Any college football fans out there?

[Alan]

Van, I really enjoyed reading your "bowling" reply. I've been a duck fan for nearly 30 years, going back to the Chris Miller days in the early 80's. Your reply summed up just why I love college football so much. I remember, not too long ago, when listening or watching the ducks hoping for that 6th win to finally get to a bowl game and like you stated, what it does for recruiting, improved finances, practices, ect. College ball has the ability to make me feel like "they are my team", I don't get that from the NFL.

ESPN was talking about how nice a Stanford/ Wisconsin Rose Bowl would be, an old school power match up. For me, while I think it would be a good game, it means (assuming the Ducks win out and don't get screwed by the BCS) we would be playing probably Boise St. The previous post comparing BS/TCU to an arm wrestling tournament was right on the mark for my feelings about either school getting a shot at the title. If we go to the big game give me a powerhouse that has survived a hard fought season, not a team that has been on a cake walk. It looks like Auburn.... But can Auburn survive going to Alabama, can Cam survive his greedy dad...... Again, assuming the ducks survive and don't get screwed, I want a shot at the title without the Reggie Bush factor.

Just my rant and the Fighting Illini have a new fan on the left coast!

Alan

 

[Kingfisher]

Alan, yep thats 5 in a row for the Ags...not pretty but a win. Right now I still think the Ducks are #1. Just can't see anybody stepping up and knocking them off anytime soon. Cam Newton is still the best QB money can buy but really don't see them getting by 'bama unless 'bama just really has a down day. Everybody else is just "everybody else".

5? In a row!? lol I sure hope ya'll don't play that well against us this week. I can not imagine Nebraska Nation being happy with Bo Pellini's tyrade during that game! What a jerk! Have you seen Wisconsin play? They look pretty good to me.

 

[Isomade]

Van, I really enjoyed reading your "bowling" reply. I've been a duck fan for nearly 30 years, going back to the Chris Miller days in the early 80's. Your reply summed up just why I love college football so much. I remember, not too long ago, when listening or watching the ducks hoping for that 6th win to finally get to a bowl game and like you stated, what it does for recruiting, improved finances, practices, ect. College ball has the ability to make me feel like "they are my team", I don't get that from the NFL.

ESPN was talking about how nice a Stanford/ Wisconsin Rose Bowl would be, an old school power match up. For me, while I think it would be a good game, it means (assuming the Ducks win out and don't get screwed by the BCS) we would be playing probably Boise St. The previous post comparing BS/TCU to an arm wrestling tournament was right on the mark for my feelings about either school getting a shot at the title. If we go to the big game give me a powerhouse that has survived a hard fought season, not a team that has been on a cake walk. It looks like Auburn.... But can Auburn survive going to Alabama, can Cam survive his greedy dad...... Again, assuming the ducks survive and don't get screwed, I want a shot at the title without the Reggie Bush factor.

Alan, your Ducks do look spectacular. And I do hope they win out but I agree it would be a tragedy to see them play BS for a tittle. The only worry I think you have is the Patriots factor. Give a team a whole month to game plan for that fast paced offense and it will be a better game than most think. IMHO




Just my rant and the Fighting Illini have a new fan on the left coast!

Alan

 

[Dave]

Now Alan,

I understand that the blue field does look strange, but calling them commie b***ards? I seem to recall that your favorite team is from Eugene, otherwise known through out the Northwest as "Moscow on the Willamette".

 

[SRBeef]

Games I would like to see, as things stand now:

Oregon/Auburn
Wisconsin/Stanford
Boise State/Ohio State
TCU/Michigan State

among others... Cross country and culture matchups of very different teams.

I do not think there can be NFL style, or March Madness basketball style playoffs in NCAA football.

A 16 team NCAA playoff would involve three additional games for the top teams, In the NFL this is a full time paying job for highly paid people. In college these are THEORETICALLY unpaid students, even though coaches are paid millions.

The time, chance for injuries and the money involved would even more make this an under the table high dollar business and lose some of what makes college football different and worth watching. Football is a different game than basketball. In BB they can play every other day or night for a ocuple weekends. You just can't do that in football, especially at this level and especially if by some strange chance you actually ARE a student. jmho. Jim

 

[Alan]

Now Alan,

I understand that the blue field does look strange, but calling them commie b***ards? I seem to recall that your favorite team is from Eugene, otherwise known through out the Northwest as "Moscow on the Willamette".

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Yes, Eugene has earned the name, "Moscow on the Willamette", but Eugene doesn't hold a candle to Portland.... The cut my own throat (along with the rest of the state) to save my government city. But yes the NCAA needs to tell BS and Eastern Washington that football fields need to look like grass... Hence the word field.

Alan

 

[Alan]

SR, I agree with all of your match ups, except the TCU game, I can under stand your love of the Big 10, they have quite the race going on now. I'll be surprised if Wisconsin doesn't come out on top. I would like to see TCU play LSU. If the Ducks and Auburn play for the title then my thoughts are Wisc. will play BS in the rose bowl.

Alan

 

[novaman]

I do not think there can be NFL style, or March Madness basketball style playoffs in NCAA football.

A 16 team NCAA playoff would involve three additional games for the top teams, In the NFL this is a full time paying job for highly paid people. In college these are THEORETICALLY unpaid students, even though coaches are paid millions.

I respectfully disagree. The FBS division of the NCAA is the only football organization that does not have a playoff system. The FCS division of the NCAA has a playoff system and they are college teams no different from the FBS. 3 additional games should be no big deal. After all, there is a long waiting period between the end of the regular season and the bowl games. If a playoff system were installed in the 16 team format you mention they would likely have no problem with scheduling. Start the playoffs immediately after the regular season ends and the championship should still be around the beginning of January like it currently is.

 

[john250]

For those of us whose teams never go to New Years Day Bowl games, the bowls are a bore. Everyone has the TV on, but I haven't watched a bowl game to the end in years.
A 16 team playoff would generate soooo much TV money and be a better show. To me, the "one and done" element is the only reason to pay any attention at all to sports.
The colleges could give up those early season games with directional U and get the money from TV instead.
Start Nov 10-15 and play one round per week. Make sure one round is Thanksgiving Day. On New Years Day you have a champion, not an opinion. You can still have an opinion (i.e. "my team was better but they had a bad game) but someone will have a trophy.

On another topic, someone needs to go to court and end this practice of restricting the employment opportunities of young athletes. If an 18 yr old is good enough to play in the NFL he should have the chance to get paid above the table and receive a W-2. That would slow the recruiting scandals because all the "one player who can make our team great" guys would be playing on Sunday.
College games would still be exciting without those guys, because college games are frat parties and old alums and cute cheerleaders and marching bands and as long as the games are competitive the level of play doesn't matter.

 

[Isomade]

For those of us whose teams never go to New Years Day Bowl games, the bowls are a bore. Everyone has the TV on, but I haven't watched a bowl game to the end in years.
A 16 team playoff would generate soooo much TV money and be a better show. To me, the "one and done" element is the only reason to pay any attention at all to sports.
The colleges could give up those early season games with directional U and get the money from TV instead.
Start Nov 10-15 and play one round per week. Make sure one round is Thanksgiving Day. On New Years Day you have a champion, not an opinion. You can still have an opinion (i.e. "my team was better but they had a bad game) but someone will have a trophy.

On another topic, someone needs to go to court and end this practice of restricting the employment opportunities of young athletes. If an 18 yr old is good enough to play in the NFL he should have the chance to get paid above the table and receive a W-2. That would slow the recruiting scandals because all the "one player who can make our team great" guys would be playing on Sunday.
College games would still be exciting without those guys, because college games are frat parties and
old alums and cute cheerleaders and marching bands and as long as the games are competitive the
level of play doesn't matter.

I just think 16 teams adds too many games. Top 8 would be a better system, and surely we could get the best team each time with a top 8.

 

[VanC]

For those of us whose teams never go to New Years Day Bowl games, the bowls are a bore. Everyone has the TV on, but I haven't watched a bowl game to the end in years.
A 16 team playoff would generate soooo much TV money and be a better show. To me, the "one and done" element is the only reason to pay any attention at all to sports.
The colleges could give up those early season games with directional U and get the money from TV instead.
Start Nov 10-15 and play one round per week. Make sure one round is Thanksgiving Day. On New Years Day you have a champion, not an opinion. You can still have an opinion (i.e. "my team was better but they had a bad game) but someone will have a trophy.

On another topic, someone needs to go to court and end this practice of restricting the employment opportunities of young athletes. If an 18 yr old is good enough to play in the NFL he should have the chance to get paid above the table and receive a W-2. That would slow the recruiting scandals because all the "one player who can make our team great" guys would be playing on Sunday.
College games would still be exciting without those guys, because college games are frat parties and
old alums and cute cheerleaders and marching bands and as long as the games are competitive the
level of play doesn't matter.

I just think 16 teams adds too many games. Top 8 would be a better system, and surely we could get the best team each time with a top 8.

I agree. An eight team playoff should be enough to determine a true champion. I remember a few years ago when Auburn was 13-0 and didn't get to play for the championship. There was another year when USC lost a game early and then ran the table. By the end of the season most were saying they were the best team in the country, but they didn't get to play for the championship because of that one early loss. An eight team playoff would eliminate those types of things. Teams like Boise St and TCU would be able to have their shot, but they'd have to earn their way to the championship game by beating two real good teams in a row as opposed to playing one or two decent teams a year and beating up on inferior opponents the rest of the way.

Also no automatic qualifiers from any conference. Take the best eight teams.....period. Heck, the last I looked the Big East didn't have one team ranked in the top 25, yet their champion gets an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. That's nonsense.

I also agree with John. If a kid is good enough to go straight from high school to the NFL then he should be allowed to do so.

 

[Isomade]

:clap: perfectly said Van. I couldn't agree more.

 

[Dave]

I forgot about Eastern Washington...... and they even talked to my oldest son about playing for them. So which looks worse the red field or the blue? And I do agree they all should be green. In fact I think they all should be grass. If it gets torn up into mud by late season well that is part of football too.

 

[novaman]

Well Auburn escaped and it looks like Oregon is going to roll. Sure looks like those two will be lining up in the championship game.

 

[Alan]

As implied by ESPN...... Nevada, the new myth buster! I may even like Boise St if they would play in a real conference. Good bye Broncos, so long smurf turf. The real tragedy is Stanford, maybe the best one lost team, won't see the Rose Bowl.... If we get by the Beavers next week.

Alan

 

[VanC]

As implied by ESPN...... Nevada, the new myth buster! I may even like Boise St if they would play in a real conference. Good bye Broncos, so long smurf turf. The real tragedy is Stanford, maybe the best one lost team, won't see the Rose Bowl.... If we get by the Beavers next week.

Alan

It seems that teams that are used to beating up on weak opponents have trouble when they find themselves near the end of a tight game. Didn't see the Boise St game, but saw some highlights this morning, and some of their kids seemed to have that deer in the headlights look about them.

Did see some of the Oregon-Arizona game. Ducks were in trouble when I fell asleep. Was glad to see they pulled it out rather easily.

I think Stanford will end up in the Rose Bowl. If Oregon goes to the championship game the Rose Bowl committee doesn't have to take another Pac 10 team, but I think they will to preserve the Pac 10-Big 10 tradition. That's the reason they gave for taking Illinois four years ago, even though there were a couple of teams that were probably more deserving. Stanford has a lot better resume than the Illini did, so I think they'll be there.

 

[VanC]

Almost forgot. Scuttlebutt has Illini in the Texas Bowl against either Baylor or Texas Tech. Would have been Texas, but since they ended up 5-7 they're not eligible.

 

[Alan]

I think Baylor is a pretty good team, they have had a bit of a let down and ran into better teams, but you would get a god match up with them.

For this year, if a Pac 10 or Big 10 team goes to the national championship game their Rose bowl slot goes to a "non qualifying" team. So a second place,10-1 Stanford will not get the Rose Bowl slot. Now I think it will go to TCU. While I would love to see Wisc play Stanford in the RB I think it will be Wisc TCU.

That's just my impression,
Alan

 

[VanC]

I think Baylor is a pretty good team, they have had a bit of a let down and ran into better teams, but you would get a god match up with them.

For this year, if a Pac 10 or Big 10 team goes to the national championship game their Rose bowl slot goes to a "non qualifying" team. So a second place,10-1 Stanford will not get the Rose Bowl slot. Now I think it will go to TCU. While I would love to see Wisc play Stanford in the RB I think it will be Wisc TCU.

That's just my impression,
Alan

Alan, I did some checking and, while I'm still a bit confused, it looks like you're right. If Oregon goes to the championship game, the Rose Bowl has to take the highest qualifier from a non-BCS conference as long as they meet all the criteria. That's different than it was four years ago. So right now it looks like Big 10 Champion vs. TCU. Also looks like Stanford will get shut out of the BCS games altogether. That's a shame. A playoff is looking better all the time.

 

[MistyMorning]

Kinda late to this party, but I watched the Bama, Auburn game the other night, WOW!