2022-23 College Football Thread

[Moranis]

Coaches Poll came out today so figured it was a good time to start the new college football season thread.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings

Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia were the top 3 and only teams receiving 1st place votes.  Clemson and Notre Dame round out the top 5.

Ohio State and Notre Dame play the first week of the season so a 2 v. 5 matchup to start the year.  The Buckeyes are 14.5 point favorites, so either Notre Dame is overranked; Ohio State (and Bama and Georgia) are just in a class way above everyone else; or the odds makers are wrong and the game is much closer than that.  Should be an interesting first big game of the year either way.   

[Celtics2021]

Notre Dame is pretty overrated in my book.  Power to them if they beat Ohio State, but they shouldn't be the #5 team in the country to open the season.  They're 93rd in returning production according to Bill Connelly, and have a new, first-time head coach.  Doesn't make sense to me to open ahead of Michigan, which was a better team last year, has more returning production, and kept its head coach.  Cincinnati was 92nd in returning production, so the case is less strong there, but similar.

[Roy H.]

so either Notre Dame is overranked

Now there’s something that you never see.

[tazzmaniac]

There are only 2 or 3 dominant teams each season.  Bama, OSU and possibly Georgia should be the cream of the crop this season.  If things go well, Notre Dame might get a participation trophy for the playoffs.  They just don't have the skill players to compete against the really dominant teams.  Going to be really hard for ND to beat OSU on the road especially when Oregon did it last season.   

The other big games the 1st week are Oregon at Georgia and Cincinnati at Arkansas.  It'll be interesting to see how much dropoff there will be in Georgia's defense.  I expect Arkansas will run all over Cincinnati.

[Moranis]

As an alumni of Cincinnati I have no illusion that the last 2 years were a magical run that won't be repeated (at least not until they are in the Big 12, if that means anything then).  That said, Arkansas is not the same as Georgia or Alabama so if they beat the Razorback I wouldn't be terribly surprised.

[tazzmaniac]

As an alumni of Cincinnati I have no illusion that the last 2 years were a magical run that won't be repeated (at least not until they are in the Big 12, if that means anything then).  That said, Arkansas is not the same as Georgia or Alabama so if they beat the Razorback I wouldn't be terribly surprised.

They aren't the same but Arkansas has a much better running game than last year's Bama team which steam rolled Cincy on the ground. 

[Moranis]

Beginning next season the Big Ten will no longer be on ESPN.  The league has signed a 7 year contract with Fox, CBS, and NBC valued at around 7 billion, but the payouts increase each year so by the end of the contract all 16 of the schools will be getting 80-100 million a year.  That is why USC and UCLA are in the Big Ten.

[Moranis]

I thought this was interesting. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2022/09/02/most-popular-college-football-teams/7888658001/

Some pretty strange results, like Ohio State is the most searched team in Arizona.  Alabama has a massive reach all over the country including a bunch of states with other SEC teams.

[tazzmaniac]

I thought this was interesting. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2022/09/02/most-popular-college-football-teams/7888658001/

Some pretty strange results, like Ohio State is the most searched team in Arizona.  Alabama has a massive reach all over the country including a bunch of states with other SEC teams.

Be interesting to see the underlying data to see how much searching for college football teams is being done in each state.  I expect there is a lot more going on in the southern states and Ohio than elsewhere.  Didn't expect Bama to be leading in 15 states especially in 5 northeast states. 
Auburn and Tennessee being in the top 10 but Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M not being in the top 10 is strange.  As the story indicates, the top 10 consists of SEC teams and teams that have made the playoffs. 

[Donoghus]

Notre Dame down to #9. 

How the once mighty have fallen.

[tazzmaniac]

Notre Dame down to #9. 

How the once mighty have fallen.

They do well in tv viewership numbers which is why they're able to maintain their independence. 
I'm torn this weekend.  I'm not sure who I want to lose more ND or OSU. 

[Phantom255x]

Notre Dame down to #9. 

How the once mighty have fallen.

What do you mean? Aren't they #5?   

[tazzmaniac]

Season has started off strong.  Nebraska losing week 0 turned Scott Frost's hot seat into a flaming inferno. 

Had 2 good games go down to the wire last night.  No particularly interesting games tonight but several interesting games tomorrow (ND/OSU, Utah/Florida, Oregon/Georgia, Cincy/Arkansas) plus Fla St/LSU on Sunday and Georgia Tech/Clemson on Monday. 

Folks keep pushing for the expanded playoff but that would make these regular season games less interesting/less impactful. 

[Donoghus]

Notre Dame down to #9. 

How the once mighty have fallen.

What do you mean? Aren't they #5?   

Read the article posted.

[Donoghus]

Season has started off strong.  Nebraska losing week 0 turned Scott Frost's hot seat into a flaming inferno. 

Had 2 good games go down to the wire last night.  No particularly interesting games tonight but several interesting games tomorrow (ND/OSU, Utah/Florida, Oregon/Georgia, Cincy/Arkansas) plus Fla St/LSU on Sunday and Georgia Tech/Clemson on Monday. 

Folks keep pushing for the expanded playoff but that would make these regular season games less interesting/less impactful.

We're getting it per breaking news.

ESPN
@espn
·
2m
Breaking: The CFP Board of Managers has decided on a 12-team College Football Playoff, sources told
@PeteThamel
.

The 12-team model is expected to start in 2026, after the current contract, according to a source.