On SI's Mark McIntosh revealed why Colorado football played Notre Dame instead of an undefeated Georgia Tech team and boy, it's quite the obvious reason: money. As McIntosh reveals, money dictated decisions for the sport long before the College Football Playoff rolled around.
"Back then there was no playoff system. Georgia Tech's ACC champion status did not preclude the Yellowjackets from taking their No. 2 ranking to the Orange Bowl to face the automatic Big 8 champion in top-ranked Colorado for a decisive title game. But the Orange Bowl committee wanted Notre Dame instead of Georgia Tech as the Buffaloes' opponent, because Notre Dame had a larger fan base and would accrue more money and better TV ratings. Money talks, then and now," McIntosh wrote.
FSU fans can certainly relate to this situation. The Seminoles were undefeated and won the ACC and couldn't even make a four-team field. The ACC has always been robbed when push came to shove in college football.
Notre Dame will always be the money brand. Georgia Tech is second rate in its own city to the pro teams. That was true then and it's truer now. Luckily, the Buffs got a chance to right the wrongs of the previous season due to a profit-driven mistake on behalf of the sport's power brokers three and a half decades ago.
Colorado football would be the team that'd sneak in the College Football Playoff now
It's possible that the system would rig things in CU's favor if it came to that come December. Stephen A. Smith raised the point during an appearance on ESPN's "First Take."
“And I’m thinking about college football … Sizzle does matter. It should matter,” Smith said. “College football needs to get with the program and stop trying to make everybody happy. You ain’t never cared about making people happy before. Don’t start now. Make yourself happy. Get the draw and ratings.”
How times have changed in Boulder.