TreVeyon Henderson’s touchdown with just under 11 minutes to play put a cap on Ohio State’s blowout of Tennessee in their first-round College Football Playoff game. If not for Vols fans leaving in droves, Buckeye fans would have been dancing in the aisles. But this win is one that should be celebrated by fans everywhere because it is good for college football.
The Buckeyes’ thumping of the Vols, who play in the big, bad SEC, is good for college football because it exposed ESPN’s true self. They have been in bed with the SEC since creating the SEC Network and are nothing more than a shill for the conference.
After Indiana and SMU lost in convincing fashion in their playoff games, those at ESPN adopted a scorched earth approach to their criticism of those two teams and the College Football Playoff committee. Their talking heads claimed those two teams had no business being in the playoff, regardless of their record.
They made it clear that certain three-loss SEC teams should have been given a spot simply because of their history as one of college football’s elite programs. The criticism was LOUD and HARSH. Then came Saturday night.
When the 42-17 carnage had finally ended and those loudmouth Vols fans had tucked their Rocky Top tail and begun to slink back to Knoxville, those at ESPN were conspicuously silent. A team from their beloved SEC had just been completely outclassed and run off the field, but nary a word was said.
Well, there was one take after Tennessee’s loss and it came from Kirk Herbstreit, someone who witnessed the destruction in person. But instead of subjecting the SEC team, who had just suffered an embarrassing loss, to the same criticism as others who lost in a blowout, the former OSU quarterback kept up the criticism of Indiana.
The deafening silence of those at ESPN combined with Herbstreit’s gibberish about wins shouldn’t matter, tells you they do not care about college football as a whole. They only care about their partnership with the SEC.
College football fans should now be aware of ESPN’s agenda to turn the College Football Playoff into an SEC showcase. In a 12-team playoff, it is very obvious they are not going to be happy unless there are at least six teams from that conference involved.
I don’t want to come away sounding like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist, but I don’t think there is any question ESPN wants to control college football. Each year, the College Football Playoff Committee replaces a few members. I’m going to be interested to see if reports begin to emerge that ESPN is trying to pressure those who oversee the CFP (no, it’s not the NCAA) to put members on the committee who are very sympathetic to SEC schools.
Others have noticed. College football heavy hitters like Joel Klatt of Fox and longtime play-by-play announcer Tim Brando of CBS have been very public in calling out ESPN for their obvious double standard. ESPN has been exposed and college football fans everywhere have the Buckeyes to thank.