The college football season has one surprising game left.
Imagine you were a bettor and put money on the College Football Playoff coming down to Indiana of the Big Ten and Miami of the ACC.
Even though Indiana reached the CFP last season, the odds of the Hoosiers returning and winning the national championship were about +10,000, which is less than 1 percent, qualifying them as a long shot.
Compared to its dynasty status more than three decades ago, Miami was installed at +3,500 to win the CFP championship with a 2.8 percent chance, more than three times how IU started. After winning three games to reach Monday night, the Canes are only a slight underdog because it’s at home for them at Hard Rock Stadium.
What we are all hoping for is a close game, like most of the CFP.
The match-up helped the Big Ten some and the ACC and whole lot after entering the postseason as the best conference and fourth best, respectively. And their bowl results upgraded both leagues.
The Big Ten sent 12 teams from its 18-school conference to bowl games, including defending champion Ohio State returning to the CFP with a first-round bye before losing to Miami in the quarterfinal round. Their bowl record was 10-5. The mighty SEC was 4-10.
The ACC sent 11 teams to bowl games and boosted their flagging football reputation by going 9-4, with Miami winning three post-season games plus Duke, Louisville, N.C. State, SMU, Virginia and Wake Forest. The four losers were Cal, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Pitt. The ACC last won 8 bowls in 2016.
This has further complicated what the ACC might do when expansion rears its head again. Clemson and Florida State entangled themselves with the ACC about leaving but spent multi-millions in legal fees before settling all the suits.
It turned out the SEC wanted neither the Tigers nor Seminoles, who could beat a lot of their teams on the field without adding much more TV rights fees from the states of South Carolina and Florida, which both already have schools and large audiences.
So the Big Ten, which grew to 18 schools over the last 30 years by adding Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers and most recently UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington and might still want schools from Virginia and North Carolina to further nationalize its brand.
Duke, Carolina and Virginia are the schools they are reportedly most interested in because their football teams are no threat to Michigan, Ohio State and now Indiana but the Blue Devils, Tar Heels and Cavaliers on the hardwood would make the Big Ten ultra prestigious.
Meanwhile, the ACC has recently signed a new, increased contract with ESPN and now looks more likely to stay together for the foreseeable future. And their most lucrative carrot would be to have Notre Dame join as a football member.
Featured image via Associated Press/Rick Scuteri
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
