Random College Football Discussion Thread

[cdj]

Former tOSU RB Antoniopittman: This osu tattoo stuff is silly. Cats been gettin hookups on tatts since back in 01

Probably not the best defense I've read of the situation.


Current Buckeye Michael Brewster is more on-target: Why couldn't we get the investigators that handled the auburn case??

[JeffHCross]

TonyGerdeman
Can't blame players for selling Gold Pants. It's like Scrooge McDuck's vault with those things. They're swimming in them. #Michigan #OSU

[JeffHCross]

"The policy for suspending withholding conditions (suspensions) for bowl games of NCAA championship competition recognizes the unique opportunity these events provide at the end of a season, and they are evaluated differently from a withholding perspective," Lennon said. "In this instance, the facts are consistent with the established policy."

Anybody else think this is PC/marketing speak for "we know bowls make tons of money, and we want to make sure the top players can play in them". If you want to punish kids, take away the bowl, not playing Eastern Michigan.

[HWill]

Anybody else think this is PC/marketing speak for "we know bowls make tons of money, and we want to make sure the top players can play in them". If you want to punish kids, take away the bowl, not playing Eastern Michigan.

Exactly, because they know ratings and attendance will be down if one teams' offensive stars aren't playing. As usual with the NCAA, it's about money.

[Rudy]

So a rookie who hasn't played a single down in the NFL deserves $50 million?

Not sure if that was directed at me but no rookie deserves that. The contracts that Stafford and Bradford got need to be reigned in. However, I do think the NFL has done a great job of spinning the "out of control" rookie contracts when it's really only the Top 5 or so that get those type of crazy contracts. Guys drafted at the end of the first round and beyond typically only get the NFL minimums for base salaries plus some incentives. The big money is all in the signing bonus and the money they get for non guaranteed contracts isn't overpaid at all once you get outside the Top 10 imo. NFL teams make out like bandits on any player drafted in the later rounds because they get paid next to nothing.

My point about having too restrictive a cap is that it will push kids to jump too soon just to start the free agency clock. They need to boost rookie salaries based on years of college experience imo. The top draft pick in the NBA will get less than the average NBA salary. That might be OK now that the NBA draft is nothing but young kids who aren't ready - a situation the NBA helped create. But what incentive is there for a kid like Tim Duncan or Grant Hill to stay in college for 4 years? So they can jump right into the NBA, be an All-Star and make less than the 7th man on the team? The salaries on a rookie wage scale need to adjusted to allow pro-ready seniors a chance to earn more money right away.

[JBHuskers]

When it comes to College Football we all know that money talks.

NFL game with a 3rd string QB manning the Vikes to victory over the Eagles garnered SEVEN times the rating of the two bowl games last night.

Playoffs anyone?

[Rudy]

The good bowl games don't really start until New Year's. The teams in the bowl games last night wouldn't be in any form of a playoff so that doesn't really count.

[JBHuskers]

I doubt that any bowl is going to come close to reaching 14 in the ratings though...

[JBHuskers]

Sarkisian: The best-coached FB team we played all year was Nebraska. That would include Oregon, by the way.

[JeffHCross]

I doubt that any bowl is going to come close to reaching 14 in the ratings though...

The National Championship game regularly beats a 14, but that's a given. A couple Rose Bowls and the Ohio State-Notre Dame Fiesta Bowl also came close.

But considering that Redskins/Cowboys (the opening Sunday Night game of the season) garnered a 16.6 ... well, I think comparing ratings for college football and pro football are basically apples to oranges. And you certainly can't extrapolate that and say that CFB playoffs would come anywhere close to the NFL playoffs, or even beat the BCS as it is.

All BCS games that have garnered a 13 or higher (* is championship game that wasn't called a championship game):

BOWL				YEAR	TEAMS				RATING
1. Rose Bowl 			2006 	Texas-USC 			21.7 * 
2. Orange Bowl 			2001 	Florida State-Oklahoma 		17.8 * 
3. Sugar Bowl 			2000 	Florida State-Virginia Tech 	17.5 * 
4. (tie) Championship Game	2007 	Florida-Ohio State 		17.4 
4. (tie) Championship Game	2008 	LSU-Ohio State 			17.4 
6. (tie) Fiesta Bowl 		2003 	Ohio State-Miami 		17.2 * 
6. (tie) Fiesta Bowl 		1999 	Florida State-Tennessee 	17.2 * 
8. Championship Game 		2010 	Texas-Alabama 			17.17 
9. Championship Game 		2009 	Florida-Oklahoma 		15.8 
10. Sugar Bowl 			2004 	LSU-Oklahoma 			14.5 * 
11. Rose Bowl 			2004 	Michigan-USC 			14.4 
12. Rose Bowl 			2000 	Wisconsin-Stanford 		14.1 
13. Rose Bowl 			2001 	Washington-Purdue 		14.0 
14. Rose Bowl 			2007 	USC-Michigan 			13.94 
15. Rose Bowl 			2002 	Miami-Nebraska 			13.9 * 
16. Orange Bowl 		2005 	USC-Oklahoma 			13.7 * 
17. Rose Bowl 			1999 	Wisconsin-UCLA 			13.3 
18. Rose Bowl 			2010 	Ohio State-Oregon 		13.18

[JBHuskers]

So three BCS bowl games the past five years that have come close that weren't a championship game.

[JeffHCross]

Yep. But considering how soundly the NFL beats college football in ratings each and every week ... that's not surprising. Very few casual football fans watch random college football games.

[JeffHCross]

Maryland is up 44-13 on ECU, 10:00 to go in the 4th quarter, and throwing the ball downfield.

mors, I expect to hear a rant about running up the score. And ... go.

[JeffHCross]

Surreal moment ... Maryland players give Ralph Friedgen a Powerade-labeled bath (not sure what actually was in there, of course) ... and it gets wiped off with a Gatorade-sponsored towel.

[JeffHCross]

Yep. But considering how soundly the NFL beats college football in ratings each and every week ... that's not surprising. Very few casual football fans watch random college football games.

Just to reinforce this with numbers ... from the 2009-10 television season:
#1 American Idol - Tuesday (Average 22.9 million viewers)
#6 Sunday Night Football (18.7)
#78 ABC Saturday Night Football (6.2)

So the NFL is American Idol to CFB's Jay Leno or Fringe ...

[Rudy]

The NFL is very different from college. College football is full of tradition and passion. Fan bases support a school because they are often alumni or live nearby and have a deep rooted interest and love for the school. While this makes home games special it also makes college a far more regional sport than the NFL. The NFL can market its stars like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and sell their jerseys from coast to coast. College football can't do that. It's stars don't stay long before they leave for the NFL. So the sport focuses on the teams. That's why you will always have tremendous local TV ratings for college teams but never great national ones. A playoff wouldn't change that imo.

[psuexv]

The NFL is very different from college. College football is full of tradition and passion. Fan bases support a school because they are often alumni or live nearby and have a deep rooted interest and love for the school. While this makes home games special it also makes college a far more regional sport than the NFL. The NFL can market its stars like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and sell their jerseys from coast to coast. College football can't do that. It's stars don't stay long before they leave for the NFL. So the sport focuses on the teams. That's why you will always have tremendous local TV ratings for college teams but never great national ones. A playoff wouldn't change that imo.

Plus the fact that most NFL teams are in major cities vs most college towns that are small + the alumni. Penn State has a fairly large Alumni base and it's only around 500,000 which isn't even close to a small NFL city considering there's only one under 1 million people - http://forum.playactionpools.com/index.php?topic=73.0

(in millions)
:NYJ :NYG New York 19.0
:CHI Chicago 9.6
:DAL Dallas 6.3
:PHI Philadelphia 5.8
:HOU Houston 5.7
:MIA Miami 5.4
:ATL Atlanta 5.4
:WAS Washington D.C. 5.4
:NE Boston  4.5
:DET Detroit 4.4
:ARI Phoenix 4.3
:SF :OAK San Francisco/Oakland 4.3
:SEA Seattle 3.3
:MIN Minneapolis 3.2
:SD San Diego 3.0
:STL St. Louis 2.8
:TB Tampa Bay 2.7
:BAL Baltimore 2.7
:DEN Denver 2.5
:PIT Pittsburgh 2.4
:CIN Cincinnati 2.2
:CLE Cleveland 2.1
:KC Kansas City 2.0
:IND Indianapolis 1.7
:CAR Charlotte 1.7
:TEN Nashville 1.6
:JAC Jacksonville 1.3
:NO New Orleans 1.1
:BUF Buffalo 1.1
:GB Green Bay 0.3  (112 miles north of Milwaukee 1.5 M)

[JeffHCross]

Agreed, Rudy and exv.

Anybody else think this is PC/marketing speak for "we know bowls make tons of money, and we want to make sure the top players can play in them". If you want to punish kids, take away the bowl, not playing Eastern Michigan.

As expected, the real news hit the fan yesterday: http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefoot...ligible-122910

Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan lobbied Ohio State University to make sure five of its football players — including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor — would not be suspended for the game against Arkansas, The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday.

That is a bunch of bullshit.

On the upside, Tressel announced today that the five players will be elligible for next season solely because they pledged to return for their senior season: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content...n.html?sid=101

[JBHuskers]

LaMichael James has announced he will return to Oregon next season. I'm somewhat surprised he is staying.

[psuexv]

LaMichael James has announced he will return to Oregon next season. I'm somewhat surprised he is staying.

I wonder if that changes if they win the National Championship.