Outside of undefeated Alabama and Clemson apparently heading to their usual post-Christmas vacation in the College Football Playoff, the sport seems a little out of whack.
Notre Dame hasn't lost a game, but should have, and still might Saturday when it plays Syracuse. The Fighting Irish seem more like a pretender than contender.
Then you have a bunch of one-loss teams, which screams for enlarging the field to eight, complete with Ohio State. But do the Buckeyes really want to dance on the nation's biggest college stage right now?
If it wasn't enough that Urban Meyer employed an accused wife beater, now comes allegations the former assistant, Zach Smith, also directed racial slurs at former wide receiver Trevon Grimes.
Smith, who recently spent considerable time tweeting about Texas Coach Tom Herman in an unflattering way, is denying it, but once again Ohio State is national news for something other than football.
LeBron Grimes, Trevon's father, in an interview with Brett McMurphy -- the same reporter who broke the story about Smith's abuse -- said he called Meyer. The coach said he was busy and would call Grimes back, but he never did.
It shouldn't affect the decisions of members of the CFP selection committee, but how could it not?
Meyer's protection of Smith, who remained employed when he should not have been associated with one of the most respected programs in the country, should get him fired. It won't because Meyer wins games, but it should.
Yes, yours truly wrote Ohio State is a respected program, which has nothing to do with the fact an OSU fan sent a box full of beautiful buckeyes from a tree in Ohio. Not sure what to do with them, but they are interesting.
Which brings us to another upside-down event: Louisville firing Bobby Petrino with two games to go.
Petrino was fired for being 2-8. Nothing else. The only thing he did wrong was not win, and that hasn't happened many times in his career.
As a head coach on the Division I level, he is 119-56. This was only his second losing season, the first being his initial season at the University of Arkansas in 2008 when he went 5-7. Petrino finished 34-17 and 17-15 in SEC play at the UA during a time when Nick Saban was establishing himself as king of the SEC.
Petrino made a personal mistake at Arkansas and he paid dearly for it.
The new athletic director at Louisville said he wanted the football program fixed and didn't see it happening with Petrino.
Don't feel too sorry for Petrino: He's getting $14 million in severance pay and will coach again.
Maybe the huge salaries and buyouts that reward a coach for losing are starting to catch up with college ADs. Rewarding failure is a bad business model for college athletics. How is that not a cause for a firing?
Arkansas had to pay Brett Bielema close to $14 million, but it also allowed in the contract he could continue to get his full payment if he took another job that paid $150,000 or less. So he's working for the New England Patriots, presumably for $150,000, and still taking money from the UA at a time it needs to be keeping money, not spending it.
College football seems a little out of whack right now, except for Alabama and Clemson, where the rich have gotten richer. The six or seven schools who are chasing them are going to cause a big mess when four or five are left out of the playoffs, one of which should be Ohio State at this time.
Sports on 11/14/2018