2013 NCAA Football Thread

[Formaldehyde]

@Formaldehyde By your own measure, UCF should be a top twenty-five team.

I never claimed that. Now did I? But UCF is clearly a good team with an excellent program. It shouldn't surprise anybody if they happen to beat a ranked team.

Reading Formaldehyde's posts, I think he -- like many other college football fans -- would like to see college football model itself after the NFL, with a regular season geared towards parity and then a single elimination playoff system to decide a champion.

I have stated a number of times that I think the top 8 teams should play in single elimination at the end of the year to determine the national champion. It certainly isn't perfect, but it is far better than having one or two teams battle it out based on playing a lot of lesser opponents due to how much weight is given to perfect or near-perfect win-loss records.

So, okay, that was fun to think about, but how about an actual solution?

Reduce scholarships.

I think there is an even better solution which is somewhat related. Stop collegiate sports from being the minor leagues for both football and basketball. Return them to being amateur sports instead of semi-professional athletics. This means far more than just limiting the number and amount of the scholarships. It means limiting their budgets drastically compared to what they now are. It means giving college scholarships to those who have the academic credentials instead of how fast they can run 40 yards. It means no more red-shirting freshmen. They only have 4 years eligibility commencing from the year they graduate high school.

 

[dgfred]

I think it opened at 57. I'd say GSU is a pretty safe bet to cover there . . .

In other news, Clinton-Dix is suspended indefinitely. No reason was given, but the rumor is it's an agent issue that will take him out for the year, and that Adrian Hubbard is also at risk. That's just rumor though. We won't really miss him until the LSU game, which is over a month away . . .

I thought an assistant is throwing cash every whichaway.

How many is that?

 

[ummmm........]

I never claimed that. Now did I?

Far too much weight is placed on having a perfect or near-perfect win-loss record, while I think it should be based on even contending in matches that really test their capabilities to the fullest.

Isn't that what UCF did . . ?

I have stated a number of times that I think the top 8 teams should play in single elimination at the end of the year to determine the national champion. It certainly isn't perfect, but it is far better than having one or two teams battle it out based on playing a lot of lesser opponents due to how much weight is given to perfect or near-perfect win-loss records.

I think there is an even better solution which is somewhat related. Stop collegiate sports from being the minor leagues for both football and basketball. Return them to being amateur sports instead of semi-professional athletics. This means far more than just limiting the number and amount of the scholarships. It means limiting their budgets drastically compared to what they now are. It means giving college scholarships to those who have the academic credentials instead of how fast they can run 40 yards. It means no more red-shirting freshmen. They only have 4 years eligibility commencing from the year they graduate high school.

That's just naive. The money is there. The money is there because the public is interested in watching the sport. You can't do away with the money without eliminating the interest in the sport. There are plenty of divisions other than FBS -- with less public interest and therefore less money -- if you're looking for a more 'pure' game, contested only by those who can afford to treat football as a leisure activity . . .

I thought an assistant is throwing cash every whichaway.

How many is that?

That's what it turned out to be. He received a loan of less than $500 from an assistant strength coach who 'has ties' to an agent. He has repaid the loan and the coach has been placed on administrative leave. He's expected to miss 1-3 games.

Dammit, to think all of this could have been avoided if he wasn't allowed an athletic scholarship

In other news, Texas really is this bad, huh . . ?

Petrino's got WKU back above .500 . . .

Aw, I kind of feel bad for little Iowa State there . . .

 

[Wrymouth3]

In other news, Texas really is this bad, huh . . ?

Mack Brown on the sidelines talking to the reported saying "This is such a huge win for this program," and "We are back" just shows how delusional he is. It also could be that he's truly given up on the current iteration of this team, even though they won, it would not surprise me if he is fired tomorrow or the next few days.

 

[ummmm........]

Hey, you don't just walk in to Ames, Iowa and expect to come away with a win. Ask Mike Gundy . . .

UCLA's struggling a bit as well. Seem to have settled down a bit here in the second quarter . . .

 

[Wrymouth3]

Just realized that firing the former DC of Texas ended with with Greg Robinson as a replacement. Brown has truly lost his mind, and he has replaced his former incompetent DC with a man who was fired with 2 years left on his contract at Syracuse and was paid over 1 million dollars to get the hell as far away as possible from the school. Texas will win only win one more game this season, a struggle against Kansas.

 

[ummmm........]

At least we finally got a recovered onside kick tonight. I was very unimpressed with UCLA's O-line . . .

 

[MacAttack]

Clinton-Dix is suspended indefinitely

For Ha-Ha, this is no laughing matter.

 

[downtown]

So I know the Big Ten gets teased a lot for their expansion, but why don't people mock the Pac-12? With UCLA's win over Utah last night, Utah and Colorado have fallen to a combined 22-37 since they joined the Pac-12, and neither team has beaten a Pac-12 squad with a winning record. For all the crap about Maryland and Rutgers, they are both good enough to beat decent league squads right away.

 

[MacAttack]

You got Nebraska

 

[ummmm........]

For Ha-Ha, this is no laughing matter.

Fun fact on his 'impermissible benefit': He could have received the money legally from the university directly, and he wouldn't have needed to pay it back . . .

So I know the Big Ten gets teased a lot for their expansion, but why don't people mock the Pac-12? With UCLA's win over Utah last night, Utah and Colorado have fallen to a combined 22-37 since they joined the Pac-12, and neither team has beaten a Pac-12 squad with a winning record. For all the crap about Maryland and Rutgers, they are both good enough to beat decent league squads right away.

I don't think anybody expected Utah and Colorado to struggle so mightily, but I haven't heard a lot of people dogging the Big Ten for their expansion either. I think most fans understand that expansion is about markets and media footprints, not football . . .

How do CFC CFB posters feel about the composition of the playoff committee leaked thus far?

We've got Archie Manning, Condoleezza Rice and these guys:

In addition, former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, athletic directors Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin), Jeff Long (Arkansas), Oliver Luck (West Virginia) and Dan Radakovich (Clemson), and former NCAA executive vice president Tom Jernstedt have been chosen to be on the committee, sources told ESPN.

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, the former Air Force Academy superintendent, will be on the committee as well, sources told The Associated Press.

That's nine members of what is supposed to be a 12-18 member panel with the final number probably closer to twelve. One of the as yet unnamed members will be a Pac-12 AD. Condoleezza Rice seems little out of left field but I guess she's as good as anybody else. I'm surprised they'd go with Jeff Long over Jeremy Foley, unless Foley turned them down . . .

EDIT: Alabama fun fact! Going into week six, three of the four teams Alabama has beaten -- VaTech, A&M and Ole Miss -- are otherwise undefeated. Just a little silver lining considering our inability to put together a complete game thus far

 

[Wrymouth3]

Here's what you need to know so far for today (Sorry Ummm! Don't wanna hog your spotlight too bad):

The Mike London strategy of hiring failed head coaches as assistants and allowing them to run the team isn't a strategy that seems to work.

Charlie Weis calls for a fake punt run on 4th and 13 inside his own 10, yes you are reading that right

Maryland got the worst pummeling possible, and it looks like their supposed turnaround from last year was short-lived.

Nick Satan continues to care about not hurting the fragile ego of Alabama players and fans (rolls eyes) by showing a team who shouldn't be FBS or FCS who's boss.

Iowa players look unorganized and legitimately confused on offense and defense.

 

[Azale]

That spot in this Northwestern-Ohio State game was trash. Try showing some more angles ESPN.

 

[JollyRoger]

For all the crap about Maryland and Rutgers, they are both good enough to beat decent league squads right away.

Well, Rutgers did win against SMU today in the third OT. After today, Maryland is may be looking for a "decent" Big 10 team to play since it didn't fair so well against a decent non-Big 10 team. They should have hired Mike Leach when they had the chance.

 

[ummmm........]

(Sorry Ummm! Don't wanna hog your spotlight too bad)

The only thing I ever complain about is that the rest of you people don't post enough . . .

Nick Satan continues to care about not hurting the fragile ego of Alabama players and fans (rolls eyes) by showing a team who shouldn't be FBS or FCS who's boss.

This was actually the first game of the year I was really happy with. We came out and imposed our will, played clean, crisp, mistake-free football and got the starters off the field late in the second quarter. It's what the Colorado State game should have been.

That spot in this Northwestern-Ohio State game was trash. Try showing some more angles ESPN.

Idk. It wasn't egregious. I didn't think he made it. It was a dumb way to waste a time out in any event . . .

EDIT: Top 25 time! Yay!

Undefeated teams only lost to each other this week, so seventeen still remain. These are going to be some pretty fluid rankings I think, partially reflecting the actual quality of play, but mostly ranked with an eye towards who's actually going to be still standing at the end:

1. Oregon -- 5-0, always score a lot, don't get scored on much. Haven't played any ranked teams, opponents have a combined W/L record below .500. Consistentcy week to week has them at #1 for now. Washington, UCLA & Stanford still to play . . .
2. FSU -- Gave up 34 points and 200 yards on the ground at BC. Otherwise unblemished. Certainly impressive today. Clemson, Miami & Florida still on schedule . . .
3. Alabama -- Inept defense at A&M seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Inconsistent offense seems to be here to stay. Even struggling, no game outside of A&M has been in doubt. LSU Nov 9 . . .
4. Clemson -- Like Alabama, porous defense vs. UGA seems to have been the exception. Perhaps avoided their 'Clemson moment' at NCState. FSU and SCAR still to go . . .
5. Baylor -- Still haven't played anyone, but wowie zowie at that offense. I've probably got them overvalued at 5, but I'm riding high on that WVU win right now. Things don't get tough until Nov, when they get Oklahoma, TT and Okie State three consecutive weeks . . .
6. Stanford -- Washington's a quality win, but I don't think they have what it takes to seriously contend. Maybe they can play spoiler vs Oregon. Also get UCLA from the South . . .
7. Ohio State -- 1st team bowl-eligible! Gutsy road win, but it was still a NW team they were supposed to beat. Like Stanford, I'm not sure they have all the pieces quite yet. Unlike Stanford, they have a very good chance of making it all the way through their conference title game undefeated. Michigan's pretty much all they have left, maybe twice . . .
8. Oklahoma -- They had me convinced they were the class of the Big XII, then they pull this crap vs. TCU today. Struggled at home vs. WVU in week two as well. TT, Baylor and Okie State still to go . . .
9. Louisville -- Really not drumming people like I expected them to. Ten points in the first half at Kentucky? Rutgers and UCF may prove to be more of a test than they should . . .
10. UCLA -- The memory of that O-line at Utah Thursday night is still fresh in my mind. I don't think they have much chance of making it out of the Pac-12 without a loss . . .
11. Missouri -- Go Mizzou! Okay, maybe they still haven't played anybody, but that's more points than anyone else has been able to hang on Vandy. Probably not good enough to hang with the SEC East yet, the next three weeks vs. Georgia, Florida and South Carolina will sort it out one way or the other. Then they get to close the season with A&M . . .
12. Miami -- I'm telling you, Miami's just not that good. They get to beat up on UNC and Wake while they wait on their trip to FSU, but they have no chance of winning that one and may not survive VaTech at home the following week either . . .
13. Michigan -- Okay, the ND win was nice I guess, but then they struggle vs. Akron and UConn. I'd like to think they could get to the OSU game undefeated, but I don't think they have much of a chance of getting past NW if they even make it that far. My dream of the Title game rematch is fading away . . .
14. TT -- They're scrappy enough, I guess. I just get the feeling I'm waiting on them to slip up . . .
15. Northern Illinois -- Blah blah. We're little guys and we've got a great QB and we don't play anybody so we've got a good chance of going undefeated. But we can't stop anybody -- anybody -- from scoring either . . .
16. Fresno State -- What they said. Actually Fresno maybe has a little better claim to notoriety than NIU, with their one-point wins over Rutgers and Boise, but they've got no chance to impress left on their schedule . . .
17. Houston -- Just waiting on Louisville to come wipe them off the list, if BYU or Rutgers or UCF doesn't get them first . . .

Games that could have an impact this week:

Rutgers at Louisville Thursday night
Missouri at Georgia We'll see how many guys Georgia can get back from injury
Oklahoma/Texas I guess
Oregon at Washington I don't think Washington can win but it will tell us something about how large the gap is between Oregon and everyone else
Michigan at Penn State With Michigan, every game is an adventure

 

[downtown]

I think it's disappointing that Ohio State will probably drop in the polls again, despite beating a probable 10-win team, on the road, in the single biggest regular season game in that school's history. I'd agree at this point that Ohio State ought to be behind Oregon, Alabama and probably Clemson, but their body of work (quality wins), is more impressive than FSU. I'd still vote them above Stanford as well.

Buckeyes have not yet played their best football. There are injuries at key positions right now, and they haven't had their offense fully weaponized yet, (even though they have hit 40 pts in 5 of their 6 games). This bye week is coming at a great time.

 

[Wrymouth3]

Clemson...... FSU.

If FSU so happens to beat Clemson or even blows them out (the former is very much a possibility), how much do you think Clemson drops down the rankings?

 

[ummmm........]

It's frustrating that we're almost to the midpoint of the season and we still know so little about so many teams.

Tough to argue body of work for Ohio State over Stanford, they seem pretty comparable. It's true FSU hasn't played anyone of a similar caliber, but they've been more impressive in the games they have played. The trouble for Ohio State is there are so few opportunities on that schedule to really make an impression. Similar problem for Alabama, but we get the benefit of the SEC's perceived superiority. Also, if we make it to our title game we'll likely get a better opponent than Ohio State will . . .

Alabama fun fact! After giving up 42 to A&M, our scoring defense has now managed to claw its way back to 4th best in the country . . .

 

[downtown]

Eh, I dunno. I'd say Ohio State's road victory (Northwestern) is more impressive than Stanford's (Arizona State), and if we're comparing cupcakes to cupcakes, the Buckeyes looked more impressive against SDSU, Buffalo and Cal than Stanford did against SJSU and Army.

These things have a way of working themselves out near the end of the season. What we do know right now is that we have at LEAST six really good teams (Alabama, Oregon, Clemson, Ohio State, Stanford, Florida State). All of them are going to play at least two more ranked squads should they win out, all of them will have to win on the road. We'll see who is still standing.

 

[ummmm........]

I knew Georgia was beat up Saturday, but that's ridiculous. A local commentator called UGA's last TD drive to send the game into OT the greatest of Murray's career. That seemed absurd but he may be right. Murray had no one left to throw to. Both RBs and three of his top four receivers were out hurt . . .

Body of work is body of work. Washington and ASU is pretty comparable to Northwestern and Wisconsin. As for the cupcakes, while the outcome wasn't in doubt that Buffalo game was a lot closer than a twenty-point final margin made it look . . .

I know it's harder to win on the road and it's something that everybody has to do, but I don't put a lot of weight on a win just because it came on the road. Alabama over A&M doesn't mean much more to me just because it came in College Station. There are exceptions like Autzen or Death Valley at night but I think even those are largely mythological. There are also situational exceptions like A&M over Alabama last year -- that was impressive because A&M was the upstart new kid and Alabama was the implacable wall of SEC powa! Even then I think it just eliminated a potential excuse for Alabama fans than it really made the win more impressive . . .