Chiefs Moving To Kansas?

The Chiefs may be moving from Kansas City to Kansas City.

Today the organization agreed to move from Kansas City, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas to build their new stadium. The Sunflower State has made the necessary legislative and financial arrangements to lure the Chiefs from the city they've called home since 1963 and their stadium since 1972.

While their current stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, is one of the best known home fields in the NFL, it is aging. The wear and tear is noticable, suites are difficult to add, and the location doesn't lend itself to further development. It still is one of the more legendary homes in the league, alongside Lambeau Field in Green Bay and Soldier Field in Chicago. But like Soldier Field, Arrowhead is nearing its end as a viable home for an NFL franchise.

Speaking of the Bears, there are also rumors that they could be making a similar move. After various options have been bandied about, a move across the line to Gary, Indiana has become the latest twist. 

The Chiefs will join the Washington Commanders, New York Jets and New York Giants as teams who don't play in the state/district they are named after. The Commanders will move into a new stadium in Washington, DC around the end of the decade. The Jets and Giants share a stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. These are the lone teams among the four major American sports leagues that don't play in their "home state".

Week 18 Flex Options Heading Into Week 17

With two weeks left, let's see what could be the game that gets flexed into the final game of the season -- the Sunday Night Football game.

NO WAY AT ALL

Let's go ahead and move these games to the side:

Saints at Falcons
Browns at Bengals
Chiefs at Raiders
Cowboys at Giants
Commanders at Eagles

Of these teams, only the Eagles are the only team making the playoffs and they already have the NFC East wrapped up. Everyone else is waiting for the draft.

SLIM CHANCE, IF AT ALL

Jets at Bills
Cardinals at Rams
Dolphins at Patriots
Titans at Jaguars

These four games need quite a bit of things to happen for them to have the kind of importance to make it a stand alone game. Bills, Rams, Patriots and Jaguars likely will have playoff spots wrapped up. It will be a matter of seed, and even then will rely on a game played elsewhere to make it interesting. So let's ditch this bunch. 

MMMMMMAYBE

Packers at Vikings
Colts at Texans

The Packers and Texans may need this game to get into the playoffs, and the Colts could find a way to make that game with Houston a very meaningful one. Packers are almost a lock to get in and the Colts barely are holding on to a chance. By the time we get to Week 18, Green Bay is in while Indy is out. Let's move on. 

HERE ARE THE REAL CONTENDERS

Lions at Bears: Right now, the Lions need a miracle to get in while the Bears could have the NFC North wrapped up. There is a chance Chicago is fighting for a top overall seed in the NFC. Still, that's not really an interesting reason to have this game last. 

Seahawks at Niners: When you include the Rams, the NFC West is a fascinating race. Seattle currently has the top seed in the NFC as they head to Charlotte to face the Panthers. The Niners have some work to do if they want to win the NFC West, but they've already clinched a spot in the postseason. If a lot of things break a certain way, this could be a huge game. 

Chargers at Broncos: Denver has already clinched a playoff spot and have a one game lead over the Chargers in the AFC West race. By the time we get here, Denver may have the top seed wrapped up and could sit their starters. The Chargers likely would have a spot clinched as well, so this would be more about seeding. Still, if both win or lose next week then this could be a game similar to the Lions-Vikings affair from last season. LA owns the tiebreaker right now, so as long as there is a one-game or less lead in the standings, this will be a big game. 

Ravens at Steelers: Sunday's results made this less likely to be an option. Pittsburgh went into Detroit and stunned the Lions while Baltimore blew a late lead to lose to New England. Right now the Steelers have a two game lead in the standings with two games remaining. The Steelers head to Cleveland to take on the rival Browns while the Ravens head to Green Bay to play a Packers team who have suffered two straight tough losses. If the Ravens win and the Steelers lose than their Week 18 showdown will be for the AFC North and it would bump the NFC South title out from the top spot. 

Panthers at Buccaneers: Carolina's win over Tampa this past week gives them a one game lead in the NFC South. Carolina has Seattle this week while Tampa Bay goes to the slumping Dolphins. It is extremely likely that this Week 18 showdown will be for the NFC South title and a trip to the playoffs. The only way it wouldn't is if the Panthers beat the Seahawks and the Buccaneers lose to the Dolphins. I doubt both will happen, so this is in the lead for the final game.  

Shut Up About Tulane and James Madison Getting Blown Out

Leading up to the first round of the College Football Playoff was people upset that Tulane and James Madison earning spots while schools like Notre Dame and Texas (among others) did not. Tulane and James Madison fed into the narrative by both getting blown out in their playoff games, and even had ESPN/TNT broadcasters complain on air that Notre Dame should've been in instead. 

Cry harder.

Let me go down my laundry list of what people need to shut up about all of this:

1. GROUP OF FIVE TEAMS DESERVE A PLACE. Let me just start off here. You cannot have this 12-team system without giving a G6 team a spot in it. The power conferences needed the G6 to sign off on this or there would be no 12-team playoff. That's part of the deal to make this happen.  Please understand this. This isn't the NFL where a commissioner and a rules committee makes the rules. These are brokered deals between conference commissioners, and six of those commissioners are from non-power leagues. 

Also understand that G6 leagues are a part of the FBS. They bring key scheduling opportunities for the P4. If you don't want them part of the playoff, then stop scheduling them and move on to a P4 only schedule. In the NFL, the NFC South champion will have a place in the playoffs despite that division being less powerful than the NFC North or NFC West. 

2. NEXT YEAR'S RULES HAVE ALREADY CHANGED TO FIX SOME OF THIS. Next season, there are two major changes to how we pick the 12 playoff teams. One is that all four P4 champions will be guaranteed a playoff spot, meaning that only one G6 champ get the same guarantee. If that was implimented this season, ACC champion Duke would have be in while James Madison would have been out. 

Next, Notre Dame is guaranteed a playoff spot if they are ranked in the top 12 in the final rankings. That means Notre Dame would have been in and Miami would have been out.  Could you imagine the outrage if Notre Dame got in ahead of Miami despite the Hurricanes being ranked higher than the Irish and who had already beaten them on the field? Again, that doesn't totally fix your problem and may create a new one.

So the playoff would have looked like this:

1-Indiana vs 8-Oklahoma/9-Alabama
2-Ohio State vs 7-Texas A&M/10-Notre Dame
3-Georgia vs 6-Ole Miss/11-Tulane
4-Texas Tech vs 5-Oregon/12-Duke

So this new rule would have given us two of the same games (including one that was a blowout) and gives up Oregon-Duke which would be a blowout too. We'd also get Notre Dame instead of Miami, despite Miami beating A&M in the game we actually saw. So, is it really fixed? And is this fair to Miami? 

3. BLOWOUTS AREN'T NEW TO THE PLAYOFF. So you hate blowouts? Well, having more P4 schools don't guarantee we get better games. Here are some previous blowouts in CFP games:

2014: Oregon 59-Florida State 20
2014: Ohio State 42-Oregon 20
2015: Alabama 38-Michigan State 0
2016: Clemson 31-Ohio State 0
2018: Clemson 30-Notre Dame 3
2018: Clemson 44-Alabama 16
2019: LSU 63-Oklahoma 28
2020: Ohio State 49-Clemson 28
2020: Alabama 52-Ohio State 24
2021: Alabama 27-Cincinnati 6
2021: Georgia 34-Michigan 11
2022: Georgia 65-TCU 7
2023: Michigan 34-Washington 13
2024: Penn State 38-SMU 10
2024: Ohio State 42-Tennessee 17

All of those games were decided by 21 or more points. A few of those were national championship games. And look at those names on the losing side! Florida State. Notre Dame. Ohio State. Alabama. Oklahoma. Clemson. Michigan. These are traditional powers getting slaughtered. 

4. EXPANSION MOVES THE PROBLEM. So now people are bitching about expansion. Having 16 teams doesn't make this go away -- it just moves the needle. Just go check out the NCAA Tournament. There are 68 teams in every year and people still whine about "the bubble" and who got in over who got out. Seth Greenberg has made an entire career about his Virginia Tech getting "snubbed". 

This year, Notre Dame got "snubbed" so the cries are really loud. If it was ... say ... Utah, would it be as loud of a problem? 

Well, that's what would have happened if this was a 16-team playoff. We would have 11-Notre Dame, 12-BYU, 13-Texas and 14-Vanderbilt included in the playoff. The "snubs" and cries would now come from 15-Utah and 16-USC. So the Utes would be the ones crying about getting excluded while two G6 teams get in. Would you care as much? Probably not. You've probable haven't watched one Utah game all season nor miss them being in. Maybe you dismiss this as "well, Utah isn't good enough to actually win the whole thing like Notre Dame can" ... but then why bother expanding the playoff to teams who can't win it? I mean, do you think Vanderbilt can actually win the national championship? So adding four teams just to appease Notre Dame in 2025 is your solution? 

Which brings me to ...

5. WHY DO YOU THINK NOTRE DAME GOT SNUBBED?  Let's look at Notre Dame's resume. Sure, they are 10-2. Yes, they've won 10 straight games. And, okay, they are ranked No. 11. Yet they didn't earn a spot ... so they aren't in.

Notre Dame lost to Miami on the field. So Miami was ranked higher. Notre Dame's best win a home win over No. 16 USC. They beat no other team ranked in the final rankings. None. 

In fact, Notre Dame's wins aren't that impressive. Among the games they played against P4 schools, they beat the last place team in the SEC (Arkansas), the last place team in the Big Ten (Purdue) and the two last place teams in the ACC (Syracuse, Boston College). So they feasted on the worst P4 had to offer and beat just one ranked team. The only P4 teams that Notre Dame beat who had a winning record was USC, NC State and Pitt. That is who you are whining about being snubbed? That's why you want to blow up this whole thing? Again, if Utah walked in here with that argument, you wouldn't care one bit. 

6. FIXING TIEBREAKERS WOULD HELP MORE. A little bit why we got here was the ACC's tie-breaking procedures gave us Virginia-Duke for their conference championship game instead of Virginia-Miami. With the ACC at 17 football members, a lot of their head-to-head tiebreakers didn't work so it rolled down to an arbitrary tiebreaker of what their ACC opponents combined records were. 

That's a poor way to truly determine who the best teams in the league are, and that showed here. This isn't just an ACC decision -- all P4 leagues have similar tie-breaker procedures. In fact, the SEC had it's fourth highest ranked team play in their championship game, but because Alabama's name holds weight and a playoff-worthy ranking, no one really cared. Yet Ole Miss and Texas A&M were deemed better teams according to the CFP committee. 

If the P4 leagues -- and especially the ACC -- amend their tiebreakers to have highest ranked CFP teams before any combined record nonsense, then we get a bit of a fix. We would have had Virginia-Miami and the winner of that game would have earned an automatic bid under the 2025 rules. If it was Miami, then they would have taken JMU's auto-bid and Notre Dame would have been in. If it was Virginia, they would have taken JMU's auto-bid and Miami likely drops below Notre Dame in the rankings and the Irish get it. 

This honestly is a development that makes sense and likely to happen. The ACC would surely look at doing this just to not have 8-5 Duke as their conference champion, and even the SEC would have benefitted from this. There was some sweating about where Alabama would be ranked after they were blown out by Georgia in the SEC title game. But if Ole Miss (the highest ranked team among the tied bunch) lost that same game, there would be little worry that they'd fall five or more spots and out of the rankings. 

Expect all of the P4 leagues to make this change. 

7. UNDERSTAND THIS HAPPENS IN ALL SPORTS. One of the important things to learn about life ... and sports ... is that it isn't always fair. College football is by far the most flawed of them all and has been for decades. I'm absolutely sure our list of national champions would look different had we had a playoff instead of the bowl system, the Alliance, or BCS. I mean, Ohio State was an 8-seed last year and won the first 12-team playoff, so you can't tell me that our list of champs wouldn't be vastly different had we had this format for 100 years. 

We already know that the best team doesn't win all of the time. We certainly know that in college basketball. We also have Super Bowl champions that get hot at the right time and make a run. 

As of right now, the Detroit Lions will likely miss the NFL playoffs while the Carolina Panthers could get in. We've had teams who missed the playoffs have better records than ones who did. The NBA has lessened the importance of divisions so we rarely get any issues. MLB has expanded the wildcard teams to fix this. None of them ... including the NCAA tournament ... uses rankings to determine who is in their playoff and what the bracket looks like. Only college football does this. 

College football is a great sport, but it has a ton of problems that it isn't really willing to figure out. Until they do ... and make massive changes ... we won't get to a place where we have a great system. So enjoy what we have. 

NFL Week 18 Flex Options

With three weeks left, let's see what could be the game that gets flexed into the final game of the season -- the Sunday Night Football game.

NO WAY AT ALL

Let's go ahead and move these games to the side:

Saints at Falcons
Browns at Bengals
Chiefs at Raiders
Cowboys at Giants
Commanders at Eagles

Of these teams, only the Eagles have a real chance at making the playoffs and by this time they will already have the NFC East wrapped up. Everyone else is waiting for the draft.

SLIM CHANCE, IF AT ALL

Jets at Bills
Cardinals at Rams
Dolphins at Patriots
Titans at Jaguars

These four games need quite a bit of things to happen for them to have the kind of importance to make it a stand alone game. Bills, Rams, Patriots and Jaguars likely will have playoff spots wrapped up. It will be a matter of seed, and even then will rely on a game played elsewhere to make it interesting. So let's ditch this bunch. 

MMMMMMAYBE

Packers at Vikings
Colts at Texans

The Packers and Texans may need this game to get into the playoffs, and the Colts could find a way to make that game with Houston a very meaningful one. Neither probably will be worthy of the SNF spot, but there is a world where both could. 

HERE ARE THE REAL CONTENDERS

Lions at Bears: Right now, the Bears lead the NFC North while the Lions are right at the cut line. There will be a lot of things that need to happen to make this the most important game of the week. 

Chargers at Broncos: Denver has already clinched a playoff spot and have a two game lead over the Chargers in the AFC West race. By the time we get here, Denver may have the top seed wrapped up and could sit their starters. The Chargers likely would have a spot clinched as well, so this would be more about seeding.

Seahawks at Niners: When you include the Rams, the NFC West is a fascinating race. The Rams and Seahawks play on Thursday night with the winner taking the division lead and the loser moving back to the 49ers. All three should be locked in on a playoff spot by then (the Rams have already clinched; the Seahawks and Niners are a win away from clinching). This could be a situation like last year's Lions-Vikings game where the game is for a division championship and possibly the top seed in the NFC. Barring that, this won't be flexed to SNF. 

Panthers at Buccaneers: The two teams are tied at 7-7 and play each other this week as well as Week 18. If the Panthers win the Week 16 showdown, we could see this game be for the NFC South title and a playoff spot in Week 18. We know that right now Tampa Bay owns the tiebreakers, which means that even if the Bucs were a game behing Carolina in the standings in the final week a win would tie them and then the tiebreaker goes their way. 

Ravens at Steelers: This could be a matchup where the winner is the AFC North champion and earns the division their lone playoff spot. The NFL would absolutely love to have this rivalry as their final game of the regular season. You have Lamar Jackson vs Aaron Rodgers. Two coaches who won their lone Super Bowl titles a long time ago. 

Sportz Rating the QB Situations Around the NFL

As the 2025 season enters its final weeks, let's look at the QB situations around the NFL.

NFC EAST

I think all four of these teams have their QBs figured out for now. 

I know the Eagles offense has been weird all season, but Jalen Hurts is the guy. The Cowboys are absolutely good with Dak Prescott. And even though the Commanders have dealt with injury issues, Jayden Daniels is the future of the franchise.

That leaves the Giants, who seem to be confident in Jaxson Dart going forward. There will be a new coach in New York, but Dart is the guy for the foreseeable future, which makes the NFC East one locked in division.

NFC SOUTH

After the Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield, there are a lot of questions in this division.

The Panthers seem to be okay with Bryce Young, but it doesn't look like he's a slam dunk for the long term. Remember this going forward: it isn't like there are too many options out there this offseason to replace what you currently have, so Young likely has at least another year as a starter with Carolina.

The Falcons are an interesting case. They signed Kirk Cousins to a huge deal in 2024 while also drafting Michael Penix early in that year's draft. Cousins has looked old and he certainly isn't the future in Atlanta. Penix looks like he is, but he's had a roller coaster of a season and is currently out for the season ... something that is upsettingly normal for him over his college and NFL career. There are some rumors that he could miss time in 2026, which puts the Falcons in a bind in the short term and in the long term.

Then there are the Saints. Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough are the young guys right now, but they probably aren't the answer. But who is? What was thought of as a fertile QB draft class doesn't the look the same anymore, so New Orleans may have to go another season trying to figure out what they have before going out and finding a new signal caller. They are in bad shape at that spot. 

NFC NORTH

The NFC North is ... strange. Jordan Love is the guy with the Packers, but he needs to get more consistent. With the kind of defense they are building in Green Bay, Love should be piling up stats and wins.

The Lions are still Jared Goff's team, though this team did take a step back this season without former OC Brian Johnson. Johnson is now the head coach of the Bears and seems to have Caleb Williams on the right track. Those three seem to be locked in.

But Minnesota may be a mess. The Vikings let Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones walk and gave the job to rookie JJ McCarthy, who is coming off an injury. Aside from some very few moments, McCarthy has looked awful. It could be fixable and the Vikings have sort of painted themselves into this corner. They will have to bring in a veteran backup next year not named Carson Wentz.

NFC WEST

This division may be the most in flux. Matthew Stafford may be the MVP of the league this year, but it is clear that he's in the final years of his NFL career. The Rams know that, so they are straddling the line between milking every drop from his time in LA while maybe attempting to find his replacement down the road. 

The Cardinals may be done with the Kyler Murray era. Not only has he been injured this season, but he was shaky once again and Arizona seemed to play better when Jacoby Brissett ran the offense. The financial implications of moving on from Murray are dicey, but it may happen if another team is desperate enough to take on a lot of his contract.

The Niners, you would have thought, were locked in. Brock Purdy has been the guy there for a couple of years and the team rewarded him with a huge contract. But he was hurt and Mac Jones has looked sparkling in his place. Jones was a guy that head coach Kyle Shanahan had his eye on during the draft process so this has kind of turned into a quarterback controversy. Jones will be starter somewhere next season (New Orleans? New York?) and that place could be San Francisco if the 49ers have buyers remorse.

Then there is Sam Darnold. Darnold is the guy right now with the Seahawks and he should have a postseason chance to show the world he can be the guy in the biggest moments. 

AFC EAST

The Bills' Josh Allen is the reigning NFL MVP. He's shown some outstanding moments this year along with some head scratchers. But -- news alert -- he's the guy for the long term in Buffalo.

Drake Maye has emerged as the next great young QB with the Patriots. 

The other two teams have a lot to work out. Clearly the Jets are moving on from their QB mess. Justin Fields may have spent up his last bit of hope of being a starter this season. It didn't look good. Tyrod Taylor is no one's future. They have to make a move this offseason, but who do they go out and get?  Remember they are sitting on a lot of 1st and 2nd round picks over the next two years that they could try to lure someone into dealing away a franchise QB.

The Dolphins look like they are going to be in a transition this offseason. There may be head coaching and front office movement this winter and that could mean Tua Tagovailoa's time in Miami may be up soon. But, like I've said, in this climate they may need to hang on to Tua one more year. 

AFC SOUTH

Youth is the word in the AFC South. The Texans are CJ Stroud's team. That's the best lock of the division. Next would be Cam Ward with the Titans, though their head coaching search will be key to their future. 

Trevor Lawrence still looks like he's the guy with the Jaguars for another season, though it still doesn't look like it should. He needs to get this figured out. 

Daniel Jones seems to have a home with the Colts for the time being. He has them among the best records in the NFL and seems to fit well in their culture. That doesn't mean the slipper won't fall off at any moment. 

AFC NORTH

This division got weird this season. Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson are clearly the man with the Bengals and Ravens, respectively, but both spent a lot of time hurt this season. 

The Browns have no idea what their QB room will look like. After bailing on Joe Flacco (and dealing him within the division), they cycled through Dillon Gabriel (it wasn't good) and now Shadeur Sanders (it looked good last week). They trail the Saints for the worst QB situation in the NFL, but if Sanders can show he's worth trying to develop, they may hold off making any big moves this offseason. 

The Steelers? Well, unless Aaron Rodgers returns for yet another season they will likely be in the market for another signal caller.  But who could that be? Talking Rodgers into postponing his retirement for one more year could be doable. 

AFC WEST

Patrick Mahomes is the guy with the Chiefs. Likewise is Justin Herbert with the Chargers. Bo Nix seems to be doing alright for the Broncos.

Then there are the Raiders. The Geno Smith Experiment has been a bomb this season and Pete Caroll knows he may have to cut the cord on him. 

Sportz' College Football Super League

I have said for years that college football just needs to rip the Band-Aid off and form a new Super League that governs itself. No more SEC, Big Ten or ACC conferences. No "Power" or "Group Of" designations. Just break off and form a new, powerful, super league that not only creates outstanding matchups for itself and becomes a powerful media partner, but leaves alone the rest of college athletics so we can stop with the bastardizing of the college conference landscape.

College football has caused a lot of problems for conferences and schools in their non-football sports. Changing that would be another article, so let's just stick to this new football format.

HOW DID YOU COME TO DO THIS? 

To do this, understand that right now we have a Power 4 conference setup in football, plus Notre Dame. That means there are currently 68 power schools that exist right now. I wanted my format to be just 56 schools, but I decided to be cautious and include 64 schools in my new Super League. That would involve creating eight divisions filled with eight schools. 

-I attempted to create the divisions using historic conference ties as best as I could. Of course that is impossible with some conferences having more than eight members for a long time. But I did keep an eye on keeping current conference schools together.

-I only used the power schools. That means I left out Oregon State and Washington State. While they were in the Power 5 just two years ago, their future lies with the new Pac-12 being a Group of 6 conference, so I didn't include them.

-If you've done the math, you will understand that four current Power 4 schools will have to be let go. This was the hardest thing to do, which is why I didn't pare the league down to 56 schools. The four schools that didn't make the list? Cincinnati, UCF, Rutgers and Wake Forest. Cincinnati and UCF are newcomers to the power ranks, so they were a bit easier to leave out. Rutgers was difficult because they are the birthplace of college football, but they are kind of a power program just because of geography and no other reason. Wake Forest makes me the most sad. Unlike the other three schools, they've been part of a power conference for decades and decades. They've also been pretty good at times. But the small school nestled in North Carolina was the last team out. I'm sorry. 

WHAT WOULD THE DIVISIONS LOOK LIKE? 

So here are my eight divisions.



EASTERN DIVISION: Boston College, Maryland, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia

This is the most unorthodox-ed division. It is sort of made up of scraps from the other leagues, but there is a purpose. For the most part, these are the eastern-most schools and all (but Maryland and Penn State) were once in the Big East conference (Notre Dame was for non-football). I put Notre Dame in here because they do associate as being an eastern program. They like playing a game each year in the New York area and they've had a nice Catholic rivalry with Boston College. Plus, shoving them into the traditional ACC (which they are aligned with now) or the traditional Big Ten would've caused more problems than it was worth. I did make the controversial move of bringing Penn State over as well. Penn State wanted to form an eastern conference before joining the Big Ten in the early 1990s. They are joined with geographic neighbors like Pitt, Maryland and West Virginia. Plus they give Notre Dame a great rival as a power program in this division. 

So Notre Dame and Penn State are the heavyweights here, with Pitt and Boston College with rich histories. Virginia Tech and West Virginia have the ability to make some noise. 

ATLANTIC: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia

The Atlantic Division is essentially the traditional old ACC, but cutting back a lot of the Big East influence of the 2000s. One difference is that Miami, who joined in 2004, sticks. Aside from leaving Wake Forest out of this entire thing, the toughest decision was leaving Virginia Tech out. Unless I was going to leave Duke out of the mix (and that was a strong consideration), the Hokies made the least sense of staying in this division. They did have ties to a lot of the programs in the Eastern Division, so it really was a no-brainer. Having said all of that, this division seems pretty standard.  

As a football league, its like what the ACC truly wanted when they went all in on football 20 years ago. They have Clemson, Florida State and Miami as their traditional powers, while NC State, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia Tech fully capable of making a run in certain years. 



SOUTHEAST: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Here is the part where things got a tad interesting -- how to break up the SEC. The SEC was a 10-team conference for a long time before adding two teams in the 1990s, and then ballooning to 16 teams today. In theory, breaking the SEC into two-eight team divisions seemed like an easy task ... and it should be. But remember that the SEC expanded west, so adding Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M means that an even split meant that some traditional western SEC schools would now be in the east. So, hello Alabama schools! Alabama and Auburn make the move to this Southeast Division to go alongside the traditional six SEC East schools. The good: it gives us that Alabama-Georgia boost everyone wants while keeping some great rivalries like Bama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia going. The bad: breaking those two schools away from LSU. Losing Alabama-LSU is a tough pill to swallow, but there are ways to keep that rivalry going, even if it would now be a non-division game. Plus, the realignment over the past 20 years has broken up so many rivalries that I cannot let something like this bring the division down.

SOUTHERN: Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M

The Southern Division is the SEC West without the Alabama schools, but it adds in Oklahoma and Texas to take their place. Plus, there is a twist. Missouri is now moved into another division altogether (more on that in a bit) so it opens up the ability to reunite Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Bedlam is back, baby! Again, It sucks to have to split LSU and the two Mississippi schools up from their longtime SEC brethren, but that's what happens when you make these types of decisions. 

Football? Well LSU, Texas and Oklahoma are long time great programs with A&M right behind them. There really isn't a bad team here, historically speaking. 

GREAT LAKES: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Just like the SEC, I had a tough time breaking up the Big Ten. Probably a tougher time than you'd think. These eight are part of the "ten" in the Big Ten. Remember that I have already moved Penn State to the Eastern Division, which means the western most schools got bumped into a more midwestern division. Also, Northwestern was on the cut list had I only made a 56 team league, making some of the decisions a bit easier. It is difficult to keep Wisconsin here and move Minnesota away, but ... again ... something has to give.

This will be a lot like the old Big Ten with Michigan and Ohio State fighting for dominance. Can any of the other schools challenge them? All have at one time or another been able to be relevant in the Big Ten, so there is potential. 



MIDWEST:  Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska 

The Midwest Division merges the two western most traditional Big Ten schools with some of the mid-plains Big 12 schools. It just made sense. So Iowa and Minnesota come to a division with Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State. Former Big 12 schools Missouri (SEC) and Nebraska (Big Ten) also come into the mix. The sorta outlier here is Louisville. They really don't fit anywhere perfectly. They aren't as geographically in tune here, but they shoving them into the Great Lakes division didn't make sense either. But Louisville was recently in the Big East and now in the Atlantic Coast Conference, so making geographic sense isn't something the Cardinals care about. They could form a nice rivalry with Missouri, I guess. 

Football? This is wide open. We all know how those Big 12 schools battle it out every year, and now they have Iowa, Minnesota and welcome back Mizzou and Nebraska. Louisville has been a wildcard in any division they've played in, so this is likely the NFC South of the college football divisions. 

CENTRAL: Baylor, BYU, Colorado, Houston, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah

The Central Division is made up of the hodgepodge of Big 12 schools that is mainly Texas and mountain based. Baylor, Houston, SMU, TCU and Texas Tech used to run together in the old Southwest Conference, so a Texas tussle would be fun again. All but SMU (ACC) currently play in the Big 12, so it works. BYU, Colorado and Utah all have joined the league over the last couple of seasons so there is some familiarity. 

Football should be fine. BYU has had its moments ... as has Utah. TCU was in the national title game a few years ago. Baylor and Colorado have produced Heisman trophy winners this century while Texas Tech gave us Patrick Mahomes. SMU won the ACC's regular season title last season and Houston ... well ... it's Houston. 

PACIFIC: Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington

This was by far the easiest division to create, though a bit heartbreaking. The Pacific Division is made up of the 8 power schools that made up the old Pac-10 conference. Leaving Washington State and Oregon State out was tough, but they were left behind for a reason and aren't considered power programs anymore. If, for some reason, there was a bump to, say, 70 schools in this thing with 10-team divisions then I can see those two coming back. 

Football? Hey, it's the Pac-10 band back together. 

WHAT'S THE REGULAR SEASON SUPPOSED TO BE?

As you can tell, every team will play the other teams in their division. ALL of them. So they will have seven division games. Here's a big change, however -- your total win-loss record determines who the division champion is. There is no more "conference record" like we have now. Just like the divisional record is only used for tiebreakers in the NFL, that's really the only use for it here. Since everyone in the division will play each other once, the head-to-head will be the main tiebreaker. Of course, if there are more than two teams with the same total record, the division record factors in. 

The schedule would be 13 games long with one bye week nestled in for everybody in the middle of the season. For this explanation, let's use the 2025 calendar. The season can start in late August (Saturday August 23rd with Week 1. Week 14 ... the final week ... would take place on November 22nd. 

So we have 7 conference games that will be played pretty much like we see it now. The schedule makers (yes, the Super League office will create the schedule and not the schools themselves) will fill out the rest of what the schedule looks like. There will be some sense made to keep some regional matchups intact with this division change (like Florida-LSU, Ohio State-Penn State, Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, etc). and then four other non-division games. I'm sure the Super League would love to see different regions face off against each other, so we will see Michigan play Georgia, USC play Texas, and Notre Dame-BYU. Gone are cupcake games against FCS schools and Group of 5 opponents. If you want to play one of them, then schedule a preseason game against them. Every game will be power vs power. 

I'd like to see every team play six home games and six road games with at least one game at a neutral site. College football is such a great thing to see with neutral sites. Whether those are rivalry games like Texas-Oklahoma in Dallas or Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville ... we can also schedule some non-conference games like we currently have. 

Look back at how great Week 1 of this current college football season was with great top 10 showdowns. And then how crappy Week 2 was with big schools rolling up cupcakes. That's gone. Sure, there will be some duds mixed in (just like the NFL) but at least they are power opponents. 

SHOW ME AN EXAMPLE OF A SCHEDULE

Okay. Let's use Florida State as an example (* denotes division game). 

W1 at Duke*

W2 Mississippi State

W3 Wisconsin (Atlanta)

W4 at Clemson*

W5 at Virginia*

W6 Miami*

W7 North Carolina*

W8 BYE WEEK

W9 at NC State*

W10 at Maryland

W11 Iowa
W12 at Utah

W13 Georgia Tech*
W14 Florida

If you notice, there isn't a non-conference season that leads into a conference season like we're accustomed to. The schedule has division games mixed in just like we have in the NFL. There are 7 division games that will flip each year to where the game is played. I'd like that the "rivalry game" would coincide with this scheduling so that we have four home and four road games between your division and rival opponent. We continue the Florida State-Florida rivalry like always as one of the six non-division games. In this scenario, the Seminoles will host Florida, Mississippi State and Iowa while traveling to Maryland and Utah. They also play Wisconsin at a neutral site. Their bye week is in Week 8.

That means they will play 13 power teams and no cupcakes. No games against MAC foes like Kent State. No games against FCS teams like East Texas A&M. What I'd like to be the norm is scheduling games against teams like that for the preseason. 

Notice that Florida State travels to different parts of the country. This example has them in Utah. The next year they could go to a Pacific or Midwest school. 

WHAT DOES THE POSTSEASON LOOK LIKE?

First off: there are no more conference championship games. It already looks like college football right now will be trending away from that. It's a money grab, but adding more playoff rounds would fill that gap immediately. 

That's why the 24-team format that the Big Ten is currently floating around makes sense here. Is that too many? Well, it means that 37.5% of the Super League gets into the postseason. For reference, 43.7% of the NFL's teams reach the playoffs. So having a five-round playoff is doable.

The eight division champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoff, along with 16 at-large teams. Here's another twist: Unlike the NFL, we will continue to have rankings and a selection committee to determine who those at-large teams are. I know, I know! I wanted this to look a lot like how a professional league looks, but having that one nugget of the college system still feels right. With so much range in what schedules look like, it seems appropriate to keep this part of the tradition. 

Seeding will be based on those rankings. So the top eight ranked teams will get first round byes, while seeds 9 thru 24 will begin the first round of the playoffs. Those games will be played on campus over a two day period. Four games on Friday and four more on Saturday. I wouldn't be against having two games on Friday night and six games that overlap on Saturday (something like how the NCAA Tournament is). You could have Friday games at 6pm ET and 9:30pm ET (provided a west coast team was hosting a game) and then Saturday games at noon ET, 3:30pm ET, 7pm ET and 10:30pm ET ... with two games mixed in at 5pm ET and 8:30pm ET. 

Now, remember we are using the 2025 calendar for this exercise and that I had the final week of the regular season on November 22nd ... the week before Thanksgiving. That gives us a great treat to have college football playoff games on all day Friday and Saturday since most people would be off to watch them. 

The second round would see the top eight seeds hosting the winners of those games in a bracket-style format (no re-seeding). That round could be scheduled just like the first round with games on Friday and Saturday. That would be December 5th and 6th.

The quarterfinals would be the following week (December 12th and 13th). Now, I would prefer to have these games played on campus at the higher seeded team's home -- but I'm not against using a rotating "bowl" format like the CFP is currently using. I just think this round should be on campus. You can have one game on Friday night at 8pm ET and Saturday games at noon ET, 4pm ET and 8pm ET. 

The semifinals could be made to be at neutral sites. No more bowls, but bid out sites. Kind of like the NCAA Tournament's regionals are at four different sites, this could be held in two places ... like what we do now. Those games would be played on Saturday December 20th. The national championship game is also neutral ... and it can be played on New Year's Day. 

Of course there is the little issue of finals week, but now you are only disrupting a few schools and not the 80+ schools playing in bowls like you do right now. Having the title game on New Year's Day is a great way to honor a piece of tradition while also moving out of the way before the NFL playoffs start. 

ANY OTHER NOTES?

Yes. College football's new Super League would have its own commissioner. Just like the NFL. And instead of dealing with several conference commissioners, that new commissioner governs over the schools themselves. Rules are more unified, as are the punishments. I'm sure there will be a point where the players unionize, which will bring on collective bargaining and further oversight.

There will also be the way you watch college football on television. Instead of SEC games on ESPN and Notre Dame on NBC and Big Ten games on FOX ... we have full blown rights sold just like the NFL does. As you are aware, the NFL has Sunday packages for CBS and FOX, Sunday Night Football package for NBC, Monday Night Football package for ESPN/ABC, Thursday Night Football package for Amazon Prime, and several offshoots for other streamers like Netflix and YouTube. You all know that broadcast rights have led us to the point where the Pac-12 broke up to catch Big Ten money and to find survival rooms in the Big 12 and ACC. It's why we have 18-team conferences now. So imagine what the consolidation of this inventory could do.

With 64 schools -- or 32 games on non-bye weeks -- this Super League has twice the inventory that the NFL does. While it may be difficult to go against the NFL on Thursdays, there is still a lucrative package to be sold for that date. Fridays would also pull a nice number. And we could have an NFL-style setup on Saturdays, where NBC, ESPN/ABC, FOX and CBS all have games going simultaneously all day long. There is no "Saturday Night Football" on just one network ... and games don't stop at 11pm. But one network may pay more money for the top choice of games that Saturday while the others slot in a tier system. The money then is shared (just like the NFL) among all schools and not just the ones in the SEC or Big Ten. The Dallas Cowboys' share of broadcast rights is the same as the Jacksonville Jaguars. So will Ohio State and Pitt. 

Sportz 2025 NFL Predictions

Another year, another chance to me to look great -- and foolish.  So here are my picks for the 2025 NFL season.

NFC EAST: 1-Eagles*, 2-Commanders, 3-Cowboys, 4-Giants

Philadelphia will break the two decade trend of no repeat champions in the NFC East. They are the most put together team in the league and I believe they win this division pretty handily. I honestly had Dallas finishing second in this division, but that changed once Micah Parsons was traded away. The Cowboys are flawed, but they are a good team with a healthy Dak Prescott. I think the Commanders come back down to earth just a bit. Last year was the perfect wave of 4th down conversions, miracle comebacks, backup QBs and coming from nowhere to surprise everyone. Yes, they are on the right path to win big ... just not this year. The Giants are building the right way. They have a great defensive line and I think Jaxon Dart is the guy to take the franchise back to the postseason one day.

NFC SOUTH: 1-Buccaneers*, 2-Falcons, 3-Panthers, 4-Saints

Tampa is the clear favorite of this division and a sleeper team to go far in the playoffs. I do like Atlanta to take the next step. Remember that they beat the Bucs twice last year, but had far too many letdowns late in games that cost them a playoff spot. I think that gets fixed this season. Carolina is building up, and New Orleans is tearing down. Bryce Young will continue to improve while the QB room with the Saints is a mess right now. 

NFC NORTH: 1-Packers*, 2-Lions*, 3-Vikings*, 4-Bears

I think the Parsons trade vaults Green Bay to the North title. Their losses last year were to the Eagles, Vikings 2x and Lions 2x (plus a throw away finale against Da Bears), so this is a team that needs better QB play from Jordan Love and now has a defense that can stuff opponents. I do think losing both coordinators will bring Detroit back to the field a bit. But that's still a damn good squad, I just think the margins won't be as solid and a couple games don't go their way. Minnesota, to me, is a wild card. That's a loaded roster, but they are running out "rookie" J.J McCarthy as their starter. He could be that guy, but I'm not sure its right off the bat. As for Chicago, I think they make a jump but not move ahead of a brutal NFC North.

NFC WEST: 1-Rams*, 2-Niners*, 3-Cardinals, 4-Seahawks

Man, I'm taking the chance that Matthew Stafford will be healthy enough to pull the Rams to the top of the division. If his back is still an issue, San Francisco could have enough to get back into the playoffs. Arizona is my dark horse team -- their defense is elite and if Kyler Murray can have a consistent season (plus Marvin Harrison making a leap) then this could be a dangerous squad this season. Seattle isn't bad, they just aren't good enough to do damage this season. I'm not sold on Sam Darnold as a long term solution. 

AFC EAST: 1-Bills*, 2-Jets, 3-Patriots, 4-Dolphins

Buffalo runs this division, and we all know why. From there, how will the other three shake out? I actually think the Jets will crawl up to the second spot. I'm not a Justin Fields guy, but Aaron Glenn should be able to bring order to a franchise that has been chaotic for the last several seasons. There is talent on this roster, and Glenn should be able to extract most of it. The Patriots are the franchise on the rise, but I just don't think the roster is ready to contend for a playoff spot. I'm in the camp that the Dolphins are going to implode this season. I like Mike McDaniel, but this just has the look of a franchise that is crashing out. 

AFC SOUTH: 1-Texans*, 2-Jaguars, 3-Colts, 4-Titans

Ugh. Houston is the class of this bunch, but that's not saying a lot. The Colts are a mess; the Titans are in Year 1 of their rebuild; which makes the Jags as the biggest enigma in the division. Can Liam Coen get Trevor Lawrence back on track? Jacksonville went all in trading up for Travis Hunter so you'd think they believe they can make a run right now. I'm not so sure about that. 

AFC NORTH: 1-Ravens*, 2-Bengals*, 3-Steelers, 4-Browns

The question in Baltimore is if they can finally get past the Bills and Chiefs in the playoffs. This is a great roster with an improved defense and one of the best QBs in the league. Cincinnati also has one of the best QBs, and two paid receivers, but the defense is still a mess. Having said that, they nearly reached the playoffs last season with some weirdly bad luck that I think turns around this year. The Steelers will be 9-8 and just miss the playoffs. What that means for the future of Mike Tomlin? They'd be fools to let him go, but that could be the case. I don't think the Browns are a bad team, but the quarterback situation is a bit of a mess. 

AFC WEST: 1-Chiefs*, 2-Broncos*, 3-Chargers*, 4-Raiders

This could be the best division in football. The Chiefs are the Chiefs, even if they were blown out in the Super Bowl. The Broncos defense is elite, and if Bo Nix can make the next step then this could be a dangerous team come the postseason. Jim Harbaugh typically shows results in Year 2, so let's see what we have in store with Justin Herbert and that offense. And then there is Las Vegas. Pete Carroll will be much more competitive -- and much more competent -- with Ashton Jeanty the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. They are still behind everyone in a fantastically interesting AFC West that features four elite coaches (Carroll, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh).

MY SURPRISE TEAM:  ARIZONA

I think the Cardinals could be what the Commanders were last year -- a team no one took seriously that suddenly catches fire. They have an elite defense that can keep them in games and if Kyler Murray can channel his talent for an entire season (and not just over the first half) then they could contend in the NFC West. 

MY DISAPPOINTMENT TEAM: WASHINGTON

I had Washington as 3rd in the NFC East, but then the Cowboys traded off Micah Parsons. Look, they are on the right path and will be a contender in the NFC East for years to come, but this year they take a big step back. They are one of the oldest rosters in the league despite having a young QB. The defense still isn't very good. Their running back room is meh at best. There are skill guys at receiver and a rebuild offensive line, but they rely too much on Daniels' running. Plus last year was a tidal wave of great things meshing together -- favorable schedule, ridiculous 4th down conversion rate, memorable comebacks, and a lot of backup QBs. Commanders take a step back and miss the playoffs. 

SO WHO WINS THE SUPER BOWL?

I have Eagles over Ravens. I know I should stamp the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, but I think the Ravens will finally have the kind of postseason run they've been waiting on since Lamar Jackson came into the league. The Chiefs may have a slip-up, whether it is due to injuries, bad luck or just get beaten by the Ravens or Bills. Baltimore reps the AFC. The Eagles are the most complete team in the league. They've been to two Super Bowls in the last three years and Jalen Hurts has outperformed Patrick Mahomes in both of them. While their defensive depth took a hit this offseason, every other NFC contender has questions surrounding them that Philly just doesn't have. Barring anything happening to Hurts or Saquon Barkley, they should muscle their way back to the big game. There, they will be able to contain Jackson and flex their offensive muscle to a 31-20 win. 

College Football Playoff Will Go To Straight Seeding -- And I Hate It

 The powers that be in College Football have decided to have their playoff be straight seeded. I've been pretty vocal that I'm not a fan of that idea. 

If you remember, last season (also the first season) of the new format saw five conference champions guaranteed a spot in the 12-team playoff, with the four byes being awarded to the four top ranked conference champs. People were cool with that until the ACC decided to lay a turd in football, the Mountain West champion was better, and the Big 12 champion wasn't really a good team. What we got was this:

1-Oregon, 2-Georgia, 3-Boise State, 4-Arizona State with byes.
Clemson at Texas, SMU at Penn State, Indiana at Notre Dame and Tennessee at Ohio State were our first round matchups. 

If you remember, the first round saw dominant wins by the home teams, then the second round saw all four teams with a bye lose. We ended up with 7-seed Notre Dame and 8-seed Ohio State in the national championship game. 

So this new format would have changed things to:

1-Oregon, 2-Georgia, 3-Texas, 4-Penn State would get the byes with the first round matchups being Clemson at Notre Dame, Arizona State at Ohio State, SMU at Tennessee and Boise State at Indiana.

So here is why I don't like the change.

FIRST ROUND GETS WORSE

Last year, all of the first round games were blowouts despite "better" teams playing in them. Sure, we've swapped out Texas and Penn State for Boise State and Arizona State (which bumped Tennessee and Indiana to host status) but the games aren't better. They aren't better on paper, they aren't better for the bettors, and they aren't better for television. You've made those games worse.

The trade off is that the second round (the quarterfinals) is much better. If we advance the home teams, we'd get Notre Dame-Penn State, Ohio State-Texas, Tennessee-Georgia and Indiana-Oregon. Those would seem to be better games than what we actually got ... kinda. Texas-Boise State wasn't that bad, but Penn State-Boise State was. Yet, we also got Oregon-Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and Georgia-Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Those two are fantastic matchups that we traded in for Indiana-Oregon? 

Also, notice we got Notre Dame-Penn State and Ohio State-Texas in the quarterfinals. Those were the exact same matchups we ended up with in the semifinals last year. 

OHIO STATE WON IT ALL ANYWAY

People were upset that Ohio State dropped and Oregon ended up having to play them in the quarterfinals. So? Even if you felt Ohio State was the second best team in the nation, they were the fourth place team in the Big Ten standings and didn't play in the Big Ten championship game. As good as they were on paper ... and as good as they were in the 2024-2025 playoff ... they deserved their seeding. 

And they ended up dominating Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame to win the title. Under the new format, they may have faced Arizona State, Texas, Georgia and Oregon to win the national championship. They played two of those teams anyway and could've possibly played a third if Tennessee beats Georgia in the quarterfinals. The change is the order of who they played. 

Sure, that may be just a coincidence that hit this year, but it seems more like shuffling the deck than really making anything really more fair. Of course Oregon fans would disagree to this, but we may have had a more entertaining tournament the old way.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE DEEMED POINTLESS

This has been a huge sticking point for me. In the old format, conference championship games were a huge deal. Winning one -- especially the SEC and Big Ten -- guaranteed a bye. Even the ACC got two teams in, with their champion receiving a bye. The new systems de-incentivizes them and actually makes them pointless.

For example: Oregon faced Penn State in the Big Ten title game. Oregon, in the new format, would've locked in a bye no matter what happened in that game, so the Ducks would have been better served to just sit all their important guys. Why risk and injury that ... oh ... I don't know ... Georgia suffered trying to win their conference title game? So if you feel you have a bye locked in, just quit the conference championship game. It isn't worth it. And that, right there, sucks for college football and a huge tradition of the spot. 

Yeah, winning one still matters to teams like Boise State, Clemson or Arizona State who only got in due to winning it. But in the SEC and Big Ten where those are special showdowns? It is dumb. 

DOES THIS REALLY EVEN MATTER ANYWAY?

And why change? After this season, the playoff likely expands to 16-teams for the 2026-2027 season and then there are no byes to worry about. Everything I laid out will be happening then, but it's more organic that way (though could you see four champs guaranteed home games??)

Sportz' NCAA Tournament Recap - First Round, Day 1

 

Just a quick recap of what I saw in my Sportz Room -- filled with TVs that I can watch all games going on at the same time.

GAME OF THE DAY: Michigan vs UC San Diego. This wasn't the best day for nail-biting games, but the Michigan-UCSD game eventually turned into one. The Wolverines jumped out to a 10-0 lead and held a 15 point advantage early in the second half. But the Tritons went on a 17-3 run to cut the lead to a single point. Michigan went on their own run to build up some breathing room before San Diego came storming back to actually take the lead with just over two minutes remaining. Michigan scored the final five points of the game and held on to the win.  Arkansas-Kansas was the most fun game of the day. 

UPSET OF THE DAY: McNeese State vs Clemson.  McNeese State isn't your typical mid-major. Head coach Will Wade once was the head coach at LSU and will be the head coach at NC State once this season is over and he could be taking some of the Cowboys with him. It isn't that they beat Clemson -- they demolished them. Clemson was never in this game until a frantic run at the end of the game made it kind of close. 

CONFERENCE OF THE DAY: Big Ten. The Big Ten went 4-0 today, with Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and UCLA all advancing to the second round. Purdue and UCLA were trendy upset picks but both held off any thought that their seasons would be done.

CONFERENCE WITH A BAD DAY: ACC. The ACC had a bad day. With only four teams getting into the tournament, much of the focus was on Duke as a title favorite and North Carolina as a controversial addition. The key to the narrative of the conference was going to be what Louisville and Clemson did this month ... and they disappointed. Louisville got ran out of the gym by Creighton in their home state. And as I've mentioned, Clemson fell down huge to McNeese State before their comeback ran out of time. Now the ACC is reliant on its two powers to save the day once again.

DUD OF THE DAY: UCLA vs Utah State. This game was a popular upset pick, but the Bruins just mauled the Aggies and this one never got a chance to happen. UCLA's 72-47 win was one of the most impressive of the tournament.

DOMINANT PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: Houston vs SIUE. Top seeds cooking a No. 16 seed isn't really newsworthy, but there's been a lot of strays that have headed Houston's way so far. They are routinely mentioned as the weakest of the No. 1 seeds and people aren't convinced that they actually have a championship level offense. But the Cougars ripped SIUE (the pre-tournament little guy everyone was rooting for) and made a statement that they should be feared. Gonzaga's win over Georgia was also eye-opening.

UNDERLYING STORYLINE OF THE DAY: Big schools had a day. The Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 had a near perfect day. Texas Tech, Houston, St John's, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, BYU, UCLA and Creighton all won their games with only Kansas losing. With the SEC's power (they watched Texas, Missouri and Georgia already go down) and the ACC's weakness being conference stories of this tournament, the other big leagues seemed to have been left in the dust. 

My Take On Hubert Davis' Future At UNC

 

Obviously ... as a North Carolina fan ... I am not happy at the state of the men's basketball program. Right now the Tar Heels are 16-11 and are more than likely going to miss the NCAA Tournament once again. That would be the second time in three years UNC will miss the Big Dance, which is epically bad for a program of this stature. That hasn't happened since the 2002 and 2003 tournaments which saw Matt Doherty get fired. 

Head coach Hubert Davis has been a mixed bag. Some of it is on him, and some of it is on university, and some of it is on the fact that he got his start college athletics during a volatile time. The facts are that Davis is 94-42 in four seasons as head coach (as of February 20th), with a 7-2 record in NCAA tournament games. He may miss the tournament for the second time in those four seasons, but in the seasons he reached the tournament was a No. 1 seed once and reached the national championship game in the other. He has hit on some great transfers (Brady Manek, Harrison Ingram) and has missed on others (Pete Nance, Cade Tyson). He has done a fine job in recruiting high school kids, but has struggled to land key transfer portal targets (which may have more to do with UNC's lack of aggressiveness with NIL). He's won the ACC's Coach of the Year award, but many have questioned his ability to use his rosters properly and his coaching philosophies. 

It's hard to figure out if Hubert really is the right guy for the job. When the team has struggled like it has this season, there are calls to remove him and go in a different direction. 

On one hand, he's the nicest guy you will ever meet, bleeds Carolina blue, and had a decent NBA career despite not being a big time prospect coming out of high school. Recruits and their parents love him and the family atmosphere he continues at UNC. He's highly competitive and passionate about his players and the university. On the other, this is the third season the Heels have lost at least 10 games in his four years as head coach. This roster is the most imbalanced it has been in ages. It wasn't as if didn't try to land the best bigs in the portal ... he just couldn't close the deal (again, that may be a bit on the NIL side of things). 

The 2023 season was a disaster and an embarrassing moment in Carolina hoops history. The core of the team that nearly won the national championship was ranked No. 1 in the preseason, yet infighting and ugly play took the Heels out of the NCAA tournament -- becoming the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the tournament in the modern era. He followed that up with an ACC regular season championship last year and a No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Heels fell short to Alabama in the Sweet 16, but if felt that Hubert righted the ship. That the stink from 2023 season seemed to go away with a team fans adored; R.J. Davis was the ACC Player of the Year, Armando Bacot set program records, Harrison Ingram's smile and Swiss Army knife play electrified fans and the team looked like it was back as an elite program.

That's all gone away this year. Again, the roster lacks bigs which has thrown the team and fans' expectations way out of whack. It could be argued that the five best players on this team are all guards or wings (R.J. Davis, Elliott Cadeau, Ian Jackson, Drake Powell, Seth Trimble). Jackson and Powell could be one-and-done freshman, but the transfer portal has been a nightmare. Hubert missed out on several high profile bigs who had UNC on their short lists, plus their primary catch (Tyson) has been a dud. Ven-Allen Lubin has been okay, he's not a traditional center and third year big man Jalen Washington hasn't taken as big of a jump as they needed. What you have is a perimeter oriented team who has no post presence, no shot blockers, and not the rebounding studs they've typically been.  If you are going to be a guard dominated team, you can't turn the ball over the way this team does and you need to be a less streaky shooting squad. This team lacks any room for error and is extremely limited to what it can do.

That brings us to Hubert. 

What is wrong with him? Is he unable to coach? He was the Coach of the Year last season and was able to adapt his team in 2022 to make a late season run to the title game. He certainly can recruit high school talent -- I mentioned that Jackson and Powell could be first round picks this year and elite prospect Caleb Wilson is coming next season. There's more than enough talent ... even with this flawed roster ... to miss another NCAA tournament.

As I said, I'm not happy with where we are at. But I will say this: if Hubert Davis actually does go out and get a GM for the basketball program (he said they'd hire one soon) then I do believe he deserves at least one more season to see this through. While it is commendable for Hubert to lean into the Carolina Family and the way the program has successfully operated for decades, he also must realize that those things don't lock down recruits anymore. The fact that Bill Belichick is now the head coach of the football team should bring the university and other athletic programs to the realization that you have to pay to play at an elite level now. Programs are built like professional organizations now and that having financial opportunities to lure talent to your team is the way you do business. Again, Hubert has done okay with acquiring some talent, but you need a guy running your operations while you coach your team. 

I would like to see how that would look like. I think Hubert deserves that chance to show us. I'm all for that, but that also means I want to see results. 

Adam Silver Apparently Will Do Anything To The NBA, But What We Actually Want

I love the NBA. I should say that I really loved the NBA. Right now I really like the NBA. I'm grew up in the 1980s where Magic's Lakers, Larry's Celtics and the Bad Boy Pistons reigned supreme. The 1990s is known as the Michael Jordan Bulls decade, but is also seen as the era where scoring dipped way down and every game had the look of a physical fight. Rules changed and the 2000s was a bit of a hybrid from both eras.

The NBA's product right now is under attack. While I am not the old guy yelling at the clouds that this version of basketball is unwatchable, I do understand why people feel this way. The long time fans in my age group are turned off and the casual fans aren't turned on enough to pay attention. While it's easy to point to the style of play as the reason (and I will do some pointing that way), it is actually several reasons that are converging.

So when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver goes on the Dan Patrick Show and says that one of the things he's in favor of is having less basketball, it sticks a dagger in my heart. Not just because I don't like the idea, but that the commissioner of the sport won't address the problem that seems to be on everyone's mind. 

Let me start with what Mr. Silver said: he lobbed the idea of making quarters 10 minutes instead of the current ... and always ... 12 minutes. He said that all other levels of basketball are 10 minute quarters: FIBA, WNBA, women's college and the men's is a 40 minute game. He also said that it would allow NBA games ... as he described as a "TV show" ... to be in a neat two hour window for his broadcast partners.

Sorry, but that's as tone deaf as I've ever heard from him. No fan is complaining that 48 minutes is too long for an NBA game. In fact, games are about 2:15 on average, so shaving 15 minutes of TV time doesn't seem to be a nice payoff for such a drastic change that would skew historical records. That 2:15 game length has been pretty consistent for decades, so we aren't dealing with the issues that Major League Baseball or college football has had recently. It also is telling that your product has become so bad that giving your fans less of it seems to be on the table. 

Fans are whining because:

-Load management is an insult to fans. Fans who have to show up to their jobs every day to afford expensive tickets to an NBA game only to see their favorite players take a vacation day.

-The new CBA crushes player movement, which the league has actually enjoyed promoting. It's done itself a disservice. The NBA trade deadline and free agency period were so much fun because player movement really is a game changer in this league and the NBA actually loved having that keep them in the sports chatter. But the CBA punishes teams who try to build great rosters and we instead see less excitement.

-Stars are unknowns. There are two reasons for this: the NBA Draft has turned into a bunch of no-names being thrust into a league they aren't ready for. In the 1980s or 1990s, the college players being drafted were certified stars before putting on an NBA jersey. Sure, we do get a Zion Williamson or Victor Wembenyama come into the league, but these guys are relatively unknows to the casual fan. On one hand, that speaks to the success of basketball's development internationally, but it's bad for business. The second reason is the best player on the planet, Nikola Jokic, doesn't want to be a star. He isn't Jordan or Kobe or LeBron. 

-Flopping. Jalen Brunson is so talented, but it pains me to watch him play. All the head snapping, shoving and tripping, frankly, pisses me off. Instead of just playing the game, he plays to the refs. 

-All these extended reviews for out of bounds plays, timing issues, and flagrant fouls. 

-And the big one: fans aren't big on teams chucking up 50 threes a game. 

I used to think of myself as someone who didn't mind the game changing because that's just what happens. Players are bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled then ever. But the players are a bit lazier as well. My son plays in a U13 league and my daughter is on the dance team for her high school so I get to watch a lot of prep hoops right now. And there is a lot of really bad basketball being played out there. The high school games I watch, no one seems to know how to make an entry pass into the post, no one seems to understand that you are allowed to shoot midrange shots, and players seem to rather shoot fade away step backs than attack the paint. I couldn't count how many times I've watched five guys dribble and pass the ball around the three point line while no one bothers to get inside the paint. 

The sad thing is that we've all just accepted it. Now we the fans, but we the basketball community. My son's U13 league all plays like that, the high school teams play like that, college basketball plays like that, and the NBA plays like that. Every single player in the NBA has a green light to launch a three ... so every player does. Even if they aren't good at it. 

You may look at me and say stop yelling at the clouds, but here is where the problem gets us: every team plays the exact same way and there is no difference watching any game in the league anymore. 

Magic's Lakers were known for their Showtime antics. Fast breaks and slick passing. Larry's Celtics were the fundamental team who set screens, split double teams in the post and made the right play. The Bad Boy Pistons were known for their tough, physical defense. At the same time, you had the run-and-gun Nuggets, the Run TMC Warriors, the dunk-tastic Sixers, and this rising force of Michael Jordan on the Bulls. 

That's all gone now. Every game looks exactly the same. The league has become saturated and stale. Sure, teams have different stars that do different things but you're pretty much just watching the same thing. The champion Celtics and the basement dwelling Wizards run pretty much the same game plan, it's just Boston has more talented players. 

Shaving eight minutes off the game doesn't make our problem with the NBA go away. The game will still look the same, just less of it. Players will still load manage, there will be 48 threes jacked up instead of 50, floppers will still flop, and we will still see players twirl their fingers in the air whenever they think there is a call that didn't go their way. 

Silver's previous ideas have been meh to me. I really don't care about these In-Season Tournament games. Just because I turn the game on and see that bright colorful floor doesn't mean I think to myself "wow, I better watch this game because it's so important". He tried to lay down the law by creating a minimum games played rule to be eligible for post season awards. None of the players seem to care one bit about that. His attempt to fix the broken All-Star weekend doesn't motivate me at all. 

Baseball has famously made drastic changes to fix their on-field problems. Games were going on way too long and there was so much dead time that they were losing casual fans. The pitch clock has cut down all that waste of stepping out of the batter's box and fixing all your gear between pitches, plus the bigger bases has helped bring base stealing back in vogue. Now teams are manufacturing runs like they did 30 years ago instead of just waiting for someone to hit a home run. Putting the DH in the National League has slowed down pitching changes and allows for a better offensive player to be up instead of an awkward pitcher. Even the highly controversial "ghost runner" in extra innings is designed to keep games moving along. 

The NBA is doing none of that. Their ideas are colorful courts, insignificant trophies, asking "pretty please" for the stars to play more, and taxing organizations for trying to build star loaded teams. Now it is to dumb down the biggest and greatest league in basketball to conform to what other leagues are doing. 

Bills, Ravens, Bengals Fans May Not See Their Teams Reach Their Potential

Championships matter, especially when it comes to the legacies of athletes. Dan Marino is looked at a certain way because he never won a Super Bowl. Shaquille O'Neal constantly chides Charles Barkley -- in fact, it is his go-to move when they get in an argument -- that Sir Charles doesn't own a ring. Eli Manning is likely getting into the Hall of Fame because he has two Super Bowl titles. It is the ultimate trump card for discussing sports history.

Which could be a problem for NFL fans in Buffalo, Baltimore, Cincinnati and 12 other AFC cities. There is a good chance their first ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks will end their career with zero Super Bowl titles. 

Right now, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are hogging up all the hardware. In less than two week, the Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX -- their fifth Super Bowl appearance in six seasons. No franchise has come close to that kind of dominance in such a period of time. The Patriots from 2014 to 2018 went four times in five years. The 1990-1993 Buffalo Bills went four times in a row (still a record) but won none of those Super Bowls and hadn't been there before or since. These Chiefs are doing this while going through several versions of itself, with the main constants being Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce. 

As long as Mahomes is playing, it seems that the Chiefs will always be in the conversation. Andy Reid is 66, so there's no telling how long he intends to coach. He doesn't look like someone on the cusp of retiring, but you never know. Kelce will turn 36 during next season, so he's clearly in his last few years of football. But Mahomes holds the key.

And therein lies the problem for everyone else in the AFC: When will we get a turn?

This could be the golden age of quarterbacks in the AFC. At this moment, you have Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in that conference -- four insanely great QBs. There's also CJ Stroud, Justin Herbert and upstarts Bo Nix and Drake Maye. You'd think that Allen, Lamar and Burrow will eventually get their chance at pulling down a ring, but that's not necessarily true. In fact, it is unlikely. 

For one, the Chiefs will have to tail off. If we're being honest, these last two seasons have been the time to catch Kansas City napping. I mean, last year's receiving corps was a season long joke and they still won the Super Bowl. This season watched KC snatch several wins in the final moments of games, and they kept winning them. If the Chiefs do slip up one of these years, it opens the door for the other great quarterbacks to go get their ring.

But that door opened by the Chiefs losing doesn't mean everyone else gets to eat. Each season only gets one Super Bowl champion. If the Chiefs aren't there, only Lamar, Allen or Burrow could get there. Just like in 2021 when the Bengals finally broke through by beating the Chiefs in the AFC title game, it was just Cincinnati. Allen and Jackson were stuffed. If Allen makes it, Burrow and Lamar Jackson didn't. 

That's the reality of the AFC right now. Someone will not win their franchise a Super Bowl. Someone will be their generation's Dan Marino. 

Marino spent the 1980s and 1990s in an AFC with John Elway and Jim Kelly. From 1986 to 1993, Elway or Kelly went to 7 of 8 Super Bowls (Boomer Esiason's Bengals went in 1988). Ironically, they didn't win any of those seven Super Bowls ... but NFC quarterbacks named Phil Simms, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Joe Montana (twice) and Troy Aikman (twice) did. Marino did get there in 1984 but never got back. Warren Moon never got there. Neither did Bernie Kosar. 

Joe Burrow is sort of Marino already. Burrow, like Marino, reached the Super Bowl in his second season in the NFL. He hasn't been back, and with Mahomes seemingly stacking Super Bowl apperances while Lamar Jackson is stacking MVPs and Josh Allen is left watching his seasons end a bit too early, there's no guarantee that Burrow will get back. That's still better than either Jackson or Allen, who just want a taste. 

In the NBA, one of the legendary things about Michael Jordan's career is that he kept guys like Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and others from winning their championships. In the 1990s, he stunted the entire Eastern Conference from getting to a Finals. That's what Mahomes is doing right now in the AFC. The Chiefs won't get to every Super Bowl during Mahomes time there, but the few times he slips up will be a massive opportunity that only one of those Hall of Fame quarterbacks will be able to maximize. That was Burrow in 2021. Who will it be if and when it happens again?

Maybe one of these guys end up in the NFC at some point. If Burrow, Jackson or Allen went to the NFC they would immediately be the best quarterback in that conference. I mean, who is it now? Jalen Hurts? Jared Goff? Jayden Daniels? Dak Prescott? Brock Purdy? In the Mahomes era, the NFC has sent to the Super Bowl: Hurts twice, Purdy, Matthew Stafford (who should be retiring in the near future), Tom Brady (who has retired) and Jimmy Garoppolo. Sam Darnold reached the Pro Bowl in the NFC but Mahomes didn't make it in the AFC. That's how tough the competition is over there. 

That's how tough it is to reach you ultimate goals.