The College Football Thread

2 Ohio State has just fallen short against unranked Penn State.

EDIT: The Nittany Lions are now ranked for the first time in almost five years.

edited 23rd Oct '16 12:30:38 PM by GrafVonTirol

and despite the way Ohio State lost, the loss that probably stung its fans the most today was Texas Tech losing to Oklahoma, who was led by former Tech QB Baker Mayfield.

This is despite QB Patrick Mahomes accounting for 819 yards of total offense (an NCAA record), 734 of which were through the air (tying an NCAA record). Not to mention being responsible for 100 offensive plays (another NCAA record) 88 passing attempts (1 short of tying the NCAA record),and 52 completions, breaking a Big 12 record which was held by...his own coach Kliff Kingsbury, back when he played ball at Texas Tech.

edited 23rd Oct '16 12:25:44 AM by NoChorus

Five undefeated teams remain: Alabama, Michigan, Clemson, Washington and Western Michigan.

Four of them took a tumble over the past week, including both of the remaining undefeated Big XII teams. Also worth noting is Boise State, who lost to Wyoming on a safety(!).

And the College Football Playoff race gets shaken up as Pittsburgh beats Clemson 43-42 in Death Valley

... they actually Clemsoned this time. As in 'this isn't a ranked team they just lost to'. Just the Clemsoning as it was always meant to mean. Louisville's not looking so hot either so far.

EDIT: Looks like Washington's going down (DAMMIT! ) and Iowa seems on the verge of upsetting Michigan.

edited 12th Nov '16 7:42:58 PM by GrafVonTirol

And now we have our conference championships before the playoffs:

• ACC: (3)Clemson vs. (23)Virginia Tech
• Big Ten: (6)Wisconsin vs. (7)Penn State^note Owns the head-to-head tiebreaker vs (2)Ohio State
• Pac-16: (4)Washington vs. (8)Colorado (who'd've thought that would happen?)
• SEC: (1)Alabama vs. (15)Florida

The Big XII also has (9)Oklahoma vs. (10)Oklahoma State, but with four Big Ten teams ranked higher than they are, and Colorado would still be ahead should they win, it's safe to say the conference is out of the Playoff picture, with the Sugar Bowl the best they can hope for unless one blows out the other.

And now we have the New Year's Six:

• Peach Bowl: (1)Alabama vs. (4)Washington (We want Bama, so we got Bama! Also, a Pac-12 vs. SEC bowl matchup we all clamor for)
• Fiesta Bowl: (2)Clemson vs. (3)Ohio State (the only non-champion participant of the playoff)
• Rose Bowl: (5)Penn State vs. (9)USC (a fitting matchup given both redeemed themselves after a shaky start)
• Orange Bowl: (6)Michigan vs. (11)Florida State (Because Louisville laid an egg (pardon the pun) towards the end of the year)
• Sugar Bowl: (7)Oklahoma vs. (14)Auburn (this is the next-highest ranked SEC team. Not a single team there besides Bama with fewer than four losses)
• Cotton Bowl: (8)Wisconsin vs. (15)Western Michigan (the sole undefeated G5)

edited 4th Dec '16 12:08:51 PM by GrafVonTirol

Two days from kick-off, starting with the match between Oregon State and Colorado State's at the latter's brand new on-campus stadium.

And last year's champion Clemson is ranked #5 by both AP and the Coaches' Poll.

As for the Pac-12, it's looking to be Washington and USC predicted to take their divisions, and it looks to be a competition between Jake Browning and Sam Darnold.

Of course aready we have a few coaching changes, with the legendary Bob Stoops retiring in the summer and Ole Miss's Hugh Freeze resigning in the wake of not only a possible load of recruiting violations, but also using his company cell phone for escort services (oops).

edited 24th Aug '17 6:14:09 PM by GrafVonTirol

Preseason predictions for Syracuse Football. I’m just making things up at the spur of the moment so don’t pay too much attention to the scores.

August 31: Syracuse 55, Liberty 10

September 7: Syracuse 28, Maryland, 20

September 14: Clemson 35, Syracuse 27

September 21: Syracuse 42, Western Michigan 21

September 28: Syracuse 63, Holy Cross 10

October 10: NC State 24, Syracuse 21

October 18: Pittsburgh 17, Syracuse 14

October 26: Florida State 23, Syracuse 21

November 2: Syracuse 35, BC 28

November 16: Duke 24, Syracuse 20

November 23: Syracuse 28, Louisville 17

November 30: Syracuse 35, Wake Forest 21

New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Syracuse 17, Northwestern 10

Congratulations to Syracuse on their season-opening victory against Liberty.

This road win washes away the agony of their last game in the state of Virginia. In October of 2015, Syracuse had the Virginia Cavilers right where they wanted them. However, a holding penalty allowed the Cavaliers to continue their game-tying drive and then win in overtime. I fully beleive that without that holding penalty, Syracuse would have won and that single extra victory would have saved Scott Shafer’s job. For all we know, 2019 could have been Shafer’s 7th season as head ball coach at Syracuse if not for that dang holding penalty.

I was unable to see the Syracuse-Liberty game as it was on ESPN+, which I don’t have nor do I want. During the Syracuse-Liberty game I saw the Denver Outlaws pulverize the Boston Cannons in Major League Lacrosse action on Comcast Sports New England and I saw the beginning of the Michigan-Middle Tennesse football game on The Big 10 Network (I was born on the University Of Michigan’s on-campus hospital).

As somebody whose universe revolves around Syracuse, it goes without saying how much it irritates me that Comcast does not carry the ACC Network but does carry the official networks of The Big Ten, The SEC and the Pac-12. Th Big-12 does not have a TV network and as long as the Texas Longhorns have their own TV channel, I doubt the Big-12 ever will.

Unfortunately, when the ACC got their own TV network, they seem to have gotten rid of their digital network so we can no longer stream free ACC games through ESPN 3. For now ACC games will be limited to the ACC TV network and the paid subscription service ESPN+.

There’s more to Syracuse than jsut football so I want to congratulate Syracuse Women’s Soccer for beating Siena on Thursday and Syracuse Field Hockey for beating Vermont on Friday. Syracuse Men’s Soccer lost to Georgetown on Friday.

Syracuse faces Maryland in College Park on Saturday. Liberty faces Lousiana in their first post-Syracuse game. Clemson faces Texas A&M in the Tiger’s final pre-Syracuse game.

Doc Louis said in the Wii version of Punch Out: “Every Loss Is A Small Victory”.

Syracuse football was so awful in their first two nationally televised games of 2019. I left Thursday Night’s game just pleased that the Orange showed a reasonable level of competence.

My preseaon predictions included a NC State victory so I don’t call Thursday Night a bad loss as the Maryland game certainly was. Before the season I called a Pittsburgh victory but it would hardly be a huge upset if the Orange win on Friday. The extra win would cancel out the bad loss against Maryland and Cuse would still be on track to get to 7-5 and participate in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

Even though Pittsburgh is 4-2, Syracuse played well enough in the second half against NC State to show they can compete with the Panthers.

A humble plea to Syracuse football: don’t enter the field in fog. That’s Miami Hurricanes schtick. Come up woth your own material.

For the second consecutive week, a strong 2nd half performance can’t compensate for a lackluster 1st half. The Pittsburgh game may not have went the way Syracuse fans wanted but when Syracuse went into the locker room at halftime trailing 24-6, not many expected Syracuse to outscore Pitt 14-3 in the second half. This uneven style of play is not ideal but it’s better than 2 weeks of being consistently terrible against Maryland and Clemson.

Syracuse has to win 3 of their last 5 games to make a bowl game. They probably have to win 4 of their last 5 to live up to Street & Smith’s preseason prediction of an invite to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Luckily for Syracuse, Wake Forest is the only one of their final 5 opponents that is doing particularly well at this point. Some people expected the October 26 game between Syracuse and Florida State would determine who’s 2nd in the ACC Atlantic: it’s turned out to be a battle to avoid the ACC Atlantic cellar.

Clayton Welch showed promise in the Pitt game but it’s too early to even think about bailing on Tommy Devitto. Eric Dungee didn’t truly show his capabilities until senior year and I think Devitto is similarly gearing up for an explosive senior year in 2021.

I was surprised the first Pitt touch down was legitimate as I remember Ryan Nassib was penalized in the 2010 Uconn game for passing twice on the same play. I guess the offense can pass twice it’s just the quarterback who can’t pass twice on the same play.

At one point a Pittsburgh defensive player seemed to slam a Syracuse player headfirst into the ground. It reminded me of the wrestling move Jerry Lawler pulled on Andy Kaufman in “Man On The Moon”. That’s amusing to see in a Syracuse game as I saw “Man On The Moon” in a Syracuse-area cinema.

I’m really looking forward to Thursday. Not because of Halloween or the release of Luigi’s Mansion 3: I just want this month of lousy Syracuse football to finally be over.

Unlike the 1977 New York Yankees there was no Mr. October on Syracuse’s roster. At least the NC State and Pitt games came down to the wire, the Florida State game was over before the 3rd quarter ended. Syracuse outscored Pitt in the second half 14-3 but Syracuse merely tied Florida State in second half points 14-14.

After falling for a flea flicker play last week, Syracuse today was fooled by a creative Florida State strategy that had at least 3 passes on the same play. It’s further proof that this Halloween season has been about opponents getting treated and Syracuse getting tricked.

Next Saturday, Syracuse faces Boston College in the Orange’s first conference football game on the ACC Network. Syracuse is 2-0 on the Network after victories against Western Michigan and Holy Cross. I certainly hope the ACC Network continues to bring good luck to Syracuse because the Orange need to win 3 of their 4 November games to make a bowl game.

Ever since Syracuse joined the ACC, I wanted to see the Orange beat a conference foe in the big 3 sports. Lo and behold: Syracuse Men's Basketball beat Duke on January 14, Syracuse Men's Lacrosse beat Duke on March 24 and Syracuse football beat Duke on November 16.

Yesterday's victory meant 2005 is still the last time Syracuse failed to achieve a single conference victory. With Duke's defeat, there are only 3 teams that have not endured an ACC conference loss to Syracuse: Georgia Tech (who faces Syracuse in 2020), Virginia and Miami. Syracuse is still rock bottom of the Atlantic Division but Georgia Tech is now worst in the conference with only 1 conference win and 2 wins overall.

I'm still hopeful that Syracuse can pull off two wins to make a bowl game in 2019 but it won't be easy: this upcoming Saturday they face Louisville, the only Atlantic division team besides Clemson with a winning record in conference play.

I finally got around to creating a page for the NCAA Football series. I got a decent start on the trope examples list, but I'm sure there are tons more to add. If anyone who played the series can think of any, please add them!

It's been a while since this thread was last active, but there's a pretty major development lately.

With USC and UCLA both joining the Big Ten, it appears that the Pac-12 is dead (I hate that there's a great geographic discrepancy and a disregard of tradition with that move, but good riddance to such an ineptly-run organization if you ask me). The coastal AAU schools (Oregon, Washington, both Bay Area schools) would likely follow where the pay is better, the Mountain Time teams (Colorado, Utah, both Arizona schools) have a possible out avenue in the Big XII (since BYU will be there, it would be a mutually beneficial move). Washington State and Oregon State... tough to say, they may be out of luck.

And the ACC may get raided by stronger conferences around them since they too have a pretty lousy media deal compared to what the Big Ten and SEC have to offer.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Jul 1st 2022 at 10:28:45 AM

Are we seeing a crystallization of a class system in CFB? Even beyond the formal Divisions, I mean.

Edited by megarockman on Jul 1st 2022 at 2:35:35 PM

As a graduate of a member school (U. of Washington) I'm glad the Pac-8/10/12 has kept changing its name to reflect its number of teams, unlike other conferences I could name.

Edited by MDLuder on Jul 3rd 2022 at 5:41:40 AM

And now it appears that Colorado will be rejoining the Big 12. From what I understand, media deal talks within the Pac-12 have been stalling, plus I don't think that there really is an adequate replacement for UCLA and USC to begin with. It's only a matter of time before the conference completely implodes thanks to years of ineptitude.

EDIT: And now we add Washington and Oregon to the Big Ten.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Aug 4th 2023 at 11:24:52 AM

Also, Arizona, and likely Utah and Arizona State to the Big 12 as well. [1]

As a Washington grad it sucks that they lost, but considering they had a losing record all five years I was there it's pretty damn good they made it at all. Hopefully one bad game doesn't derail Penix's career. Couple thoughts on next year:

1. They'll be in the same conference as Penn State, my dad's alma mater, and they've only met three times. Their only regular season matchup was in 1921, and they also met in the 1983 Aloha Bowl an 2017 Fiesta Bowl. Penn State won all three times, so Washington has a first ahead of them.

2. One odd thing about Oregon State and Washington State being the only teams to go down with the Pac-12 ship is they're the only pair of northwest Pac-12 teams that never had much of a rivalry.