RU RU RU

[Tyche]

Please tell me how every game matters in college ootball when after the first week, 50% of division 1A schools have nothing to play for? The regular season matters for 2-5 schools who go undefeated into december. Who gives a flying fuck if the best teams don't play for the chamionship. They don't in every other sport. Why is it we root for the underdog in every single sport except college football? "George Mason going to the final four, HELL YES, that's awesome." "Wildcard team going to World Series, ALL RIGHT!, Marlins beat the yankees". "Rutgers might have a chance to play for the national championship...WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM".

[Avvesione]

Please tell me how every game matters in college ootball when after the first week...

Cal and Arkansas are still in contention to the national title. They could've just given up but they're still fighting. Plus teams play to make it into minor bowls for those 15 extra practices to get better. They also play the spoiler role (see Oregon State and Arkansas) for teams like USC and Auburn. Just because they lose and automatically aren't in the national championship game doesn't mean the season is a failure.

It's good that teams that struggled in the early part of the season can rebound, make it to a bowl and end the year with a win. Better then have 15 teams lose and about 5 more bitching about not being in the playoffs.

[Byrd]

Please tell me how every game matters in college ootball when after the first week, 50% of division 1A schools have nothing to play for?

It matters for what bowl you play in, which has direct impacts on the school financially and recruiting. I'm sorry, a team who was middle of their conference doesn't deserve to play for the national title. Can they go to the Independence Bowl? Sure, that's a nice reward for a decent season. Championship? No thanks. Unless you qualify the championship as the only thing that matters.

The regular season matters for 2-5 schools who go undefeated into december. Who gives a flying fuck if the best teams don't play for the chamionship. They don't in every other sport.

That's a good point, but that's one of the strengths of college football, in my opinion. To have a shot at the national title, you have to be one of the best all year. Not hot at the end of the year. You will never have the fourth place team from the Big 10 battling the third place team from the SEC East for the national title.

Why is it we root for the underdog in every single sport except college football? "George Mason going to the final four, HELL YES, that's awesome." "Wildcard team going to World Series, ALL RIGHT!, Marlins beat the yankees". "Rutgers might have a chance to play for the national championship...WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM".

I don't think anyone in this thread is saying Rutgers shouldn't have a shot. The fact that the system is currently set up so they won't is a problem if they go undefeated, in my opinion. One of the strengths of college football is its simplicity. Win them all and you're in. Win them all but one and you might have a shot is fine with me. Lose 3 and finish 4th in your conference? No thanks, here -- have a Sun Bowl trip.

While I enjoy March Madness and it's a hell of a lot of fun, I don't want to see a tournament that inclusive in any other sport. The NBA and NHL playoffs have too many teams, although I think baseball and football are closer to being right. I don't want to see college football become another March Madness (although I would assuredly watch most every game and have a lot of fun doing so).

There is no perfect system, and never will be. The only thing you can really determine is who is better on this field today (and even that's sometimes in question, ask Sooner fans about Oregon or Seahawks fans about the Super Bowl).

[Tyche]

Theres maybe 3 bowls that teams actually give a shit about, anything less than that, and its a failure. "Oh but there the garden state bowl!"...yeah, who cares about that besides the university making the little bit of money. Fact still remains that after 3-4 college football games, the regular season is meaningless for 95% of schools in 1A. Its funny that people argue that college basketball seasons are meaningless, but oh the drama of when those seeds are released on selection sunday. Only reason for most 1A's to continue to play tough is for rival games. Implement a 8-16 team playoff. Assign seedings/byes for the best teams, and watch magic happen. The current lose 1 game and your out is not a strength. How is it a strengtch when by midseason 90% of the college games don't matter...If you think student athletes really care about the sun bowl against south florida, you're mistaking. The presidents love the bowl system because they make money, and they don't want to change it because they don't want to admit failure. Then they try to pass off the whole "well, we can't implement a playoff because it would hurt them as students..." Yeah, they really care about the student side of the ball.

[Byrd]

Fact still remains that after 3-4 college football games, the regular season is meaningless for 95% of schools in 1A.

That's only a fact if you only give a shit about the championship game. And unless you belong to a school that's very consistently in the top 10, you have different expectations.

The perception of success in college football is more dependent on the success of the regular season than any other sport. The Colts went 13-0 to start the season last year and lost two of their last three (one of those by sitting their starters). The 2001 Seattle Mariners went 116-46 and tied the major league record for wins in a season. Both of those teams are considered failures because they did not win their respective championships.

In college football, an unheralded Oregon State team that goes 10-1 in the regular season and wins a BCS bowl game, finishing 4th in the country, is a success. A traditionally horrible Oregon State team that goes 3-8 but beats its arch rival in the final game to keep them from going to a bowl game ... is a success. College football is also the only sport where half the teams win their final game. I love college football for its differences.

I would vote for a playoff, but on a very small scale. January Madness? No thanks.

[Tyche]

Heres the best i can sum it up. A division 1A player. So yeah, after 3-4 games, college football season means nothing to most schools. "Every game counts!"

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2405/morrnv0.jpg

[Byrd]

Heres the best i can sum it up. A division 1A player. So yeah, after 3-4 games, college football season means nothing to most schools. "Every game counts!"

1) What school does this player play for?

2) In a previous post, you mentioned you were a Louisville alum. As far as I know, Louisville has never been to a Top 4 bowl game (could be wrong). Are you saying that you consider every football season Louisville has ever played to be a failure (barring a big bowl game I may have missed)? That seems very masochistic to me to think that way.

[Tyche]

Yes i do, and that's because until last year, louisville was in conference USA, which isnt a BCS conference. They didnt even give themselves a chance. Noone at louisivlle (i went to school there) gave a shit about the football program until a few years ago when the announced they were going to the big east. They went to bowls while in C-USA (but not BCS bowls). They played in a bowl against marshall when byron leftwich ws there. Noone gave a fuck. And that player played for penn state.

Edit: Next year louisivlle is getting chris simms brother!

[Byrd]

Yes i do, and that's because until last year, louisville was in conference USA, which isnt a BCS conference. They didnt even give themselves a chance. Noone at louisivlle (i went to school there) gave a shit about the football program until a few years ago when the announced they were going to the big east. They went to bowls while in C-USA (but not BCS bowls). They played in a bowl against marshall when byron leftwich ws there. Noone gave a fuck. And that player played for penn state.

Different programs have different standards for success. Penn State may be one of those schools (esp. in light last year's success) where they believe fully that it's BCS or bust. After last night's game, I can see why you'd be down on the season, but I simply can't imagine finishing 11-1 and going to a Jan 1 bowl game would be a failure.

I was attending Oregon State in 2000 when they went 11-1, beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, and finished fourth in the nation. They lost their only game by missing a 45-yard FG in the pouring win and rain on the road against the team that finished #3 in the country (Damn you, UW!). They didn't win the national title, but clearly a successful season. Louisville looks to have a similar year this year, I can't fathom calling that a failure. But that's just me.

Btw, who gets the Big East BCS berth if there is a three way tie at one loss between Rutgers, Louisville and WVU, or is the tiebreaker still yet to be determined?

[Tyche]

Its BCS bowl or bust. I can't fathom going an entire season with a single loss or undefeated (Or auburn of 2004) and not having a chance at winning a national title.

[Avvesione]

Its BCS bowl or bust. I can't fathom going an entire season with a single loss or undefeated (Or auburn of 2004) and not having a chance at winning a national title.

So I guess the only games you'll watch this saturday are Ohio State and Northwestern and Michigan and Indiana? Obviously those are the only games that matter for the national championship.

You live in a sad world of college football if all you ever care about is the championship.

[Avvesione]

I was attending Oregon State in 2000 when they went 11-1, beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, and finished fourth in the nation. They lost their only game by missing a 45-yard FG in the pouring win and rain on the road against the team that finished #3 in the country (Damn you, UW!).

I totally forgot that OSU finished 4th that season. Only games I remember that season were when Miami came to Seattle and when Curtis Williams (our safety) suffered a concusion at Stanford (when they were good) and got taken off the field in an ambulence. I still have my C-Dub jersey and I plan on wearing it tomorrow when we play against Stanford.

[Tyche]

Its BCS bowl or bust. I can't fathom going an entire season with a single loss or undefeated (Or auburn of 2004) and not having a chance at winning a national title.

So I guess the only games you'll watch this saturday are Ohio State and Northwestern and Michigan and Indiana? Obviously those are the only games that matter for the national championship.

You live in a sad world of college football if all you ever care about is the championship.

I'll watch any game that could have national champioship implications. That could be number 1-10 teams. Who gives a shit who wins out of WVU and cinci, or wisconsin vs Iowa. WVU has no chance of effecting the title race. It's not just a sad little world of college football i live in, we all live in it. Like i said, its a crying shame when a team can lose a single game, maybe due to an injury, or just a bad day...or hell, even go undefeated in the almighty SEC, and still not have a shot to play for the national chamionship. I care about the other teams, i think wisconsin is the best team noone is talking about, i think rutgers has talent, louisville has talent. On a good day any of the top 10 teams could beat each other, but we never get to see it. If you think the current system is fine, im really speechless.

[archibaldcrane]

Excluding all the BCS bowls except for the one that happens to be the national championship bowl makes it sound like you're...just not a big college football fan. Besides the fact that the Badgers are my team, the UW/Iowa game can have BCS implications - UW is #15 in the BCS - if they get into the top 12, they're BCS-able. Considering they're likely to tie for #2 in the Big Ten, with their only loss coming to quite possibly the best team in the nation (Michigan), I'd say they have a BCS shot.

No, it won't be a national championship-critical game (unless you get way into the computers and figure that a UW win further helps Michigan's strength of schedule if they lose to Ohio State but still have an outside shot of being the one-loss team in the final game) but it definitely could have BCS implications for UW.

[Tyche]

I said BCS bowl or bust. I love love love college football, but there are 10 teams top to bottom almost every year that can take the title on any given night. They don't get the chance. Don't mistake my dismay for the BCS to be a shot against college football. I believe ive said how much it pains me to see such talented programs such as Wisconsin, Wake, Rutgers, Louisville, all of which i believe could go toe to toe with top 10 teams, get ousted because they don't have a storied football history or the schedule they made five years ago proved to be worthless this year or they have a bad game, or get an injury. One bad game fucks it up, and that sucks. Tell me you wouldnt be excited to see wisconsin play in a tournament and given a chance play some big time programs. Im just baffled by everyone thinking that every regular season game counting (until you lose) is good for football, and that only the top 2 teams should be given a chance to be national champs.

[Avvesione]

I said BCS bowl or bust. I love love love college football, but there are 10 teams top to bottom almost every year that can take the title on any given night. They don't get the chance. Don't mistake my dismay for the BCS to be a shot against college football. I believe ive said how much it pains me to see such talented programs such as Wisconsin, Wake, Rutgers, Louisville, all of which i believe could go toe to toe with top 10 teams, get ousted because they don't have a storied football history or the schedule they made five years ago proved to be worthless this year or they have a bad game, or get an injury. One bad game fucks it up, and that sucks. Tell me you wouldnt be excited to see wisconsin play in a tournament and given a chance play some big time programs. Im just baffled by everyone thinking that every regular season game counting (until you lose) is good for football, and that only the top 2 teams should be given a chance to be national champs.

It's only one game in a season of 1460 games. If you don't think about the national championship or the BCS, then college football is the best sport. I couldn't care less if Ohio State should win or if West Virgina does. The fact that I can follow my team and my confence is what makes Fall fun and exciting.

And of the national championships of the past 8 years (how long the BCS has been around) I've only watched Tennessee vs. Flordia State, Oklahoma vs. Flordia State, and USC vs. Texas.

[Plow]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CATS!!!!!!!

Yamon Figurs is GOD lol

It's kinda sad though how when K-State has these awesome games that are huuuuge for us, it's always at the worst possible time for the Big XII. First we slaughter the OU team that many were calling the best college football team ever and knock them out of the national championship, now Texas gets lucky enough to get a shot despite a loss, and it looks like same thing

[Akiyama]

Ok this is kinda funny. Florida barely escapes South Caroline, Auburn gets crushed, California lost I think?.. now Texas? Plus Louisville earlier this week.. so that's 3, 4 (If Texas loses) 5, and 9 losing. Wtf is the BCS going to look like? Is Rutgers going to be in the Top 5?!

[Plow]

ahahaha 42-21 the route is on

[Akiyama]

They still have time though, so ya never know.

Also.. Oregon playing USC right now. Let's see if they can get the win. Btw.. I know the loss of that player for Miami was heartbreaking, but seriously... lolMiami, lolFSU. both 5-5.. both coaches looking to get fired. (Even though firing Bobby Bowden may not be a wise decision..)