playoff for Division I college football. Welcome to the party, guys. The chips are in the bowl - the dips are in the bowl blazers.
America would rather watch a tractor pull than Nebraska and Florida State playing for the national championship on the first day of 1994.Oh, there will be "scouting reports" about how Nebraska can win by establishing a ball-control running game and other techno/gridiron drivel, but we all know what's going to happen.
Just like on every New Year's Day in recent memory, the Cornhuskers will grab themselves by the throat, hurl themselves to the (Insert Name of Bowl) turf and rip out their own lungs.
Florida State will whip Nebraska. The Seminoles will try to run up the score because they know the coaches' poll would vote an undefeated West Virginia No. 1 in a heartbeat.
Don Nehlen did a wonderful job taking his underrated Mountaineers through an undefeated season, but anybody who would wager a paycheck on West Virginia against either Florida State or Notre Dame probably spends his days sitting on the curb separating big rocks from little rocks.
Nebraska and West Virginia had nice seasons. They should be playing each other on New Year's Day to see who is Miss Congeniality.
You can't even blame Lou Holtz for this one. If he'd been able to prevent Boston College from sucking his team's national championship hopes right out the airholes on those gold helmets, we'd have Nebraska vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, which only means the margin of Nebraska's defeat might be somewhat smaller.
Deciding the college football championship via the collective wisdom of coaches and journalists is like leaving nuclear weapons treaty negotiations to Beavis and Butt-Head.
There is one way out of this.
Disassemble the bowl coalition. Tell them it seemed like a nice idea at the time, but then, so did Euro Disney.
It's like trying to build a Lamborghini with a bunch of spare parts and a set of lug wrenches. Unless things fall perfectly into place during the regular season, you're rarely going to have a true national championship game from the bowls.
Put four quarterfinal games out for bid among New Year's Day games and use the same criteria to pick the teams as the NCAA uses to choose its basketball field: computer ratings (with strength of schedule heavily weighted) and a blue-ribbon selection panel. It's not perfect, but it'll work.
Given this season's final polls you'd have Nebraska vs. Florida, West Virginia vs. Wisconsin, Florida State vs. Texas A&M and Notre Dame vs. Tennessee.
Try and tell me those matchups don't stir some interest.
Play the semifinals the second Saturday of January and the finals the next week. Don't wait for the day before the Super Bowl, which has been pushed back into late January.
Play the national championship game on a Saturday afternoon in a traditional, outdoor, warm-weather college football setting. The Rose Bowl comes quickly to mind. Bring the bands and the cheerleaders.
Spread the windfall television revenue among the NCAA schools with part of it earmarked for women's and non-revenue men's sports.
This has been a terrific college football season but it's going to end on New Year's Day with all the fizz of cheap champagne left open all night.