Andy

FWIW it seems like the most likely change based on last offseason is 14 teams, possibly with the byes automatically reserved for the B1G and SEC champs (as if they wouldn't always get them anyway). Last year the talk was 3 or 4 guaranteed auto-bids for those two conferences, two guaranteed bids for the ACC and Big 12, and the highest-ranked champ of one of the other conferences. ND would be bribed with an auto-bid if they were ranked in the top 14 (basically protecting them from being bid-sniped by one of the other auto-bids if a team was middling) to sign on. There would only be a couple at-large spots being selected by the committee. I personally don't care for it - I like that every team theoretically has a chance and that there is still a human element to the process - but Greg Sankey in particular is going to throw an absolute fit this offseason because Alabama didn't get in, and Petitti will probably agree with him because those two run the sport now.

This, and Alabama was passed up for the top SEC bowl, the Citrus, for South Carolina because the Citrus figured the Gamecock fans would be more excited to go.

Some Internet rumblings that Carson Beck has a UCL injury and will be out for the Sugar Bowl.

Yeah, this year and next a couple of these bowls might get stuck because former Pac-12 schools have agreed to retain their Pac-12 ties through the end of their contracts in 2025. BYU/Colorado were never in the same league before this season, so if it had to happen that's a good way to do it. Last week it was reported that Arizona State/Colorado and Iowa State/BYU were also in play depending on how things worked out.

Bracket attached for simplicity's sake College Football Playoff First Round Games (9) Indiana at (5) Notre Dame, 12/20, 8 pm (ABC) (10) SMU at (4) Penn State, 12/21, 12 pm (TNT) (16) Clemson at (3) Texas, 12/21, 4 pm (TNT) (7) Tennessee at (6) Ohio State, 12/21, 8 pm (ABC) Quarterfinals VRBO Fiesta Bowl Quarterfinal in Glendale, AZ – 12/31, 7:30 pm (ESPN) PSU/SMU Winner vs (9) Boise State Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Quarterfinal in Atlanta, GA – 1/1, 1 pm (ESPN) Clemson/Texas Winner vs (12) Arizona State Rose Bowl Quarterfinal in Pasadena, CA – 1/1, 5 pm (ESPN) Tennessee/OSU Winner vs (1) Oregon Allstate Sugar Bowl Quarterfinal in New Orleans, LA – 1/1, 8:30 pm (ESPN) IU/ND Winner vs (2) Georgia Final Four Capital One Orange Bowl Semifinal in Miami, FL – 1/9, 7:30 pm (ESPN) PSU/SMU/Boise Winner vs IU/ND/UGA Winner Goodyear Cotton Bowl Semifinal in Arlington, TX – 1/10, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Clemson/Texas/ASU Winner vs Tennessee/OSU/Oregon Winner College Football Championship Game in Atlanta, GA – 1/20, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Semifinal Winners Bowl Games IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl in Montgomery, AL – 12/14, 9 pm (ESPN) South Alabama vs Western Michigan Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl in Frisco, TX – 12/17, 9 pm (ESPN) (25) Memphis vs West Virginia Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, FL – 12/18, 5:30 pm (ESPN) Western Kentucky vs James Madison LA Bowl in Inglewood, CA – 12/18, 9 pm (ABC) California vs (24) UNLV R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in New Orleans, LA – 12/19, 7 pm (ESPN2) Georgia Southern vs Sam Houston StaffDNA Cure Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/20, 12 pm (ESPN) Jacksonville State vs Ohio UnionHome Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL – 12/20, 3:30 pm (ESPN) Florida vs Tulane Myrtle Beach Bowl in Conway, SC – 12/23, 11 am (ESPN) Coastal Carolina vs UTSA Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, ID – 12/23, 2:30 pm (ESPN) Northern Illinois vs Fresno State Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, HI – 12/24, 10 pm (ESPN) San Jose State vs South Florida GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit, MI – 12/26, 2 pm (ESPN) Toledo vs Pittsburgh Rate Bowl in Phoenix, AZ – 12/26, 5:30 pm (ESPN) Kansas State vs Rutgers 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile, AL – 12/26, 9 pm (ESPN) Arkansas State vs Bowling Green Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, TX – 12/27, 12/3:30 pm (ESPN) Navy vs Oklahoma Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, AL – 12/27, 12/3:30 pm (ESPN) Vanderbilt vs Georgia Tech AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN – 12/27, 7 pm (ESPN) Texas Tech vs Arkansas DirecTV Holiday Bowl in San Diego, CA – 12/27, 8 pm (FOX) Washington State vs (21) Syracuse SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl in Las Vegas, NV – 12/27, 10:30 pm (ESPN) Texas A&M vs USC Wasabi Fenway Bowl in Boston, MA – 12/28, 11 am (ESPN) North Carolina vs UConn Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl in New York, NY - 12/28, 12 pm (ABC) Boston College vs Nebraska Isleta New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, NM – 12/28, 2:15 pm (ESPN) TCU vs UL Lafayette Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/28, 3:30 pm (ABC) (18) Iowa State vs (13) Miami Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl in Tucson, AZ – 12/28, 4:30 pm (CW) Colorado State vs Miami (OH) Go Bowling Military Bowl in Annapolis, MD – 12/28, 5:45pm (ESPN) NC State vs East Carolina Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, TX – 12/28, 7:30 pm (ABC) (17) BYU vs (23) Colorado Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA – 12/28, 9:15 pm (ESPN) (22) Army vs Louisiana Tech TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN – 12/30, 2:30 pm (ESPN) Iowa vs (19) Missouri ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, FL – 12/31, 12 pm (ESPN) Michigan vs (11) Alabama Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX – 12/31, 2 pm (CBS) Washington vs Louisville Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL – 12/31, 3 pm (ABC) (20) Illinois vs (15) South Carolina Texas Bowl in Houston, TX – 12/31, 3:30 pm (ESPN) LSU vs Baylor TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL – 1/2, 7:30 pm (ESPN) (14) Ole Miss vs Duke ServPro First Responder Bowl in Dallas, TX – 1/3, 4 pm (ESPN) North Texas vs Texas State Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, NC – 1/3, 7:30 pm (ESPN) Virginia Tech vs Minnesota Bahamas Bowl in Nassau, BS – 1/4, 11 am (ESPN2) Buffalo vs Liberty

Bryce Young dropped an absolute dime to Xavier Legette that should've given Carolina a win in Philly, but Legette flat dropped it. Would've been a 98 yard TD drive to win it that included a 3rd and 11 escape job out of his own end zone and a clutch 4th down conversion (two if Legette had caught his pass). He needs to start in 2025. He's shattering every expectation I had remaining for him.

I'm not sure why they didn't play in the early years but recent history suggests they haven't played in the modern era is because ND wasn't wasting a B1G game on IU when they weren't good and IU probably didn't want to play a big time non conference game either. I believe they have a home and home on the books in 2030-31 though.

I always assumed ND would never be allowed to be 5 (highest they can get) because it would effectively mean that loss meant nothing. Whether that's just my conspiracy or not we'll never know. Penn State has a dream path. Their best possible opponent prior to the title game is a Georgia team that's struggled offensively most of the year and might or might not have a healthy quarterback.

One of our teams will probably be playing against them too

Well, here we are. Alabama or SMU will be the debate. I don't know who is better but I know if the committee thought SMU was 3 spots better 5 days ago, it would be really weird if losing at the buzzer in a game Bama failed to qualify for changed their mind.

We'll see how this last month-plus goes but I don't think Carolina will draft a QB. For one thing there aren't many that are that good, and they won't be picking that high. More importantly, Bryce Young is now playing well enough I think it's easily justifiable to try to fortify a roster that's still quite talent-deficient in other areas and give Young some more time and development.

In a semi-related story, B1G title game prices are dirt cheap right now. Some of that, it seems like, is that Ohio State fans had bought up a lot of the tickets before getting knocked out of the game, but it's funny how pointless these title games look when the only stakes are whether your next game is in 2 weeks or 3.

I was against the 'no risk, only reward' way some people tend to view conference title games even before this season, but this is really the big thing. With these ridiculously bloated conferences, there are going to be several teams even within the B1G and SEC (like Indiana and, to be honest, Texas) who play one, maybe two of the other actually good teams in the conference and otherwise mostly beat up on the flotsam of their league. Given that knowledge, it seems perfectly fair to treat these games as actual data points and not just default to 'they earned it, they can't be penalized'.

Notre Dame getting the 5/6 spot everybody wants and then drawing Alabama anyway would be the most Notre Dame thing ever. This isn't Nick Saban Bama but advanced numbers still like them an awful lot, and Jalen Milroe can either be awful or the most unstoppable player in the country depending on the day.

According to him (so believe it if you want I guess), he's retiring after this term, so it'd be 'only' the 4 years.

I cannot emphasize enough, that would be the stupidest rule change in the history of sports (Manfred is probably responsible for the current #1 as well with the fake runner rule). Part of what makes baseball great is you never know when the big moment is going to arrive or who will be at the plate when it does. So yeah, let's get rid of it to manufacture more 'drama.'

For whatever it's worth, that line tracks with what the SP+ and Sagarin computer ratings believe about the two teams.

American Championship Game (8 pm Friday, ABC) Tulane at (24) Army Mountain West Championship Game (8 pm Friday, FOX) (20) UNLV at (10) Boise State Conference USA Championship Game (8 pm Friday, CBSSN) Western Kentucky at Jacksonville State Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington, TX (12 pm, ABC) (16) Iowa State vs (15) Arizona State MAC Championship Game in Detroit (12 pm, ESPN) Ohio vs Miami (OH) Sun Belt Championship Game (3:30 pm, ESPN) Marshall at UL Lafayette SEC Championship Game in Atlanta (4 pm, ABC) (5) Georgia vs (2) Texas Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis (8 pm, CBS) (3) Penn State vs (1) Oregon ACC Championship Game in Charlotte (8 pm, ABC) (17) Clemson vs (8) SMU Dec. 14 Navy vs (24) Army - in Landover, MD (3 pm, CBS)

Well this only lasted like an hour because IU beat Purdue 66-0 (ND only beat them 66-7, chumps)

I'm trying to imagine what September 7 Andy would've said if someone had told him that Notre Dame was going to follow up the Northern Illinois loss by dealing 10 consecutive opponents their most lopsided beatings of the season (by scoring margin anyway)

OSU still has two top 10 wins. I think it's more likely they stay ahead of my team than fall far enough to go on the road in round 1.

I went and looked it up to confirm after someone said Iowa had gotten 5 first downs in the game, and not only was it true, but Iowa also won this matchup by the same 13-10 score last year. Of course they did.

It won't be, but I'd love it if yesterday's Georgia game was a tipping point towards fans being done with conference employed officials in games where the conference has a clear financial incentive for one outcome. There were some very suspicious and very pivotal decisions last night that overwhelmingly favored Georgia, which had to win to remain in at-large position.

They are currently the 2nd team out. It's not at all impossible. However, with Clemson (the first team out) and S Carolina (just a few spots back) playing each other, the winner of that game could be in a better position than Bama. It'd be quite the needle to thread.

I suspect the ACC is now getting 2 teams in unless some carnage occurs. (Which it may still.) The Clemson/IU debate, if it happens, will be quite interesting. S Carolina would be Clemson's most impressive win, and by a decent margin. But then again, IU hasn't beaten anyone more likely than not to finish better than .500.