Last year marked the 20th anniversary of something college football legend and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush wasn’t a fan of: USC and LSU being co-national champions.
The Tigers were named BCS champions, but the Associated Press chose not to adhere to how the BCS chose its champion and named USC its national title winner. It was a time when rankings, strength of schedule and more were king, forcing teams to basically be perfect if they wanted to sniff a national title.
As the 2024 college football season is underway, Bush is happy, like so many others, to see a true playoff system with an expanded College Football Playoff to 12 teams. Frankly, it never made sense to him that it took until now to figure it out.
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"Every other sport has a true playoff system. Even high school football has a true playoff system," Bush told Fox News Digital while discussing his excitement to be a part of Team Modelo, where he’ll be headlining the Full-time Fan Recruiting Contest. "I’ve always felt like why is college football the only sport that doesn’t have a true playoff system? I think it was unfair to the sport because, when we won, we were co-national champs in 2003 with LSU. We wish we could’ve just played LSU that year and played for the No. 1 spot, but we didn’t get that opportunity."
In 2014, the College Football Playoff began, but while it may have been an improvement on the old BCS system, some, like Bush, believed it was still not enough.
The pressure to be perfect was still there.
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"With the four-team playoff system, you have to be perfect just to make it," Bush explained. "It felt like Alabama and Georgia that could lose one game and still make the playoff system, and now that has changed completely.
"I like it this way. I felt like it should’ve always been this way forever. I wish we had it this way when we were playing because we never wanted to look back and be like, ‘Oh, we were co-national champs.’ We weren’t even the outright champs. That leaves just a little bit of a sting, I think, on the work we put in, because we worked so hard and we put in so much time and dedication to get to that point."
Bush also added how college was the "busiest time of my life by far" because he had to excel in the classroom just as much as on the football field. Now, in an era of name, image and likeness deals that allow college athletes to profit off their talents, building a brand is added to that burden as well.
Chasing perfection is what every team wishes to do, no matter the sport. The Michigan Wolverines were able to do so last season, winning a national title with an undefeated season.
However, the Georgia Bulldogs, a team that sat at No. 1 in the CFP rankings throughout the year, lost in the SEC title game to Alabama and missed out on the playoffs completely.
A team that was undefeated the entire season up to that point wasn't able to go after the biggest trophy of them all, while Alabama, a team that lost a game prior to beating Georgia, played Michigan for a spot in the title game.
With the 12-team expansion, top teams in college football can now lose a game and still know they have a shot to win. Some traditionalists still scoff at the idea, but to Bush's point, it's a true playoff system now, and it's what the players have always wanted.
"Now that we’ve conference realignment and the playoff system expanded, I believe we’re headed in the right direction."
BUSH EXCITED TO RECRUIT TEAM MODELO
With more teams in the CFP this season, Modelo is bringing in Bush to see if they can create their own team of the most passionate fans in college football with their Full-Time Fan Recruiting Contest.
Bush explained how Modelo is offering fans a chance to win a trip to the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Atlanta, where they will meet the Heisman winner and celebrate this moment of recruitment while enjoying some great football and other perks.
"I’m excited to be able to scout and help some of these fans realize a dream to be recognized as the most passionate fan for their schools, to be recruited in the same way that I was recruited to USC, and some of these other schools. Giving them a unique experience and unique opportunity to be a part of Team Modelo," Bush said.
Bush knows just how grueling recruitment can be after going through it himself, so he needs to see these college fans standing out above all the rest in their submitted recruiting videos.
"They’re going to be receiving recruiting letter as well," Bush said, referring to the letter of recruitment, signed by him, that the select fans will be receiving in the mail just like they would from a school. "Some of those people may not have had that opportunity when they were 18, 19 years old to be recruited by their school, to be recruited to go play college football, college basketball or whatever [sport] that is.
"I hope they see this as an opportunity where they get to live out a small piece of their dream, and I’m so happy to be a part of that because it’s always been about the fans for me."
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