College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

[dxmnkd316]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

The Notre Dame team with one win - against Purdue, right? The same Purdue team that just lost to Toledo?

Maybe my wish for Cincy to finish better than Notre Dame isn't so crazy after all...

 

[Kepler]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

The Notre Dame team with one win - against Purdue, right? The same Purdue team that just lost to Toledo?

Well, yeah that's because... um... nah, I got nuthin.

We're not a good football team right now. Lots of quality pieces, none of them fitting together.

If there was ever a year we needed cupcakes, this is it.

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Well, yeah that's because... um... nah, I got nuthin.

We're not a good football team right now. Lots of good pieces, none of them fitting together.

If there was ever a year we needed cupcakes, this is it.

Coach's poll looks a little more realistic.
1 Alabama (57)
2 Ohio State (2)
3 Boise State
4 Oregon
5 TCU
6 Nebraska
7 Florida
8 Oklahoma
9 Wisconsin
10 LSU
11 Auburn
12 Utah
13 Stanford
14 Arizona

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Well, yeah that's because... um... nah, I got nuthin.

We're not a good football team right now. Lots of quality pieces, none of them fitting together.

If there was ever a year we needed cupcakes, this is it.

Should have scheduled the MN Punky Brewsters.

 

[Kepler]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Should have scheduled the MN Punky Brewsters.

We've got Little Sisters of the Poor three times. The record will look good, anyway. Well, I hope.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Now come on. Wisconsin only won by 67....

Barry had no business scheduling that school. What a joke of a game. Tom Oates made a great point noting how odd it is that that game pretty much sells out while the spring game, which is still free, has so many empty seats.

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Barry had no business scheduling that school. What a joke of a game. Tom Oates made a great point noting how odd it is that that game pretty much sells out while the spring game, which is still free, has so many empty seats.

Do you know how much Wisconsin makes on gamedays? We paid AP $850,000 to come and get their whupping, so I have to figure it's a decent amount more than that? How much would a MAC or C-USA school have wanted?

 

[bronconick]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Do you know how much Wisconsin makes on gamedays? We paid AP $850,000 to come and get their whupping, so I have to figure it's a decent amount more than that? How much would a MAC or C-USA school have wanted?

Article said they took home 300k. The funny thing is that he thinks that when the Big Ten expands to 9 games (meaning 6 teams have 4 home/5 road with 3 to spare OOC) that the games against Austin Peay are going to be the ones eliminated and not the home and homes vs. Arizona State where you run the risk of only 6 home games in a year if things get scheduled poorly

How *does* he cover college football and keep that naivete?

 

[Maineiak]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Things are getting ugaly between the hedges.

Unfortunately, Mark Richt probably won't survive the offseason. Great character and successful coach, but hasn't done much for the school lately.

I'm torn if I want to see him go or not.

 

[blockski]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Article said they took home 300k. The funny thing is that he thinks that when the Big Ten expands to 9 games (meaning 6 teams have 4 home/5 road with 3 to spare OOC) that the games against Austin Peay are going to be the ones eliminated and not the home and homes vs. Arizona State where you run the risk of only 6 home games in a year if things get scheduled poorly

How *does* he cover college football and keep that naivete?

Exactly. Oates is completely wrong with that take. And he's a moron most of the time.

Wisconsin is only doing what the NCAA policy encourages them to do. And it's not like UW is alone in this, either. Florida is playing 2 I-AA schools this year.

Dave Heller had a much more intelligent take:

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/103798724.html

... but first, this: I know there's a lot of complaining about UW playing an FCS team. I get the beef. However, the NCAA created this mess and Wisconsin - and plenty of other teams - are just following that lead, whether you like it or not. Would I prefer the Badgers to play an FBS team instead? Of course. But I understand why they and the others do it. And believe it or not (and I know some people who comment love to make it sound like UW is the only team doing this), there are 83 FBS vs. FCS games this season. A few teams are playing two FCS teams, including Florida.

Barry had no business scheduling that school. What a joke of a game. Tom Oates made a great point noting how odd it is that that game pretty much sells out while the spring game, which is still free, has so many empty seats.

Interesting choice of words, EoDS - because that's exactly why teams like Austin Peay get scheduled - business.

 

[Dirty]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

And believe it or not (and I know some people who comment love to make it sound like UW is the only team doing this), there are 83 FBS vs. FCS games this season. A few teams are playing two FCS teams, including Florida.

I'm confused. Does Wisconsin play two FCS teams too? Austin Peay and Minnesota.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Interesting choice of words, EoDS - because that's exactly why teams like Austin Peay get scheduled - business.

Certainly a reasonable point. But it is short term gains, at the likely expense of the program.

In the grand scheme of ways that BCS football programs make money, skimming off a little extra to play a bottom feeding FCS school instead of a bottom feeding FBS school (who also don't ask for return games) can't be that far up on the list.

Certainly TV money tops the list of payouts. Then probably tickets/suites/concessions/etc. But I would also add Bowl money to the list- especially since the prestige of bowl games helps drive the first two AND the fact that Bowl games are supposedly cash cows is why we can't afford to lose the precious Bowl system.

And you get bigger paydays from bowls by playing in bigger, more prestigious bowl games. That, in turn, comes from doing well in conference. Do you get to bigger bowl games by scheduling a nap the week before conference play begins? Does Bielema have enough control over the team to keep them disciplined and humble before heading to Lansing this week? It will be interesting to see if the Badgers come out flat or charging out of the gate when they have to get back to playing a team they can take seriously.

 

[Hammer]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Do you know how much Wisconsin makes on gamedays? We paid AP $850,000 to come and get their whupping, so I have to figure it's a decent amount more than that? How much would a MAC or C-USA school have wanted?

Michigan nets just over $4 mil per home game, so I can't imagine that Wisconsin does much worse than $3 mil per home date.

 

[LynahFan]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Certainly a reasonable point. But it is short term gains, at the likely expense of the program.

In the grand scheme of ways that BCS football programs make money, skimming off a little extra to play a bottom feeding FCS school instead of a bottom feeding FBS school (who also don't ask for return games) can't be that far up on the list.

Certainly TV money tops the list of payouts. Then probably tickets/suites/concessions/etc. But I would also add Bowl money to the list- especially since the prestige of bowl games helps drive the first two AND the fact that Bowl games are supposedly cash cows is why we can't afford to lose the precious Bowl system.

And you get bigger paydays from bowls by playing in bigger, more prestigious bowl games. That, in turn, comes from doing well in conference. Do you get to bigger bowl games by scheduling a nap the week before conference play begins? Does Bielema have enough control over the team to keep them disciplined and humble before heading to Lansing this week? It will be interesting to see if the Badgers come out flat or charging out of the gate when they have to get back to playing a team they can take seriously.

Yes, I think you do get to bigger bowl games by "taking a nap." At the end of the day, the record is the only thing that matters - SoS be darned. The sad fact is that the BCS basically comes down to the polls, and pollsters have a tendency to go for gaudy records over substance - they just can't look past that 10-1 record even if 3 of the wins are over complete creampuffs.

Better bowls = good for the program, since that's the pinnacle of achievement for a college team. Which program gets more notoriety: the one who schedules tougher opponents and gets relegated to 2nd tier bowls, or the one with an easy schedule and perenially makes it to Big Bowl X? In a perverse twist of Al Davis (if that were possible), the mantra is "just rack up the wins, baby." It keeps the donors happy, the stadiums full, and the bowl invitations rolling - and there is a symbiotic relationship between all three of those, too. Full stadiums lead to better bowl invitations due to better fanbases. Bowl invites lead to more, higher paying donors. Higher paying donors lead to better facilities, which make for a better game-day experience, which fills the stadiums. Etc, etc. It's a massive snowball, chugging forward, and the only things that can derail it are Ls - they must be avoided at all cost.

 

[blockski]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Certainly a reasonable point. But it is short term gains, at the likely expense of the program.

In the grand scheme of ways that BCS football programs make money, skimming off a little extra to play a bottom feeding FCS school instead of a bottom feeding FBS school (who also don't ask for return games) can't be that far up on the list.

Those bottom-feeding FBS schools do ask for return games, and they do get paid like the FCS schools if they don't get them. This has been the way of college football for a long time, all the NCAA did was enlarge the pool of potential paydays. If anything, adding the FCS schools to the mix lowered the cost of each individual 'buy' game since there are more teams competing for those buy games.

Certainly TV money tops the list of payouts. Then probably tickets/suites/concessions/etc. But I would also add Bowl money to the list- especially since the prestige of bowl games helps drive the first two AND the fact that Bowl games are supposedly cash cows is why we can't afford to lose the precious Bowl system.

The bowl games are cash cows, but the lack of change isn't that a playoff wouldn't make money - it's that a playoff would make money for different people.

Playoff proponents are essentially asking the BCS to say "yes, I'd love to give up my cash cow and send the profits directly to someone else."

And you get bigger paydays from bowls by playing in bigger, more prestigious bowl games. That, in turn, comes from doing well in conference. Do you get to bigger bowl games by scheduling a nap the week before conference play begins? Does Bielema have enough control over the team to keep them disciplined and humble before heading to Lansing this week? It will be interesting to see if the Badgers come out flat or charging out of the gate when they have to get back to playing a team they can take seriously.

Florida plays two FCS schools this year, and this isn't the first year they've done so.

So, no, I think the argument that you need to play a murderer's row schedule for every OOC game is bunk.

This also isn't new - UW and plenty of other teams usually try to schedule an easy game for their last OOC game before conference play begins - the logic is the same as NFL teams resting their starters in the last pre-season game of the year.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Yes, I think you do get to bigger bowl games by "taking a nap." At the end of the day, the record is the only thing that matters - SoS be darned. The sad fact is that the BCS basically comes down to the polls, and pollsters have a tendency to go for gaudy records over substance - they just can't look past that 10-1 record even if 3 of the wins are over complete creampuffs.

Better bowls = good for the program, since that's the pinnacle of achievement for a college team. Which program gets more notoriety: the one who schedules tougher opponents and gets relegated to 2nd tier bowls, or the one with an easy schedule and perenially makes it to Big Bowl X? In a perverse twist of Al Davis (if that were possible), the mantra is "just rack up the wins, baby." It keeps the donors happy, the stadiums full, and the bowl invitations rolling - and there is a symbiotic relationship between all three of those, too. Full stadiums lead to better bowl invitations due to better fanbases. Bowl invites lead to more, higher paying donors. Higher paying donors lead to better facilities, which make for a better game-day experience, which fills the stadiums. Etc, etc. It's a massive snowball, chugging forward, and the only things that can derail it are Ls - they must be avoided at all cost.

One clarification: in the Big Ten, bowls are traditionally allocated by conference standing. When you get down to the third or fourth tier bowls, you might start seeing other factors come into play (non-conference record being one of them), but mostly its conference record.

The Capital One Bowl gets second pick on Big Ten teams after the BCS. While they are not honor bound to take the next best team, they pretty much always will. Even if it's Indiana.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

So, no, I think the argument that you need to play a murderer's row schedule for every OOC game is bunk.

There's a lot of grey area between a murderer's row of OOC games and Cal Poly/Austin peay.

It's a grey area so wide, you could navigate Barry's checkbook through it.

 

[blockski]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

There's a lot of grey area between a murderer's row of OOC games and Cal Poly/Austin peay.

It's a grey area so wide, you could navigate Barry's checkbook through it.

Here's the thing - you make the mistake of judging a team's quality based on their division.

Everybody gave Michigan a lot of **** for losing to Appalachian State. But that ASU team was really good - they won 3 FCS titles in a row. Cal Poly was a pretty good FCS team as well. I'd argue that a lot of those FCS teams are much better than the bottom of FBS.

The other part of the equation is that scheduling is hard. You have to make sure the dates work not just now but well into the future. You want to ensure that you have the right time for rest - UW has refused certain games before because they wanted a bye week in the season, and given the Big Ten's scheduling details, UW didn't get one in conference that year... Plus, you've got other agendas you might want to advance (why UW semi-regularly plays @Hawaii and @UNLV, for example).

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Article said they took home 300k. The funny thing is that he thinks that when the Big Ten expands to 9 games (meaning 6 teams have 4 home/5 road with 3 to spare OOC) that the games against Austin Peay are going to be the ones eliminated and not the home and homes vs. Arizona State where you run the risk of only 6 home games in a year if things get scheduled poorly

How *does* he cover college football and keep that naivete?

Oh, I had read $850,000 elsewhere.

Anyways, what do MAC schools or others demand? If it's in the same ballpark, I don't understand why we don't bring in a D1 school.

 

[bronconick]

Re: College Football II: The BCS hits the Fan

Oh, I had read $850,000 elsewhere.

Anyways, what do MAC schools or others demand? If it's in the same ballpark, I don't understand why we don't bring in a D1 school.

I think WMU's getting 3/4 of a million to take a bus ride down to South Bend this year. They got less from Michigan State because that's part of a 3 for 1 deal that MSU is running with all three Michigan MAC schools over the next decade, assuming the 9 game BT schedule in 2014-15 doesn't play hob with it.