EDITORIAL: TIME FOR A NON-BCS COLLUSION

Rick Figurin
pigskinpress.com

Picture this.

It’s after midnight. Ties are loosened; cigar smoke fills the room, and the clank of square ice cubes with round holes through the middle, sets a tense tone as men of power ponder a decision that could get them all fired while the strong taste of Maker’s Mark whiskey leaves a slight burn in their throats.

No, this is not some back room political wheeling and dealing session to decide the next presidential contender. This is much more fun, and in my eyes, more important.

These are the makings of a double-secret, college football collusion.

If you’re unfamiliar with collusion, it’s where the big guys all agree to do the same thing to keep the little guy down. Or, in some cases, it’s where the little guys get together to stick it to the man! (All on the DL of course)

In either regard, collusion is for the most part, illegal. But, much like it was designed to do for the major league baseball owners in 1985, 1986 and 1987, the heart of a good collusion is to even the playing field, or at least stop financial bleeding.

Who are the men around this imaginary table, you may ask? If it were up to me, it would be WAC commissioner Carl Benson, MWC commissioner Craig Thompson, Sun Belt Conference top-dog Wright Waters, C-USA front man Britton Banowsky, and the newbie of the group, MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher. And with any luck, they would be making a secret deal that NO TEAM (not even Arkansas State) will be offering themselves as a sacrificial-slaughter road game without a guaranteed return regardless of the money.

For too long, the BCS elite have been making a fortune and running up win totals on the backs of the non-AQ’s. Make no mistake, the little guys are willing partners in this venture, raking in hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars to voluntarily go behind the woodshed. It makes perfect sense; after all, the swamp, the big house, and the horseshoe will sell out regardless of whether the opponent is Louisiana-Monroe, or the Louisiana Cajun Culinary College.

But things need to change, and they need to change now. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing and the trade-off is not enough. MAC West team Bowling Green is a perfect example. The Falcons have traveled to Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Boston College, and even Ohio State over the past few years and received decent paychecks to do so. In return, that money should help keep the athletic program afloat. Unfortunately, BGSU Athletic Director Greg Christopher has said that, “The institution's enrollment decline, coupled with the State of Ohio's economic woes, is hitting everyone.” While this is the truth, it points out that in a “normal” economy these big paydays are enough to just break even for schools like BGSU, while teams like Ohio State will not only make tons of revenue from the game itself, but be able to add more to the scoreboard, improve the indoor practice facility, or redo the weight room.

Let me be clear, nobody is trying to make the Bowling Greens, FIUs and UAB’s of the world equal to the Oklahomas and Michigans; its not gonna’ happen, and those schools have every right to make a fortune and compete at the highest levels. Rather, this is about the non-AQ conferences using their one bargaining chip to get on their feet, and that chip is forcing guaranteed home-and-home series with the big boys.

Why is it such leverage?

If in that mythical smoke-filled room our five commissioners decide to take a stand, many scenarios would play out. For starters, the big boys would have to fill some serious space on the schedule. They can’t just plug in FCS teams, as that could screw with bowl eligibility since you can only have one win over FCS teams per year.

If the big boys talk the NCAA into bending the one-fcs-win rule, TV broadcasters will certainly look for some money back if they are having to air a bunch of Delaware State’s and Northern Colorado’s for the first three weeks of the season; not to mention the ratings drop that comes from schools who have fewer students and a lot smaller fan base. Therefore, they probably shouldn’t mess with the rule if they like the amount of revenue their bringing in from the TV contract.

In addition to the money and ratings, an automatic withdrawal by our five conferences from non-guaranteed home-and-homes will really hurt the lower tier BCS schools. For example, since you can’t schedule more than 1 FCS school, and schools like Florida and Nebraska don’t want to lose home game revenue, they’ll have to find some poor BCS saps willing to be the new MAC’s and WACs of the football world. That would fall on the shoulders of the lowest remaining conference, which would more than likely be the Big East and the lower schools (Kansas State, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, etc…) from each conference.

Now, I’m sure that many of you reading are thinking that all the remaining conferences would just play nice and do home and homes with the Washington State’s of the world and everything will be fine.

If you’re one of those, I would advise you to put the pipe down and seek immediate attention.

Do you really think teams like Nebraska are suddenly going to start giving up those extra non-conference home games and the revenue that comes from 80,000+ fans buying tickets, slurping soda’s, and buying as much big red gear as they can find?

Not likely.

As neat as it may be to get your return game at a neutral location (which is the trend right now), try being a Washington State fan who will have to drive all the way to Seattle to see your Cougars get their home game with the Sooners at Qwest Field because it was the only way Oklahoma would agree to a home and home. The travel can get expensive, and it can take a toll, especially on an aging fan base.

On top of that, teams like Minnesota, Northwestern, and North Carolina won’t have the luxury of easy non-conference opponents anymore, which could cost them a bowl game when they finish 5-7 instead of 7-5. The Floridas and USCs would have to be careful, because the level of talent on the schedule will improve and at some point cost them a big bowl game, where as that nice win against North Texas in week one would have been enough to get that last at-large spot.

You see, the MAC, C-USA, WAC, Sun Belt, and Mountain West really hold all the cards, and if they could stick together, maybe even separate into their own conference, the big boys would figure out real quick why they need them. The problem is, they're taking away those at-large bowl slots they so cherish by going on the road insted of giving themselves a chance to pull the upset at home...all for the love of money.

It’s the directional schools like the Middle Tennesees, Western Michigans, and East Carolinas of the world who could cut costs for the big boys by being a quick bus ride away for the BCS teams in their neck of the woods if they'd just stand their ground. Sure it would be one less home gamefor the big boys,, but these BCS powerhouses would spend a lot less travel money, have to pay out less to these smaller schools, and the fan base can make a short jaunt if they want to go.

As for the little guys, they can greatly increase ticket sales (just ask Wyoming or UTEP what the Texas game did for their sales) while feeling like they don’t have to go on the road to be a punching bag. In addition, they can start building a real fan base to keep their athletic department afloat, not a paycheck that has no real long-term building power.

What’s in it for the big boys? Well, they can continue to schedule 1-A teams that people have actually heard of. Also, they will probably still garner those easy wins, and for many schools (like Minnesota or Kentucky) instead of being the teams that are one win short of a bowl, they will continue to be the last teams to get to a bowl game. Did I mention, the little guys will have to stop whining about an unfair BCS due to uneven home and away scheduling?

Unfortunately, it’s tough to get anybody to break the law anymore, so until a day comes where commissioners become cowboys instead of puppets for presidents, I’ll have to keep dreaming that the non-AQ’s could do something so bold that college football could level itself out and become a level playing field with a tried, true, and tested national champion.

In the meantime, if I want to enjoy some good ol' fashion rule-breaking in college athletics, I'll have to start cheering for Memphis Basketball! Go Tigers!

Staff
pigskinpress.com

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