College Football

[Calvada]

39 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

On the Friday night games, the big schools have already told the Big Ten no. Wisconsin said they'll host the games but only before Labor Day. And it's only a few games a year. So get ready for a lot of Rutgers and Purdue on Friday night.

I can only speak for Wisconsin, because this is where I live, but high school football starts before Labor Day.  This year on September 2, the Friday before Labor Day, most Wisconsin high schools were already playing their third game of the season.  So there would still be a conflict with high school football, and Wisconsin & Barry Alvarez know this.   If it ends up being Purdue, Rutgers, etc., how does this draw in viewers & revenue?  Especially in September - who wants to see the lower tier of the Big Ten and their non-conference schedules?  This year we could have seen Purdue take on the mighty Eastern Kentucky Colonels, or Illinois battling Murray State.  Are people going to stay home on Friday nights to watch that?  If I'm home on Friday night, that's when I'm clearing my DVR of shows from earlier in the week, not watching mediocre football. 

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

They are doing it for the money scholar athletes. 

I'm surprised we haven't heard this rationale - more time for the students to go to the library on Saturdays! 

[Minneapple]

46 minutes ago, Calvada said:

I can only speak for Wisconsin, because this is where I live, but high school football starts before Labor Day.  This year on September 2, the Friday before Labor Day, most Wisconsin high schools were already playing their third game of the season.  So there would still be a conflict with high school football, and Wisconsin & Barry Alvarez know this.  

It would just be one game once every few years or so. I agree it's a money grab, but what the hell, so is everything else about college athletics.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Minneapple

[Popples]

1 hour ago, Minneapple said:

On the Friday night games, the big schools have already told the Big Ten no. Wisconsin said they'll host the games but only before Labor Day. And it's only a few games a year. So get ready for a lot of Rutgers and Purdue on Friday night.

Along with probably Maryland, Indiana, and Illinois. How excitizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Minneapple]

And right on cue, A&M loses to Mississippi State. There goes that problem.

[AimingforYoko]

2 hours ago, Minneapple said:

And right on cue, A&M loses to Mississippi State. There goes that problem.

And that's why it was far too early for folks to go off the deep end. If Washington takes care of business, they'll be in the playoff.

[mojoween]

I live in New York and generally don't care about the SEC other than to loathe Alabama, I mean the team that calls home about 15 miles from me lost today 54-0.

And yet here I sit, getting ready to watch LSU/Bama.  I feel like I've been brainwashed.

'Course, if the Tide start steamrolling the Tigers I will lose interest quickly. 

[AndreaK1041]

Can't wait to see that thrilling Bama-Kentucky SEC championship game :-/

Really thought Nebraska would put up a bigger fight. Clears the way for Wisconsin though!

eta: Whoops, did not realize Kentucky also lost today. Either way, Florida is also quite terrible. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by AndreaK1041

[twoods]

Stupid LSU. Knowing everyone's love affair for Bama, they probably would still have gone to the playoffs even if they lost to LSU, but it would have been nice to see.

Washington looks great. I'm worried for USC next week- hopefully they won't get embarrassed as well.

That Nebraska/OSU game looked brutal to watch.

[Evolution101]

College Gameday is headed to Seattle next week for USC/Washington.

Here's what I learned in week 10:

• I don't know what it is about Raleigh, but Florida State always struggles there.  This year is no different, pulling out a win late in the game.
• Should Auburn get past Georgia next week, the Iron Bowl should also be considered the SEC Championship Game.  Seriously, no one from the East deserves to go to Atlanta in December.
• So long, Nebraska.  Thanks for playing.
• Last week I said that Michigan State would be facing a worse opponent this week.  Turns out I was wrong, as Illinois beat them.  Next week MSU and Rutgers will square off in the Big Ten Pillow Fight Of The Week.
• Baylor's Big 12 title hopes officially went up in smoke.

[roamyn]

9 hours ago, Evolution101 said:

College Gameday is headed to Seattle next week for USC/Washington.

Here's what I learned in week 10:

• Last week I said that Michigan State would be facing a worse opponent this week.  Turns out I was wrong, as Illinois beat them.  Next week MSU and Rutgers will square off in the Big Ten Pillow Fight Of The Week

LOL!  Wonder what happened to them this year?  Mark Dantonio is definitely on the hot seat.

[benteen]

LSU craps the bed once again when facing Alabama.  I heard on the radio that the last 24 times Alabama has visited LSU, they are 19-4-1.  Two of LSU's victories came when Saban was coaching.  The SEC should be renamed Alabama and the SEC.  The division is pathetic.  Alabama is a damn good team, no doubt about that so I won't say it's on past reputation alone that they are repeatedly given the benefit of the doubt.  But the rest of the SEC is pathetic when dealing with them.

Damn, Penn State is looking scary good these last few weeks.  I think Michigan would still win a rematch but it wouldn't be a 39 point blowout again for a lot of reasons.

I wonder if Mark Dantonio thinks that he's reached as high as he can go at Michigan State and decides to move on.

Speaking of PSU, they owe Michigan State a curb stomping for the last few years of blowouts.

[Minneapple]

Anyone who bags on the Big Ten West should take a look a look at the SEC East. It's just terrible.

I don't think Mark Dantonio is on the hot seat just yet. He's is just one year removed from a CFP appearance, and MSU isn't Michigan or LSU or Alabama. However, it must really sting MSU that they've returned to "little brother" status in the state of Michigan.

[benteen]

Totally agree on Dantonio.  He's accomplished so much at MSU to be kicked out of the door after one bad (admittedly terrible) season.  He's more than earned the right to try to turn this around.

Edited November 7, 2016 by benteen

[Evolution101]

This week's playoff rankings:

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Michigan

4. Washington

 

5. Ohio State

6. Louisville

7. Wisconsin

8. Texas A&M

9. Auburn

10. Penn State

[Popples]

DOWN GOES CLEMSON!!

After a season of escaping by the skin of their teeth, the Tigers' inability to obliterate lesser opponents finally caught up to them. I don't know if this knocks Clemson out of the top 10 though. I'm sure Louisville is elated, though.

[twoods]

Super impressed by the Pitt kicker, especially after missing a PAT and kicking a field goal into his own offensive lineman. Congrats to them, and it's about time Clemson's luck ran out. Will see if USC can hold off the Huskies and pull off an upset of their own, so the CFP can be in disarray again.

[Bastet]

What a great win by USC!  After a very rocky start - which honestly lead me to think Helton would be one and done, and in fact the only reason he wouldn't be fired mid-season was the lack of a good interim head coach option - they have regrouped and steadily progressed into a solid team, and this game was the big test.  Well, consider that test aced.

[xaxat]

Tuesday is going to be really interesting.

[Popples]

You get an upset! You get an upset! Everyone gets an upset!!!!

The wheels have completely fallen off of Texas A&M.

[Minneapple]

Well, on Wisconsin, here we go into the playoff!

Haha, just kidding. I know we probably won't be No. 4. But there's always that slim hope...

[AndreaK1041]

Uggghhhh well as HORRIBLE as Michigan looked (and Iowa played well, credit to them), it really is no different in the big picture for us. Either way, we have to win in Columbus. If we play like that we will lose by 30+. If we play well and win, we go to the championship against Wisconsin. Same as before we lost.

Can't believe how many teams lost today. This week looked really lame on paper. I think Clemson stays in the Top 4. My guess is 1. Bama 2. Ohio St 3. Louisville 4. Clemson 

eta: I'm deleting my #5 pick. I have no idea who it will be. 

Edited November 13, 2016 by AndreaK1041

[galaxygirl76]

Today was a clusterfuck for high ranked teams. I'm elated that our defense showed up for a change and pulled off the upset win against Michigan. The Big Ten East could be really interesting if OSU and PSU win out because what is the committee going to do if PSU or Wisconsin/Nebraska wins the Big 10?

[twoods]

Woah with Michigan losing. I'm always excited to see that- along with USC winning what a great day in football that is much needed after this week. Too bad Alabama can't lose a damn game.

[AndreaK1041]

If the Big10 championship game is PSU/Wisconsin, Michigan will have beat them both (but would have 2 losses and should be eliminated). I have no idea what the committee does with the Big10 teams in that case. A one loss OSU team is pretty hard to exclude. 

[ElDosEquis]

Lamar Jackson is not human.

[roamyn]

5 hours ago, Popples said:

DOWN GOES CLEMSON!!

After a season of escaping by the skin of their teeth, the Tigers' inability to obliterate lesser opponents finally caught up to them. I don't know if this knocks Clemson out of the top 10 though. I'm sure Louisville is elated, though.

Hubby & I were debating that.  I think they fall to 4, he thinks 5 or 6.  His reasons for bumping tOSU over them, is that the Pitt loss is worse than the Penn State one.  Which I do think has some merit.

Regardless, I don't think they drop out of the top 10.

[Minneapple]

1 hour ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Today was a clusterfuck for high ranked teams. I'm elated that our defense showed up for a change and pulled off the upset win against Michigan. The Big Ten East could be really interesting if OSU and PSU win out because what is the committee going to do if PSU or Wisconsin/Nebraska wins the Big 10?

They've said they prefer to take conference champions, but a one-loss Ohio State team would be very very tempting for the playoff committee. I can't see them leaving the B1G champion out, so maybe Alabama, ACC champion, B1G champion and Ohio State? Provided OSU beats Michigan of course...

It will be very interesting to see Michigan and Clemson's positions come Tuesday. Washington is finished. Top five are Bama, Ohio State...Michigan and Clemson? Part of the issue is that Louisville and Wisconsin, teams nipping at the top five, lost to Clemson and Michigan. How do you justify dropping teams below teams they lost to?

Woo what a day. Just what I needed after the worst week ever. 

[roamyn]

9 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

Woo what a day. Just what I needed after the worst week ever. 

I would gladly give up beating UM at the end of the month if the Electoral College would decide to give their votes based on the popular vote, next weekend.

And you all know how I hate that State up North.

[benteen]

What a crazy night.  This really shakes up the Playoffs.  Outside of Alabama, this leaves the Big Ten and ACC.

Penn State just needs to win out and Ohio State to beat Michigan to go to the Big Ten Championship game.  If only they hadn't lost to Pitt earlier this year (that loss looks better now) they would be really serious contenders for the playoffs, even with the bad Michigan loss they suffered.

[Popples]

If Pitt's kicker had missed that field goal, he would have woken up to so many awful headlines with puns on his name (Chris Blewitt).

I just checked and it seems SB Nation did do one, but it won't cause him any grief: Pitt shocks Clemson in Death Valley with game-winning FG by kicker named Blewitt

But it seems this isn't new to him (from 2014): Jimmy Kimmel has Chris Blewitt jokes because Blewitt

Man, what a brilliant Saturday of football that was. Shame it's almost over, it always goes too fast.

[roamyn]

2 hours ago, benteen said:

Penn State just needs to win out and Ohio State to beat Michigan to go to the Big Ten Championship game.  If only they hadn't lost to Pitt earlier this year (that loss looks better now) they would be really serious contenders for the playoffs, even with the bad Michigan loss they suffered.

I think you mean Penn State.

If they win the B1G East and tOSU win out, then the Playoff Committee has to decide if a 2-loss B1G Champion is better than a 1-loss non-champion, or do you leave out Big 12, and take both Penn St/Wis/Neb & tOSU/UM?  And how do you justify taking Big 12 Champion if it's OU with 2 big losses or Washington with their poor schedule, over tOSU/UM?

The only thing we really know is AL.

[Minneapple]

I think if Ohio State wins out they get in regardless of what happens with the B1G championship game. They have some great wins (over Oklahoma, Wisconsin and a curbstomping of Nebraska). Plus it's Ohio State and I'm sure the committee remembers what happened to the ratings last year when non-helmet schools were involved in the playoff. (I have to chuckle at the OSU message boards which are aflame today after Michigan...lost. Never thought I'd see that.)

I also think the B1G champion goes. The Big Ten is really really good this year, with four teams being talked about for the playoff. 

Just keep winning, Wisconsin. *Crosses fingers, prays*

[Evolution101]

College Gameday is headed to Kalamazoo for Buffalo/Western Michigan.

Here's what I learned in week 11:

• Can we just give the SEC title to Alabama?  No other team from that conference deserves it..
• Oh look, Texas A&M is having another late season collapse.
• Rutgers is officially the worst team in the Big Ten after losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten Pillow Fight Of The Week.
• Meanwhile, Iowa State beat Kansas in the Big 12 Pillow Fight Of The Week.
• With North Carolina losing at Duke, Virginia Tech would've been firmly in the driver's seat in the ACC Coastal...had they not lost to Georgia Tech.
• Washington had been dominant throughout the season.  They looked very average against USC.
• The Pittsburgh kicker came through for the Panthers.  "Blewiit" he did not.
• I knew Michigan would stumble eventually before the Ohio State game.
• Five Top 10 teams lost.  Four lost to unranked teams.  Three of those teams were in the Top 4.  Two undefeated teams remain.  Don't you just love Upset Saturday?

Edited November 13, 2016 by Evolution101
Because Michigan and Michigan State are NOT the same

[roamyn]

1 hour ago, Minneapple said:

 Plus it's Ohio State and I'm sure the committee remembers what happened to the ratings last year when non-helmet schools were involved in the playoff. (I have to chuckle at the OSU message boards which are aflame today after Michigan...lost. Never thought I'd see that.)

I also think the B1G champion goes. The Big Ten is really really good this year, with four teams being talked about for the playoff.

It's sad that the ratings were so much lower last year.   But I don't know if that's due to schools you normally don't see going for the championship, or if it's due to AL's dominance.   We, for one, were rooting for Clemson.  I like to see different schools.  If only AL would tank.  (Sigh)

[AimingforYoko]

3 minutes ago, Evolution101 said:

Rutgers is officially the worst team in the Big Ten after losing to Michigan in the Big Ten Pillow Fight Of The Week.

Michigan State, you mean. Rutgers might be the worst team in any conference.

[Minneapple]

10 hours ago, roamyn said:

It's sad that the ratings were so much lower last year.   But I don't know if that's due to schools you normally don't see going for the championship, or if it's due to AL's dominance.   

Well, mostly the ratings tanked because the semifinals were on New Year's Eve. The teams and the results, I think, were secondary. Still, I think helmet schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame are more of a draw, ratings-wise, than, say Clemson. I mean there's a reason Notre Dame still has its own TV contract. 

Meanwhile College Gameday is headed to Western Michigan next week for a little #MACtion! Western Michigan is, of course, the *other* undefeated FBS team. Bring on Bama, right?

[Evolution101]

This week's playoff rankings:

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan

4. Clemson

 

5. Louisville

6. Washington

7. Wisconsin

8. Penn State

9. Oklahoma

10. Colorado

 

Welcome back to the Top 10, Colorado.

[roamyn]

That State Up North not moving its position based on a low-quality loss and losing its QB, is a slap to Louisville, IMO.

Washington doesn't deserve spot 4, because they have a piss-poor schedule.

I would've put AL, tOSU, Louisville, Clemson, UM, Washington.  Yes, I would've jumped Louiville over Clemson, because they barely lost that game, while Clemson has had some close calls.

[Minneapple]

Like Washington, Louisville has zero good wins. Their best win is over Florida State and FSU turned out to be overrated. Michigan meanwhile has wins over Wisconsin, Penn State and Colorado. And honestly I don't think the qb makes a huge difference. UM hasn't been winning on great qb play but with great line play and a defense that is second to none.

I do think the committee is scrambling because they want OSU in that playoff (witness Penn State being ranked so high to start, then moving up to 8).

[AndreaK1041]

I also think they know that the OSU/Michigan rating is irrelevant because one team is guaranteed to fall out of the playoff.  My tinfoil hat thinks that they purposely set it up so that the final 4 have to change in the last week or so because that makes it more exciting.

[mojoween]

As I was just listening to the Saints and Panthers introduce themselves with rosters littered with Buckeyes it amused me because I look at all kinds of documents all day for work and one of our customers is in Columbus.  Yesterday as I was looking at a cover sheet I realized that in my head I pronounced the header as THEE Ohio State University.  Then I chastised myself for being pretentious.

[xaxat]

Maybe Bobby Petrino shouldn't have worried so much about having to run up the score against his opponents.

[MarkHB]

On 11/13/2016 at 0:09 PM, Minneapple said:

I'm sure the committee remembers what happened to the ratings last year when non-helmet schools were involved in the playoff.

What does "non-helmet schools" mean?  (I'm helping Athena out by keeping an eye on this thread to make sure you all don't start rule-breaking willy-nilly, but the truth is that a) I went to a D-3 school, and b) I'm in and from New England where college ball isn't as deeply ingrained into the culture as it is in other parts of the country.)

[Minneapple]

Helmet schools are programs like Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, which have a deep rich football history. They draw national interest more than programs like Michigan State or Clemson, which were in the playoff last year. The first year, Oregon and FSU were involved and they are not helmet schools, but they are fairly popular programs and Heisman candidates Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were on those teams.

[Popples]

I'd put Oklahoma in as a "helmet school", which means half of the playoff teams were. The ratings dropped last year because ESPN was stupid and arrogant enough to schedule the playoff games on New Year's Eve, when loads of people go out for the majority of the evening. If memory serves the first game came on at around 3:00 pm, but the second one started around 7:30 pm and that's when people start heading out for the night.

Sure, they've always had a bowl game on New Year's Eve when the clock strikes midnight, but it was usually the Chik-Fil-A one (I would always fall asleep to it), but never a major bowl.

[AndreaK1041]

Yeah I was very interested in the playoff games last year, and I still went out and watched with half an eye on the bar TV.  It is just really bad timing.  Unfortunately the games are on NYE again this year.  It might be even worse this year  - -   Bama vs Penn St. would be a terrible game.  I'd be interested in Clemson-OSU, but not enough to stay home if it was the late game.  If Michigan was in, I'd make an exception, but everyone makes exceptions for "their" team.

[mojoween]

It amuses me how the media lament is now "man I really wish I could have gotten the chance to see what Jackson would do against the 'Bama D."

Uh, Louisville would get rolled.  That's what would happen.

[roamyn]

tOSU barely escaped MISt.  I hope Urban reams JT and Fickel a new one for their odious play calling. 

[AimingforYoko]

Texas lost to Kansas. I like Charlie Strong, but that's a bridge too far.

[mojoween]

And allegedly he has been fired.  Also, he is owed 10 million.