College Football 2022: “Here’s a twenty, bury two.”

[Kepler]

Notre Dame receiver Avery Davis will miss the season after tearing a ligament in his right knee.

Suboptimal.

WR was already shallow, and we had a top prospect switch to USC just before this; had the timing reversed we would have been more covered.

We do have some choices to bring over from corner (Davis actually migrated TB -> CB -> WR in his career).

Buchner is going to run A LOT.

 

[MissThundercat]

I'm watching college football this season because:
1. Michigan will lose to Ohio State by 30.

2. Michigan will lose to either Iowa, Indiana, or Illinois.

3. The Big Ten will embarrass itself in the playoff.

4. So will Notre Dame.

5. Georgia will go back to falling apart against Alabama.

6. Michigan State will show up against Michigan, but not show up against the other teams on their schedule.

7. Washington State will Coug It at the worst possible time.

8. Oregon will have 157,980 uniforms but not win a big game.

9. A team from a small conference will pull off a historic upset against a Power 5 school, then lose by 40 to the last place team in their conference.

10. And of course, to watch (I use that term loosely) bowl games in the middle of nowhere sponsored by Uncle Stinky's Convenience Stores.

 

[SonofSouthie]

The 11 college presidents and chancellors who make up the College Football Playoff's Board of Managers met via Zoom on Monday and began a discussion that could reshape the future of college sports, sources told ESPN.

Multiple sources told ESPN that the Board of Managers briefly discussed the possibility of restructuring how college football is governed, with the idea presented of major college football potentially being governed outside of the NCAA. The most logical place for the sport to be run outside of the NCAA would be under the auspices of the CFP, which was discussed on the call. The CFP currently oversees the sport's postseason playoff and has contractual ties to other marquee postseason bowl games.

Sources cautioned that these discussions are in such early stages that it could be considered the first steps of a complicated process that would resemble a marathon. The sources added that the group spoke about the idea for only about five minutes, as it was raised as something the group should think more about down the line.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...ing-how-college-football-governed-sources-say

 

[Kepler]

Good. Please rid the NC$$ of D-1 football and basketball. PLEASE.

It could finally go back to the NCAA.

 

[RaceBoarder]

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...ing-how-college-football-governed-sources-say

This becomes a slippery slope then.

I don't know how much cash the NCAA sees from football, but I understand that it's basically bankrolled by Basketball.

Those are the two sports that are likely to break away.

Then it becomes if the entire house of cards collapses. And that includes the non-Power5 schools, and ALL of D-II/III.

 

[Bronco]

I think I'm to the point where I want the MAC and the rest of the G5 to have its own championship tournament.

 

[Kepler]

Then it becomes if the entire house of cards collapses. And that includes the non-Power5 schools, and ALL of D-II/III.

It doesn't "collapse." It just goes back to what it was before TV ruined college athletics. Small scale, local conferences, no cross country travel, no enormous venues, no recruiting budgets, no huge coaching staffs, no semi-pro bullsh-t. What the academic-oriented colleges have done for decades.

It just ends the bloat. College athletes become college students again. TV and sponsors and national audiences don't get their candy. The SEC never expands to hockey. Good. Fuck them all. Bigger is almost never better, it's just a way for some Onceler to get rich and ruin everything for everyone else.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

I think I'm to the point where I want the MAC and the rest of the G5 to have its own championship tournament.

Cincy finally got the G5 into the playoff, but it's ridiculous that a G5 team basically needs to have two playoff caliber seasons to qualify, and who knows if they would have made it had Oklahoma State gotten one more yard last year in the Big XII championship.

Meanwhile in basketball St. Peter's makes a run to the Elite Right with 18 times less of a budget than Kentucky, who they took down in the first round. Another classic Cinderella story from March madness. Different sports, yes, since football is way harder to pull off an upset, but it's ridiculous that D3, D2, FCS, and the NFL all make a playoff work with autobids from conferences/divisions, but somehow FBS is too special or complicated to replicate it. One argument is that the games would just be blowouts, but that also happens at the FCS, D2, and D3 levels, and even happens in the CFP already, so why not give autobids and make it equal?

Last year, if you give autobids and expand it to 16, we could've had:

1) Alabama vs 16) Northern Illinois
2) Michigan vs 15) Utah State
3) Georgia vs 14) UTSA
4) Cincinnati vs 13) Louisiana
5) Notre Dame vs 12) Pitt
6) Ohio State vs 11) Utah
7) Baylor vs 10) Michigan State
8) Ole Miss vs 9) Oklahoma State

Stagger the start times so you have a game starting each hour from noon to 8.

There's really only three blowouts on the that schedule with Bama, Michigan, and Georgia. The rest of those would've been decent to great games and with players opting out of bowl games, even NY6 games now, it adds more meaningful games. Guys like Kenny Pickett and Kenneth Walker III would've played at least one more game in college.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Subscribed

 

[Bronco]

Cincy finally got the G5 into the playoff, but it's ridiculous that a G5 team basically needs to have two playoff caliber seasons to qualify, and who knows if they would have made it had Oklahoma State gotten one more yard last year in the Big XII championship.

Meanwhile in basketball St. Peter's makes a run to the Elite Right with 18 times less of a budget than Kentucky, who they took down in the first round. Another classic Cinderella story from March madness. Different sports, yes, since football is way harder to pull off an upset, but it's ridiculous that D3, D2, FCS, and the NFL all make a playoff work with autobids from conferences/divisions, but somehow FBS is too special or complicated to replicate it. One argument is that the games would just be blowouts, but that also happens at the FCS, D2, and D3 levels, and even happens in the CFP already, so why not give autobids and make it equal?

Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing WMU get into the Cotton Bowl in 2016. I can only imagine that is the feeling I'd get if WMU made it into the football playoffs. I don't see a 16 team playoff with all conferences getting a bid. Ever. The system will never be designed like an NCAA tourney auto-bid system with equality in mind. There will be equality between the P5 teams, but never for the G5 teams. Ever. The G5 are there so the P5 $hitter teams can feel better about going 2-5 in conference play. I am probably a minority though on the G5 side. The only reason to be a MAC fan is to enjoy the games where you knock off the P5 schools, and then win the MAC Championship. Maybe we get lucky and have a bid to the Detroit bowl (or Indy finally creates a Bowl game), otherwise Bowl season is a crappy trip to a D tier venue in a crappy state. Or the Bahamas. I would much rather have playoff games at home with games that mean something. (Again, I'm a minority - people will say MAC fans won't show up to the games in December due to the cold - and they might be right, but we wouldn't know since our late season games are on weekdays.)

Basketball is something totally different. I wouldn't change the NCAA BB tourney at all. It is everything the football tournament should be, but never will due to the football powers in charge.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Good. Please rid the NC$$ of D-1 football and basketball. PLEASE.

It could finally go back to the NCAA.

Which would destroy Division III sports and possibly a number of D1 niche sports (at least the national tournaments). Their budgets are dependent on the March Madness money.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Last year, if you give autobids and expand it to 16, we could've had:

To digress a little bit.

I'll never forget many years ago when a playoff system was first being proposed and was rejected at the time. I read an article where they were interviewing a top college player (can't remember who), and he said, "They never asked for our opinion."

He then went on to say most college players don't want a playoff system. Mainly because they don't want to play additional games past the one bowl game they may get. For one specific reason -- it wasn't worth the risk of getting injured and losing out on an NFL career. The regular season and a single bowl game is one thing, and of course you have to play some games to grow, improve, and get recognized. But at a certain point, the risk outweighs the reward. Which is why many players opt out of bowl games, even the NY6, because they no longer mean much with the CFP.

Many people talk about how they have playoffs in FCS, D2, and D3, but in those divisions, with rare exceptions, the players aren't going to the NFL. So, they don't care. And if they are, extra playoff games can actually benefit their standing with scouts by having extra time so show off.

A 16-team playoff means possibly four extra games tacked on to someone's college career, and possibly more depending how many times their team makes the playoffs in their student life. Extra games which may not mean much to these players looking to go to the NFL. But they come with a lot of risk. And most of the players going to the NFL are going to come from these top teams. Plus, before the NIL program, these players were getting zippo monetary reward from it while risking their NFL monetary rewards. (Not to mention the wear and tear on the body over the long run. I remember someone once pointing out how Emmit Smith played the equivalent of an entire NFL season just with playoff games because Dallas was so good during his playing days. Thus, he possibly could have lost out on an entire season of playing and earning money -- you don't get paid extra for playoff games -- because his body wore down a season earlier. Now, transition that thought to college players and whether some will lose a year or so on their pro careers because their bodies wore down earlier. No other sport wears your body down like football does.)

I've got to wonder how much do players themselves really care about a full fledged 16-team playoff system? And what pushback might some of them display?

 

[Kepler]

Which would destroy Division III sports and possibly a number of D1 niche sports (at least the national tournaments). Their budgets are dependent on the March Madness money.

Only as currently constituted.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...ing-how-college-football-governed-sources-say

When I saw this article yesterday, the first thought which ran through my head was how ironic. The NCAA was formed because of football. And now may fall apart because of football.

Ultimately, the NCAA was set up and run by the university presidents. So, if these same "shareholders" wish to go another direction, it's their choice. The university presidents are technically the NCAA. And thus they could be instead the {fill in new acronym here}. It's their choice whether we like it or not.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Only as currently constituted.

Sure, But where's the money going to come from?

Every D3 national tournament is run at a loss (so is many D1 national tournaments as a matter of fact). For example, the D3 football national championship costs a fortune to run. I believe it's in the $2-3 million range. As of last year, the NCAA allocates $35.1 million on D3 sports (despite that number, it is only 3.18% of the total NCAA operating budget). Of that, approximately $27 million is spent on the national tournaments (all sports, all genders). D2 is even more. And of course, D1 is more than that.

What is going to fill in that budget gap?

 

[Kepler]

For example, the D3 football national championship costs a fortune to run. I believe it's in the $2-3 million range.

Then don't have it.

I know this will be an adjustment, but college athletics was not intended to be what it has become. It was supposed to be students who also play sports and represent their school. The idea of the "student-athlete" is ridiculous. They are all simply students. And on weekends instead of getting hammered they row or play hockey or throw a shot put or whatever.

Mass media destroyed college sports. Take everything that is expensive and ditch it. It's all garbage. If athletics as a professional enterprise or as a media entertainment spectacle wants a feeder system, let them create one in their sphere. Get out of academia.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Then don't have it.

I know this will be an adjustment, but college athletics was not intended to be what it has become. It was supposed to be students who also play sports and represent their school. The idea of the "student-athlete" is ridiculous. They are all simply students. And on weekends instead of getting hammered they row or play hockey or throw a shot put or whatever.

Mass media destroyed college sports. Take everything that is expensive and ditch it. It's all garbage. If athletics as a professional enterprise or as a media entertainment spectacle wants a feeder system, let them create one in their sphere. Get out of academia.

I get your philosophical point. In many ways I agree with it. There's a reason why I love D3 sports -- because if fulfills many (though not all) of the points you make. There are even those who believe we should all go back to club sports and forego varsity sports.

Having said that, I know many of my kind will be hard pressed to want to give up national championships, even at the D3 level.

 

[JF_Gophers]

If D1 football breaks away and universities aren't getting any of the money, they would stop offering scholarships, etc. So the players would just be pro's at that point. As they are no longer university affiliated.

If the university still gets money, then nothing changes for the other sports. They can still fund them. Unless the assumption is the university doesn't want to.

 

[Slap Shot]

Then don't have it.

I know this will be an adjustment, but college athletics was not intended to be what it has become. It was supposed to be students who also play sports and represent their school. The idea of the "student-athlete" is ridiculous. They are all simply students. And on weekends instead of getting hammered they row or play hockey or throw a shot put or whatever.

Mass media destroyed college sports. Take everything that is expensive and ditch it. It's all garbage. If athletics as a professional enterprise or as a media entertainment spectacle wants a feeder system, let them create one in their sphere. Get out of academia.

The problem with this is that "what it has become" mostly only applies to the biggest schools and biggest tournaments, and those tournaments are not going away. Also Div II and Div III have been playing national tournaments for decades and are still mostly a "mom and pop" operation compared with the Amazon like behemoth of the BCS and March Madness. I mean let's face it even the Div I hockey tournament is quaint by comparison.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

If D1 football breaks away and universities aren't getting any of the money, they would stop offering scholarships, etc. So the players would just be pro's at that point. As they are no longer university affiliated.

If the university still gets money, then nothing changes for the other sports. They can still fund them. Unless the assumption is the university doesn't want to.

At the university level, sure.

But at the national level, who is going to fund the national tournaments for the other sports (assuming basketball also breaks away)? Most of which lose money. Unless you go the NAIA route -- the schools that participate in the national tournaments pay their own way.