A football frenzy: It's playoff/bowl season

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti: He has the 
No. 1-ranked, unbeaten team: the story of the season

       If you are college football fan, welcome to bowl/playoff season. Have fun.

      Some of us, much as we like football, will pick our spots. Don't have time, or desire, to watch 47 "major" college games remaining on the schedule.

      Frankly, we're concerned about the state of the college football world. Where are we headed?

      Think we can all agree -- unless you really are a fan-atic -- there are far too many bowl games. Count 'em; wait, we'll save you some time ... 41, including four College Football Playoff quarterfinals and two semifinals.

       So, pardon the cynicism, how many bowls fall in the who cares category? Depends on your interests, and the teams involved.

       Personally, of course, we'll check the four first-round CFP games, and the seven (six bowls) playoff games thereafter through the Jan. 19 national-championship game. 

        Sorry, Notre Dame, Texas, Vanderbilt and Duke fans, the playoffs -- without your teams -- still look interesting. 

        Sure it's not fair. All of the now-"outsiders" can make their arguments, can whine and complain, and tell the world how unfair the system is. And in a way, it is. 

        Do, say, Tulane and James Madison belong in the final 12? Are those teams better than Notre Dame and Texas and maybe Vandy? Probably not. But to put the 12-team CFP system in place -- expanded from a Final Four -- it was set up to reward two "Group of Five" teams. So that's that.

        Still, it seems petty to me that Notre Dame -- players, coaches and administrators -- chose to say "no thanks" to playing in any bowl game. Why not take it out on some lucky opponent in a bowl to show the world that the committee made a big mistake.

     Can understand -- a little -- Iowa State and Kansas State skipping their bowl opportunities, what with their head coaches leaving their posts in the last week. But if you are a player, wouldn't you want to play and compete and win another game?

      Also a little hard to figure: Instead of taking the financial reward for playing in a bowl game, Iowa State and K-State will have to pay the Big 12 Conference a half-million dollars apiece for the privilege of skipping out. 

       What's money in today's college athletics? A generous booster or two will take care of it.

       Just as they take care of so many of the powerhouse programs in the CFP (we're looking at you, Texas Tech).

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       Other college football/bowl observations:

       -- The College Football Playoff expansion creates more interest ... and arguably less interest in so many of the other ("lesser") bowls.

        We wonder how many of those games, being propped up by ESPN TV money and scrambling to find corporate sponsors will be able to exist much longer.

        -- A big detriment in recent years: Players opting out, either preparing for possible NFL careers and not wanting to risk a bowl game/practice injury, or players knowing they are going into the transfer portal. 

       Thus, bowl teams with depleted rosters and not looking like they did in the regular season. Good opportunities for young, upcoming talent. 

       -- Coaching staffs in flux. Prime example, of course: Ole Miss without head coach Lane Kiffin. Rumor has it, he's now recruiting for LSU. And head coaches at Tulane, James Madison and others have accepted other jobs.

       -- Oh, those bowl names (corporate sponsors). Won't bore you with all of them, just the first week's games (Dec. 13-19): Cricket Celebration, LA Bowl (hosted by Gronk), Salute to Veterans, Cure, 68 Ventures, Xbox, Myrtle Beach, Gasparilla. 

      -- Learned today that the Xbox game is a new one, Dec. 18, at The Star (Dallas Cowboys' facility) in Frisco (our area). It's a first-ever bowl for Missouri State; the opponent is Arkansas State. How exciting.

       -- There are 16 games the week of Dec. 22-27, half of them on Saturday (plus three CFP games that day).

       -- One neat aspect: The four traditional "major" bowls are the CFP quarterfinals -- Cotton on New Year's Eve, Orange, Rose and Sugar  (in that order) on New Year's Day. Cue the Rose Bowl parade that morning. 

     -- Know that the CFP committee made its first-round pairings based on its seedings. But two matchups, we think, are unfortunate. Ole Miss again plays a Tulane team it beat by 35 points (45-10) on Sept. 20. Oklahoma plays host to Alabama; the Sooners already proved they can beat the Tide, 23-21 in Tuscaloosa no less on Nov. 15. (Not fair they have to do it again.)

      -- Love this title I saw: Miami at Texas A&M is the "We Beat ND Bowl." (The Irish lost to both to open the season, then won the rest of its games. Not enough to erase the damage.)

      -- Can we all agree that Indiana -- unbeaten Big Ten champion, a first-ever No. 1 in the rankings -- is the story of this season ... so far.

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      Personal choices: Other than the playoff games, the only bowls that interest me:

     -- Dec. 27, Texas Bowl (Houston), LSU vs. Houston. Which Tigers team will show up? No offense to that thought.            

     -- Dec. 30, Alamo Bowl (San Antonio), Southern Cal vs. TCU. We live in Fort Worth, lots of Frogs where we are.

    -- Dec. 30, Music City Bowl (Nashville), Tennessee vs. Illinois. Family connection with the Vols.

     -- Dec. 30, Independence Bowl (Shreveport), Louisiana Tech vs. Coastal Carolina. Alma mater playing in my hometown. Ever Loyal Be (to Tech).

  -- Dec. 31, Citrus Bowl (Orlando), Texas vs. Michigan. Darned good matchup.

      -- Jan. 2, Armed Forces Bowl (only because it's in Fort Worth), Texas State vs. Rice. Won't watch it.

      Happy playoff/bowl season ... I think.

       

What's the price for winning?

         A friend asked me about a half-dozen the past couple of weeks who LSU's new head football coach was going to be. He asked five times in one conversation, and then again in an e-mail reply to a link I sent which had almost nothing to do with football.    

      I assured him, repeatedly, it would not be Lane Kiffin, no matter what the speculation was. There was no reason for him to leave Ole Miss, where his program was peaking to national-championship contention. 

      See how much I know.

      Let's see, there are millions of reasons why I my uneducated guess was wrong. Oops, meant to say millions of dollars. 

      If as Coach Kiffin said it wasn't about his contract, that he didn't know about the dollars (reported $91 mil over seven years), then what about the NIL/transfer portal money?

      That was, he told us, his concern. And LSU is giving him an unlimited player-pool budget. (Insert the old joke: An unlimited budget, and he will exceed it.)

      Great. Make no mistake this IS about money. Almost everything about college football -- college athletics, period -- these days is about money. Always has been to an extent, but it is so far out of sight -- out of control, really -- these days. Education, at colleges? Who cares? 

      So my reaction -- and likely is shared by many LSU faithful is ... I have to root for this guy? 

       Never been a Kiffin fan. He's smart, yes. He can recruit, and he can run an offense, call the right plays. No question. And he's smart ... who at times shows his ass when he tweets and takes  "cute" shots at people. So, a punk attitute. Put it together: smart-ass punk.

      Don't like his sideline manner, either. Too demonstrative, too glitzy.   

      That's my take. Maybe it's not fair. Don't know the guy, don't know anyone who knows him well. I'm just out here in left field, a long way from Baton Rouge, or Oxford, Mississippi.

      And it certainly doesn't matter. Noticed that no one from LSU called me to consult me on this coaching selection.  

       I would have told them to check with Nick Saban -- which they did -- and if you can, convince to come back to be the LSU head coach again. And if not him, ask Steve Spurrier. Then try Bob Stoops. That was my first choice; he was so solid, so consistent, at Oklahoma.

       But Kiffin was the "hot" choice nationally, the guy schools like Florida and maybe Auburn or even Penn State might have wanted. 

       Remember the "hot" coaches of four years ago -- Lincoln Riley and Tom Herman? Both reportedly were LSU's choices ... until they weren't. 

      (So Riley hasn't exactly brought Southern Cal into renewed national prominence, even though it did beat LSU in the 2023 season opener. And "golden boy" Herman? Fired by U. of Texas in 2020 after 3 1/2 seasons; fired by Florida Atlantic in 2024 after two seasons.)

       Speaking of firings: It has happened to Kiffin three times (Oakland Raiders 2007; Southern Cal (the infamous airport dismissal) 2013; by Saban at Alabama (before the 2016 national-title game). 

      And messy endings: He bolted from U. of Tennessee after one 7-6 season (2009) for the Southern Cal job. Think the Vols faithful have forgotten that slight? They are proud of their program there.

       So, yes, Sunday when Kiffin bolted from this Ole Miss program which has had a wonderful season and six really good years with him, Rebels fans -- and the administration -- were not happy. On his way to catching the LSU plane to Baton Rouge, the goodbyes were ugly.

      (But at least, he didn't say he would leave Ole Miss only in a pine box. Some wish that would have been true for coach Tommy Tuberville in 2009. Some wish that he would take a pine box out of the Senate now. Sorry, a crass off-course paragraph here.)

        And LSU has had its moments. "I'll never leave LSU," coach Paul Dietzel infamously said after receiving a new contract following the 1958 national-title season. Early in 1962, he did. So we've had it done to us.

        Then consider that the last three LSU head coaches -- not counting interims -- were fired in mid-season: Les Miles, Ed Orgeron, Brian Kelly. Two goofy guys (Miles and Cajun Ed); one older, established head coach. 

        Quite a legacy for what we think, what we want, is one of the nation's best football brands, one of the best jobs for a coach.

        My thoughts on Kelly: His hiring in late 2021 was a total surprise. To think LSU could hire away the Notre Dame head coach was a shock. 

        Wasn't particularly a fan of his, but grew to respect the way he ran the program. He took over a mess from Orgeron; rebuilt the roster and won some big games (Alabama, 2022, three bowls). Made some mistakes: the phony Southern accent, the circle-dance video with a recruit, and at the start not retaining 20-year strength coach Tommy Moffitt, scooped up quickly by Texas A&M).

       One argument: He didn't fit LSU's culture. He was from the north, a Yankee. A ridiculous thought. Quick reply: Nick Saban, Dale Brown, Skip Bertman, Les Miles ... no Southerners there, but all successful coaches at LSU for years. 

       This season's team seemingly had great potential. But injuries to the offensive line and QB Garrett Nussmeier hurt greatly, and the losses mounted ... Ole Miss (Kiffin) and  Vanderbilt, both close games, and the A&M embarrassment was too much for LSU's administrators to take. 

      Those three losses to teams all having tremendous seasons. So Kelly was the victim and so -- stupidly, in my opinion -- was athletic director Scott Woodward, an LSU/Baton Rouge guy who was well-respected.

      My sportswriting contacts in Louisiana said Kelly was very cooperative, very available and very honest in his dealings with media, opened up practices and shared details most head coaches these days don't do. Didn't matter.

       One guess, a far-away observation -- and I have seen a couple of references to this -- is that Kelly did not "connect" well with his players. He's an older man (64) talking to 20-year-olds; seemed to me it was like a grandfather lecturing his grandsons. 

       Bottom line, though: Did not win enough big games. Period.

       So here is Kiffin to do that, right? He better. 

       He'll do fine, I would think. He knows how to handle the system -- the recruiting, he's a transfer-portal maestro, he's an innovative offensive mind, he can put together a great staff.

        LSU people will find all the money he needs, all the money to pay off fired head coaches, assistants and athletic director. And, no, Gov. Landry, it won't be taxpayer money. LSU athletics is self-dependent. We've got boosters ... like Texas and Texas A&M and Texas Tech, and so many other major schools do.

       LSU's spending will up the ante for all the other schools. Is this good for college football, college athletics in general? Of course, it's beyond those of us who are "old school" types. But it's today's world, it's greed, it's the American way.  

      Never thought that I would feel sorry for Ole Miss and its fans. But they got stiffed here. Too bad. But if you think I will be rooting for Ole Miss in the playoffs ... nope.        

      One more thought: LSU badly needs a new library to replace the current one that opened in 1959. Estimated cost: One figure I saw is $162 million.

     That's almost enough to fund a football program. Hope Coach Kiffin can pay for the library. Just a suggestion.