College Football Is a Fun, Glorious Mess. These 7 Changes Would Make It Even Better.
How to fix the conferences, the rules, the playoffs, and more
Hello and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Get a cat to boost morale this week, even if you can't give them a jersey and a locker.
I'm supposed to be on vacation, so we've only got one topic this week and it's a big one: fixing college football.
But first, don't forget the NFL season is right around the corner. We have an Eliminator Challenge group just for Free Agent subscribers on ESPN. Pick one different team to win each week and see how long you can go—lose once and you're out. Click here to sign up.
Don't miss sports coverage from Jason Russell and Reason.
Locker Room Links
- Robert Kraft's son is running for mayor of Boston and attacked incumbent Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu for spending "over $100 million on a soccer stadium for billionaires." Kraft is right, but he's a little biased—if the soccer team weren't playing in that stadium, they'd probably be at Gillette Stadium, which The Kraft Group owns.
- Reminder that people are innocent until proven guilty, even in federal gambling investigations.
- Thankfully the First Amendment doesn't change as often as MLS' free speech code.
- Prayers up for Lionel Messi, the real victim of this free market reform.
- Cleveland Browns owners make the most Browns-like mistake since that Deshaun Watson deal.
- Elsewhere in Reason: "Cracker Barrel Didn't 'Go Woke.' It Just Went Broke."
- Who do you want to see in an overseas game?
The SEC should consider following the Big12's lead and send two of their worst teams overseas for a Week 0 matchup
Think about it, how electric would it be to have Auburn vs Kentucky live from Kabul Afghanistan
— Nick Perkins (@NickyPerkss) August 23, 2025
Fixing Football
As shown by the sheer number of categories to discuss below, college football has become a bit of a mess—but it's still awesome. As with our four changes to MLB last week, these seven changes will try to juggle what fans want and what the people in power want.
Rules: With a sport this large, bad referees are inevitable. Bigger conferences should have a video referee who can quickly step in to overrule a bad call or offer speedy guidance on something referees aren't sure about. Baseball found ways to shorten games and it paid off, college football should do the same. Someone suggested split-screen commercials (commonly seen with NASCAR and golf broadcasts), which seems like a bold move—people would hate it during plays, but if it could be done during transitions from special teams units to offense, that would help.
Overtime: College overtime is clearly more entertaining than NFL overtime. Keep the old way of alternating possessions starting at the 25-yard line for the first two overtimes. Beyond that, make it first and goal from the 10.
Playoffs: I remain ashamed of the Big Ten for floating a playoff format with 20-plus teams—I don't understand why conferences would want to devalue the importance (and TV dollars) tied to their regular season games. The right number of playoff teams is obviously eight (maybe even six), but it's safe to assume the sports leaders aren't going to shrink the playoffs. Let's just keep it simple then: Keep the playoff at 12 teams, with all 12 selected and seeded by committee without any automatic qualification or byes for conference champions (as in the college basketball system, conference championships would still matter for about 24 hours until the bracket is announced). The committee should more strongly emphasize strength of schedule to encourage interconference games that will give them a better idea of how the conferences stack against each other. Maintain historical bowl tie-ins as much as possible (i.e., if a Midwest team is going to play a West Coast team, put them in the Rose Bowl).
Conferences: The main focus here should be on rivalries. Especially considering the aforementioned desire to expand the playoff and devalue the regular season, rivalry games will keep some of the regular season passion alive. (Ask Michigan fans, and 99 out of 100 will tell you they care more about beating Ohio State last year than beating Alabama in a bowl game or the fact that Ohio State won the championship.) Schools should do a better job of scheduling their nonconference rivalries every year (this Michigan State fan misses our must-see games against Notre Dame). Some of you want to break up the conferences and limit them to 10 schools or less—that's not going to happen unless a law forces it, which would be government overreach. Some of you suggested promotion and relegation between top conferences and midmajors, or between upper and lower divisions within the same conference. This seems more plausible than promotion and relegation in the pro sports leagues—the giants, like Alabama, aren't going to worry about relegation and will be glad lesser teams in the relegation fight start garnering more interest and TV money. But conferences, like pro sports leagues, are interested in market size (i.e., large fan bases) rather than sporting merit. That said, big schools already get more money in sponsorships, merchandise, etc., than smaller schools in the same conference. No need to make the money gap worse with bigger monetary prizes going to schools at the top of the standings.
Player Regulations: Cut the farce and admit that players are paid for their skill and not their marketability. This would mean players are technically employees—but they should resist the temptation to unionize. Look how much player empowerment there's been in the last decade without a union. Collective bargaining, though, could mean a stricter salary cap, a draft, or other regulations. As employees, players could sign multiyear contracts that should cut down on rampant transfers—but the system should also allow for a transfer system (common in European soccer) where big schools would have to compensate small schools if they want to void a player's contract and have the signing rights to a new contract.
Governance: The NCAA is flailing, especially on the football front (if they had made changes 20 years ago, they'd have been ahead of the ball in a strong position). Having two of nine people on the Board of Governors from the Big Ten and SEC may reflect the sport's diversity, but not where the power and money are. Put the NCAA out of its misery on the entire Division I level, but keep it for Divisions II and III for old-school student athletes who just want to play sports while they get their degree. For Division I sports with athletes under the above employment model, separate governance for separate sports into separate leagues.
Laws: Don't bail out the NCAA with a law that will probably lead to years of litigation. Don't set up a new government-run governing body that is only going to get politicians and presidents more involved (remember, the worst politicians you can think of would have an influence). Quit signing executive orders that are not "saving college sports." College football is big enough to compete with the NFL, so repeal the part of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that keeps the NFL from playing games on Saturdays for three months. While we're at it, as one of you suggested, "Abolish anti-trust law….It'd be better if big time sports were simply spun off by colleges, but if there were no anti-trust laws, they could keep them."
Replay of the Week
With apologies to Capt. Andrew Luck, go 'Bows. (The kicker has an awesome background story.)
Hawaii beats Stanford on a FG as time expires pic.twitter.com/ZbkMYiFDpD
— CJ Fogler ???? (@cjzero) August 24, 2025
That's all for this week. Enjoy watching the real game of week one, Weber State against James Madison.