Official 2024 College Football Thread

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I'll grouse about the MLB playoff structure some, but yeah -- if you have a playoff system for a championship, that's what you have. An 11-5 TB wildcard team beats a 14-2 KC team, TB's the champ. KC and everyone else can suck eggs.

Of course, those leagues have pretty well-defined rules for who gets into the playoffs, and they've pretty much always had those rules (even if they've evolved). College football has been smoke signals or interpretation of clouds or patterns in magnetic shavings or whatever. People have to unlearn that, I guess. (Though if they're going to have a playoff, I think they need to get a more concrete method of determining who is in rather than plopping a system on top of that same bunch of smoke signals.)

I agree. There still needs to be tweaks to the system. This gives us more results on the field than the press picking the winner.

[JPhillips]

I don't think there's a way to know who's best because they just don't play enough games. This system doesn't really penalize losses, it penalizes the time of a loss. I think the only thing we can know given the number of games is who is the best in conference, but even that's difficult now that the conferences are so big.

[GrantDawg]

I think the best way to tell who is best is to, I don't know, form some kind of brackets of playoffs and have teams play each other to see who wins. Like every other sport.
Who exactly is getting penalized for when they lost? It looks like to me like the teams are getting weighted more by who they lost to and who they have beaten. How is that not the best way to decide?

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[JonInMiddleGA]

via Connor O'Gara @cjogara

A wild stat worth remembering as Jackson Arnold hits the portal:

The last time Oklahoma had a starting QB begin and finish his career in Norman was Landry Jones.

Jones was drafted by the Steelers in the 2013 draft

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I think the best way to tell who is best is to, I don't know, form some kind of brackets of playoffs and have teams play each other to see who wins. Like every other sport.
Who exactly is getting penalized for when they lost? It looks like to me like the teams are getting weighted more by who they lost to and who they have beaten. How is that not the best way to decide?

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Look at my above scenario. Oregon ends with one loss, Georgia ends with three and they don't play each other. I don't think it's clear that Georgia is the better team. I accept that they won the tournament, but if the question is who had the better season, I don't think that's clear.

[GrantDawg]

Since when does the NBA championship determine the team with the best season? World Series? Super Bowl?

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[GrantDawg]

I will add that having a better record with a weaker schedule doesn't prove the best season either. I thought championships were about the best team, not the best manipulators of the schedule.

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[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Look at my above scenario. Oregon ends with one loss, Georgia ends with three and they don't play each other. I don't think it's clear that Georgia is the better team. I accept that they won the tournament, but if the question is who had the better season, I don't think that's clear.

Since when is the question "who had the better season"? College football tried that, and everyone spent the whole time wishing there was some kind of playoff to choose a real champion.

[Solecismic]

One of the many differences between the pro sports and college football is the ratio between league participants and playoff participants. And still, pro sports tries to provide balanced schedules.

The NCAA basketball tournament works because of mass participation. Every league gets a representative. The schedule is long enough to make it possible for a committee to reward tough scheduling.

Football has neither. It would be difficult to ever go beyond 16 teams, which means the ratio can't even improve to baseball's long-standing 2 of 16 pennant chases, which lasted until the '60s. Those had the advantage of 154-game balanced schedules - the pennant was perhaps as important as winning the World Series.

There's going to be a league at some point, and it's not going to have 134 teams. Or even 68. That's probably why the ACC was so angry about FSU missing out last year and Miami falling behind Alabama yesterday. They see the writing on the wall, and the new Big 12 and the new ACC aren't going to be around all that long.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Since when is the question "who had the better season"? College football tried that, and everyone spent the whole time wishing there was some kind of playoff to choose a real champion.

Not everyone.

I've said a CFP was a completely idiotic notion consistently for the entire existence of the discussion. The most completely unnecessary invention in sports history and among the most destructive.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Not everyone.

I've said a CFP was a completely idiotic notion consistently for the entire existence of the discussion. The most completely unnecessary invention in sports history and among the most destructive.

Well not too many times we're on the same side of an issue.

[Edward64]

In some Hog news ...

Petrino has withdrawn from consideration at Charlotte. Not sure how serious he was pursuing it.

Nice recruiting win for the Hogs. Not sure how it all shakes out but Hogs are ranked #29 right now on 247.

4:15 p.m.: Arkansas crushes UCLA with pair of flips

Arkansas pulled off a Signing Day stunner by flipping a pair of notable recruits from UCLA on Wednesday, including four-star quarterback Madden Iamaleava and borderline four-star receiver Jace Brown of Long Beach (Calif.) Poly. Iamaleava, 6-2, 200, is the nation's No. 19 quarterback in the country according to 247Sports, which also lists him as the No. 25 overall prospect in California for the Class of 2025.

Birmingham bowl seems to be the most predicted. Texas & Liberty bowl also in the mix.

[Edward64]

I personally like having a CFP. The Bowl games were fun but most years there would be some controversy on #1.

I would have been happy with 4 or 6 (maybe 8) teams, but 12 teams is too many.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Not everyone.

I've said a CFP was a completely idiotic notion consistently for the entire existence of the discussion. The most completely unnecessary invention in sports history and among the most destructive.

What don't you like about it?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

One of the many differences between the pro sports and college football is the ratio between league participants and playoff participants. And still, pro sports tries to provide balanced schedules.

The NCAA basketball tournament works because of mass participation. Every league gets a representative. The schedule is long enough to make it possible for a committee to reward tough scheduling.

Football has neither. It would be difficult to ever go beyond 16 teams, which means the ratio can't even improve to baseball's long-standing 2 of 16 pennant chases, which lasted until the '60s. Those had the advantage of 154-game balanced schedules - the pennant was perhaps as important as winning the World Series.

There's going to be a league at some point, and it's not going to have 134 teams. Or even 68. That's probably why the ACC was so angry about FSU missing out last year and Miami falling behind Alabama yesterday. They see the writing on the wall, and the new Big 12 and the new ACC aren't going to be around all that long.

Nothing they do is going to be "fair." This is at least more fair than a bunch of reporters only voting for the teams they follow or have bias towards, while teams only play the same 8 teams every year. I would much rather have teams needing to schedule tougher opponents, and then having the best teams face off for a winner. I agree that it is far from perfect, nor is the NIL situation nor the portal transfer situation, but all are improvements in their own way. Much of the chaos of this was the NCAA burying their heads in the sand for far too long. They could have gotten in front of it, but instead they have basically lost control. I do imagine it will come down to the major conferences and programs forming some come kind of agreement.

[GrantDawg]

More, the transfers and the NIL stuff hasn't affected my enjoyment in the least bit. Really, I think the games have actually become more interesting largely based on there being a bit more parity of talent. I don't get hung up on recruiting or transfers really. Why do i care if this kids is making money off his talent? Why does it matter that this kid played for NC State last year?

I think Kirby does have a point on the transfers as a whole needs to be worked on. He doesn't have a problem with transfers, but he believes kids ought to have to at least commit the first two years to whatever program they initially sign to. Players transferring after their first year aren't really giving themselves the opportunity to develop, and after two years they can have a better understanding of where they are in the program.

[Ghost Econ]

Oregon's next 30 year old starting QB has entered the portal.

BREAKING: Iowa QB Cade McNamara has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, @PeteNakos_ reports👀https://t.co/U31NaOwnr0 pic.twitter.com/bNpUVrTNZh

— On3 (@On3sports) December 4, 2024

[sovereignstar v2]

Wow, you've heard of Cade McNamara?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

More, the transfers and the NIL stuff hasn't affected my enjoyment in the least bit.

It's destroyed mine, in terms of rooting interest.

[Brian Swartz]

Like all other endeavors, there's the persistent conflict between good and popular, which are not always the same thing. Viewer ratings are up. Most people like the new system.

I don't, but I recognize that's me just being an old man yelling and clouds and out of touch.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Source - UCLA firing offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy - ESPN

[RainMaker]

It seems like the trick to being an elite offensive coordinator is having Patrick Mahomes.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

It seems like the trick to being an elite offensive coordinator is having Patrick Mahomes.

Similar to what Mike Tomlin said about Joe Burrow on Hard Knocks: "It's like Brett Favre...anyone around Joe Burrow is gonna get a job."

Those elite QBs can make coaches look real, real good.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

Oregon's next 30 year old starting QB has entered the portal.

BREAKING: Iowa QB Cade McNamara has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, @PeteNakos_ reports👀https://t.co/U31NaOwnr0 pic.twitter.com/bNpUVrTNZh

— On3 (@On3sports) December 4, 2024

That picture really does make him look like a current day Scott Bakula.

[Atocep]

I think Travis Hunter should win the Heisman and is the best player in college football. With that said, seeing these mocks with him going number 1 overall is crazy IMO. He doesn't have number 1 overall skills or positional value on either side of the ball and I also can't see him playing the snap counts he's currently playing and excelling on both sides of the ball like he is now.

This is shaping up to be a weird draft without a top guy and a lot of variation on value from team to team but I'd be disappointed if my team was sitting at number 1 and we ended up with Hunter.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Wow, you've heard of Cade McNamara?

I'm pretty sure he was on a team in TCY.

[GrantDawg]

Ummm...Bill Belichick is interviewing for the UNC job. Wut?

[Passacaglia]

Posted since Jim is a fellow U of M guy who lived in Manchester, or at least somewhere in New Hampshire if I recall...

Manchester, NH erects billboard reading “Welcome to Third Base! Birthplace of Ryan Day” | College Football News Now

[HerRealName]

You know that's a fake website, right?

[sovereignstar v2]

I'd replace fake with satire, Donald

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

I'd replace fake with satire, Donald

If it isn't on Truth, it's fake.

[sovereignstar v2]

Lol

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Ummm...Bill Belichick is interviewing for the UNC job. Wut?

They're apparently making a run at Matt Campbell. Then Shumann and Jon Sumrall are probably the more realistic favorites.

[Solecismic]

Somewhere in New Hampshire. But one thing I recall about living there was that if there's one place in the country where college sports is almost completely ignored, it's New England. They wouldn't get that joke. I'm not sure anyone would outside of Michigan.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

You know that's a fake website, right?

Ha nope. I didn't even read the story. I just saw the headline, thought of Jim, and came here.

[Ghost Econ]

This is the kind of pettiness I want in my college football.

Prior to this game, UNLV QB Hajj-Malik Williams mentioned he couldn't find Boise on a map. So the video board has very helpfully been providing him the coordinates after every sack and interception 😁

📽: @StackBackpack#BleedBlue #BoiseState pic.twitter.com/tlvz6uLGGP

— First Kick Was Good (@FKWGblog) December 7, 2024

[sovereignstar v2]

Big 12 CC looks like it'll be a fun one

[sovereignstar v2]

Skattebo is great and so are the ASU cheerleaders (nothing new)

[sovereignstar v2]

I don't know what PI is anymore

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Big 12 CC looks like it'll be a fun one

Tickets were $12 at one point, and I'm seeing in the 20s now. Very tempting for a cheapskate like me, and honestly, almost better since Michigan isn't in it, no chance of a bad outcome.

EDIT: Sorry, thought you said Big 10

[sovereignstar v2]

Haha I was like what, how close are you to Arlington???

[Atocep]

Mike Gundy got into a pissing match with the Oklahoma State admin and ended up caving by agreeing to a restructured contract that lowers his $25 mil buyout. Oklahoma State had apparently threatened to go after firing him for cause if he didn't restructure. Not sure what he justification would be, but apparently it was enough to get Gundy to back down.

Belichick reportedly just got an interview at UNC because it's Bill Belichick but so far he's been far and away the most impressive candidate interviewed, was the most prepared, and had an incredibly detailed plan for the program that has him actually getting strong consideration now.

[sovereignstar v2]

Oof this one got out of hand quickly

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Oof this one got out of hand quickly

Campbell has maxed out ISU. There's a reason his agent seems to be floating his name around for other openings, especially with the new NIL cap coming in next year. There's going to be a huge gap between those that spend at the cap and those that don't.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Mike Gundy got into a pissing match with the Oklahoma State admin and ended up caving by agreeing to a restructured contract that lowers his $25 mil buyout. Oklahoma State had apparently threatened to go after firing him for cause if he didn't restructure. Not sure what he justification would be, but apparently it was enough to get Gundy to back down.

Belichick reportedly just got an interview at UNC because it's Bill Belichick but so far he's been far and away the most impressive candidate interviewed, was the most prepared, and had an incredibly detailed plan for the program that has him actually getting strong consideration now.

His plan is making sure his son is head coach in waiting and scoping out the crop of incoming freshman girls.

[RainMaker]

Belichick in college would be fascinating. If he can get some decent talent he would carve up everyone.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Tickets were $12 at one point, and I'm seeing in the 20s now. Very tempting for a cheapskate like me, and honestly, almost better since Michigan isn't in it, no chance of a bad outcome.

EDIT: Sorry, thought you said Big 10

You could get in the SEC championship for $115. I came very close to pulling the trigger, but it wasn't worth the wife friction.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

You could get in the SEC championship for $115. I came very close to pulling the trigger, but it wasn't worth the wife friction.

You can get into the B1G championship game for $5 if you are willing to sit in the 500 or 600 section. It’s Oregon and Penn State. Be hard to pick a worse matchup travel wise among the contenders from Indianapolis. Once Ohio State lost all the tickets went from 3-4x over face value to now selling under (sometimes significantly so I saw a 100 section ticket for $40 today (20 yard line)and face value on that ticket would have been somewhere between $130(end zone) and $300(40 yard line) as it’s between those two sections that still have tickets available directly from Ticketmaster.

[HerRealName]

17 on Georgia is a walking targeting machine.

[Edward64]

Dawgs have no offense, defense is keeping it close down 6-0