ATLANTA — A quarterback moving from Tulane to Duke doesn’t raise eyebrows. The reported $8 million that boosters at a basketball school paid for a football player does.
A veteran NFL coach finding a career lifeline at a college program that doesn’t win a lot shouldn’t surprise anyone. It does feel like a shock that the hire is Bill Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl winner as a head coach who’s a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Transactions nobody ever dreamed of became everyday occurrences this season in college football’s trip through the looking glass. Even so, one of the most tumultuous seasons in history will end with two programs with traditions as old as the game itself playing for a national championship: Notre Dame (going after its 12th overall but first since the 1988 season) and Ohio State (seeking number nine a decade after getting its eighth).
Monday night’s national final (even that’s a fairly novel concept for a sport defined by its bowl games for decades) will mark the latest finish to a season in the highest level of college football’s 155-year history. It’s a product of the new 12-team College Football Playoff worth billions.
What comes after the game — with player payments, the NCAA transfer portal, tweaks to the playoff, Title IX issues and more — will determine how much wackiness persists next season and beyond.