2024-25 College Football Season

[tazzmaniac]

Georgia and Texas take the top 2 spots deservingly and 6 SEC teams in the top 7 of the AP poll. 

[Phantom255x]

Boston College and NIU both ranked 24-25 

[Donoghus]

Georgia and Texas take the top 2 spots deservingly and 6 SEC teams in the top 7 of the AP poll.

I really hope they stay 1/2 thru October 19th.

Boston College and NIU both ranked 24-25 

Pretty awesome to see BC back in the top 25 after a 6 year hiatus.  Next two weeks will show a lot about this team.  @ Mizzou & vs. Michigan State.

I'm just happy to see the program have some buzz again.

[Roy H.]

Georgia and Texas take the top 2 spots deservingly and 6 SEC teams in the top 7 of the AP poll.

I really hope they stay 1/2 thru October 19th.

Boston College and NIU both ranked 24-25 

Pretty awesome to see BC back in the top 25 after a 6 year hiatus.  Next two weeks will show a lot about this team.  @ Mizzou & vs. Michigan State.

I'm just happy to see the program have some buzz again.

Yep.  My two allegiances are to Nebraska and BC.  There won't be any national championships in the near future, but they're both fun to watch for a change.

[tenn_smoothie]

Vols are rolling, scoring 120 points in their first two games, one an FCS team, but the other was against 24th ranked NC State.
But the real story with this team is the defense. Exceptional talent, experience and depth in the front 7. DB's are young, but athletic and talented.

I loved Coach Heupel's pointed comment at Monday's press conference and he is not a big talker at all.
"The standard at Tennessee is to be elite on defense. This is the home of Reggie White, Al Wilson, Eric Berry."

Yes Roy, I would like to see Nebraska get back to winning again. I tend to like the traditional powers.
Amazing that Scott Frost did not work out. It looked as close as you can get with coaching hires to be a sure thing. What went wrong there ?

These coaching hires are such a crap shoot. Vol fans were very lukewarm to negative when Josh Heupel was hired. I wanted Hugh Freeze.
But Heupel has been amazing in almost all areas and could be starting another era of top-10 football for Tennessee.

[Phantom255x]

Vols are rolling, scoring 120 points in their first two games, one an FCS team, but the other was against 24th ranked NC State.
But the real story with this team is the defense. Exceptional talent, experience and depth in the front 7. DB's are young, but athletic and talented.

I loved Coach Heupel's pointed comment at Monday's press conference and he is not a big talker at all.
"The standard at Tennessee is to be elite on defense. This is the home of Reggie White, Al Wilson, Eric Berry."

Yes Roy, I would like to see Nebraska get back to winning again. I tend to like the traditional powers.
Amazing that Scott Frost did not work out. It looked as close as you can get with coaching hires to be a sure thing. What went wrong there ?

These coaching hires are such a crap shoot. Vol fans were very lukewarm to negative when Josh Heupel was hired. I wanted Hugh Freeze.
But Heupel has been amazing in almost all areas and could be starting another era of top-10 football for Tennessee.

Feels like we're trending towards another epic Alabama-Tennessee game at Knoxville. I'm actually attending grad school in TN lol currently but the ticket prices are (expectedly) very high for some of their games

[tenn_smoothie]

Yep and that is part of what is going to keep eating away at college athletics - money and greed.
Just like in Boston, you are going to outprice the real fans in Knoxville, the people who have been loyal for years.
But I still love that "T" on the side of the helmet. Just like the Celts, I fell in love as a kid. It never leaves you.

I would be great to see Bama come to town with both teams undefeated and ranked in the top 10, like the old days from the 50's, 60's, 80's, 90's and early 2000's. Bear Bryant never beat the General and Fulmer won 7 in a row vs Bama. Love to see Heupel get on a run.

[Donoghus]

While everyone was sleeping, we had some more conference realignment overnight. 

Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ
. Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.

MWC will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees. The departing Mountain West schools must each pay a minimum of a $17 million exit fee, which the Pac-12 is expected to help offset, a source said. Also, the Pac-12 must pay the MWC a total of $43 million for poaching the 4 Mountain West schools as part of a scheduling agreement b/w the 2 conferences

[tazzmaniac]

While everyone was sleeping, we had some more conference realignment overnight. 

Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ
. Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.

MWC will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees. The departing Mountain West schools must each pay a minimum of a $17 million exit fee, which the Pac-12 is expected to help offset, a source said. Also, the Pac-12 must pay the MWC a total of $43 million for poaching the 4 Mountain West schools as part of a scheduling agreement b/w the 2 conferences

The first question is which two additional teams will be added to make the conference viable.  I'm assuming that they'll stick to teams in the West.  The 2nd question is if they do become viable will they be considered a Power conference or a Group of five conference?

[Roy H.]

While everyone was sleeping, we had some more conference realignment overnight. 

Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ
. Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.

MWC will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees. The departing Mountain West schools must each pay a minimum of a $17 million exit fee, which the Pac-12 is expected to help offset, a source said. Also, the Pac-12 must pay the MWC a total of $43 million for poaching the 4 Mountain West schools as part of a scheduling agreement b/w the 2 conferences

The first question is which two additional teams will be added to make the conference viable.  I'm assuming that they'll stick to teams in the West.  The 2nd question is if they do become viable will they be considered a Power conference or a Group of five conference?

I've seen UNLV, Tulane and Memphis floated.

[Donoghus]

While everyone was sleeping, we had some more conference realignment overnight. 

Brett McMurphy
@Brett_McMurphy
Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State & San Diego State leaving Mountain West to join Pac-12 in 2026, sources told
@ActionNetworkHQ
. Official announcement is expected Thursday morning, sources said. The MWC schools will join Oregon State & Washington State, but Pac-12 still needs 2 more schools to reach 8-school minimum to qualify as an FBS conference.

MWC will receive a total of $111 million in exit fees. The departing Mountain West schools must each pay a minimum of a $17 million exit fee, which the Pac-12 is expected to help offset, a source said. Also, the Pac-12 must pay the MWC a total of $43 million for poaching the 4 Mountain West schools as part of a scheduling agreement b/w the 2 conferences

The first question is which two additional teams will be added to make the conference viable.  I'm assuming that they'll stick to teams in the West.  The 2nd question is if they do become viable will they be considered a Power conference or a Group of five conference?

I've seen UNLV, Tulane and Memphis floated.

They should add Utah State & San Jose State for giggles.

[tazzmaniac]

The couple games on tonight aren't notable but tomorrow night UNLV at Kansas and a top 25 matchup Arizona at Kansas State look good. 

On Saturday:
Bama at Wisconsin:  I may regret this but this should be a lot easier Bama victory than USF last week. 

Okie State at Tulsa:  Okie State looked bad last week.  A Tulsa upset might be on tap. 

LSU at South Carolina: Is South Carolina good or was Kentucky just really bad last week?  If South Carolina wins, how much luster comes off USC's win over LSU?

Arkansas State at Michigan:  Could Michigan suffer a hangover loss from last week's drubbing by Texas? 

Memphis at Florida State:  Memphis winning and dropping FSU to 0-3 almost seems likely. 

Boston College at Missouri:  Top 25 battle. 

Oregon at Oregon State and Washington State at Washington:  Could the PAC-12 teams pull off upsets in their rivalry games?

Notre Dame at Purdue:  Two straight upsets for the Irish? 

Texas A&M at Florida:  Which SEC team is the most craptastic? 

Georgia at Kentucky:  Georgia will probably call off the Dawgs before this becomes Kentucky's worst loss in history but how is this only a 23.5 spread?

[tazzmaniac]

Arizona State at Texas State tied at 28 going into the 4th quarter. 

[tenn_smoothie]

Roy, I had no idea you were a Nebraska fan.
As I said, I tend to like the traditional powers (one reason I love the Celtics).

Do you know what went wrong with Scott Frost as coach ?
It looked like a sure thing hire.

Reminded me of when Tennessee brought Johnny Majors home as coach after he won the national title at Pitt in 1976.
One problem he ran into was the beginning of scholarship limits. It took him a lot longer to rebuild Tennessee than anticipated and the Vols were not at rock bottom by any means. Coach Majors finally got Tennessee back to national prominence with the 1985 "Sugar Vols" and he went on to win 3 SEC titles in 6 seasons. The University did not do right by him even though Fulmer took over in 1993 and had an incredible run through the 90's and early 2000's.

[Roy H.]

Roy, I had no idea you were a Nebraska fan.
As I said, I tend to like the traditional powers (one reason I love the Celtics).

Do you know what went wrong with Scott Frost as coach ?
It looked like a sure thing hire.

Reminded me of when Tennessee brought Johnny Majors home as coach after he won the national title at Pitt in 1976.
One problem he ran into was the beginning of scholarship limits. It took him a lot longer to rebuild Tennessee than anticipated and the Vols were not at rock bottom by any means. Coach Majors finally got Tennessee back to national prominence with the 1985 "Sugar Vols" and he went on to win 3 SEC titles in 6 seasons. The University did not do right by him even though Fulmer took over in 1993 and had an incredible run through the 90's and early 2000's.

There were lots of rumors.  Frost wasn't a grinder as a coach.  Allegedly, he'd show up late for meetings, didn't put in long hours, and wasn't prepared.  A lot of whispers are that he had a drinking problem. 

He was very much a player's coach, which led to a lack of accountability.  Nebraska fans speculate that his success at UCF was more of a perfect storm than a sign of great coaching.

That's the harsh view.  A softer view is that very few elite athletes want to play for a second or third-tier football that hasn't produced an NFL first rounder since 2011 (with no offensive first rounders since the 90s).