Ohio State Football: The last year of a relevant regular season

There have been a lot of memorable Ohio State football seasons in years past. Most of them stand out because the Buckeyes had an excellent regular season. They either went undefeated or had just one loss on the way to a national title or a national title berth.

The 2012 team was undefeated but got shunned out of the National Championship Game because of a bowl ban. Still a very memorable team. The 2006 team went undefeated and beat the number-two ranked team twice in that season before losing the national championship. Very memorable year.

Those seasons will become a thing of the past after this year. This is the final year that the Ohio State football team can have a meaningful regular season. Do you know why? Because the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams following this year.

That means that teams that have two or even three losses can still compete for a national championship in some years. The value of the regular season has been completely lost in the only sport where it still matters. Ohio State can get into the Playoff without winning the Big Ten easily.

To be clear, I was always opposed to the CFP system. I was one of the few who actually didn’t mind the BCS. It was a more equitable system that gave more teams a chance to have hope to play for a national title. Now all we get is SEC bias and big-name bias from CFP voters.

I always knew the CFP would eventually expand. It was inevitable. While this does give more teams a chance than the old four-team model does, the regular season will become a sham. That’s something that hardcore college football fans will never get over.

If the sport isn’t careful, they’re going to drive away more and more fans. Between the CFP expanding and the wild west of the transfer portal and NIL, fans may soon be spending their time elsewhere. Administrators need to see that issue coming.