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LAS VEGAS — Dan Lanning has a dark side. If you doubt me, just ask the University of Oregon football coach to give you a list of his favorite movies.
He'll reel off films such as the "The Departed" and "Seven" and "Mystic River" and the "Road to Perdition." But it's a quote from one of his other favorite movies — "The Godfather Part II" — that I'm thinking about this week.
More on that in a bit.
Oregon will play Washington on Friday at Allegiant Stadium in the Pac-12 Conference title game. The prevailing thought is that the Pac-12 champion will shower in confetti, then catapult into the four-team College Football Playoff. And maybe it will, but if the Ducks are that winner, they need to leave no doubt.
This playoff stuff can be unforgiving.
If Washington wins the Pac-12 championship game, the Huskies are in — no question. The selection committee won't leave a 13-0 conference champion out. But what happens if Oregon squeaks past Washington in conjunction with Michigan beating Iowa in the Big Ten title game, Florida State over Louisville in the ACC title game, and an Alabama upset of Georgia in the SEC championship?
What then?
At least one deserving team gets shafted, is what.
The "playoff" really isn't a playoff. We've known that dirty little secret for some time. It's a four-team invitational farce. The looming expansion to 12 teams can't get here fast enough. But it's already far too late.
Bo Nix has to be Heisman-worthy on Friday. Oregon's run game has to be dominant. And the UO defense will need to contain UW star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. The Ducks, favored by 9.5 points, must win, sure, but if there's an opportunity to earn style points, they'd be wise to posture for the committee.
You know, just in case.
Truth is — Oregon and Washington should both be in the college playoff. So should Alabama and Georgia. Also, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State and a half dozen other teams. The fact that fans are left watching the same absurd postseason puzzle try to sort itself out is an indictment of college football.
It reminds me of a quote about Hyman Roth, a character in "The Godfather Part II." He's an old, bald, withering mob boss. Just like the stale four-team event, death always feels near for Roth. But somehow, the guy wakes up every day.
Michael Corleone said: "Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last 20 years."
That's college football, folks.
Dying, for years.
I mean, we still get great games. The ratings are strong for some of the best of them. But I'm not sure the entire country feels included and engaged and that's been a problem for some time.
Michael Mulvihill is in charge of analytics and data at FOX. He said this week that there were more than 150 billion minutes of regular-season viewing this season. That's enormous growth vs. prior seasons. In 1991, for example, there were just 31 national college football telecasts. This year there have already been 440.
The product is everywhere.
It also appears to have money falling out of its pockets. Yet, I simultaneously hear a stripe of fans express that they're turned off by what they see happening and are ready to be done with it.
Conference realignment killed the Pac-12. It left Oregon State and Washington State without a home. It has Stanford and Cal traveling to the ACC. And Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium is soon-to-be a Big 12 venue.
NIL collectives are in a tizzy as the transfer portal prepares to open, trying to figure out how much it's going to cost to get (and retain) a quarterback.
Said Nebraska's Matt Rhule: "A good quarterback in the portal costs $1 million, $1.5, $2 million" in NIL funding.
Oregon is having a terrific season. So is Washington. Friday should be a terrific showcase with a conference championship at stake. But I'm convinced it's a wholly unnecessary game. And there's sadness hanging over the whole thing.
The Huskies went undefeated in the regular season and still must beat Oregon for a second time to get to the playoff? What was Week 7 about?!? The Ducks went 11-1 and also face a must-win situation? How do fans at Texas, Alabama, Florida State feel knowing that this dumb game of musical chairs is about to end and their team may not have a seat?
It's Hyman Roth, folks.
There was a darkness that clouded the entire Pac-12 season. It really crept in around Week 10 as the end of the final regular season approached. The Ducks and Huskies separated themselves. They're both great teams. Everyone else started making plans for 2024. But I'm left thinking about a 108 years of history that unraveled as if it never mattered.
Does a school have to be in the Big Ten to compete for a national title? Or the SEC? How about the ACC or Big 12? Are they title competitors still? The Group of Five schools will tell you there's a path for them in the expanded playoff. But I wonder how they'll stack up vs. the "Power 4" with hundreds of millions less in revenue over a decade.
College football is more than ever about money. Players will soon unionize and bargain collectively for salaries. As much as we'd like to compare 2023 with 1991, the only similarity is that the postseason event is a joke.
I'll be in the press box for the Oregon-Washington game. I'll bet you'll watch the game. But amid that, I'm hopeful that college football will come to its senses. That it will remember to be different than the NFL. And that its regional flavor and rivalries had appeal and value.
The sport has been having the same heart attack for 20 years.
I wish it would see a doctor already.
Read more of columnist John Canzano exclusively at JohnCanzano.com.
