If you prefer big-time college football just the way it works now, clutch the upcoming season close to your heart and treasure the final moments with your loved one.
In several respects, the sport finds itself at a crossroads that could leave it looking vastly different within a few years.
Check out some of these titanic tussles that will be played out in the months to come, starting with Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany's Thursday appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on behalf of the BCS schools:
Saints vs. sinners
College football did away with the halo rule in the off-season, but only as it applies to punt returns.
Judging by the recent firings of head coaches Rick Neuheisel and Mike Price for their off-the-field conduct, not to mention all the scrutiny being given to Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett, winning games will no longer be the sole bottom line.
Requiring angelic behavior from players and coaches isn't a bad concept - and it's one new NCAA chief Myles Brand seems determined to pursue.
But let's inject a little reality before all players are required to earn good-citizenship badges to wear on their uniforms alongside their numbers, names and shoe-corporation logos.
Liars, rogues and non-students have been a part of college football since there has been college football. Doesn't anyone remember George Gipp, who earned as many Notre Dame credit hours in the pool hall as the lecture hall?
It's impossible to legislate morality, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with making the old college try.
Big conferences vs. big conferences
Is it a coincidence that East Carolina, whose teams carry the nickname Pirates, tried to force the North Carolina legislature to put pressure on the ACC to add ECU to its expansion list? Probably not.
Thanks to the ACC's dastardly off-season raid on the Big East - sailing away with Miami and Virginia Tech to drop the Big East to a six-team league in 2004 - conferences that don't conduct themselves with such high-seas derring-do will be the exception rather than the rule.
Look for the Big East to poach Louisville and Cincinnati from Conference USA in the coming weeks - and for Marquette and DePaul to join them for basketball purposes, too.
Before long, we'll have seven 16-team conferences and Notre Dame as the lone independent. Unlessæ...
Big conferences vs. small conferences
Presidents for the non-BCS conferences, which call themselves the "Presidential Coalition for Athletic Reform," want the big boys to share more of the millions of dollars generated by the BCS television contract. They also want an easier road to the BCS games.
The current BCS formula requires aspiring teams from Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt, the MAC and the WAC to go undefeated, crawl through Death Valley in full equipment and resurrect Red Grange in order to have an outside shot at a big-money bowl.
The big boys, of course, would like to maintain the status quo. Or, better yet, they want to institute guidelines that would force the weaker Division I-A schools to drop to Division I-AA.
But at the same time, they take pains to note they're giving $42 million to the non-BCS schools over the life of the current eight-year BCS television contract.
How will this be resolved?
Congress has stuck its beak into the matter, which is why Delany will "testify" before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. C-SPAN will decide Wednesday whether to televise the hearing.
On Monday, school presidents representing the BCS conferences will meet with coalition presidents to search for a middle ground.
It's a tug of war the BCS schools should win, though they need to ease off on the heavy-handed public relations.
The BCS' Lincoln, Neb.-based p.r. representative, Mike Reilley, sent out an e-mail Tuesday suggesting writers include the following tidbit in their papers: "Tulane's attendance at its home opener was 28,966, 37.7 percent of the Superdome capacity."
Why does the BCS believe that to be noteworthy? Only because Tulane's president, Scott Cowen, serves as the outspoken point man for "The Coalition."
Here are a few notes of my own:
Northwestern and Kansas, two BCS schools, drew 27,775 in Lawrence, Kan., on Saturday night. That's fewer than 28,966.
And Northern Illinois, a coalition school, dumped No. 15 Maryland on Thursday night. That's Maryland, as in BCS big-shot Maryland.
http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/sports_story.asp?intID=37867177
In several respects, the sport finds itself at a crossroads that could leave it looking vastly different within a few years.
Check out some of these titanic tussles that will be played out in the months to come, starting with Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany's Thursday appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on behalf of the BCS schools:
Saints vs. sinners
College football did away with the halo rule in the off-season, but only as it applies to punt returns.
Judging by the recent firings of head coaches Rick Neuheisel and Mike Price for their off-the-field conduct, not to mention all the scrutiny being given to Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett, winning games will no longer be the sole bottom line.
Requiring angelic behavior from players and coaches isn't a bad concept - and it's one new NCAA chief Myles Brand seems determined to pursue.
But let's inject a little reality before all players are required to earn good-citizenship badges to wear on their uniforms alongside their numbers, names and shoe-corporation logos.
Liars, rogues and non-students have been a part of college football since there has been college football. Doesn't anyone remember George Gipp, who earned as many Notre Dame credit hours in the pool hall as the lecture hall?
It's impossible to legislate morality, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with making the old college try.
Big conferences vs. big conferences
Is it a coincidence that East Carolina, whose teams carry the nickname Pirates, tried to force the North Carolina legislature to put pressure on the ACC to add ECU to its expansion list? Probably not.
Thanks to the ACC's dastardly off-season raid on the Big East - sailing away with Miami and Virginia Tech to drop the Big East to a six-team league in 2004 - conferences that don't conduct themselves with such high-seas derring-do will be the exception rather than the rule.
Look for the Big East to poach Louisville and Cincinnati from Conference USA in the coming weeks - and for Marquette and DePaul to join them for basketball purposes, too.
Before long, we'll have seven 16-team conferences and Notre Dame as the lone independent. Unlessæ...
Big conferences vs. small conferences
Presidents for the non-BCS conferences, which call themselves the "Presidential Coalition for Athletic Reform," want the big boys to share more of the millions of dollars generated by the BCS television contract. They also want an easier road to the BCS games.
The current BCS formula requires aspiring teams from Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt, the MAC and the WAC to go undefeated, crawl through Death Valley in full equipment and resurrect Red Grange in order to have an outside shot at a big-money bowl.
The big boys, of course, would like to maintain the status quo. Or, better yet, they want to institute guidelines that would force the weaker Division I-A schools to drop to Division I-AA.
But at the same time, they take pains to note they're giving $42 million to the non-BCS schools over the life of the current eight-year BCS television contract.
How will this be resolved?
Congress has stuck its beak into the matter, which is why Delany will "testify" before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. C-SPAN will decide Wednesday whether to televise the hearing.
On Monday, school presidents representing the BCS conferences will meet with coalition presidents to search for a middle ground.
It's a tug of war the BCS schools should win, though they need to ease off on the heavy-handed public relations.
The BCS' Lincoln, Neb.-based p.r. representative, Mike Reilley, sent out an e-mail Tuesday suggesting writers include the following tidbit in their papers: "Tulane's attendance at its home opener was 28,966, 37.7 percent of the Superdome capacity."
Why does the BCS believe that to be noteworthy? Only because Tulane's president, Scott Cowen, serves as the outspoken point man for "The Coalition."
Here are a few notes of my own:
Northwestern and Kansas, two BCS schools, drew 27,775 in Lawrence, Kan., on Saturday night. That's fewer than 28,966.
And Northern Illinois, a coalition school, dumped No. 15 Maryland on Thursday night. That's Maryland, as in BCS big-shot Maryland.
http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/sports_story.asp?intID=37867177
