The more I think about it this year, trying to follow and predict what the CFP committee will do, the more I think MOV should be a factor. Everyone agrees that a 20-point win is and should be worth more than a last-minute field goal or overtime win over the same opponent. But there's a sentiment against running up the score and making the other guy look bad, that bleeds over into saying that MOV shouldn't count because it encourages a team up by 30 to go for 50 and that's unsportsmanlike.

It is widely believed (and may be confirmed) that in some blowout games, the coaches/ADs quietly agree to speed up the game clock to get it over with. The idea is that the losing side agrees that they're losing and everyone wants to get it over with.

So why not apply a "mercy rule" that says if one team gets to a 50 point lead, the game is over? If State is leading Tech by 50, Tech just doesn't belong on the field with State. Instead of padding the first string skill position players' stats, or getting the fourth string more work, everybody just go home. (Of course if you WANT to pad your Heisman candidate's stats, or you want to get your fourth string's feet wet, then you do the traditional clock-eating things you do instead of playing pedal-to-the-metal to get to a 50 point lead).

I don't think mismatches are going away. Would a "Mercy Rule" (a misnomer, because in effect it's a "Show no mercy" rule) bring interest into blowouts--can the contender stretch the lead to 50 and bring down the curtain?