College Football 2023-2024

[Pariah]

3500 for a basketball game is a decent crowd, I suppose ... in the West Coast Conference, which averages a bit over 4700 per arena in capacity.

 

You know, maybe Cal and Stanford should put their Olympic sports in the WCC and play football as independents. It worked reasonably well for that school that just joined the Big XII. 

[unclevlad]

Huh.  Big rules change for college football.  No more stopping the clock on first down, outside the last 2 minutes of each half.  The change is explicitly targeted to shorten the game and reduce the number of plays.  That's likely to have a big impact.  Figure that, let's say, 1/2 the first downs would be under running-clock conditions;  others would have the ball going OB.  Maybe 20 times a game?  At even 15 seconds per, that's 5 extra minutes.  

 

That means those 17 point 4th quarter turnarounds will be much harder to pull off.  Working the middle of the field for 10-15 yard gains was extremely time-efficient, when the clock stopped on those first downs.  Flip side, it'll be easier for an offense to run off larger chunks of clock when ahead.

 

It will also help with length of game, another goal.  College games did take *forever* quite often...many pushed 4 hours.

[Pariah]

I'm not usually a big Notre Dame fan, but after the disgraceful way Navy fired Ken Niumatalolo at the end of last season, I'm not too upset to see them getting blown out.

[unclevlad]

Eh, I think it's an AD with delusions of grandeur.  I predict he doesn't last 5 years.

 

Insofar as the timekeeping change...one game can't give us much, unless it's dramatic.  This could well be dramatic.  50 total plays for Navy.  57 total games for ND.  That's all...not even 110 total, from scrimmage.  Something to watch, for sure.

[Pariah]

One of the games available locally is UMass versus New Mexico State, with NMSU wearing black jerseys at home.

 

Google tells me the current temperature in Las Cruces is 95° fahrenheit.

 

Tangentially, C-USA should just go ahead and bring UConn and UMass into the conference.

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Pariah

[unclevlad]

That's not a local, that's the national game.  The only ESPN game today.

 

Google does not tell you the whole story.  The wide shots give you more of an idea, but not the whole thing.  They do show the paucity of attendance...but the why there is the same, to a degree.  Or too many degrees. 

 

Yeah, I could be there.  I passed.  AIR temp is low 90s.  STADIUM temp is a different story.  Aggie Memorial is 100% CONCRETE.  The benches you see are steel.  It is MUCH, MUCH hotter in that stadium than what the various weather stations might be reporting.  Dunno what the on-field temp might be;  I did attend a few games back in the day, but I never got down to the field.   BTW, yes, it also means it's just as uncomfortable as you might think.

 

BTW, most games start later than this;  up through at least mid-September, things haven't cooled off materially at 5.  Games typically start more like 6 until much later in the season.

 

The other scourge of early season football is delaying Hawai'i vs. Vandy...yeah, I'm sure you're waiting for this one with baited breath.  Lightning in the area.

[unclevlad]

Just for grins...play counts.  

UTEP-JState:  136

Ohio-SDSU:  142...Ohio was 26-52 passing, and incomplete passes still stop the clock.

UMass-NSMU:  119...in a 41-30 contest.

 

The story in The Athletic said the average for FBS last year was 178 plays per game.

 

USC-SJSU is at 127 with 3 minutes left, and no doubt about the outcome.  Not really likely to have a lot more plays there.  The other 2 games are still in the 3rd.

 

EDIT:  they're over.  FIU vs. La Tech...127 plays.  Of note?  83-44 La Tech in plays run.  La Tech threw 44 passes;  FIU, 14.  Note that Ohio ran a ton more plays than San Diego State, with many incompletions.
Hawai'i-Vandy, 116 plays, including 65 passes.

So it may not be passing per se, but the style of passing.  Outside, even swing passes to backs, that'll end up out of bounds, that team can likely run a high number of plays.  But the first glance suggests it's working.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

 

[Pariah]

University of Houston is wearing these for their first game as a Big XII team:

 

[Pariah]

I saw a T-shirt today that said, "I may live in Utah, but I'll always have Crimson Tide in my DNA."

 

And I have to admit that my first though was, "So, inbreeding?"

[unclevlad]

...............aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand of course Williams is also in the Heisman House ads...

 

That $2.6M from earlier?  I don't think it counts whatever he's getting paid for these.  It's not listed in their NIL deals list...

 

Man...do I really have to root for a Pac 12 school tonight??????  That's painful....

[Pariah]

They're not going to be a PAC-12 school for long....

[unclevlad]

But they are NOW.

 

That's OK.  I can just rejoice in Florida's ineptitude.  They get embarrassed to end last season by a Quack-12 school, tonight is deja vu.

 

And we see the first down rule in this one.  Little short pass on 3rd down to get a first, but Florida's offense takes its sweet time and a good 20-odd seconds run off the clock...down 13 with 3 minutes left, that matters a lot.  Of course, Florida just gets sacked on 3rd down, so it's 4th and 14, so...it might not make much difference.  

[unclevlad]

ROUGH first Big 10 game for Fox.  Nebraska-Minnesota.  Offensive ineptitude rules, it looks like...just switched to it.  Minnesota ties it at 10 with 2 1/2 left in the game.  Nebraska's run the ball fine...but 3 turnovers.  Minnesota's been quite the pacifist when they've had the ball, overall.

 

And the Nebraska QB just flings up a ball straight into the ball-hawking safety's location.  Now Minnesota's got a shot at, at least, a long FG to win it.

[Pariah]

Whatever.

 

ACC votes to add Stanford, Cal, SMU: Conference presidents approve expansion to 18 schools

[unclevlad]

18 for now.  The Athletic is writing that they're preparing, should FSU and/or Clemson jump ship.  Your article shows why:  drop under 15 teams, ESPN can renegotiate the contract.  Presumably DOWN.  

 

And yeah, OSU and WSU are currently left out in the dark.  AAC apparently has already said no.

 

It's a money grab for the ACC;  they had the schools over a barrel.  The ESPN contract, IIRC, increases the payout...but Stanford and Cal are only getting 30%, that'll escalate to full shares over 9 years.  

 

Come '24, any college president who whines about amateurism should just be muzzled.  The conferences are corporate structures to channel money.  Period.  Call them leagues now, it's far more accurate.

 

 

 

 

[Grailknight]

Wow, it sucks to be Washington State and Oregon State right now.

 

I only see two options for them. Number one is just to join the MWC and accept that they're no longer Power 5 schools. Secondly, they could swallow their pride and grovel to the Big 12 for entry on terms similar to but not quite as bad as SMU got from the ACC for reduced revenue shares for a time. I don't think either could make it as Independents.

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Grailknight

[unclevlad]

One of the articles posited trying to retain the Pac-X branding and trying to reconstitute the conference, but...with whom?  And why is this materially different from joining the MWC?  

The Big 12 could've brought them in at the time, and didn't.  Do they have ANY interest in adding them?  I'd think not.  

 

IF!!! the MAC is amenable to the absurd travel considerations, they only have 12 schools.  That said...for quite some time, last year, the MAC was HORRIBLE...4-6 of those 12 were bottom 10 or bottom 25 well into the season.

 

Conference USA perhaps?  They've taken in strays.  They'll be at 10 in 2024, so expanding to 12 is plausible.  They're spread...not into the northwest, of course, but that's universal now.  

 

Recruit schools considering stepping up from FCS to FBS?  First, that'll take a while.  Second, almost by definition, that'll start as the least-regarded conference.

 

And the other issue is gonna be how long these contrived mashups survive intact...or for that matter, if the entire structure of college football doesn't shift.  Big 10 and SEC create a league, and compel the NCAA to accept their semi-independence in football...because the NCAA needs them very badly.  That still feels the direction everything's going.  Not excluding the Big 12 per se;  they could be included as well, but let's face it, at this point, the gap between the Big 10 and SEC, and everyone else, is Grand Canyonesque.

[unclevlad]

Around the Horn opened with this latest move.  Everyone RIPPED it, Clinton Yates in particular lambasting the negative impacts on the *athletes*.  Bob Ryan's closing comment:  "I don't want to hear the term 'student-athlete' ever again."  Pablo Torre brought up the "impending Armageddon" with regard to football.  It's no longer the 800 pound gorilla in the room, it's Planet of the Apes.

 

Unrelated...bettors don't have any confidence that Colorado can hang.  TCU -20...and I'd give those points, myself.  Completely new team with NO significant carryover.  Got to figure, by and large, Colorado's going to have more mental mistakes...missed/blown assignments, false starts, mishandling special situations, all of the above.  Plus, of course, TCU is a real football team, and Colorado was execrable.

[Pariah]

I was just reminded of the fact that some people really got their knickers in a twist when Louisville joined the ACC, because Kentucky was not on the Atlantic coast.

 

Hard to believe that was once a thing now, isn't it?

[Pariah]

TCU goes three and out on their first possession. Colorado gets help from a couple of penalties and finds a receiver all alone at the goal line for a touchdown. Colorado leads 7-0.

[unclevlad]

Article in the Athletic about "what's the road ahead" for OSU and WSU.  It brings up a curious point:  the entity known as the Pac-12 will collect fairly significant revenue over the next few years, from deferred payments for the bowl games and NCAA basketball tournament.  A conference must have 8 members...but they have a 2 year grace window.  Granted, I'm sure this was intended to be a grace period for a conference that drops from 8 to 7, but it still applies.  And it's a substantial amount.

 

The article also notes that the Pac-12 is called out by name for several privileges, plus of course, the Rose Bowl tie-in...so perhaps they'll try to raid the MWC, maybe parts of the AAC.  The buy-out for the MWC for '24 is very likely too high, but it might be manageable...so the consideration might be to survive on the residual payouts, building schedules as best you can as effective independents, and raid for the '25 season.  The suggestion is to snatch the better programs and potentially leave the rest behind.  Callous, but hey, it's only the money now, and it's every man for himself.

 

 

 

I have a new motto for the NCAA:  Football isn't everything, it's the only thing.

[unclevlad]

Oh man.  Virginia-Tennessee.  First game back for Virginia after the season was shut down after the shooting.

 

Virginia defender forces a fumble, recovered by the Cavs.  He goes off the field, quite happy and enthusiastic.  Crosses the sideline...I *think* I see a cable his foot might land on, but the right foot slides wrong.  He goes down.

 

Tries to get back up, but the knee can't take any weight...and the kid's a big boy.  They have to take him off in a cart.  

 

Not the way to start a season....

[unclevlad]

We may have the rout of the week.  9 1/2 minutes to go, OU 73-0 over Arkansas State.  This is an angel food cupcake...

EDIT:  and the pork shoulder chunks are now in the Instant Pot, which is still coming up to temp...but is already starting to smell AMAZING.  

[unclevlad]

Ohhhhhhhh......my................

 

TCU just turns the ball over on downs with less than a minute to go.

Colorado 45, TCU 42.

 

Loosely watching the real time play by play...TCU's defense was TERRIBLE.  Gave up over 500 yards, but also gave up huge plays.  Colorado scores on their last 3 real drives...5, 6, 6 plays, 75, 75 and 82 yards.  TCU throws 2 red zone interceptions.

 

This is going to raise the hype from 12 to 20...

 

I'll hold off.  It's week 1;  wild results happen.  It remains to be seen if Colorado is good...the speed element does seem to be on their side...or TCU was ill-prepared, sloppy, or just not that good on defense.  Big 12, defense is often optional anyway, so I'm starting from that basis.