The saga of Tom Savage is cautionary, sad, bad luck, poorly thought. Pick your descriptor. Here was one of the best dropback, pocket passing QB recruits in the class of 2009. He chose Rutgers because their offense fit, it was close to home, the chance for early playing time, the whole “team on the rise,” situation and relationship with the coaches.

Well he certainly got in there right away. Immediately being the starter. Even had a nice first year for a true freshman. Yeah, he made mistakes, but he also set the Big East record for passing yards and touchdown for a freshman.

In 2010, the Rutgers O-line was a mess. A big hot flaming mess. They struggled to run the ball (barely 100 ypg), and they couldn’t protect the QB — 61 QB sacks that year. Savage took a beating and was sidelined with rib and wrist injuries. Chas Dodd was forced into action. The more mobile Dodd did better on the field and Savage not only did not return to the field the rest of the year, he saw Schiano name Dodd the starter for 2011. Seeing that, and having NFL aspirations, Savage transferred.

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Well, the meta-news in college football is that finally there is a system roughed out for a four-team playoff beginning for the 2014 season — two years away. And by roughed out, I mean roughed out. There are still a lot of details that are unknown with regards to how the selection will occur. Here are the basics:

— This plan is going to run for 12 years.

— There will be a selection committee tasked with choosing the best four teams. The size, composition, level of transparency all TBD (To Be Determined).

— Ranking  the four playoff teams will be based on win-loss record, strength of schedule (SOS), head-to-head record, and whether a team is a conference champion. Conference champion status is supposed to be of extra-emphasis. How much extra emphasis is placed on being a conference champion and how they determine SOS are still TBD.

— Playoffs will be held within the current bowl structure. The two annual semifinal games will be rotated between six bowls — Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange and two others TBD (though, the Cotton is believed to be one of them). One semifinal will be held on December 31 and the other on January 1. Non-college football watching significant others will hate a New Years Eve game.

— The Championship game will be bid out to a host city/stadium annually. Actual name, TBD.

— The way the money will be divided, TBD.

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