The end of college football as we know it?

I have suspected and projected for some time now that if the SECer's get what they want, they'll effectively ruin college football as we know it.

What do they want?

For starters, an eight-team playoff.

Of course, they're not the only ones that want a large format playoff but their reasons are much different then others.

Some think that a playoff is the only way to fairly assess a champion. I would tell those people that tournaments are great, but they render the regular season for the most part meaningless. I mean, regular season NCAA basketball is riveting now isn't it?

The SECer's will tell you that it's just not fair that more SEC teams don't get a shot at the title every year. They're clearly the best conference (according to them), and they're just not satisfied with national titles. It's not good enough to have one SEC team playing for it all, they want two.

And guess what? If you had a four-team playoff? They'd want all four teams to be SEC schools! Naturally. That's how God or Bear Bryant intended it apparently.

As I've said before, one of the things that SEC fans don't realize is that they NEED the rest of the teams around the country to confirm that they are indeed the best in the land. They feel just beating up on each other is enough evidence. Guess what folks!? It's not.

And let me step back and explain one other factoid that bears mentioning. The SEC either doesn't care what the rest of the country thinks about inter-conference SEC battles, or grossly-overestimates their ability to care about those games.

I mentioned earlier that Vanderbilt is a bottom-feeder SEC school that hasn't been to a bowl in 25 years and yet some think they would be competing for conference titles in other conferences. That's...probably not true.

The Worldwide Leader flashed a graphic tonight showing all the longest bowl droughts in the country, by team. Again, Vandy hasn't been to a bowl in 25 YEARS. For those of you that have trouble with math (like me), that goes back almost to the Carter administration.

And yet, Mr. SMU, Craig James felt the need to point out that no one else on the list "had to face the SEC." That's true Craig, except for the fact that the dominance of the SEC only dates back about five years, NOT BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME!

That's what some people don't seem to realize. While the SEC is clearly a force these days, it's not like they have ruled college football since its inception in the late 1800's.

The first college football game ever was played in New Jersey, not Tuscaloosa. Our southern brethren were too busy fending off carpetbaggers in the late 1800's to worry about "foosball." Oh, but I'm sure when Sherman burned Atlanta to the ground he spared Georgia Tech's football facilities.

Anyway, this tirade was spurned by the wise words of Pete Fiutak from collegefootballnews.com. Judge the impending effect for yourself:

The challenge flag needs to be thrown on ESPN’s 15-year, $2.25 billion deal with the SEC. It’s one thing for a league to have its own network, like the Big Ten has, but it’s another to have one of the major media outlets be so intertwined both financially and logistically with one single college football conference. ESPN is it. This is the big bad boy on the block, and now that it has become ESPNSEC, all other leagues will be fighting a tough uphill battle to compete.

ESPN is an entertainment company, not a news service. It’s going to be all SEC football, all the time with shows, promos, and everything the big menace can do to milk every last dime out of this relationship. You can guarantee that the first three college football news items are always going to be SEC related, tied in to a slew of promos for other SEC shows, while the recruiting advantage will become even more unbalanced than most already think it is.

And then there’s the money factor. $2.25 billion, when the trickle down effect occurs, means the SEC teams will have better facilities, better coaches, and better overall programs than anyone else can possibly come up with. In other words, if you’re a Big East or ACC team with national title dreams, take care of business now.