2024-25 College Football Season

[greg683x]

I'm super excited for Ohio State-Tennessee and Texas-Clemson

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think either will be close. If they were neutral site games, they might be competitive. However, home field advantage is massive in college football. The only time it doesn't really matter is for rivalry games, and these games don't meet that criteria.

I don't think these 1st round football playoff games should be home games for the higher seed.  Too much of an advantage.  Play those games at a neutral site.   All you are doing is giving those teams a cakewalk to the next round.  I don't know how that is fair.

Home field is an advantage but that's more so in close games.  These blowouts just like the blowouts in previous playoffs where the games were played on neutral fields are predominantly due to talent differential.  Indiana and SMU aren't even in the same ballpark as far as talent goes.  Clemson at least has top 10 or so talent.

I think it was a huge advantage today for Texas and Penn State regardless of the talent level.   It just isn't a level playing field for the teams that were selected.

Clemson aside, SMU and Indiana got to make the playoff only having to play one ranked team (which they both lost to) and now the complaint is having to play a road game isn?t fair?

Texas won pretty handily but you can get tell Clemson belonged on the field with them.  Indiana and SMU looked out of their league. 

[blink]

I'm super excited for Ohio State-Tennessee and Texas-Clemson

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think either will be close. If they were neutral site games, they might be competitive. However, home field advantage is massive in college football. The only time it doesn't really matter is for rivalry games, and these games don't meet that criteria.

I don't think these 1st round football playoff games should be home games for the higher seed.  Too much of an advantage.  Play those games at a neutral site.   All you are doing is giving those teams a cakewalk to the next round.  I don't know how that is fair.

Home field is an advantage but that's more so in close games.  These blowouts just like the blowouts in previous playoffs where the games were played on neutral fields are predominantly due to talent differential.  Indiana and SMU aren't even in the same ballpark as far as talent goes.  Clemson at least has top 10 or so talent.

I think it was a huge advantage today for Texas and Penn State regardless of the talent level.   It just isn't a level playing field for the teams that were selected.

Clemson aside, SMU and Indiana got to make the playoff only having to play one ranked team (which they both lost to) and now the complaint is having to play a road game isn?t fair?

Texas won pretty handily but you can get tell Clemson belonged on the field with them.  Indiana and SMU looked out of their league.

I don't think it matters how good SMU or Indiana is or isn't.  Either way it gives the higher seeded team too much of an advantage.  These games are like playing the sweet sixteen games in march madness at the higher seed's home court.  It just isn't fair.  If ND and Penn State are so much better anyways, then they will win on a neutral site as well. 

[tenn_smoothie]

I'm super excited for Ohio State-Tennessee and Texas-Clemson

Me too.  Especially the Tenn/Ohio St. game

Yeah, I was too ........... until the game started.
Very painful night for us Vols.

Heupel has to look hard at his assistants. His loyalty to his friends is hurting him.
Needs a coaching upgrade for O-line, D-backs and definitely OC. Way too vanilla and predictable.

[greg683x]

I'm super excited for Ohio State-Tennessee and Texas-Clemson

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think either will be close. If they were neutral site games, they might be competitive. However, home field advantage is massive in college football. The only time it doesn't really matter is for rivalry games, and these games don't meet that criteria.

I don't think these 1st round football playoff games should be home games for the higher seed.  Too much of an advantage.  Play those games at a neutral site.   All you are doing is giving those teams a cakewalk to the next round.  I don't know how that is fair.

Home field is an advantage but that's more so in close games.  These blowouts just like the blowouts in previous playoffs where the games were played on neutral fields are predominantly due to talent differential.  Indiana and SMU aren't even in the same ballpark as far as talent goes.  Clemson at least has top 10 or so talent.

I think it was a huge advantage today for Texas and Penn State regardless of the talent level.   It just isn't a level playing field for the teams that were selected.

Clemson aside, SMU and Indiana got to make the playoff only having to play one ranked team (which they both lost to) and now the complaint is having to play a road game isn?t fair?

Texas won pretty handily but you can get tell Clemson belonged on the field with them.  Indiana and SMU looked out of their league.

I don't think it matters how good SMU or Indiana is or isn't.  Either way it gives the higher seeded team too much of an advantage.  These games are like playing the sweet sixteen games in march madness at the higher seed's home court.  It just isn't fair.  If ND and Penn State are so much better anyways, then they will win on a neutral site as well.

Sorry, I just completely disagree.  Good teams find ways to win on the road Both Georgia and Texas have beaten ranked teams on the road.  Notre Dames only loss came at home, their biggest win was against a ranked team on the road.   Do teams have an advantage, yes but it?s not some impossible hurdle.

[greg683x]

I'm super excited for Ohio State-Tennessee and Texas-Clemson

Me too.  Especially the Tenn/Ohio St. game

Yeah, I was too ........... until the game started.
Very painful night for us Vols.

Heupel has to look hard at his assistants. His loyalty to his friends is hurting him.
Needs a coaching upgrade for O-line, D-backs and definitely OC. Way too vanilla and predictable.

Yeah I thought Tennessee?s defense was going to have a much bigger impact. 

The vols have a lot of work to do on offense but I thought this game would be much closer

[Roy H.]

Is home field advantage in college football significantly higher than in the NFL?

I don't necessarily get the "fairness" argument when at the pro level, across all sports, the better teams always get home court / field.

[greg683x]

Is home field advantage in college football significantly higher than in the NFL?

I don't necessarily get the "fairness" argument when at the pro level, across all sports, the better teams always get home court / field.

Home field definitely makes more of a difference in college than in the nfl but not to the point where it would become a significant handicap.  It?s more of an issue in games where the talent disparity between the teams is large.  Ohio state had to travel to across the country to play Oregon earlier this year and the game came down to the wire.  Texas played worse at home against Georgia than they did at a neutral field in the title game against the same team

Just like the nfl, the good teams find ways to win.  And just like any other sport, if you don?t want to have to deal with the road than just make sure you get a higher seeding

[Phantom255x]

Texas > Arizona State 34-17
Oregon > Ohio State 38-28
Penn State > Boise State 27-20
Georgia > Notre Dame 34-24

Not predicting any upsets this next round.

Also all the discussion about homefield is interesting. Me personally, I LOVE having the higher seeds playing the game at their campus, and frankly I wish they would allow that to happen even in the quarterfinal round. The Semifinals and Championship Game could be in neutral sites similar to how the SB in the NFL is too.

It didn't matter but Ohio State's stadium had a lot of orange in it, but that's also like the first time I can remember Ohio State's stadium having a lot of colors besides red/white lol in the stands. Crazy.

[tenn_smoothie]

After watching my Vols get their ass handed to them by the home team in a 1st round playoff game, I am still in favor of playing the early rounds at the higher seed's campus. Home stadium atmosphere is part of what makes college football unique and special.

Having said that, I hate the D-1 football playoff to begin with. I miss the magic of the big-4 bowl games and always thought you got the truer champion back then. How often does the actual best team in college basketball win the NCAA tournament ?

[greg683x]

After watching my Vols get their ass handed to them by the home team in a 1st round playoff game, I am still in favor of playing the early rounds at the higher seed's campus. Home stadium atmosphere is part of what makes college football unique and special.

Having said that, I hate the D-1 football playoff to begin with. I miss the magic of the big-4 bowl games and always thought you got the truer champion back then. How often does the actual best team in college basketball win the NCAA tournament ?

How often does the best team win the title in any sport?  I did some quick research

In baseball the team with the best regular season record only wins the World Series about 24% of the time.

In the NFL, last year the two teams who met in the Super Bowl had the best regular season records.  That?s only happened 6 times in over 50 years.

Not surprisingly, basketball had the best ratio.  Of the 78 championships, 35 of them were won by teams that had the best or tied for the best regular season record. 45 of those 78 years the best team in the league at least made it to the finals.


I think the 12 team playoff is great, they definitely need to reseed the teams after the conference title games.  Penn state shouldn?t be gifted the easiest path to the title after losing their title game.  I think just about everyone can agree on that

Outside of that my only gripe, which I?ve made pretty clear, is that strength of schedule needs to be a bigger factor in determining which of the remaining teams make the playoff after the conference champions. Either that or drop it down to 8 teams, bc the blowouts in the first round were ridiculous

[tazzmaniac]

Is home field advantage in college football significantly higher than in the NFL?

I don't necessarily get the "fairness" argument when at the pro level, across all sports, the better teams always get home court / field.

Home field advantage varies greatly in college football.  There are 7 stadiums over 100k but there are also stadiums that seat 40k.  Some teams have rabid fans and others have trouble filling up their stadium.  Thousands of pumped up college students provide a distinct advantage.  Also, college players are naturally going to be affected more by a hostile road environment than professional athletes. 

[Roy H.]

Maybe I'm too harsh on the kid, but I just don't see Jalen Milroe being successful at the next level.  I've seen him projected as a high second rounder, but I don't think I'd draft him before the fifth.

(I'm saying this prior to 4th and 10 inside the 20).

[tazzmaniac]

Maybe I'm too harsh on the kid, but I just don't see Jalen Milroe being successful at the next level.  I've seen him projected as a high second rounder, but I don't think I'd draft him before the fifth.

(I'm saying this prior to 4th and 10 inside the 20).

Anyone who drafts Milroe before the 3rd day is an idiot.  There's way too much film showing all his flaws over and over again for the past 2 years.  He didn't show any improvement this year.  Bill O'Brien was right when he suggested Milroe should change to a different position.  He seems to be a good person and good teammate but he's just not a good QB. 

[Phantom255x]

Maybe I'm too harsh on the kid, but I just don't see Jalen Milroe being successful at the next level.  I've seen him projected as a high second rounder, but I don't think I'd draft him before the fifth.

(I'm saying this prior to 4th and 10 inside the 20).

Anyone who drafts Milroe before the 3rd day is an idiot.  There's way too much film showing all his flaws over and over again for the past 2 years.  He didn't show any improvement this year.  Bill O'Brien was right when he suggested Milroe should change to a different position.  He seems to be a good person and good teammate but he's just not a good QB.

Agreed. The strategy on him is really simple, just blitz him every time while making sure there's 1 or 2 guys "gapping" any potential holes and he turns into a puddle. Can't really escape from the pressure and definitely can't make the needed throws. Oklahoma did an awesome job exploiting this. And when Milroe did have those games where he was sensational, usually the defenses he played were subpar and not talented enough to execute it.

[Phantom255x]

It's early but man Boise State's O-Line is getting wrecked. Jeanty can't do anything so far. Kind of feels like shades of TCU vs. Georgia where it's men vs. boys in the trenches (O-Lines/D-Lines)