Official 2024 College Football Thread
 

The season is fast approaching! The release of the first poll signals the start of the hype. The coaches poll was released today, the AP will be released next Monday.

Always has to be a couple of knuckleheads voting for Nebraska

The Longhorns lost their projected starting running back, CJ Baxter, to a blown knee.

Let the pettiness begin!....er....continue!

NCAA slaps former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh with four-year show-cause order for 'unethical conduct' - On3

Thats a huge blow, he is a beast

Give us the title!!

I honestly don't know what to expect from my Huskies. New conference, new coach, and literally a whole new team. We could go 10-2 or we could go 2-10 and neither would surprise me.

From what I understand, this is only related to burgergate, not Stalions.

Naming Harbaugh as Honorary Captain for their first game is turning full heel. This isn't going to end well for them. They have to know this by now so I guess they're just living it up while they can.

The AP Top 25 poll is out

FWIW after being depressed about the Hogs last year, I am much more optimistic with Petrino back as OC. Hoping for a winning season and minor bowl game this year

So what is best streaming (and budget friendly) channel for SEC football?

I know rankings don't matter much but Miami is way too low. That team is just loaded with talent.

I've looked into this and not found any budget-friendly options. Hulu Live with ESPN+ seems to be the best, but that's still $75/month. YouTube TV is like $65/month, but it doesn't have ESPN+ built in (does have SEC Network which should have you covered).

Longhorns lose another RB, a promising freshman Christian Clark. He tore his achilles in practice.

Here's a good article (actually it's a book excerpt) if you want to know the details.

Inside Jim Harbaugh's years-long fight with the NCAA – and Michigan

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking. I’ll get it and switch it off if I get depressed again. If Petrino can’t pull us out of this slump …

This is just a Tom Mars PR piece. This is like going to the Russia Times for info on the war in the Ukraine.:p

Harbaugh apparently turned it down or they cancelled it.

Coming off of the way last season ended, I have very little enthusiasm or taste for CFB right now. Not excited at all about the season. It's unfortunate, but I've conditioned myself to remove myself from situations that cause stress (be it work, family, or entertainment), and despite having rooting interests in some pro sports that go well beyond my rooting interests in college, I'm able to divorce myself from bad/negative outcomes for nearly everything but CFB.

So, I've decided that I need to put it aside - and thankfully, I guess, the way the game is changing helps with that. My daughter's unbridled enthusiasm and living/dying with every play and scrap of info is the only complicating factor in my life. It's going to be hard to navigate, because it's something that keeps us very close and I don't want to lose that. But the fact is, I just don't want to care anymore because I've found that for me, it's not fun to care about CFB. It's just not worth the stress. I hate that CFB is so different in that way. I don't have the time and energy to commit to that kind of relationship with the game anymore.

Weird? Probably. I don't know. It's something I've been grappling with as the season approaches. I've removed all of the notifications from my sports apps for scores/news, etc. Just don't want to hear about it.

That's completely untrue - U of M people boycott the Freep. It's actually the opposite of what you're saying

I did a Ctrl-F on "Mars" and it came up with 58 matches. He should have been listed as a co-author.

I'm not sure what your problem is here - I feel like I'm in political and you're trying to discredit me or something. Yes, it's from the Detroit Free Press, which is not "Russian Times for Michigan" - it's widely considered to be against Michigan. Yes, it quotes Harbaugh's lawyer a lot. He seems to be the only one willing and able to talk about this publicly. I don't get what's wrong with me posting it

I don't have a problem with you posting it at all. We can have a difference of opinion on whether it is a puff piece or not. It's cool.

Anyone have news on the SEC "3 permanent rivalries"? Lots of talk about it last year but nothing new in the past several months that I've found.

Is the idea dead or is it still being discussed for maybe 2025?

There is a website out there that is just a grid of the weekend's tv schedule and updates scores. I've lost that website. Anyone have it?

ESPN shows the station broadcasting the game and updates the scores and stats. If you select FBS (DIV-1A) from the dropdown it will show all games.

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ard/_/group/80

Thanks - that will be an ok fallback if I can't find the other one.

The one I am talking about had the weekend split up by day, then by channel (ABC, Fox, etc). But it was a grid that showed you know 12 - 3:30 was game A and then 3:30 - 7 was game B.

I just realized I didn't have that link anymore on my new phone.

Still TBD afaik. Last I've seen is that Bama was pushing for going to only one permanent rival but the conference membership as a whole was very against that idea.

I suspect with Saban now gone the three perms will be the model ultimately, but it's still unconfirmed best I can tell. (Saban was leading the charge for 1 perm and a 9 game slate)

Why was Saban so against playing Tennessee?

Was it this one?

Matt's College Sports on TV

Here is another schedule site I'm pretty sure I got at FOFC

Just a moment...

The feeling in Tuscaloosa was that Bama's likely trio - Auburn, UT, LSU - was unfairly difficult compared to the trios that some other teams would get.

(It was the LSU thing he objected to, I think, more than UT, but definitely didn't want both)

As one article noted, either Bama or Florida was gonna get the shorter end of the stick than most ... and the league was ready to lock in Bama games with UT & LSU rather than Florida rivalries with the same two.

Florida's schedule this season is something else.

I would have thought Bama's three would have been Auburn-Tennessee- Ole Miss.

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This is the year Nebraska turns that corner

How Long It’s Been Since Each CFB Power 4 Program Has Qualified For A Bowl Game 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/YdyEWtUIFe

— College Football Report (@CFBRep) August 18, 2024

Not until the Solich curse is lifted

Kirk Ferentz got dinged for a recruiting violation. The NCAA is suspending their punter for the first three games as punishment.

Last time hogs were in a bowl game was Jan 2022 (for the 2021 season). So, it's been 2 seasons.

None of those sites are the ones I’m talking about, but thanks for sharing.

If I ever find it I’ll post it

The one I have tagged for CFB on TV always was

College Football TV Schedule

Started the season official by watching College Gamday. I didn't know Ben E Lou sang in the opening.

Someone needs to adjust the pursuit angles setting on this game because both defenses are allowing too many big run plays.

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I had heard Tech was going to take a step up this year, and it definitely looks like they have. The over under for wins this year at the betting sites is 4.5, and that seems so low. If I gambled, that would be something it would be hard not to put some money on.

I never noticed how much Jesse Palmer sounds like Jason Bateman from Dodgeball.

DJ Uiagalelei is not a good QB.

GT QB is making some great throws under pressure.

He has really been impressive. Not just throwing, but running the ball. He has just carried the team on his back several times in this game.

Run it up the middle and potentially win the game? Nah.

DOLA - to be fair, to come back and show that kind of composure on the next play is impressive

Yeah, it was a bad time to make a mistake. But that is their game, all the motion and fakes. Thankfully, it didn't cost them.

Again, I don't know if you can still get that number, but that seems like a no brainer.

That's a little wild...

Brent Key now 5-0 against ACC ranked teams

— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) August 24, 2024

Two questions that need to be answered. How many key FSU players were sitting this one out? And is FSU going to file a lawsuit against Dublin, Ireland?

Congrats GA Tech.

Great win. Hope you are competitive this year, need a backup plan to the Hogs.

Before today, the last QB to beat FSU in a regular season game: DJU

The last FSU QB to lose a regular season game: DJU

This SMU-Nevada game has been entertaining. SMU's TE RJ Maryland has owned the 4th quarter.

I realize that I'm now a casual CFB fan. I've simply lacked the time to follow it, so I've just watched when I can, jump on the bandwagons, etc.

And I've noticed that the constant conference shifting and expanded playoffs, etc. have made it harder to keep me engaged as a casual fan.

When I have to do that mental work of "wait, what conference are they in now?" it makes it that much harder to care.

At some point, you chase enough short term dollars that you lose sight of long term growth of the sport.

I feel the same way. Couple that with NIL and the transfer portal and I'm left doing the college football version of the TNT Charles Barkley 'Who He Play For' quiz.

It also seems like we're headed toward a European soccer culture where there's a cadre of wealthy teams that dominate the sport and a series of lesser clubs that serve as cannon fodder. The only difference being that the Vanderbilts of the world will not be relegated (although for all we know that could be in play at some point too). That also leaves a lot of fans of cannon fodder teams hoping their schools can somehow scrape together something more than mediocrity. Maybe that is the way things have always been, but with smaller conferences, at least there was some hope that middling teams could win something (e.g Iowa's days of winning something are probably over now).

Maybe there is hope for the cannon fodder teams that some Middle Eastern oil magnate will do for some middling program what they did for Manchester City. It doesn't seem like there is much stopping this kind of scenario when a rich guy decides to pour tens of millions into some school's NIL fund. Some wealthy person out there might want to sportswash and this could be a way to do it.

But college football feels different to me than it did 20 years ago and certainly different than it did 40 years ago.

I saw that Alabama was able to hang on to their general manager. Is that an official position throughout college football now and where on the old org chart would that position be? Does the GM hire the HC (Howie Roseman to Nick Sirianni) or does the HC choose his own GM (Kyle Shanahan hiring John Lynch)?

Parallel job title might have been something like Director of (football) Operations, or maybe more recent Director of Player Personnel. A 2021 article on the subject of GMs credits that title with first being used in college for Geoff Collins, when he came to GT under Chan Gailey.

Thank you. So it is the recruiting coordinator 2.0 or probably 3.0.

As someone who watch a co-worker change their email signature block title from "Supervisor, Midshift" to " Superintendent of Nighttime Operations" seconds after a promotion in rank, I have to hate Geoff Collins on principle.

's okay, I hate that mfer on a lot more than just principle lol

Woohoo. Hogs start the 2024 season tonight against Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Should be a cakewalk and looking forward to see how well QB Taylen Green runs Petrino's offense.

Coastal Carolina starts their season tonight and escapes some of the humidity as they play Jacksonville State in Alabama. Not really sure what to make of the team this season as their hasn't been a lot of buzz about them, picked to finish third in their Sun Belt division.



Go Chants!

one of the best times of the year! 5 straight days of college football

Your 2024 National Champions kickoff at 7:30 pm on Saturday versus Fresno State!

That could be tricky. The Bulldogs are known to have some good signs

:redface:

:confused: :confused: :confused:

... so don't steal 'em ...

"All SIGNS point to a Fresno State win" was what I was gonna go with.

Interestingly enough at the same time as this game is going on NC State is also playing. Their starting QB was none other than former Coastal great Grayson McCall. He was a graduate transfer there. Unfortunately he threw a pick-6 early on, and Western Carolina leads 14-7 after one.

Hogs up 28-0 after 1Q. Run game is better than the passing so far.

Enjoying it while I can, #17 Oklahoma State up next weekend. So we better work out the kinks


Edit: 35-0, starting to get ugly. I’d typically say pull the first team soon, but new QB, new OC, a bunch of new players, so sorry UAPB, the Hogs need the reps to fine tune

Colorado already faking injuries to keep from getting blown out.

Powerhouse North Dakota State has scored 17 on Colorado with 9 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. I'm starting to get Schadenfreude watching bad things happen to Deon.

I really don't think we can hang with them all game, but I'll take 20-14. We need the defense to show up. I just think Colorado is just too fast for us if they get going.

But....


GO BISON!!!

Hogs up 49-0 at the half. Seven drives, 7 TDs

Petrino opened up passing in 2Q. Green looks pretty good but he seems to hold the ball a tad long. He needs a quicker release in SEC football.


Edit: Our QB2 and RB2 started 2H. Up 63-0 in early 4Q. Nine drives, 9 TD. QB2 has been pretty accurate and has a quicker release.

Edit2: 70-0 game. QB3 started 4Q. As good of a performance as can be expected. Lots of reps for the 2nd/3rd teams. Good to see Petrino back.

Looking forward to the GA-Clemson game on Sat.

We're gonna lose, but who cares really. We lose, so what. They win, so what. This close it still hurts them more.

close game until the 4th quarter but then NCState pulled away.McCall had over 300 yards passing, and 3 tds

Game isn't over yet, but Coastal is going to win handidly, maybe scoring more than 50 points. Big sigh of relief that they beat up on a team in their second year at this level and hope they can keep it up next week

LOL what is this clock management by Colorado? If NDSU manages to pull this out, it will be compared to Cristobal last year.

UNC-Minnesota has to have the weirdest uniform mashup I can remember seeing in a game.

At the FCS level, Stephen F. Austin was winning 70-0 at halftime, so they used a running clock the entire second half.

And 5 minute quarters

Absolutely baffling, especially with the way it ended.

There is also this from a High School here last night. Down 19-14 first and goal from the 1 with a chance to win and the coach calls 4 straight passes, all incomplete, with a delay of game penalty sandwiched in and the 19-14 score stands LOL. (Running every play from gun I might add)

Granted I coached a Wing T/Shotgun Double Wing the majority of my 3 plus decades coaching HS ball, but why would you not run the damn ball 4 straight times if needed in that scenario, same as CU should have run on first down and bled the clock. I don't get the fact that some coaches spend so much time and chucking the rock that the run is almost an afterthought.

Relates to one of my big pet peeves: shotgun for victory formation

I know, I know "but we're in shotgun virtually all the time, so under center doesn't get practiced"

Y'know what? FIGURE IT OUT.

This is Oklahoma v Temple game is my first extended watch of the new college football season. With all the changes that have been made in the college football landscape, a game like this is completely unacceptable to me in a way that I rarely have felt in the past. I know there is no real difference from last year's 73-0 win over Arkansas State but it just feels much different to me now. Let SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 teams pay these smaller teams to hold joint practices with them before they go into their 12 game seasons with the other minor league teams in SEC, Big Ten etc..

I dunno, I had to doublecheck to make sure Temple wasn't in one of the revamped Big 4 already.

I mean, THAT is how broken the conferences are at this point.

I'm not even trying to be funny, there was an actual momentary doubt in my mind that they actually might have been added somewhere already.

The one thing I will NEVER understand is when I’m watching a game on repeat, and ESPN shows the score in the ticker underneath. It is guaranteed to make me turn it off 100 out of 100 times… literally just happened as I was watching TCU Stanford this morning waiting for soccer to come on. Who watches a full game when they already know the outcome?

How hard is it to not have that happen? Are they really just in fuck it mode at that time, the only people watching are too drunk or high to turn it off anyway? If you were an advertiser wouldn’t you ask them not to actively deincentivize whatever tiny audience they have to change the channel and go somewhere else?

It’s entirely possible one of my first ever posts on this board was on this topic, btw.

TBH that might be it now that I think about it more.

I knew that Oklahoma was on a different level than Arkansas State last year. I knew that Arkansas State had no business on the field with Oklahoma and was only there for a payday. But I could still do the mental gymnastics to still see them as two college teams playing one another. Because I have already moved on to seeing the SEC and Big Ten as a minor league versions of the NFC and the AFC, last night I saw the version of the Dallas Cowboys playing Temple.

Add in the fact that I knew about the Stephen F Austin running clock/five minute quarters game and the inherent acknowledgement of the pointlessness of that game to make it even more ridiculous. The funny thing is while I did not watch any of these games, I don't feel the same seeing the scores Missouri, Utah, and Kansas beating Murray State, Southern Utah and Lindenwood by a combined score of 148-3.

The advertisers don't care, those spots are rarely (never?) bought specifically, they're just broad rotators and many/most of them are just airing to make good delivery shortfalls on other stuff anyway.

It's the difficulty honestly. You're talking about creating a different ticker for just that replay, then switching it to one for the next program, etc. Ain't nobody got time for dat.

I'd bet that you're in a sub 1% that notices enough to be bothered by it. Nothing wrong with that but the audiences on replays are so small to begin with, the number of people who leave because of this is statistically insignificant (as are ratings for replays)

This might seem funny to some, but I even practiced victory formation LOL. It was the last thing we did at the end of walk through the day before the game.

The only SIGN that really matters is the 2024 National Championship banner hanging at The Big House!

Speaking of signs, god damned hero Conor Stalions tried and failed to become the defensive coordinator for my local high school. It was quite a story. The guy is super weird. After he thought he was hired, but then was told he wasn’t - which he didn’t take well - he ended up going to another high school in the area as their defensive coordinator. His defense gave up 47 points in the first game. It’ll take some time for these kids to pick up the system.

I really don't know how it is any different than it ever has been. It has always been ridiculous and something people constantly complain about. The money from those games is the lifeblood of those small schools sports programs, and there is no way the big school would pay that for a scrimmage that won't bring the money of an actual game-day does. Eventually there is going to be a break away, and the top programs will have that super conference. Lower tier schools will have to learn to survive on a lesser stage. Money wins out, that is a free market.

Not funny at all to me. Any program with a clue oughta practice that. Don't give Mr. Murphy extra chances to rear his head.

I didn't have Vandy being up 17-0 on VT in the first half on my bingo card.

Dawgs defense looking great but offense a little rusty (?).

Out of synch for sure. Missing RB1 isn't helping, but Beck hasn't looked comfortable.

Want a crazy stat? That was the first offensive touchdown in a Clemson-UGA game since 2014.

Georgia offense looks better in the second half. They have started moving the ball quickly to the perimeter, and away from the tough front 7. That has spread things out and created gaps.