Oregon should be sitting home right now with the national championship trophy after going 13-0 while all the other alleged contenders were taking on losses.
That trophy was true through a good many of our lifetimes, before colleges went pro. The best team with the best record got the national title. Pretenders had to shut up because they hadn’t put up, even when given one last bowl showdown.
No way do 12 college football teams deserve a shot at the national championship after playing 12-game seasons plus conference final exams. That plain sucks. It’s more watered-down than the Titanic. Or the players’ academic transcripts.
What do you tell a team with two black eyes? Nothing. They’ve already been told twice. Anyone with more than one loss deserves no more than bowling in their wife-beater shirts. Three? Slink on to sweet home, Alabama. Pay back your NIL.
Oregon won every time out while Ohio State was gagging twice, including its big league showdown with the Ducks and a massive choke against a five-time loser, yet one rematch win by the Buckeyes over the understandably flat Ducks erased all that. Should an unbeaten team have to face an already conquered victim, a two-loss conference opponent, in the quarterfinal round of some damned playoffs? Hell no.
Want playoffs? Give the unbeaten Big Ten champion a mulligan to make amends for a single loss, fluke or not. Consolation bracket, anyone? Just like the playoffs are now, that would be only fair. And just fair.
