Another season, another crisis.
If it felt like something changed with Clemson’s emphatic win against Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game, the lingering residue is reflected in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll. And it’s not just that Clemson is ranked No. 1 ahead of Alabama, but the margin: The Tigers got 59 first-place votes, the Tide only six.
But let’s not get sidetracked here.
More telling than who’s No. 1 is this: College football’s most exclusive tier is still occupied by only two programs. The same two programs…
… Keep scrolling the rankings beyond ‘Bama, and the names are familiar, too.
The order is different than a year ago. Georgia and Oklahoma have moved up a spot each, while Ohio State has dropped two. But the makeup of the top five in the preseason rankings is the same as it was in August 2018, and it’s hard to quibble.
Oh, you thought I meant this was a crisis for you or me? No, no, no… it’s a crisis for poor ol’ Mickey, which has to struggle to find a way to entertain Short-Term Attention Span America.
You’ve come a long way from fretting over the Rematch, baby. Moving the goal posts is overdue. Fortunately, he’s here to help.
Eh, who cares about having the best, or even the most deserving, in the playoff field? Let’s just skip straight to healthiest. Hell, let’s outsource the selection committee to a few wise souls at ESPN while we’re at it. Think of all the attention that would get. Boredom problem solved.
Get The Picture 
Only we could have the misfortune of going 39 years without a Natty but still get lumped into the pack of entities that the country is tired of seeing. Screw LSU, that’s our spot. I’m fine with his other 4 and would frankly like payback vs Texas.
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*other 3
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I stupidly thought UGA could be that lovable team that everyone pulled for to get over the hump and finally tired of after a few titles, but I guess people got tired of us falling short instead.
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Lucy pulling the ball from Charlie Brown eventually gets old I guess.
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I actually think we’re gonna win it all in the next 4 yrs, maybe this year. If every player gives his all (a big “if” right) in every regular season game we will go 12-0, that is how talented we are. The rest is coaching and how the breaks go. While people knock on Kirby some for these “big games”, the good news is that there aren’t many coaches who can punch Alabama into a corner for 120 minutes to even start with.
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Peter Burns is Danny Kanell with better hair.
If Mickey had his way, every year the playoff would be:
Notre Dame – New York and Chicago (and a national following)
Texas – Dallas and Houston (national following)
USC – Los Angeles/Southern California
Ohio State or Florida – Big states plus douchy national fan bases
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No no no, you’re looking at it all wrong. In your scenario its gotta be UF. They begrudgingly must have a southeastern team every year. Gotta have that market, and that “heel.”
You got four slots, and they each represent a region. Since there’s really only USC all the way over there, they get lumped in with Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, etc. for two spots, and every fourth year you get a mid major in one of them. They all rotate. Then the other two go like this. One of them alternates between Texas and Oklahoma. One is up for grabs between the ACC and SEC. That would be the ESPN dream.
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I would disagree with you on ND. Mickey would like to invite them every year regardless of their record if they could get away with it.
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Florida represents the northeast.
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I think of them as New Jersey’s best hope…
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Exactly ee.. Burns is the knucklehead who picked Kentucky to win the East last year.
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Spike, didn’t he pick USCjr to beat us last year because SANDSTORM!!! and 2012 in the Willy B?
After the game, I thought he made some lame statement on SEC Now about being provocative or some BS excuse.
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ee Yes he did as I recall. SANDSTORM and don’t forget THE HEAT! THE HEAT I TELLS YA! What a tool..
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In all fairness, ColumbiaE does seem to have some kind of direct hole to hell below it.
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It’s ‘healthier for the sport’ when the Big Ten and PAC-12 get some of that filthy lucre.
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The healthiest thing for CFB would be to turn back the clock and eliminate any playoff. Arguing about “who’s best” and opportunities like denying the gnats “won” a MNC in 1990 because they weren’t the AP poll selection is part of the heart and soul of CFB. The “play it on the field” crowd were warned that model just doesn’t fit and we would soon be racing to NFL Lite. I’d much rather have more interesting bowl matchups than these playoffs. Was some reform needed? Of course, but the playoff path just isn’t it.
Well…we told you so. Now get off my lawn!
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May have a good point..unless you are a Penn State fan.
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….. but no one should be a Penn State fan.
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The slow, methodical gutting of the soul of the sport marches on…
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Well said. And Colorado will always be the only NC of 1990.
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How in the fuck did georgia fucking tech and the University of Colorado manage to split an MNC in 1990? Was the rest of the country that bad? I honestly don’t remember much about that year but how bad did everyone else have to suck for that to happen?
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I recall that Colorado received an illegal 5th down at Missouri to score on the final play of the game. That helped!
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Nope. Never happened. Totally legal play. Colorado is the only one, true champion of 1990. I’ll never admit otherwise.
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I recall that Colorado received an illegal 5th down at Missouri and scored on the final play of the game. That helped!
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Damn. Damn.
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Come on now! LSU’s already got two titles this century. Why you gotta knock us out before we even get one? That’s just plain unhealthy.
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The scholarship limit needs to be upped back to 95 giving the other programs more chances to target players which maybe diamonds in the rough.
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Isn’t Burns an LSU alum? Now why would he pick them over us? Hmmm….
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He’s from the area but attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, if his bio is correct.
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Allow me to agree with y’all. Forcing this bogus national championship upon the masses is really starting to pizz me off. Crowning a “true” national champ isn’t worth all the trouble they are going through to try to make it happen. Damn sheeple are brainwashed and it sucks.
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In an interesting juxtaposition of posts, Senator, one could argue that the Network is using a similar argument as for Title IX to wish for a gerrymandered Playoff.
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We look at college football as a contest among teams to see who is the best. If our team loses, we want to come back fighting next time, and the next, and the next. To the suits in Bristol /NYC/LA, games are a bridge for ads. Period. Wrap it up in rah rah, tug at heartstrings, but whatever the talking heads say, usually whatever the narrative they are provided, to the suits, we are just eyeballs. If dressing teams in tutus would draw an extra hundred viewers, they’d insist. And the suits in the administration at colleges across the US, who are hooked on the cash like junkies want an 8 ball, will happily comply. All the talk about student athletes, amateurish, tradition? Means zero to the suits, so it really means zero to the admins (though they harumph and pretend otherwise). The suits get their dachas in the Hamptons, the administrators get their cut, you and me get the bill.
Disney is the most efficient cash vacuuming operation in the world, and it’s operated by a bunch of people who have cash registers for hearts. They’re as sentimental as a Terminator 3000,and just as focused on their mission, which is solely to make money. The loyalty we feel to our schools is simply the best button for them to push to open our wallets
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Wtf
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