College Football 19-20: Where We Kinda Want Clemson As Champion.

[Handyman]

This is why the Big Ten put in a month of practice before the season...to see how this plays out everywhere else. They can re-pull the plug at any time.

But I thought Jesus was going to protect the people from the virus. I guess God hates Catholics ;-)

 

[SJHovey]

Remember that the fan base for all football factories is at least half people with no formal affiliation to the school. Those ND fans were likely Catholic, but almost assuredly not graduates, students, parents of students, or faculty.

I've always thought there is a lot of geographic affiliation to fandom, and I don't think it's just limited to football. Living in the upper midwest I know boatloads of people from Wisconsin, who never attended the University, but are big basketball, football or hockey fans of the school. Same for Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska. I suspect the same is true elsewhere.

 

[RaceBoarder]

I've always thought there is a lot of geographic affiliation to fandom, and I don't think it's just limited to football. Living in the upper midwest I know boatloads of people from Wisconsin, who never attended the University, but are big basketball, football or hockey fans of the school. Same for Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska. I suspect the same is true elsewhere.

That's basically what it is. Look at the Southeast: Other than Miami and Atlanta you didn't really have any major sports teams in the entire region until the late 70s. But you were never more than a few hours away from a "major" college team. So to get their sports fix, people gravitated to that. The University of Tennessee is a perfect example of that. In East Tennessee UT is more prominent than almost any major pro sports team in their respective city (and as expected, most people in that region are "below admission standards" for the school)...

NCAA Sports filled a void that pro sports didn't fill initially.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Gophers were good until 1961

 

[Slap Shot]

Gophers were good until 1961

And no Vikings before that with which to compete. UM is one of the few Div I schools that competes with 4 pro franchises for local entertainment budgets within its direct vicinity. Albeit the Twins mostly operate when they don't but there's only so much disposable income to go around in an area that size.

 

[dxmnkd316]

And no Vikings before that with which to compete. UM is one of the few Div I schools that competes with 4 pro franchises for local entertainment budgets within its direct vicinity. Albeit the Twins mostly operate when they don't but there's only so much disposable income to go around in an area that size.

That's the point : )

(No Twins, Wolves, or North Stars, either. Only the Lakers. Who were, coincidentally, one of the best NBA franchises.)

 

[LynahFan]

That's basically what it is. Look at the Southeast: Other than Miami and Atlanta you didn't really have any major sports teams in the entire region until the late 70s. But you were never more than a few hours away from a "major" college team. So to get their sports fix, people gravitated to that. The University of Tennessee is a perfect example of that. In East Tennessee UT is more prominent than almost any major pro sports team in their respective city (and as expected, most people in that region are "below admission standards" for the school)...

NCAA Sports filled a void that pro sports didn't fill initially.

State boundaries are important, too. My hometown (Kingsport, TN) is closer to Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Atlanta than it is to Nashville, but there's no way Tennesseans would have ever rooted for teams in those "other" states. I haven't been back there much since 1990, so I don't know, but to the extent that there are pro sports fans there, I suspect they root for the Titans and Predators. Another case in point: every self-respecting Vermonter is a Patriots and Bruins fan, but just across the lake/river in NY, it is 100% Giants and Rangers. So unless there is a pro team *in your state*, people are going to tend to gravitate to the college sports teams in the state rather than out-of-state pro teams.

 

[Handyman]

Yeah but if the Gophers hadnt started declining their fanbase would have stayed strong. The Gophers popularity waned just as much because they became a joke as the Vikings showing up. After '67 (when my dad was there) they didnt win 8 games in a season again til 1999. (when I was there) They were in a pretty bad decline that lasted decades. That is going to erode your fanbase pretty badly.

The Vikings having success definitely worsened the Gophers situation, but the Gophers are mostly responsible for their own backslide into irrelevance amongst the fans. Add in that they didn't have the advantage of allowing Black Football players with a sprinkle of bad coaching hires and it is a witches brew of the Gophers just not mattering anymore. They lost over a generation (likely two) of new fans because they were a mediocre to terrible Big Ten team which is why the fanbase is old or multigenerational. (that is my family and most of the people I know who support the team)

Sorry for the rant...but it is a common refrain from Gopher fans that the Vikings are the reason they fell into obscurity which ignores the actual facts of what happened. If the Gophers could sustain a real level of competitiveness people show they care. Hell the right coach makes them care. (Lou Holtz got like 10k to go to the scrimmage!) But when the "Glory Years" for many of the people who would be watching the team (who arent AARP Members) are the Glen Mason Years that tells you why people dont trust the Gophers to sustain and will look for signs to pay attention to something else.

 

[Slap Shot]

No one stated the Vikings were the reason. They were simply a small part of it, but yes the program did itself no favors by having a decline in performance over the years.

 

[SonofSouthie]

Kansas State, losers to Ark St @ home last week stuns 3rd ranked, 27.5 point favorite OU in Norman.

 

[Kepler]

State boundaries are important, too. My hometown (Kingsport, TN) is closer to Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Atlanta than it is to Nashville, but there's no way Tennesseans would have ever rooted for teams in those "other" states.

The western half of MD is pure Steelers country. Baltimore and the suburban sprawl just west of it are Ravens, then the rest of the state is Redskins. The northeastern 2/3rds of VA is Redskins, the far west is Steelers and the southwest is Panthers.

The northwestern quarter of OR is Seahawks, the southwest is 49ers, and the eastern half is Cowboys (?!)

 

[French Rage]

The western half of MD is pure Steelers country. Baltimore and the suburban sprawl just west of it are Ravens, then the rest of the state is Redskins. The northeastern 2/3rds of VA is Redskins, the far west is Steelers and the southwest is Panthers.

The northwestern quarter of OR is Seahawks, the southwest is 49ers, and the eastern half is Cowboys (?!)

And NoVa has absolutely no college football presence, unless things have changed in recent years. Doesn't help that the local schools are UVA, MD, and VT, and only the latter ever had a few good years in the last few decades.

 

[Kepler]

And NoVa has absolutely no college football presence, unless things have changed in recent years. Doesn't help that the local schools are UVA, MD, and VT, and only the latter ever had a few good years in the last few decades.

VaTech has become very popular. Other than that it's Pedo State.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

So it appears that this experiment isn't going all that hot- ND is reporting 18 positive cases, and now have 39 players that are in some way isolating.

ESPN reported that they think this all originated from a player who threw up in a game vs. S Florida.

And now the Titans in the NFL are reporting 8 new cases.

Can we review who thinks this is being controlled well?

Everyone with a MAGA Hat?

 

[SJHovey]

Generally, I think sports have gone pretty well, certainly better than many predicted. Hockey just finished with no problems. The NBA has entered the Finals without any problems. Baseball has entered the playoffs, and other than a bumpy start primarily involving St. Louis, MLB has managed.

College sports were always going to be the riskiest because the participants are young people. Yes, I know that slap shot's teenager takes this very seriously, therefore all young people are taking it seriously, and dx will break out his crayons and charts to prove me wrong. But honestly college aged kids are going to take this less seriously than professional athletes or the rest of us working from our pantries, and because of that, sports like college football, college basketball and college hockey are going to see some bumps along the way. The question will be, how do they handle it.

 

[Handyman]

Well the NBA and the NHL isolated so they had the best chance at working. They listened to the science and acted accordingly. Baseball didn't and the season almost didn't recover after the disaster that was the Marlins and Cardinals. Since that debacle teams have been pretty hardcore keeping their players in line and the playoffs are all neutral site as was suggested for the whole season. (again listening to science)

I think college basketball will figure out a way to make it work because they have time. (same with hockey) Football, especially certain leagues south of the M/D line sort of crossed their fingers and prayed. The Big Ten I think will be better off because they paused and still have time to formulate a proper plan. Doesn't mean it will work but at least they have the time. In truth though as long as the players are on campus with other students who have free will to leave and go other places the players are at risk. Since it appears the youth have bought into the fact that they are immune to the disease...well there ya go.

 

[Slap Shot]

Basketball logically should have it the easiest to contain/control given the # of players per team. Football - even pro - should have the most difficult time.

 

[Bronco]

A tale in two reactions....

TN Titans have 3 players and 5 personnel who have positive tests- they shut down everything until Saturday.
ND FB has 18 positive tests among players, they are going to practice tomorrow. So far 25 players are isolated, 14 in quarantine.

Forgive me for questioning the process for college football to be allowed to play.

(the new part is that ND is announcing that they will practice tomorrow)

That's the power of a player association. ND has all the power, so life goes on. Unless you're the kid Brian Kelly killed of course.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

A tale in two reactions....

TN Titans have 3 players and 5 personnel who have positive tests- they shut down everything until Saturday.
ND FB has 18 positive tests among players, they are going to practice tomorrow. So far 25 players are isolated, 14 in quarantine.

Forgive me for questioning the process for college football to be allowed to play.

(the new part is that ND is announcing that they will practice tomorrow)

ND started testing positive last week. They've probably had enough time to do contact tracing and are satisfied that everyone who should be isolated/quarantined is at the moment.

The Titans (and by extension the Vikings) are still in the time frame where the test may not even show up positive for someone who is infected.

 

[Handyman]

ND is just lucky they have the week off...