College Football Bowl Games/Playoffs discussion

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Holy shit, ESPN.

Really.
Their latest CFB Power Ranking was just published.
This is AFTER BOWL GAMES.

Arkansas is #15. I would have said 17-18'ish so think this is a little higher than it should be but am good.

[JonInMiddleGA]

For all the crowing that's being done in some circles about SEC East vs SEC West bowl records ...

East opponents ... 38-22, .633 win % 2 ranked, 1 non P5
West opponents ... 63-26, .708 win % 4 ranked, 0 non P5

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Arkansas is #15. I would have said 17-18'ish so think this is a little higher than it should be but am good.

Based on their record I think 45-58 is more appropriate.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Based on their record I think 45-58 is more appropriate.

We, of course, played in the toughest division (pre-bowls). That should factor in somehow.

[CU Tiger]

I took your opponents into consideration in my above estimate.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Holy shit, ESPN.

Really.
Their latest CFB Power Ranking was just published.
This is AFTER BOWL GAMES.

ESPN Football Power Index - 2014 - ESPN

Some beauties.
Miss St "fell to #10"
GT jumped to #19

Ole Miss all the way down to #9

Bama #2
Ohio State #3

FSU #11 - Proving once and for all a 30 point loss to #1 is much worse than a 40 point loss to #4.

Clemson #21
Oklahoma #16

Auburn #8 (8-5)
Wisconsin #20 (11-3)

LSU 17
Notre Dame 28


This poll is forever more useless to me. Apparently the "didnt want to be there" factor was heavily weighted.

Missouri is down at #29 below some teams barely above .500 that they beat like Arkansas, Florida, A&M and right by powerhouses this season like Tennessee and South Carolina... Agree this ranking seems stupid but I think you see SEC bias and I just see big name school bias.

[cartman]

The Godaddy.com Bowl has been entertaining so far. Right before the half, a Toledo D-Lineman got a fat guy's dream, when one of his teammates hit the Arkansas State QB and knocked the ball loose. The lineman snatched the ball out of mid-air and rumbled 67 yards for the TD.

[cartman]

That's not something you see everyday. An Arkansas State player was just ejected for threatening a ref.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cartman

That's not something you see everyday. An Arkansas State player was just ejected for threatening a ref.

had to go looking for this one. No details (yet) but found an article that includes (until it gets pulled down of course) a replay of the whole rather bizarre sequence

Arkansas State Player Ejected For Threatening An Official

[JonInMiddleGA]

Not that young fellas first brush with discipline issues on the field. He was ejected earlier this season in a mess of a game against La-Lafayette, afterwards a total of 9 players and the officiating crew were all given formal reprimands by the Sun Belt but this guy managed to get ejected in the middle of the whole mess

Reprimanded Xavier Woodson of Arkansas State was ejected "for spitting on an opposing player

[cartman]

The uniform that Oregon will wear in the championship game will not contain either of the official team colors.

Nike's Oregon uniforms for national title game include no green - ESPN

[Logan]

They also sewed the "O" on the neck crooked and tried to come up with a bullshit explanation for why.

Oregon's New Uniforms Are Sewn Together With Lies

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Logan

They also sewed the "O" on the neck crooked and tried to come up with a bullshit explanation for why.

Oregon's New Uniforms Are Sewn Together With Lies

Best comment from that:

This is a football school. They all lie about degrees.

[Logan]

^ I saw that and loved it. Figured I'd keep it in reserve for a follow-up post.

[Logan]

The CFB Playoff announced they are granting up to $3K to players' families to cover travel expenses for the playoffs, and on the backs of that the NCAA announced they are covering $3K to families for the men's and women's Final Fours and $4K for teams advancing to the championship game.

[tarcone]

I imagine that wont go to the parents of the baseball players or softball players or swimming or any of the Olympic sports. What a shame.

[Logan]

So it's better for no one to get it if not everyone can get it?

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Logan

So it's better for no one to get it if not everyone can get it?

Better? I don't know? But all these athletes are out there representing their schools and it isn't cheap for parents to go to competitions.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Better? I don't know? But all these athletes are out there representing their schools and it isn't cheap for parents to go to competitions.

The problem is, besides the parents, there aren't many other people who want to watch the NCAA swimming championships.

But sure if the schools want to cover them too out of their own pockets, they should petition the NCAA to be able to.

[flere-imsaho]

Another reason to turn college sports into bona fide for profit enterprises with contracts, employees, etc....

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I imagine that wont go to the parents of the baseball players or softball players or swimming or any of the Olympic sports. What a shame.

WAAHHHHHHHHHH

Football, and to a lesser degree basketball, make money for these schools. There should be no issue with them being treated differently. That is real life.

[tarcone]

Then get rid of all sports but Football and Mens Basketball. Those are the only 2 sports that make money.

[molson]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Then get rid of all sports but Football and Mens Basketball. Those are the only 2 sports that make money.

I think there's a happy medium between getting rid of all sports and paying for the family members of all athletes of all sports to attend competitions across the country.

Really though, this should all just be part of the package a school or boosters can offer to a player to play there. In a fair open system like that, there probably would be a few Olympic sport athletes that that those kinds of deals, but it would mostly be football and basketball players.

[Eaglesfan27]

Winston just announced he is going to the NFL.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by molson

I think there's a happy medium between getting rid of all sports and paying for the family members of all athletes of all sports to attend competitions across the country.

Perhaps, say, limiting it to playoff matches? If a student-athlete's team makes the playoffs, there is a stipend for flying the parents in once; anything above and beyond that stipend has to come out of the parents' pockets. If the kid wants to use it in the first round because his or hers is a small school going up against Duke in basketball or lacrosse or whatever, that's their call. If they want to keep it in their hip pocket for the final four, they can do that too.

I think that's reasonable. Not every student-athlete would get the opportunity to use it, either because they gamble or their team isn't very good, but the possibility would at least be there.

[tarcone]

As I sit here thinking about this whole paying parents thing. The B1G network is paying each school like $50 million soon. And there isnt just Football and Mens Basketball on that channel. The SEC has a network. The rest of the Universities make millions on their TV deals. And that cant be used for paying for Susie Softballs Mom and Dad to travel? I find that ridiculous.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by tarcone

As I sit here thinking about this whole paying parents thing. The B1G network is paying each school like $50 million soon. And there isnt just Football and Mens Basketball on that channel. The SEC has a network. The rest of the Universities make millions on their TV deals. And that cant be used for paying for Susie Softballs Mom and Dad to travel? I find that ridiculous.

Are you really so nailve that you don't realize anything else on those networks is just filler?

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Are you really so nailve that you don't realize anything else on those networks is just filler?

I understand that. But with no filler, no network. And I have watched Iowa wrestling and womens basketball on it.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Winston just announced he is going to the NFL.

Well good, he can finally be able to afford crab legs after making his current employer millions.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by tarcone

But with no filler, no network.

Disagree. BTN could likely show replays of popular games around the clock...or do a week of Iowa Football replays, a week of Ohio State basketball, etc every quarter and it would probably out-rate a lot of the other non-revenue sport programming. They put those sports on there to help with exposure, both for the programs and the athletes. What percentage of people do you think sign up for BTN exclusively to watch swimming etc?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by tarcone

But with no filler, no network. .

YES does OK only showing Yankees and a couple other teams games. People are more likely to watch a day in the life of Jerry Kill than they are to watch the BIG10 Polo Championships.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I understand that. But with no filler, no network. And I have watched Iowa wrestling and womens basketball on it.

Ratings wise (and therefore revenue wise) you'd do about as well running repeats of football games & football coach's shows as virtually all other sports network programming.

edit to add: That's based largely on years of seeing regional sports network numbers for all manner of things. The similarity in ratings for anything other than live football was always downright shocking (to me anyway). A 4pm Wed repeat of The Coach X Show often drew an audience similar to even live MLB coverage, much less non-revenue sports.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Ratings wise (and therefore revenue wise) you'd do about as well running repeats of football games & football coach's shows as virtually all other sports network programming.

edit to add: That's based largely on years of seeing regional sports network numbers for all manner of things. The similarity in ratings for anything other than live football was always downright shocking (to me anyway). A 4pm Wed repeat of The Coach X Show often drew an audience similar to even live MLB coverage, much less non-revenue sports.

Yeah, it's funny how that model evolved, at least looking through a Philly lens. First, Phillies/Sixers/Flyers/Philly college bball were on UHF channels like 27, 17, 57. Then they moved to Prism - which was generally a movie channel like HBO when it wasn't showing games. Eventually Prism morphed into Starz and CSN Philly (splitting movies from sports). By that time I was in Maryland where they had HTS (Home Team Sports), which gave way to Comcast SportsNet and MASN.

Outside of games and I guess occasional coaches shows/local sportscasters/writers roundups, I can't tell you what the heck are on those channels. I have no need to watch them if games aren't on (and for the NBA/NHL I really don't even do that - sorry, CSN). I had MASN on one night when a game ended and I just wasn't paying attention. Looked up and there was some VHS-quality baseball instructional video with Ex-Big Leaguer Delino DeShields. So yeah - it's games, repeats of games, or absolute crap nobody watches. They might as well just run a test pattern. Or infomercials.

Oh, for the days of Prism.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Oh, for the days of Prism.

It's hard to comprehend there was a day when people paid a premium to watch Von Hayes play.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Perhaps, say, limiting it to playoff matches? If a student-athlete's team makes the playoffs, there is a stipend for flying the parents in once; anything above and beyond that stipend has to come out of the parents' pockets. If the kid wants to use it in the first round because his or hers is a small school going up against Duke in basketball or lacrosse or whatever, that's their call. If they want to keep it in their hip pocket for the final four, they can do that too.

Or we could stop trying to contort the rules to avoid admitting that these are for-profit enterprises and should be treated as such.

Originally Posted by molson

I think there's a happy medium between getting rid of all sports and paying for the family members of all athletes of all sports to attend competitions across the country.

Yes, and it's to use the Occam's Razor concept for a different purpose, which is to point out that D1 college basketball and football are moneymaking, for-profit enterprises, and should be treated as such, with professional contracts.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

It's hard to comprehend there was a day when people paid a premium to watch Von Hayes play.

You know, it's funny - looking at Hayes' stats now...he was really a pretty decent player. Perhaps never had the power numbers that we might have wished for, but he had some speed and had a very good eye (something the Phillies could use today). He's a little like Jayson Werth's scrawny brother.

Unfortunately for him, that's probably not what you fork over five players for (though in fairness, Trillo was no huge loss, Vukovitch blew, Baller and Willard were nobodies; so it's down to Julio Franco. Yeah, maybe you'd rather have him at his peak years. You win some you lose some. Though holy shit, Franco liked the GIDP it looks like.)

[CU Tiger]

"Because Ohio State's spring semester doesn't start until Monday, the
Buckeyes are not required to adhere to the NCAA's 20-hour rule,
limiting countable athletic activities to four hours a day and 20 hours a
week. Oregon's academic term began this week, so the Ducks cannot
exceed 20 hours, according to NCAA rules."

NCAA won't let Oregon practice as much as Ohio State

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

"Because Ohio State's spring semester doesn't start until Monday, the
Buckeyes are not required to adhere to the NCAA's 20-hour rule,
limiting countable athletic activities to four hours a day and 20 hours a
week. Oregon's academic term began this week, so the Ducks cannot
exceed 20 hours, according to NCAA rules."

NCAA won't let Oregon practice as much as Ohio State

Perhaps college football should not be extended into the spring.

[nol]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

"Because Ohio State's spring semester doesn't start until Monday, the
Buckeyes are not required to adhere to the NCAA's 20-hour rule,
limiting countable athletic activities to four hours a day and 20 hours a
week. Oregon's academic term began this week, so the Ducks cannot
exceed 20 hours, according to NCAA rules."

NCAA won't let Oregon practice as much as Ohio State

I remember hearing or reading somewhere before that Oregon's academic calendar provides this benefit around the beginning of the football season. Just the way stuff shakes out.

edit: without knowing exactly how that plays into NCAA rules regarding practice time, Oregon's fall quarter begins around the last day or two of September. That's definitely very late.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Perhaps college football should not be extended into the spring.

The way you hear some people whining for a large playoffs, having it extend to Super Bowl weekend In February wouldn't be a problem. I think people will eventually come to realize how more important regular season rivalries are in college football compared to a contrived playoffs.

[tarcone]

I think if the playoffs get bigger, it will be extended in December, not January-February.

[cuervo72]

Like what rivalries though? After all this shuffling, how many do we actually even care about? It's not like it's Auburn vs Alabama every week (unless I'm missing some huge history in Bama vs Florida Atlantic, Bama vs Southern Miss, Bama vs Texas A&M, Bama vs Missouri, Bama vs Western Carolina...)

Also, how about teams actually play sometime during December? To stick with Bama, their regular season ended Nov 29. SEC Championship - a playoff game, just not THE playoff - Dec 6. Then they wait until Jan 1 to play Ohio State. Do something during this time.

[tarcone]

There isnt an offseason thread yet, so I will post here.
Iowa released a rare january depth chart. Yep, thats right a depth chart for next season.
And the QB everyone was calling for all season is listed as the #1.
Iowa is desperately trying to sell season tickets. We have a weak home schedule this season and a pissed off fan base.

But what is really funny, is one of the #2 WRs. He is a senior walk on that last played at a JUCO.
Iowa supposedly recruited the WR position very heavily last season, at the expense of the offensive line. And this is what we get.

The end of the 2015 football season cannot come quick enough.

[tarcone]

Kirk Ferentz has issed a new helmet for the upcoming season. He has listened to the fans and secided to be innovative and to think outside the box. And after listing the QB the fans wqnt in the new depth chart posted on January 8th.
This hemet is a tribute to the fans.

Spoiler

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I think if the playoffs get bigger, it will be extended in December, not January-February.

This. UMass made it pretty deep into the FCS playoffs a couple times when I was there and it wasn't a big deal. Even during Finals week they would just make arrangements with the Professor if necessary, and it wasn't like that was too unique - there are more than 80 international or faraway students out of 20,000 that had to make arrangements with professors. And fwiw I actually think the class time "missed" by football players was well below that of basketball and many non-revenue sports that would have 10+ mid week away games with flights or long bus rides thanks to the geographic expansion of conferences.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

You know, it's funny - looking at Hayes' stats now...he was really a pretty decent player. Perhaps never had the power numbers that we might have wished for, but he had some speed and had a very good eye (something the Phillies could use today). He's a little like Jayson Werth's scrawny brother.

Unfortunately for him, that's probably not what you fork over five players for (though in fairness, Trillo was no huge loss, Vukovitch blew, Baller and Willard were nobodies; so it's down to Julio Franco. Yeah, maybe you'd rather have him at his peak years. You win some you lose some. Though holy shit, Franco liked the GIDP it looks like.)

I think it was the Franco thing, coming off the trading of Sandberg and going from those raucous fun teams of the late 70's/early 80's where suddenly the face of the next generation was about as dull a player as you'll ever find. He was a decent player, but the expectations were probably too much.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I think if the playoffs get bigger, it will be extended in December, not January-February.

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Also, how about teams actually play sometime during December? To stick with Bama, their regular season ended Nov 29. SEC Championship - a playoff game, just not THE playoff - Dec 6. Then they wait until Jan 1 to play Ohio State. Do something during this time.

Its called Finals.
Dont forget the student part of student athlete.
If we want to discuss blowing that whole model up, sure go ahead. But as long as these are still students they need the dead time to study.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Its called Finals.
Dont forget the student part of student athlete.
If we want to discuss blowing that whole model up, sure go ahead. But as long as these are still students they need the dead time to study.

Like in 1-AA, DII and DIII?

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Its called Finals.
Dont forget the student part of student athlete.
If we want to discuss blowing that whole model up, sure go ahead. But as long as these are still students they need the dead time to study.

Do the basketball players not study?

12/06/14 at Xavier TV Cincinnati, Ohio L, 97-84
12/13/14 vs. Tennessee Tech Tuscaloosa, Ala. W, 65-53
12/16/14 at Wichita State TV Wichita, Kan. L, 53-52
12/19/14 vs. Stillman Tuscaloosa, Ala. W, 69-49
12/21/14 vs. Appalachian State TV Tuscaloosa, Ala. W, 60-59
12/28/14 vs. UCLA TV Tuscaloosa, Ala. W, 56-50
01/02/15 vs. North Florida Tuscaloosa, Ala. W, 76-61

[tarcone]

Sorry about that Cuervo, I was super frustrated last night.