This Week is Showing Us The Best and Worst of College Football: All Things CW

From Mississippi State's tribute to Mike Leach, to some of the recent coaching hires, SEC fans are already feeling everything from euphoria to disgust in 2023.

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts, one each day week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 3

We normally reserve "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" for football reviews, but it seems appropriate this week, the first of 2023.

The Good 

We're a little late with this, but Mississippi State honoring late coach Mike Leach by wearing a pirate flag on one side of the helmets, instead of the usual school logo, in the ReliaQuest Bowl at Tampa, Fla., wasn't just good, it was awesome. 

The Bulldogs could have stayed home while mourning their head coach, but the team was adamant that it wanted to play the game against Illinois. 

“Mike would be pissed if we didn't play,” a source told Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger in December. “The bowl game is at a stadium with an actual pirate ship in it.”

We had mentioned before that the ending may have been the most Leach-thing ever, but did you notice that the player who scored the touchdown on the circus-like final play was former Alabama cornerback Marcus Banks?

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒. #HailState🏴‍☠️ pic.twitter.com/FeGdryJQQa

— Mississippi State Athletics (@HailState) January 2, 2023

The Bad 

NCAA Transformation Committee’s report includes a lot of good recommendations that will probably happen quickly (including requiring all Division I schools to provide medical coverage for athletically-related injuries for a minimum of two years following graduation or the completion of participation), but the one everyone is focussing on is the expansion of championship tournaments to incorporate 25 percent of teams.

Not only will this be the mantra for expanding the postseason in numerous sports (and part of how football will quickly go from 12-team playoff to 16), but opens the door to including 90 teams in March Madness.

Consider me a purist when it comes to the men's and women's basketball tournaments in that I didn't even like the change from 64 because it made some teams play an extra game, or have the stigma of the "play-in" game. Moreover, the more teams added the more the field is watered down. 

But if there's a chance to make more money the NCAA is going to do it, that's just reality nowadays. So the guess here is that the tournaments won't expand for a while, but down the road, maybe when the television contracts all expire in 2032.

In the meantime, we get to look forward to years of debate about "What's best for the sport," when we all know it's just another means for making some extra money.  

The report will go to the Division I board of directors for consideration at the 2023 NCAA convention in San Antonio next week.

The Ugly 

Jimbo Fisher has Bobby Petrino as his offensive coordinator and D.J. Durkin as his defensive coordinator. Plus Auburn has Hugh Freeze as a head coach. 

The SEC needs to change its slogan from "It Just Means More," to "It's All About Winning."

See Also:

Take 1: Roster Juggling Has Never Been So Challenging In College Football

Take 2: SEC Proves Once Again It Can Beat Up Your Conference