So how do you like me now?
Did I come as advertised in my long-awaited unveiling?
I did what I was supposed to do and settled the issue on the football field?
Oh, I’m sorry forgot to tell you. I am the College Football Playoffs.
Yeah, I know you didn’t think it was possible to actually be talking to Mr. CFP, but you also didn’t think it would ever be possible to play these doggone games, either, did you?
I have been waiting in the wings and in the minds of a few smart and forward thinking guys for, oh, I would guess at least 20 years. I know college football has been around since the 1800s, which is longer than Lou Holtz and Lee Corso put together, but it took that long to get over the AP, UPI, USA and BCS, and any other alphabet poll or ranking system.
What was everyone so scared of, anyway?
A lot of folks (especially those guys in the funny-colored blazers) thought I would kill their precious bowl games. I heard all the chatter about how my four-team playoff would diminish the other big-name bowls, and even some of the smaller ones. Some out there thought the corporate sponsors would lose interest, and the bowls would stop being cash cows.Well, I don’t know about you, but I heard enough moos, and saw those blasted Chick-Fil-A heifers from Christmas week through my championship finale to last me through next September.
My CFP committee came through in the clutch, and got the top four teams right. I am still getting calls and tweets from those Bears and Horned Frogs in Texas and, yes, I saw your bowl games. I still think you guys were on the outside looking in, and, heck, Michigan State may have a better argument, now that I’m thinking of it.
How about my Rose Bowl playoff between last year’s Mr. Heisman and the guy toting the trophy this year? Florida State’s Jameis Winston against Oregon’s Marcus Mariota, fresh off winning the Heisman. The boisterous, strong-armed but controversial Winston, along with the quiet, humble and multi-talented Mariota. The NFL’s top two draft picks, for all to see. I didn’t plan it that way. Math took over, I guess. The #2 vs. #4 teams, and the quarterback matchup was a bonus.
Pretty good game, until the wheels came off in the third quarter, when the Seminoles may have had more turnovers than first downs. The Ducks turned all of them into points, and started making plans to be in Dallas.
I struck gold in my other playoff with the SEC’s champion beast Alabama facing the Big 10’s best Ohio State.
I could not have drawn this one up any better: Mr. Process Nick Saban vs. Master Motivator Urban Meyer. Saban, the reigning King of the SEC, with four championships, against Meyer, who once ruled the SEC (pre Saban), winning two titles in Florida’s hay day.
A few years ago, while the big shots were talking about me coming to life, I was hoping for a showdown between the bullies of the SEC and big boys of the Big 10. South vs. North. Could the SEC continue its path of destruction? Can anyone from the Big 10, especially Ohio State with one of the SEC’s own now on the headsets, command some respect?
I thought you would find my Sugar Bowl sweeter than normal.
And this was another game with more quarterback drama. And I know by now how everyone loves a quarterback story.
This season, there was none better than Cardale Jones. The 22-year-old bench warmer from Cleveland, whose only previous claim to fame was a tweet a few years ago asking why athletes had to go to class. Jones tweeted that players were in Columbus to play football, not to play school. He dug his hole deeper saying “classes are pointless.”
Can you imagine having to face and stare down Urban Meyer after those idiotic comments? Meyer set him straight, of course, and Jones saw little real action until reserve-turned-starting QB J.T. Barrett broke his ankle against archrival Michigan. The Buckeyes were down to their third-string quarterback in Jones, and the rest is history.
Look, I thought I was center stage story — college football’s first-ever playoff, and all. The First Four, if you will. But this Jones fella kind of bumped me to second fiddle.
He went down to New Orleans and handled anything and everything Saban’s defensive brain trust threw at him. Jones wasn’t spectacular, but he was very solid, notably on critical third downs. He got major help from his defense, and from another breakout star in sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliott, who broke Bama’s back with a late-game, 85-yard touchdown run.
I took my show and championship game to Jerry’s World in Dallas. Yeah I know: the biggest, baddest billion-dollar stadium for the first-ever true college football title game ever! I needed some major, big-time turf to live up to all the hype and media buzz. The world’s largest video screen didn’t hurt, either.
You have probably heard by now that without me, the old BCS would have served up Alabama against Florida State for the championship.
Hello!!!! That’s why we play the games, with emphasis on games. My playoffs opened the door for two other teams to have their say. And, lo and behold, Oregon and Ohio State proved themselves on the field as the better teams. No computers. No MIT-like statistical analysis, or convoluted rankings and polls to tell me who was worthy of playing. I told you to let me, Mr. CFP, settle all questions between the white lines.
Once all eyes were focused on me, it didn’t take long to realize who would have the upper hand.
I wasn’t surprised the Ducks took the ball first and then marched down to score on their opening possession. Oregon’s fast-paced tempo and bang-bang style of offense puts defenses on its heels, but it didn’t take Ohio State long to settle down and find their groove.
From then on, though, I was taken aback by how the Buckeyes’ offensive and defensive lines dominated, and put the Ducks on lockdown and on their butts. I knew Oregon was not going to resemble, say, a Wisconsin on the lines, but they had some size and bulk in spots. Just not enough.
Am I the only one who thinks Cardale Jones put together the greatest three-game stretch of any back-up quarterback in the history of college football? He beats Wisconsin 59-0 for the Big 10 championship. He upsets Alabama to dethrone and deny the SEC from its rightful place in the championship game. And, then, yes, with another 200-plus-yard game from The Big E, tops a Heisman winning, Nike-powered speed demon, and the rest of the Wizards from the West, 42-20 for my first-ever CFP national championship.
If that doesn’t blow your mind, consider that Jones was asked to weigh his NFL Draft options with only three starts on his collegiate resume.
I like to see my college stars hang around on campus for longer than three games, but this was a unique and unbelievable story — a scenario never seen in the college game before. A quarterback, with a ready-made 6’5” 250-pound NFL frame and a howitzer arm, had two days to declare for the pro draft or return to Columbus, with no assurances from coach Meyer about the starting job.
After winning my championship game, returning home to Ohio to a hero’s welcome, and finding time to let this sink in and breathe, Jones decided to let the NFL wait another year.
So I go back to my original question: How do you like me now?
It took decades of debate to make my four-team playoff a reality, and it worked like a charm.
My two semi-final games drew the largest TV ratings in the history of cable network television, and my title game Monday set more TV ratings benchmarks. Sponsors lined up to buy millions upon millions in advertising. The schools, conferences and NCAA made boat loads of money.
I heard all the talk about the effects on the regular season and the bowls. Well, the season was as meaningful and exciting as ever, and the bowl structure did not come crumbling down did it?
I answered all the critics’ concerns and the cynics questions. And the fans got what they wanted: a true-blue national championship game played on the field and won by the better team.
I did alright just out of the gate, and I’m just getting started.
Get Rick Sarro’s perspectives on sports on Soundoff 60, which airs Monday through Sunday nights at 9 pm on Suddenlink Channel 60 and Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10 am as well.
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