Ohio State Football: Gene Smith says FBS should break away
By Ryan Stano
![Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the 2021 budget will include department-wide budget cuts, furloughs and other reductions. Twenty-five full-time athletics positions will be eliminated. [Dispatch file photo]Gene Smith Kwr 02](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F5b2bdfb6c1687795f6fd3d442d04fc41fe133a97024c847ceb8fb3ddbb036140.jpg "Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the 2021 budget will include department-wide budget cuts, furloughs and other reductions. Twenty-five full-time athletics positions will be eliminated. [Dispatch file photo]Gene Smith Kwr 02")
College football is undergoing a lot of changes right now. NIL is a mess, schools are forcing their way out of conferences, and equity among universities seems to be at its lowest point. While the Ohio State football program can navigate most of these problems, Gene Smith recognizes some can’t.
That’s why Smith proposed that the FBS break away from the NCAA and operate under the College Football Playoff’s rules. He wants all of the teams in the upper division to be away from the NCAA and all of the issues that come with them.
Smith thinks that this idea would be great for football, while the NCAA can continue to operate the basketball tournament and other sports. He wants the FBS to be able to make their own rules, enforce the rules the way they want, and govern themselves the way they want.
Basically, he wants everyone to have some sort of guidance that is fair for everyone. Right now, that is not the case in college football. In other sports, the NCAA has been able to govern at least some things. College football doesn’t have an overseer, if you will, right now.
I’m not sure how viable of an idea this is from Smith. It’s something that has certainly been discussed for a while. The NCAA is certainly losing power, so now might be the time to discuss how to move forward in the football space. Changes could come as soon as 2025.
Of course, this is just one man’s opinion. Smith would need to get a lot of other people on board for something like this to happen. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I am saying that changes like this aren’t coming any time soon. I’d be shocked if something like this happened before the end of the decade.
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But make no mistake, a college football breakaway is coming. All that’s left are the nitty, gritty details.