Backlash has begun

[RUich]

Indiana is now the poster child for the people who only want to see blue bloods invited to the national championship finals. Yes, they did lay an egg last night, but what if they had won? Would the same talking heads be talking about ND in the same way? The usual bluster, at the beginning of every season, about winning the national championship from just about every one of the colleges is just that. You can win all of your games and still not get a sniff at it.

 

[Knight Owl]

Indiana is now the poster child for the people who only want to see blue bloods invited to the national championship finals. Yes, they did lay an egg last night, but what if they had won? Would the same talking heads be talking about ND in the same way? The usual bluster, at the beginning of every season, about winning the national championship from just about every one of the colleges is just that. You can win all of your games and still not get a sniff at it.

Indiana DID beat a physical Michigan team, something the Buckeyes couldn’t manage to do.
The seeding methodology is the problem…but SMU (with a dual threat QB) at Penn St certainly is intriguing as Penn St will be forced to “make plays” on O and D for four quarters.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Indiana is now the poster child for the people who only want to see blue bloods invited to the national championship finals. Yes, they did lay an egg last night, but what if they had won? Would the same talking heads be talking about ND in the same way? The usual bluster, at the beginning of every season, about winning the national championship from just about every one of the colleges is just that. You can win all of your games and still not get a sniff at it.

ESPiN is leading the charge because some of its product didn't make the cut such as Alabama or Ole Miss. That cost them money. I can only imagine what the championship game would sound like if two B1G programs make it. Oh boy, the sky would be falling and the championship game is a farse.

Indiana DID beat a physical Michigan team, something the Buckeyes couldn’t manage to do.
The seeding methodology is the problem…but SMU (with a dual threat QB) at Penn St certainly is intriguing as Penn St will be forced to “make plays” on O and D for four quarters.

Don't forget weather. Southern schools don't come north after September for a reason. There will be built-in excuses for SMU if they lose.

 

[Salvi's Headband]

I don't get it. We've see plenty of blowouts in every format. Last night didn't seem particularly remarkable

 

[RUGuitarMan]

It was a great season for Indiana but the schedule did raise questions . Unfortunately for them, both Michigan and Washington (who they played) were much different teams than they were last year. I think they belonged and deserved a place because of how dominating they were in the games they won. However , it is a fact that the 2 ranked teams they played handled them pretty thoroughly.

 

[Tango Two]

Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again

Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again — USA TODAY

Forget about the meaningless late touchdowns, Indiana didn't belong in the College Football Playoff at Notre Dame. The mistake can't happen again.

apple.news

 

[TM94goRU]

The TV booth was highly insulting to the whole BIG10 toward the end of that game. Hopefully Notre Lame beats Georgia. After all it is what it is, they may want the in season hype, but they never want a true surprise.

I can't root for State Penn, conference be damned in their case, but we need OSU and Oregon to represent because the SEC minions are already hard at work trying to convince people it's the SEC first and then a bunch of middling conferences. Same thing as the AP poll where more Southerners have a vote than any other part of the country. This is why SEC teams that lose while ranked, do not seem to fall as far.

 

[Salvi's Headband]

Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again

Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again — USA TODAY

Forget about the meaningless late touchdowns, Indiana didn't belong in the College Football Playoff at Notre Dame. The mistake can't happen again.

apple.news

This is so over the top. Did people get this worked up about TCU Georgia or Notre Dame/Alabama back in the day? Blowouts are part of sports and this one wasn't even particularly bad.

 

[satnom]

ESPN through Sean McDonough went out of its way to create the narrative that Indiana wasn’t deserving over SEC teams. Can’t stand ND but may be good for Georgia to lose and shove it in ESPN’s face.

GO RU

 

[Jerseylegends]

The way I see it...it was said college football is special because every game matters. I get that the sec is a tough conference but if you're not the best, second best or even the third best team in the sec, you lose your chance to win a national championship. Sure Alabama, maybe even Vanderbilt can beat Boise State but it's a national championship and it's a big nation..you want to make national money, everyone needs an opportunity, if not just play the sec schedule and then the sec championship...

 

[rutgersguy1]

The TV booth was highly insulting to the whole BIG10 toward the end of that game. Hopefully Notre Lame beats Georgia. After all it is what it is, they may want the in season hype, but they never want a true surprise.

I can't root for State Penn, conference be damned in their case, but we need OSU and Oregon to represent because the SEC minions are already hard at work trying to convince people it's the SEC first and then a bunch of middling conferences. Same thing as the AP poll where more Southerners have a vote than any other part of the country. This is why SEC teams that lose while ranked, do not seem to fall as far.

Problem is Oregon will play OSU if they beat Tenn.

 

[TM94goRU]

Problem is Oregon will play OSU if they beat Tenn.

Yes, I believe that was done purposefully. Remember the past, only the SEC is good enough to have 2 teams in the National Championship. I used to watch many of the SEC games to laugh at how they were officiated. Simply put the refs would routinely save their ranked teams if they were in danger of losing to an unranked conference opponent.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Indiana is now the poster child for the people who only want to see blue bloods invited to the national championship finals. Yes, they did lay an egg last night, but what if they had won? Would the same talking heads be talking about ND in the same way? The usual bluster, at the beginning of every season, about winning the national championship from just about every one of the colleges is just that. You can win all of your games and still not get a sniff at it.

12 teams are way too much for the CFP. There will be undeserving IUs in the bracket every year and in some years like this one, a few of them. We will probably get Oregon and Georgia in the finals which means every other game was a complete waste of time.

 

[Virginiarufan]

The SEC strategically avoided a Bama V Georgia game in season for a long time. This was done so both could always finish unblemished and get in.

 

[yesrutgers01]

There WILL be blue bloods blown out as well.

 

[jtung230]

Clemson is the mistake. But ESPN doesn’t want to talk about that.

 

[LeapinLou]

ESPN through Sean McDonough went out of its way to create the narrative that Indiana wasn’t deserving over SEC teams. Can’t stand ND but may be good for Georgia to lose and shove it in ESPN’s face.

GO RU

I agree. And unfortunately, I'm going to find myself rooting for Penn State today.

 

[RU#1fan]

ESPiN is leading the charge because some of its product didn't make the cut such as Alabama or Ole Miss. That cost them money. I can only imagine what the championship game would sound like if two B1G programs make it. Oh boy, the sky would be falling and the championship game is a farse.



Don't forget weather. Southern schools don't come north after September for a reason. There will be built-in excuses for SMU if they lose.

I am actually rooting for PSU in this one… a first for me. It will be 25 degrees and some snow in the 2nd Half. Hope SMU can’t take the elements and gets clobbered. We don’t need to hear more whining today about how the B1G is overrated if PSU doesn’t win.

 

[rutgersguy1]

 

[Extra Point]

Indiana didn't play well. They aren't as bad as they were last night.

 

[jtung230]

I’m glad the Indiana talk is quickly replace with SMU.

 

[T2Kplus20]

2 expanded CFP games so far.....2 completely pointless and unnecessary games. Great job!

Complete and utter garbage. Go back to 4 (but I can stomach 6).

 

[fsg2]

2 expanded CFP games so far.....2 completely pointless and unnecessary games. Great job!

Complete and utter garbage. Go back to 4 (but I can stomach 6).

6 or 8 would have been better, imo.

But too late now.

 

[Plum Street]

Indiana DID beat a physical Michigan team, something the Buckeyes couldn’t manage to do.
The seeding methodology is the problem…but SMU (with a dual threat QB) at Penn St certainly is intriguing as Penn St will be forced to “make plays” on O and D for four quarters.

nope

 

[Knight Owl]

nope

Two pick sixes will do that! I thought SMU would be able to keep it within two possessions late.

 

[RUbacker]

The TV booth was highly insulting to the whole BIG10 toward the end of that game. Hopefully Notre Lame beats Georgia. After all it is what it is, they may want the in season hype, but they never want a true surprise.

I can't root for State Penn, conference be damned in their case, but we need OSU and Oregon to represent because the SEC minions are already hard at work trying to convince people it's the SEC first and then a bunch of middling conferences. Same thing as the AP poll where more Southerners have a vote than any other part of the country. This is why SEC teams that lose while ranked, do not seem to fall as far.

when will you guys learn that ESPN is the CNN of sports .

 

[krup]

Anyone who plays the SEC. I don’t like this skewering of IU and SMU.

You have 3 losses and losses to teams that aren’t that great, keep your mouth shut.

They have good teams but not going to say they have tons of dominant teams, especially now that Saban is gone. The changes in CFB with portal and NIL also loosen that grip. Just about everyone is flawed.

That’s the thing. If an SEC team got left out because they had three losses and the team that got in had one or two losses, the SEC team only has an argument if their tougher schedule led to those extra losses.

All three of the SEC teams whining had at least one very bad loss, so they have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[LotusAggressor]

Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again

Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again — USA TODAY

Forget about the meaningless late touchdowns, Indiana didn't belong in the College Football Playoff at Notre Dame. The mistake can't happen again.

apple.news

It was a mistake for an 11-1 team to be in the playoff?

 

[LotusAggressor]

when will you guys learn that ESPN is the CNN of sports .

That's an insult to CNN.

 

[LotusAggressor]

This is so over the top. Did people get this worked up about TCU Georgia or Notre Dame/Alabama back in the day? Blowouts are part of sports and this one wasn't even particularly bad.

People did get worked up about TCU after Georgia blew them out. Nothing is ever said about Notre Dame. The TV gasbags love them.

 

[TM94goRU]

when will you guys learn that ESPN is the CNN of sports .

Hilarious! After seeing my little Pony SMU today Indiana wasn't that bad. It just hit me, I think Disney ESPN is angling for a breakaway Super League. They choose the top 30 to 40 brands and run a little NFL. That way they win and everyone else is lesser no matter who wins by comparison.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Hilarious! After seeing my little Pony SMU today Indiana wasn't that bad. It just hit me, I think Disney ESPN is angling for a breakaway Super League. They choose the top 30 to 40 brands and run a little NFL. That way they win and everyone else is lesser no matter who wins by comparison.

ESPiN wants a monopoly on college football before it grows beyond their control. That's one reason why they strong-armed the CFP into signing a dumb deal when they could have taken it to the market and had multiple networks bid on it and shared the cost. With that shared cost, CFP could have earned twice what ESPiN paid. ESPiN understands this may be their last chance to regain control of things. B1G breaking away has make them very afraid of being just another bit player. Disney is working hard behind the scenes to cut ties with ESPiN over inflated cost to keep ESPiN in the mix.

 

[krup]

The dumbest thing about all of this controversy after two games is everyone raving about how great an idea it was to have the first round be home games for the higher seeds, then act like the blowouts are only a measure of the weakness of the losing team and not how difficult is it going to be to go on the road and win in this setup.

 

[RUGuitarMan]

ESPiN wants a monopoly on college football before it grows beyond their control. That's one reason why they strong-armed the CFP into signing a dumb deal when they could have taken it to the market and had multiple networks bid on it and shared the cost. With that shared cost, CFP could have earned twice what ESPiN paid. ESPiN understands this may be their last chance to regain control of things. B1G breaking away has make them very afraid of being just another bit player. Disney is working hard behind the scenes to cut ties with ESPiN over inflated cost to keep ESPiN in the mix.

Two of the playoff games today aren’t on ESPN, they are on TNT/TBS . I’m not sure who owns what regarding networks, but I’m sure there was a competitive process with the conferences regarding tv coverage.

 

[mikemarc1]

These first three games give more indication that the playoffs should get smaller, not bigger.

8 should have always been the number.

 

[T2Kplus20]

These first three games give more indication that the playoffs should get smaller, or bigger.

8 should have always been the number.

6 would be even better.

 

[bethlehemfan]

The difference between the top 4 and the 3rd four is huge. This format sucks.

 

[mikemarc1]

6 would be even better.

I don’t think there should be byes. Why should 3rd and 4th seeds have a home game on campus but 1st and 2nd not?

1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 on home campuses, then semis and at bowl sites (rotate different 2 every year)

 

[RUGuitarMan]

The difference between the top 4 and the 3rd four is huge. This format sucks.

Who is the top 4 this year? I’m not sure it is discernible. Let the tournament play out.

 

[Virginiarufan]

Two of the playoff games today aren’t on ESPN, they are on TNT/TBS . I’m not sure who owns what regarding networks, but I’m sure there was a competitive process with the conferences regarding tv coverage.

The games are still ESPN properties and produced by ESPN. These are being shown on TNT / TBS as part of a deal in which ESPN purchased TNT’s “Inside The NBA” programming and the rights to use the same cast of characters / commentators, I believe that includes Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal doing commentary. As part of the deal ESPN is providing several college football games to TNT / Turner Broadcasting. Beyond the first round playoff games they also are sharing several Big 12 football games in the 2025 season.