Reid Kerr

With five weeks to go in the season, I know I should be talking about the NFL and such thrilling moments like that huge Bailey Zappe–Mitchell Trubisky showdown Thursday.

By the way, if you watched the Patriots play this season, save your cable bill as a receipt, I’m sure there will be a class action lawsuit against them eventually for pretending to be an NFL team. That game felt much worse for the Steelers than it did good for the Patriots.

This week, the big story was in college football. Admittedly, that’s what the sport wants, but in the complete wrong way.

Let’s face it, NFL fans have it easy. The rules are simple. Win your division, or be among the best teams in your conference, and you’ve got a shot. If your team starts 1-5 and looks like they’re heading toward a high draft pick, there’s still time to turn it around with a five-game winning streak and be in play for a Wild Card playoff spot. If the Bengals qualify for the playoffs, the NFL isn’t going to keep them out just because Joe Burrow is injured.

I’ll be honest, there was no way the selection committee was going to get this one right. Two spots, three teams with legitimate claims on them. No matter who was picked, someone was going to be left out. Some years there weren’t enough top teams, so it just feels fitting that in the last year of the current system, they finally had to deal with too many teams that deserved a shot.

However you feel about this year’s playoffs, this is the end of an era in college football. From the polls, to the BCS, to the playoffs, college football was unique in that every game mattered. If you had national championship aspirations, the only way to control your own destiny was to win every game, and as we just found out, stay healthy. Ohio State might be the best team in the country, but they lost to their rival. Georgia was the same way. Once upon a time, one Michael Crabtree catch on a Saturday night ended Texas’ title hopes. One play can ruin championship hopes, and every single game was crucially important. Every game was must-see TV, and college football was the only sport where you could say that.

Next season, the playoffs will have 12 teams. Teams will lose two or three games and still have a chance to win it all. In a couple of years, the postseason will probably have 43 spots, and start just before Thanksgiving.

It’ll be good, don’t get me wrong. But I’ll miss when everything mattered.

Time for my picks. Last week, I went a perfect 6-0, and 4-2 against the Vegas spread. In my defense, my only real mistake was underestimating how bad the Texans would beat Denver. Lesson learned there. I’m now 52-28 on the season, and 42-34-3 against Vegas overall. As always, these are for the purposes of comedic discussion only. No wagering.

Philadelphia (+3.5) at Dallas: This is the battle for the NFC Championship, in the “San Francisco gets a bunch of players hurt” subdivision.

Pick: Eagles to win it outright.

Houston (-3.5) at NY Jets: C.J. Stroud has been fantastic, but don’t sleep on that Texans defense. Come to think of it, don’t sleep on the Jets defense either. The Jets offense, go ahead and take a nice long nap on.

Pick: Texans to win and cover, winning by four or more.

Jacksonville (+3) at Cleveland: The Jags have an employee who has been accused of stealing $22 million from the team. I don’t want to kick a franchise while they’re down, but usually someone notices after the first three or four million.

Pick: Jags to win it outright.

Carolina (+4.5) at New Orleans: Fun fact, the Panthers will lose a fifth-round draft pick this year for Baker Mayfield, even though he’s already been on two other teams since that trade, and he beat them last week. OK, maybe that “Fun Fact” is only funny to me.

Pick: Saints to win and cover, winning by five or more points.

Detroit (-3.5) at Chicago: I don’t know which is more stressful, watching the Bears, or watching “The Bear.”

Pick: Lions to win and cover, winning by four or more points.

Seattle (+10.5) at San Francisco: I’m not going to see that new Godzilla movie until they finally put him up against a worthy opponent, like Trent Williams.

Pick: 49ers to win and cover, winning by 11 or more.

I’ll also take the Ravens over the Rams, the Raiders over the Vikings, and pretty much any dessert over figgy pudding, whatever that is. Good luck, everybody.

Reid Kerr is still upset he didn’t get Time’s Person of the Year again. You can always tweet questions, comments, and angry messages to him at @reidaboutit.