This is an opinion column.

The college football transfer portal is closed and the national championship is on Monday. It seems like a good time to take stock of the sport.

The stock is up, which is great, but it feels like the spirit of the game is nosediving into a mountain of gold. When major lifelong Alabama boosters and former players are writing to me about the glory day, we got problems. To the mailbag …

Big Lou in Birmingham writes …

You may be surprised to know that there are a lot of people — mostly an older generation — who used to be on fire about their college team, but whose passion has diminished with the current state of affairs. I’m a Bama grad, scholarship donor, football banquet sponsor, original Tide Pride member, Nick’s Kids, Red Elephant Club … you get the point. I have given a TON of money to UA.

I get this is where we are in college athletics, but I still don’t like it. So does your article make me want to burn my autographed photos with Saban. No. We can’t stop schools from spending outlandish sums of money for players, and if you think Saban really got in the weeds on Lane Kiffin and LSU, then you don’t know Nick.

Regardless, he always has and always will give general advice to former players and coaches. There were players who yearned to play for Coach Bryant, for Saban, or simply loved the school. It can still happen now, but rarely. I suppose I bemoan the days of loyalty because I know and lived that time period vs. a commitment to a school washed away from an offer of more money by another school.

So, as for me, I wait to see who we put on the field and pull for whoever is on the team.

Jimmy writes …

As a lifelong Bama fan, things have now changed forever. It’s all about the money. I don’t blame the players. They are just living within the rules and regulations they have been given, but the current system is broken.

As a former D-I football player myself, the new world of college football really has NO appeal to me as a fan. Can’t believe it has come to this. I actually prefer watching the NFL now over college, which used to be one of my favorite things in the world.

Z-Pick writes …

I wonder if Sankey’s primary motivation for keeping the playoffs at 16 teams is the potential revenue loss from giving up the SEC championship game. As you point out, it is anachronistic … a remnant of a bygone era. It seems that having more teams from the SEC participating in a 24-team playoff should come close to covering the lost revenue … if not exceeding it.

Plus, with the conference becoming so big now, and the absence of the East-West subdivisions, selection rules for which team plays in the SEC championship leaves out teams with identical records, making the SEC championship game seem artificial.

To me, getting rid of the SEC championship game and embracing a 24-team college football playoff system is a no-brainer.

ANSWER: College football is a flat circle. Alabama is 100 years removed from its first national championship, and in a lot of ways it feels like we’re looping back to the old days.

And I mean the really old days.

Let me explain.

College football was an unregulated mess at the turn of the 20th century. At Alabama, the president of the school was sick of it. Believe it or not, in 1898, the university killed the football team.

Big mistake. The students did like that one bit. The stodgy president didn’t last much longer, and football returned in 1899.

At the time, Alabama’s administrators didn’t feel like supporting football aligned with the ideals of higher education. The irony of that, when compared to college football today, almost makes me cry from laughing so hard.

The problem with football back in those days is that schools were fielding teams with players who had no interest in earning a degree. Some players even moved from school to school just to play football, and the ones who did that were called “scabs.”

Sound familiar?

Think football is changing too fast these days? When Alabama quit football in 1897, a touchdown was worth four points and a field goal was worth five. When Alabama resumed playing football in 1899, a touchdown was worth five points.

Imagine what the old-timers thought?

“Touchdowns are worth the same as field goals? I don’t even recognize this sport anymore. It’s called foot-ball for a reason.”

When offenses started throwing the ball, that’s when people really lost their minds. Ultimately, I guess you could blame John Heisman for ruining the game.

Some of Alabama’s big donors are uninterested in pumping money into a sport they no longer recognize, and I get it. The scabs are back. The loyalty is gone. It’s like winning is suddenly all that matters …

In an effort to regulate the sport back in the old days, schools got together and formed conferences. Charters were established and committees were formed. Governance was the grand idea. Rules like “no paying players” came along next.

And now here we are again. Back where it all started. The flat-circle theory.

There are some people in the SEC who want the conference to break away from the NCAA. Once again, like 126 or so years ago, college football is an unregulated mess. It doesn’t work anymore, or so they say. It’s time for a change.

I’m sure those people are really smart, but they might want to brush up on their history.

The SEC is annoyed by its players leaving for the Big Ten and Notre Dame. Is the answer to break away and only play games between schools in the same conference? That’s what a few presidents are now suggesting.

Fools.

Something tells me if that happens, then those presidents won’t be around much longer.

Here’s a radical thought. If the SEC does break away, then the league should go back to banning freshmen from playing on the varsity. No money. No football. Let the kids focus on school for an entire year. Pay checks and playing time have to be earned in the classroom.

With crazy thoughts like that, I suspect no one will be naming me commissioner of the SEC anytime soon.

There’s gotta be some way to preserve school spirit, though. Otherwise, what’s really the point?

That’s a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. The point is money.

So, consider this. Imagine how much money the SEC would stand to lose in tuition from out-of-state students if the league suddenly decided to separate itself from the NCAA. Who wants to go to a school that doesn’t even compete for national championships in football against the rest of the country?

The SEC doesn’t want to give up its conference championship game because it makes so much money for the league. The answer isn’t breaking away, though. I got news for the league’s presidents who think the SEC can somehow stand on its own. It can’t. There’s plenty of regional pride in the South, but people like college football because it’s a national sport.

The SEC just needs to figure out a way to once again beat those teams up north. That’s the real game.

Would more playoff games on campus preserve school spirit? I’m guessing it would. Would annual rivalry games between SEC and Big Ten schools rekindle the flame for donors? Just a hunch, but yes.

I’m not sure Alabama could muster a good enough team to play Indiana every year, but maybe Minnesota would like to get away from the cold every now and then.

MAILBAG SOUND OFF

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything for the reader mailbag.

Two Alabama prison inmates were killed Thursday during a fight inside Elemore Correctional Facility.

The Alabama Department of Corrections on Friday confirmed the killings and identified the slain inmates as Damon Lamar Calhoun, 35, and Londell Ramone Nunn Jr., 34.

A third inmate involved in the Elmore Correctional Facility altercation – 20-year-old Deion Lamar Booth – was not injured.

ADOC spokeswoman Kelly Betts said Calhoun and Nunn were severely injured during the fight – which involved an undisclosed weapon – and were taken to the Health Care Unit.

Medical staff immediately began life-saving measures without success, Betts said.

Their bodies have been taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for autopsy.

Calhoun was serving an 18-year sentence for third-degree burglary out of Mobile County.

Nunn was serving a 10-year sentence for first-degree robbery out of Morgan County.

Booth is serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree assault out of Escambia County.

The investigation is ongoing by ADOC’s Law Enforcement Services Division.