2025 College Football Season

[Roadgeekteen]

Well that was a snooze fest first round

[gonealookin]

The opening of the "transfer portal" before postseason games start is stupid. You're always going to have a few players bail out of a meaningless bowl game to protect their NFL draft status. Last night I flipped on the Holiday Bowl, which used to be a great tradition among the secondary bowl games, played before a sellout crowd in the Chargers' stadium. Washington State had 32 players file for the transfer portal, and their coach was gone as well. Ridiculous.

This year there are 12 teams in the playoff and 68 more teams playing 34 who-cares bowl games, so that's 80 teams and 45 postseason games in all. A team like Penn State that lost its conference championship game will play a maximum of 17 games (12 regular season, that Big Ten championship loss and 4 playoff games if they reach the championship game).

Here's how I want to change this:

If you had a full 32-team playoff, that's 31 games in 5 rounds. There's no need for conference championship games if you're putting 32 teams in the playoff. 12 regular season games plus 5 playoff games = 17 games maximum, so no change there. There would be some blowouts in the first round, but March Madness has plenty of North Carolina vs. Northeast Wyoming Tech in the first round as well.

If we really need to put Teams 33-80 including all those 6-6 teams in meaningless bowl games we could still do that, but who on earth would watch any of that when there are 31 playoff games, so those games would likely wither and die pretty quickly.

[NWI_Irish96]

The opening of the "transfer portal" before postseason games start is stupid. You're always going to have a few players bail out of a meaningless bowl game to protect their NFL draft status. Last night I flipped on the Holiday Bowl, which used to be a great tradition among the secondary bowl games, played before a sellout crowd in the Chargers' stadium. Washington State had 32 players file for the transfer portal, and their coach was gone as well. Ridiculous.

This year there are 12 teams in the playoff and 68 more teams playing 34 who-cares bowl games, so that's 80 teams and 45 postseason games in all. A team like Penn State that lost its conference championship game will play a maximum of 17 games (12 regular season, that Big Ten championship loss and 4 playoff games if they reach the championship game).

Here's how I want to change this:

If you had a full 32-team playoff, that's 31 games in 5 rounds. There's no need for conference championship games if you're putting 32 teams in the playoff. 12 regular season games plus 5 playoff games = 17 games maximum, so no change there. There would be some blowouts in the first round, but March Madness has plenty of North Carolina vs. Northeast Wyoming Tech in the first round as well.

If we really need to put Teams 33-80 including all those 6-6 teams in meaningless bowl games we could still do that, but who on earth would watch any of that when there are 31 playoff games, so those games would likely wither and die pretty quickly.

I still enjoy watching the bowl games. I have them double-boxed on my TV as I type this. What the bowl games can no longer be considered is an evaluation of the relative strength of the teams playing in them. Nebraska beating Boston College today doesn't have anything to do with how good those teams were during the season.

The transfer portal rules need to be cleaned up, but I think it's ultimately better for the game that it's easier for guys who are stuck behind starters can go somewhere to get playing time.

One change I'd like to see, is that if a player who previously received NIL money transfers, the receiving school has to reimburse the losing school that money. Make it more like the European soccer transfer window. This would help out the smaller schools who find those diamonds in the rough and then lose them to the bigger schools once they realize how good they are.

[SEWIGuy]

You have to open the portal this early. Players need to get enrolled at new schools prior to the start of second semester and some schools start right after the first of the year.

Also a player who is planning to transfer will skip a bowl game regardless of the portal being open or not.

[Roadgeekteen]

They can enroll in their new school for fall semester. Yes they miss Spring practices and games but I don't care about those and most fans don't.

[NWI_Irish96]

They can enroll in their new school for fall semester. Yes they miss Spring practices and games but I don't care about those and most fans don't.

Teams care a lot about spring practices. They're very beneficial, especially now that there's higher turnover.

[SEWIGuy]

They can enroll in their new school for fall semester. Yes they miss Spring practices and games but I don't care about those and most fans don't.

Their coaches do. And they want to get integrated into the team as soon as possible.

And every other student can transfer at semester...but you don't think football players should because you want to watch them in a bowl game?

[gonealookin]

You have to open the portal this early. Players need to get enrolled at new schools prior to the start of second semester and some schools start right after the first of the year.

Also a player who is planning to transfer will skip a bowl game regardless of the portal being open or not.

In a 32-team playoff with no conference championship games, 24 of the 32 teams would be eliminated by the second playoff round in the middle of December.

The portal could open after that second round of playoffs, fairly similar timing to what exists now.  The players on the surviving 8 teams who were considering a transfer would have to make a decision about continuing.  That's exactly the point we're at right now in this year's playoff.  I know a few of the players on the 8 teams still playing have entered the portal, but not very many.

Any lower-level bowl games outside the 32-team playoff would be played post-portal opening with decimated rosters, as they are now.  Some of the games would want to press on, to "continue the 80-year community tradition of the Sun Bowl in El Paso" etc., but I think with so many playoff games interest would decline to the point that the television networks, mainly ESPN, would kill them off.

[Roadgeekteen]

They can enroll in their new school for fall semester. Yes they miss Spring practices and games but I don't care about those and most fans don't.

Their coaches do. And they want to get integrated into the team as soon as possible.

And every other student can transfer at semester...but you don't think football players should because you want to watch them in a bowl game?

I know the coaches do, but the coaches and players wouldn't be making millions if not for the fans.

[SEWIGuy]

They can enroll in their new school for fall semester. Yes they miss Spring practices and games but I don't care about those and most fans don't.

Their coaches do. And they want to get integrated into the team as soon as possible.

And every other student can transfer at semester...but you don't think football players should because you want to watch them in a bowl game?

I know the coaches do, but the coaches and players wouldn't be making millions if not for the fans.

I don't think the fans care all that much. And again every other student can transfer at semester, but football players should not? Even basketball players can transfer in the middle of their season.

[SEWIGuy]

Prices on the secondary market are now under $20 for tomorrow's Peach Bowl between Texas and Arizona State.

These games need to be played at campus sites. Not in Atlanta.

[Max Rockatansky]

For $20 I'd go watch a game I have no investment in.

[thspfc]

I retract my statements, Bama was rightfully left out of the playoff. Though the same hindsight logic should be applied to Florida State last year, who was also rightfully left out of the playoff.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm more curious now if Michigan will crack the Top 25.  They had a brutal schedule and virtually no offense.  All the same, those were two solid wins to close the year out.  Hard to believe a 8-5 season included wins against Ohio State and Alabama. 

[SEWIGuy]

Indiana beat Michigan. Something that Alabama didn't manage to do. Illinois also beat Michigan and is currently beating South Carolina.

[Roadgeekteen]

Man the SEC sucks

[Roadgeekteen]

Horrible terrorist attack in NOLA kills 10 and injuries more. Prayers to all affected.

The sugar bowl will be postponed to tomorrow.

[gonealookin]

Prices on the secondary market are now under $20 for tomorrow's Peach Bowl between Texas and Arizona State.

Those folks definitely got their money's worth.  Brutal loss for Arizona State.

It's left to Oregon to uphold the honor of the dear, departed Pac-12.

[SEWIGuy]

Prices on the secondary market are now under $20 for tomorrow's Peach Bowl between Texas and Arizona State.

Those folks definitely got their money's worth.  Brutal loss for Arizona State.

It's left to Oregon to uphold the honor of the dear, departed Pac-12.

Well...

[hotdogPi]

Oregon shouldn't have made the playoffs after what we're seeing today.

/jk

[Max Rockatansky]

Pretty sure Ryan Day is clinching saving his job. 

[gonealookin]

Prices on the secondary market are now under $20 for tomorrow's Peach Bowl between Texas and Arizona State.

Those folks definitely got their money's worth.  Brutal loss for Arizona State.

It's left to Oregon to uphold the honor of the dear, departed Pac-12.

Well...

dear god...

Between this and the terrible situation in New Orleans, this New Year's Day of college football is coming to a very early end.

(picks up TV remote)...*click*

[Henry]

Prices on the secondary market are now under $20 for tomorrow's Peach Bowl between Texas and Arizona State.

Those folks definitely got their money's worth.  Brutal loss for Arizona State.

It's left to Oregon to uphold the honor of the dear, departed Pac-12.

Well...

dear god...

Between this and the terrible situation in New Orleans, this New Year's Day of college football is coming to a very early end.

(picks up TV remote)...*click*

The game will be held tomorrow at 3 PM New Orleans time (which translates to 1 PM on the West Coast), so there'll be an extra day of New Year's football. That Bourbon Street massacre definitely was a terrible start to 2025.

[thspfc]

Pretty sure Ryan Day is clinching saving his job. 

I will be the first to eat all my words. It takes an incredible coach to get the response that he's gotten from his players since The Incident. If these two games were close, maybe I'd still be on the hater bandwagon, but the total evisceration is undeniable.

[Max Rockatansky]

Pretty sure Ryan Day is clinching saving his job. 

I will be the first to eat all my words. It takes an incredible coach to get the response that he's gotten from his players since The Incident. If these two games were close, maybe I'd still be on the hater bandwagon, but the total evisceration is undeniable.

It would fair to point out there was a similar pattern with Harbaugh coached teams losing to OSU.  The Michigan fan base was calling for Harbaugh's head also after losing a bunch of OSU games.  It feels like sometimes that back and forth has been forgotten about in the recent UofM/OSU situation.