Expand to 8 teams, but don’t be dumb about it

The NCAA has made a stunning discovery. It turns out, the people like having a playoff, and there seems to be an appetite for a bigger playoff. That’s perfect! It should definitely cut down on all those debates over a team’s worthiness to get into the playoffs, right? Ha! Of course it won’t.

Every year brings with it more controversy, and more questions about whether or not the SEC “deserves” more teams in the playoffs. Do you know what other leagues have controversy like this? None. None of them have these debates year in year out, at least not like this. Maybe the NCAA should take a page from the rest of the entire sporting universe when building an 8 team playoff.

I’ve long harbored a desire to see college football completely upended, with new conferences and a level playing field, but that ship has likely sailed, thanks to all the money teams have invested in their new conferences, networks and infrastructure. So I have a new request: Make concrete rules for reaching the playoffs. Boom. That’s it.

Professional sports allow the divisional or conference winners to reach the playoffs. Next, it’s the teams with the best records, until all the slots are filled. There aren’t computer formulas or anything like that. Even in college basketball, conference champions make the tournament, without any exception, and then there are so many teams that the cut off lines for in or out aren’t really as pertinent, because the team that would have been the 12^th seed isn’t a likely threat to emerge from a field of 68.’

With college football, the title game was based on a computer model, which was based on rankings which were based on whoever seemed the best. The playoffs are the same, but with 4 teams. This is the underlying problem with crowning a champion in college football. Make teams earn their trip there with a clear and concrete goal. Don’t even give the third place team in a conference a spot, if the 2^nd place team isn’t also there, is what I’m saying. 

Let us know from the outset what you want teams to do to get into the playoffs. Win the SEC? In. Win the Pac 12? In. Have the best record in the group of 5? In. Let everyone know how to get into the playoffs. Don't just let in teams that people "think" are the best. The playoffs are supposed to be about earning it on the field. Earn the playoffs on the field too. 

Let’s appreciate the Gophers for a second

The state of Minnesota’s athletic history skews towards misfortune and underachievement. Look at the Vikings, for example, who made it to the NFC Championship game last year and signed a quarterback they liked to a huge contract, and now are sputtering just above .500. It is because of this history, I assume, that people are so down on what the Gophers are accomplishing this year, both in football and basketball.

First, let’s take sure we veer away from the unrealistic expectations of the Patrick Reusse’s of the world, and move into what is more feasible, and then really consider what PJ Fleck and Richard Pitino are doing. Let’s start with the football team, since Fleck is the most recently hired source of derision for local sports guys.

PJ Fleck, as you might all remember, only came to the team last season, and the program was in shambles. He didn’t have many of his own recruits,  and the previous regime left him with a walk on quarterback as his best starting option. And he got hurt half way through the season. Then there were all the injuries to his running backs, and the best defensive player in Antoine Winfield Jr. 

But then towards the end of the season, the Gophers made an adjustment, Fleck fired his defensive coordinator, and suddenly, the Gophers were world beaters, and the team ended up clobbering a ranked Purdue team and winning on the road against Wisconsin. They made an adjustment, battled through some adversity and are in a bowl game. PJ Fleck is seen as a top flight recruiter, but I think this season, if nothing else, has proven that he can coach players he has up pretty well too.
It's only Detroit, but the Gophers are going to a Bowl game in Fleck's second season. It was a strategy that Jerry Kill employed as well, getting his team to bowl games so he had more time to coach underclassmen. Wit the in season improvement that they made, one has to wonder how much the team is going to grow as they head into next season. They might even have a quarterback. It was a 6-6 season, but it was so much more than that.

The basketball team was disappointing last year, but that was as much a function of injuries striking all of their top player as anything, but Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey are back and healthy, and are no bracketed by some emerging freshman. Not only that, but those freshman are local kids. Wasn’t that always the criticism of Tubby Smith, that he failed to recruit Minnesotans? Not the case with Pitino, it appears.

There are three freshman who look to contribute early, and are local products. Gabe Kalschuer from DeLaSalle, Jarvis Omersa from Orono, Daniel Oturu from Cretin-Derham Hall, making this a good, local class for Pitino. That’s one impressive thing about the team so far.

The other is that they are winning. They had a terrible game against Boston College, and were overmatched in Columbus against Ohio State, but then they came back against Nebraska and beat a ranked team in Minneapolis. There wasn’t much of that last season, and it showed growth after a tough stretch. 

The Gophers basketball team is a young team who has grown from their worst game of the season, the BC game, by learning from their mistakes. They couldn’t figure out the zone, and took terrible shots. They proved themselves to be coachable, however, because other teams haven’t been able to derail them entirely with the same defense. They are talented, and they are smart enough to learn from their mistakes. These things signal the beginning of a turnaround. And it’s with local players, which everyone loves, right?

The University of Minnesota has a long history of athletic mediocrity, and taken in isolation, this year is another year of the same. A closer inspection, however, shows two programs on the rise, even if local fans refuse to believe it.

Purdue dodges a bullet

Purdue hasn’t really been that good this season. They have a high profile win against Ohio State, and are .500 and bowl eligible for the second time. This has happened in large part because of the emergence of David Blough at quarterback and Rondale Moore, the exciting and talented freshman playmaker Still, they have lost as much as they’ve won, including an early season loss to Eastern Michigan, and a mugging by Minnesota.

Purdue went 3-0 against ranked opponents this year, which sounds great. They went 3-6 against unranked opponents this year, which sounds pretty terrible. And that’s what you get. A streaky, up and down season that was neither really good nor really bad. If you caught Purdue at the right time, which most people seem to have, they seem like a phenomenal, feel good story. Most Purdue fans are fairly disappointed with how it turned out. They beat the #2 team in the country, and will likely only end up with a trip to Detroit.

Heading into the mid of the college coaching silly season, Purdue was in the worst spot they could be in. They have a coach who has started turning things around, but a team that really isn’t over the hump yet. They have some attention grabbing wins but a whole lot of flaws elsewhere in the organization. Jeff Brohm, the head coach is now getting attention as a candidate for other roles, but would leave behind a reclamation process that has barely started.

Purdue got too good too fast. There is no structure, only a couple of elevating talents in Blough and Moore that could help carry the team to high scoring victories. When they have been off, Purdue has lost, because the depth just isn't there yet. Blough won’t be back next year, but Brohm’s presence would ensure the continued development of the team’s depth and young talent. Without Blough, the team will likely return to Elijah Sindelaar at quarterback. Without Brohm, the team would likely lose the recruits he has worked so hard to sign, and any hope of future depth.

Fortunately, earlier this week, Brohm confirmed that he would be returning to West Lafayette, turning down an opportunity to return to his alma mater in Louisville. That would have been crippling to the program, if it had been revealed that not only was Purdue not a fully assembled program, but the head coaching job was viewed as a stepping stone to greener pastures. At Louisville  no less. 

A team in the Big Ten needs talent, continuity and respect in order to be able to compete. Jeff Brohm's decision to remain in West Lafayette lend Purdue a chance at all three. The Purdue Boilermakers have a future.