NCAA Football Thread - 2024

[Quintillus]

My guess is that the AP voters were emulating the CFP poll voters in swapping Ohio State and Tennessee. It doesn't really make sense to argue that Ohio State's win against Penn State looks better because Penn State hung tight against Oregon until the last two minutes, when Ohio State played both teams. If anything, I'd say Tennessee's loss to Georgia looks like a higher quality loss than it did two days ago, when Georgia's most recent game needed 8 OT to win against Georgia Tech.

So the results are in and the CFP chooses SMU (possibly also by a single vote, we'll never know). Ohio State/Tennessee is the only first round game that looks like it has a lot of potential to be a great game (if Ohio State remembers that scoring is advisable in football). Maybe Clemson, Indiana, or SMU will do really well and those games will be great games too.

Might not work out this way due to conference tie-ins, but if we go by rankings, we could be looking at Alabama/Miami (FL) as a bowl game for the next-best-up. That would also be an interesting one.

 

[ummmm........]

Yeah it looks like a pretty disappointing first round. Especially after coming off this championship weekend where every game had an NFL-like line of less than a touchdown, none of the first round games do : /

I still don't understand why half the first round games are on TNT all of a sudden either, makes no sense . . .

At least we finally get to quash the narrative of southern teams never traveling north for the postseason, with Tennessee visiting the frozen tundra of Columbus, Ohio at night up from tropical Knoxville ; p

I accept Michigan as a viable if unworthy opponent in the storied Reliaquest bowl from sunny Tampa, FL. Now we just have to wait for the opt-outs . . .

EDIT: Only four of the twelve playoff teams managed to beat another playoff team before the playoffs, and that's if you're counting Clemson over SMU in the ACC title game. Otherwise it's just Oregon, Ohio State and Georgia, who beat a combined nine other playoff teams. You tell me who really belongs ; p

Note that Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina all beat a playoff team during the regular season, tho admittedly with South Carolina it was "only" Clemson . . .

EDIT EDIT: Texas and Penn State really have very easy paths to the semifinals. No excuse for them not to be there. Ohio State/Tennessee/Oregon is the "pool of death", with a quarterfinal that ought to be a semi, at least. And then UGA has it relatively easy as well, waiting on Notre Dame to beat Indiana while Beck's elbow heals ; p

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Looking at things the other way around, eight of the playoff teams have already lost to a playoff team somewhere along the line this season. Two, Notre Dame and ASU, didn't play any other playoff teams, leaving only Oregon and UGA as undefeated against other playoff teams so far this season, with Oregon at 3-0 and UGA at 4-0, having beaten Texas twice . . .

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Looks like Beck is out with a UCL, so Penn State facing basically no one in that whole quarter of the bracket . . .

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Sry that whole half of the bracket. They won't face a real challenge until the championship game. It's unreal ; p

 

[Bamspeedy]

Transfer portal causes Marshall to give up their bowl game. Their opponent saying (paraphrased) "oh c'mon, i dont care if you're missing 20 players, you can still field a team (so we can get an easy win)".

Team with losing record (5-7) takes their spot and gets to go to a bowl game.

I would say they shouldnt be able to transfer until jan 2, after most bowl games are done (but not the tournament). But, there is probably reasons for this (is christmas break typically the break in between semesters.....new semester starts in january?

 

[ummmm........]

No, the entire CFB calendar makes no sense, there's no reason to it and it's pointless to search for one. But fwiw Marshall legit could not field a team, their entire qb room was gone. Not Alabama tho, our ppls stick around for our meaningless bowl game : )

 

[Quintillus]

LSU played Kansas State in a bowl game a couple years ago when they didn't have a QB. They lost 42-21. One of their wide receivers did throw for three touchdowns. But he had played QB in high school. I don't know whether Marshall has anyone who played QB in high school.

Colorado/BYU looks like an interesting Pac-12/Big 12 bowl matchup (Colorado is still in the Pac-12 for purposes of bowl placement). Might settle the Hunter vs Jeanty debate. Miami/Iowa State is less appealing than Miami/Alabama would have been, but might still be good. Washington State/Syracuse could have been a fun one were Mateer playing, but since he isn't and McCord is, might not be close. South Carolina/Illinois perhaps?

Alabama/Michigan is an odd one. I guess 9-3 Illinois and 9-3 South Carolina got the top Big Ten/SEC matchup for non-playoff teams? And 9-3 Missouri was next up from the SEC and got 8-4 Iowa? Leaving 9-3 Alabama with one of 7-5 Michigan/Minnesota/Rutgers? It sort of kind of makes sense in the conference tie-in world, and one should never underestimate that team up north, but I'd be disappointed to be just outside the playoff and draw a 7-5 team.

Though probably equally disappointed to finish 11-1 and draw a 5-7 team in a bowl game. Good for Louisiana Tech, but it would be nice if the Independence Bowl could have promoted someone from a lower-tier game for Army to play.

Edit: Oooh, Georgia Tech vs Vanderbilt. Could be the highlight of the SEC bowl slate. I like that matchup.

 

[ummmm........]

I think you're taking the bowls a little too seriously. If the expansion to twelve teams means the playoffs have moved on from a competitively purist to more entertainment-focused endeavor, that's doubly true for the bowl games. Not only do the outcomes not mean anything, but the teams that are competing frequently bear little resemblance to the teams that played through the season. They're exhibitions, something for ESPN to air during the holidays when everyone is off work and sitting on the couch flipping through channels ; p

Alabama got bumped down to the Reliaquest bowl bc Alabama fans are ready to flush this year and get DeBoer's players in and see what his teams are going to look like moving forward. Meanwhile South Carolina fans are enthusiastic about how their season ended and are far more likely to travel and tune in to see their team play, so they were selected by the higher tier bowl. For my part I'm happy to see Alabama/Michigan. It's a good "helmet game", meaning a game you'd be excited to watch if you didn't know anything other than the names of the teams that are playing, and I'm hopeful that we can see Milroe going out with a "good Milroe" game, he's earned it . . .

I'm also happy to see all the eligible teams found a bowl slot, and with five of the thirteen SEC teams in game with lines under a touchdown we should be in for some competitive games at least. I hadn't really thought much about the bowl matchups but now that you've got me thinking about it I'm going to use this post as a worksheet to write them down ; p

SEC 1 UGA -- Playoff bye, waiting on Independent Notre Dame or Big Ten 3 Indiana
SEC 2 Texas v ACC 1 Clemson in playoffs first round
SEC 3 Tennessee v Big Ten 4 Ohio State in playoffs first round
SEC 4 Alabama v Big Ten 7 Michigan
SEC 5 LSU v Big XII 5 Baylor
SEC 6 South Carolina v Big Ten 6 Illinois
SEC 7 A&M v Big Ten 10 USC
SEC 8 Ole Miss v ACC 7 Duke
SEC 9 Mizzou v Big Ten 5 Iowa
SEC 10 Florida v AAC 2 Tulane
SEC 11 Arkansas v Big XII 7 Texas Tech
SEC 12 Vandy v ACC 5 GaTech
SEC 13 Oklahoma v AAC 3 Navy

I thought Memphis/WVU tonight was a really good game for this early in the bowl season. That was AAC 4 v Big XII 9 fwiw . . .

I doubt I'll watch but tonight's Cal/UNLV game looks to be pretty good as well . . .

 

[Quintillus]

Ohio State football fans definitely lean towards purist. My new friend is also of the school that winning The Game is the most important thing for any Ohio State football coach, definitely more so than winning the conference, although if you win a national title, losing The Game can be forgiven (but not forgotten). Talked with a colleague today who's a firm believer that football is an outdoor sport, and that snow makes it better. Though we will compromise on running the ball being the superior mode of play, if passing the ball is what will allow you to win games. And we're really hoping Ryan Day finally moves on this Saturday from his "must prove we are the tougher team by running the ball" mentality that has gone so poorly, and will instead accept victory through passing the ball.

As for taking bowls seriously... I actually stopped paying much attention to them when they started being almost exclusively on ESPN. But I'll be at my relatives' who have ESPN for part of this season, so I might catch more of them than usual, and some of the first-round games are on ABC. I'll admit that I'm purist to the extent that I approve of Devin Brown staying with Ohio State for the postseason despite transferring to be a starter next year, and commiserate with my Penn State fan friend who is bummed that Beau Pribula is not sticking around for a playoff run. It's one thing if you're the fourth string guy and unlikely to play, but both of them could make a major impact, so props for Brown for staying and believing that he could be the next Cardale Jones.

 

[ummmm........]

Bowls have all been pretty good so far. No real blowouts, everything in doubt in the fourth quarter. I wonder if that will hold true as we move into the playoffs today and tomorrow. Hmm . . .

EDIT: Well, looks like Florida effed it up for us. Tulane finished on quite the skid, almost like Sumrall was out job hunting instead of coaching or something . . .

 

[Quintillus]

Round one is over - and the only team in the 9-12 range that made it close was #12 Clemson. Although Indiana came alive in the last two minutes.

I did not expect Ohio State to do anywhere near as well as they did. Chip Kelly had acknowledged some mistakes and he sure did change things. I wasn't surprised that throwing to the best receivers helped, but the offensive line did indeed look much improved. I think we'd all pretty much written the season off after the game against that team up north, but all of a sudden we look like a team that could beat Oregon again. And the SEC remains winless in Ohio Stadium.

I still think 12 teams is probably too many, but I like the true home games in bowl season format. One could argue that it gives too much home field advantage, but there's something special about cold weather football, as well as having the first December game in a stadium that's over 100 years old.

 

[ummmm........]

Idk if Clemson was really all that close. Couldn't run, couldn't stop the run, about 25% on 3rd/4th down I think. They kept fighting, but the game was never really in doubt, they were just fighting to try to close the gap . . .

Indiana scored late to make their game look better than it was and SMU's self-inflicted injuries made their game look worse, but it was clear that neither belonged. A lot of clamoring and hand-wringing about how much better the SEC teams would have done, esp during the Indiana game Friday night, but the best quote I saw was "If you think Indiana looks bad tonight, you should've seen Alabama in Norman last month". The fact is there just aren't that many competitive teams, and this isn't a new problem. We struggled to create good semifinals in the four team era as well . . .

I was surprised Ohio State/Tennessee wasn't closer, but I was more surprised by Tennessee's resilience. You can't just spot Ohio State twenty-one points and hope to win but Tennessee hung in there, had the momentum going into half and the ball coming out but Ohio State just stepped on their throat . . .

If Tennessee had won we would have been unjustly deprived of the Ohio State/Oregon rematch, a game Ohio State didn't earn but will probably be one of the best of the playoffs. I'm still irritated they created a bracket where this is a quarterfinal instead of the final or at least a semi, but I'm glad we're getting it. Early lines on that and Notre Dame/UGA (without Beck) are both under a field goal so here's hoping the next round gives us better games. Should probably ignore the lines on the other two games if that's what you're hoping for tho . . .

Amazing that both the Big Ten and SEC title game losers are virtually guaranteed a path forward to the semis while those same two conference champions will be in for a fight. Imagine if the 5/6 seeds had been flipped and both semifinals were just rematches of the Big Ten/SEC title games smh . . .

So far I'm enjoying the playoffs, but they definitely weren't worth giving up the first half of my regular season . . .

EDIT: Also wanted to say at some point that I was really impressed with Notre Dame's defense. Would have liked to have seen them v a healthy UGA . . .

 

[Quintillus]

Tennessee hung in there, but it could have been 28-7 at the half if the refs hadn't made two questionable calls that resulted in an interception in the red zone for Ohio State, when it should have been a pass interference penalty on Tennessee and it was debatable whether the interceptor was in bounds; and a nullification of an interception by Tennessee on a defensive penalty that neither I nor the ABC/ESPN commentators have seen called in a similar situation in any college football game. Credit to Tennessee for not giving up after finding themselves down 21-0 and having 0 passing yards in Q1, but they needed some help from the zebras to make it a game at halftime.

Definitely looking forward to Ohio State/Oregon as the first one came down to the bell. Plus it's a proper Big Ten versus West Coast team in the Rose Bowl. Making it to the Rose Bowl makes it feel almost like we won the conference, which makes it feel almost like we beat that team up north as is almost always required to win the conference. And we have a team that looks hungry to win instead of terrified of losing.

Lane Kiffin probably thinks Ole Miss would have done better than any of the 9-12 seeds, and definitely thinks they would have done better than SMU and Indiana, but I just don't see it with losses to Kentucky and Florida, and LSU, their best loss, didn't have that good of a year. Notre Dame and Ohio State each had one bad game, and IMO Georgia losing to Ole Miss was more Georgia having a bad game than Ole Miss showing they were that good. One bad game can wake a team up, break their overconfidence, show them where they need to improve, and make them better in the future, three suggests maybe the team wasn't so great to begin with.

I'm looking forward to Notre Dame vs UGA even without Beck. That makes it easier for Notre Dame but that doesn't mean it will be easy.

 

[ummmm........]

Sure and if Eason's hand doesn't slide across Howard's face mask on that sack Ohio State goes three-and-out on their first drive. It's always ridiculous to play the what-if game, but doubly so in a blowout win ; p

Ole Miss was, objectively, a very strong team this year. They had their WTH loss like so many teams did, but I'm def not counting their loss at Florida as that. Florida was undefeated this year when Lagway was available, and they finished on a four game win streak once he was healthy. Nothing in the first round changed my opinion from before the first round. I think the committee did the right thing based on their rules, protecting the conference title game loser was the right call, etc., but I also still believe that both Alabama, Ole Miss and probably South Carolina could have been able to give us a more competitive first round than what we got. Ofc they also could have pooped the bed like Tennessee did. The difference is that while Ole Miss/Alabama showed us through the season they were capable of both, Indiana/SMU did not . . .

A separate question is whether we want a more competitive first round. If an "undeserving" team knocks out a legitimate contender in the first round I'm not sure that's something I'd be excited about . . .

UGA/ND should be a great game even with Stockton in there, I'm just miffed that of the tiny fraction of teams that actually earned their way into the playoffs, one of them is missing their starting QB. Like FSU last year, for example ; p

 

[Quintillus]

True, who knows how the momentum would have gone early without the facemask. Prior to that, that first drive was looking uncomfortably like the previous game. And yes, the what-if game is ridiculous, but who doesn't like to Monday-morning quarterback?

Hmmm, if the playoff were expanded to 14 teams, then two of the three of Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina could have made it. I'm not suggesting it should be expanded, but the powers that be seemed to like the idea of more expansion prior to the start of the playoffs, and there's some justification they could use. IMO they should stick with 12 for another couple of years before changing anything, as my math teacher used to say, one point does not make a trend.

And yeah, it'd be great if Carson Beck could magically be healed in time for the next game, but such is life. The silver lining is that of all the teams it could have happened to, perhaps only Georgia and Texas have a backup quarterback who's good enough that they still have a good chance. I didn't know that Florida was undefeated with Lagway - I suppose that goes to show what difference having your starting QB can make for a more typical team.

 

[Bamspeedy]

If an "undeserving" team knocks out a legitimate contender in the first round I'm not sure that's something I'd be excited about . . .

And what's the feeling when that happens during March Madness? Everyone will have a 'Cinderella' team to cheer for (however briefly), it will be a big boost to that Cinderella school, etc.

Hmmm, if the playoff were expanded to 14 teams, then two of the three of Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina could have made it. I'm not suggesting it should be expanded, but the powers that be seemed to like the idea of more expansion prior to the start of the playoffs, and there's some justification they could use. IMO they should stick with 12 for another couple of years before changing anything, as my math teacher used to say, one point does not make a trend.

If expand at all, don't stop at 14, just go to the inevitable 16.

Anyone scared football will go the way of basketball's 64 (now 68, those 'play in' games are stupid) bracket needs to be reminded Div 1 basketball has 352 teams, Div 1 football only has 134. College football season will not be going into March.

 

[ummmm........]

And what's the feeling when that happens during March Madness? Everyone will have a 'Cinderella' team to cheer for (however briefly), it will be a big boost to that Cinderella school, etc.

A fine example of one of the many if ever diminishing ways in which CFB is better than all the other sports . . .

EDIT: Beck is officially out for the playoffs, with elbow surgery . . .

 

[Core Imposter]

What is this business of a QB quitting at halftime of a bowl game?

 

[ummmm........]

Cam Ward I guess? I don't think anyone knows what happened there. He set a record in the first half, it may have been arranged prior to the game that he would leave once he set the record, or that he would only play the first half, etc. Bowl games are exhibitions, plenty of players opt out, and often times teams are happy to move on. Like Alabama's QB Jalen Milroe is sticking around for the bowl game and I'm excited about it but plenty of Alabama finds kind of wish he had gone ahead and declared for the draft and moved on so we could get an early look at next year's QB. If Milroe "quits" at halftime and we get a look at QB2 for the rest of the game, I'm fine with that too . . .

Ofc it's also possible that he just spontaneously decided not to come out for the second half, which would be more suspect, but without knowing details you don't know if it speaks to a poor player attitude or poor team culture. If everyone wasn't okay with it I'm not sure he would have been on the sidelines in uniform during the second half, but otoh it's weird the coach didn't want to discuss it after the game, tho the game was a close loss and maybe he just didn't want to say out loud that getting the QB2 reps in was more impt to him than winning the game. Idk . . .

EDIT: Well that was disappointing. Milroe had such an up and and down career, wish he had been able to finish on an "up" performance : /

 

[Quintillus]

CBS Sports is reporting that the plan all along was to play Ward for one quarter to one half, and see how Williams did in the second half. But even if there is a goal of seeing how the backup looks in advance of next year, IMO it doesn't look good to not put Ward back in (assuming he would want to play) when down 42-41 with 51 seconds left. Isn't that what it's supposed to all be about? Leading your team to a come-from-behind victory with less than a minute left in a bowl game? It either looks like the coach didn't care if they won, or that Ward cared more about the risk of injury than trying to lead his team to a win, or both, and none of those reflect well.

I'm actually happy about That Team Up North winning against Bama, though I didn't expect it. Combined with Tennessee laying an egg and South Carolina losing to Illinois, it suggests the SEC may have been overrated, at least outside of Texas and perhaps Georgia. Ole Miss gets to face Duke in a couple days but I'm not sure how much difference that can make even if they win. It also make our loss to TTUN look less bad - maybe they really have improved late in the season.

Penn State beat Boise State too. That puts the onus on Arizona State to justify the "top 4 conference winners get top 4 seeds format" (as well as, to a lesser extent, Georgia).

The one I saw the most of today (given New Year's Eve plans in the evening) was Washington/Louisville. That was a great game, especially in the 4th quarter. I really did not think Washington was making a good choice going for 2 when they didn't score until essentially 8th-and-Goal (counting the 4 additional downs from the penalty on the first 4th-and-Goal), and sure enough, it didn't work out. But that's the type of finish you hope for in bowl games.

 

[ummmm........]

Or you could look at it like putting Ward back in defeats the entire purpose of giving the backup an opportunity to lead the team. What are you going to do if Miami struggles in the first game next season? Call Ward back . . ?

I wouldn't put too much stock in bowl games if you trying to measure the team from the year that was. Playoffs, sure, but bowls are meaningless. And don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have a meaningless win than a meaningless loss, just pointing out that bowls aren't really a very good measure of anything anymore, to the extent that they ever were . . .

For me the only thing about my assessment of teams that has changed since before the postseason started is that maybe I have a little more confidence in Notre Dame, esp their defense, than I did at the end of the regular season, if only bc they were never tested in the regular season but at least now we've seen them shut down Indiana . . .

EDIT: Semifinals are set. Every team with a bye lost, all but one of them after falling into a substantial first quarter hole. All our conference champions are out, further evidence that the expanded playoff devalues the regular season. And we've had exactly one game so far where the outcome was in question going into the fourth quarter. Maybe not even one, idk if anyone really saw that ASU comeback coming ; p

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the expanded playoffs thus far, but they're not over yet and its only the first year . . .

EDIT EDIT: Finally a good game, just as we get down to four teams, go figure ; p

And a positive outcome as well, I think. I would have been disappointed if Penn State had advanced after their easy path to the semis, and I think ND is probably the team I'm pulling for now as the only remaining team that didn't lose their conference, if only on a technicality ; p

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Another quality semi \o/

I suspected the Texas defense might be able to stymie the Ohio State offense, appropriate that an Ohio State defensive play sealed the win. I think Notre Dame's defense might have similar success, but idk how Notre Dame is going to score to keep it interesting . . .