The Eyes of Bill Hancock Are Upon You

Conference realignment. Bet you are sick and tired of this charade. The latest rumors have Houston, Boise St., Central Florida and others headed for the Big East to help fill the void of the soon to be departed West Virginia Mountaineers. The mad scramble is being driven by the incestuous desire to be affiliated with an Automatic Qualifier conference in the hopes of obtaining BCS riches. It's not about the Longhorn Network or the University of Texas imposing its will in the Big 12. This is the result of not having a true playoff system in place to determine college football's annual champion.


So, Bill Hancock and his gauntlet of minions who preside over the football centric circle jerk that is unfolding before our very eyes are concerned about what is best for the student athlete. West Virginia traveling to the state of Texas for road games about 40% of the time is best for its student athletes. Texas A&M being affiliated with a conference whose headquarters are in Birmingham, AL, now will face road trips to Gainseville, FL, Athens, GA, and Columbia, SC on a routine basis. That has to be good for the Aggie student athletes. Boise State traveling across the entire country to be a member of the aforementioned fraternal order of BCS asshats is best for their student athletes as well. I would surmise that if there was a playoff format in place, all if not most of this would have been avoided. Follow along.

First and foremost, I think that Nebraska and Texas A&M still make the moves regardless of the modern day progress which could be made by eradicating the BCS from our very existence. Nebraska leaving actually was in its best interest. They are a fit for the Big 10 and the academic upgrade alone is a nice feather in the Husker Nation cap. Now, Aggies? Not so much. The academics of the SEC have been bantered about ad nauseam. In a word, they are deplorable by comparative standards to other conferences in the nation. There is no spinning this. It is what it is. But academics do not run conferences, football does. That reason alone is why the best interest of the student athlete is a blatant lie that has been told to us by every athletic director in the nation. They only care about money. The student athlete is a mere product they need to market. Nothing more.

Which brings me to the most perplexing thing of all: the lack of playoffs. The marketing component which is lost in the shuffle here is a complete head scratcher. Don't tell me that every game counts. They don't. If that were the case, then when a team loses at home to a 29 point underdog, they are ousted from title consideration. Period. Back to the marketing: just consider a final four in college football and the financial windfall it would bestow upon the schools and conferences participating. It would dwarf March Madness and the current BCS platform. It would also end this realignment carousel on the spot. Once again, the dimwits that run these academic institutions appear to be about as smart as a full time carnie.