College football kinda sucks now
We’re stuck between a 4 team “playoff” (lol) and 38 other bowls that have been rendered meaningless to many.
These bowls feature watered down versions of teams that most likely won’t be motivated to play as the common theme in bowls is now having one team that doesn’t care.
The ticket prices for watered down teams and games certainly don’t reflect it.
We have Clemson-Alabama XLVII for the national title game with ticket prices
Conference title games are broken and just money grabs at this point to watch a superior team kill an inferior one because divisions are unbalanced.
Commercials.
How/will this be fixed or is the sport just gonna continue to get worse? Is the next step guys sitting out against WMU and SMU to avoid injury in a bodybag game?
January 2nd, 2019 at 8:54 AM ^
Common theme in bowls is now having one team that doesn't care.
Don't tell that to half the users here who think the outcome of the Peach Bowl is totally reflective of how good this team was all year and next year.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
Guilty.
I don't care about the Peach Bowl per se. I viewed it as sort of a pre-Spring Game with 1s versus 1s, to get a feel for how the team was going to look next year.
Unfortunately, it was a really sucky pre-Spring Game, so I'm grumpy about that.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
Yeah the problem is Florida didn't get the memo, and they actually showed up to play with their current 1s. Oh well.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:04 AM ^
....and all their upcoming nfl draftees decided to play rather than sit out - the nerve of them - as well as their team captains!!!
In the future, our AD needs to make sure the other team gets the memo.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^
argh. the "florida showed up and we didn't" thing is so, so dumb. we were down 3 at the half to a talented team. you want to complain about not showing up at halftime, fine, but even then...we stuffed florida inside the 15 and moved the ball coming back down after halftime - things turned to crap on the (very bad) patterson pick and long return.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
Being down Bush and Gary on D and then losing Dwumfour and Gill in the first half to injury makes it really tough to compete with a team like Florida.
January 2nd, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
None of that explains why our offense is so bad. That is the biggest thing people are complaining about.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
I haven’t watched a single college football game post the Ohio State Game (including the CFB playoffs, the Rose Bowl and the Peach Bowl). I just don’t care right now...I am tired of seeing Ohio State beat Michigan, and Alabama beat everyone else. Unless your team is in the playoffs, the Bowl Games have become glorified practices for the following season and are meaningless with so many great players sitting out. Looking forward to BIG Basketball.
January 2nd, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
I noticed that it really did not seem like a lot of players were sitting out bowls this year nationwide.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:07 AM ^
I have the Ohio State game for that....
Lno worries.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:07 AM ^
The Peach Bowl was meaningful due to it showing yet again that we making the same repeatable mistakes on both sides of the ball that lost us the ND and OSU games. No tempo on offense, horrific playing calling, and the inability to adjust away from a pressure man defense when the offense is exploiting you with drag routes.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:54 AM ^
Tempo is slow or fast.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
Good one! Be sure to drop in your expert clarification next time somebody says we need more "speed" or we don't have enough "size".
Or maybe just don't do that at all because everybody knows what is implied and you're just creating unnecessary conflict by being a pedant.
January 2nd, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
At the invocation of the word "pedant," I feel this picture is obligatory:
January 2nd, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
I mean, I was just being factual. Saying "we need a tempo offense" implies there is no offense being run at all. There is downtempo and up-tempo.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
Lol. Yeah they’re like, FIRE PEP, and harbaugh.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:26 AM ^
The Peach Bowl was a referendum on our coaches, not our players. And our coaches failed.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
True, but it is also very concerning when team captains opt not to play.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:41 AM ^
Call me old-fashioned, but this was the only thing that bothered me about players sitting. As a team captain, you lead by example or by words, depending on your style. When you choose to sit out a game, you send a message to at least some of your teammates, whether you intended to or not, that this fight isn't worth it. Maybe I'm wrong about our team, but if my team captain decided a game wasn't worth it, that would affect my mentality going into a game.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Remember when everyone thought Meyer was an awful person because Bosa sat out the season and didn't even try to come back, or even rehab at OSU? Having a bunch of players sit out the game gives the same sort of negative message.
January 2nd, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
I think once the all the team goals went down the drain in Columbus, the whole team - coaches and players - kind of packed it in for the season. They would never admit it, but the play on the field gave the appearance they did not prepare very well during those 15 extra practices.
January 3rd, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
if that's the case we need to fire them all and start over. Who is to say they won't pack it in next season too?
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:31 AM ^
Not caring is both a symptom and a cause.
You can say that the team got blown out of the Peach Bowl because they did not care, but it is crazy, and notably troubling for our fan base, that saying so would make anybody feel better.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
When it was 28-7 last night, the announcers were saying that Georgia came in flat. They suggested that the loss to Alabama and dropping out of the Playoff made the Sugar Bowl meaningless.
Auburn played like crap in last year's Peach Bowl after a disappointing season (mention this one only because I was there). It happens - teams sometimes don't "show up" and there is nothing fans can do about it.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:58 AM ^
It makes sense.
I think that if you spend most of the season within the playoff picture (Michigan/Georgia), to fall out of it is a huge blow to your motivation.
Meanwhile, its probably easier to get motivated when it feels like you're moving up (Texas, Florida) or have a different motivation (Urban's last game, Rose Bowl is traditionally a bigger game than the Peach Bowl, etc.).
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
Georgia is part of the "in-crowd." They sit at the cool table with all the hot girls. Michigan is not at that table. Georgia can come out flat all they want and it won't have any impact on the perception of their program and future playoff consideration or their recruiting. Georgia and Michigan hold different places in the college football pecking order.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
Except that Michigan could be at the cool table if we would just stop wearing the Groucho Marx nose and glasses everywhere.
We're the only ones that think it's a good idea.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
Good point brutus.
I was talking with my dad last night during the Sugar bowl. We can watch that and be like, "Georgia is not motivated and Texas is playing like they care." But Georgia fans are probably in their own BPONE: losing to Bama isn't an excuse, can't win the big one, Fromm isn't the guy, why can't we get Mecole Hardman the ball in space, etc.
The beauty of college football is that it's a frame where it's normal and (sometimes) fun to be irrational.
January 2nd, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^
Speaking of themes, I'm jumping the line to leave this here and to remind WD et al why this OP is such an awful take:
January 2nd, 2019 at 8:56 AM ^
We need an 8 team playoff. All P5 conferences need at least 12 teams with a playoff game between the two top teams (no divisions and rotating schedules for fairness). P5 conferences get an automatic playoff bid and the remaining 3 bids are at large. The remaining 8-9 win teams get a bowl game, but no 7-win team bowl games because well, no one cares.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:24 AM ^
I disagree, who wants to watch Michigan vs Clemson? They couldn’t handle Florida l, Clemson would have moped the floor with Michigan. Both semifinals were 14 point spreads with Norte dame getting late action to drop it to 10. I don’t know where this theory came from that if you add more teams it’ll make the product better, it won’t.
Id like it to go back to bcs style days but maybe have the commitee have a say in the NC game, get rid of the 6 win team bowl games.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:38 AM ^
This would lead to the same 4 teams and 4 other random teams. Sure UM may get in every now and then as would MSU, but 95% of the time it'll be OSU. So you can book OSU, Clemson, OU, and Bama. Pac12 is the only one that doesn't really have a stand out team that just owns the conference. All you're doing is prolonging the Bama vs Clemson game an extra week or two. What needs to happen is to find a way to bring parity to the league. Short of the league telling kids where they can go, that won't happen. An 8 team playoff, while it would give us a better chance of getting in, really doesn't solve anything.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:07 AM ^
At this point, the only way to bring parity to college football is for the NCAA to lower the number of scholarships from 85. It would prevent teams like Alabama from having all of the best talent and would disperse it throughout other teams.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
A) or revoke the Harbaugh rule on recruiting and allow the Northern Schools more access to the blue chips around the country.
Parity on the field starts with parity with recruiting. All we ask is for a level playing field, the rules as they stand now benefit the SEC/ACC and it is showing. *
Why do you think those two conferences were the two most adamant about the the rule?
B) Increase to 7 games needed to be in bowl game
C) Cost of tickets and amount of commercials need to be put in check
* HOT TAKE: The SEC with it's proximity to Blue Chips and their much lower academic standards (on average) is becoming the De Facto pre-NFL League for those that do not want to play school and are most interested in reaching the Pros. Oklahoma, Florida State and perhaps Clemson can be lumped in there are well.
January 2nd, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
Stop. The kids playing for Michigan don’t play school either, just give it a rest. And OSU has no problem recruiting elite talent from out West or SEC country and competing for the CFP. If you want to win, then stop recruiting TEs and FBs.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
Except this is CFB where strange upsets can happen in any game. Sometimes all it takes is a key injury (especially QB) and suddenly a team looks mortal. Except Bama, who apparently has 2 QBs that can light anyone up.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:02 AM ^
Using the Florida game as a point of reference for performance against Clemson in an 8 team playoff isn't fair. If it was truly a playoff game, we would have been at full strength with starters and the team would have been far more competitive/interested in that game. I'm not saying Clemson wouldn't have destroyed us but don't use the Florida game.
Two things would still be true though, the offensive play calling would still be shit and Don Brown would get exposed again.
January 2nd, 2019 at 10:03 AM ^
Maybe if we were playing Clemson in the first round of an 8 team playoff half the damn senior class wouldn't have sat out the game? Maybe the coaches would have had a better game plan if the game meant something?
But probably not. I'm waiting to see players start sitting out the OSU game, since guys are almost always injured on both teams in that game.
January 2nd, 2019 at 11:38 AM ^
Right now it's pretty obvious we don't need more playoff games to give us the same outcome. If anything scrap divisions, add a regular season game for everyone and get rid of the conference championship games. We already have unbalanced divisions so we'll have at least one extra game. I would rather see the BCS back honestly.
January 3rd, 2019 at 12:10 AM ^
I agree with expanding the playoff to 8 teams. I think Michigan plays a much more inspired game being in the playoff than playing in the Peach Bowl. I also think all the guys that sat out the Peach Bowl and could play, would've played in the playoff. And it would've peaked interest within the Michigan fanbase far beyond anything the Peach Bowl could do. Win or lose, in the end, this is what it's really all about. Fan engagement = more money especially when you're including the heavy hitters such as Michigan, OSU and UGA.
January 3rd, 2019 at 8:14 AM ^
They didn’t show up for OSU what makes you think they would show up for the playoff? Honestly i just don’t get it.
January 2nd, 2019 at 8:57 AM ^
It won't be fixed as long as money is to be made with the present format. And money is being made with the present format.
Those in charge of all this don't care about the long-term health of college football. They are focusing on near-term revenue maximization.
We're headed for a 'super conference' alignment of perhaps 12 to 16 teams, and a mix of everyone else. I fully expect programs to start dropping football as a sport in the next 10 years.
I wish I could say I'm being overly cynical, but I don't think I am.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
The bottom half of the bowl schedule is crappy TV filler. The stadiums are three quarters empty, it costs the schools to be there and ratings blow. Dump the games. I bet ESPN could attract more viewers with poker tourneys.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:39 AM ^
They'll only change it when they stop making money which is why I did not watch any of the games. As soon as they see plunging ratings they'll try some fix which will likely be an expanded playoff. If you want it faster, don't watch Clemson Bama, that's the only way you can get the message to them.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
They will make boatloads of money without me, but I couldn't give less of a damn what happens on January 7th and will not watch.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:04 AM ^
Not ragging on you at all, but what makes you think programs will start dropping football?
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:12 AM ^
High schools are starting to drop it. That will bubble up to colleges.
No, Alabama is not going to drop it. But it will start with DIII and DII schools with little football tradition and start working its way up.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:54 AM ^
I think it was the driving force behind the modern Big East Conference. A group of basketball schools without the $ or interest to participate in the football arms race decided not to do it.
They just happened to own the name Big East Conference and didn't getbswallowed by the AAC.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:29 AM ^
It's an expensive sport to run; it's a sport prone to injuries; fewer and fewer kids are interested in playing the game; general interest in the game is dropping as evidenced by attendance and ratings.
For the lower-tier programs it all adds up to "Why am I still doing this?"
Answer (for now): "Because we always have." That model has its limits.
January 2nd, 2019 at 9:42 AM ^
Again, good take. I wonder if video games have played a subtle but important (as in horrible) role. Fortnite (?) is the rage. I can care less about video games, much rather go out and hoop or hike etc. Seems like teenagers much rather game it all night? Hope 'merica keeps its mojo and keeps sweating/bleeding on the gridiron/court/ballpark. God forbid if we go the way of japan here.
I'll be at Arby's then.