College Football and Its Coaches

So if you asked me back in July, "Who do you think is going to be in the College Football Playoff following the 2020 season?"  I wouldn't have had to do a whole lot of thinking (nor would anyone else) before answering...Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State.  I also would have said, cynically, if there is any way for the Committee, at the subtle urgings of ESPN, to get Notre Dame in because of the millions upon millions of eyeballs that they would bring to the party, i.e., TV sets,  then, I'll say, sure, go for the Irish.

And so it came to pass:

Are they the four best teams in the country? Probably.  Is it good for the overall state of College Football that it is so easy to predict the participants in this little scrum year after year?  That is another question, and after listening to a couple pf podcasts today and hearing some expert observers of the sport, the answer is, probably, yes.  This is the seventh year of this CFP format.  Alabama and Clemson have been in the Playoffs six times each, and this will be the fourth trip for Ohio State.  Sixteen of twenty-eight slots have been occupied by only three schools.  If you're a fan of those three schools, great, and as viewer, the quality of the games that those schools will give you is undeniably great, but what about the other one hundred and whatever number schools play D-I football, not to mention all of those schools in conferences outside of the Power Five?

This will become a problem if, and only if, the TV ratings take a dive over the years if the country as a whole tires of seeing Alabama play Clemson every year.  We shall see if that starts to happen.   I will also spare going into all of the arguments that have been stated ad nauseam over the last forty-eight hours over undefeated teams like Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina not even getting a sniff at a playoff berth.  That particular problem can be avoided by going to an eight team format, but there are arguments to be made against that, too.   Like I said, eventually, Television will decide what will happen down the road.

Now the subject of College Football Coaches.  In this aberrant year of 2020 (and I don't have to spell out the reasons for that, do I?), has any group as a whole demonstrated such a complete lack of awareness in regard to the issues that have faced the country and the sports landscapes, the COVID pandemic and social justice issues just to name two, than have college football coaches?  As conferences and individual schools weighed whether or not to even play football this year, people like Dabo Swinney and Mike Gundy made dumbass statements all summer long showing their lack of self-awareness on these matters.  And in these last few weeks, add remarks by Jumbo Fisher, Dan Mullen, and Swinney (again!).  

The guy who might take the cake for brass, though, was Brian Kelly of Notre Dame.  Days before his conference championship game was to be played, Kelly made his statement about maybe bypassing the playoff entirely if the parents of the players weren't allowed to attend.  First of all, no school is going to bypass the financial windfall that going to the CFP would give them.  Who is he trying to kid here?  Was he speaking for ND prexy Fr. John Jenkins when he made this grandiose statement of university policy?  Arrogance personified.  Then again, the CFP bowed to his wishes and moved the playoff game out of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and into JerryWorld in Dallas, so who really is running the show at these schools?  I also understand that the game will still be called the "Rose Bowl", because, well, why in hell not?

And how can I write a college football post without commenting on Dabo Swinney, the personification of pius, pontificating, arrogant and clueless college football coaches.  Oh, he can coach, no question about that, but he's still a horse's ass on many fronts, including his sideline behavior.  I've written enough about that in the past so I won't go into it again, but I will mention what he tolerates in the behavior of his staff, particularly defensive coordinator Brent Venables.  The TV cameras love to focus on Venables on the sidelines because of his completely out-of-control actions during the course of a game. He might even be a bigger horse's ass than his boss, Swinney.  Just imagine if you went into a bank to apply for a home mortgage, or an insurance agency to purchase life insurance, and encountered employees in those establishments who comported themselves like these guys do.  You'd run for the exits as fast as you could to get way from idiots like that.

Which leads me to another observation.  Who among this fraternity of coaches DOESN'T act like that?  Who seems to remain calm on the sidelines throughout the games?  Who doesn't go off on the media and rant incoherently?  Who doesn't make stupid statements in public all the time?  Who doesn't rip his players a new one on the sidelines in full view of packed stadiums and TV cameras?  The answer to those questions:

Yep, it's Nick Saban, arguably the best coach of all of them.  Now I am sure that examples can be found and cited of Saban doing exactly those things over the years that I just said he doesn't do, but, by and large, he is not like any of these other dopes that I have already mentioned in this post.

As for the upcoming games themselves, more on them as we approach January 1, but at this point I can't see anything other Alabama meeting Clemson for the fourth time in the Final Game (and fifth time overall) in the seven year history of the CFP.  Such a match-up will certainly make for the best game, even if we've seen it many times before.