2025 College Football Season

[SectorZ]

Syracuse, which started the season 4-0 against a nonconference schedule of Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but then went 2-6 in ACC conference play and fired the head coach en route, is currently trailing South Florida 45-0 in the fourth quarter of the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, which kind of validates the argument that "there are too many bowl games" because crap teams like Syracuse are needed to fill the last few slots.

And their QB is a tight end wearing #89–because their top two QB's decided not to play this game.

How many bowl games are there now?  40?  There shouldn't be more than 20, other than the ones used for the National Semifinal games.  Teams with eight or more victories should be the benchmark.  No 7-5 and definitely no 6-6 teams should be in bowl games.  The only exception would be if less than 40 teams (say 37 teams) had eight victories, then maybe some of the 7-5 teams could be considered, depending on conference and schedule strength.

Of course, $$$$$$$$$$ drives the College Bowl Season.

That one 'bowl' game that I caught some of while at a local bar a few nights ago (played in Boca Raton, FL) looked to have a very thin crowd of fans in the stands.

Mike

I'm currently watching a bowl game being played outdoors in Boston in late December. Pretty clear indication that the TV audience and not ticket sales are driving the glut of bowl games.

There have been local ads for game tickets going up to last night. Given it was a de facto home game for BC you would think they could have pushed a broader gate then 16,238. It was a particularly crap day for a sporting event today, but it was still 45 degrees out and I've seen Red Sox in colder than that.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Syracuse, which started the season 4-0 against a nonconference schedule of Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but then went 2-6 in ACC conference play and fired the head coach en route, is currently trailing South Florida 45-0 in the fourth quarter of the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, which kind of validates the argument that "there are too many bowl games" because crap teams like Syracuse are needed to fill the last few slots.

And their QB is a tight end wearing #89–because their top two QB's decided not to play this game.

How many bowl games are there now?  40?  There shouldn't be more than 20, other than the ones used for the National Semifinal games.  Teams with eight or more victories should be the benchmark.  No 7-5 and definitely no 6-6 teams should be in bowl games.  The only exception would be if less than 40 teams (say 37 teams) had eight victories, then maybe some of the 7-5 teams could be considered, depending on conference and schedule strength.

Of course, $$$$$$$$$$ drives the College Bowl Season.

That one 'bowl' game that I caught some of while at a local bar a few nights ago (played in Boca Raton, FL) looked to have a very thin crowd of fans in the stands.

Mike

I'm currently watching a bowl game being played outdoors in Boston in late December. Pretty clear indication that the TV audience and not ticket sales are driving the glut of bowl games.

There have been local ads for game tickets going up to last night. Given it was a de facto home game for BC you would think they could have pushed a broader gate then 16,238. It was a particularly crap day for a sporting event today, but it was still 45 degrees out and I've seen Red Sox in colder than that.

In fairness, it is winter break when most students are away, and Boston isn't a college football mecca compared to the Midwest and South.

[tmoore952]

Syracuse, which started the season 4-0 against a nonconference schedule of Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but then went 2-6 in ACC conference play and fired the head coach en route, is currently trailing South Florida 45-0 in the fourth quarter of the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, which kind of validates the argument that "there are too many bowl games" because crap teams like Syracuse are needed to fill the last few slots.

And their QB is a tight end wearing #89–because their top two QB's decided not to play this game.

How many bowl games are there now?  40?  There shouldn't be more than 20, other than the ones used for the National Semifinal games.  Teams with eight or more victories should be the benchmark.  No 7-5 and definitely no 6-6 teams should be in bowl games.  The only exception would be if less than 40 teams (say 37 teams) had eight victories, then maybe some of the 7-5 teams could be considered, depending on conference and schedule strength.

Of course, $$$$$$$$$$ drives the College Bowl Season.

That one 'bowl' game that I caught some of while at a local bar a few nights ago (played in Boca Raton, FL) looked to have a very thin crowd of fans in the stands.

Mike

I'm currently watching a bowl game being played outdoors in Boston in late December. Pretty clear indication that the TV audience and not ticket sales are driving the glut of bowl games.

There have been local ads for game tickets going up to last night. Given it was a de facto home game for BC you would think they could have pushed a broader gate then 16,238. It was a particularly crap day for a sporting event today, but it was still 45 degrees out and I've seen Red Sox in colder than that.

But it was also raining too, wasn't it?

[gonealookin]

Looks like the issue of Alabama getting the last playoff spot over Florida State was settled fairly definitively with some input from the Georgia Bulldogs.

[Alps]

Looks like the issue of Alabama getting the last playoff spot over Florida State was settled fairly definitively with some input from the Georgia Bulldogs.

Yeah but if FSU made it into the playoffs, all their players would be active and pumped to have a chance. I'm sure some of them declared for the draft, some are sitting out to avoid injury, and the rest just don't care the same.

[CoreySamson]

Looks like the issue of Alabama getting the last playoff spot over Florida State was settled fairly definitively with some input from the Georgia Bulldogs.

Yeah but if FSU made it into the playoffs, all their players would be active and pumped to have a chance. I'm sure some of them declared for the draft, some are sitting out to avoid injury, and the rest just don't care the same.

Their loss would have been more excusable given the circumstances of getting snubbed from the playoff if not for the fact that Georgia was playing from a similar standpoint in that they were also snubbed. Georgia was pumped and ready to play, and even when they started playing their backups, they were destroying FSU's players. All I can say is the loss seems to reflect poorly on how FSU is run and coached, especially when compared with Georgia.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Syracuse, which started the season 4-0 against a nonconference schedule of Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but then went 2-6 in ACC conference play and fired the head coach en route, is currently trailing South Florida 45-0 in the fourth quarter of the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, which kind of validates the argument that "there are too many bowl games" because crap teams like Syracuse are needed to fill the last few slots.

And their QB is a tight end wearing #89–because their top two QB's decided not to play this game.

How many bowl games are there now?  40?  There shouldn't be more than 20, other than the ones used for the National Semifinal games.  Teams with eight or more victories should be the benchmark.  No 7-5 and definitely no 6-6 teams should be in bowl games.  The only exception would be if less than 40 teams (say 37 teams) had eight victories, then maybe some of the 7-5 teams could be considered, depending on conference and schedule strength.

Of course, $$$$$$$$$$ drives the College Bowl Season.

That one 'bowl' game that I caught some of while at a local bar a few nights ago (played in Boca Raton, FL) looked to have a very thin crowd of fans in the stands.

Mike

I'm currently watching a bowl game being played outdoors in Boston in late December. Pretty clear indication that the TV audience and not ticket sales are driving the glut of bowl games.

There have been local ads for game tickets going up to last night. Given it was a de facto home game for BC you would think they could have pushed a broader gate then 16,238. It was a particularly crap day for a sporting event today, but it was still 45 degrees out and I've seen Red Sox in colder than that.

But it was also raining too, wasn't it?

Yep.

[tmoore952]

Looks like the issue of Alabama getting the last playoff spot over Florida State was settled fairly definitively with some input from the Georgia Bulldogs.

Yeah but if FSU made it into the playoffs, all their players would be active and pumped to have a chance. I'm sure some of them declared for the draft, some are sitting out to avoid injury, and the rest just don't care the same.

According to my newspaper this morning, 25 FSU players either declared for the draft or went to the transfer portal. So I'm not going to blame FSU coaching (not that I care).

The problem IMO is that transfers and deferrments are allowed before the bowl games. An article in the Washington Post pointed out that you'd never have NFL free agency begin after the NFL regular season and before the NFL postseason.

[Scott5114]

The ridiculous sponsorship names, along with some of the silly gimmicks like the winning coach of the Duke's Mayo Bowl getting a huge bucket of the sponsor's product dumped all over him, are the best parts of many of these games.

Duke's Mayo is an example of those—its original name was the Continental Tire Bowl, then it was the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

How exactly did they dump a bucket of car care on a football coach?

[hotdogPi]

How exactly did they dump a bucket of car care on a football coach?

This business advertises "COMPLETE CAR CAR" (and has for years). If you were underneath the missing letter when it fell...

[1995hoo]

^^There is the annual bowl game played on the smurf turf in Boise.

I went to that game in 2004. It was a very good trip aside from the final score of the game; a friend and I went skiing at Bogus Basin the day after the game. I recall before the game they didn't have the field blocked off and I went ahead and wandered out onto it to take pictures. A stadium worker then came over and, instead of ejecting me, offered to take my picture at midfield. Quite a more relaxed atmosphere than what I'm used to on the East Coast, to say the least.

[Ted$8roadFan]

What a day for college football: Michigan comes back and beats Alabama in OT in the Rose Bowl, while Washington holds off Texas in the Sugar Bowl, thus setting up a Wolverine-Husky battle for the national championship. It will be the first national title game without the SEC since 2015.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/last-non-sec-national-championship-alabama/1bdc601ae15b8d721d566c8d

[NWI_Irish96]

What a day for college football: Michigan comes back and beats Alabama in OT in the Rose Bowl, while Washington holds off Texas in the Sugar Bowl, thus setting up a Wolverine-Husky battle for the national championship. It will be the first national title game without the SEC since 2015.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/last-non-sec-national-championship-alabama/1bdc601ae15b8d721d566c8d

Amazing how paying players becomes legal and suddenly the other conferences are as good as the SEC.

[JayhawkCO]

I'm confused. What are you claiming happened?

[hotdogPi]

A quick Google search shows not even a single mention of WWE-style rigging.

[JayhawkCO]

I mean, they scored three points. Went for it early on 4th and Goal from the one and failed. I fail to see any major chances for hijinx. Maybe just grumpy and a too few many Montucky Cold Snacks?

[tchafe1978]

Sounds like somebody's just bitter their team lost.

[ET21]

Natty tonight, go Huskies. Give the Pac-12 one final moment before fading into history.

[triplemultiplex]

Natty tonight, go Huskies. Give the Pac-12 one final moment before fading into history.

And beat those Michigan cheaters in the process!
Go Washington.

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of you who know me off forum also know that I've been a lifelong U of M fan.  No doubt I'm happy with the outcome tonight and the season overall.  I was 15 the last time Michigan won a national championship in football.  My dad certainly would have enjoyed this if he was still alive. 

[NWI_Irish96]

A lot of you who know me off forum also know that I've been a lifelong U of M fan.  No doubt I'm happy with the outcome tonight and the season overall.  I was 15 the last time Michigan won a national championship in football.  My dad certainly would have enjoyed this if he was still alive. 

Now the championship gets vacated and all the coaches and players bail to avoid the upcoming sanctions.

[NWI_Irish96]

Alabama coach Nick Saban announced his retirement today.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning is the name getting thrown around the most as a potential successor.

[gonealookin]

Alabama coach Nick Saban announced his retirement today.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning is the name getting thrown around the most as a potential successor.

That sounds like a premium job...until you think about what happened to the coaches who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA.  Anything short of a national championship was a failure.  Eugene is a beautiful city, Oregon is going to the Big Ten with all the additional exposure inherent in that.  If I were Lanning I would certainly listen to offers but I don't think I would step into the Tuscaloosa situation.

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of you who know me off forum also know that I've been a lifelong U of M fan.  No doubt I'm happy with the outcome tonight and the season overall.  I was 15 the last time Michigan won a national championship in football.  My dad certainly would have enjoyed this if he was still alive. 

Now the championship gets vacated and all the coaches and players bail to avoid the upcoming sanctions.

Sure hope you weren't holding out hopes for that.  Even the NCAA doesn't have the nerve to take a national championship away:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39282077/ncaa-president-says-michigan-earned-football-national-title-fair-square

All the same, I expect Harbaugh to go.  He was being evasive and generally unconvincing about questions pertaining to the NFL all last week.  The rumors out here on the west coast mostly have him being the possible coach for the Chargers next season. 

[brad2971]

Alabama coach Nick Saban announced his retirement today.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning is the name getting thrown around the most as a potential successor.

That sounds like a premium job...until you think about what happened to the coaches who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA.  Anything short of a national championship was a failure.  Eugene is a beautiful city, Oregon is going to the Big Ten with all the additional exposure inherent in that.  If I were Lanning I would certainly listen to offers but I don't think I would step into the Tuscaloosa situation.

Between Bear Bryant's last year in 1982 and Nick Saban's first year in 2007, the Crimson Tide won only one national title (1992, under Gene Stallings, one of Bryant's "Junction Boys"). During those years, Alabama had seasons with multiple losses, even years where they were sanctioned by the NCAA.

And Indiana STILL struggles today without Bobby Knight at the helm.