Million-dollar questions abound in changing college game as Irish and Buckeyes prepare
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A quarterback moving from Tulane to Duke doesn't raise eyebrows. The $8 million that boosters at a basketball school paid for a football player does. A veteran NFL coach finding a career lifeline at a college program that doesn't win a lot shouldn't surprise anyone. It does feel like a shock that the coach is Pro Football Hall of Fame-bound Bill Belichick.
Transactions nobody ever dreamed of became everyday occurrences this season in college football's trip through the looking glass. Even so, one of the most tumultuous years in history will end with two schools whose traditions are as old as the game itself — Ohio State and Notre Dame — playing for a national championship.
Monday night's final (even that's a fairly novel concept for a sport defined by its bowl games for decades) will mark the latest finish to a season in college football's 155-year history. It's a product of the new 12-team playoff worth billions. What comes after the game — with player payments, the transfer portal, tweaks to the playoff, Title IX issues and more — will determine how much wackiness persists next year and beyond.
“It’s a lot to consider, it’s a lot to try to navigate,” said Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman, who is the chair of the NCAA’s Division I policymaking board. “It’s hard, because you have a sense of what’s coming, but you don’t have as much clarity as you’d like.”.
