DETROIT _ "Go Hop!" I screamed.
A few weeks ago, I sat in the stands watching my son play for Johns Hopkins in the first round of the NCAA Division III national football tournament in Baltimore.
"Let's go Nick!" I screamed, wearing a replica of his jersey. "Go Hop!"
Heck yes, I'll admit that I'm that obnoxious dad, screaming my head off, sitting on the edge of my seat and jumping out of my skin with pride because I found it so amazing.
The entire setup was unbelievably cool. Thirty-two teams had a chance to win the national title, and I sat there thinking: Division I (well, the Football Bowl Subdivision) is totally messed up. Forget the conference title games, the archaic bowl system and the four-team College Football Playoff system. Just get rid of them. This is where it's at. This is a real tournament. This is amazing and dramatic and cool as heck.
Since then, the Division III tournament has had some fascinating upsets and surprises. A No. 1 seed was knocked out, and Johns Hopkins is still alive, even though few would have predicted it. Johns Hopkins will play at noon Saturday for a chance to get to the Final Four. Hopkins is about to face RPI, where Lions coach Matt Patricia went to school. Small world, right?
But it doesn't take a rocket scientist from RPI to figure out something important: The FBS can learn a lot from the other divisions that play real national tournaments.
A four-team College Football Playoff isn't enough. An eight-team playoff would be a welcome, short-term fix. Just dump the college conference champions and start it this weekend. That would be a worthy improvement.
But I want more. I'm dreaming about a 16-team tournament. You think March Madness is huge? This would be even better. College football would dominate the entire month of December.
"Truthfully, if there were eight teams it would legitimately be a true playoff format," Ferris State football coach Tony Annese said. "If there were 16, I would say it would be incredible."
No doubt.
Annese is an expert voice when it comes to playoff football _ at every level. In 22 years as a high school coach (Montrose, Ann Arbor Pioneer, Jenison and Muskegon), he went to the playoffs 15 times and won three state titles. He led Grand Rapids Community College to a pair of national titles. And now, he has guided Ferris into the NCAA Division II football playoffs for five straight years. The Bulldogs are one win from the Final Four.
"You have to be mentally tough," Annese said. "You have to be gritty to have the mental capacity and the mental tenacity to overcome the challenges of a long season."
