Clemson football: Washington Post suggests CFB doesn’t need NCAA

Could we see a major shakeup nationally that would affect Clemson football?

The Clemson football program has been near the top of the College Football world for more than a half-decade now and the Tigers are continuing to climb.

While the game of College Football continues to get richer, the NCAA has fallen behind and, frankly, out of control.

The governing body that used to play a part in major decisions has now become nothing more than a seeming waste of time and money. We saw how much the NCAA dictated to College Football programs earlier in 2020 when each of the Power-5 conference made its own decision on how they’d conduct a fall season. The NCAA, on the other hand, held its FCS football season back to the spring.

With the announcement of the new EA Sports College Football game, there has been talk about the NCAA’s (lack of) involvement in bringing the video game back and how the organization has missed out on yet another significant revenue stream.

Instead, EA Sports College Football is marching forward- using Collegiate Licensing Company- to be able to produce a video game that will have all the traditions, uniforms and licensed trademarks that you’d see on any given Saturday during the fall.

The Clemson football team will wear orange and they’ll run down the hill after rubbing Howard’s Rock with their paws turned towards one o’clock.

The production of this video game is just another instance in showing the real power that the NCAA dictates over College Football and, in particular, the future of the sport.

The Washington Post released an article talking about how EA Sports College Football didn’t need the NCAA and how ‘College Football might not either.’ The article was focused heavily on NIL legislation and called the current ‘status quo’ that the NCAA has governed by ‘unfair.’

"“This is not a group that has athletes’ wellness at the forefront of its mind. It is a group that is interested in maintaining the status quo,” Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post wrote. “The status quo, though, is unfair, and therefore is on the way out. Will the NCAA eventually go with it?”"

We’re not here today to discuss NIL legislation or to make points on why the current system is or isn’t fair to student-athletes.

The Washington Post- and many others- only sees the NIL legislation, but the truth is that is only the tip of the iceberg.

I want you to think about something: What purpose is the NCAA currently serving?

The conferences and individual universities have way more power and say than the NCAA does at this point. What’s to stop them from forming their own coalition, especially when it comes to College Football?

You could have a College Football league made up of nothing but the Power-5. Non-conference games between FCS opponents could cease to exist and, instead, you’d get games like Texas, UCLA, USC, Auburn, Alabama, Nebraska against Clemson football.

The conferences could dictate their own rules and work with the CFB Playoff to establish a fairer system and something that can be agreed upon by all.

After all, the money in NIL legislation is only going to be significant for the top-tier athletes in elite programs anyway, so you might as well create a league outside of the NCAA’s jurisdiction completely that entails the ‘real football programs.’ Right?

There’s so much more we could explore with this issue, but the overarching point is simple: Unless the NCAA finds a way to become relevant again, there’s no reason for FBS College Football to maintain any type of working relationship with the organization.