College Football - "Week Zero" and Week 1 (Aug. 24-Sept. 2)

[UMFan83]

21 hours ago, soccer10k said:

I always liked the uniqueness of college football where you had to be perfect to be assured of a shot. I know FSU got left out last year but that was fluky in that not only did their QB get hurt but the backups looked like hot garbage. If the QB doesn’t get hurt, they’re in. In the backups at least look competent, they get in.

I’m not a fan of an FBS team so I don’t have to worry about my team’s season being over after 1 or 2 losses. I also don’t care if maybe the best team doesn't make the playoff, like Georgia last year, because they lost 1 game at the wrong time. And yes my counter is that they shouldn’t have lost that game. If these teams actually played a tough schedule that featured more than 3-4 games they could conceivably lose each year (I.e. don’t play an FCS team and 2 crappy FBS teams each year in your non-conference) I’d be on board with a 12 team playoff. But if you can’t win the 3-4 tough games on your schedule, oh well.

Yeah it sounds great in theory until your team loses in week 2 and you're suddenly playing 10 meaningless games.  It's cool for the sport as a whole but for the individual fanbases not so much.  Maybe I'm alone in tuning out my teams once its clear they aren't making any sort of postseason, but that's how I felt every year MIchigan was out of the running.  I'd of course watch the Ohio State game and conceivably would have enjoyed if they won the game (they never did), but in terms of taking pride in finishing in the top 10 or whatever, I don't care at all.

Edited August 27, 2024 by UMFan83

[CubinNY]

FSU probably should have gotten in based on merit to that point. The only thing the new system has in place that is better than the old is the conference champions get in. But we all know FSU would have gotten destroyed by any of the other three teams. 

[Andy]

19 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Yeah it sounds great in theory until your team loses in week 2 and you're suddenly playing 10 meaningless games.  It's cool for the sport as a whole but for the individual fanbases not so much.  Maybe I'm alone in tuning out my teams once its clear they aren't making any sort of postseason, but that's how I felt every year MIchigan was out of the running.  I'd of course watch the Ohio State game and conceivably would have enjoyed if they won the game (they never did), but in terms of taking pride in finishing in the top 10 or whatever, I don't care at all.

God knows there are bigger priorities than watching sports and I'm not here to tell anyone how to spend their time, but I just can't possibly understand this line of thinking. Take it from a fan with firsthand experience in this area: "A chance to make a postseason" =\= "a chance to win the championship." After 3 or 4 times of the #7-10 type teams getting blasted to pieces by the teams that are going to keep being better than they are in the playoff, I imagine many who follow the sport will be right back to the same complaints.

IMO, if it's impossible for you to enjoy anything about following your team without a postseason carrot involved, that's a decision you make. I'm not calling it right or wrong, it's just not why I personally became a sports fan.

Edited August 28, 2024 by Andy

[Tank]

On 8/26/2024 at 8:33 AM, CubinNY said:

Call me a traditionalist or whatever but I don't like the new playoff system at all. College football doesn't need it and its dumb. I would like it better if the money were used to support academic scholarships at regional state universities, but that's not what will happen. Every year for as long as this lasts there will be the same 15 teams fighting for 12 spots with the same 10 in every year. The Auburns, PSUs, UCLAs, etc will be in on a rotating basis and ND will get in by losing two games to the top 10 teams and beating up the service academies (exaggeration for effect). 

I fully support this. Bridging the gap between the FBS and FCS would be great for college football. I would much prefer to see a great FCS team like South Dakota State (15-0 last season) get a bowl game over a 6-6 South Alabama or Eastern Michigan. Imagine a season where a Murray State is capable of beating a Missouri. One can dream. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

20 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Yeah it sounds great in theory until your team loses in week 2 and you're suddenly playing 10 meaningless games.  It's cool for the sport as a whole but for the individual fanbases not so much.  Maybe I'm alone in tuning out my teams once its clear they aren't making any sort of postseason, but that's how I felt every year MIchigan was out of the running.  I'd of course watch the Ohio State game and conceivably would have enjoyed if they won the game (they never did), but in terms of taking pride in finishing in the top 10 or whatever, I don't care at all.

Your team just won last year. You should be required to sit this one out.

[UMFan83]

55 minutes ago, Andy said:

God knows there are bigger priorities than watching sports and I'm not here to tell anyone how to spend their time, but I just can't possibly understand this line of thinking. Take it from a fan with firsthand experience in this area: "A chance to make a postseason" =\= "a chance to win the championship." After 3 or 4 times of the #7-10 type teams getting blasted to pieces by the teams that are going to keep being better than they are in the playoff, I imagine many who follow the sport will be right back to the same complaints.

IMO, if it's impossible for you to enjoy anything about following your team without a postseason carrot involved, that's a decision you make. I'm not calling it right or wrong, it's just not why I personally became a sports fan.

i didnt say I couldnt enjoy anything about following my team.  I've been enjoying watching the Cubs play better lately even knowing theres virtually no shot at the postseason.  But yeah why would i care all that much about a 9-2 Michigan team beating a 5-6 Maryland team knowing that all they're playing for is a trip to the Citrus Bowl to play a meaningless exhibition game against Tennessee?  I'll watch it but my attention for the season is greatly reduced and I'm just as interested in following the potential CFP teams.  Similar to you, I'm not going to tell someone else how to fan but I don't understand it at all.  I need that carrot, especially in a sport like college football where rosters change so dramatically from year to year. 

And I don't know why you keep assuming there's going to be all these beat downs of teams outside the top 4.  This isnt 2016, I firmly believe there is more parity in the game than there was even a few years ago. Georgia was neck and neck with Michigan as the best team in SP+ rankings even after the bowls.  Oregon was the number 5 rated SP+ team and had the best tempo and opponent adjusted offense in football.  Ohio State lost one game on the road to the eventual champion when they threw an INT while driving for the winning score.   Those were the CFP's 6-8 teams last year.   Do you really think Oregon or Ohio State had no chance to beat Texas or Alabama?  In fact looking at the CFP last year and comparing to SP+ rankings the CFP was comprised of the number 1, 6, 7, and 11 teams.

I could also go into my theory that having a larger playoff pool will help in the distribution of talent, especially with the transfer portal being a thing now.  You are a 5 star not getting playing time at Alabama?  OK why not transfer to Florida State where you can be the starter and have a great chance to play in the CFP?

Anyways we've had a number of these back and forths over the years...you and I are never going to see eye-to-eye on how college football should be aligned and that's fine, I 100% respect your viewpoint and know others feel similarly.  I just don't personally agree with it.

[CubinNY]

29 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

  This isnt 2016, I firmly believe there is more parity in the game than there was even a few years ago.

People have said that since it was the Big Two Little Eight in the Big 10. Now it's the Big 3.5 little 14.5 or whatever. There are about 6 teams every year that are on the same level more or less. Out of those six, it's the same 3 or 4. It's not just about talent. Dion can get an entire team of 5 stars and he won't be the top team. There will always be pop ups and surprises every year, but college football does not have 12 teams you can put into a pot and expect an unusual outcome. 

Edited August 28, 2024 by CubinNY

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, CubinNY said:

People have said that since it was the Big Two Little Eight in the Big 10. Now it's the Big 3.5 little 14.5 or whatever. There are about 6 teams every year that are on the same level more or less. Out of those six, it's the same 3 or 4. It's not just about talent. Dion can get an entire team of 5 stars and he won't be the top team. There will always be pop ups and surprises every year, but college football does not have 12 teams you can put into a pot and expect an unusual outcome. 

12?  No probably not.  More than 4?  Absolutely.  And I think we'll see as the 12 team playoff gets a few years under its belt that parity will increase.  Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see in a few years.

But also the most important thing to me about the expanded playoffs was that G5 gets guaranteed representation.  That over everything else was the thing I hated most about college football's previous setup.  Even if the G5 team loses by 100 every year, it's better than a scenario where 70% of the teams in this subdivision go into every season knowing that no matter what they do they cant play for a title.  If your argument is that they aren't good enough to compete with the P5 conferences so don't deserve to play for a title, that's fine, then spin the P5 off into their own thing and let the rest of the FBS either go back to FCS or play for their own title.

[CubinNY]

2 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

If your argument is that they aren't good enough to compete with the P5 conferences so don't deserve to play for a title, that's fine, then spin the P5 off into their own thing and let the rest of the FBS either go back to FCS or play for their own title.

I'd be all for that. 

[soccer10k]

4 hours ago, Andy said:

 After 3 or 4 times of the #7-10 type teams getting blasted to pieces by the teams that are going to keep being better than they are in the playoff, I imagine many who follow the sport will be right back to the same complaints.

The complaints are 100% going to be about there being 2 or 3 SEC teams in the final four most years.

[Andy]

3 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

12?  No probably not.  More than 4?  Absolutely.  And I think we'll see as the 12 team playoff gets a few years under its belt that parity will increase.  Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see in a few years.

I'm very skeptical of this because everything that can be applied to giving more teams a chance to make it also applies to ensuring the superpowers can basically never miss a CFP again.

That said I completely agree with what you said in this post about G5s getting to play. It was the only legitimate reason to expand the CFP and I'm glad it stuck (and it better continue to stick, though as the B1G and SEC begin running the sport going forward, I'm nervous about it).

[Andy]

As for actual games being played, I am super unconfident about Notre Dame this weekend. The starting OL has 6 career starts combined and they're going into one of the toughest road environments in the country (ND was pretty woof-y on the road last year). And A&M has a ton of talent and now has a good/not half-assing it coach.

[Old Style]

3 hours ago, Andy said:

As for actual games being played, I am super unconfident about Notre Dame this weekend. The starting OL has 6 career starts combined and they're going into one of the toughest road environments in the country (ND was pretty woof-y on the road last year). And A&M has a ton of talent and now has a good/not half-assing it coach.

Can’t hurt that the Notre Dame QB played for Mike Elko at Duke. From the A&M perspective; that is. I don’t follow Aggie football anywhere close to what I used to but I think this team can surprise a lot of people. I don’t get my hopes up anymore but I’m excited to see how we look on Saturday. 

[I owned a Suzuki]

2 hours ago, Old Style said:

Can’t hurt that the Notre Dame QB played for Mike Elko at Duke. From the A&M perspective; that is. I don’t follow Aggie football anywhere close to what I used to but I think this team can surprise a lot of people. I don’t get my hopes up anymore but I’m excited to see how we look on Saturday. 

I put a few beans on them making the playoffs. I thought it was a decent value bet

[Derwood]

Who is Lindenwood, and why is Kansas playing them?

[Tank]

8 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Who is Lindenwood, and why is Kansas playing them?

Small university outside of St. Louis and I'm not sure why. That is a massive step up in competition for them. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Lindenwood very recently got bumped up to D1, so they're basically the 'FCS patsy that's close enough to take a bus to a buy game' but less familiar than the other names you normally see(e.g. Murray State, Eastern/Western Illinois, etc)

[Tank]

2 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Lindenwood very recently got bumped up to D1, so they're basically the 'FCS patsy that's close enough to take a bus to a buy game' but less familiar than the other names you normally see(e.g. Murray State, Eastern/Western Illinois, etc)

It is a very, very small campus. Less than 10,000 student enrollment. 

[soccer10k]

Deion tried to F up the end of the Colorado game. After a penalty, Colorado had 1st and 10 with 1:41 left and NDSt had 1 timeout. Could have just had his kid run around for a few seconds, burn off 5-6 seconds each play and kill the game. Instead, they throw the ball deep on 1st down for an incomplete pass, which allowed NDSt to get the ball back with 30 seconds left. They got to around midfield and had a Hail Mary come up 5 yards short.

[Andy]

It's not even Saturday yet and Minnesota has lost to N Carolina at home after their QB broke his leg during the game, MSU had to hold off a final drive to beat Florida Atlantic, and Wisconsin was losing to Western Michigan in the 4th quarter until a Wisconsin punt randomly bounced sideways and hit a Bronco to swing the momentum. Not the greatest start for the B1G.

Shout out to Illinois, though, for doing what they were supposed to do to FCS Eastern Illinois.

Edited August 31, 2024 by Andy

[I owned a Suzuki]

15 minutes ago, Andy said:

It's not even Saturday yet and Minnesota has lost to N Carolina at home after their QB broke his leg during the game, MSU had to hold off a final drive to beat Florida Atlantic, and Wisconsin was losing to Western Michigan in the 4th quarter until a Wisconsin punt randomly bounced sideways and hit a Bronco to swing the momentum. Not the greatest start for the B1G.

Shout out to Illinois, though, for doing what they were supposed to do to FCS Eastern Illinois.

I live 10 miles from Memorial Stadium and had no idea Illinois was playing Thursday night.

[Derwood]

40 points for Iowa?

That means they only have 60 points left for the rest of the season

[gflore34]

On 8/30/2024 at 12:41 AM, TomtheBombadil said:

How’s Miami seem this year? Cam Ward’s prbly my favorite 2025 QB prospect for the Jets 

Thus far, looking real good, of course, it could be a little of Florida not being too good.  Still, I'd say they're underrated.

[Old Style]

A&M QB was horsefeathers horrible in the first half. Lucky to be tied. 

[gflore34]

15 minutes ago, Old Style said:

A&M QB was horsefeathers horrible in the first half. Lucky to be tied. 

ND QB wasn't much better, in fact, they're both terrible.