Watching the Cotton Bowl this year was somewhat of a unique experience for me. Due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to attend the game in Dallas. Not a problem, last year I watched the game in Charlottesville, Virginia with my girlfriend. C-ville is actually a great place to watch an Alabama game because not only is the town home to the University of Virginia, and the most Vineyards outside of Napa Valley, a good portion of Alabama students are from that area. However, I couldn’t even watch the game there because of prior commitments, therefore, I was forced to watch the game with my mother. How unfortunate.
I love my mother, but for God’s sake, watching a game with her is an event in itself. Kcor loves Alabama like really loves it. But that is not the problem. The problem is that she is one of those Alabama fans. Put it this way, girls, she owns houndstooth pants. Yup, she is one of those. The University of Alabama will put an “A” on just about anything. And my mother, bless her heart, will buy anything with an “A” on it. But during games, she has to pull all of those purchases out to watch the game.
Those items include, but are not limited to, an Alabama snowman, gnome, Transformer, football, tractor-trailer and bobblehead. Yeah, I know it’s weird, and what is funny is that when we visited Ohio State when I was in high school and the tour guides sang the fight song, my mother did say, “these people are odd." Well, sure enough, six years later, she is just like them, gnomes come separately.
But should the College Football Playoff games be played on Dec. 31? I mean what exactly was wrong with Jan. 1? You see, on Dec. 31, you spend most of the night consuming alcohol and trying not to be on your butt. The next day, Jan. 1, you spend most of the day sitting on your butt. So you would think, putting a playoff college football game on New Year's Day would get a huge audience? Well, you would be correct. Last year, the Florida State vs Oregon and Alabama vs Ohio State drew about a 15.5 TV rating. That made it the highest watched sporting event outside of the Super Bowl.
So you would think this year they would continue to put the games on Jan. 1? Wrong. In an effort to start a new tradition, the college football committee, in all their wisdom, decided it would be a good idea to put the playoff games on the Dec. 31. Right in line with network TV’s coverage of Times Square during New York’s New Year's Eve celebration. The end result was that this year’s drew a 9.9 rating or about 40 percent less than the previous year.
So let me ask you this question: If you are in charge and you make a decision that results in a 40 percent drop from the year before, wouldn’t you be fired? Of course, you would be. But the College Football Committee doesn’t understand that.
College Football forgets that many people work on Dec. 31 and will be coming home from work when the first playoff game is on. College Football also forgets that unless your team is playing, or if you are a college football fan, you probably have no interest in watching a College Football game on New Year’s Eve.
On Jan. 1, the causal person or fan is far more interested in watching a playoff game to nurse off the night before. No one really works on New Year’s Day, so more people are comfortable sitting on their butt and watching football all day. But this year, Jan. 2 was an open Saturday. Why not play the games then? It is not like you have been playing big games on Saturday afternoons for the past four months or anything.
As odd as it sounds, you know who gets it right for this type of thing? The NFL. The Super Bowl is always on a Sunday around 6 p.m., so everyone gets maximum viewing time. The NFL also understands when a big-time late-season matchup occurs, you move the game to primetime, in order to maximize the viewing audience.
The College Football Playoff has no idea what they are doing. Remember these are the same people that were so hesitant to get rid of the BCS system, until two teams from the same conference played for the National Championship (not complaining). They are trying to make a tradition of college football around New Year’s Eve.
The problem is that America already has a tradition of covering the ball drop during New Year's. It is going to take a lot of time to make college football on New Year’s Eve an established tradition. But why would you even try to go head-to-head with Ryan Seacrest? I am no expert, but for the average person, would you rather bring in your new year with Ryan Seacrest or Chris Fowler? Exactly.
