Surely this photo was doctored since Nick Saban never smiles.

Nick Saban had just hoisted the crystal football with a look that said, Here it is, humans, now let me start working on acquiring another one. He told a reporter that he would enjoy the victory for an entire 48 hours, twice as long as his usual celebration time limit. Senior linebacker Nico Johnson said the returning players would be angry about the two touchdowns they allowed. My friend Munoz asked me if Alabama was going to start practicing right then and there on the Orange Bowl field.
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Purdue played well enough this season to get an invitation to a bowl game. Not just any bowl, but a New Year’s Day bowl. Purdue played poorly enough this season to fire its coach. That, my friends, is the modern-day college football bowl system.

Purdue is somewhat of an unfair example. The Boilermakers are 6-6, but moved up in the Big Ten’s bowl pecking order because two of the better teams, Ohio State and Penn State, were ineligible. But Purdue is one of 12 6-6 teams going bowling (and not the only bowl team to fire its coach; 7-5 North Carolina State canned Tom O’Brien).
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Three years ago I called for the removal of college football preseason polls, at least for those polls that factored into the BCS standings. My reasoning was that voters are loath to reconsider their preseason votes, making it very difficult for teams to move up in the polls without the teams in front of them losing. Again, that was three years ago, when I had little influence as a sportswriter. Now, rich and famous, I can facilitate real change. And I’ve decided I want to take it a step further and eliminate polls until the regular season is complete. When the playoff arrives in two years, the powers-that-be shouldn’t force—or even allow—the selection committee to release polls throughout the season.
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