Josh Brewton

I think this speaks to a bigger problem with college football today. We’ve created a world where anything short of competing for a national championship is considered failure. It wasn’t that long ago that you could have a great season without winning it all. Beat your rival. Compete for a conference championship. Win 10 or 11 games. Go win the Outback, Citrus, Sugar or Cotton Bowl and head into the offseason feeling pretty damn good about your program. Now an 11-3 season gets dissected based on why you didn’t make the playoff or why your coach “can’t win the big one.” That’s what we’ve lost. The national championship used to be the ultimate goal, but it wasn’t the only thing that gave a season meaning. And the irony is we’ve sacrificed so much of what made college football unique for an expanded playoff system that still won’t eliminate arguments about who belongs. We’ll just argue about team No. 24 instead of team No. 4. Conference championships should matter. Rivalries should matter. Bowl games should matter. A really good season should be allowed to simply be a really good season.