The Dubious Value of No. 1

Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz made a strong case Tuesday for ranking his Irish as the No. 1 college football team in the nation. Alas, the nation’s sportswriters and coaches already were voting to put Miami in the top spot since the Florida school was the only one to defeat Notre Dame in 1989. Beyond that, Holtz should not have felt compelled to lobby so vigorously for the mythical national championship since it is--remember--only mythical. The Notre Dame record speaks for itself, both academically and on the athletic field.

The debate this year over who’s No. 1 went to extremes. This frenzy has once again prompted proposals for a playoff system that would determine a true national champion, one that could not be questioned or debated. But several rounds of playoffs would only exacerbate the real problem with intercollegiate athletics today: Too many games, too much national television exposure for the top teams, too much money at stake and too much pressure to win, win, win.

The nation already has one professional football league with a monthlong playoff period, including the obscene two-week hype before the annual Super Bowl. The guys in the NFL are there for money, not education. It is supposed to be different for students. But college sports seasons are already so long that fewer than 30% of football and basketball players graduate, according to this week’s U.S. News & World Report.

Anyway, there is no guarantee that a college football playoff system would end the controversy over who’s No. 1. What if the flu hit an undefeated No. 1 team just before the semifinal or championship game? And even the best team goes flat once in awhile, as in Notre Dame’s 27-10 loss to Miami in the last game of the 1989 regular season--or Miami’s defeat by Florida State for that matter.

The solution is not to lengthen the season and play more games before national television audiences. What is needed is for the academic world to recapture control of intercollegiate athletics. College and university presidents should finally summon the intellectual fortitude needed to reverse the stampede toward professionalization and commercialization of college athletics.