Official 2024 College Football Thread

[sovereignstar v2]

BYU in trouble

[Solecismic]

If Georgia beats Tennessee next week, and the team with the better conference record wins the remaining games on the SEC schedule, first place comes down to Texas vs Texas A&M, with the winner at 7-1 in the conference and a seven-way tie for second at 6-2.

There are no common conference opponents in that case, so second place is determined by strength of schedule, which Alabama holds by a game or two (one if A&M wins, two if Texas wins) over Tennessee.

At this point, Alabama's best move is to refuse to play in the conference championship (I know, they wouldn't, because there are certainly penalties involved) because losing would mean missing out on the playoff while not playing would likely ensure a berth.

Ideally, there wouldn't be conference championship games, but $$$.

The Big Ten seems headed for an Oregon/Ohio State rematch. The Big 12 has BYU and Colorado ahead of the others and the ACC looks like SMU and Miami (as I see Pittsburgh was shocked by Virginia in the last set of games).

[sovereignstar v2]

BYU wow

[Edward64]

Not sure who to root for in the SEC now. There's a pool of 5 possibles - Texas, TN, GA, AL and A&M. I'm thinking 3 will get in?

Hogs vs #3 Texas next weekend should be depressing.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Edward64

It gives the perennial bottom dwellers (Hogs) hope.

We do have the Waltons & Jerry Jones …

See Hoosiers, Indiana. (NIL/portal)

[RainMaker]

The Kennesaw State story is really weird. Started a program 10 years ago and the same coach has led them all the way up to FBS. They fire him in the middle of his first season in FBS but made it seem like he stepped down on his own. Fans seem kind of mad because the coach was popular and not sure what exactly the expectations were for your first year in FBS for a program that has only existed a decade.

[GrantDawg]

Something is definitely fishy there. Students and fans are upset, and rightfully so. Somebody with money making moves behind the scenes?

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The Kennesaw State story is really weird. Started a program 10 years ago and the same coach has led them all the way up to FBS. They fire him in the middle of his first season in FBS but made it seem like he stepped down on his own. Fans seem kind of mad because the coach was popular and not sure what exactly the expectations were for your first year in FBS for a program that has only existed a decade.

Eh, issue #1 - moving up was a horrible mistake in judgment. Not his fault, but still

issue #2 - this isn't year one, it's year three of the transition. since then, he's gone 5-6, 3-6, 1-8.

issue #3 - they actually haven't been past round two of the FCS playoffs since 2018.

issue #4 - Bohannon is the son of a (somewhat) legendary HS coaching icon. I was around that program (Griffin) for several years right after his dad stepped down/was forced out(depends on who you asked) That was a change that came after 4 mediocre seasons on the heels of only one meaningful run in two decades ... all based on a state title in his 3rd season, 20 years prior. And I watched his dad spend the better part of the next decade sitting in the visitors bleachers, surrounded by former players and fans who poor mouthed virtually everything that took place -- good or bad -- for the next 3-4 HCs. "Toxic" is an understatement.

issue #5 - Bohannon was, essentially, a Paul Johnson disciple. Make of that what you will, in terms of both coaching and personality.

Which brings us to the conclusion that I feel like the university may have reached: the program, under Bohannon, peaked six years ago. In the modern era, that's an extremely long leashed to give anybody. I see no reason to believe he was going to go quietly, not based on his genetics at least.

That this ended poorly doesn't come as the least bit of a surprise to me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The Kennesaw State story is really weird. Started a program 10 years ago and the same coach has led them all the way up to FBS. They fire him in the middle of his first season in FBS but made it seem like he stepped down on his own. Fans seem kind of mad because the coach was popular and not sure what exactly the expectations were for your first year in FBS for a program that has only existed a decade.

Eh, issue #1 - moving up was a horrible mistake in judgment. Not his fault, but still

issue #2 - this isn't year one, it's really year three of the transition. since their 2nd round playoff exit the year prior, he's gone 5-6, 3-6, 1-8.

issue #3 - they actually haven't been past round two of the FCS playoffs since 2018.

issue #4 - Bohannon is the son of a (somewhat) legendary HS coaching icon. I was around that program (Griffin) for several years right after his dad stepped down/was forced out(depends on who you asked) That was a change that came after 4 mediocre seasons on the heels of only one meaningful run in two decades ... all based on a state title in his 3rd season, 20 years prior. And I watched his dad spend the better part of the next decade sitting in the visitors bleachers, surrounded by former players and fans who poor mouthed virtually everything that took place -- good or bad -- for the next 3-4 HCs. "Toxic" is an understatement.

issue #5 - Bohannon was, essentially, a Paul Johnson disciple. Make of that what you will, in terms of both coaching and personality.

Which brings us to the conclusion that I feel like the university may have reached: the program, under Bohannon, peaked six years ago. In the modern era, that's an extremely long leashed to give anybody. I see no reason to believe he was going to go quietly, not based on his genetics at least.

That this ended poorly doesn't come as the least bit of a surprise to me.

[sovereignstar v2]

I stumbled upon this site that focuses on rivalry data last night as I was creating a custom universe for FC:College Dynasty. Thought it was cool enough to share.

NCAA DI Football Bowl Subdivision - Know Rivalry

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

I stumbled upon this site that focuses on rivalry data last night as I was creating a custom universe for FC:College Dynasty. Thought it was cool enough to share.

NCAA DI Football Bowl Subdivision - Know Rivalry

I want the names of those who didn't put TTUN as Ohio State's rival. This is some Russian cyber warfare/deep fake kinda shit.

"Bring me everyone. "
"What do you mean, 'everyone'?"
"EVERYONE!"

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I want the names of those who didn't put TTUN as Ohio State's rival. This is some Russian cyber warfare/deep fake kinda shit.

"Bring me everyone. "
"What do you mean, 'everyone'?"
"EVERYONE!"

Heh, other than the Arizona scores, Ohio State->Michigan looks like one of the highest allocations. In case you didn't notice participants are asked to allocate a possible 100 points to different rivals. It's not that they didn't mark Michigan as a rival, but rather they allocated a small amount of points to Penn State etc as secondary rivals.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Heh, other than the Arizona scores, Ohio State->Michigan looks like one of the highest allocations. In case you didn't notice participants are asked to allocate a possible 100 points to different rivals. It's not that they didn't mark Michigan as a rival, but rather they allocated a small amount of points to Penn State etc as secondary rivals.

Oh, I understood the rules. Everyone should have voted 1000 points to TTUN and -900 points equally distributed to all other contestants.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Eh, issue #1 - moving up was a horrible mistake in judgment. Not his fault, but still

issue #2 - this isn't year one, it's really year three of the transition. since their 2nd round playoff exit the year prior, he's gone 5-6, 3-6, 1-8.

issue #3 - they actually haven't been past round two of the FCS playoffs since 2018.

issue #4 - Bohannon is the son of a (somewhat) legendary HS coaching icon. I was around that program (Griffin) for several years right after his dad stepped down/was forced out(depends on who you asked) That was a change that came after 4 mediocre seasons on the heels of only one meaningful run in two decades ... all based on a state title in his 3rd season, 20 years prior. And I watched his dad spend the better part of the next decade sitting in the visitors bleachers, surrounded by former players and fans who poor mouthed virtually everything that took place -- good or bad -- for the next 3-4 HCs. "Toxic" is an understatement.

issue #5 - Bohannon was, essentially, a Paul Johnson disciple. Make of that what you will, in terms of both coaching and personality.

Which brings us to the conclusion that I feel like the university may have reached: the program, under Bohannon, peaked six years ago. In the modern era, that's an extremely long leashed to give anybody. I see no reason to believe he was going to go quietly, not based on his genetics at least.

That this ended poorly doesn't come as the least bit of a surprise to me.

That makes some sense. I just don't know what the expectations should be for a school like Kennesaw State. They were pretty good in FCS after starting the program. Last couple years are definitely down, but it's not like they were getting badly beaten.

Agree that moving up was a horrible mistake. Their facilities look worse than a lot of high schools I've seen. It just seems like asking that school to be competitive in FBS is a huge stretch at this point. Maybe they'd do better with a different coach, but I don't think it'd be by much considering the huge disadvantages they have going for them. Looking at salaries, he was making under $400k a year which is a pittance of what other teams at that level make. Unless they've got a huge budget increase for the coaching staff, they're going to be bottom feeders for awhile.

[Swaggs]

I'm not sure how I feel about the Schadenfreude (aka: How much joy do fans take in the misfortune of the rival team? 1 [lowest] – 7 [highest]) section for WVU.

It has Pitt as 4.5 and VPI as 4.4 (out of 7). I would think it would be much closer to 7, for Pitt in particular.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Oh, I understood the rules. Everyone should have voted 1000 points to TTUN and -900 points equally distributed to all other contestants.

Maybe some of the points went to Xichigan and Tulane.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I'm not sure how I feel about the Schadenfreude (aka: How much joy do fans take in the misfortune of the rival team? 1 [lowest] – 7 [highest]) section for WVU.

It has Pitt as 4.5 and VPI as 4.4 (out of 7). I would think it would be much closer to 7, for Pitt in particular.

Your Mountaineers are giving me a helluva challenge trying to find a conference for them in my reimagination I'm doing for this game. Currently, you are only able to have conferences of 10/12/14/16 and I'm trying to limit myself to 12 and 14 whilst purging my league of all the riff raff. Rivals have to be a team inside their conference and so far using that site I've been able to have each team matched up with a primary or secondary rival. Until West Virginia.

ATLANTIC COAST
Florida State Miami
Maryland Virginia
NC State North Carolina
Boston College Syracuse
Clemson Florida State
Wake Forest Duke
Syracuse Boston College
Virginia Tech Virginia
Miami Florida State
Georgia Tech Clemson
North Carolina NC State
Duke North Carolina
Virginia Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh Syracuse

BIG TWELVE
Nebraska Oklahoma
Missouri Kansas
Kansas State Kansas
Iowa State Kansas State
Colorado Nebraska
Kansas Missouri
Oklahoma Texas
Oklahoma State Oklahoma
Texas A&M Texas
Baylor TCU
Texas Tech Texas
Texas Oklahoma
TCU Baylor
SMU TCU

BIG TEN
Michigan State Michigan
Iowa Wisconsin
Indiana Purdue
Michigan Ohio State
Ohio State Michigan
Minnesota Wisconsin
Purdue Indiana
Illinois Northwestern
Northwestern Illinois
Wisconsin Minnesota
Penn State Ohio State
Notre Dame Michigan

PACIFIC TWELVE
USC UCLA
UCLA USC
Washington Oregon
Arizona State Arizona
Oregon Washington
Stanford Cal
Arizona Arizona State
Cal Stanford
Washington State Washington
Oregon State Oregon
Utah BYU
BYU Utah

SOUTHEASTERN
South Carolina Georgia
Florida Georgia
Georgia Florida
Tennessee Alabama
Kentucky Tennessee
Vanderbilt Tennessee
Auburn Alabama
Arkansas LSU
LSU Alabama
Alabama Auburn
Mississippi State Ole Miss
Ole Miss Mississippi State

WESTERN ATHLETIC
San Diego State Fresno State
Hawaii Fresno State
Wyoming Colorado State
Colorado State Wyoming
New Mexico San Diego State
Boise State Fresno State
UNLV Nevada
Air Force Colorado State
Utah State Boise State
Fresno State Boise State
San Jose State Fresno State
Nevada UNLV

UNNAMED
Rutgers UConn
West Virginia
Louisville Cincinnati
Cincinnati Louisville
UConn Rutgers
USF UCF
UCF USF
Memphis Cincinnati
Houston Rice
Rice Houston
Army Navy
Navy Army

Sorry for the bad formatting. Rivals are on the right. Maybe I replace Memphis with Marshall or something

[cuervo72]

See, I’d be tempted to put MD, WVU, Pitt, and Syracuse all in the Big 10. (Sorry, BC!) Of course this is largely based off of PSU rivalries of like 50 years ago…

[cuervo72]

Dola - I didn’t notice you had ND in the B1G. Kick them out and take BC, because eff ND.

(Interesting - autocorrect wants to make “dola” into “fils”. Which…kinda fits.)

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Dola - I didn’t notice you had ND in the B1G. Kick them out and take BC, because eff ND.

(Interesting - autocorrect wants to make “dola” into “fils”. Which…kinda fits.)

I'm really trying to keep things as regional as they were pre-2010ish. In my first attempt I kept the Big East together because.. well nostalgia and that just caused issues elsewhere. I'm locking Notre Dame football into the Big Ten and they are never getting out.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Your Mountaineers are giving me a helluva challenge trying to find a conference for them in my reimagination I'm doing for this game. Currently, you are only able to have conferences of 10/12/14/16 and I'm trying to limit myself to 12 and 14 whilst purging my league of all the riff raff. Rivals have to be a team inside their conference and so far using that site I've been able to have each team matched up with a primary or secondary rival. Until West Virginia.

ATLANTIC COAST
Florida State Miami
Maryland Virginia
NC State North Carolina
Boston College Syracuse
Clemson Florida State
Wake Forest Duke
Syracuse Boston College
Virginia Tech Virginia
Miami Florida State
Georgia Tech Clemson
North Carolina NC State
Duke North Carolina
Virginia Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh Syracuse

BIG TWELVE
Nebraska Oklahoma
Missouri Kansas
Kansas State Kansas
Iowa State Kansas State
Colorado Nebraska
Kansas Missouri
Oklahoma Texas
Oklahoma State Oklahoma
Texas A&M Texas
Baylor TCU
Texas Tech Texas
Texas Oklahoma
TCU Baylor
SMU TCU

BIG TEN
Michigan State Michigan
Iowa Wisconsin
Indiana Purdue
Michigan Ohio State
Ohio State Michigan
Minnesota Wisconsin
Purdue Indiana
Illinois Northwestern
Northwestern Illinois
Wisconsin Minnesota
Penn State Ohio State
Notre Dame Michigan

PACIFIC TWELVE
USC UCLA
UCLA USC
Washington Oregon
Arizona State Arizona
Oregon Washington
Stanford Cal
Arizona Arizona State
Cal Stanford
Washington State Washington
Oregon State Oregon
Utah BYU
BYU Utah

SOUTHEASTERN
South Carolina Georgia
Florida Georgia
Georgia Florida
Tennessee Alabama
Kentucky Tennessee
Vanderbilt Tennessee
Auburn Alabama
Arkansas LSU
LSU Alabama
Alabama Auburn
Mississippi State Ole Miss
Ole Miss Mississippi State

WESTERN ATHLETIC
San Diego State Fresno State
Hawaii Fresno State
Wyoming Colorado State
Colorado State Wyoming
New Mexico San Diego State
Boise State Fresno State
UNLV Nevada
Air Force Colorado State
Utah State Boise State
Fresno State Boise State
San Jose State Fresno State
Nevada UNLV

UNNAMED
Rutgers UConn
West Virginia
Louisville Cincinnati
Cincinnati Louisville
UConn Rutgers
USF UCF
UCF USF
Memphis Cincinnati
Houston Rice
Rice Houston
Army Navy
Navy Army

Sorry for the bad formatting. Rivals are on the right. Maybe I replace Memphis with Marshall or something

Realistically, for West Virginia, I would say drop Wake Forest, BC, or Duke from the ACC and put WVU in. WVU has legitimate rivalries with Pitt, VPI, and Maryland and, to a lesser extent, Louisville (that series got pretty heated before they both left the Big East), Syracuse, BC, and Miami. They are the 15th winningest D1 program of all time and, sadly, are the winningest program to never have won a national championship.

Even in bad years, WVU would be in the top half of attendance for the conference and in good years would be in the top 4 behind Clemson, FSU, and VPI since they all have higher capacity stadiums. WVU averaged more than 60K per game as recently as 2007 and has a record of 70,222 but they shrank their stadium seating down since then. And, TV games with WVU vs Pitt and VPI are going to get high TV ratings (and WVU has even had recently played Maryland in made for TV neutral site games and just signed on to play a two game series vs UVA in Charlotte in made for TV matchups). Wake Forest and BC aren't doing that, unless they are playing Notre Dame or another team that draws.

[Edward64]

Arkansas LSU

Texas was the biggest Hog rivalry back in the SWC days. Obviously, not how the Horns view it but that's how the Hogs saw it. Now in the SEC, I'd say LSU or Ole Miss are the biggest rivals and again, not how they view it.

The Hogs lack a true rivalry where the opponent view them also as their #1 rival. That sucks but the unfortunate truth with the geography and the lack of our sustained success.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Edward64

That sucks but the unfortunate truth with the geography and the lack of our sustained success.

fwiw, I'd say that's a realistic assessment but it's also significantly influenced by the geography thing, so it's kinda understandable

[albionmoonlight]

For years, I came back home to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, and Friday was the lazy leftovers day at my parents' house, and that LSU/Arkansas game for the big golden boot came on at the perfect time for me to lay on the sofa and do some combination of dozing off, watching, and snacking.

[Passacaglia]

Projection based on CFP Poll:

1. Oregon
2. Texas
3. Miami/SMU
4. BYU

5. Ohio State
12. Boise State

6. Penn State
11. Ole Miss

7. Indiana
10. Alabama

8. Tennessee
9. Notre Dame

First few out -- Miami/SMU, 7-2 Georgia, 7-2 Texas A&M, 7-2 Kansas State, 7-2 Colorado

I'm putting "Miami/SMU" in the ACC spot because this is difficult to project. SMU is undefeated in ACC play, so by that measure, they should get the bye. But Miami is the best 1-loss team, and should make the ACC Championship Game, and since they are ranked higher than SMU, they "should" win, so it also makes sense to put them here. Also, SMU is ranked lower than BYU, so if they get a bye, they should be the 4th seed, but I would imagine a win over Miami in the ACCCG jumps them over BYU. SMU is not in the top 12 now, but we may also be able to imagine a world where Miami at #9 loses to SMU, and stays in the top 11, kicking #11 Alabama out of the playoffs. Unlikely, though (especially if you factor in other non-ACC games happening).

Boise State drops from 12 to 13 in both AP and CFP (Ole Miss passed them), which leaves Georgia out at #12. AP has Army at #16, but CFP has them down at #24. CFP has Washington State at #16 as the team waiting to see if Boise State loses. With no championship game for Washington State, they probably don't have much chance to jump Boise State unless they lose.

Changes: Georgia goes from getting a bye to out, Ole Miss takes their spot, Texas takes their bye. Miami steps half out, SMU steps half in.

By conference: SEC 4, B1G 4, ACC 1, B12 1, MW 1, Ind 1

Big 12. Colorado has an easy road to win out and make the CG (4-5 Utah, 3-6 Kansas, 3-7 Oklahoma State). BYU plays 7-2 Arizona State, but even if they lose a game, they're still in. I don't think they have a shot of getting two in, so the spot probably comes down to BYU/Colorado in the CG.

Big Ten. Feels like Oregon is in, against the winner of Ohio State/Indiana. Unless maybe Michigan gives Ohio State game (I'm holding out hope), Ohio State beats Indiana, and we see an Indiana/PSU tiebreaker that I'm not going to look into at this time. Oregon, Ohio State, and Penn State are all probably in, and for Indiana, I think it will be close if they lose a game.

SEC. Jim mentioned the possibility of a 7-way tie for 2nd place, which would be interesting. Right now, Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M are all tied with 1 loss, so you'd think Tennessee vs. winner of Texas/Texas A&M, but there's too many good SEC teams to assume that. We're pretty solid on 4 SEC teams getting in, I think -- maybe there was a week with 5, so that's possible too. I think you'd need to see Indiana go out of the top 12 with a loss, or 2 losses from Ohio State for that to happen. Oh, or a loss from Notre Dame.

[Swaggs]

For Indiana, the way I see it is that they need to beat Purdue and hope that both Ohio St and Oregon don't slip up. Assuming those two things happen, I think if they beat Ohio St and lose in the B10 title game, they are fine. If they lose to Ohio St., they likely do not make it to the B10 title game and are sitting at 11-1 before and after conference championships. It would be pretty messy for the committee to select two 2-loss teams over a 1-loss conference mate.

If they lose to Ohio St. and Oregon slides allowing Indiana to make it to the championship game, that is where I think they get into some trouble and would have to win the title game.

[JPhillips]

If things stayed like that the #5 team looks really good. Boise St. and BYU is the easiest path to the final four.