Iknew I had seen that face before, but I just couldn’t place it. Then, later in the day, my family broke out the old Monopoly board. The resemblance was undeniable.

The old cartoon tycoon on the cover of the board game, Rich Uncle Pennybags, is Ohio State president Gordon Gee. He’s the Monopoly man.

On Wednesday afternoon, Gee’s highbrow mug was front and center in news articles across the country after he told The Associated Press that Boise State and Texas Christian universities do not deserve to play in the BCS National Championship Game because they play “the Little Sisters of the Poor.”

Ohio State’s pathetic strength of schedule aside (ranked 59th nationally per Sagarin), I understand Gee’s logic — and we’ll get to that — but first things first. For a good laugh, do yourself a favor and search the Internet for an image of Gee. Now think back to the days when you used to play Monopoly. In my family, epic games of Monopoly happen annually around the holidays.

Few pictures of Americana are as recognizable as Rich Uncle Pennybags. Take away that cartoon’s mustache and you’ve got Gee.

If college football was a game of Monopoly, Gee would be making it rain with those fake $500 bills. Not only does Ohio State have hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk but the Buckeyes also own all the railroads. The bank makes errors in Ohio State’s favor (See: OSU’s invitation to the 2008 BCS national championship game, which Gee called “a mystery.”)

In a very real sense, Ohio State gets paid for passing go just by being a member of the Big Ten. And that’s just it. In reality, college football is a monopoly and there is no way Gee and other university presidents of automatic-qualifying schools are giving that up.

“If you put a gun to my head and said, `What are you going to do about a playoff system [if] the BCS system as it now exists goes away?’ I would vote immediately to go back to the bowl system,” Gee said.

Never mind that the player who delivered Ohio State’s only BCS championship (Maurice Clarett) was actually arrested for armed robbery, let’s get back to the board-game metaphor. Gee is Mr. Monopoly. He not only owns the air you’re breathing, he’s charging you to inhale.

In Gee’s world, Boise State football has a monopoly on low-rent Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues. Sure, Boise State is playing the game and, technically, owns a piece of the action, but in Gee’s mind, Boise State only exists to make Ohio State rich. With an annual budget exceeding $120 million, Ohio State operates the largest athletic department in the country…..

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