College Football

[JUAN]

There's absolutely no talk on Jacksonville or Atlanta sports talk radio about either team not playing.  There have been no NFL declarations except for one FSU wide receiver.  The two teams are competing for several recruits and winning the game would increase chances of signing the recruit.  Word is they're working out a huge NIL deal for quarterback Carson Beck to come back next year.  They're playing.

[Uncle Duke]

Expand the playoff team count a bit and all the Massengill Feminine Douche bowls go away.

The CFP expands to 12 next year, but I wouldn't count on a decline in the number of bowl games. In fact, new bowl games in Cincinnati (Chili) and Chicago (Chicago) are in the works.  Additionally, a reduction in the number of bowl was predicted when the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, and first iteration of the CFP were all announced. When the Bowl Coalition was formed in 1992, there were only 18 bowls.  Now there are 43 bowls, including the CFP games.

While many, if not most, schools make money from bowls (if only through profit sharing within a conference), the biggest single benefit from coaches' point of view are the 15 additional practices bowl teams are allowed by the NCAA.  Most coaches, especially those outside the CFP, use those practices to get a head start on spring ball and the next season. Ironically, the teams who need more practice the most, those who had losing seasons, don't get those additional practices. Change the rules to allow all FBS schools 15 extra practices at the end of the season and the lure of minor bowls is less.

[Uncle Duke]

You're probably right.  What happens if the players decide they don't want to play?

I remember the year Mack Brown, coach of Texas, came on camera after their final game - Cal was 4th and Texas was 5th, both had won that week, Cal had one more to play, won that, and #4 was going to the Rose Bowl, which was traditionally Pac-12 vs Big 10 anyway.

This guy comes on and cries about Texas should be ahead of Cal, sob, whine, cry, ''who's Cal anyway?'', etc, and whatta-you-know several Big 12 coaches, among others, voting in the poll suddenly had Cal way down on their vote card, put Texas at #3, and Texas pulls ahead of Cal to #4 and goes to the Rose Bowl.


The AP refused to expose exactly which Big 12, Mack Brown cronies were the rats but did remove their poll from the BCS ranking.

Not only did Cal play their Holiday Bowl or whatever it was, they actually scheduled Texas a few years later.

Nothing like a little unchallenged fraud to turn a person sour on the whole thing.

Yeah, that Cal/Texas brouhaha was in 94.  Cal wined about not going to the Rose Bowl, then laid an egg in the Holiday against a very mediocre Texas Tech team.  Samething happened in 98 to Kansas St, they were #1 when they got beat late in the Big12 championship game against A&M.  Despite finishing #3 in the rankings,  they got shuffled off to the then relatively new Alamo Bowl where they lost to an average Purdue.

The players who are graduating or transferring can opt out of playing, but I'd think significant pressure could be brought to bear on scholarship players who plan to return next year to play in the Orange.  Remember, athletic scholarships are renewed each year, they can be pulled for upcoming seasons.  There is precedent (of sorts) for players refusing to play in a bowl game, although it was back in the "every bowl for itself" days.  In 1990, players on a number of teams refused to play the Fiesta Bowl because the state of Arizona was branded racist for refusing to make MLK's birthday a state holiday. They wound up finally getting Louisvile, then independent and viewed as a minor mid-major, and 7-4 Alabama.  Black players at Ala complained, but were made to go.  Ala lost with many of their players half-assing it.

[PB]

Yeah, that Cal/Texas brouhaha was in 94.  Cal wined about not going to the Rose Bowl, then laid an egg in the Holiday against a very mediocre Texas Tech team.  Samething happened in 98 to Kansas St, they were #1 when they got beat late in the Big12 championship game against A&M.  Despite finishing #3 in the rankings,  they got shuffled to then relatively new Alamo Bowl where they lost to Purdue.

The one I'm thinking of was 2004 season, Jan 2005 Rose Bowl. 

Yeah, they felt cheated, because they were - it was fraud on the part of several voters - and didn't play well.  Texas coach Brown was the whiner, not Cal.

I haven't gone to a game since, other than a free ticket to see what they did to the stadium on the remodel (they ruined it, another reason not to return).  I still get emails trying to sell me tickets though.  They can keep them.

[Uncle Duke]

The one I'm thinking of was 2004 season, Jan 2005 Rose Bowl. 

Yeah, they felt cheated, because they were - it was fraud on the part of several voters - and didn't play well.  Texas coach Brown was the whiner, not Cal.

I haven't gone to a game since, other than a free ticket to see what they did to the stadium on the remodel (they ruined it, another reason not to return).  I still get emails trying to sell me tickets though.  They can keep them.

Yes, my mistake.  I meant 04, not 94. I was at Cal's last game at Southern Miss, it had been postponed from earlier in the year due to a hurricane. Cal did not look impressive, with USM scoring what should have been the tying TD with little time left in the game. Cal blocked the PAT and returned for 2 pts to go up by three, then scored a garbage TD as time expired. Cal's QB was some guy named Rogers, don't know what became of him.

And yes, Cal whined after not being picked. Brown whined and advocated before the final poll/bowl selection.

[PB]

Florida St players opting out of their bowl game:

Defensive end Jared Verse

Defensive tackle Fabien Lovett

Running back Trey Benson

Receiver Johnny Wilson

Tight end Jaheim Bell


I wonder what the injury report will look like.


https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39149215/fsu-de-jared-verse-enter-nfl-draft-skip-orange-bowl

[JUAN]

That makes me question the coaching staff.  Nobody has opted out for Georgia except for the players who entered the portal (sNoory snickers).

[PB]

That makes me question the coaching staff...

They're going to have the flu.

[Zetaspeak]

I am not supporter of FSU heck I don't even like them but this whole ordeal bothered me a lot. They were a Top 4 team right until the end and they kept winning so how do you lose a Top four spot. The reasoning of their QB is hurt and won't be able to compete against the other teams is such BS and goes against all spirit in sport. You advance by winning, punishing a team because one player is hurt even though it's a team sport is absurd plus we see back up players step up and win games when their team is viewed as underdogs all the time, it just happened on Monday Night Football with a backup in the Seahawks defeating a top seeded team in the Eagles. With this philosophy from the NCAA football you will never witness a back upsetting the world which is always a great story in sports.

This decision really soured me on the whole bowl system this year and haven't watched one snap because of it

[PB]

I am not supporter of FSU heck I don't even like them but this whole ordeal bothered me a lot. They were a Top 4 team right until the end and they kept winning so how do you lose a Top four spot. The reasoning of their QB is hurt and won't be able to compete against the other teams is such BS and goes against all spirit in sport. You advance by winning, punishing a team because one player is hurt even though it's a team sport is absurd plus we see back up players step up and win games when their team is viewed as underdogs all the time, it just happened on Monday Night Football with a backup in the Seahawks defeating a top seeded team in the Eagles. With this philosophy from the NCAA football you will never witness a back upsetting the world which is always a great story in sports.

This decision really soured me on the whole bowl system this year and haven't watched one snap because of it

The teams are chosen by a committee.  Accountable to no one. 

They couldn't really keep undefeated Washington and Michigan out, and they wanted one-loss Texas and Alabama in for TV ratings, meaning dollars.  Simple as that.  It's corrupt and should be treated as such.

[Walks_At_Night]

FSU might explode the ACC.

[JUAN]

If you watched the ACC Championship game, it was clear FSU wasn't one of the 4 best teams.

[Uncle Duke]

FSU might explode the ACC.

As soon as the announcement was made that ESPN had fucked over FSU to ensure two B10 and two SEC teams made the playoffs, I told my football buddy that sealed the fate of the ACC. 

[JUAN]

The trouble is where would FSU go?  The SEC has no use for them. I'm told the only additions the SEC would make are Notre Dame and North Carolina. Tallahassee is a small media market and Florida covers the state.  They're not a high academic university like the B1G favors.  So, unless the B1G makes an exception, that leaves only the Big 12.

[PB]

The trouble is where would FSU go?  The SEC has no use for them. I'm told the only additions the SEC would make are Notre Dame and North Carolina. Tallahassee is a small media market and Florida covers the state.  They're not a high academic university like the B1G favors.  So, unless the B1G makes an exception, that leaves only the Big 12.

They may have to wait a bit, but conference realignment seems far from over.