25 years ago and today

Maybe what goes around does come around. I mean, here we go again.

The Collegiate Commissioner’s Association is taking up the topic of a football playoff for Division I schools. The wildest proposal will come from the Mountain West Conference.

All the Commissioners can do, however, is make a proposal to the Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Committee. Talk about political, the committee name alone has the feeling of a billion dollar lobbyist reception at the Waldorf!

How many times is this topic going to be discussed, debated, and ultimately not acted upon? And no, the first time this came up was NOT when Auburn got left out of the party back in 2004, although for most Tiger fans it feels that way.

In fact, it made the headlines 25 years ago. The NCAA Division 1-A college football coaches were having their meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. It was June 9, 1984. One of the delegates to the conference was Georgia head football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley. During the session, the delegates voted almost unanimously for a proposal that called for a playoff game to determine a national champion in football. (Remember Tommy Tuberville’s call for a “plus 1” game?) Following the vote, Coach Dooley was quoted as saying, “It’s a step forward. The public wants one. The press wants one. In my opinion, it would be really good for college football. It’s time we have one.”

The proposal was offered to the NCAA Council’s legislative meeting on June 28th in Chicago, where it was shot down. It was discovered at that meeting that the Conference Commissioners were unanimous in their opposition to a playoff of any kind.

And here we are, 25 years later. Same issue. Same story.

In an interesting tidbit of trivia, the same day Coach Dooley reported the results of the coaches votes regarding a playoff, the Associated Press Gridiron Gauge came out. This was a poll which used a number of factors to determine who supposedly had the most difficult college football schedule for the upcoming 1984 season. That honor belonged to none other that Auburn.

In 1984, Auburn would open with Miami, the reigning national champion. Add to that schedule Texas, Southern Miss, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida State, Ga. Tech, Mississippi State, Florida, Cincinnati, Georgia and Alabama, and you have what the AP called “the toughest football schedule in the nation.”

Let’s compare that to the schedule for 2009. Louisana Tech, Mississippi State, West Virginia, Ball State, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Furman, Georgia and Alabama.

Interesting comparison, huh? Just a couple of things I thought you might be interested in thinking about today.

WJLaneSR