Scoggins: Even a traditionalist can love the revamped college football landscape

College football has reached Year Zero of its glorious existence. This wacky, lovable sport first played in 1869 has a brand-new look so extreme that keeping track of it all requires mental dexterity.

Pop quiz: What conference does Central Florida belong to? (Google not allowed.)

The correct answer is the Big 12, which now has 16 members.

The Big Ten has nearly doubled its name by expanding to 18 schools starting this season with the arrival of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.

The Pac-12 went the opposite direction. The league shrank to the Pac-2 with Oregon State and Washington State clinging to a life raft after their brethren fled for richer paydays.

RIP, “Pac-12 After Dark.” You provided so much late-night drama and entertainment to college football diehards still jacked up emotionally from the thrill ride that is Saturdays in the fall.

Everything feels different as Year Zero of college football begins.

Nick Saban is no longer coaching. The playoff is now a true playoff with an expansion to 12 teams. West Coast schools belong to East Coast conferences, giving the middle finger to romantics who fondly remember the days of college sports being grouped by geography.

My suggestion in digesting all this upheaval: Embrace it.

Embrace it, because complaining won’t bring back what has been lost, and at its core, college football still delivers what we cherish most about it: Intense passion. School pride. Saturdays on campus. Heated rivalries. Marching bands. Student sections. High-scoring shootouts. Bowl games. Mascots. Helmet stickers. Groaning about the offensive coordinator’s play calls.

It’s all still there, though packaged differently amid a steady march toward professionalism.

Change is difficult, especially when it happens at warp speed and leads to seismic shifts in the foundation. The transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) have re-invented college sports and, frankly, created chaos and dirty tactics. Schools likely will be allowed to pay their athletes direct compensation starting next fall. The starting quarterback essentially will earn a salary.

TV contracts have turned college sports into a gold rush that has torn apart conferences in favor of jumbo-sized leagues while also fueling a major spending problem inside athletic departments.

The degree to which money has triggered so much transformative change causes fans to voice their displeasure on social media and message boards, and yet college football remains as popular as ever.

As a traditionalist, I always worried that expanding the playoff beyond four teams would have a negative countereffect on the natural drama baked into the regular season. The premise being that more teams allowed into the playoff would make games less compelling by reducing the high-stakes implications.

That was shortsighted.

If anything, the new playoff format will increase the drama because more teams and more fan bases will get to ride that emotional wave every week. The jockeying for seeding in November will become great theater. And rest assured, arguments will continue to exist with 12 teams.

Change brings new experiences. The demise of the Big Ten West will make life more challenging for the Gophers, but having the opportunity to play new teams in different settings is appealing. Not just for players but fans, too. What sounds more fun: Another road game at Northwestern, or a chance to check out Oregon’s Autzen Stadium?

Yes, it will be a little weird and take some adjustment to see Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC, and USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. And keeping tabs on college football has never been more difficult because of roster fluidity in the transfer portal era. The constant movement can be frustrating for fans who invest their emotion and money in programs.

The guess here, though, is that the passion remains as hot as lava once this new era of college football kicks off this weekend. The sport’s seductive power is hard to break.

Need an example? Put a Gophers fan and an Iowa fan in a room and mention the words “invalid fair catch,” and watch the fireworks.

1. Ohio State

2. Georgia

3. Florida State

4. Utah

5. Texas

6. Oregon

7. Penn State

8. Ole Miss

9. Alabama

10. Notre Dame

11. Michigan

12. Liberty

How it works: The five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic bids. The seven highest-ranked teams remaining receive at-large bids. The four highest-ranked conference champions are seeded 1-4 and receive a first-round bye. The remaining eight seeds play in the first round with the higher seed serving as host.

Semifinals

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Texas

No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 6 Oregon

National Championship

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Georgia

Winner: Ohio State