College Football - Championship Week

[Andy]

Friday

Akron at Buffalo (1 pm, ESPN+)

 

Conference USA Championship Game (8 pm Friday, CBSSN)

North Texas at UTSA

 

Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas (8 pm Friday, FOX)

(11) Utah vs (4) USC

 

Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington, TX (12 pm, ABC)

(10) Kansas State vs (3) TCU

 

MAC Championship Game in Detroit (12 pm, ESPN)

Toledo vs Ohio

 

Sun Belt Championship Game (3:30 pm, ESPN)

Troy at Coastal Carolina

 

Mountain West Championship Game (4 pm, FOX)

Fresno State at Boise State

 

SEC Championship Game in Atlanta (4 pm, CBS)

(14) LSU vs (1) Georgia

 

American Championship Game (4 pm, ABC)

(22) UCF at (18) Tulane

 

Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis (8 pm, FOX)

Purdue vs (2) Michigan

 

ACC Championship Game in Charlotte (8 pm, ABC)

(23) North Carolina vs (9) Clemson

 

Dec. 10

Navy vs Army - in Philadelphia (3 pm, CBS)

Edited November 30, 2022 by Andy

[NewUserName]

I fully expect TCU or USC or both to lose. But I would love it if Alabama, OSU and Clemson were not going to the playoff.

[UMFan83]

Only unranked P5 championship game participant is Purdue

[Andy]

Apparently Ohio State is lobbying the Rose Bowl to select Penn State (which unlike any other NY6 game they have the right to do despite the rankings) over them presuming they don't make the playoff.

 

What a world when B1G teams are asking not to go to the Rose Bowl. Between them poaching their partner conference and their teams literally asking not to go, it's stupefying that the CFB powers that be are still hanging on their decision regarding early expansion.

[soccer10k]

Apparently Ohio State is lobbying the Rose Bowl to select Penn State (which unlike any other NY6 game they have the right to do despite the rankings) over them presuming they don't make the playoff.

 

What a world when B1G teams are asking not to go to the Rose Bowl. Between them poaching their partner conference and their teams literally asking not to go, it's stupefying that the CFB powers that be are still hanging on their decision regarding early expansion.

 

So is Ohio State just declining a bowl invite altogether or do they just not want to go to the Rose Bowl?

[UMFan83]

Apparently Ohio State is lobbying the Rose Bowl to select Penn State (which unlike any other NY6 game they have the right to do despite the rankings) over them presuming they don't make the playoff.

 

What a world when B1G teams are asking not to go to the Rose Bowl. Between them poaching their partner conference and their teams literally asking not to go, it's stupefying that the CFB powers that be are still hanging on their decision regarding early expansion.

 

Weird, I read it was the Big Ten angling to get PSU to the Rose Bowl since it would be the 3rd time in 5 years that OSU made it and the 2 most obvious opponents are the 2 teams they played recently. Also OSU only sold like 13k of their 20k ticket allotment last year. Apparently not a lot of enthusiasm to go to the Rose Bowl after you get your butt kicked out of the CFP by Michigan.

 

If OSU was pushing it, I bet they’d rather go to the Orange Bowl and play Clemson given their recent CFP matchups. But Woody Hayes would he turning in his grave if he knew OSU was trying to avoid going to the Rose Bowl

[UMFan83]

 

Gotta admit that while I’m still a big playoff expansion supporter I can see how being part of the haves motivates you to argue in favor of keeping the 4 team model

[Andy]

12 is probably better than 4 given the unintended consequences of 4 but I'm really going to miss having one sport where a result could fly out of nowhere and completely flip the season on its head. But really that kinda went away with 4, so it is what it is. I'm glad there are still inflection points to provide some semblance of meaning to regular season games. I just hope people aren't complaining again in 3 years like they were with this system.

[CubinNY]

12 is probably better than 4 given the unintended consequences of 4 but I'm really going to miss having one sport where a result could fly out of nowhere and completely flip the season on its head. But really that kinda went away with 4, so it is what it is. I'm glad there are still inflection points to provide some semblance of meaning to regular season games. I just hope people aren't complaining again in 3 years like they were with this system.

 

Winner of

Big 10

SEC

ACC

PAC 10

Big 12

 

Wildcard Team not from any of the above conferences (The ND rule)

 

That should be the playoff. 12 is way too many teams. It's a money grab.

 

Alternatively, make a league out of the teams that make up those conferences (plus ND) and have a six-team playoff at the end of the season.

[Andy]

12 is probably better than 4 given the unintended consequences of 4 but I'm really going to miss having one sport where a result could fly out of nowhere and completely flip the season on its head. But really that kinda went away with 4, so it is what it is. I'm glad there are still inflection points to provide some semblance of meaning to regular season games. I just hope people aren't complaining again in 3 years like they were with this system.

 

Winner of

Big 10

SEC

ACC

PAC 10

Big 12

 

Wildcard Team not from any of the above conferences (The ND rule)

 

That should be the playoff. 12 is way too many teams. It's a money grab.

 

Alternatively, make a league out of the teams that make up those conferences (plus ND) and have a six-team playoff at the end of the season.

None of the SEC, B1G or Notre Dame would've supported a CFP bigger than 4 without at least 4 at-large spots. And none of the others would've supported a CFP bigger than 4 without auto-bids. So anything less than 12 was a nonstarter. If people wanted exclusively conference champs or unbeaten teams playing for the title they should've stuck with 2. (And also not allowed Alabama to go over Oklahoma State in 2011.)

[Andy]

Officially official.

 

 

Cliffs notes:

 

- Bowl quarterfinals presumably (though not officially) on or near NYD for the '24 and '25 seasons, with Rose and Sugar hosting quarterfinals both years while the other 4 major bowls split semifinal and quarterfinal host duties. (It's widely believed the quarterfinals will move on campus in 2026 when a new contract takes effect.) IIRC, which bowls host which quarterfinals will be determined by the teams that earn the byes and specifically what conference they are in, i.e. a B1G champ with a bye would play in the Rose, SEC champ with a bye in the Sugar, etc.

- First-round games on the higher seed's campus 'near the end' of the 3rd week of December those years.

- National title games still on Mondays. Jan. 20 and Jan. 19 those 2 seasons.

[UMFan83]

12 is probably better than 4 given the unintended consequences of 4 but I'm really going to miss having one sport where a result could fly out of nowhere and completely flip the season on its head. But really that kinda went away with 4, so it is what it is. I'm glad there are still inflection points to provide some semblance of meaning to regular season games. I just hope people aren't complaining again in 3 years like they were with this system.

 

Winner of

Big 10

SEC

ACC

PAC 10

Big 12

 

Wildcard Team not from any of the above conferences (The ND rule)

 

That should be the playoff. 12 is way too many teams. It's a money grab.

 

Alternatively, make a league out of the teams that make up those conferences (plus ND) and have a six-team playoff at the end of the season.

 

See one of the things I really love about expanded playoffs is that it guarantees that a G5 team gets into the playoffs. This does something that has never happened before in college football - every team conceivably has a chance to win a championship. Always bugged me that 75% of college football teams had 0 chance of winning a title entering every year. Sure we will almost certainly never see a Sun Belt team win a national championship, but they have a route now. In your proposal, this technically is true too but 90% of the time its going to be Notre Dame.

[UMFan83]

Damn you Illinois

 

[Rex Buckingham]

Damn you Illinois

 

 

Hot take: Edwards is probably a better RB anyway. Of course, you'd love to have both

[UMFan83]

Damn you Illinois

 

 

Hot take: Edwards is probably a better RB anyway. Of course, you'd love to have both

 

They are both really good but different type of backs. Corum is best when he's running between the tackles, finding small holes and then breaking through contact and dragging defenders extra yards with his massive legs. Of course he has speed so when he gets a clear hole he's gone, but what Michigan has done all year is use Corum to bust through the middle for moderate gains.

 

Watching Edwards for 2 years, he's definitely more finesse. He often dances around at the line of scrimmage looking for a hole which means he gets stopped for short gains a lot more than Corum does. Michigan's offense has been to get good yardage on first down setting up manageable 2nd and 3rd downs. Or if passing on 1st down and throwing an incompletion, feeling confident in getting chunk yards on 2nd and 3rd down by running. Not sure they'll be able to do that as well without Blake. However Edwards in space is lethal. Much bigger passing game option when there's no cast on his dominant hand and pretty much explodes when he finds an opening which we saw last week. So yeah he's really good but Michigan will likely have to alter their offense a bit to adjust to a different type of back.

[raw]

I hate the playoff expansion. I understand why it's being done and I know "any given Saturday" but in the 8 years of the playoff, we've only seen 4 of the 16 games featuring just the top 4 teams finish within THREE SCORES. Only 1 in the last 4 years has even been competitive.

[jersey cubs fan]

I hate the playoff expansion. I understand why it's being done and I know "any given Saturday" but in the 8 years of the playoff, we've only seen 4 of the 16 games featuring just the top 4 teams finish within THREE SCORES. Only 1 in the last 4 years has even been competitive.

I know I’m not the target audience, but I already tune out college football by the time the championship comes up. I generally watch sports to watch my teams and since I don’t really have a college team, I’m really only interested in big matchups. We’re lucky to get two good games in a regular season weekend, by the time bowl season rolls around I expect garbage. I’ll maybe watch parts of each playoff, and some of the big name bowls. With expansion that’ll just make me less interested.

[raw]

I hate the playoff expansion. I understand why it's being done and I know "any given Saturday" but in the 8 years of the playoff, we've only seen 4 of the 16 games featuring just the top 4 teams finish within THREE SCORES. Only 1 in the last 4 years has even been competitive.

I know I’m not the target audience, but I already tune out college football by the time the championship comes up. I generally watch sports to watch my teams and since I don’t really have a college team, I’m really only interested in big matchups. We’re lucky to get two good games in a regular season weekend, by the time bowl season rolls around I expect garbage. I’ll maybe watch parts of each playoff, and some of the big name bowls. With expansion that’ll just make me less interested.

 

Yeah, IU is pretty meh as usual, after a couple solid years. But I do like college football, and watch NFL prospects in general, so I will watch. But I usually turn games off if it's 28-0 in the 2nd quarter, which is likely to happen when you have your typical 5/12 matchups. And going forward, I don't see many scenarios where 5/12 and 6/11 aren't going to be Michigan/Ohio St loser and whichever SEC West team isn't in the championship game (LSU, BAMA, Auburn & A&M occasionally) vs. a 3-loss Power 5 or mid major teams.

[UMFan83]

 

PTBNL in the Jake Rudock trade back in 2015

[CubinNY]

12 is probably better than 4 given the unintended consequences of 4 but I'm really going to miss having one sport where a result could fly out of nowhere and completely flip the season on its head. But really that kinda went away with 4, so it is what it is. I'm glad there are still inflection points to provide some semblance of meaning to regular season games. I just hope people aren't complaining again in 3 years like they were with this system.

 

Winner of

Big 10

SEC

ACC

PAC 10

Big 12

 

Wildcard Team not from any of the above conferences (The ND rule)

 

That should be the playoff. 12 is way too many teams. It's a money grab.

 

Alternatively, make a league out of the teams that make up those conferences (plus ND) and have a six-team playoff at the end of the season.

 

See one of the things I really love about expanded playoffs is that it guarantees that a G5 team gets into the playoffs. This does something that has never happened before in college football - every team conceivably has a chance to win a championship. Always bugged me that 75% of college football teams had 0 chance of winning a title entering every year. Sure we will almost certainly never see a Sun Belt team win a national championship, but they have a route now. In your proposal, this technically is true too but 90% of the time its going to be Notre Dame.

 

I think I've said this before, but they should have multiple championships. There is little chance a team who wins the MAC or Sun Belt, or C-USA is going to play a competitive game against the 2nd place team in the SEC or any of the other major conferences.

 

I don't know how it would be named

 

Major Division National Championship

Mid Division National Championship

Minor Divison Nattional Championship

So on.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The Charlie Jones effect. Basically every WR Iowa has is bailing now, and I can't say as though I blame them. It has to be hard to convince people to join this offense.

[Andy]

The Charlie Jones effect. Basically every WR Iowa has is bailing now, and I can't say as though I blame them. It has to be hard to convince people to join this offense.

Tying to find a silver lining, maybe if no one worth a damn ever wants to play WR there that wakes someone up to getting rid of Ferentz the Younger? I don't know why this year wouldn't be enough on its own, but...

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The Charlie Jones effect. Basically every WR Iowa has is bailing now, and I can't say as though I blame them. It has to be hard to convince people to join this offense.

Tying to find a silver lining, maybe if no one worth a damn ever wants to play WR there that wakes someone up to getting rid of Ferentz the Younger? I don't know why this year wouldn't be enough on its own, but...

My guess after last season was that he'd make the jump to the NFL as maybe an OL coach or something so he doesn't have to be fired. Still my hope for this year.

[jersey cubs fan]

The Charlie Jones effect. Basically every WR Iowa has is bailing now, and I can't say as though I blame them. It has to be hard to convince people to join this offense.

Tying to find a silver lining, maybe if no one worth a damn ever wants to play WR there that wakes someone up to getting rid of Ferentz the Younger? I don't know why this year wouldn't be enough on its own, but...

My guess after last season was that he'd make the jump to the NFL as maybe an OL coach or something so he doesn't have to be fired. Still my hope for this year.

except as a favor to Sr., who would make that hire? Nepotism hires are rampant, but usually it’s a situation where a guy has some success and immediately gets a promotion to a job he’s otherwise unqualified. Ferentz is only qualified to be a video assistant or quality control intern.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Tying to find a silver lining, maybe if no one worth a damn ever wants to play WR there that wakes someone up to getting rid of Ferentz the Younger? I don't know why this year wouldn't be enough on its own, but...

My guess after last season was that he'd make the jump to the NFL as maybe an OL coach or something so he doesn't have to be fired. Still my hope for this year.

except as a favor to Sr., who would make that hire? Nepotism hires are rampant, but usually it’s a situation where a guy has some success and immediately gets a promotion to a job he’s otherwise unqualified. Ferentz is only qualified to be a video assistant or quality control intern.

Sr. has a whole lot of friends in the league. Jr. was once a TE coach for a Belichick team that featured Aaron Hernandez and Gronk for crying out loud. Don't you go trying to ruin my dreams that there's an end to this nightmare.