PROVO, Utah — This is what they are trying to take away, the FBS commissioners who seem intent on hollowing out a sport built on the regular season by turning it into one focused solely on a grandiose postseason just one team celebrates in the end.
They are trying to prevent fans from leaning on the railings of creaking concrete edifices, poised to storm the field. They’re trying to render the final ticks of the clock trivial instead of dripping with tension. They’re trying to harness a chaotic sport like college football, with its ability to sway emotions across the country from the quiet predawn hours until long after the sun has set.
The meaning and most importantly the feeling that comes with big-time games, robbed. Instead of consequences, they want to bestow the ability to get out of a loss for free no matter how things felt in the moment. This is what those commissioners, particularly those in charge of the Big Ten and SEC controlling the format, would like you to forget about as they inched closer this week to expanding the College Football Playoff from its present 12-team format into a 24-team monstrosity.
The thing about this sport, however, no matter what the supposed guardians of the sanctity of it are doing at the moment in airport conference rooms or long-running Zoom meetings, is that it constantly reminds you there are stakes to each and every Saturday without the need to layer on top of it a get-out-of-a-loss-free card.
If they ever needed a reminder to jog their foggy memories, all they had to do was watch what transpired here as a picture-perfect day transitioned into an unforgettable night. BYU not only hosted the biggest game in school history, complete with all the pageantry that comes with a spotlight the program rarely sees, but the Cougars walked away with a thrilling, 28–24 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame, as well.
“I grew up a BYU fan first, then I got to play for LaVell [Edwards] and now I’m the head coach. So the fan is always there and I’m trying to make sure that the fan doesn’t interrupt the coach,” said coach Kalani Sitake, showing up to his postgame news conference slightly out of breath after taking a half-hour to escape the mass of humanity blocking the Cougars’ tunnel after most of the 65,179 on hand leaped onto the field in celebration. “It’s hard to separate the two sometimes. But I also think it helps me as a coach and it definitely helps you connect with the fans.”
That connection is one reason why Sitake was able to experience Saturday night and relish in every moment before, during and afterward like it was the greatest thing ever—because for much of his alma mater it was. The win over the Irish was the team’s first over an opponent ranked in the top two since beating No. 1 Miami in 1990, a game the coach also managed to make his way onto the field for as a teenager to celebrate what was, prior to Week 7, long considered BYU’s best home win.
“It’s one of those moments you dream of as a kid,” said senior Raider Damuni, who notched seven tackles against the Irish and could barely stop smiling afterward. “Not just playing in them but coming out on the victorious side of the score. Having that opportunity to go out there, man, that was the funnest I’ve ever had playing a college football game and super blessed to be in this position to play it at BYU.”
A game that means something combined with a result that means something in the current 12-team era, what a fantastic concept that now is being carelessly tossed aside for an exercise in moving the goalposts of what success really means for all but the handful of programs who expect a national title to celebrate every January.
The commissioners will claim that in this era of player compensation, schools are spending upward of $20 million, even $5o million, on their rosters and want to see some measure of return from such an expenditure in the form of a playoff berth. Saturday’s contest between the Cougars and Irish, for example, featured a collective $50-plus million worth of player commitments between the lines and it was far from the most expensive college football game to be played in a Week 7 that featured plenty of them.
While in the past a winning record plus a trip to, say, the Gator Bowl would have been sufficiently rewarding for a program when the only debate over investment came between paying a coach $4 million a year or giving him a raise to $5 million a season, now that is no longer the case. Those warm-weather bowls have been ostracized to being even more of an exhibition contest and the only sure sign of a long fall season being worth it in the eyes of those cutting checks will be to have one of those golden CFP logos next to the program’s final record.
Notre Dame and BYU know this better than most.
The Irish were narrowly left out of last year’s playoff field due to head-to-head losses they suffered to two other at-large teams, Miami and Texas A&M. They skipped the Pop-Tarts Bowl in the wake of a snub by the selection committee, where they would have played BYU in an exhibition that embodied the fun that is easy to spot in the sport.
The Cougars wound up playing in that game after narrowly missing out on the CFP themselves, with two losses to Texas Tech being enough to keep them on the outside looking in for a second straight season. They nearly lost Sitake in the process, too, as Penn State wooed him heavily to take over as the Nittany Lions head coach in December before he opted to remain with the Cougars.
Sitake didn’t stick around for free, of course, garnering a new contract and plenty of assurances that BYU was going to commit additional resources for the program, the things one needs to get over the hump and into the playoff. That investment bore fruit more quickly than anyone realized as his team raced out to a 21–10 halftime lead over Notre Dame, gave it up midway through the fourth quarter and then rallied in the final two minutes for the victory.
“Those losses, they sting. I think that’s what people look at BYU as, they make it to those big games and when they get to those big games, they don’t win,” Damuni said. “I think having that in the back of our mind, the whole offseason, knowing that this is the game we wanted—we wanted to play Notre Dame. We knew this was an opportunity to earn that respect.”
Though Sitake downplayed some of his aggressiveness on Saturday—including a near-disastrous fake punt from the BYU 28-yard line in the third quarter that was stuffed—came as a result of those playoff snubs, it was hard not to see that on the field. The Cougars were flying all over the field defensively and looked nothing like the prodding offense they showcased in last Friday’s win over Iowa State.
“We were not playing to lose, we put our balls on the chopping block,” quarterback Bear Bachmeier colorfully added following a game where he threw the game-winning touchdown, rushed for two more and even caught a 15-yard score off a double-pass to complete the hat trick. “Out of high school, Notre Dame disrespected me and my family pretty badly. I wasn’t going to lose to those guys. No way was I going to lose to those guys.
“We’re a real contender.”
Few will deny that after beating one of the favorites to win the national title and limiting Heisman Trophy candidate CJ Carr to just 261 yards passing on 49 attempts.
BYU figures to move into the top five in the AP poll for the first time since 1996 on Sunday after five of the top seven teams went down this week. Combined with an excellent win over a good Arizona team earlier in the season, the Cougars may even have a decent case they should be No. 1 over fellow undefeated Miami, especially given that the Hurricanes needed a double-overtime escape against Florida State at home.
“This was probably the most incredible moment in my life, really,” said linebacker Cade Uluave after leading the team in tackles. “After the last play and everyone was rushing the field, I literally just fell to my knees and started crying. It means a lot. That’s why I came to BYU, to experience moments like this.”
In the future, however, such moments will be much more limited to the here and now. It doesn’t just mean more in the SEC when a top team goes down, it matters for everyone else, too.
Just ask BYU, which quickly stepped up to fill a hole on the Notre Dame schedule when USC backed out of their historic series last year and took every advantage from having a fellow playoff hopeful come West. They used this weekend to pull out every stop to showcase everything their remarkable hamlet in the Beehive State had to offer, from fans showing up to pack LaVell Edwards Stadium nearly 40 minutes before kickoff fueled with nothing but hope, to the throngs attending ESPN’s College GameDay before 7 a.m. to even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that operates the school opening up its missionary center to national media in a rare showcase few get to see.
That’s because games like Saturday meant something no matter what size the playoff might be which had an impact on determining just how much external interest there was coming in.
“It took all the way to the bitter end for us to get that win. It added to the drama, the storming the field and stuff like that. I want some boring wins—that’s my job,” a relieved Sitake said with a chuckle. “That’s the game of football. You’re going to get some and you’re going to lose some.
“College football is hard.”
Some commissioners do not seem to understand that and are actively looking to ensure it isn’t starting next season.
The sport will change soon, but Saturday will always remain special because BYU etched itself into school history, and nobody can take away.
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