I Really Wish I'd Thought of This - It is Genius and Could Handle the Brendan Sorsby Issue
STILLWATER – I really wish that I had thought of this and I’m kicking myself because I should have. Honestly, somebody in the hierarchy of college football and/or college sports should have come up with it. I first saw it with Matt Hayes of USA Today Sports. Yes, a good old hard-working sports writer came up with this.
Remember, while the NCAA sets rules and “enforces” them they have no control over television rights in football and they have no control over the football championship or postseason in football. The College Football Playoff controls who, when, and where with the playoff. The CFP Selection Committee makes the decisions on the participants and the seeding which goes into deciding when and where those participants meet up.
Matt Hayes suggestion was simple.
“There’s a potential way out of this Brendan Sorsby mess. A simple, gangster move by the College Football Playoff that could end judge shopping as we know it,” Hayes wrote with a touch of creativity that I admire as well.
“Immediately declare Texas Tech ineligible for the CFP.”
Novel idea, tell Texas Tech that they can play Sorsby (and this is my twist) but any game he participates in will not be used as part of the Texas Tech resume’ to earn a CFP selection.
Then, again my idea, let Texas Tech know that the CFP Selection Committee and the bowls that are members of the Coca-Cola Bowl Season, the association of college football bowl games will not use any games that Sorsby participates in as wins for the Red Raiders to count twoard bowl eligibility.
Texas Tech has an out. The Big 12 doesn’t have to take drastic action against one of its’ own members. The sports and its’ integrity don’t have to leave that in the hands of a judge that didn’t understand the ramifications of his decison. Judge Ken Curry had to be thinking sympathetically and not thinking how one apple in the basket can spoil the entire apple crop because that is a fair analogy.
Again, Matt Hayes said it well for his solution.
“Your team won’t play in the CFP. The integrity of the playoff supersedes all,” hayes wrote.
Don’t think this is some crazy, half-cocked idea. A person with intimate knowledge of the situation told USA Today Sports Monday night, “It’s going to be looked at.”
Yes, Texas Tech and all involved need to cater to and assist in Sorsby’s recovery from being a gambling addict. However, this is one line you don’t cross in sports. It has never been crossed. Sure, other cases and mistakes have hurt the integrity of both professional and college sports. They’ve been dealt with.
The Black Sox scandal and Shoeless Joe Jackson
Pete Rose gambling on baseball and the Cincinnati Reds
The Iowa and Iowa State athletes including Cyclones quarterback Hunter Dekkers
They paid the price. You gamble on your sport, gamble on your team, then you can’t play.
In his hey day, Green Bay Packers running back and former Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winner sat out a year suspension in the NFL for associating with gamblers.
To depend on a Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo, Texas where all four presiding judges are Texas Tech Law School graduates and the lead justice is a former President of the Texas Tech Law School is ridiculous. You can’t make this up.
The CFP has nothing to do with the NCAA except that NCAA member schools are the pool of teams eligible to play in the CFP. There is the selection committee, made up of conference and school administrators, former coaches, and at least one former media member. By the way, I’d like that position in the future.
Then there is the CFP Board of Managers – a group of 11 university presidents and chancellors who develop, approve and review operating policies for the CFP. Technically, it is the CFP Administration, LLC.
The 11-member CFP board of mangers needs a majority vote to pass any governing action, and I would assume this would be an example of such. The majority and not a unanimous vote is important here because, you guessed it, Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec is on the CFP Board of Managers.
