The 2020-21 College Football Thread

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

And how many games would be lost permanently if they miss 2020-21 -- and how many of those bowls will actually be missed?

 

By G5 teams who have no realistic chance of sniffing a 'major' bowl game? Pretty much all of them, I'd wager.

[unclevlad]

16 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

And has there even been word on whether the lower-tier bowl games are going forward? Since the main point of these games is tourist exposure for the host cities and travel is unwise, we could probably do without them. And how many games wouold be lost permanently if they miss 2020-21 -- and how many of those bowls will actually be missed?

 

There are at least 5 cancelled already:  Sun Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Redbox Bowl (cancelled way back in June), Bahamas Bowl, and Hawaii Bowl.  The New Mexico Bowl has to be in grave doubt;  we are just now coming out of a 2 week broad shutdown.

 

How many will be missed by fans?  Not many;  the few games where one has direct, rooting interest perhaps.  But even then, this year, ya gotta figure a fair chunk of fans aren't as interested as usual.  But they do tend to be notable charity foci, so that will be felt in those cities.

 

EDIT:  Correction...7 cancelled.  
https://dknation.draftkings.com/2020/11/30/21753217/2020-bowl-games-list-schedule-canceled-games-college-football-playoff-conference-tie-ins-results

 

Quick Lane Bowl and, the biggest so far, the Holiday Bowl.

[Pariah]

Report: Liberty might not receive bowl bid

 

Summary: Liberty University could finish the season 10-1 (with two wins over P5 programs) and not receive a bowl bid because they have no conference affiliation.

[Starlord]

Give them a Bowl game, or give them death.

[unclevlad]

26 minutes ago, Starlord said:

Give them a Bowl game, or give them death.

 

I know which one I'd prefer.

[Michael Hopcroft]

3 hours ago, Pariah said:

Report: Liberty might not receive bowl bid

 

Summary: Liberty University could finish the season 10-1 (with two wins over P5 programs) and not receive a bowl bid because they have no conference affiliation.

Isn't that the Fallwell's school?

[Pariah]

It is indeed. When they started their athletic program, specifically their football program, their stated goal was to become to Evangelical Christians what Notre Dame is to Catholics and what BYU is to Latter-day Saints.

[unclevlad]

Yep, and they have the size and presumably endowments to make a run.  Believe it or not, they're the single largest university in the country;  they claim over 100,000 enrolled, other sites show 80,000...but that's still the largest.  And they're private, and NOT cheap.  There are larger systems;  University of California comes to mind.  But that's the largest single school.

[Badger]

3 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Isn't that the Fallwell's school?

 

In VA here

 

My former workplace actually does a lot of business with the university.

[Michael Hopcroft]

3 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Yep, and they have the size and presumably endowments to make a run.  Believe it or not, they're the single largest university in the country;  they claim over 100,000 enrolled, other sites show 80,000...but that's still the largest.  And they're private, and NOT cheap.  There are larger systems;  University of California comes to mind.  But that's the largest single school.

But I can't imagine their academic reputation being as high as Notre Dame's or BYU's. And I would hate to see what passes for their science curriculum -- how wedded are they to Young Earth Creationism?

 

Still, I can;t help but remember that the principal of my integrated high school was a Bob Jones alumnus. This was back in 1980.

[Pariah]

Liberty University has a medical school. I have a nephew who's studying there right now. 

[unclevlad]

Interesting article about the Southwest Conference and its...issues.

 

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30424417/i-wishof-well-demise-southwest-conference-25-years-later

 

 

[Pariah]

...and some of these same issues have now carried into to Big XII. The three good football schools--Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech--joined the Big 8 along with Baylor. That league did fine for a number of years...or so it seemed. The old jealousy was still there, only now Oklahoma was part of it, too. TAMU took the first opportunity that come along to ditch Texas and bolted for the $EC along with...Missouri? Okay, then. This destroyed two generations-old rivalries in Texas-Texas A&M and Missouri-Kansas. Nebraska bade the conference adieu and jumped across the river to the B1G, destroying the classic Oklahoma-Nebraska rivalry (and effectively eliminating the only relevant program in the Big XII North). Colorado basically started printing the PAC logo on its letterhead the moment that conference announced it was seeking expansion; CU had long believed they had more in conference with the California schools than those in the Midwest. The PAC was also reportedly looking at adding Oklahoma, Texas, and a couple of others, which would have effectively killed the conference. To staunch the bleeding, the Big XII brought in TCU and...West Virginia? They briefly flirted with another round of expansion, titillating the likes of BYU, Boise State, and Air Force before ultimately deciding to stand pat...once they got a waiver from the NCAA to hold a championship game with only 10 teams.

 

And thus it has remained to this day. Oklahoma remains the de facto king of the Big XII, a fact that Texas can't bring itself to recognize. They still have dreams of glory, or at least relevance. As for the rest? Well, they occasionally have good years (except Kansas, which exists only for basketball), but in general the conference is pretty mediocre. They seem to be in a heated competition with the aforementioned PAC for the crown of Least Powerful Power 5 Conference. It's a fair bet that when the current grant of rights agreement expires in 2025, Oklahoma and Texas are out of there. This will either kill the conference outright, forcing schools like Iowa State to find new homes (the MAC, maybe?), or lead to an expansion that will further dilute the talent pool and turn the Big XII into the latter-day equivalent of the Big East (in terms of football, anyway).

 

The Big XII is like a traffic accident in progress. It's horrifying, but you can't help watching it anyway.

[unclevlad]

I think it's more fair to say it's ACC (read, basically, Clemson) and SEC, in terms of the CFP.  Last 6 years:

 

SEC:  7 (Alabama 5, LSU, Georgia)

ACC:  6 (Clemson 5, FSU)

Big 10:  4 (OSU 3, Mich State)

Big 12:  4 (Oklahoma)

Pac 12:  2 (Oregon, Washington)

Notre Dame 1

 

Even that's a little misleading;  there's been no year where the SEC champ wasn't a lock.  The ACC is Clemson and the Minnows, mostly.  I think the Big 10 and Big 12 are more or less equivalent;  they both have to play their way in.  Depth is suspect in both, too.  The Big 12 gets the "no D conference" knock;  the Big 10 is IMO overrated.  The Pac 12 is no better than several mid-majors...in both football and basketball.  Which is weird to me;  you'd expect both to be better.

 

If Texas wants to leave...to go where?  The SEC and ACC are already too big, IMO, altho of course they'll never think that.  But there are already notable scheduling issues with these massive conferences.  Would Texas even *want* to be in the SEC, where they'd be no better than about the #4 school in football (Alabama, Georgia, LSU or Florida)?  Pac 12 is a terrible geographic fit;  I think absorbing Colorado and Utah hurt them already, much less Texas and perhaps Oklahoma.  I also doubt they'd be a good cultural fit.  Same arguments apply to Oklahoma.

 

[Cancer]

As someone who was at Texas '78 to '86, nothing I read there surprises me.  I note that article omits that among the SMU board that continued making illegal payments to athletes was Bill Clements, who would get elected governor of Texas later, and lost a re-election bid partly due to that scandal (and partly due to the Ixtoc I oil well blowout in the Gulf, because the well had been one of his, though he had nothing to do with it when the blowout happened).  But he would be re-elected later. 

[Starlord]

Michigan AD blasts ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit for suggesting Wolverines might try and avoid Ohio State

 

I generally like Herbstreit, but this was an irresponsible claim on his part

[Pariah]

Liberty University had to withdraw from its Saturday game against Coastal Carolina due to COVID issues, so BYU will make the 2200-mile trip and play there instead.

 

This will make BYU's second game on non-standard turf this season. Boise State has its (in)famous blue turf, of course. Coastal Carolina's turf is . . . well, different.

 

[unclevlad]

6 hours ago, Starlord said:

Michigan AD blasts ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit for suggesting Wolverines might try and avoid Ohio State

 

I generally like Herbstreit, but this was an irresponsible claim on his part

 

Yeah...that's pretty bush-league.  Herbstreit's had a few of those.

 

On other college football news

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30444422/knight-commission-endorses-fbs-split-ncaa

 

This would be radical;  I also give it little or no chance to succeed, both in the sense that I don't think the separation will occur, and that if it does, the logistics of universities trying to serve 2 masters will be untenable.

[Badger]

8 hours ago, Starlord said:

Michigan AD blasts ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit for suggesting Wolverines might try and avoid Ohio State

 

I generally like Herbstreit, but this was an irresponsible claim on his part

It isnt his year.

[unclevlad]

Well we knew the coronavirus is turning the world upside down...and today we have proof.

 

The Rice Owls beat a *ranked team* today...decisively, even.  20-0.  Marshall threw 5 picks.  From ESPN Stats:

 

- First win vs ranked opponent since 1997 (BYU)

- First road win vs ranked opponent since 1991 (Baylor)

- First shutout of ranked opponent since 1960 (Texas)

 

Meanwhile, the Pac 12 continues to swirl down the bowl...and not a good type of bowl....  3 teams ranked;  USC plays tomorrow.  Oregon and Washington both lost;  Washington lost at home.

[Pariah]

BYU played their impromptu game against the Coastal Carolina today and lost by two yards.

[Iuz the Evil]

OU clinched their berth in the Big XII Championship today against Iowa State (who clinched their berth as well). 

 

That should be a good one. Iowa State doesn't suck.

[unclevlad]

9 hours ago, Iuz the Evil said:

OU clinched their berth in the Big XII Championship today against Iowa State (who clinched their berth as well). 

 

That should be a good one. Iowa State doesn't suck.

 

 

Proof positive that the coronavirus has upended the proper order of the universe.

 

The Coastal Carolina stop was replayed quite a bit.  HECK of a play by the defense.  Nothing personal, Mr. P, but ya gotta love CCU's team name.  Chanticleers forever! 

[Pariah]

...and watching the game on the teal field was not as disorienting as I had feared. Certainly better than Eastern Michigan (grey), Eastern Washington (red), or Central Arkansas (alternating grey and purple).

 

In terms of the game itself, it was a hard-fought contest. The Chanticleers beat BYU the same way BYU has been beating everyone else this year: they dominated the line of scrimmage. Zach Wilson faced more pressure than he had all year, in the BYU defense had no answer for Coastal's running game.

 

The result takes BYU right out of the conversation for a New Year's Six bowl game, I expect. (If they were ever seriously in contention for one.) I don't know if Coastal is in serious contention for such a game or not. A dominant win in their conference championship would certainly help.

 

One projection I saw today has BYU playing Liberty in the Birmingham Bowl. That could be a good game. BYU and Liberty had some history together.

 

(And BYU has played in a bowl game in Birmingham before. They played in the All-American Bowl one year when I was in the Cougar marching band. It was a crazy trip, about 36 hours total.)

[unclevlad]

The color intensity is what kills me with Boise State or Eastern Washington.  That teal wasn't overly saturated.  Central Arkansas'...I think you owe everyone an apology.  Those of us who've seen it have tried to forget it.  Those who haven't, will feel the need to look it up.  Don't, folks.  Trust me on this.  You risk permanent vision damage.

 

I suspect they'll give BYU a fairly good bowl, for being good soldiers.  Coastal should get a very good bowl;  they actually have a good case for best Group of Five team.  It still remains to be seen whether even the big bowl games will get played;  a serious lockdown is in effect in the LA area through Christmas, triggered by the severe shortage of ICU beds.  I believe this puts the Rose Bowl on shaky grounds;  what's called "Los Angeles" is actually a kind of confusing morass of jurisdictions.