What a miserable week. Pitt basketball lost twice against Mizzou and Clemson, looking as though the team is too young to be competitive with the top dogs. The Steelers lost to a 2-10 Cardinals team (whose record is, frankly, deceptive, as they did not have former number one overall pick Kyler Murray at their disposal for the first nine weeks) in a game that also cost the black-and-yellow Kenny Pickett for 2-4 weeks and yielded numerous other injuries to key players, some of whom include Elandon Roberts, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Isaac Seumalo. Manchester City conceded a late equalizer for the third straight Premier League match, resulting in their third consecutive draw. Oddly enough, the Penguins were the most successful of my favorite teams despite only having one win in three games (an overtime loss to Nashville and a shootout loss to Philly flanked a 4-2 comeback victory against Tampa Bay).

I have a lot to say about all these teams, but this week I am going to pivot to a larger, more widely-applicable issue—the litany of problems that exist across the landscape of college football. You may recall a scathing indictment of conference realignment being posted a while back, but the problems are more plentiful than just the evaporation of rivalries and the inconvenience of travel. We will discuss realignment again, albeit in a different context, as well as the wild West-nature of the transfer portal.

Let us begin with conference realignment. The top 13 teams at the end of the college football season—per the college football playoff selection committee—as well as the conferences to which the teams will belong next season are as follows:

1. Michigan (Big Ten)
2. Washington (Big Ten)
3. Texas (SEC)
4. Alabama (SEC)
5. Florida State (ACC)
6. Georgia (SEC)
7. Ohio State (Big Ten)
8. Oregon (Big Ten)
9. Missouri (SEC)
10. Penn State (Big Ten)
11. Ole Miss (SEC)
12. Oklahoma (SEC)
13. LSU (SEC)

Notice that one of those entries is bolded. Out of the top 13 teams, 12 of them are going to either participate in the Big Ten or the SEC next season. The lone wolf? Florida State, who were left out of the College Football Playoff this year despite being an undefeated champion of a power 5 conference and were jumped by Alabama and Texas, both of whom have losses on their resumes. The reason that they were excluded is surely the devastating injury that their star quarterback Jordan Travis suffered against Northern Arizona, despite their backup winning the last game of the season against Florida and their third string quarterback beating 10-2 Louisville in the ACC championship. Some will say that Florida State did not get in because their schedule strength was poor, but that is not the reason.

I am not here to argue the merits of Florida State versus Alabama and Texas—I have done that at length and gotten nowhere with those of a different opinion—but to provide warning regarding the future of college football. The fact that 12 of the top 13 teams in the country are from only two conferences appears to preclude the long-standing tradition of the “power 5” conferences. The Pac-12 has become the Pac-2 due to realignment, a historical conference being left to pick up the pieces (Oregon State and Washington State) while the other universities abandoned the conference in favor of the Big Ten and Big XII. Notice that the Big XII is not represented in the top 13 either.

This begs the question: is there any reason for teams to stay in conferences that are not the Big Ten or SEC? If the undefeated champion of the ACC gets passed over in favor of two SEC teams (one of whom was in the Big XII this year, but I digress), why should they not seek to leave? The exclusionary nature of the selection process will kill what little hope remains of the other big conferences being in the conversation for post-season action. The strength-of-schedule discrepancy will get even worse when powerhouses leave their conference for the Big Ten or SEC, thus making it all but impossible to overcome it.

When I was younger, there were strict rules about college athletes transferring schools. Unless their head coach left, a player who transferred schools would be forced to sit out for a season. This was a major deterrent to just getting up and leaving the school at which you started. Nowadays, the transfer portal is nothing short of chaos, with virtually no rules or regulations as to what players can and cannot do.

At the time of writing, there are at least nine (!!!) high-profile quarterbacks who have entered the college football portal:

1. Kyle McCord (Ohio State) – 3170 yards, 24 TDs, 6 INTs, 11-1 record
2. Dillon Gabriel (Oklahoma) – 3660 yards, 42 total TDs, 6 INTs
3. Cameron Ward (Washington State) – 3735 yards, 33 total TDs, 7 INTs
4. Riley Leonard (Duke) – only played in 5 games due to injury
5. Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina) – in limited games, 1919 yards, 11 total TDs, 6 INTs
6. Tyler Van Dyke (Miami) – 2703 yards, 20 total TDs, 12 INTs
7. Will Howard (Kansas State) – 2643 yards, 33 TDs, 10 INTs
8. Will Rogers (Mississippi State) – in limited games, 1626 yards, 13 total TDs, 4 INTs
9. D.J. Uiagalelei (Oregon State) – 2638 yards, 27 total TDs, 7 INTs

Now, I do not have a problem with players seeking play time elsewhere because they are not getting a fair shake. However, the transfer portal is overrun with players who were weekly starters and contributors to high-profile programs. The result is essentially an auction with colleges lined up to give these prized transfers massive name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals to convince them to play for their team. It has completely ruined the integrity of college sports—it has gotten to the point where there is so much turnover that you cannot recognize your team from one year to the next. It is like free agency in baseball, where the rich get richer, and the poor are stuck trying to turn crap into diamonds. In McCord’s case, Ohio State fans were very vocal about him not being good enough to be their QB—in spite of his 4:1 TD:INT ratio and 11-1 record. Hell, Ohio State alone has two 5-stars, seven 4-stars, and two 3-stars in the portal right now. The transfer portal is consistent with the increasing prevalence of instant gratification in society, with fans and players alike becoming restless as soon as they face adversity.

To conclude, the sport that I grew up watching is now but a shell of its former self. Realignment and the ridiculous nature of the transfer portal have turned it into a novelty act. Lastly, I think all ACC teams—especially Florida State—should boycott their bowl games. While press releases get ESPN clicks, putting on a horrible performance (or no performance at all) hits the TV networks where it hurts—right in the wallet.