I actually heard the CFP bowls are upset because the teams are arriving just a day or so before the game. Instead of coming in a week early and having all the pre game events and stuff.
Don't remember where I heard it.
OT: College Football Playoffs Quarterfinal Games 12/31-1/1 Tues-Weds
- Thread starter rutgersguy1
- Start date
I actually heard the CFP bowls are upset because the teams are arriving just a day or so before the game. Instead of coming in a week early and having all the pre game events and stuff.
Don't remember where I heard it.
I like it too. I didn't have a huge problem with the SEC until this skewering of SMU and IU. That just pissed me off because I love underdog stories (what sports fan doesn't) and names off the beaten path having their moments in the sun. In a way, I see us in them. It should be celebrated not lambasted.
The SEC was always little top heavy and Saban is a once in a lifetime coach. I wonder if he even realized what was coming and how it was gonna be even harder to maintain his unbelievable level of excellence. Those articles in USA Today, SI and the tweets I posted above echo a lot of what I've mentioned. NIL, portal and no Saban makes it much harder to be the sole top dog.
The SEC has good teams and they will continue to have good teams and championship teams but it's not likely you'll see the crazy run they've just had with their best teams often being head and shoulders above everyone else.
It's not easy to stockpile players to create and maintain super teams and there's potential for everyone to have a chance to rise up and have their moment. Everyone is fighting for players and it's not easy to just horde them. The pool is wider for teams that have realistic shots at the title and the pool is wider for teams to have potential to have notable achievements that may be short of the title but still nice.....top on down there's more parity.
I think school paying players with NIL might nudge it a little more in terms of parity. I've always said playing time is finite so that's always a lure to help get players but now on top of that you have playing time and a little extra money to offer so that might help spread out the talent even a little more.
The one place I think that might get hurt more is the G5. There's a difference in resources between the P2 and the ACC/B12 but it's a precipitous drop when you go lower than that. There will have to be a lot of diamond in the rough, hidden gem finding at that level.
I don't know about upset but I did post something about that with regards to the playoffs. It's not a whole week long thing like before. These aren't exhibitions like the other bowls or like they used to be, it's "business" so to speak with real stakes on the line. Come in get ready and hopefully move on to the next game and again you have to prepare.
I’m fine with how it is playing out. Will be very difficult for 2 or 3 programs to dominate the sport going forward. The increasing distribution of talent will help the overall competitiveness of many schools which is good for the sport. Having said that, it is still clear that the established , traditional powers will still have the advantage as the final four indicates.
For the conference championships, if you're the home team and you win, they do. They hand out the George Halas Trohphy to the NFC Champs and the Lamar Hunt Trophy to the AFC Champs.
Should the playoff bowls continue with this practice? That's up to them. It does seem a bit cheesy, but this is the inaugural year of play-ins and quarterfinals, so I'm guessing they are still testing the waters.
It’s the exact opposite. I’m not sure what you’re seeing in CFB. Talent is spread out more than ever. Did UGA just have a quality qb sitting on the bench when Beck went down? No. That’s the same for many schools including top brands.
On the other hand, IU got a capable qb, so did Vandy and so did ASU.
Smart himself has said it’s become more even because talent at the most important position, qb, is spread out more than ever. But it really goes for all positions. Many players don’t want to sit at all and certainly not long. So they will move around to where they have opportunities to play and so the talent is spread around. Now with schools paying players it might spread even a little more. It won’t just be a playing time lure but also maybe a little extra money in addition.
I’ve been saying it for awhile here but see all the articles I posted above from USA Today, SI etc…they reference the same thing going on in CFB.
It’s just ceremony and a little pomp. It is strange but in the scheme of things it’s not a big deal.
The only change I could see would be moving the quarterfinals to home games just like the first round. I’m not sure it’ll happen though because I think the powers that be like the bowls involvement.
Sure there are still only a certain number of realistic schools that can win it all but that pool has gotten wider.
Washington made the champ game after a generation being nowhere and beat Texas to get there. Same for Michigan who won it all after a generation. Think about how ND has had its rear handed to it the other times it’s been in the playoffs. That certainly wasn’t the case yesterday against UGA.
Think about how not that long ago everyone was sick of seeing Alabama, Clemson and OU over and over in the playoffs. None of them are there now. Two didn’t even make the playoffs and one barely did.
So at the top, there’s more competition and from the bottom there’s potential to do a little damage here and there even if not win the whole thing.
The most successful team “on the field” for this whole season/post season up to this point can’t win the CFP.
Goes back to the old thought about he meaningfulness of regular season. The next expansion will knock it down even further.
It is what it is, but whoever ends up winning the CFP this year will have had a great run, but not a great season.
Oregon had an opportunity to win the CFP because of the successful season. That’s all the would get in any type of playoff 2 or 4 or 12. It’s not handed to them or anyone else.
The seeding can be fixed though but the 12 team playoff itself is fine imo.
I also don’t agree that who ever wins will have had a great run but not a great season. All the teams in it were double digit win teams, that’s a great season. Sooner or later a 9 win team will make it and that’s a very good season too.
IMO, the regular season has more meaning than ever and is more compelling than ever because so many more games at the end of the year had real stakes in them. The regular season is very meaningful.
The top QBs (and other players) are all going to be at the same 10-20 schools. Obviously there are exceptions. You think a great back-up at OSU is transferring to Ball State? Only if the kid isn’t championship caliber good. The concentration of top talent at the top 20 schools will be like never before. ND plugged 6 holes with top transfers and like magic they have made it to levels they haven’t seen in years.
The G5 does get hurt and I’ve said that above but in the P4 yea a backup from OSU would transfer to another P4 school and even possibly lower.
The number 1 recruit in the country a couple years ago went from USC to Boise and now is on the move again because he couldn’t get the starting job there.
A backup for Texas went to Duke and led them to a 9 win season. He’s now moved again to Oregon State because Duke just got a coveted qb transfer from Tulane.
The number 1 qb just signed with Colorado and they also got a pretty good transfer qb in Salter from Liberty.
Pitt’s qb was from Alabama.
Plus every player who can be a contributor doesn’t have to come from a top school. Penix went to Washington from IU. Rourke from Ohio to IU. Pavia from NM to Vandy.
Point is these top schools can’t horde everyone from everywhere. The fact that you even said top 20 instead of top 5 is a big change in itself.
This one is simple = the SEC’s usual suspects were playing (paying) the pre-NIL game for years…now their brown bag of cash advantage is gone. ND is probably going to be unstoppable in years to come as long as the money keeps flowing. What top recruit is going to pass up a fat check from the Fighting Irish? I wouldn’t be surprised if USC and even UCLA rise quickly now that they have the juice of the B1G plus beautiful weather and campuses.
Didn't you answer your own question? If the checks are equal, not everyone will consider South Bend unrivaled
True, although they are one team that I think the layoff due to the formatting impacted.
Also true they lost a single game that counted. Also true they beat two of four of the remaining teams in games that kind of mattered, and those same two teams lost another game that also kind of mattered.
It is the results that have lost meaning. They are now “oh darn” for the upper level teams, with the thought they must win them when they count.
Yes there are mulligans but just becaue you get a couple doesn’t meant the regular season doesn’t matter or count.
The regular season always matters because there are so few games. Each one is important and you don’t get endless opportunities…as we saw with Miami, Alabama, Ole Miss and USCe. The games are important both for seeding and getting in. The bar being a little lower doesn’t mean the regular season doesn’t matter. There are more meaningful and compelling games now than before.
Whether it’s 2 or 4 or 12, you could have a rematch in the playoffs where the stakes are higher than previously played games and we’ve had that before with LSU/Alabama and UGA/Alabama. The main thing is now all teams that have a realistic shot (there are more now with NIL/portal) are able to get in and there’s opportunity for good accomplishments for those lower down the totem pole. Both things are good for CFB as a whole.
On the positive, either team will get murdered by Texas/OSU
Rutgers also gets to pocket ~1.5M for OSU & PSU appearing in the Final Four.
Have never said the season doesn’t matter right now. Just lessened by a significant margin from the lessened 4 team format. Imagine the joy when a 3-time mulliganed Bama team makes it after a kicker doesn’t make a 56 yd FG.
The rematches you mentioned that were won by the original matchup losing team involved teams that ended up only losing to each other. Right now, tOSU has a dominant win over UO compared to a razor thin loss. But, there is that glaring UM result sitting out there that the CFP format magically erases.
Hey, my team is benefitting from this year’s setup. I’m enjoying it, but have to admit, if they somehow were to end up on top, it would feel really strange that their 2-loss season is considered more successful than 1-loss UO’s when that includes a head to head matchup in which UO prevailed.
Sure but once you have any sort of playoff set up (2, 4, 12, 16 etc), the playoff game holds more importance than a regular season game. That's just the way it is.
But it doesn't mean the regular season game doesn't carry a lot of weight when they're so few of them. The mulligans actually help make more games worth watching because they have playoff stakes involved be it for seeding or qualification. Before just a small handful might have had that kind of weight but now a large handful, if not more, do.
Were any of those games during the season, especially as the season went on, any less compelling or fun because a team may have had a loss or 2? Not to me, I thoroughly enjoyed watching so many more games that mattered that in the past would've have meant squat. I've seen a bunch of CFB media say they same, one of the most fun seasons they've covered.
The top programs are not going to be able to stockpile talent. Players are not going to sit for 2-3 years waiting to play, they will play earlier and get paid elsewhere. That is going to lessen the depth at “powerhouse” programs and increase the talent level at other schools, especially along the line of scrimmage where it matters most.
I finally had a chance to look at the ASU/UT game and the non-targeting call. ASU got screwed. It should be a No-SEC semifinal match. How is this NOT targeting? Hitting the head and neck area plus using the crown of the helmet. That this was reviewed and not called is ridiculous.
So true.I finally had a chance to look at the ASU/UT game and the non-targeting call. ASU got screwed. It should be a No-SEC semifinal match. How is this NOT targeting? Hitting the head and neck area plus using the crown of the helmet. That this was reviewed and not called is ridiculous.
At the very least that ref should be compelled to take a refresher course on that penalty and why it was instituted.
I finally had a chance to look at the ASU/UT game and the non-targeting call. ASU got screwed. It should be a No-SEC semifinal match. How is this NOT targeting? Hitting the head and neck area plus using the crown of the helmet. That this was reviewed and not called is ridiculous.
That's not the crown of the helmet. Doesn't mean it can't be targeting.
I finally had a chance to look at the ASU/UT game and the non-targeting call. ASU got screwed. It should be a No-SEC semifinal match. How is this NOT targeting? Hitting the head and neck area plus using the crown of the helmet. That this was reviewed and not called is ridiculous.
I thought that was targeting because of defenseless player but I've seen plenty of helmet to helmet hits that aren't called that way. I don't think anyone knows what targeting is. But for the helmet part of the rule, it almost literally has to be on the bullseye with top crown of the helmet. Any little variation off center of that crown and I've seen it not be called many times. I think the throwing out of the game and missing part of a game part of the penalty is what makes the ref let some of them go. If it was just a 15yd penalty, I think more would get called.
They missed few calls in that game both ways. There was an earlier play that could have been against ASU for defenseless player as well and I wondered if they would call it but they didn't. So to be fair, even though I thought this one should have been called the other one wasn't either.
They also missed an illegal blindside block on Texas' punt return for a TD. They missed the ASU OL pulling CS over the goal line for an ASU TD as well. I thought it was funny at the time but I don't think it's allowed. Tush push is allowed but I don't think pulling is.
Kirby Smart's dad dies after a New Orleans fall
www.espn.com
Father of UGA's Smart dies after Sugar Bowl fall
Georgia coach Kirby Smart's father, Sonny, died Saturday morning after suffering complications from hip surgery he underwent following a fall in New Orleans before the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Targeting is crown of the helmet to any body area
OR
Significant contact to the head or neck of a defenseless player
Players finishing a catch are considered defenseless.
So yes that was targeting.
The crown of his helmet did not make contact with the receiver. And as I said, that does not mean that it is not targeting.
what was their O/U for Indiana wins?
geddouttahere.. it has to do with what the bettors will bet. If Rutgers won 8 or 8 how would that affect Vegas oddsmakers? They wanted to balance money.. pay off the winners with the losers money and keep their percentage.. what is it 5%? Get max bets that balance the books and they max their income with no risk. It has very little to do with predicting outcomes.. it has to to with predicting expectations of fans.. in particular betting fans.. and more accurately.. amounts of money to be bet by both sides of any proposition.
Last edited:
Yes.. the SEC old-timey cheating with brown bags of money helped them and that gap has closed... but NIL and paying the players was always about the big-name programs remaining successful.
The SEC is not dead. The SEC.. and in particular the household names.. will remain relevant and draws for TV and ad dollars. They may not be able to pay enough to close out the other big-name teams now and the CFP will remain competitive... but the real losers are teh teams that cannot pay NIL on the same scale as the big-name programs.
The bell is not tolling for the SEC.. it is tolling for poor programs with smaller stadiums and fan bases that cannot draw enough NIL money.
The SEC is not dead. The SEC.. and in particular the household names.. will remain relevant and draws for TV and ad dollars. They may not be able to pay enough to close out the other big-name teams now and the CFP will remain competitive... but the real losers are teh teams that cannot pay NIL on the same scale as the big-name programs.
The bell is not tolling for the SEC.. it is tolling for poor programs with smaller stadiums and fan bases that cannot draw enough NIL money.
