Category: History and More

I admit, sometimes I get a bit nostalgic for the way college football was – or at least the way I thought it was when I was a kid.

I grew during the era when there usually was just one televised game per Saturday, so that was the game you watched. If it happened to be a matchup that featured the team you cheered for, well, that made a big deal that much bigger.

It was a time when there were only a handful of bowl games and national champions were determined by a vote of coaches and sports writers.

By today’s standards, it was downright primitive. But when it was all you knew, it all seemed pretty good.

Now here we are in 2025, with Notre Dame and Ohio State the last teams standing in major college football following a 12-team tournament. They’ll meet on January 20 in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, an event that culminates the first year of a “real” playoff.

(I realize something called the CFP Playoff has been around since 2014, but up until the 2024 season it included only four schools. As I’ve said many times, when a national championship is settled among four out of 134 teams, that’s not a playoff, merely an invitational).

Yet – speaking as a fan – the game gives off a completely different vibe now. The teams represent colleges, but what they’re playing doesn’t seem like NCAA football anymore.

Big-time college football has become so … transient. Players are looking to make the most of their opportunities, and nowadays that means jumping from one team to another thanks to the transfer portal and the possibility of a financial windfall.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia suited up for New Mexico Military Institute and New Mexico before making his way to Nashville and the SEC.

Alan Bowman calls signals for Oklahoma State. Previously, he was on the rosters of both Texas Tech and Michigan.

And before moving on to the coaching ranks in 2024, J.T. Daniels played QB for Southern Cal, Georgia, West Virginia and Rice. The list goes on and on.

The Athletic reports that by the time the winter transfer portal had closed last month, more than 3,000 Football Bowl Subdivision players had entered it. That’s a whole lot of shuffling.

Playing time is the primary reason, of course, with the subtext being that more snaps increase NIL opportunities. Now that athletes can make money off their name, image and likeness, it’s even more important to join a program where you can elevate the profile of your name, image and likeness.

At this point you probably expect me to play the old man card and start pining for the “good ol’ days.”

I’m not gonna do that.

If a player can ink a big money sponsorship deal with Aunt Gertrude’s Old-Fashioned Carbuncle Salve, more power to him. And I’m glad revenue sharing will come into play starting with the 2025-26 season.

With head coaches making as much as $10 million per season, it’s criminal for athletes not to benefit financially. They’re the ones putting their bodies on the line and bringing fans to the stadium (and eyes to the TV).

That said, the evolution of college football has taken away much of its charm. While my decades-long fandom came with a heavy dose of naivety, I liked the fact that Saturdays were reserved for “amateur” kids playing for school pride. Sundays, meanwhile, were all about grown men playing for a paycheck.

The lines between college football and the NFL were clearly drawn, and I appreciated the distinction.

And while there’s still a huge gulf between the Power Four and the 32 franchises that play with the ball bearing Roger Goodell’s autograph, the relationship is increasingly symbiotic.

Today’s elite college players are often ready to move to the NFL and make an impact by the end of their junior years. And choosing a school is less about growing up cheering for that school and more about which institution provides the clearest path to the NFL – and the biggest payday.

Again, all of this makes perfect sense and I’m completely in the players’ corner. College football is big business, even if we like to pretend otherwise, and these guys have every right to make the best business decisions for themselves.

However, these major changes mean the game has morphed into more of a pro-type league – one with unlimited free agency and major financial disparity, depending on the team and conference. Many institutions have “collectives,” which raise money from donors to provide NIL compensation. The playing field is tilted, and the have-nots are falling even further behind the haves.

In cbssports.com’s report on the Buckeyes’ 28-14 victory over Texas in Friday’s Cotton Bowl semi-final, one line read, “Ohio State’s $20 million roster, one of the most expensive in college football, was on display throughout a gutsy win over the Longhorns.” 

With that kind of cash floating around, I imagine there’ll come a time – likely soon – when the top 40 or 50 programs break away and form their own “Super League.”

It’ll be at the top of the collegiate pyramid, moving far ahead of the FBS, Football Championship Subdivision and Division II. Calling it “NFL Lite” won’t be too far off the mark.

What college football “was” to me is now merely a fond memory. The days when a scholarship was the dangling carrot to lure a student-athlete are long gone.

What college football “is,” well, it’s a natural progression, and that progression comes with a hefty price tag.

We might not like it from our outside-looking-in vantage point, but we have no choice but to acknowledge it.

When you think of the greatest players in Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers history, names like LaDainian Tomlinson, Junior Seau and Dan Fouts quickly come to mind.

But the greatest individual performance by a Bolt? That came on January 5, 1964, courtesy of fullback Keith Lincoln. And the stakes couldn’t have been higher.

Sixty-one years ago, the American Football League – after just four seasons – had established itself as a major threat to the NFL. The last clubs standing in the 1963 campaign were the Chargers (11-3) and Boston Patriots (8-6-1), who met at San Diego’s Balboa Stadium in the AFL Championship Game.

The Chargers had the league’s best record while Boston had to defeat the Buffalo Bills (also 8-6-1) in an Eastern Conference playoff game to earn the right to play for the crown.

It was never a contest as San Diego rolled to a 51-10 victory.

Obviously, a rout of that magnitude suggests the Chargers had superlative play across the board, and that was certainly true.

The winners outgained the Pats 610 yards to 261, and a smothering defense recorded several sacks totaling negative 42 yards and forced a pair of turnovers. Jumping out to a 14-0 lead, it was 31-10 at the half and San Diego scored all 20 second half points.

Winning QB Tobin Rote capped off a league Most Valuable Player season with a terrific championship game performance, throwing for 173 yards and two TDs and rushing for another score.

On defense, Paul Maguire and Bob Mitinger each had interceptions.

However, Lincoln closed the day with 206 ground yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries; reeled in seven receptions for 123 yards; and completed a 24-yard pass on an option play. He was voted title game MVP, picking up 38 of 39 votes.

Days before the clash Boston coach Mike Holovak inadvertently predicted the future when asked how to stop Chargers halfback Paul Lowe.

“We don’t expect Lowe to gain 200 yards, but we’re not going to key on him,” Holovak told the Associated Press. “Key on Lowe, and Lincoln will kill you.”

The Patriots boss was right, although Lincoln said after the game he felt out of sorts in the first quarter.

“I didn’t feel real good there early in the game,” Lincoln said. “My legs sort of went out after I made those first couple of runs. The heat got me. I just didn’t seem to have life in my legs. I felt I might have trouble running the 100 as fast as (Chargers 320-pound lineman) Ernie Ladd.

“This is the greatest game I ever played, but running 50 yards seemed like running a mile.”

Lincoln’s first four carries went for 56, 67, 11 and 44 yards – an astonishing 44.5 yards per carry average.

“Our offensive line was just too much,” the 6-1, 215-pounder said. “Our line just tore them open. Not often do you see any of Boston’s linebackers getting knocked down, but today they were.”

He got no argument from Patriot defensive end Bob Dee.

“Lincoln is the best back in the league, bar none,” Dee said. “One time about five of us hit him and we couldn’t bring him down.”

And Chargers coach Sid Gillman had high praise for his star freight-toter as well.

“Lincoln is the best all-around back we have on the squad,” Gillman said.

No question, Lincoln’s exploits in the AFL Championship Game were epic, but he was hardly a one-hit wonder.

In an eight-year AFL career – seven spent with the Chargers – he rushed for 3,383 rushing yards and scored 19 touchdowns on the ground while tallying 19 more TDs on 2,250 receiving yards (165 catches).

He was a five-time AFL All-Star and two-time First Team All-AFL selection.

In the AFL Championship Game the following season, Lincoln was immortalized again as the recipient of “The Hit Heard ‘Round The World.” He was crumpled by Buffalo linebacker Mike Stratton on a vicious collision that broke one of Lincoln’s ribs and knocked him out of the game midway through the first quarter.

The Bills dethroned the defending champs with a 20-7 victory.

Lincoln, who was voted into the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1980, starred at Washington State before playing pro ball and was nicknamed the “Moose of the Palouse.” A member of the Cougars’ Hall of Fame – setting a school career rushing record (1,501 yards), a single season punting average record (43.4 in 1959), and a career punting average record (40.3) – Lincoln passed away in 2019.

Still, his legend and legacy live on.

Major League Baseball has the World Series.

Basketball culminates with the NBA Finals.

And the NHL crowns its king with the Stanley Cup Finals.

But football? Unlike the other three that require multiple victories for a title, two NFL teams square off in a one-game, winner-take-all spectacle known as the Super Bowl.

But what if there was a Super Bowl Series, a best-of-three format to determine pro football’s ultimate champion?

As odd as it might seem now, it was actually discussed during the 1973 NFL owners meeting.

I was researching the late, not-so-great NFL Playoff Bowl when I stumbled across this novel idea.

The first mention came in the June 7, 1960, edition of the Miami Herald. Sports editor Jimmy Burns was notebooking NFL meetings when he relayed a throwaway comment by league commissioner Pete Rozelle.

After suggesting that the NFL – then 13 teams – was eying expansion to 16 franchises, Burns wrote that Rozelle said, “Then there might be the possibility of a two-out-of-three playoff for the NFL championship.”

I scrambled to find some other reference to what seemed like a pretty big deal, yet found nothing during that time range.

But …

Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders and one of the great movers/shakers/agitators in professional sports history, brought it up ahead of the NFL’s annual meeting of minds in 1973.

Sudden death overtime and adding a two-point conversion were on the agenda, and then Davis proposed the boldest innovation of all.

Davis was a member of the NFL’s four-person competition committee, so he wasn’t merely howling at the moon. He was serious.

“I believe it’s provocative and has a lot of merit,” Davis told wire service reporters in April, 1973. “The games would be played on three successive weekends and we’d eliminate the Pro Bowl. I had never explored the Super Bowl Series idea before with the other committee members (Paul Brown of Cincinnati, Tex Schramm of Dallas and Jim Finks of Minnesota), but I think it has a lot of merit.

“The commissioner is determined that pro football not stand still like some other sports but take a step forward. I think some of the proposals we’ll be discussing this week will become a reality. The country would be excited about it – it would be dynamic – and the series would give us more of a gauge of a true champion.”

George Allen, whose Washington team came up short to unbeaten Miami in Super Bowl VII, was on board.

“I’m in favor of a two-out-of-three Super Bowl Series,” he said.

The NFL was a juggernaut entering the 1973 campaign, and after completing the merger with the American Football League in 1970, it was up to 26 clubs. If Rozelle thought 16 was the threshold for a best-of-three championship, surely he would be all-in now, right?

Nah.

“The plusses are obvious,” Rozell told United Press International. “A better gauge, more television. But I have certain negative feelings about it. The logistics would be tough, not knowing where you were playing the following week. I think right now I’d rather have the impact of one shot.”

Davis, of course, disagreed.

“As for the last Super Bowl, Miami proved itself the champion on that day – no question,” Davis said. “But in the future a three-game Super Bowl Series might be a better test to decide who’s best. Each of the three networks (NBC, CBS and ABC) would get a game to televise, and we might play one at night. It might be a home and home arrangement. Maybe it won’t take place this year, but it might in the future.”

(One glaring problem there was that if a team swept, there would be no third game – thus one network would be left with no Super Bowl Series contest and the subsequent loss of major advertising dollars).

Turns out, not much came from that particular owners meeting.

Proposals such as the two-point conversion and sudden death overtime were voted down, and the Super Bowl Series never even came to a vote.

More than 50 years later, it’s still an interesting concept, though. Remove the physical toll it would take on the players from the equation, and it makes a lot of sense.

However, with the standalone Super Bowl an international cultural event and the NFL season already long – and brutal – one game to claim the Lombardi Trophy is enough.