College Football Thread

[TheWatShot]

So it seems that conferences are drawing a line in the sand and saying NFL players can't return to school. 

 

Notre Dame isn't in a conference...going to be funny if a bunch of NFL dropouts go there. 

[Pagoda]

17 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I just don't see where the losses come from for ND to miss the CFP again this year. Other than Miami, that schedule is soft as baby poo. I'd love to get our paws on them in the CFP and deliver their long overdue butt kicking. 

I could see NW being sneakily better than expected this year though.

Yea, they need two losses to be out.  Maybe it's Miami and BYU.  Miami is at home though.  They're too good/experienced to choke against a small school.

I'd love it but my hopes aren't up.  ND is -700 to make the playoff.  ~88%.  Yeesh.  I do appreciate the hot take of them missing it.  I'd be happy if they just don't win it all -- then we can keep lording our '25 title over them which I have to admit is extremely fun.

[Home Jersey]

2 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Yea, they need two losses to be out.  Maybe it's Miami and BYU.  Miami is at home though.  They're too good/experienced to choke against a small school.

I'd love it but my hopes aren't up.  ND is -700 to make the playoff.  ~88%.  Yeesh.  I do appreciate the hot take of them missing it.  I'd be happy if they just don't win it all -- then we can keep lording our '25 title over them which I have to admit is extremely fun.

I'm not sure exactly what happened with our series getting cancelled... but I really want to play them again and shove those nerds in a locker. So funny how their fans puff their chest about beating IUFB in 2024 like we're their Super Bowl lol. I guess that's what no nattys in forever does to a domer...

[Home Jersey]

9 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

So it seems that conferences are drawing a line in the sand and saying NFL players can't return to school. 

 

Notre Dame isn't in a conference...going to be funny if a bunch of NFL dropouts go there. 

There was a DL who played for them last year they wanted to bring back but it was too late in the graduate admissions cycle. They're set for the year is my understanding.

If they take NFL dropouts next year, seems like a great way to instantly become persona non grata and have other schools take them off the schedule. 

[realTomCrean]

SMU will be a challenge. @BYU is tough, followed 2 weeks later with Miami.  In a perfect world Wisconsin stuns them to start the year.

Does a 10-2 ND get in?

[Hovadipo]

As fun as ND missing the playoff would be, beating them in Vegas probably tops last year for myself and many other IU fans.

[Brass Cannon]

1 minute ago, realTomCrean said:

SMU will be a challenge. @BYU is tough, followed 2 weeks later with Miami.  In a perfect world Wisconsin stuns them to start the year.

Does a 10-2 ND get in?

Only because they are currently overrated and they won’t punish them enough 

[Pagoda]

4 minutes ago, realTomCrean said:

SMU will be a challenge. @BYU is tough, followed 2 weeks later with Miami.  In a perfect world Wisconsin stuns them to start the year.

Does a 10-2 ND get in?

Doubt it.

[realTomCrean]

ND is an injury away on both D and O to be pedestrian. Carr and Moore have to stay healthy. I do think their D front 7 is top 20 in the country. Believe they lack in true offensive power against upper level teams. Carr is a joke! Not good!

[Lebowski]

 

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

Would have to be Miami and BYU and then a stinker like NIU. 

Navy was knocking on the door of the playoffs. SMU made it two years ago. 
 

I don’t really get the hysteria over their schedule. It could be bad, but it could be pretty good too. Outside of Miami, they don’t have any traditional rivals, though so I think they’ll be in trouble if they lose two games again. 

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Home Jersey said:

I'm not sure exactly what happened with our series getting cancelled...

Honestly, through last year’s playoff run I got the feeling Freeman and Cig were cool with each other despite some friendly banter. My complete guess is ND asked for a favor getting out of the series so they could schedule USC. Cig for whatever reason—maybe simply because he’s a football nut and recognized how big that rivalry is—said “sure.” Then when IU got blamed in the media, he felt the need to fire a couple shots back. As he should.  
 

I agree it would be a fun series to start and make a mini rivalry. Along with restarting our UK series in basketball and then just relegate Purdue to 2nd tier status all around, where they belong. 

[eddy4iu]

58 minutes ago, realTomCrean said:

SMU will be a challenge. @BYU is tough, followed 2 weeks later with Miami.  In a perfect world Wisconsin stuns them to start the year.

Does a 10-2 ND get in?

They will if they are ranked in Top 12 art the end of the season. UGH

[DChoosier]

12 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

I'm not sure exactly what happened with our series getting cancelled... but I really want to play them again and shove those nerds in a locker. 

I’m not saying it’s not in our best interest to play nobodies but let’s face it….We have backed out of UVA, Louisville and now are not playing ND (no reported “payoff”, which makes me think it was mutual) so the desire/strategy is obviously to play nobody.

This season OOC is very weak and next year we have Kennesaw State, Indiana State yet again (boo) and UMass.  My guess is that Evansville Memorial must not have been available. I fully acknowledge that I don’t like the OOC schedule but that it probably helps our chances to get to the playoff.

[Lebowski]

9 hours ago, DChoosier said:

I’m not saying it’s not in our best interest to play nobodies but let’s face it….We have backed out of UVA, Louisville and now are not playing ND (no reported “payoff”, which makes me think it was mutual) so the desire/strategy is obviously to play nobody.

This season OOC is very weak and next year we have Kennesaw State, Indiana State yet again (boo) and UMass.  My guess is that Evansville Memorial must not have been available. I fully acknowledge that I don’t like the OOC schedule but that it probably helps our chances to get to the playoff.

Playing in the Big Ten does have its perks.

While I don't fully agree with preseason metrics it is something to use for these types of discussion. If you look at ND's schedule compared to IUFB's it's kind of a no brainer on who needs who regarding scheduling. Especially if IUFB continues with the success they've been having. So far, since the CFP expansion, IU has more bids compared to each other. That may change but not playing in a conference hurt ND last year. So much so they whined like a petulant child to change the rules just for them. Schools are starting to avoid scheduling them and I foresee a conference wide policy in the future of not scheduling them because schools, notice the plural, not getting a bid into the CFP over them.

Here's a possible scenario, Wisconsin and MSU have an incredible year this year. One of them beats ND and the other loses to them. During conference play the team that lost to ND beats the team that won over ND. All three schools (ND, MSU, Wisconsin) end the season with 2 losses and both Big Ten schools are ranked 12th and 13th while ND is ranked 11th (just like last year). ND gets the auto bid leaving out the two Big Ten schools on their schedule. This can happen to any conference school that schedules them and at some point, will. This might actually happen this year to ACC schools on their schedule. SMU, Stanford, UNC, Boston College, Miami, and Syracuse all on their schedule. 

It makes zero sense to schedule them and I fully understand it and completely agree with the philosophy of not doing it. 

[Pagoda]

ND would be fun, but Cig is laser focused on postseason prep and that game doesn’t help.  I’m fully supportive.  I do not care what outsiders think — they don’t care about IUFB.

If the committee methodology requires some more non-con SOS we can add a P4.

[Hoosierfan2017]

22 hours ago, realTomCrean said:

SMU will be a challenge. @BYU is tough, followed 2 weeks later with Miami.  In a perfect world Wisconsin stuns them to start the year.

Does a 10-2 ND get in?

They shouldn’t, but with the special rules just for them, they probably would. What a life that would be. Get to pick your schedule, lose your only two hard games, and get into the playoff. If you don’t, whine and cry while refusing to play a bowl game. Easily my least favorite program in the country.  

There’s no reason for any P4 school to schedule ND with the way the playoff is currently constructed. 

[cthomas]

I don't like ND, have never liked them, for a variety of reasons. They can whine all they want, but Miami belonged in the playoffs last year and ND did not. Sooner or later they will have to prove it on the field. The talking heads can complain all they want about our pre-conference schedule, but when the time came, we got the job done between the white lines.

[Lebowski]

22 hours ago, realTomCrean said:

SMU will be a challenge. @BYU is tough, followed 2 weeks later with Miami.  In a perfect world Wisconsin stuns them to start the year.

Does a 10-2 ND get in?

Yes but probably has to travel in the first round. They get in because of the rule change catered just for them. The better question is does SMU (win over ND, losses to UofL and VaTech) and/or Miami (win over ND, losses to Clemson and VaTech) get snubbed if both of them finish 10-2? 

[realTomCrean]

1 hour ago, Lebowski said:

Yes but probably has to travel in the first round. They get in because of the rule change catered just for them. The better question is does SMU (win over ND, losses to UofL and VaTech) and/or Miami (win over ND, losses to Clemson and VaTech) get snubbed if both of them finish 10-2? 

That widely depends on the ACC champion, right? If ND is selected over any team that beat them in the head-to-head with the same record, then the CFP world will explode. It's time for them to join a conference, it might work in their favor this year but as @Hoosierfan2017 said above if ND remains independent, any P4 team who schedules them outside of Miami/USC would be fools.