2024-25 College Football Season

[Roy H.]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season 

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

[tazzmaniac]

In my starvation for college football, I will now be watching Montana State at New Mexico.  Two teams that I know nothing about other than the state they are from.

Another good game.  Montana State gets a 93yd run with 4:30 left, gets a stop and then has 2min 89yd drive to win the game 35-31. 

[mobilija]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season 

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

Yeah, college teams have a handful of teams they schedule several years in advance and then must play the teams in their conference. But, like the Celtics play off run, they have zero control over how good the teams they play will be. They can?t control what a team they schedule is going to look like several years in the future and until recently were stuck playing in conference with no control over the quality.

So, just like I think it?s foolish for people to diminish the Celtics championship because of its cake walk nature, it?s foolish to punish a college football team for a cake walk schedule that is largely out of their control. If you don?t reward a team for going undefeated then you?re just playing the games on paper. Might as well just have computer simulated championships, it would be just as fair.

Every team can?t put Bama and Ohio St on their schedule every year.

Hopefully, the argument is moot now?most of the premier teams have joined super conferences and the playoffs is 12 teams.

[mobilija]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season 

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

Wait! How did you get the dot dot dot after your comment!?!?
I still get question marks with xtracuurricular punctuation.

[tenn_smoothie]

It's Football Time in Tennessee !!!!

[tazzmaniac]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season 

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

Yeah, college teams have a handful of teams they schedule several years in advance and then must play the teams in their conference. But, like the Celtics play off run, they have zero control over how good the teams they play will be. They can?t control what a team they schedule is going to look like several years in the future and until recently were stuck playing in conference with no control over the quality.

So, just like I think it?s foolish for people to diminish the Celtics championship because of its cake walk nature, it?s foolish to punish a college football team for a cake walk schedule that is largely out of their control. If you don?t reward a team for going undefeated then you?re just playing the games on paper. Might as well just have computer simulated championships, it would be just as fair.

Every team can?t put Bama and Ohio St on their schedule every year.

Hopefully, the argument is moot now?most of the premier teams have joined super conferences and the playoffs is 12 teams.

The playoffs were about picking the 4 best teams not rewarding teams that go undefeated.  The FSU team was not one of the 4 best teams with Jordan Travis.  After he went down, they weren't even a top 25 team as the last few games clearly showed. 

The basketball tournament committee selection process does take into account strength of schedule and it does take into account player injuries. 

[mobilija]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season 

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

Yeah, college teams have a handful of teams they schedule several years in advance and then must play the teams in their conference. But, like the Celtics play off run, they have zero control over how good the teams they play will be. They can?t control what a team they schedule is going to look like several years in the future and until recently were stuck playing in conference with no control over the quality.

So, just like I think it?s foolish for people to diminish the Celtics championship because of its cake walk nature, it?s foolish to punish a college football team for a cake walk schedule that is largely out of their control. If you don?t reward a team for going undefeated then you?re just playing the games on paper. Might as well just have computer simulated championships, it would be just as fair.

Every team can?t put Bama and Ohio St on their schedule every year.

Hopefully, the argument is moot now?most of the premier teams have joined super conferences and the playoffs is 12 teams.

The playoffs were about picking the 4 best teams not rewarding teams that go undefeated.  The FSU team was not one of the 4 best teams with Jordan Travis.  After he went down, they weren't even a top 25 team as the last few games clearly showed. 

The basketball tournament committee selection process does take into account strength of schedule and it does take into account player injuries.

On paper.

You care and know a lot more about college football than me, so I trust you, and the committee for that matter, that you can unequivocally say that FSU would have gotten handled easily in the playoffs. I just think it?s shameful that a team can win it?s a conference (prolly a historically top 6 conference?) and go undefeated but not be rewarded with a shot at the national championship. The system basically guaranteed that 2 or 3 of the same 8 teams always get in. There are over 200 college football teams, with the previous system in place, it was basically impossible for 150 maybe 175 of those teams to compete for a championship. I find it to be an anti-competitive system, one designed for viewership and dollar chasing. I don?t think that?s what college sports should be.

College basketball has surprise underdogs going far and winning all the time, so that hardly reinforces the pro-committee stance.

[tazzmaniac]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season 

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

Yeah, college teams have a handful of teams they schedule several years in advance and then must play the teams in their conference. But, like the Celtics play off run, they have zero control over how good the teams they play will be. They can?t control what a team they schedule is going to look like several years in the future and until recently were stuck playing in conference with no control over the quality.

So, just like I think it?s foolish for people to diminish the Celtics championship because of its cake walk nature, it?s foolish to punish a college football team for a cake walk schedule that is largely out of their control. If you don?t reward a team for going undefeated then you?re just playing the games on paper. Might as well just have computer simulated championships, it would be just as fair.

Every team can?t put Bama and Ohio St on their schedule every year.

Hopefully, the argument is moot now?most of the premier teams have joined super conferences and the playoffs is 12 teams.

The playoffs were about picking the 4 best teams not rewarding teams that go undefeated.  The FSU team was not one of the 4 best teams with Jordan Travis.  After he went down, they weren't even a top 25 team as the last few games clearly showed. 

The basketball tournament committee selection process does take into account strength of schedule and it does take into account player injuries.

On paper.

You care and know a lot more about college football than me, so I trust you, and the committee for that matter, that you can unequivocally say that FSU would have gotten handled easily in the playoffs. I just think it?s shameful that a team can win it?s a conference (prolly a historically top 6 conference?) and go undefeated but not be rewarded with a shot at the national championship. The system basically guaranteed that 2 or 3 of the same 8 teams always get in. There are over 200 college football teams, with the previous system in place, it was basically impossible for 150 maybe 175 of those teams to compete for a championship. I find it to be an anti-competitive system, one designed for viewership and dollar chasing. I don?t think that?s what college sports should be.

College basketball has surprise underdogs going far and winning all the time, so that hardly reinforces the pro-committee stance.

Hate to break it to you but the NBA and NFL are all about viewership and money too.  College football isn't the NFL.  College football teams play at vastly different levels.  Vanderbilt is in the SEC with Bama and Georgia.  In their 121-year history, Vanderbilt has never won 10 games in a season.  James Franklin pulled off a minor miracle getting them back-to-back 9-win seasons which landed him the Penn State job. 

Last season there were 133 FBS college football teams and only 68 were Power5 teams.  While FBS teams do play lower-level FCS teams in the regular season, the FCS teams have their own playoffs.  There are lower levels than FCS which have their own playoffs too.  What needs to happen is for the G5 and Power5 to have their own separate playoffs. 

The talent disparity level in college football is huge even amongst power 5 schools.  That's what keeps teams from competing not lack of opportunity.  When you only 4 teams make the playoffs, it ought to be the 4 best teams.  Now if you want to open up the playoffs to all the teams okay but I don't enjoy watching blood baths unless it is Bama committing them. 

As for FSU last season, their last 2 regular season games without Travis clearly showed they weren't top 4 quality at that point.  In the bowl game, they were without Travis and a bunch of opt outs but even so losing to Georgia 63-3 was an embarrassment. 

Edit - Okay I confess.  I did enjoy the Georgia-FSU bloodbath after all the FSU whining about not making the playoffs.   

[mobilija]

Great game so far, Georgia Tech is really outmuscling Florida State. Now driving for what could be the game-winning score.

And there it is! Georgia Tech UPSETS #10 Florida State. What a start to NCAAF season

Never liked Florida State although they are better than Miami.  Glad to see them go down after all their complaining about missing the playoffs last season.  If this had happened in a 4-team playoff season, they'd already be pretty much dead for making the playoffs.  Now they still have some chance albeit a difficult one.

I'll be honest, I did think Florida State got screwed last season. Even if their starting QB got hurt, what kind of message is that to the whole team who went undefeated and did their jobs.

But it's a new season. I think there's gonna be a lot of excitement especially with some of the conference realignments and such. It's still gonna be so weird seeing SEC games NOT on CBS this season among other things.

FSU went undefeated because they played an easy schedule compared to the other teams.  I think their SOS was something like 57 while both Bama and Texas were top 5-ish.  Put Bama or Texas against the FSU schedule and they would have gone undefeated too.  The #2 ACC team Louisville lost to the 8th or 9th best SEC team in the regular season. Teams shouldn't be rewarded for playing weak schedules.

Like the Celtics?

Well, the Celtics play every team in the NBA and have no role in the selection of who they play, so...

Yeah, college teams have a handful of teams they schedule several years in advance and then must play the teams in their conference. But, like the Celtics play off run, they have zero control over how good the teams they play will be. They can?t control what a team they schedule is going to look like several years in the future and until recently were stuck playing in conference with no control over the quality.

So, just like I think it?s foolish for people to diminish the Celtics championship because of its cake walk nature, it?s foolish to punish a college football team for a cake walk schedule that is largely out of their control. If you don?t reward a team for going undefeated then you?re just playing the games on paper. Might as well just have computer simulated championships, it would be just as fair.

Every team can?t put Bama and Ohio St on their schedule every year.

Hopefully, the argument is moot now?most of the premier teams have joined super conferences and the playoffs is 12 teams.

The playoffs were about picking the 4 best teams not rewarding teams that go undefeated.  The FSU team was not one of the 4 best teams with Jordan Travis.  After he went down, they weren't even a top 25 team as the last few games clearly showed. 

The basketball tournament committee selection process does take into account strength of schedule and it does take into account player injuries.

On paper.

You care and know a lot more about college football than me, so I trust you, and the committee for that matter, that you can unequivocally say that FSU would have gotten handled easily in the playoffs. I just think it?s shameful that a team can win it?s a conference (prolly a historically top 6 conference?) and go undefeated but not be rewarded with a shot at the national championship. The system basically guaranteed that 2 or 3 of the same 8 teams always get in. There are over 200 college football teams, with the previous system in place, it was basically impossible for 150 maybe 175 of those teams to compete for a championship. I find it to be an anti-competitive system, one designed for viewership and dollar chasing. I don?t think that?s what college sports should be.

College basketball has surprise underdogs going far and winning all the time, so that hardly reinforces the pro-committee stance.

Hate to break it to you but the NBA and NFL are all about viewership and money too.  College football isn't the NFL.  College football teams play at vastly different levels.  Vanderbilt is in the SEC with Bama and Georgia.  In their 121-year history, Vanderbilt has never won 10 games in a season.  James Franklin pulled off a minor miracle getting them back-to-back 9-win seasons which landed him the Penn State job. 

Last season there were 133 FBS college football teams and only 68 were Power5 teams.  While FBS teams do play lower-level FCS teams in the regular season, the FCS teams have their own playoffs.  There are lower levels than FCS which have their own playoffs too.  What needs to happen is for the G5 and Power5 to have their own separate playoffs. 

The talent disparity level in college football is huge even amongst power 5 schools.  That's what keeps teams from competing not lack of opportunity.  When you only 4 teams make the playoffs, it ought to be the 4 best teams.  Now if you want to open up the playoffs to all the teams okay but I don't enjoy watching blood baths unless it is Bama committing them. 

As for FSU last season, their last 2 regular season games without Travis clearly showed they weren't top 4 quality at that point.  In the bowl game, they were without Travis and a bunch of opt outs but even so losing to Georgia 63-3 was an embarrassment. 

Edit - Okay I confess.  I did enjoy the Georgia-FSU bloodbath after all the FSU whining about not making the playoffs.   

Thanks for pointing out Professional sports is about making money, who knew 🙄. College sports should be about more. Yeah, talent disparity is huge in college football but that doesn?t mean miracles and upsets don?t happen. Strength of schedule is needed to separate tie breakers but wins and losses need more value in my opinion. I get why they do it, doesn?t mean I need to like it. Personally, I don?t want to see Alabama and Georgia play in the conference title game for it to mean nothing bc a committee decides they?re the best teams and to just end up watching them again (or not, in my case) in the playoffs. Especially when there are a bunch a kids out there that played their hearts out for an undefeated season but they get the consolation bowl game. That?s anti-competition and shouldn?t be what college sports is about. It creates a never ending cycle of the same teams always being ?the best? bc that?s where they?re constantly ranked and can continue to feed on a manufactured strength of schedule. The rich always get richer in college football. It makes sense, top athletes want to go to top programs. But if you don?t let smaller programs fairly compete instead of deciding they can?t win on paper then you never give them a chance to be a top program and get the top recruits.

Anyways, thanks for the discussion. I?ve had my rant, I guess, but appreciate that you have more concrete knowledge about the system and are likely right in assuming that the way it is, is likely for the best.

[tazzmaniac]

This is an unusual weekend of college football with games stretching from Thursday through Monday.  4 top 25 teams are playing Thursday and another is playing on Friday but unfortunately they are all against cupcakes with 30- or 40-point spreads.  Colorado isn't top 25 but could have a tough game against North Dakota State, one of the best fcs teams, on Thursday. 

Things pick up on Saturday starting at 11:00 with Clemson at Georgia and Penn State at West Virginia.  I expect Georgia and Penn State to win by double digits. 

Then Miami at Florida at 2:30. Hard to pick Florida but I think they win in a squeaker. 

At 6:00 hopefully the DeBoer era at Bama starts off with an expected blowout of Western Kentucky.   

At 6:30, Notre Dame at Texas A&M.  With Fisher gone and Elko having coached the Riley Leonard, the ND transfer QB, last season, I think A&M wins. Most importantly the ND starting o-line only has a total of 6 starts.  It's going to be a huge challenge for them to play in such a hostile environment. 

On Sunday, it is USC against LSU on a neutral field.  Both teams defenses were terrible last season and I think both replaced their DCs.  Hard to see either teams defense improving that much this season.  Their offenses were good and great respectively but they both lost their elite QBs to the draft.  Going to be big drop-offs to Miller Moss and Garrett Nussmeier.   LSU also lost their top 2 receivers as well.  Could be a really fun game but not sure what to expect. Hard to pick either team but I think I'll go with USC. 

On Monday, it is Boston College at Florida State.  This should be a mismatch but it would be good to see FSU struggle again. 

I'm interested to see how well the helmet communication performs in hostile environments.  Last weekend, Haynes King and another QB were putting their hands to their helmets and those environments weren't that noisy. 

[tazzmaniac]

The Thursday and Friday cupcake games went pretty much as expected.  In the most lopsided, Arkansas beat Arkansas Pine Bluff 70-0.  Arkansas went 10 TDs for 10 drives.  With it 49-0 at half, the coaches agreed to reduce the 3rd and 4th quarters to 10 minutes. 
Western Carolina did play NC State well for 3 quarters until NC State scored 21pts in the 4th.  I somehow missed the best game North Carolina at Minnesota 19-17.  I'm going to blame Hulu's poor channel guide.   

Colorado barely beat North Dakota State, a good but overmatched FCS team.  Shedeur Sanders did look good but took some hits so looks like a long season with the o-line still being weak.  Travis Hunter played both ways (129 total snaps) which doesn't seem sustainable. 

Hopefully they'll be some more competitive games today. 

[tazzmaniac]

In a big surprise, Georgia suspends starting RB Trevor Etienne for Clemson game.  The suspension stems from the Florida transfer's March arrest on DUI and reckless driving charges.  Not surprised with the suspension but surprised it wasn't timed for a cupcake game.   

[Donoghus]

I hate trying to bet on Week 1. Very tough to get a feel due to all the movement.

[tazzmaniac]

I hate trying to bet on Week 1. Very tough to get a feel due to all the movement.

I don't bet but betting under for Iowa games seems like a pretty sure bet (for their defense and against their offense).  They're up 6-0 against Illinois State at the half.

[tazzmaniac]

Vanderbilt looking like a real football team up 17-3 against Virginia Tech. 

I know the Georgia defense is strong but the Clemson offense looks pathetic.  Clemson is only down 6-0 but they are going to needs some lucky breaks to win.