College Football 2015

[Sea Ray]

There's nothing obvious about it. The SEC makes a living by beating up on Sun Belt, C-USA and FCS opponents. There's simply not enough data to say whether they're a better conference. They might be. They also might not be. From top to bottom I believe they're deeper than the Big Ten but they certainly don't appear to be any better at the top. Ohio State and Alabama are neck and neck the best teams in the country. Two through five, the Big Ten rates better than the SEC.

I'm not going to argue about which conference is better but if OSU and Alabama are neck and neck, why did Alabama dominate MSU and OSU lost their game vs the Spartans on both sides of the LOS?

[Sea Ray]

The team that will be favored to win it all was a 4th and 25 pick up by Arkansas away from not getting to be in the playoffs. The margins on this stuff are pretty small.

Shows how tough the SEC is. Ole Miss looked like world beaters tonight

[Sea Ray]

I've always said (in terms of non-BCS bowls) bowl results simply are a function of motivation. Some teams show up. Some don't. I don't judge teams too much based on the result of a bowl. (Some may argue otherwise) This is now being passed on to non-playoff bowl games. While a good team should show up for a bowl..fact is sometimes they just don't.

I'm with jojo. Give us a 16 team playoff. Make the games count.

I think Bowl season is the best time to judge a team. Admittedly there are issues but at Bowl time teams have had a chance to establish themselves; they've had a chance to get healthy; they get to get ready for one big game.

MSU showed up for a game that counted and they were totally outmanned.

[kaldaniels]

I'm not going to argue about which conference is better but if OSU and Alabama are neck and neck, why did Alabama dominate MSU and OSU lost their game vs the Spartans on both sides of the LOS?

Ole Miss beat Bama and got smoked by Memphis. In no way does that give any credence to a belief that Memphis>Bama.

The transitive property while pretty, really doesn't prove anything.

[Sea Ray]

Big year next year for Tennessee. Easy #2 team in the SEC headed into the season. Bama comes to Knoxville in October. Probably the Game of the Year.

Sure does. It's even conceivable that the loser of that game could get a second shot in the SEC championship game. Like the Bengals, UT will have to prove that they can win on the big stage

[Sea Ray]

Ole Miss beat Bama and got smoked by Memphis. In no way does that give any credence to a belief that Memphis>Bama.

The transitive property while pretty, really doesn't prove anything.

Anything can happen in the midst of a long season. There are let downs, trap games etc. But in a Bowl game those excuses aren't there. I think Ole Miss would be a tough out were there a 16 team playoff, as would Ohio St.

[Brutus]

Who is claiming a National Championship? If any OSU fan is they are wrong.

Kal you know better than to believe anyone has actually claimed that. That's just very poor deflection away from the actual topic by him, as usual.

Furthermore, responding to a point that isn't really relevant to anyone but needs corrected anyhow, jojo fails to grasp the difference between the system recognizing them as only the 'third best' team in the league, and having them third on the basis of merit. No one thinks Ohio State is only the third best in the Big Ten. Not even the committee actually believed that. Power ratings and Vegas has OSU as the first or second best team in the country. The only reason two Big Ten teams were ahead of them is because they lost one game on a last second field goal and didn't play for the conference title like the other two did.

[Brutus]

Just for the record, two of the SEC's top 5 won their Bowl games last yr, Georgia and Missouri. Did OSU's 7 pt win over Alabama qualify for "getting rolled"?

Did you watch Alabama-Ohio State? If you came away from that result thinking anything than Ohio State dominated that game, I don't think you watched. At one point, OSU literally was outgaining Bama in yardage 450-150. OSU spotted them a 21-6 lead because of a few mistakes early (to Bama's credit, they capitalized). But that game was a buttkicking plain and simple.

[Sea Ray]

Kal you know better than to believe anyone has actually claimed that. That's just very poor deflection away from the actual topic by him, as usual.

Furthermore, responding to a point that isn't really relevant to anyone but needs corrected anyhow, jojo fails to grasp the difference between the system recognizing them as only the 'third best' team in the league, and having them third on the basis of merit. No one thinks Ohio State is only the third best in the Big Ten. Not even the committee actually believed that. Power ratings and Vegas has OSU as the first or second best team in the country. The only reason two Big Ten teams were ahead of them is because they lost one game on a last second field goal and didn't play for the conference title like the other two did.

Going into these games today the committee and the AP poll had OSU as the third best Big Ten team. I agree with you that power rankings and Vegas are more reliable

[jojo]

Kal you know better than to believe anyone has actually claimed that. That's just very poor deflection away from the actual topic by him, as usual.

And as usual AS YOU ABSOLUTELY KNOW, I stated the relevant point plainly and in a very straightforward manner. The only deflection is in your reflection which frankly is in dire need of introspection.

But ya the argument that OSU is the first or second best team in the nation sounds just like another fan base that claims it's team has like 25,000 national championships no big shocker they are the two worst fan bases in the history of sport.

[Sea Ray]

Did you watch Alabama-Ohio State? If you came away from that result thinking anything than Ohio State dominated that game, I don't think you watched. At one point, OSU literally was outgaining Bama in yardage 450-150. OSU spotted them a 21-6 lead because of a few mistakes early (to Bama's credit, they capitalized). But that game was a buttkicking plain and simple.

I think OSU was the better team that day but that game did not compare to the blowouts we saw this yr. Alabama last yr didn't look like Iowa, NW or MSU did this yr

[Brutus]

Going into these games today the committee and the AP poll had OSU as the third best Big Ten team. I agree with you that power rankings and Vegas are more reliable

Yea but the polls have always leaned heavily to merit. Few voters actually rank teams simply based on who the best teams are. If they did, losing to a top-5 team shouldn't mean you drop automatically 3-7 spots, even if you're also a top-5 team. But that's how polls work.

[jojo]

The two teams that played in the big ten championship game were outscored in their bowl games to the tune of 83 to 16. At one point it was 73 to 0 until the Cardinal put in their three deeps. The two best teams in the big ten combined to rush for 77 yards on 64 carries in their two bowl games. And this was in a playoff game and the Rose Bowl (a big ten dream game) so there is no way anyone could argue that either team just wasn't motivated. There is no way that kind of performance can't impact the branding of the conference.

[Assembly Hall]

The two teams that played in the big ten championship game were outscored in their bowl games to the tune of 83 to 16. At one point it was 73 to 0 until the Cardinal put in their three deeps. The two best teams in the big ten combined to rush for 77 yards on 64 carries in their two bowl games. And this was in a playoff game and the Rose Bowl (a big ten dream game) so there is no way anyone could argue that either team just wasn't motivated. There is no way that kind of performance can't impact the branding of the conference.

No, the two best teams in the B1G won today. One of them crushing the second best team in the SEC.

[Assembly Hall]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jon-solomon/25434743/new-years-six-bowls-are-historically-boring-for-college-football

[GAC]

Is this a serious question? Four of them are blatantly obvious. Everyone agrees that Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Iowa are all clearly better than Northwestern. Every major power rating I've seen, including Sagarin you often use, has Wisconsin better than Northwestern (that's five teams better). And, to be perfectly honest, some power ratings even have Penn State and/or Nebraska better.

So yeah, it's pretty easy to say that Northwestern is probably (at best) only the fifth or sixth best team in the Big Ten. The point about them beating Stanford is that they're still a decent team, but they're not anywhere near among the best teams in the league. So using UT beating them as an argument for the SEC's dominance is pretty shaky.

The fact Florida played the second half of the season without their starting QB and became that bad of a team and still won the SEC East hurts your argument more than it helps.

Good post.

My life-long friend, and weekly golf buddy's nephew (Nick VanHoose) was the starting DB for the Wildcats. So I watched every game this year. Fitzgerald is a good coach. But all year, as I watched them, my assessment was... good defense, very erratic, inconsistent offense. They relied on their defense to keep them in the game (low-scoring), and give the offense a chance. If the defense "failed", then the offense just didn't have the ability to play catch-up. And while they won them, they played a lot of very close-knit games against very mediocre-to-poor teams.

But the Michigan and Iowa blow-outs told me everything I needed to know about Northwestern. I picked the Wildcats in our Bowl Game thread for two reasons.... playing the point spread (9), and out of loyalty to my friend and, yeah, I wanted them to win (LOL). But in my heart I knew they probably wouldn't. I felt NWn's only chance was if their defense stepped up and kept it a low scoring affair. They did a decent job going into the half, but when your offense can only manage 6 pts on two FGs, and your defense is always on the field, I knew they were in trouble.

And I said the same thing all year about Iowa too. Good team, but they should count themselves lucky that they didn't play either OSU or Michigan this year. ;)


The story of the New Years Bowls isn't about one team or conference. It's that there wasn't a close game in any one of them. I can't remember that ever being the case

As for all these blow-outs in the "major" bowl games? .... which we see every year .... I'll say the same thing I said last year ...... throw overall records out. Means nothing. It's all about MATCH-UPS. And IMO, I thought 'Bama and Stanford would put a hurtin' on MSU and Iowa.

[jojo]

No, the two best teams in the B1G won today. One of them crushing the second best team in the SEC.

If you're going to claim the second point, then you have to concede that your first point is false.... in other words, your attempt at snark validated the position stated in the text you referenced rather than refuted.

[RedsBaron]

No, the two best teams in the B1G won today. One of them crushing the second best team in the SEC.

The second best team in the SEC won yesterday, as Ole Miss crushed Oklahoma State.

[Sea Ray]

Word is getting around

http://collegespun.com/big-ten/michigan-state-big-ten/espn-analyst-says-both-tennessee-ole-miss-are-better-than-michigan-state

Well Booger's comments on Ole Miss and Tenn being better than Mich St proved to be quite prophetic. Kudos to him for going out on a limb and coming out dead on

[Sea Ray]

No, the two best teams in the B1G won today. One of them crushing the second best team in the SEC.

If you're going to use a criteria that points to FL being the 2nd best in the SEC then you ought to use the same criteria to determine second best in the Big ten. With that in mind, how is FL 2nd best in the SEC yet the 2 best teams in the Big Ten won yesterday?

[Sea Ray]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jon-solomon/25434743/new-years-six-bowls-are-historically-boring-for-college-football

They're going to have to get past records and go with the eye test. The eye test clearly said that FL, Iowa and NW were overrated. OSU should have been in the Rose and Tenn should have been in the Citrus to face Mich. FL and NW would have been an "interesting" matchup in the Outback

[Sea Ray]

They did a decent job going into the half, but when your offense can only manage 6 pts on two FGs, and your defense is always on the field, I knew they were in trouble.

Did you watch the game? My guess is you were mainly watching the OSU game. I don't blame you. That was by far the best game of the day. Seeing as I did see it all, Tenn had the game well in hand at halftime and NW kicked no FGs. They scored a TD and missed the extra pt

[Sea Ray]

If you're going to claim the second point, then you have to concede that your first point is false.... in other words, your attempt at snark validated the position stated in the text you referenced rather than refuted.

AH seriously thinks Indiana is a better football team than Tennessee

[jojo]

The Georgia - PSU game is unwatchable. Yuck. Spring games are more aesthetically pleasing. Literally, it's time for Congress to get involved. Could you imagine being in traction while this was on in your hospital room.. By the fourth quarter you'd be confessing to whatever the Man wanted to pin on you.

[Assembly Hall]

AH seriously thinks Indiana is a better football team than Tennessee

I do my best not to look through crimson or orange glasses.

[Assembly Hall]

The Georgia - PSU game is unwatchable. Yuck. Spring games are more aesthetically pleasing. Literally, it's time for Congress to get involved. Could you imagine being in traction while this was on in your hospital room.. By the fourth quarter you'd be confessing to whatever the Man wanted to pin on you.

LOL.........yeah it seems that maybe 1/2 the teams have their freakin' heads in the game.

[villain612]

Man, this Oregon/TCU game is par for the course

http://scontent-a.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/s306x306/e15/10932230_1556224071330647_517321996_n.jpg

[villain612]

Nevermind. This thing is getting interesting. Oregon hasn't done jack since Adams left the game.

[Tom Servo]

What a comeback by TCU. Brandon Finnegan has to love it.

[villain612]

Oregon has imploded this half. I'm taking TCU in the OT.

[BuckeyeRed27]

The Alamo is here to save us from this awful bowl season! Thank you college football gods.

[Slyder]

I just love when our D forgets how to tackle. There's no excuse for that play to go the distance.

[dabvu2498]

Root against Dabo if you wish. I will not be doing so.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/dabo-swinney-lived-with-his-mom-in-college-at-alabama-and-it-made-them-closer-210133548-ncaaf.html

[Assembly Hall]

Root against Dabo if you wish. I will not be doing so.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/dabo-swinney-lived-with-his-mom-in-college-at-alabama-and-it-made-them-closer-210133548-ncaaf.html

Good read.

[Sea Ray]

The Alamo is here to save us from this awful bowl season! Thank you college football gods.

And I missed it!

I saw the score in a couple bars and thought well I'm glad I'm missing that. And then went out to dinner. I was amazed to see on ESPN when I got home how the game ended. To think I've spent the rest of the weekend in my mancave and I chose this one night to get out...

[Sea Ray]

Interesting that all sub .500 teams that made it to Bowl games won, San Jose St, Minnesota and Nebraska.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/5-7-teams-go-3-0-bowl-games-nebraska-minnesota-san-jose-state-122915

[Assembly Hall]

Interesting that all sub .500 teams that made it to Bowl games won, San Jose St, Minnesota and Nebraska.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/5-7-teams-go-3-0-bowl-games-nebraska-minnesota-san-jose-state-122915

Nebraska is the one that had the toughest match-up. Damn, they got beat by Purdue, but beat Michigan St.

[villain612]

I'm really glad I watched the entire Oregon/TCU game. What a second half.

While Lockie wasn't playing too well, the Ducks' backup center was just as much of a problem. Lost count of how many bad snaps there were that caused them to lose yardage.

[Assembly Hall]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25435740/ranking-all-40-college-football-bowl-games-for-2015-16-from-worst-to-best

[*BaseClogger*]

Root against Dabo if you wish. I will not be doing so.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/dabo-swinney-lived-with-his-mom-in-college-at-alabama-and-it-made-them-closer-210133548-ncaaf.html

You mean ol' Soybean Wind?

[bucksfan2]

You mean ol' Soybean Wind?

Dabo spend about 10 minutes chewing out a punter on national TV because he made a mistake. I have a problem with that because that punter isn't going to try and make a play, however stupid it was, if it hadn't been practiced before. That really turned me off on ol' Soybean Wind.

On another note, can we quit giving Big Game Bob Stoops and Oklahoma the benefit of the doubt?

[WrongVerb]

Ever since the NCAA went to the later National Championship game, I just find myself not caring. That used to be a January 1st thing. Now it's a January 11th game? Meh.

I guess maybe there's travel reasons for it or something like that. But couldn't they do the playoff semi-final on or around Christmas, and the NC game on or around January 1st? Or am I just getting old and curmudgeonly?

Oh, and get off my lawn!

[Sea Ray]

Ever since the NCAA went to the later National Championship game, I just find myself not caring. That used to be a January 1st thing. Now it's a January 11th game? Meh.

I guess maybe there's travel reasons for it or something like that. But couldn't they do the playoff semi-final on or around Christmas, and the NC game on or around January 1st? Or am I just getting old and curmudgeonly?

Oh, and get off my lawn!

I like it 'cause it gives me something further to look forward to. NFL MNF is over at that point so it's very welcome in my world

[Assembly Hall]

Ever since the NCAA went to the later National Championship game, I just find myself not caring. That used to be a January 1st thing. Now it's a January 11th game? Meh.

I guess maybe there's travel reasons for it or something like that. But couldn't they do the playoff semi-final on or around Christmas, and the NC game on or around January 1st? Or am I just getting old and curmudgeonly?

Oh, and get off my lawn!

I am in your camp. And get off my lawn!!!!!!!

[BuckeyeRed27]

I like it 'cause it gives me something further to look forward to. NFL MNF is over at that point so it's very welcome in my world

I agree, I like it later. I think the semis before Christmas would get lost in the shuffle a bit. Although it is probably a better idea than the stupid idea of playing on NYE.

I will say that having it later does make it hard to go to the game. I would have loved to go to Dallas last year, but just couldn't swing it with work after just having time off for the holidays.

[jojo]

Ever since the NCAA went to the later National Championship game, I just find myself not caring. That used to be a January 1st thing. Now it's a January 11th game? Meh.

I guess maybe there's travel reasons for it or something like that. But couldn't they do the playoff semi-final on or around Christmas, and the NC game on or around January 1st? Or am I just getting old and curmudgeonly?

Oh, and get off my lawn!

College football is still going?

[cumberlandreds]

Ever since the NCAA went to the later National Championship game, I just find myself not caring. That used to be a January 1st thing. Now it's a January 11th game? Meh.

I guess maybe there's travel reasons for it or something like that. But couldn't they do the playoff semi-final on or around Christmas, and the NC game on or around January 1st? Or am I just getting old and curmudgeonly?

Oh, and get off my lawn!

What I don't like is that it is on a Monday night. Why can't this be on a Saturday night? Most college football is played on Saturdays. Why not the championship game? Since I am still in the working world I will have to DVR the game and watch later, if at all.

[jojo]

What I don't like is that it is on a Monday night. Why can't this be on a Saturday night? Most college football is played on Saturdays. Why not the championship game? Since I am still in the working world I will have to DVR the game and watch later, if at all.

Because the real national championship (the one with an actual playoff format) will be decided on Saturday.

[IslandRed]

What I don't like is that it is on a Monday night. Why can't this be on a Saturday night? Most college football is played on Saturdays. Why not the championship game? Since I am still in the working world I will have to DVR the game and watch later, if at all.

They'd have to redo the schedule. As long as they want to hold the semifinals around New Year's, playing on a weekend after that means going up against the NFL playoffs.

[Sea Ray]

What I don't like is that it is on a Monday night. Why can't this be on a Saturday night? Most college football is played on Saturdays. Why not the championship game? Since I am still in the working world I will have to DVR the game and watch later, if at all.

Because there are NFL playoff games on Sat night

[villain612]

Looks like former A&M QB Kyle Allen is going to transfer to Houston.

Herman is great with QB's. Houston is going to be dangerous as long as Herman is there.

[Chip R]

Because there are NFL playoff games on Sat night

There it is.

Having the semis on NYE is a puzzler. Obviously the 1st was out but why not Jan 2? There weren't any NFL games that day. I suppose it was because there were 4 bowl games that day. So why not have them on the 1st Monday in Jan? Since they have the championship game on Monday, they aren't worried about that. The 2016 season should be interesting. If they schedule the semis for NYE, it'll be in Saturday. From what I've seen the NYD bowl games will be on Sunday, Jan 2. That's in direct competition with the NFL games.

[Sea Ray]

There it is.

Having the semis on NYE is a puzzler. Obviously the 1st was out but why not Jan 2? There weren't any NFL games that day. I suppose it was because there were 4 bowl games that day. So why not have them on the 1st Monday in Jan? Since they have the championship game on Monday, they aren't worried about that. The 2016 season should be interesting. If they schedule the semis for NYE, it'll be in Saturday. From what I've seen the NYD bowl games will be on Sunday, Jan 2. That's in direct competition with the NFL games.

It's already been decided. The semis will be on NYE again next yr, then it will revert back to Jan 1. My guess is that the "New Year's Day" Bowls will be Jan 2nd next yr, leaving Jan 1 to the NFL. Jan 2 (Monday) will be the official holiday

[Sea Ray]

Here's the scoop:


Next season, the Fiesta and Peach bowls will host the semifinals on New Year's Eve, which falls on a Saturday. The semifinals are back in the Rose and Sugar bowls, and on New Year's Day, after the 2017 season.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/tv-ratings-years-bowls-13-percent-36057001

[Chip R]

It's already been decided. The semis will be on NYE again next yr, then it will revert back to Jan 1. My guess is that the "New Year's Day" Bowls will be Jan 2nd next yr, leaving Jan 1 to the NFL. Jan 2 (Monday) will be the official holiday

I thought I read somewhere that the NFL isn't going to change the days for those games.

Looks like I misunderstood what I read. It was Christmas Eve not NYE and Peter King said if history holds up, most of the games will be on Christmas Eve. Don't know what that means for NYE and NYD though.

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/04/nfl-coaches-fired-wild-card-schedule-week-17-peyton-manning

[Sea Ray]

I thought I read somewhere that the NFL isn't going to change the days for those games.

They're not. Jan 1 will be on Sunday next yr

[cumberlandreds]

It used to be that the Rose Bowl would not play their game on a Sunday. The Rose Parade has a lot of churches on its route and they would not have it on a Sunday and the game followed suit. I have no idea if this is still the case or not. But my guess is that the pros will play on Jan 1 and the bowl games will be on Jan 2nd. I figured the reason they won't play the championship game on a Saturday is because they fear the NFL. But IMO they are cutting their nose off to spite their face.

[Reds Fanatic]

The Rose Bowl is definitely on January 2nd next year.

This lists the days for all the playoffs and the other games for the next several years: http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/future-sites-and-schedules

[Sea Ray]

It used to be that the Rose Bowl would not play their game on a Sunday. The Rose Parade has a lot of churches on its route and they would not have it on a Sunday and the game followed suit. I have no idea if this is still the case or not. But my guess is that the pros will play on Jan 1 and the bowl games will be on Jan 2nd. I figured the reason they won't play the championship game on a Saturday is because they fear the NFL. But IMO they are cutting their nose off to spite their face.

The major Bowls will never be played on a Sunday due to competition from the NFL

[Assembly Hall]

Looks like former A&M QB Kyle Allen is going to transfer to Houston.

Herman is great with QB's. Houston is going to be dangerous as long as Herman is there.

I wonder how long he will be there?

[Assembly Hall]

IU signs HC Wilson to a 6 year extension.

[Boston Red]

And so the worst 8 months of the year begin...

[dabvu2498]

Over 1000.