Coastal's stadium which is in the process of expanding to approx 15,000 to meet Sun Belt rules. The stadium is right on one of the main east-west highways into town, so its not been easy finding ways to expand it,

Kudos to the agents that have been able to negotiate outlandish buyout provisions like this. As long as there are stupid athletic directors out there willing to spend money like it comes from a bottomless pit, they'll keep doing it.

I'd assume every one of those contracts is approved by s school President, Board of Trustees/Regents, etc.

Quick question: Do you leave your best, most explosive, athletic player on the bench with the exception of 8 plays in the 2nd half in a 14-10 loss?

Here you go boys, FIRE FERENTZ

These refs in the OSU/Maryland game are almost PAC-12 level terrible

OSU has to get a new D-coordinator. Schiano has turned a good defense into total garbage. Even with the early graduations and Bosa's injury, there's too much talent to be this bad.

I am almost rooting for OSU to get the 4 seed for the playoffs so I can enjoy Bama boat racing them. How they have survived 3 of the last 4 games I have no idea.

I'd normally love OSU to be in the playoff, but I'd hate to see them get waxed by Alabama. A secondary bowl game would be fine with me this year.

My friend and I were texting during the game.
His text to me pretty much summed the OSU/Maryland game up.



"Wow. Awesome.Crappy."

UVA bails out GT.

Watching a CPJ coached team is about as painful an experience as I can handle at this point.

Michigan not exactly tearing it up today either. Shaping up to be an unusual, but interesting game @ Ohio State next week.

Now I'm rooting for BYU to win one more game so they can get blown out by Pitt in the Belk bowl.

Seriously though, this Ohio State team is just a mess. Seems like a combo of bad luck, stupid plays, and terrible LB'er play. I really can't see them pulling it together this year.

Go Bruins!

Is it my TV or does Clemson look really blue? I feel like I'm watching Florida, not Clemson.

Coastal Carolina loses again at home, and despite not looking like they deserve a bowl bid, will have one last chance next week on the road at a losing record team.

Weird halftime stats in UCF-Cincinatti:

** First Downs: Cincinatti 12, UCF 10
** Turnovers: 1 each
** Total Yards: UCF 226, Cincinatti 202
** Possession: Cincinatti 21:29, UCF 8:31

And UCF leads 21-6.

Apathy. We beat Illinois 63-0. Big deal

The Citadel
UMass
Rice
Middle Tennessee
Idaho

That these are mid-November games for SEC top 20 teams is ridiculous.

Wonder if they have to fire Lovie after this season. I know coaches get a few years but that's just flat out embarrassing.

Washington State 55, Arizona 14...at halftime.

Apple Cup going to have some real juice this year!

I can't wait.

It is a shame they won't be able to just all the teams ahead of them for the 4th spot if they win, which is a shame.

I dont agree with you often,but Im with you on this one.

Welcome to the SEC Chicken Shit Saturday.

Interesting that Les Miles is going to Kansas. If wonder if Bill Snyder steps down this offseason, that would give Miles a chance to do for Kansas what Snyder did for K-State.

As a fan of one of the "lower tier" SEC teams there are plenty of valid criticisms. The routine overranking of Florida, Tennessee, LSU etc based on name only. The mythology of the SEC West which is really just Bama and some decent above average teams. However the SEC stacks up head and shoulders above every other conference no matter what metric you want to use. And the cupcake November games are just pmayed by the Big 10 and other conferences earlier in the season. Who cares? It's not like Ohio State/Tulane is more acceptable because its played in September. I am all for scheduling 12 solid games but we know.why that doesnt happen.

The jealous?

Most of these SEC schools have already played multiple cupcakes prior to last weekend. Schedule a ninth conference game already.

Edit: I think the ACC should add a 9th as well.

Again, Alabama is the best team in the country, by a large margin, but they played Arkansas State, Louisiana, and The Citadel.

I would just like the option of better games to watch. Despite some unexpectedly close games, most of the matchups yesterday were ass.

Why? I mean, when a lot of stadiums are sold out, it's not like there's some need for adding draws.

If anything, program interest & fan loyalty is heightened by the little sisters games, as those are the first in-person exposure many fans get as season ticket holders take that week off & pass their tickets along. Plus, games like yesterday in Athens certainly provided valuable time on the field for guys like Justin Fields,

At the end of the day, the primary responsibility of the ADs is to do what is in the best interest of their program. By extension, the conference's primary responsibility is to its members, not to casual fans.

Dear sir. I object to "by a large margin "....but time will tell.

The SEC mandates it to all school who play out of conference rivals...

(Come on, vbulletin - the quote IS THE MESSAGE. "Too short." Hrmph.)

Or heck, yesterday even: LOOK: Alabama attendance sparse for Cupcake Week game vs. The Citadel

I'd be happy for the upset, but I haven't seen a team look this much better than the field in a long time.

Student sections are an issue almost everywhere. General admission set up meaning early arrivals in sometimes poor conditions (and taking away from the higher priority "pre-gaming" rituals), questionable cell reception, etc & so forth.

But, as my kid points out, at Ole Miss the students would gladly pay more if they weren't relegated to the absolute worst seats in the house with horrible viewing. (early season is especially brutal as they're on metal bleachers in the sun with temps well into the 90s) Student section there was generally full even in so-so times until they flipped the end zones.

Bama finally has an offense.
But this defense doesnt compare to 16, or 15 or even 17....
Round 4 is going to be fun...

Jon's arguments all make sense in the terms of a program. I'm speaking more as a fan. I like when the stakes seem to get larger as we keep moving forward.

Unrelated question - is there any path for UCF to get into the playoff. I'm thinking maybe this:

- UGA loses to Alabama in the SEC championship game
- Washington St loses again
- Texas wins Big 12
- Northwestern wins Big 10

Would that do it? I think that would wipe everyone 4 - 10 ahead of them out except LSU, but would they really keep an undefeated team out for a 2 loss non-conference champ?

It doesn't matter. The committee has demonstrated that they determine who are the "best" and make justifications afterward. When it's just an eye test, anything can be justified.

In 2014, FSU had no losses and ESPN made up a stat for the committee to trot out to make FSU's regular season looks less impressive because they barely pulled a few games out. The next year, they used the exact same stat to promote another team (I think it was Ohio State?) as a gritty, come-from-behind team that deserves to be in the playoff. It's all a bunch of crap.

So, I guess ESPN and every single computer rating made up the same stat?

Because Florida State was #5 in the Massey Composite computer rankings going into the playoff.

Then they got fucking destroyed by Oregon.

So, I don't think anyone has any heartburn over where FSU was placed that year except FSU fans.

You're not very good at gleaning points from facts, are you?

Name another year when the defending, undefeated champion would not have been #1 or #2 in that exact scenario. The simple point I was making is - the argument against them for where they were placed is the exact argument used to promote a team the next year into the playoff. Translation: we make it up as we go based on who we think is the best and we will use whatever facts or stats we want to justify the outcome. I simply used the FSU example because I was most familiar with it.

Last year, it was a travesty for Alabama to be in the playoff when they didn't even win their division. A system that penalizes a team (Auburn) for winning by giving them an extra chance to lose (to a team they already beat, no less) and awards a team that got beat and didn't have to play an extra game, is absurd.

I thought FSU was #2 going into the playoff that year. Wasn't that the year when TCU / Baylor both finished 11-1 and were kept out because there was not a championship game in the Big 12? Or am i remembering that wrong.

They were #3. But even if they were #2, it wouldn't have mattered, because Oregon would have been #3 in that scenario and would have crushed FSU just the same.

I want to see the best 4 (or 8 or 16 or 32) teams. I don't care about winning a division. What's absurd is that somehow the system ranked the team that "everyone knew" was the best team at #4. Their #4 seed would be favored against any other team in the country. Indeed, they were favored in both playoff games against the supposedly-better higher seeds.

Oh, and by the way, they beat those higher seeds, thus justifying what "everyone knew," but no one was willing to say. Yet some folks want to leave the best team out because of some dumb construct.

And while I'm ranting about the stupidity of stuff that's just accepted in college football, I fully expect Georgia to lose by 13 or so on December 1st, but let's enter into a fantasy world where there's another thriller like last year's, with Bama winning in overtime. After such a game, we'd expect UGA to drop to #8 or so from #5. That's right, all you people seem perfectly fine with a setup where #5 loses to #1 in a tight game and somehow is deemed worse. If the 5th-best team is only an eyelash worse than the 1st-best, the rankings should be adjusted to make them #3 or #4. It's insanity to say that they somehow "got worse" by outperforming their ranking, but it happens all the time. Stoopid.

Yes, I realize that some view it as "best performance." Those people gave us BYU in '84 and I will never forgive them for that. Stoopid. ;)

Ehhhhh...hard to say. A sorely disappointed bunch of 21-year-olds playing for "nothing" when they were hoping to play for a championship sometime will come out with something to prove, but often show up utterly flat as a pancake. I wouldn't assume the same result if the stakes were different.

People remember that FSU was going in for the lead in that game in the second half before they turned the ball over on 5 of the next 6 possessions, right? The point is neither here nor there, but trying to solidify arguments over single game highly variant scenarios is kind of silly.

But in this case they were still playing for a championship, just as seed #3 vs #2. At most the color uniform they wore and the sideline they were on changed.

heh. Were they? I stand corrected then? (I don't recall the game. I thought y'all were talking about a non-playoff game.)

Yeah, this was the semis. Oregon who won, played Ohio State for the Championship - and got plastered themselves.

Yes, you claim that "ESPN" made up a stat, not saying what the stat was. And that they used that same stat the next year to put a team in, not remembering who or even if it's the right year.

I pointed out that Florida State was overseeded based on consensus computer rankings of the day.

But I'm the one with the shitty argument / comprehension skills.

I think there's a better chance Clemson loses in the semifinal than beats Alabama...