Day 280

• The head of the American Athletic Conference, Michael Aresco, has finally thrown in the towel.  After years of promoting his conference as the "P6" (the sixth Power Conference), getting screwed and seeing undefeated teams from his conference screwed out of the CFP (including what almost certainly will be Cincinnati this year), he has officially called for the end of the CFP and the return of the BCS.

First, how did it take so long?  It is clear that EVERY CHAMPIONSHIP MECHANISM FOR THREE DECADES has been meant to deny the small schools (and even lesser schools from greater conferences) even the opportunity for a National Championship.

Second, unless Cincinnati loses to Tulsa on Saturday in the AAC Championship Game, they will be the ninth undefeated team denied even a CHANCE at the title because they are not in a power conference (1998 Tulane, 1999 Marshall, 2004 Utah (the first team actually allowed a place at the table at all in a lesser "slough-off" bowl of the top tier of bowls), 2006 Boise State, 2008 Utah, 2009 Boise State, 2010 TCU, 2017 Central Florida).

And that's the ones that finished the job with a bowl win.  You can add 2018 Central Florida and 2016 Western Michigan and 2009 TCU (who was sloughed off to face Boise to denigrate both!!) to that list -- both lost their bowl game.

(The Mountain West six times (TCU, Boise, and Utah twice each), the American Athletic the last two times (and, if Cincy wins, make it three), Conference USA once, the Mid-American twice.)

Third, especially with the realities the pandemic is exposing, I would think it more likely you will end up in a formal "second division", if you exist at all, if you aren't of the Power Five + Notre Dame.  In fact, I'm not keen on the Rutgers' and the Vanderbilts surviving this as football programs.  It may not happen next year, but I do believe the final abolishment down to about 20-30 national-wide teams for college football (and a formal alignment with the NFL as a minor league) is coming if the sport survives at all.

In short, it's far too late.  You might as well not even exist.  In fact, should Cincinnati win, you should let the Committee vote them in, and then refuse the bid.

Keep in mind:   In the six years of the BCS, only 11 schools have been in the tournament.  Only 6 have won games in the tournament (Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, and Oregon).  Either Clemson or Alabama has been in the last five CFP National Championship Games. 

• Possible COVID violation in Houston -- not dissimilar to the charity event which got the Raiders in trouble in Las Vegas earlier this year. 
• Lorenzo Taliaferro, three years with the Ravens -- passed away at 28 years old. 
• Emmanuel Macron, the President of France -- tested positive for the coronavirus. 
• The Council for the Arbitration of Sport has banned Russia, to an extent, from the Tokyo and Lusanne Olympics.  They will be the "Russia Neutral Athletes", and, at the least, the burden of proof will go to WADA this time to keep them out, rather than the assumption of guilt which was used in the last Olympics.