College Football!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Angry Ewok]

Alabama beat Tennessee's ass just enough to get them to shut the fuck up, and that's almost good enough for me... UA lost, but for our own mistakes (and that seems to be the story of Alabama's life for way too long) - not for UT dominance.

Can't believe that team was ranked #7... muhahah.

So, on another note... I heard that there were a couple of coaches interested in signing for Alabama, if the UA was to get rid of the current coach. Does anyone think the UA would buy out his contract for 4 million after just having extended it this year? I don't think so. He'd have to get caught by the right people barhopping and flirting with students.

Personally, I was fucking pissed when I saw them extend his contract... it just didn't make sense to me that anyone would extend the contract of a coach who wasn't winning the important games. I don't think firing him would be much more than a quick fix - but something has got to give, soon. For most Alabama fans, anything less than an SEC Championship is a losing season... I can't even imagine the profanity that'll be used to describe THIS season.

...which, by the way, most people are saying will be 7 and 5.

[Jacket Fanatic]

Alabama beat Tennessee's ass just enough to get them to shut the fuck up, and that's almost good enough for me... UA lost, but for our own mistakes (and that seems to be the story of Alabama's life for way too long) - not for UT dominance.

Can't believe that team was ranked #7... muhahah.

So, on another note... I heard that there were a couple of coaches interested in signing for Alabama, if the UA was to get rid of the current coach. Does anyone think the UA would buy out his contract for 4 million after just having extended it this year? I don't think so. He'd have to get caught by the right people barhopping and flirting with students.

Personally, I was fucking pissed when I saw them extend his contract... it just didn't make sense to me that anyone would extend the contract of a coach who wasn't winning the important games. I don't think firing him would be much more than a quick fix - but something has got to give, soon. For most Alabama fans, anything less than an SEC Championship is a losing season... I can't even imagine the profanity that'll be used to describe THIS season.

...which, by the way, most people are saying will be 7 and 5.

I dont think they will fire him, even if he loses every game the rest of this season (except Florida International). Several years ago so much of Bama's trouble came from the instability in coaching and the NCAA penalties. We finally have a coach that has stuck with this team, but something has gotta give soon. Our defense has been great but the offense leaves something to be desired. Dave Rader has been put in a bad position and I think he may be replaced even though Shula calls the plays.

[ycartrob]

Alabama beat Tennessee's ass just enough to get them to shut the fuck up, and that's almost good enough for me... UA lost, but for our own mistakes (and that seems to be the story of Alabama's life for way too long) - not for UT dominance.

As a neutral party who picked UT to win  31-9, I'd still do the same. UT was like 2-7 in the red zone. Ainge played terrible. Bama just isn't that good and UT could not have played much worse. The better team won, but should have scored at least 17 more points.

[corey]

I don't think we'll get rid of Shula. I really hope we don't. I do, however, think that he needs to give up play-calling to someone else.
I think he's done a good job with the recruiting. It's a re-building year for us because we lost so much of our defense last year. But we have some young'uns that are starting to step up and make themselves known. I like seeing that.
I really think Shula's big problem is the play-calling. On 9 plays from scrimmage, Darby had all of 7 yards up the middle. Johns consistently gained yards on the plays that he ran. Think something needed to be changed there?

[TEO]

Gettin' psyched for the MIZZOU Oklahoma game today. This will be the biggest college game I have ever been to and rumor has it if the Tigers win the goalposts may be torn down!

[EAZYE]

Gettin' psyched for the MIZZOU Oklahoma game today. This will be the biggest college game I have ever been to and rumor has it if the Tigers win the goalposts may be torn down!

You can keep those goalpost up buddy.  Sorry we ruined the big day for you.  At least you and BH can be happy about DA REDBIRDS ;).  Boomer Sooner!

[EAZYE]

Although it's not exactly as if we won the game, you guys kind of gave it to us by shooting yourself in the foot with so many mistakes.  Good luck the rest of the year. ;)

[BH]

Uhhhggg!  Too many mistakes!  If MU would have won today to go along with my world champions I would have exploded.   We are better than that etwvig0!  At least Nebraska lost.....

[JohnnyRage]

Oklahoma beating Mizzou helped the Longhorns strength of schedule since we may not play mizzou this year.

Texas has four come from behind victories the past four games. A win is a win. USC lost. Ohio State or Michigan will at least lose one game since the will play each other soon.

Now we just need West Virginia to lose, and then we might have an argument to back into the MNC game.

[BH]

Oklahoma beating Mizzou helped the Longhorns strength of schedule since we may not play mizzou this year.

Texas has four come from behind victories the past four games. A win is a win. USC lost. Ohio State or Michigan will at least lose one game since the will play each other soon.

Now we just need West Virginia to lose, and then we might have an argument to back into the MNC game.

hopefully you do play mizzou this year!

[TEO]

You can keep those goalpost up buddy.  Sorry we ruined the big day for you.  At least you and BH can be happy about DA REDBIRDS ;).  Boomer Sooner!

Yeah I know! The score does not even reflect how badly the Tigers beat themselves. At least the University itself won my Son over and he will most probably be attending next fall. It has been fun however driving around with a tiger tail sticking out of the back of my truck with Truman the tiger (mascot) perched on my dashboard.  :)

[EAZYE]

hopefully you do play mizzou this year!

Nebraska losing to OSU certainly helped that.  I was fairly impressed with Chase the one drive you guys scored on he looked awesome and he is only going to get better.  Here's to hoping you guys win the north.

[ycartrob]

At what point will the "powers that be" admit that college football needs a playoff system? What will it take?

Funny how basketball, baseball, hockey and NFL/Div 1 and 2 football all have a playoff system, but the good ol' boys of NCAA football refuse to step up.

I mean, can you imagine the first round match-ups  (that would actually mean something other than winning the Pfizer/Hardees Ass-Clown Bowl and all the cash that goes with it)?

Ohio State v Auburn
Michigan v Texas
Tennesse v USC
Notre Dame v Louisville
Florida v West Virginia
Rutgers v Boise St.
Ole Miss v California

It would be during the holidays so no school would be missed (as if that really matters considering all the other sports do it) and the games would be HUGE! It would be a blast for absolutely everyone involved, hands down, period, forget about it!

It's a sham (and a scam) that it's decided by big money.

[JohnnyRage]

Having just a 16 team playoff would add a solid month of games to the college football season. You would still have the same amount of bitching and moaning with teams at the cusp of the cutoff point.

College football conferences are asymetric. Some have a championship game, some do not. Some have 8 teams, some have 11. Some have two divisions, some do not. Some conferences are power conferences, some are mid-major, some are considered minor, some teams are not even in a conference. Who get's preferenctial treatment, who does not?

You would have to shorten the current college football season (which to some become too long). Which games would you cut? Already, most power conferences are too large for every team to face every other team. Or would you eleminate out of conference games. Which could result in less of some of the traditional and unexpected match ups: USC vs. Notre Dame, UT vs Ohio St., Power Conf. vs Power Conf., regional out of conference games.

Also to suggest a complete drop of the college bowl system, in my oppinion is to not understand the history and tradition of what made college football great: The stadiums, the traveling of fanbases, redemption of a season, every single game of the season having incredible impact including the final one.

However, I agree that there are too many bowls, and that the system is far from desirable. But a system needs to be in place that reduces the number of bowl games but preserves the importance of making it to a bowl and having your fan base desire to witness it in person. Plus incorporate an 8 or 4 (basically a plus one game) team playoff system into the bowls (most likely the current bcs bowls: rose, sugar, fiesta, orange).

But you still arrive at the same problem of how do you decide on which 8 teams would qualify. Which is a bigger problem than the current one of which 2 teams qualify.

[ycartrob]

Funny how all the  other major college sports put up with the bitching and moaning. Plus, it makes more sense for, lets say Auburn 2 years ago to bitch and moan b/c they went undefeated and finished #2 as opposed to a team with 1 or 2 losses not being invited to the playoffs. I'd much rather have a playoff where a #12 with 2 losses is crying rather than an undefeated team sitting there looking in from the outside. Can you imagine computers picking 2 teams from the NFL to play in the Super Bowl every year? I can't.

As for non-conference games? I would dare say 90% of those games are against lesser foes and are on the schedule for wins. There are exceptions, but overall, non-conference games are a joke.

And the conference championship game (and the divison of conferences) was created for the sole purpose to make more money, so you could 86 that. Cut that and a non-coference bum rush (ie  Arkansas St, Buffalo, Miami-OH, Florida Int'l, Sam Houston, etc...) and there's room.

Every other sport does it and the only reason football doesn't is b/c of money. Until they figure out how to make a playoff system profitable (for all the old money) then the bowls stay in place. Trust me, these folks will forget "traditions" when they figure out the $$ part. Plus, you just keep the bowls and use them in playoff format.

This has little to do with history, tradition, parity, fairness, etc....this is about the bottom line: MONEY. Keeping the good ol' boys greased.

[JohnnyRage]

College football is not the NFL and the supebowl. Thank God.

Then with out a conference champ. game how would you decide which teams enter the playoffs, like the big 10, errr 11, where a team that didn't even play the number two team in the conference moves on?

Plus, you just keep the bowls and use them in playoff format.

Which is what I said.

How large would you like your playoff system to be? How would you decide on which teams enter?

[ycartrob]

How large would you like your playoff system to be? How would you decide on which teams enter?

that's a great question. Off the top of my head I say 16, just b/c it makes sense. Right now with the BCS, this is who you would have:
 
1. Ohio State vs 16. Wisconsin  
2. Michigan vs 15. Boston College  
3. West Virginia vs 14. Boise State
4. Florida vs  13. Arkansas
5. Louisville vs 12. Rutgers
6. Auburn vs  11. Tennessee  
7. Texas vs  10. California
8. USC vs  9. Notre Dame  
 
then these crybabies on the outside get the Charmin/Burger King/Samsonite Butt Munch Bowl, some cash, and plenty of Kleenex:
 
17. LSU  
18. Oklahoma  
19. Clemson  
20. Georgia Tech  
21. Texas A&M  
22. Oregon  
23. Washington State  
24. Wake Forest  
25. Virginia Tech  
 
Hey LSU? You want to make the playoffs? Then don't lose to Auburn and Florida. Oklahoma? Want to make the playoffs? Keep your star QB away from boosters, beat Texas, and grab some Kleenex after the replay debacle at Oregon.
 
It was totally unfair to tell Auburn 2 years ago, "Hey, great job going undefeated, but you're #2". Apalling. (and trust me, I  HATE Auburn).
 
A playoff settles it on the field. That's why March Madness is my favorite time of the year. 65 teams and it's on! You're #66? So sad, here's the NIT.
 
It's only a matter of time until we have an NCAA football playoff. And in 20 years, when it's the greatest sporting event ever, people will have a hard time remembering why we never had it in the first place.

[JohnnyRage]

It was also disgusting when Nebraska lost their final game of the season to Colorado, didn't play Texas in the Conference Championship game, and somehow backed into the MNC game where they got their butts kicked.

So you want to trash the BCS, but you still want to use the BCS rankings to decide your playoff matchups ;)

Also, I know you just used the current (last week) rankings to produce your matchups, but did you notice that you had...

Mich vs Wis (Big Ten Rematch)
Florida vs Ark (Both SEC teams, possible rematch)
USC vs Notre Dame (Rematch)



Personally, I just think things would just be too complicated, too drawn out, too unnecessary, too far away from college football with anything more than a 4 or 8 team playoff.

Besides, it's usually pretty obvious that there are only 1,2, sometimes 3, maybe 4 dominant teams in the country per year.

The matchups that you listed do occur. It's called Bowl Season. And like I said, I agree that things aren't perfect. They could be better, but there's not a need for a large playoff post-season.


That and...



Knibb High football rules!

[JohnnyRage]

ps  Fans and families will be unable to travel to four bowl consecutive bowl/playoff games making it difficult to sell out bowl/playoffs and less regional revenue (hotels, restaraunts, etc) unless you play the games in some flexible mid-regional location (between the two teams) or home playoff games (no bowls).

[ycartrob]

right about those match-ups happening in bowls. But what would mean more (and be 10x more exciting), winner of Texas/California goes on to play winner of Florida/Arkansas and then on to possible national championship or winner of Texas/California goes on to be crowned Champion of the Zippity-Do-Dah bowl, some big cash pay out, and a season end ranking?

I personally don't think there is a need for a large playoff post-season.

Why football? Why is Division 1 football the only major sport (pro or college) without a playoff system? Everyone else has it wrong?

Good grief, it's a scam.