Derrick Fox defended his turf on Capitol Hill.
Then the Alamo Bowl executive director broke new ground. Fox now says bowl payouts to schools are a kind of charitable contribution, and no one had ever thought of that before. Football programs should be as creative. They should understand they’ve been outsourcing the most lucrative part of their season to the bowls, mostly out of habit and comfort, and that they’ve given up control over the revenue they create. Let’s be charitable — a playoff system would solve this. The playoff debate never goes away, and it has stayed in the news this year because of a House Republican from Ennis named Joe Barton. His close ties to various polluters have earned him the nickname “Smokey Joe,” and he was on fire last January. Then he threatened legislation that would prevent the NCAA from designating a BCS champion until a playoff system produced one. At least Barton is bipartisan the Longhorns were the afflicted last season, and Barton is an Aggie. So Barton was at a congressional hearing earlier this month, calling the current bowl system “communism.” He was equally silly when he suggested a 64-team playoff.
“We’d still be playing,” Fox replied.