ummmm........
Extremely normal.
And I'm saying everyone needs those eye-roller games to break things up. Or a shorter season. Or more off weeks . . .
Fewer plays per game could also work . . .
Fewer plays per game could also work . . .
2016 NCAA football thread
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Well, maybe if anyone besides Ohio State would play some damn defense, there would be fewer plays per game.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
If defense could control how many plays are played that would be great for us, but in reality offense controls the pace of play. Sad but true . . .
I know. I was just trying to shoehorn in a joke about how there's no defense in college football anymore.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
Maybe this was the only solution for LSU/Florida, but it kind of sucks for pretty much everybody. LSU's November is now Alabama, @Arky, Florida, @A&M (on four days rest, no less). Florida fans lost their only decent home game all year.
I guess CBS and CFB fans in general win, since it gives us a decent game on that penultimate Saturday normally reserved for the lightest cupcakes, but that's about it . . .
I guess CBS and CFB fans in general win, since it gives us a decent game on that penultimate Saturday normally reserved for the lightest cupcakes, but that's about it . . .
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
This is a great example of how the playoffs have hurt the regular season btw. In the BCS era, a loss to Tennessee this weekend could have been devastating, leaving us on the outside, waiting and hoping for the other undefeateds to lose. Now, losing to Tennessee costs us nothing since it doesn't impact our path to the conference title and as long as we win the conference title, we're in. Beating Tennessee doesn't help us either bc if we beat Tennessee but don't win the conference title we won't be going to the playoffs . . .
So here we have a game in mid-October between two top ten teams, the result of which has absolutely no bearing on the national title picture. That's a bad thing, and it will only become more common as the playoffs are expanded to include more teams. Kind of sad
Oh, I know. I think I had no less than five heart attacks throughout the course of that game.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
Ohio State/Wisky was some quality football drama, for certain. NC State/Clemson too, if y'all missed that one this morning. And while I hate to poop on everyone's fun, the difference between those is that Clemson/NC State actually mattered, while Ohio State/Wisky -- like Alabama/Tennessee -- did not, and for the same reason
And I wouldn't be too eager to apply the transitive property to Alabama/A&M next week. Barring some truly unlikely outcomes down the road, this game will be for the SEC West and I expect to see some performances from both teams that they haven't shown us it their first few games . . .
That said, watching Ohio State and Clemson struggle a bit today did make me feel a little better about our chances in the postseason. I don't think this is one of Saban's best teams at Alabama, so I wasn't feeling too confident, but now it seems like anybody's year, so who knows . . ?
And I wouldn't be too eager to apply the transitive property to Alabama/A&M next week. Barring some truly unlikely outcomes down the road, this game will be for the SEC West and I expect to see some performances from both teams that they haven't shown us it their first few games . . .
That said, watching Ohio State and Clemson struggle a bit today did make me feel a little better about our chances in the postseason. I don't think this is one of Saban's best teams at Alabama, so I wasn't feeling too confident, but now it seems like anybody's year, so who knows . . ?
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
The undefeateds . . :
Alabama: I don't want to tempt fate, but after today I'm going to say Alabama has the most promising path to a conference title of the four major contenders. Maybe . . .
Ohio State: I'm not sure I should keep putting Ohio State ahead of Clemson, with Clemson's major hurdles seemingly behind it, but they didn't inspire a lot of confidence today, while Ohio State's struggles seem like more of an aberration . . .
Clemson: Beat FSU, Wake and Syracuse and they make it to the conference title game at least. I don't think anyone from the Coastal is going to give them much of a test there . . .
Washington: These top four are hard. I believe they will be their conference champs and therefore make the playoffs, but it's difficult to say who has the best chance of slipping up, or who would benefit if they did . . .
Michigan: The best chance of any of the non-favorites to win a major conference this year, I think . . .
A&M: I want to put them above Michigan, but I've got to give Michigan slightly better odds at this point. Again, this feels like tempting fate . . .
Nebraska: Just waiting to get crushed by the Big Ten big boys I think, but still a better shot at the playoffs than the Big XII guys . . .
WVU: I still think the Big XII is odd man out again this year, and I don't expect WVU to win the conference anyway, but they did exceed expectations against TT today, so I'll put them ahead of Baylor this week . . .
Baylor: Still don't see them making it through the Big XII . . .
Boise State: Won't matter . . .
Western Michigan: Can't matter . . .
Alabama: I don't want to tempt fate, but after today I'm going to say Alabama has the most promising path to a conference title of the four major contenders. Maybe . . .
Ohio State: I'm not sure I should keep putting Ohio State ahead of Clemson, with Clemson's major hurdles seemingly behind it, but they didn't inspire a lot of confidence today, while Ohio State's struggles seem like more of an aberration . . .
Clemson: Beat FSU, Wake and Syracuse and they make it to the conference title game at least. I don't think anyone from the Coastal is going to give them much of a test there . . .
Washington: These top four are hard. I believe they will be their conference champs and therefore make the playoffs, but it's difficult to say who has the best chance of slipping up, or who would benefit if they did . . .
Michigan: The best chance of any of the non-favorites to win a major conference this year, I think . . .
A&M: I want to put them above Michigan, but I've got to give Michigan slightly better odds at this point. Again, this feels like tempting fate . . .
Nebraska: Just waiting to get crushed by the Big Ten big boys I think, but still a better shot at the playoffs than the Big XII guys . . .
WVU: I still think the Big XII is odd man out again this year, and I don't expect WVU to win the conference anyway, but they did exceed expectations against TT today, so I'll put them ahead of Baylor this week . . .
Baylor: Still don't see them making it through the Big XII . . .
Boise State: Won't matter . . .
Western Michigan: Can't matter . . .
I think Clemson is a team that's ripe for the picking. They keep winning, but just barely and I think it's only a matter of time before someone knocks them off. The fact that NC State was able to take them to OT really says a lot about just how good Clemson really is (or isn't, I should say). I pretty much consider that game a loss for Clemson anyway since they only got the chance to win it in OT because of a missed field goal. Beyond that, NC State really did just straight-up beat Clemson, and on their home field no less.
It also strikes me as a bit odd that people say the Buckeyes have struggled on offense in their last two games. They put up 38 on Indiana and 30 on Wisconsin (who supposedly had an "elite" defense). For comparison, Michigan (who people keep saying has one of the best offenses in college football this season) only managed to put up 14 against that same Wisconsin defense. If scoring in the 30s is what people consider a struggling Ohio State offense, then you might as well just pencil them in for the playoff right now. I think the key take-away from the win over Wisconsin is that this Buckeye team has shown they won't buckle under the pressure when they find themselves in a bit of a hole in a very hostile environment.
Nor should they. Being undefeated in a weak conference shouldn't earn you any accolades beyond a pat on the back and a "good job" from the powers-that-be in college football. One of the guys on ESPN's college football playoff show said something after Houston's loss to Navy about non-P5 teams that I 100% agree with. He said something to the effect of "Before this game we were talking about a possible non-P5 team in the playoff, after this game we will NEVER be having that conversation again."
Personally, I think the committee should just drop the charade and just straight up say if you aren't in a P5 conference, then you aren't eligible for the playoff.
In other news:
What the hell is going on with Notre Dame and Michigan State? Both only have two wins so far and watching them play is akin to watching an orphanage burn down with all the kids still inside. Especially Michigan State. I mean, I predicted they would eventually come back down to earth and return to their mediocre ways, but I didn't think they'd fall this quickly or this far. This was a freaking playoff team last year and now they are giving up 54 points at home to a Northwestern team that has only averaged 20.6 points per game prior to their matchup with MSU and LOST TO ILLINOIS STATE. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
It also strikes me as a bit odd that people say the Buckeyes have struggled on offense in their last two games. They put up 38 on Indiana and 30 on Wisconsin (who supposedly had an "elite" defense). For comparison, Michigan (who people keep saying has one of the best offenses in college football this season) only managed to put up 14 against that same Wisconsin defense. If scoring in the 30s is what people consider a struggling Ohio State offense, then you might as well just pencil them in for the playoff right now. I think the key take-away from the win over Wisconsin is that this Buckeye team has shown they won't buckle under the pressure when they find themselves in a bit of a hole in a very hostile environment.
Nor should they. Being undefeated in a weak conference shouldn't earn you any accolades beyond a pat on the back and a "good job" from the powers-that-be in college football. One of the guys on ESPN's college football playoff show said something after Houston's loss to Navy about non-P5 teams that I 100% agree with. He said something to the effect of "Before this game we were talking about a possible non-P5 team in the playoff, after this game we will NEVER be having that conversation again."
Personally, I think the committee should just drop the charade and just straight up say if you aren't in a P5 conference, then you aren't eligible for the playoff.
In other news:
What the hell is going on with Notre Dame and Michigan State? Both only have two wins so far and watching them play is akin to watching an orphanage burn down with all the kids still inside. Especially Michigan State. I mean, I predicted they would eventually come back down to earth and return to their mediocre ways, but I didn't think they'd fall this quickly or this far. This was a freaking playoff team last year and now they are giving up 54 points at home to a Northwestern team that has only averaged 20.6 points per game prior to their matchup with MSU and LOST TO ILLINOIS STATE. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
In the playoff era it doesn't matter how good you are nationally, just whether you play in the P5 and whether you're good enough to win your conference. And also whether you're the worst P5 champion I suppose, but even that limitation is likely to change in the near future as the playoffs expand. Clemson isn't very consistent, but they seem good enough to win their conference. And while they're not consistent, on their good days they are good enough to pose a threat to anyone and all you need in the playoff era is to be good on the right two days. They certainly can lose their conference, but so can Ohio State and Alabama and Washington. Most likely, one or more of those teams will lose their conference. And when they do, it still won't matter how good they are . . .
Alabama scored forty-nine today, and we struggled mightily on offense. It's a different era, you can't use old metrics. But I think most people have penciled Ohio State in for the playoffs. And Alabama, and Clemson, and Washington. I mean, those aren't really bold guesses. Things are a lot easier to predict than they used to be. Also, I haven't heard anyone say Michigan has one of the best offenses in CFB . . .
The G5 team with the preseason hype -- this year Houston, in some past years Boise, never Western Michigan, as far as I can recall -- will always matter, bc it creates a storyline for folks to talk about. And if the P5 conferences do things just right, there could one day be an opportunity for that G5 team to get in there if they go undefeated and get lucky with their P5 scheduling. That opportunity will continue to increase as the playoffs expand, and once they're in they'll have that same chance I described for Clemson above, or that Boise had the year they beat Oklahoma. If we get enough playoff expansion before the P5 and G5 officially divorce, we could even have a national champion from the G5 one day. That's playoffs for you. It's like having a national champion that lost to a 6-6 team. It may seem absurd, but you've got to wrap your head around it, bc it's the new normal where the regular season means nothing and only the last couple of games count . . .
Alabama scored forty-nine today, and we struggled mightily on offense. It's a different era, you can't use old metrics. But I think most people have penciled Ohio State in for the playoffs. And Alabama, and Clemson, and Washington. I mean, those aren't really bold guesses. Things are a lot easier to predict than they used to be. Also, I haven't heard anyone say Michigan has one of the best offenses in CFB . . .
The G5 team with the preseason hype -- this year Houston, in some past years Boise, never Western Michigan, as far as I can recall -- will always matter, bc it creates a storyline for folks to talk about. And if the P5 conferences do things just right, there could one day be an opportunity for that G5 team to get in there if they go undefeated and get lucky with their P5 scheduling. That opportunity will continue to increase as the playoffs expand, and once they're in they'll have that same chance I described for Clemson above, or that Boise had the year they beat Oklahoma. If we get enough playoff expansion before the P5 and G5 officially divorce, we could even have a national champion from the G5 one day. That's playoffs for you. It's like having a national champion that lost to a 6-6 team. It may seem absurd, but you've got to wrap your head around it, bc it's the new normal where the regular season means nothing and only the last couple of games count . . .
I think you are looking at the past with some serious rose-tinted glasses here. The regular season was even more meaningless in the BCS era. College football has only gotten more exciting and more fun to watch in the playoff era.
Because they aren't that good. The G5 teams don't get any respect or consideration because they have proven time and time again that they cannot create the sustained success that the P5 have. Sure, they may pull off their occasional upset or have one or two good recruiting years here and there, but that's just not enough to be allowed to play for a national championship, even during those good years. There are simply too many teams in college football and too many teams playing weak schedules to give consideration to every team that gets on a hot streak. You have to go with the proven winners and those proven winners are all in the P5 conferences. That's why they are called the "power conferences" after all. I would say a G5 school would have to have outstanding seasons and outstanding recruiting classes for at least 15 to 20 years in a row before they start getting the same consideration and respect that the P5 schools get. Or, if they want to take a shortcut, join a P5 and actually be competitive in it for, I would say, at least 5 years.
Sure you can. At the end of the day, all that matters is scoring more points than the other team. If you do that, your offense is good; if you don't, then you have some problems you need to work out. Same goes for defense. If I see a defense that gives up a bunch of yards and hardly forces any turnovers, but manages to hold teams they play to an average of, say, 10 points, that's a good defense in my book. However, if I see a defense that gets 4 interceptions and 6 sacks a game but still let's their opponents score 30 points per game on them, then that's a very bad defense in my book. Because what's the point of getting those impressive looking stats if your opponents can still score on you? At the end of the day, all that matters is keeping the other team out of the end zone. If your defense can't do that then it's a bad defense, no matter how good their other stats may look. Same goes for offense just substitute "keep the other team out of the end zone" with "get your team in a position to score points". If the majority of a team's drives end in some kind of points, then their offense is solid, if they don't, then the offense is struggling. Neither Ohio State or Alabama have a struggling offense.
Hell, the Ohio State/Wisconsin game was a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Wisconsin made a lot of big plays against the Buckeye defense and were running up and down the field all night, but when they got down into the red zone, the Buckeye defense stopped them cold. Wisconsin only got two touchdowns the whole game despite all those high-flying explosive plays they were making. That's not to say Wisconsin had a bad night offensively though. I mean, they are only the second team all season to score 20 or more points on Ohio State and the only team this season so far to score points on the Buckeyes in the 4th quarter.
That's fine for the media, but the problem I have with it is whatever G5 team is getting the hype, really starts to believe that hype. That leads to crap like that one year USF was having a really good year and they were complaining because they weren't in the top 2 in the BCS standings. They were complaining that they were getting screwed because they weren't a "blue blood" program. Sure enough, the week they started complaining, they lost (and lost bad) to Rutgers. Basically, hyping up these G5 teams creates undue controversy in a sport where there is already more than enough controversy every season.
Man, you're really still mad about that Sugar Bowl two years ago aren't you?
What's absurd is complaining about the last couple of games being the only ones that count and then saying a team shouldn't be allowed to play for the national championship because of one game. You don't see just a little bit of cognitive dissonance there?
By your logic, we should just throw out all those Alabama BCS championships because they just happened to be good on the right day.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
I can't even. And I mean that seriously. I love a little back and forth to refine my thinking as much as the next guy, but if you're starting here I just can't continue . . .
If you would like to redeem yourself, provide ten examples of regular season games that meant more in the playoff era than they would have in the BCS era . . .
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I know y'all are probably getting tired of my Navy-only focus for college football, but nevertheless:
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
Navy has made the rankings again this season!
Navy has made the rankings again this season!
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
On the contrary, I'm always excited to see anyone come to the thread and share their passion for the sport. I wish there were more of you . . .
The regular season was pointless in the BCS era though. If you lost just one game, your season was done unless everyone else lost a game too. That system didn't take into account that sometimes a team just has a bad day and that bad day is not necessarily indicative of whether or not they are deserving enough to play for a national championship. In the playoff era, if you drop a game early enough in the season, there is still hope for you to redeem yourself without having to hope other teams lose. That keeps things exciting because it gives teams motivation to keep going after a loss that they didn't have in the BCS era.
The playoff era makes the regular season more important because whether or not you get a playoff spot is based on your overall performance throughout the entire season. It doesn't automatically discard you as a championship contender just because you lost one game on week 2. Having a playoff also brings college football in line with every other major team sport out there in establishing the regular season as a qualifying round for the post-season. That doesn't cheapen the regular season at all. Just look at college basketball, or the NFL, or the NBA, or MLB, or any other sport that runs on a playoff system. You'd seriously have a very, very hard time arguing the regular season is meaningless in any of those leagues.
And since it works so well in all those other leagues my question to you is this: Why do you feel college football should be any different? More specifically, why should FBS be any different since every other level of college football ran off a playoff system long before FBS finally adopted it. It really does seem to me like you are just stuck in the past and are remembering the BCS era being a lot better than what it actually was. Quite frankly, the BCS era was garbage and did nothing to crown a true champion, and the system of just voting for a national champion before the BCS was even worse.
ummmm........
Extremely normal.
So basically what you're saying is that you can't think of any regular season games that are more important in the playoff era than they would have been in the BCS era. This is unsurprising, since there aren't any. It's like trying to argue water isn't wet. There's just no point . . .
GoodEnoughForMe
n.m.s.s.
The "not matter" teams do matter in the sense that the highest ranked non power conference team at the end of the season in guaranteed a New Years Day bowl. So either Boise or WMU (the latter of whom should be able to run the table for sure) will get a premier matchup.
