Official 2012-2013 NCAA Football Thread

[zenryan]

Any word on Hickory?

[Brian]

Any word on Hickory?

 

He won his bet on the over.

[Rex Hudler]

God, I hope not! Michigan? Northwestern? UCLA? I could go on and on....

 

I want NO part of anything like that. Why don't we just give everyone a participation trophy and call it a day?

 

Do you think that they'd go for this?

 

[Buehrle>Wood]

Last nights matchup was just 85 million viewers shy of the Super Bowl's ratings.

[Rex Hudler]

This year was an aberration as an undefeated OSU team should have been in the CCG over Wisconsin.

 

And it makes perfect sense. AM and Georgia lost to Alabama (Not sure why you mentioned Scar, they barely beat Michigan and were trashed by Florida). The best team in the SEC was Alabama. Why should Bama have to risk going 1-1 against AM and AM being Champ?

 

I dont like the idea of rematch games. Its just more fun for me to see the 4 conferences best teams play it out and see what happens.

 

I tend to agree, but there are issues with it. Under this format, the conference championship games become de facto quarterfinal games, giving the feel of an 8 game playoff. But this can't happen without getting to four conferences which will include Notre Dame which isn't going to happen overnight and not without completely blowing up all of the traditions of college basketball (though I think that is inevitable anyway).

 

This model works for me when you have 4 conference champs that are 13-0, 12-1 or maybe even 11-2. But when a 7-5 team wins a CC in an upset, I have no interest in seeing that team in a "Final Four". There is no perfect scenario, I know.

[Soxbadger]

I tend to agree, but there are issues with it. Under this format, the conference championship games become de facto quarterfinal games, giving the feel of an 8 game playoff. But this can't happen without getting to four conferences which will include Notre Dame which isn't going to happen overnight and not without completely blowing up all of the traditions of college basketball (though I think that is inevitable anyway).

 

This model works for me when you have 4 conference champs that are 13-0, 12-1 or maybe even 11-2. But when a 7-5 team wins a CC in an upset, I have no interest in seeing that team in a "Final Four". There is no perfect scenario, I know.

 

Im not saying that it will happen instantly. But as you said, it effectively becomes an 8 game tournament and because the CCG is the key to getting in, the conference schedule becomes even more important.

 

As for the 8-5 part, it really is very unlikely that a team is a conference champion with that many losses. That being said, if they can win 3 games in a row (CCG and 2 playoff games) against the "best" teams, why arent they deserving? Something would have had to change (ie injury etc) for a team to make that dramatic of a turnaround.

[Rex Hudler]

Im not saying that it will happen instantly. But as you said, it effectively becomes an 8 game tournament and because the CCG is the key to getting in, the conference schedule becomes even more important.

 

As for the 8-5 part, it really is very unlikely that a team is a conference champion with that many losses. That being said, if they can win 3 games in a row (CCG and 2 playoff games) against the "best" teams, why arent they deserving? Something would have had to change (ie injury etc) for a team to make that dramatic of a turnaround.

 

I just think you'll have a problem if a 7-5 team wins, while there is a 10-2 team sitting in the wings that didn't make it to the CCG, especially if they played and the 10-2 team waxed the 7-5 team. It goes to not only unbalanced schedules, but the difficulties of balanced divisions within conferences as we are seeing in the BiG. The quality of teams will change over time and there will always be issues with inequities like that with larger conferences.

 

Though one way would be to go to four 20-team conferences and have teams play 9 division games only and none from the opposing division (essentially 8, 10-team conferences tied together in pairs. Not sure that's going to happen though.

[Soxbadger]

I just think you'll have a problem if a 7-5 team wins, while there is a 10-2 team sitting in the wings that didn't make it to the CCG, especially if they played and the 10-2 team waxed the 7-5 team. It goes to not only unbalanced schedules, but the difficulties of balanced divisions within conferences as we are seeing in the BiG. The quality of teams will change over time and there will always be issues with inequities like that with larger conferences.

 

Though one way would be to go to four 20-team conferences and have teams play 9 division games only and none from the opposing division (essentially 8, 10-team conferences tied together in pairs. Not sure that's going to happen though.

 

It will be up to the conferences to figure out how they want to pick the teams for the CCG. I think conferences will move to 16 teams and potentially could do 10 conference games (7 division + 3 out of division). That would ensure almost every team plays 1 time in 2 years, and while there is always the chance of a 6-6 team somehow being the top of its division, there is just (imo) no better or simpler solution.

 

It takes out all rankings and subjectivity, you have to win games.

[justBLAZE]

Hmmm.

 

http://twitter.com/MsKatherineWebb/status/288841319353311232

[WHarris1]

Hmmm.

 

http://twitter.com/MsKatherineWebb/status/288841319353311232

That ain't her: http://twitter.com/_KatherineWebb

[justBLAZE]

That ain't her: http://twitter.com/_KatherineWebb

 

Good catch!

[Heads22]

OK, it's already been too long since college football.

[knightni]

Last nights matchup was just 85 million viewers shy of the Super Bowl's ratings.

30+ mil on cable is incredible. That's like 150 mil on network TV.

[cabiness42]

Sorry, I was up in SB for the game and got home late last night.

 

1) My buddy had been getting hammered in his bowl game bets so he texted me to cancel the 3:1 and 5:1 bets because he couldn't cover them so only the first two bets stood and we broke even.

 

2) Alabama is clearly better than ND but ND isn't nearly as bad as they looked in that game. I don't think any team was coming within 10 points of Alabama the way they were prepared for that game.

 

3) ND's gameplan/playcalling was absolutely terrible. Defense needed to have 8 in the box and rush 4-5. Bama was running easily against 7 in the box and the receivers were beating the zone anyway so ND should have been bringing max pressure. Oh, and Golson clearly has trouble connecting on the deep ball down the sideline so stop calling it, and for god's sake, don't send three receivers on deep routes on 4th and 4! Brian Kelly has clearly done a tremendous amount for this ND program, but his playcalling remains absolutely brutal. I'm not saying ND would have won if the coaches didn't have their heads up their asses, but it would have been a lot closer. Oh, and take the f***ing ball to start the game and try to get a lead.

 

4) Nick Saban is the master of preparing a team after a long layoff. Once the 4-team playoff starts and the finals are only a week after the semifinals, then some team might be able to beat him in the finals, but I'll never bet against him in the semifinals.

[cabiness42]

The thing people said to me a while ago was that, particularly if you're playing at neutral sites, it's going to be hard to expect fanbases to travel for more than 1 game.

 

How are they doing home field/stadium choices for the playoff rounds anyway?

 

I know for the BCS championship game, the schools only got 17,500 tickets each and the rest went to the Dolphins, BCS staff, ESPN staff, etc. Notre Dame could have easily sold 80,000 tickets and Alabama was probably in that ballpark, so I don't think selling tickets for the playoff games is going to be a problem even if you assume that the schools would get a bigger allotment for the semifinal games. There are enough different people who want to go to games that you don't have to count on the same people traveling twice.

 

This is what I understand so far about the playoff system:

 

The semifinals will rotate among six bowls. Three are definitely the Rose, Sugar, and Orange. The other three are most likely going to be the Fiesta, Cotton, and Capital One. The Rose and Sugar have been announced as the semifinal games for the 2014 season (and presumably 2017, 2020, etc.) Two others will get 2015 and the final two get 2016.

 

The Rose and Sugar bowls will always be played Jan. 1 at 4:30 and 8:00, regardless of whether or not they are semifinal games. When the Rose and Sugar are not semifinal games, the two bowls that are will be played Dec. 31 (all dates get adjusted to avoid Sundays). The championship is the first Monday that is at least 6 days after the semifinal games.

 

The committee places the 1-4 and 2-3 matchups in the two semifinal games based on geography, with the stipulation that the higher seeded team will not have to face a "home field disadvantage". So for example if LSU is 1 or 2 in 2014 they would get to play their semifinal in the Sugar Bowl but if they are 3 or 4 they would not.

 

[Buehrle>Wood]

30+ mil on cable is incredible. That's like 150 mil on network TV.

It wasn't 30 million, and no, its not all. In fact this game was not even the highest rated NCAA championship game on cable. So much for rivalring super bowl ratings.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Buehrle>Wood

[cabiness42]

Brian Kelly is talking to the Eagles. I'll help him look for a house in Philly if he wants.

[IlliniKrush]

Brian Kelly is talking to the Eagles. I'll help him look for a house in Philly if he wants.

Who do you want as coach, Touchdown Jesus?

[cabiness42]

Who do you want as coach, Touchdown Jesus?

 

Someone who has a much better clue on how to game-plan and call plays.

 

[knightni]

Someone who has a much better clue on how to game-plan and call plays.

Get real, dude. You have no idea what you are talking about. You remind me of Bears fans who hate Cutler and miss Grossman.

[SexiAlexei]

Someone who has a much better clue on how to game-plan and call plays.

 

Yea, screw the guy who got you back to the NC, and who currently has the #1 recruiting class in the nation!

 

Forget that dude. You've had such good luck with coaches lately, maybe good ol' Charlie Weis will come back, and bring Willingham with him.

[cabiness42]

Get real, dude. You have no idea what you are talking about. You remind me of Bears fans who hate Cutler and miss Grossman.

 

I have plenty of clue what I am talking about. Brian Kelly's playcalling is absolutely atrocious. He got to 12-0 this year with a great defense and a little bit of luck, but he consistently calls plays that are absolutely mind-blowing.

 

A couple specific examples:

 

2010 home vs Tulsa, less than a minute on the clock and down by one point to Tulsa, ball inside the 10 yard line and a kicker who hasn't missed a kick all season. With the backup QB in the game, BK calls a fade route to the end zone that is horribly underthrown and intercepted. There is absolutely zero excuse for not calling running plays to drain the clock down and kick the winning field goal.

 

2013 BCS vs Alabama, down 21-0 in the second quarter and going for it on 4th and 4 just inside Alabama territory. BK calls a pass play that sends three of the four receivers on deep routes. Pass is incomplete and game is essentially over. Who the f*** sends everybody deep on 4th and 4??

 

More generally, the offense stalled out inside the 10 yard line way too many times this season, and a lot of it was due to poor play calling in the red zone.

 

I won't deny that BK's recruiting and other changes he's made within the program have done wonders for Notre Dame in three years, but it's time to move on because he is incapable of getting ND to the next level. Of course they can't fire him after a 12-1 season, but they can sure call his bluff when he threatens to go to the Eagles as a ploy to get more money out of ND.

[southsider2k5]

I have plenty of clue what I am talking about. Brian Kelly's playcalling is absolutely atrocious. He got to 12-0 this year with a great defense and a little bit of luck, but he consistently calls plays that are absolutely mind-blowing.

 

A couple specific examples:

 

2010 home vs Tulsa, less than a minute on the clock and down by one point to Tulsa, ball inside the 10 yard line and a kicker who hasn't missed a kick all season. With the backup QB in the game, BK calls a fade route to the end zone that is horribly underthrown and intercepted. There is absolutely zero excuse for not calling running plays to drain the clock down and kick the winning field goal.

 

2013 BCS vs Alabama, down 21-0 in the second quarter and going for it on 4th and 4 just inside Alabama territory. BK calls a pass play that sends three of the four receivers on deep routes. Pass is incomplete and game is essentially over. Who the f*** sends everybody deep on 4th and 4??

 

More generally, the offense stalled out inside the 10 yard line way too many times this season, and a lot of it was due to poor play calling in the red zone.

 

I won't deny that BK's recruiting and other changes he's made within the program have done wonders for Notre Dame in three years, but it's time to move on because he is incapable of getting ND to the next level. Of course they can't fire him after a 12-1 season, but they can sure call his bluff when he threatens to go to the Eagles as a ploy to get more money out of ND.

 

I know the big thing is to bash play calling, and specifically that 4th and 4, but that play made no difference in the outcome of that game. ND's D couldn't do a thing to stop the Bama offense the entire game. Unless there was a way of changing that, the outcome was still going to be a Bama blowout.

[cabiness42]

I know the big thing is to bash play calling, and specifically that 4th and 4, but that play made no difference in the outcome of that game. ND's D couldn't do a thing to stop the Bama offense the entire game. Unless there was a way of changing that, the outcome was still going to be a Bama blowout.

 

I realize that winning was a long shot, but you still need to call a good play for the situation, and BK has failed to do that many times. I just think he's reached his ceiling at ND and if they want to be able to beat SEC teams in bowl/playoff games, it's going to take somebody else.

 

[LittleHurt05]

There's also that whole scissor lift thing on Kelly's resume. Just sayin'