2016 NCAA Football Thread

[Seadragon76]

1 hour ago, Dolphins Dynasty said:

Why does Alabama and Auburn always play these small schools so late into the season?

 

It's a chance for them to rest up before the Iron Bowl.

[Dynasty]

2 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

 

It's a chance for them to rest up before the Iron Bowl.

 

Really? That's ridiculous. I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, but the whole thing seems like a joke.

[MJWalker45]

It's something SEC teams have been doing for the past few years to act as a built in bye week before rivalry games and bowl games. If the SEC were to ever go to 9 league games, these would go away. I personally don't like them but it's not like there's a rule you can only play FBS teams after Labor Day. 

[HedleyLamarr]

It's not really a "rest up" week.

 

A lot of it was TV driven.  A few years ago, the SEC got two separate 15-year, multi-billion dollar deals from ESPN and CBS, and part of those rights went towards getting more games on television. Teams are either playing conference games as early as Weeks 1 and 2 of the season, or playing in these neutral-site games early in the season...so the scheduling matrix was geared towards getting more games on TV and less with tradition.  Alabama would have played UT-Chattanooga in September if they hadn't played a neutral-site game with USC in Week 1.

 

And, part of it is also wanting that 6th or 7th...or sometimes 8th....home game in a season so you can rake in money.  And for these FCS teams (or Fun Belt), it's always a chance to get a nice paycheck that funds a huge chunk of their athletic budget, and for those schools in the FCS playoffs, a chance to prep for their playoffs.

[MJWalker45]

I think the part that's disingenuous is that they're playing Chattanoga now because of TV, since they wouldn't be playing USC in November, rather Kentucky or Vanderbilt. They also play the lowest number of league games in the Power 5. I can understand this for maybe one or two teams,  but the only ones not playing FCS or Group of 5 teams  were LSU vs Florida and Missouri vs Tennessee. It's more along your second point regarding extra income for home games. They should just own it instead of giving excuses of TV scheduling. I also don't see how playing FBS teams right before playoffs really helps the FCS teams prepare better.

[HedleyLamarr]

22 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I think the part that's disingenuous is that they're playing Chattanoga now because of TV, since they wouldn't be playing USC in November, rather Kentucky or Vanderbilt. They also play the lowest number of league games in the Power 5. I can understand this for maybe one or two teams,  but the only ones not playing FCS or Group of 5 teams  were LSU vs Florida and Missouri vs Tennessee. It's more along your second point regarding extra income for home games. They should just own it instead of giving excuses of TV scheduling. I also don't see how playing FBS teams right before playoffs really helps the FCS teams prepare better.

They're spreading out the conference games over the 13 weeks instead of backloading the schedule with conference games.  In other words, to have as many of the games televised as possible, instead of having all of October and November be conference play and trying to fit it all 14 nonconference games in each of the first four weeks....there's conference games every week.  By all means possible, the SEC doesn't want games put on one of the overflow SEC Network channels (like Georgia's game was yesterday).  And with so many schools simply not willing to play games on Thursday or Friday...you gotta fit in up to 14 games somewhere. One way to condense the number of TV obligations is playing conference games in the first couple weeks, use some of the schools that are willing to play on Thursdays or Fridays, etc.

 

With TV contracts dictating things and the conference now having to wait for TV to set the conference schedule, the schools easiest to maneuver around with a short amount of time are FCS schools.  These games are scheduled in advance.  Once the conference schedule gets determined, then the schools can fit in these non-conference games when it works best for them.

 

For the longest time, Georgia's schedule was, in order: non-conference game, South Carolina, two non-conference games, 7 conference games, Georgia Tech.  TV changed things.

[dsaline97]

On 11/18/2016 at 5:21 PM, CityOfWalrus said:

 

Pumphrey put up 281yds and 3TDs against Cal but no other player put up those numbers against them (including the formentioned Dont'a Foreman) So using and degrading a players schedule against him shouldn't have a place here.

 

A player doesn't control who he plays and what type of defense he plays against. They go out and do their job and he's done that consistently the whole season at a top level on usually within 3 Quarters so he's not just padding his stats.

 

If you want to make the Heisman, a strict Power5 Award then do that but for now it's an NCAA football award and SDSU plays in the NCAA so he should 100% be in the running for the Heisman. 

 

I'm sick and tired of hearing how a players schedule should remove him from the conversation when he doesn't control who he plays. He just controls how he performs in the game and when called upon and Pumphrey has done that at a Heisman level consistently all season. 

Lol, he's not even the best running back in the conference.

[JayMac]

On 11/19/2016 at 9:42 PM, Dolphins Dynasty said:

Why does Alabama and Auburn always play these small schools so late into the season?

It's an SEC tradition to play FCS cupcakes toward the end of the year.

[MJWalker45]

Another weird schedule quirk . . . Army does not play again until the Army-Navy game! Almost a month off! Looks like 15 in a row this year. ?

[OnWis97]

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

Another weird schedule quirk . . . Army does not play again until the Army-Navy game! Almost a month off! Looks like 15 in a row this year. ?

I mentioned in another thread that I have OCD.  The late scheduling of Army-Navy absolutely tweaks my OCD.  

 

It bugged me more in the BCS era because whatever happens in that game could, in theory, have an impact on BCS scores (probably a small impact, but still...).

 

Now if Army upsets Navy, I don't think that would weight too heavily on how committee members view any teams.  I guess it's an acknowledgement that there's no way either of those schools will ever play for a National Title; realistically that's true but the idea of two FBS teams playing after everything's decided is strange to me.

 

I assume they do it because even though everyone loves Army/Navy, nobody's going to watch it over Michigan/OSU or a Power 5 championship game.  What if one of them comes in at 5-6?  Do some bowl invites wait it out?  I would prefer this game be played on Conference Title Game day; there are not many games that day anyway.

[dfwabel]

11 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

I mentioned in another thread that I have OCD.  The late scheduling of Army-Navy absolutely tweaks my OCD.  

 

It bugged me more in the BCS era because whatever happens in that game could, in theory, have an impact on BCS scores (probably a small impact, but still...).

 

Now if Army upsets Navy, I don't think that would weight too heavily on how committee members view any teams.  I guess it's an acknowledgement that there's no way either of those schools will ever play for a National Title; realistically that's true but the idea of two FBS teams playing after everything's decided is strange to me.

 

I assume they do it because even though everyone loves Army/Navy, nobody's going to watch it over Michigan/OSU or a Power 5 championship game.  What if one of them comes in at 5-6?  Do some bowl invites wait it out?  I would prefer this game be played on Conference Title Game day; there are not many games that day anyway.

The CFP committee will wait until after Army/Navy to decide which Group of 5 champion will get the Cotton Bowl bid, although Navy has already accepted their bowl bid. The bids which will be impacted by the Army/Navy game will basically wait a week. 

 

As for Army, they can still be a bowl eligible team if 5-7 with two FCS wins because they, of course, have one of the best APR rates.

[rams80]

2 hours ago, jmac11281 said:

It's an SEC tradition to play FCS cupcakes toward the end of the year.

 

IT JUST MEANS MORE.

[smzimbabwe]

22 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

everyone loves Army/Navy, nobody's going to watch it over Michigan/OSU or a Power 5 championship game.

 

I will....

[OnWis97]

14 minutes ago, smzimbabwe said:

 

I will....

I assume, though, that it has it's own weekend so that people will watch it.

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, dfwabel said:

The CFP committee will wait until after Army/Navy to decide which Group of 5 champion will get the Cotton Bowl bid, although Navy has already accepted their bowl bid. The bids which will be impacted by the Army/Navy game will basically wait a week. 

 

As for Army, they can still be a bowl eligible team if 5-7 with two FCS wins because they, of course, have one of the best APR rates.

Army's 6-5. But yes they would need a waiver to go to a bowl at 6-6 with 2 FCS wins.

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, OnWis97 said:

I assume, though, that it has it's own weekend so that people will watch it.

I think this is a case of CBS extending their season by a week. I want to say this came about because the SEC Championship moved to 1:00.

[CS85]

 

[Seadragon76]

I still think forcing teams to 'vacate' wins is a stupid punishment. The NCAA may think that 21-5 record in those two years don't count because of a dumb as all hell trainer cheating the system (what a shocker, you know)... but, for all of us fans, those seasons still count.

 

It couldn't of come at a worst time when Notre Dame is going through a rough season where even if they somehow upset USC, they shouldn't even remotely think about a bowl bid at 5-7.

[Sport]

Last night Ohio U won the MAC East and the right to get torched by Western Michigan in Detroit in the MAC Championship Game.

 

4th time to the MAC Championship game for Frank Solich. He's 0-3 so far. 

[DS729]

24 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

Last night Ohio U won the MAC East and the right to get torched by Western Michigan in Detroit in the MAC Championship Game.

 

4th time to the MAC Championship game for Frank Solich. He's 0-3 so far. 

I wouldn't count them out just yet. Ball State and Northern Illinois both lost the MAC title game in the years that they ran the table. At least, if memory serves.