All eyes will be focusing on Norman Oklahoma Saturday night when the Big 12 game of the century will take place between the No. 2 Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Oklahoma Sooners. Some $15 million and a national championship dream will be on the line.
Two weeks later the Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide will battle for that same $15 million and a national title at the SEC Championship Game.
Even the longstanding clash between Ohio State and eight-loss Michigan will have mega bucks hanging in the balance. A win by the Buckeyes could land them in Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl.
College football can't get any better, right?
Not if you are a president of a SWAC FCS football team when there are no multimillion-dollar bowl games in your future.
A league that has produced Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Jackie Slater, Doug Williams and coaching great Eddie Robinson has chosen not to participate in the FCS this year.
In fact, the conference has not participated in postseason play since 1999.
Instead, the SWAC has put all of its eggs in a conference title game in hopes of making a little extra cash and avoid a beat down by Top 25 FCS powerhouses.
Jackson State's 1997 team was the last SWAC school to make a playoff appearance.
Prior to having its own championship game, the SWAC have been winless in 19 trips to the playoffs.
It is no secret the FCS playoffs are not a big money maker. The NCAA does pay expenses for playoff participants to cover a specified number of people --100 per team for the first three rounds of the playoffs, 115 per team for the championship game. Hosting a playoff game, however, is costly.
Host teams must pay the NCAA a guarantee. In case there's any shortfall, schools have to dip into their athletic budgets to make up the difference.
Not good when most SWAC athletic budgets are miniscule compared to even three-time FCS national champion Applachian State.
Southern University, which has dominated the conference in recent years, has been a frequent no-show in the playoffs because it never changed the date of its financially-lucrative Bayou Classic match-up against Grambling State University.
Fair enough, right? With the way the economy is, why would any entity want to lose money?
However, that also means no national championship dreams for its ten member schools.
Maybe it would have been different if NCAA President Miles Brand stood up to those greedy FBS college presidents.
Maybe if the NCAA allowed a playoff instead of a BCS title game decided by votes and computers there would be no need to take more than 75 percent of gate from FCS teams that host postseason games.
Remember, the NCAA does not make one dime off FBS bowl games.
Maybe Jackson State or Southern or Grambling would be more welcoming to participating in the FCS playoffs instead of playing in the SWAC title game.
Maybe one day, but not when ESPN signed a multimillon-dollar deal to broadcast BCS games starting in 2010.
Maybe it is a good thing the SWAC is not testing the playoff waters. Maybe the SWAC is ahead of the game and we don't even know it.
Two weeks later the Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide will battle for that same $15 million and a national title at the SEC Championship Game.
Even the longstanding clash between Ohio State and eight-loss Michigan will have mega bucks hanging in the balance. A win by the Buckeyes could land them in Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl.
College football can't get any better, right?
Not if you are a president of a SWAC FCS football team when there are no multimillion-dollar bowl games in your future.
A league that has produced Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Jackie Slater, Doug Williams and coaching great Eddie Robinson has chosen not to participate in the FCS this year.
In fact, the conference has not participated in postseason play since 1999.
Instead, the SWAC has put all of its eggs in a conference title game in hopes of making a little extra cash and avoid a beat down by Top 25 FCS powerhouses.
Jackson State's 1997 team was the last SWAC school to make a playoff appearance.
Prior to having its own championship game, the SWAC have been winless in 19 trips to the playoffs.
It is no secret the FCS playoffs are not a big money maker. The NCAA does pay expenses for playoff participants to cover a specified number of people --100 per team for the first three rounds of the playoffs, 115 per team for the championship game. Hosting a playoff game, however, is costly.
Host teams must pay the NCAA a guarantee. In case there's any shortfall, schools have to dip into their athletic budgets to make up the difference.
Not good when most SWAC athletic budgets are miniscule compared to even three-time FCS national champion Applachian State.
Southern University, which has dominated the conference in recent years, has been a frequent no-show in the playoffs because it never changed the date of its financially-lucrative Bayou Classic match-up against Grambling State University.
Fair enough, right? With the way the economy is, why would any entity want to lose money?
However, that also means no national championship dreams for its ten member schools.
Maybe it would have been different if NCAA President Miles Brand stood up to those greedy FBS college presidents.
Maybe if the NCAA allowed a playoff instead of a BCS title game decided by votes and computers there would be no need to take more than 75 percent of gate from FCS teams that host postseason games.
Remember, the NCAA does not make one dime off FBS bowl games.
Maybe Jackson State or Southern or Grambling would be more welcoming to participating in the FCS playoffs instead of playing in the SWAC title game.
Maybe one day, but not when ESPN signed a multimillon-dollar deal to broadcast BCS games starting in 2010.
Maybe it is a good thing the SWAC is not testing the playoff waters. Maybe the SWAC is ahead of the game and we don't even know it.
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