College Football Thread

[Lebowski]

57 minutes ago, Hardwood83 said:

I hate it. I don't think the #18 (or #21 or #24) ranked team in the country even deserves a shot at the NC. Why should they have the opportunity to upset or cause injuries to teams that have earned a high ranking by playing an entire season? Our society is convinced that "more is always better." It ain't.  Also, "everyone should get a trophy" so now making the CFB playoffs will be the equivalent of making the NCAA basketball tourney. A baseline accomplishment, but not really anything special -except for 21st century IUBB :( 

17.4% of the field will be qualifying for the privilege of hoisting the CFP trophy. That is the lowest percentage of the field to qualify for a tournament in ALL of sports, including the FIFA World Cup. 

[Lebowski]

With this 24 team expansion news I keep thinking about last year's Iowa. That team would have caused havoc.

[Lebowski]

1 hour ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

There’s just no need for this. CFB had the best regular season in sports. Although it mattered less with a 12 team playoff, it still mattered. There was some risk of being left out, which made the games matter. Now it really won’t. You can lose 3-4 times out of 12 games and still make it. 

I beg to differ. There's going to be a lot more meaningful games during the regular season with so much more on the line now. 

If any of y'all ever experienced FCS at a personal level, you completely understand what I'm saying here. 

[Lebowski]

27 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

I dunno… 2nd upsets look like they may be rare — 1st round winners generally heading into road game buzzsaws.

But, we shall see.  It’s not the end of the world.  If someone wins a 2nd round road game they break through to a neutral site quarterfinal.

This is the AP poll and half this field will be left out due to regular season games against each other. It's also missing a G6 team. Revisit this before Conference Championship week. 

[Pagoda]

3 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

This is the AP poll and half this field will be left out due to regular season games against each other. It's also missing a G6 team. Revisit this before Conference Championship week. 

Yes, it’s labeled AP Poll.  It’s just an example since we are all following this season.  I don’t think half this field is getting left out.  And G6 Boise is in there, not that it matters much. 

[Lebowski]

2025 24 Team Playoff
First Round
24 North Texas at 9 Bama - NT is basically OK St today
23 Iowa at 10 ND - What a game!
22 Georgia Tech at 11 BYU 
21 Houston at 12 Miami
20 Tulane at 13 Texas
19 Michigan at 14 Vanderbilt 
18 Arizona at 15 Utah
17 Virginia at 16 USC

Second Round
Virginia/USC winner at 1 O$U
Arizona/Utah winner at 2 IUFB
Michigan/Vandy winner at 3 Georgia
Tulane/Texas winner at 4 Texas Tech
Houston/Miami winner at 5 Oregon - Miami traveling to Oregon!!!
G Tech/BYU winner at 6 Ole Miss
Iowa/ND winner at 7 Texas A&M
NT/Bama winner at 8 Oklahoma
 

[Home Jersey]

14 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

I beg to differ. There's going to be a lot more meaningful games during the regular season with so much more on the line now. 

If any of y'all ever experienced FCS at a personal level, you completely understand what I'm saying here. 

I don't have familiarity with FCS, but I think the logic sort of tracks. Nobody cares about bowl games anymore. If you're 9-3 or 8-4 and ranked in the 17-25 range today you're probably, as a player, mentally checking out a bit or weighing if it's worth it to play games when you may already be dinged up and the season is basically a lost cause as you look ahead to the NFL or transfer portal. This could give them more of an incentive to compete all the way down to the wire. 

[Pagoda]

The Bowl games weren’t dead.

 

 

[cthomas]

A 24 team playoff in football feels a little like everyone gets a trophy to me. As post seasons keep expanding, the value of earning a spot diminishes a little more. But then, I never liked conference expansion.

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, Home Jersey said:

Tend to think most will poopoo the idea until there's an electric upset or two that gets people excited about playoff football. 

Probably. Most people are shortsighted and thus ESPN can jam this down everyone’s throat.
 

But the whole thing comes at the expense of big regular season upsets. Two years ago Michigan pulled off a huge upset versus O$U in what used to be the biggest rivalry in college football, if not American sports. But O$U went on to win the title rendering the game virtually meaningless…for the first time in about a century.  
 

Also, why sell the whole thing to SECSPN? I guess it guarantees more years of B1G fans whining about SEC favoritism, when their own schools signed up for the deal. 

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, Pagoda said:

The Bowl games weren’t dead.

 

 

Nielsen didn't count out of home viewing until 2020. These games are probably on in bars, restaurants, casinos while people socialize and maybe half pay attention at best.

Players opt out of bowl games all the time if they're not in the playoffs. Better metric IMO. 

[Lebowski]

25 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Yes, it’s labeled AP Poll.  It’s just an example since we are all following this season.  I don’t think half this field is getting left out.  And G6 Boise is in there, not that it matters much. 

I stand corrected. I completely missed Boise there.

We're just 3 games in for conference play. You might be correct that half the current AP poll gets left out but time will tell. Big Ten schools will climb by the end of the season. 

Remaining games amongst the current AP ranked teams in the middle of the pack.
22 LSU 4-2 (16 Miss St, 6 Bama, 7 Texas, at 14 Tenn)
9 Ole Miss 4-1 (13 Missouri, at 7 Texas, 1 Georgia, 16 Miss St.)
16 Miss St 4-1 (at 22 LSU, at 7 Texas, at 9 Ole Miss)
15 UK 5-1 (at 14 Tenn, at 13 Mizzu)
14 Tenn 5-1 (6 Bama, 15 UK, 22 LSU)
12 UCLA 5-0 (19 USC)
19 SC 6-1 (4 O$U, at 5 IUFB, at 12 UCLA)

One thing is certain, ALL of these games are very important for these schools today. If one of these schools loses 2 games (see LSU) they'll be in playoff mode for every single game going forward. 
 

[Home Jersey]

2 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Probably. Most people are shortsighted and thus ESPN can jam this down everyone’s throat.
 

But the whole thing comes at the expense of big regular season upsets. Two years ago Michigan pulled off a huge upset versus O$U in what used to be the biggest rivalry in college football, if not American sports. But O$U went on to win the title rendering the game virtually meaningless…for the first time in about a century.  
 

Also, why sell the whole thing to SECSPN? I guess it guarantees more years of B1G fans whining about SEC favoritism, when their own schools signed up for the deal. 

True and fair. There are definitely legitimate gripes with how it's being implemented, I'm just not fundamentally opposed to a 24 team format. Definitely not pleased with the ESPN involvement personally. 

[Pagoda]

4 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Nielsen didn't count out of home viewing until 2020. These games are probably on in bars, restaurants, casinos while people socialize and maybe half pay attention at best.

Players opt out of bowl games all the time if they're not in the playoffs. Better metric IMO. 

Those are still good numbers regardless.

As for the opt outs, it’s an issue.  There could be a solution like paying them to play in the bowls, but that probably won’t totally fix it.

I’m not sure the solution is pushing these mid teams into a playoff.

But, is what is, we’ll see how it goes.  As I’ve posted it’s not the end of CFB.

[Lebowski]

16 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I don't have familiarity with FCS, but I think the logic sort of tracks. Nobody cares about bowl games anymore. If you're 9-3 or 8-4 and ranked in the 17-25 range today you're probably, as a player, mentally checking out a bit or weighing if it's worth it to play games when you may already be dinged up and the season is basically a lost cause as you look ahead to the NFL or transfer portal. This could give them more of an incentive to compete all the way down to the wire. 

Playoff mode hits during the regular season not only for the players but for the fanbase as well. It gets pretty intense. 

[str8baller]

46 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

17.4% of the field will be qualifying for the privilege of hoisting the CFP trophy. That is the lowest percentage of the field to qualify for a tournament in ALL of sports, including the FIFA World Cup. 

The English Premier League had 0% of teams make a playoff. It’s generally regarded as the best regular season in sports. 

[Lebowski]

Just now, str8baller said:

The English Premier League had 0% of teams make a playoff. It’s generally regarded as the best regular season in sports. 

You got me there. I didn't take into account of a league the operates without the traditional knockout tournament. Those leagues count ties too! ;-)

[Lebowski]

2 hours ago, Lebowski said:

More to come. So far, I'm not liking it. It'll be modified in years to come. Personally, I'd just replicate the FCS system and be done with it. 

 

What this basically means, there could be an undefeated MAC champion get outranked by a 1 loss American champion. And instead of 8-4 teams we might see 7-5 SEC teams. If you adopt the FCS model all of this gets avoided.

[KingPG21]

10 hours ago, str8baller said:

This is my main gripe. CFB used to have the best regular season of any sport. If we’re being quite honest a 12 team playoff devalues the regular season. I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game but it is rather inconsequential as both teams are still presumptively in the playoffs win or lose. In an 8 team format where you have to win the B1G to guarantee a spot, Saturday’s game takes on a different tone. 

BuyGame Tickets

 

I can see that. I would just toss out that most of us would agree that the dudes whose rankings actually count, frankly suck at it. There is so much SEC bias at the top of the rankings. Those idiots all just jerk each other off and rank each other by continuously ranking SEC teams higher than they should. I would argue 12 allows teams that aren't getting ranked high enough the opporunity to win it all. 

 

This is all coming from an IU fan, who thinks them not being ranked higher to start was wrong, and now they have fallen over and over again. Meanwhile Miami and ND continue to go up the rankings for no other reason than they are Miami and ND. That this weekend is absolutely an elimination weekend for IU, but definitely not OSU, bothers me and makes the 4 team playoff very flawed. 

[KingPG21]

1 hour ago, Lebowski said:

2025 24 Team Playoff
First Round
24 North Texas at 9 Bama - NT is basically OK St today
23 Iowa at 10 ND - What a game!
22 Georgia Tech at 11 BYU 
21 Houston at 12 Miami
20 Tulane at 13 Texas
19 Michigan at 14 Vanderbilt 
18 Arizona at 15 Utah
17 Virginia at 16 USC

Second Round
Virginia/USC winner at 1 O$U
Arizona/Utah winner at 2 IUFB
Michigan/Vandy winner at 3 Georgia
Tulane/Texas winner at 4 Texas Tech
Houston/Miami winner at 5 Oregon - Miami traveling to Oregon!!!
G Tech/BYU winner at 6 Ole Miss
Iowa/ND winner at 7 Texas A&M
NT/Bama winner at 8 Oklahoma
 

Did you watch Iowa last year? They proved time and time again they could not beat actual good team. EVERY time. And now you want to give them another chance to lose to a title contender? The only question in a potential Iowa-ND outcome last year is, who gets injured on ND