College football: Pac-12 gets it right with rule change

The Pac-12 Conference has enacted a rule requiring least six wins to be considered for a bowl bid. The rest of college football needs to follow suit.

A week ago, the Pac-12 voted to require its members to win at least six games in order to be eligible for a bowl, eliminating the chance that a 5-7 team could wind up representing the conference in the postseason.

The rest of the college football world needs to follow suit.

While the bowl cutoff is typically six wins already, an expanding bowl lineup forced the NCAA to add an exception. In 2015, the NCAA ruled that 5-7 teams with the best Academic Progress Rating could become bowl eligible if there weren’t enough six-win teams to fill around 80 spots.

That first year, three 5-7 teams (San Jose State, Nebraska and Minnesota) qualified, with Mississippi State and North Texas earning the “distinction” a year later.  Last season, no 5-7 teams were needed to fill out the bowl schedule.

With its rule change, the Pac-12 ensured none of its teams would join that number.  For the sake of the sport, the other conferences need to follow.  It’s not so much about the quality of the teams (5-7 teams are 4-1 in bowls, with North Texas’ overtime loss to Army the lone blemish).

But by scraping to fill 78 spots, the NCAA is diluting its product.

No one wants to turn in at 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon to watch Akron and Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.  Outside of gamblers and diehard fans, most people don’t start to tune in until after Christmas when the ranked teams face each other.

College football games are already a marathon viewing experience.  Without the compelling narratives that games between better opponents create, most viewers don’t have the stamina to watch.  So they don’t.

The truth is if you took away the Dollar General Bowl, the only people who would care are the executives at Dollar General and on the bowl committee who are missing the chance to line their pockets with stacks of cash from the TV broadcasting rights.

The Pac-12 is also declining a chance to grab a share of this money.  But conference officials have decided that quality is better than quantity.  Putting a potentially inferior team in the spotlight, even if it’s lucrative, ultimately could do more damage to the brand than it’s worth.

The NFL is experiencing this situation with Thursday Night Football.

Next: Five locks for the 2019 College Football Hall of Fame

College football can learn from the pros’ mistakes, and take steps to avoid further dilution of their product. This season, they have a chance to make bowls great again.  They should take it.