isn’t the stanford band known to have more “unique” performances compared to other bands (i.e. pushing the opposing fans buttons)?
2015-2016 NCAA Football: Bowls and Playoffs
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Yup. The spotted owl show theoretically got them banned from the state of Oregon in the early 90s.
The transformation of Stanford over the last ten years has been one of the best things about college football. I remember being at a wedding at a country club during the '07 USC-Stanford game, and ducking into the bar for the 4th quarter and barely comprehending what I was watching. Harbaugh and Shaw turned a former punching bag into a power. No bowls for 7 seasons, now, What is this, 5 top-tier bowls in 6 seasons? Enjoy the ride man.
Amazing what a couple of good coaches and the big conference TV money will do for a program. If I'm a smart kid and want to play football, I'd rather go to Stanford than ND, which is really the only other top 15 program that can offer the degree cache' Stanford can.
They weren't allowed to any road games this year after a performance last season, according to SI.
These bowls demonstrate that the big 12 and big 10 are overrated.
The four best teams seem to be clemson, Alabama, Stanford, and Ohio state. Too bad only 2 of the top 4 made the playoff.
The four best teams seem to be clemson, Alabama, Stanford, and Ohio state. Too bad only 2 of the top 4 made the playoff.
Off the record it had nothing to do with a performance and everything to do with some sort of in house discipline from the AD, is my limited understanding. And thanks, Infidel. It's definitely been the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I was literally arguing in 2007 that we should drop the pretense that we could compete with the Pac 12 and should just drop down to 1AA where the recruiting deck isn't so stacked against us.
Shows you what I know.
Shows you what I know.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. Are you lamenting the way the chips fell? Or are you actually saying that the committee screwed up and that Ohio State and Stanford should have been placed in the top 4?
I can't speak for him, but I think that the committee systematically is a slave to conference and "record irrespective of context" and as a result a team like Stanford this year gets left out when they are probably more deserving than say MSU, because Stanford lost too many times, while MSU had some dicey wins. I don't think the criticism is that the committee made a bad call, because they used the criteria they were told to use. I think that if you take into context the fact that MSU was a Dogman2 hair away from losing to Michigan (i.e., a game they totally deserved to lose) then yeah, Stanford was more deserving of the playoff bid.
I also think that you have to earn your way into the playoff, and Stanford blew it by losing to Oregon. But that's the existing rules, and I think those rules are stupid.
Exactly correct. The committee was fine; it's the system that's flawed. A fou r team playoff is a farce and not much of an improvement over the old BCS.
A playoff must have at least 8 teams to be worth a damn.
I'm not sure how you can say the Big Ten is overrated and then say that Ohio State should have been in there instead of Michigan State. I think that Ohio State is the better team, but things fell the way during the season to open the gates for Michigan State. The playoff is results based and State had the results. State was also the luckiest team in the country as far as results go.
EDIT: The way the results went this year led to the bad games.
EDIT: The way the results went this year led to the bad games.
He's pretty good man. Haven't seen the other guys enough to opine that he should have won, but he's pretty damn good.
I think they've got some work to do before they move to an 8 team playoff. Namely TV slotting and game sites. The Orange bowl capacity is 76K, the game box attendance was 67K and that seemed about right. Nearly all sections were full, but most had a bunch of spare seats littered throughout. I'm not sure about the Bama game. You can't ask fans to travel to 3 straight "bowl" games and expect good crowds. The ratings were down, and I would think you'd want a few years of New Years Eve v New Years Day ratings to analyze before you expanded the field to 8.
Every year there are bowl blow outs among top teams. There is questionable motivation, focus, etc regarding these kids, especially those thinking of turning pro. They're not playing for anything and have checked out by the time the bowl game arrives. Ohio State checked out all year after winning it last year, so I don't think you can point to a good bowl performance and assume they were a better choice than MSU or OU. Stanford lost to two teams who lost another 6 games. They needed a big game in September, not on New Years Day. Best two teams are playing for the title and the committee isn't going to fix what isn't broken, especially with unfilled stadiums and ratings issues.
But if they do got to 8, I expect the first round games to be at the home stadiums of the top 4 teams.
Every year there are bowl blow outs among top teams. There is questionable motivation, focus, etc regarding these kids, especially those thinking of turning pro. They're not playing for anything and have checked out by the time the bowl game arrives. Ohio State checked out all year after winning it last year, so I don't think you can point to a good bowl performance and assume they were a better choice than MSU or OU. Stanford lost to two teams who lost another 6 games. They needed a big game in September, not on New Years Day. Best two teams are playing for the title and the committee isn't going to fix what isn't broken, especially with unfilled stadiums and ratings issues.
But if they do got to 8, I expect the first round games to be at the home stadiums of the top 4 teams.
Have I mentioned how sick I am of Larry Culpepper?
Because I am really sick of Larry Fucking Culpepper.
Because I am really sick of Larry Fucking Culpepper.
I don't think the order would have been Henry, McCaffrey, Watson if you vote after the post season. I think Henry drops to third. He got a bunch of press for breaking the SEC rushing record in 13 games to Hershel's 11. Fournette had more yds/game but played 2 less games due to that storm. Watson and McCaffrey are better and its not even close.
Man, today's totally primed for games, but instead of playoff games on a saturday, the normal college football day, there's just a bunch of whatever games. I'd be livid if I was ESPN. the CFP organizers can't get out of their own way.
Yeah they would have killed it today. What was the rationale for playing on Thursday? If they played today they wouldn't have enough time before the championship game?
In principle it's understandable why they thought this would work, but the execution has been pretty awful. My guess is that they thought that having a bunch of games on the same day was cannibalizing viewership, and that stretching them out would produce better results for themselves. But in practice, it's too much and the fact that so many of the games have been non-competitive has turned off a lot of viewers. The playoff might produce a better result in the sense of the "right" team winning the championship, but it has sucked a lot of the excitement out of bowl season.
I thought the next likely step was to expand the playoffs to six teams, not eight - that would be enough to get the five conference champions in (if all are deserving, of course) plus one wild card, but giving the top two teams a bye to the semifinals would make the regular season more important than if you're only playing for seeding and an easier opponent.
I think it worked fine last year. This year, they served the main course before the appetizers, so yesterday and today people are like "meh", when, if these games were before the playoff games, they would be part of the buildup.
The rationale is that the Rose and Sugar signed $80 million/yr deals with ESPN for Jan 1, a year or so before the playoff was created. So they had to shoehorn the playoff around those deals. The Rose I get, it's always been in January, but the Sugar has been on NYE a few times, and NYE in New Orleans sounds like fun for fans. Besides the Rose there are two other slots on Jan 1, 1pm and 8:30pm, and those should just be the two playoff games. Or if Jan 2 is a Saturday or the observed holiday (like next year), play them on that day. Or just always make the Rose and Sugar playoff games. Or just make the Sugar a playoff game, and rotate the 1pm slot between Fiesta/Cotton/Peach/Orange, with that game or the Rose being the other playoff. There are a few options besides the one they are sticking with.
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I entirely agree that you can't ask fans to travel to three straight neutral site games in an 8 team tournament. This is a big concern, especially when that round of 8 game is likely to fall right around Christmas when everyone has other travel considerations. I think when the playoff someday expands we'll see games at home stadiums in the quarterfinal round, which would be a nice home field advantage for teams that have played their way into the top four. A tournament that transitions from home fields to a neutral site has worked out sort of ok for the NFL for a lot of years.
NFL scouts telling reporters (good friend is covering the PSU-Georgia game) they're ignoring Hackenberg's games under James Franklin, say Frankin can't develop a QB and hurts them more than helps. They aren't even watching tape under Franklin. Wow.
Last year was the perfect storm. You had a heel (Winston) on a team with a long winning streak, the most exciting team in football (Oregon) and two long time national powers (Bama and Ohio State) with the two most well known coaches in college football. You also had the TCU/Baylor outrage that sparked a lot of conversation.
This season was relatively dull with very little movement in the Top 4. The # 1 team was an underdog to the biggest freaking big game choker of my generation in college football and Michigan State is quite frankly not a compelling team for the country. There was not nearly as much hype going into it as last year. The NYE vs. NYD difference didn't help matters, but I think if you had last year's script, then the games would have done strong ratings, although probably a little down from last year.
This season was relatively dull with very little movement in the Top 4. The # 1 team was an underdog to the biggest freaking big game choker of my generation in college football and Michigan State is quite frankly not a compelling team for the country. There was not nearly as much hype going into it as last year. The NYE vs. NYD difference didn't help matters, but I think if you had last year's script, then the games would have done strong ratings, although probably a little down from last year.
He also can't develop an offensive line. How Herb Hand has survived baffles me. He is very good on Twitter!
My family is a perfect example. We've got season tickets and a son at Clemson. So everyone wanted to go to the Orange Bowl....drove to Florida and took a 4 day vacation wrapped around the Clemson game. Spent the normal amount of money we would on a vacation, so this trip was in the budget. We were doing something over winter break regardless.
Fast forward to 8pm on NY Eve. What the fuck are 'we' doing. Spent a good bit of time talking to other families we know to see who is going. Seeing if my son could tag along on a trip with a buddy and another dad. No one is ready to pull the trigger. So I didn't want to wait and booked plane tickets last night for the two of us. There wasn't any talk about all 4 going for a few reasons (money related and other reasons). I've got money to do this, but its not really money I was planning on spending. I can't imagine if you win this one and you've got another game to consider.
The saving grace for this second trip is the cheaper airfare was in/out of Vegas. So hotels under $50 and $10/day rental cars takes the sting away.
One thing about March Madness is even if you go to all your teams games. It's three weekend trips, but I don't know anyone who has followed a BB team that way. If you're Duke/UNC/UK, you can pretty much ignore the first weekend and feel safe you're advancing. Can't do that with the football playoff. If you say, screw it, we'll go to the final game if we win, there's a good chance you don't make it. Football is more of an unknown. If you make it 8 teams its even more of an unknown and attendance will be effected.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jon-solomon/25434743/college-footballs-new-years-six-bowls-continue-to-disappoint
tl;dr overall ratings down 13%, non-playoff games up 26%, playoff games down ~35%
No real problem with it. I get it for TV reasons. Pats have a bye and I work for myself, so no real issues. I think the semi game schedule was a mistake. And that's the committee not ESPN, they controlled the schedule.
Penn State makes a stand. Georgia goes for it on 4th and 2 on the 25 because their kicker was hurt. And the play doesn't even come close.
Penn State with the ball on the 25 with 2 minutes left.
Penn State with the ball on the 25 with 2 minutes left.
Thanks.
Houston will draft Hackenberg. Penn State fans better pray Moorehead is a miracle worker.
Houston will draft Hackenberg. Penn State fans better pray Moorehead is a miracle worker.
Arkansas WR stretchered off after helmet to helmet collision. He had become a runner for several yards and ducked his head as the defender delivered the hit. His head also hit the turf with some force.
They took a lot of time bracing his neck and back and he didn't show a thumbs up as they carted him off. Scary.
They took a lot of time bracing his neck and back and he didn't show a thumbs up as they carted him off. Scary.
-116 point differential in 5+ games so far. Wow. Big 12 is a joke.
Any chance Oregon blows this? Lockie is a very mediocre QB and the weak Oregon defense has been on the field the entire second half.
Brenner is having a horrible game. Almost every other snap the QB has to bend down to get the snap in the Shotgun. Just cost Oregon a TD as Lockie had to go on one knee to field the snap and got up and fired a strike that would have gone all the way.
At least Barret Robbins had the decency to flee to Mexico pregame when the pressure of a big game was too much for him to handle.