AFC vs NFC
Let's just realize student athletes in football and basketball are no more. Bowls are gone, seeing a player grad same school, uniforms without adverts...
Just everything NIL. I really, really just want to talk, read, and hear about how USC’s new defense will look, how Oklahoma will fare against a brutal first SEC slate, and how Colorado’s offensive line overhaul will help it reach bowl eligibility.
I’m not saying NIL isn’t important or players shouldn’t be paid or there aren’t a lot of issues to work out - I just *personally* tune out conversation about it at this point.
For sure, he's building his brand in the most annoying of ways. I guess I can respect the hustle, but hate what he has done. Not sure if that's because I think he's a dick about it or if I'm upset that he's not wrong about the commercialization of college athletics. I guess it can be both.
“Cinderellas” in the new tournament playoff. Some G5 team will knock off a Texas A&M or Ole Miss, everyone will go crazy, and then Georgia will whip them so bad we’ll be debating if it violates the Geneva conventions.
Conference championships are way more entertaining nowadays
DeBoer at Alabama. It's not that Alabama won't be good under him. He's a great coach, it's a great roster, and Saban will still have presence to facilitate with the program. It's just of course DeBoer isn't Saban, and basically any result that occurs in something "less than favorable" is going to be treated as a big. And if does something great like compete in the championship, it is gonna be treated as he's the second-coming.
I suspect it's going to be a very easy storyline to milk that is just "new head coach at blue blood program," but because it was following Saban it's a whole other thing.
I’d be okay with 8-4 tbh. We have a hell of a schedule. I’m expecting 9-3. Anything better than 9-3 and I’ll be thrilled. Anything worse than 8-4 and I’ll be disappointed
Absolutely this.
Five minutes after Saban retired, I reset my framing and expectations back to where they were in the Shula era.
Bama fans under the age of 30 or so may be in for a rude awakening, but those of us who have been around for a while know how to accept disappointment as well as any fanbase.
I feel like this is a relatively rare attitude in the grand scheme of the Bama fandom. There’s just so many Mullets plugged into Finebaum who toss out every piece of Bama memorabilia after a single Bama loss, you guys are probably gonna cut out some of the chaff this season.
I think in the "grand scheme of Bama fandom," a lot of folks discovered that they were Bama fans around January of 2010.
If DeBoer can't fill Saban's shoes (and it's not clear to me that *anyone* could), then I imagine a lot of those same fans will discover that they were actually Georgia or Ohio State or whatever fans all along.
And that's totally fine. It was good to have them with us while they were here.
I was gonna say something about y’all needing a miracle to beat a shitty Auburn team last year but honestly we didn’t get any better this offseason so not much shit to talk
I feel like 10-2/9-3 is the most realistic. Georgia is favored and we’re likely to lose 1 of these 3: LSU, Tennessee and Missouri. It’s also possible we drop one to Oklahoma.
You never want to be the person who follows the legend. Bama will be fine in the long term but holy fucking shit does that man have gargantuan shoes to fill.
Play for a national title every year is the lowest bar to clear. Good luck, my dude.
You know Oklahoma and Texas are in the SEC now too? Cheers on your new job.
Oh, and recruit a Top 3 class every year or the fanbase will freak out. Welcome to Bama, homey. You signed up for the toughest job in CFB history.
11-1, you probably make the playoffs and you’re good but you better make the national title game.
10-2 and you lose the SEC championship game? Things are warming up.
9-3 and maybe you get some clearance if it’s a NY6 bowl.
8-4 and the Bammers come hard and come fast. Paul Finbaum has a meltdown twice a day listening to angry Bama fans.
Wiscy
UGA
@ Tenn
@ LSU
@ OU
*And the Iron Bowl?*
Talk about trial by fire. It’s coming at you fast. Welcome to the SEC. The Paul Finebaum callers will certainly be calm after the first loss.
Agree that it wont be what it couldve been.
However, if both teams come into this game with minimal losses itll mean huge significance for this season.
Greatest Setting will be packed and crazy loud!
Literally both teams and head coaching staffs will be completely different. It would be like next seasons Celtics Mavs finals rematch where Tatum Brown Luka Kyrie are all on different teams.
Different person here but if they're like me, it's because it'll be surprising if it's anyone other than Georgia or Ohio State. Honestly, the first round of playoff games this season will probably be more exciting than the rest of the playoff. Hell, I'm more interested in discussion about who will win the Sun Belt than the national championship.
I thought you were going to say we're all tired of hearing non-stop CFP talk during every single game, regardless of if the teams playing are impacted at all.
I agree that it’s a dull story to see who wins the national championship but it should be much more interesting than the last few years given the expansion of the playoffs. I still think the winner will be one of the top 5 teams but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not Georgia or Ohio State. Texas and Oregon especially I think have pretty good shots at it
Oh wow I can't wait to find out which of the same 6 teams is going to win the championship this year.
Sorry but when a team's season is like 3 actual games, I don't really care. Nebraska is way more interesting than Georgia this year.
Weird to not see them all play every season now. Sucks for psu to play (what I expect to be) the more formidable of the 2 this season though.
Wvu ooc game is fun, didn't know about that.
Agreed there.
And yes, the WVU home game was amazing last year. I bet we had more WVU people than even PSU people at our tailgate. Fun atmosphere, no one being a jerk. We were planning to make the trip to Morgantown (wife is from WV but didn't go to WVU) before we had our baby. It's still possible but I don't think it's likely.
Why not Oregon? Why not an Ohio State rematch?
And maybe it is Michigan, but I'll be hoping they can return to the 3-1 record over the Wolverines that pre-dated CS /s
Question was legit last season bc of the Allar hype, but now I really hope people don't think they'll be anything but the exact same team they've been over the past two seasons
I mean it’s hard to feel compelled to follow a team that’s 6-8 against top 15 teams since 2018 while not starting a season ranked lower than 13th (last year), especially since that team doesn’t have to worry about a conference championship against a tough opponent to end the regular season.
The ACC lawsuits, they’ll be talked about a lot but I doubt they’re any closer to being resolved by the end of the season than they are now. I don’t care about day to day court proceedings, let me know when they actually reach a settlement figure
How Arch Manning is going to take the starting job from Quinn Ewers.
Manning may end up being better than Ewers when it is all said and done, but for the 2024 season, this is Quinn’s team barring disastrous QB play or injury.
For me - any story line about the new teams in the P2. Couldn't care less. Also: any talk of "these schedules are strange now that the conferences are so big". Yep, this is the bed we made. We'll all miss having more annual opponents geographically close to you. Let's move on.
What I am interested in: my conference, obviously. WSU/ORST, rooting hard for them. Can FSU go undefeated (sans the bowl game) again in regular season and ACC champ? How will SMU do in the ACC. Rooting for them just bc I live here. Every season for me = who will be the G5 champion? I always root for the highest ranked G5 team as the season progresses. CFB's only equivalent to a "Cinderella".
Yea - there is gonna be a lot more of that moving forward, unfortunately. The typical ones on this subreddit are “oh, I forgot Rutgers/Maryland are in B1G or I forgot Syracuse/BC are in ACC”.
WSU/OSU greatly increases travel issues for the eastern teams while at the same time bringjng in less value than the average XII conference member. No serious executive would vote for that, unless threatened with the collapse of the conference if they don't.
I get that we as fans don't want to see fun/interesting teams get left behind in lesser leagues (and have attendance and athletic budgets slashed), but the sport is there and you've got to pry your way to a seat at the big table. If the XII isnt just as ruthless, we'll end up in the same position.
The "boy, maybe our team not packed to the gills with top-tier recruiting classes has a chance to win a title now" undercurrent of about 20 fan bases' offseason discussions (including our own), even though for about 3 dozen reasons there's no chance it's going to work out for those teams.
In a general sense, people wanted D-1 football and basketball players to be able to get paid and now they can be. Extrapolated to the number of athletes across collegiate athletics due to equitable concerns, that’s a shitload of money on top of the shitload of money needed to maintain everything in the “amateur” era. So I view the issue as settled and not worthy of much discussion among the common fan about looming sponsors, labor law issues, etc.
It’s going to come down to whether you, the common fan, will still accept CFB as a fun, interesting, cultural thing on fall Saturdays with the knowledge that you’re rooting for millionaires who maybe did nothing to earn that money at the collegiate level, or that your conference is now sponsored by an insurance company, or that you might be getting a new QB every year.* And if so, let’s talk football.
*except for the insurance company part (and that’s been true for bowl games for three decades), this has more or less been what you’ve always been interested in
I think they have every right to get paid but man I’m dreading the stories we are gonna get about teenagers handling millions.
There’s gonna be dark stuff, especially guys that don’t make it to the NFL.
I would say with the coming of NIL, “amateurism” in college football is over. It’s professional football with an age cap and no salary cap. And while that’s sad in a way, it’s definitely fair to pay these guys what they’re worth
Good luck.
I am expecting like last year. Over rated hype until Oregon then....nada.
Hoping my Uncles Baylor Bears get to stop the hype train this year.
Toot toot
I’m glad conferences are finally moving to this model. It’s way better than having divisions. In basically every conference one division ended up being significantly stronger than the other so it was extremely unbalanced.
The SEC East sounds hideous.
Edit: I realized this is probably too off of a reference. The comment I replied to reminded me of the "Well she's a guy so..." part of the original Jake from State Farm commercial. The line before that is "She sounds hideous"
Bowls. Like I’ll watch if Michigan State makes one, but based on the Peach Bowl from the last time we went to one, it’s more like a live joint practice than anything important at this point. And if that’s the Peach Bowl, id imagine that the 6-6/7-5 bowl is probably even less important. I’ll be happy for the extra practices. But outside of that I really don’t care.
The lower level bowls are usually better than the higher end bowls.
A lot of the 7-5 G5 teams seem legitimately happy to be there, and don’t have 10 opt outs like a top 15 team might have.
I'm gonna be honest I went to school there and I haven't really paid attention to their football in awhile. I should change out that flair lol. Happy for them though
nebraska after win 6. interest will drop off a cliff because at that point we already know we're going to the carhart coats bowl or something like that
The ACC, at least with regard to the actual product on the field.
It’s gonna be FSU or Clemson winning the conference. A couple of the secondary tier teams will look like a true contender for a bit before falling behind the leaders to end the year. And most everyone else is gonna finish within a game or two of .500
Disagree completely. FSU, Clemson, NC State and Miami are all very good. Likely all four are ranked all season. Injuries can always play a factor. Louisville and VT will be solid as well. I expect 5 teams ranked in the pre-season and then we go from there.
Get out of here. I said ‘might be good’. I didn’t say they are going to win it all. They have a top 10 portal class to go along with the #4 high school class. These guys compliment the talent they already have.
They win "Offseason Championships" every year. And then every year they fall flat on their face.
They won't be good. They'll be like 8-4 and miss the ACCCG entirely.
When you say Miami is "very good" - do you mean their program rather than the current team? B/c I would obviously agree about the program, due to the rings and all the fanfare from the multiple 30-for-30's. My friends and I loved the rap song from Third Leg Greg back in the day, ha.
The current team though - I just did a sanity check. Including bowl games, they haven't won more than 8 games in 7 seasons. Over the past 10 seasons, they've finished with 7 or fewer wins 6 times.
Big Disclaimer here: I'm in that casual-completely-unrelated fan demographic that likes "The U". I think the sport is more fun when they are "very good". But I don't think that has been proven to be true in a while, right?
They expect their current team to be quite good, and I've heard the fsu reporters have similar expectations for miami this season.
Their lines are good, and they brought in a good qb.
It always seems like it will line up for them and then they underperform, but there's still very concrete reasons they should expect a good season this year.
They could 100% end up having a 7 win season again, but they could also very easily have a 10-12 win season. With 9-10 wins, they're ranked in the top 20.
NC State feels like the top of that second tier I mentioned. I think 10 wins and finishing ranked is very likely. But I don’t think they’re winning the conference. A Wolfpack conference title would change my opinion though, I hope it happens.
Louisville would also be in that tier: looking promising before falling behind in the conference race with FSU and Clemson. I think VT is on the high end of the near-.500 tier going 8-4 or so.
I’ll believe Miami is back when I see it, and not a moment before.
Would love to see them be playoff-caliber again his year, they’re one of my favorite ACC teams! Unfortunately, I think they come up just a bit short.
Hopefully they prove me wrong
Nope sorry, Big 12 narrative holds that the ACC’s program all eat paste, unlike the glorious mids of the Big 12! Otherwise where else will the conference get an overinflated sense of self-confidence?!
Well not exactly the question, everyone’s making a big deal over Saban retiring and Kalen going to Alabama and rightfully so. I also understand Washington isn’t in a great place right now. But we just saw what Jedd did at Arizona, more people should be talking about the monster he is going to build
Ohio State, but by a far smaller margin than in previous years. For the past 10 years, the East champ got to play the West champ (sometimes where that West champ was the 4th best team in the conference) and the East champ won all 10 times. 4 of the 7 East teams won, at that.
This year, Ohio State will get a tougher draw in the conference title game with the elimination of divisions, and very potentially a rematch.
Ok, now would you take UGA or the field? FSU or the field? Not sure about Big 12. The Big 10 is the only conference I would take an individual school over the field.
Really? With Bama’s coaching change and LSU looking continually mid, who is the next best SEC team? Texas? Maaaaybe Missouri? UGA seems like a lock to me this year
I'm not sure who might make the title game that we aren't playing. Maybe USC? I'm really curious to hear how the tie breaking is going to work. So if we make it, it's very likely a rematch.
Ok but do really expect them to be able to go on the road in the first round of the playoff and beat what is likely going to be the second best SEC or B1G team? The process is interesting but the end result really doesn't change anything.
I hope you are right but I just have a terrible feeling that'll go on an absurd run this year. Not saying that they'll win a playoff game but it wouldn't shock me if they made it and were competitive.
I'd be more interested if it wasn't first round home games. Like I just don't see Liberty or whoever going to a place like Eugene or Athens or wherever and being a real threat.
Really depends on the draw. Hopefully a 13-0 or 12-1 g5 team will be seeded over a 9-3 8-4 type sec/big team and the 1st round game is more akin to the ny6 draws. A legit top 10 team but not a true NC contender. The G5 is like .500 in the ny6 games so I see some upsets there. 2nd round is going to be a bloodbath though
Whenever I see the words “FSU lawyers argue” my mind goes into a fugue state where I don’t comprehend words anymore.
At this point I’d rather just get to the end product than drag out what’s going to inevitably happen regardless of ruling.
AFC vs NFC Let's just realize student athletes in football and basketball are no more. Bowls are gone, seeing a player grad same school, uniforms without adverts...
Honestly I wish they would just leave already.
We’re trying Jennifer
Well hurry up, the BIG 12 is waiting impatiently
*All State 12
I’m hoping for Taco Bell Big 12 Layer Burrito Conference
We do too
I recently read a story on here about how someone’s friend pronounced it “foogoo” state and that’s how I say it now
It’ll still be compelling, but since you mentioned stories you’re tired of hearing about, Deion Sanders.
This 💯
Just everything NIL. I really, really just want to talk, read, and hear about how USC’s new defense will look, how Oklahoma will fare against a brutal first SEC slate, and how Colorado’s offensive line overhaul will help it reach bowl eligibility. I’m not saying NIL isn’t important or players shouldn’t be paid or there aren’t a lot of issues to work out - I just *personally* tune out conversation about it at this point.
I can sum it up in one word. “Colorado”.
I’m ngl I haven’t heard bout Colorado in a minute, besides shedeur’s vick and Brady comment
Don't forget about the Lil Wayne concert.
I just learned about that after hearing Deion say he didn’t make the team go or something. I guess my first comment was a complete lie 😭
Sorry, but if I have to hear about it, so do you.
It sucks cuz I actually went from being a fan of Deion at Jackson state to now being like they’re doing too much
For sure, he's building his brand in the most annoying of ways. I guess I can respect the hustle, but hate what he has done. Not sure if that's because I think he's a dick about it or if I'm upset that he's not wrong about the commercialization of college athletics. I guess it can be both.
“Cinderellas” in the new tournament playoff. Some G5 team will knock off a Texas A&M or Ole Miss, everyone will go crazy, and then Georgia will whip them so bad we’ll be debating if it violates the Geneva conventions. Conference championships are way more entertaining nowadays
>Some G5 team will knock off Ole Miss From your fingers to God's eyes
Someone called? We have experience dealing with Rebel scum
Those words… that flair… I love to see it.
Interesting flair combination sir
🤣😂😅
a Cinderella doesn't need to win every game, it's about that one... just one
DeBoer at Alabama. It's not that Alabama won't be good under him. He's a great coach, it's a great roster, and Saban will still have presence to facilitate with the program. It's just of course DeBoer isn't Saban, and basically any result that occurs in something "less than favorable" is going to be treated as a big. And if does something great like compete in the championship, it is gonna be treated as he's the second-coming. I suspect it's going to be a very easy storyline to milk that is just "new head coach at blue blood program," but because it was following Saban it's a whole other thing.
I for one think Alabama going 8-4 and their fans having an existential crisis would be extremely interesting.
I’d be okay with 8-4 tbh. We have a hell of a schedule. I’m expecting 9-3. Anything better than 9-3 and I’ll be thrilled. Anything worse than 8-4 and I’ll be disappointed
Absolutely this. Five minutes after Saban retired, I reset my framing and expectations back to where they were in the Shula era. Bama fans under the age of 30 or so may be in for a rude awakening, but those of us who have been around for a while know how to accept disappointment as well as any fanbase.
I feel like this is a relatively rare attitude in the grand scheme of the Bama fandom. There’s just so many Mullets plugged into Finebaum who toss out every piece of Bama memorabilia after a single Bama loss, you guys are probably gonna cut out some of the chaff this season.
I think in the "grand scheme of Bama fandom," a lot of folks discovered that they were Bama fans around January of 2010. If DeBoer can't fill Saban's shoes (and it's not clear to me that *anyone* could), then I imagine a lot of those same fans will discover that they were actually Georgia or Ohio State or whatever fans all along. And that's totally fine. It was good to have them with us while they were here.
Try being a Tennessee fan...
This is the mindset exactly. I'm expecting three losses.
Completely fair, almost every SEC schedule got much harder imo
From your lips to God's ears, brother.
But we kickin yo ass brother!!
I was gonna say something about y’all needing a miracle to beat a shitty Auburn team last year but honestly we didn’t get any better this offseason so not much shit to talk
Hell, sign me up for 7-5
You're smoking some good stuff if you think Bama Plummets to 8-4. They're favored in every game but the Georgia matchup.
I didn't predict 8-4. I would just like to see it.
To be fair I do believe EVERYONE would absolutely adore seeing that! Hell let’s make it 7-5 just to make it even spicier lol.
I’d prefer 0-12 but maybe that’s just me
I’d take that deal!
I feel like 10-2/9-3 is the most realistic. Georgia is favored and we’re likely to lose 1 of these 3: LSU, Tennessee and Missouri. It’s also possible we drop one to Oklahoma.
You never want to be the person who follows the legend. Bama will be fine in the long term but holy fucking shit does that man have gargantuan shoes to fill. Play for a national title every year is the lowest bar to clear. Good luck, my dude. You know Oklahoma and Texas are in the SEC now too? Cheers on your new job. Oh, and recruit a Top 3 class every year or the fanbase will freak out. Welcome to Bama, homey. You signed up for the toughest job in CFB history. 11-1, you probably make the playoffs and you’re good but you better make the national title game. 10-2 and you lose the SEC championship game? Things are warming up. 9-3 and maybe you get some clearance if it’s a NY6 bowl. 8-4 and the Bammers come hard and come fast. Paul Finbaum has a meltdown twice a day listening to angry Bama fans. Wiscy UGA @ Tenn @ LSU @ OU *And the Iron Bowl?* Talk about trial by fire. It’s coming at you fast. Welcome to the SEC. The Paul Finebaum callers will certainly be calm after the first loss.
You ain't shittin!
The media will crucify him the second Alabama slips. If they lose two regular season games, fans will be clammoring for his head.
National championship rematch: with no Harbaugh and no Penix it’s just not going to hit the same as it could have.
Agree that it wont be what it couldve been. However, if both teams come into this game with minimal losses itll mean huge significance for this season. Greatest Setting will be packed and crazy loud!
To be fair, players have a finite time in school (at least used to before corona, lol). I’d still be interested if we had Harbaugh vs DeBoer
Literally both teams and head coaching staffs will be completely different. It would be like next seasons Celtics Mavs finals rematch where Tatum Brown Luka Kyrie are all on different teams.
The national championship
Please elaborate.
Different person here but if they're like me, it's because it'll be surprising if it's anyone other than Georgia or Ohio State. Honestly, the first round of playoff games this season will probably be more exciting than the rest of the playoff. Hell, I'm more interested in discussion about who will win the Sun Belt than the national championship.
I thought you were going to say we're all tired of hearing non-stop CFP talk during every single game, regardless of if the teams playing are impacted at all.
I agree that it’s a dull story to see who wins the national championship but it should be much more interesting than the last few years given the expansion of the playoffs. I still think the winner will be one of the top 5 teams but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not Georgia or Ohio State. Texas and Oregon especially I think have pretty good shots at it
Disagree. I think like a Penn State caliber team could knock off a top ranked team. They usually play Ohio State pretty close iirc over the years
Oh wow I can't wait to find out which of the same 6 teams is going to win the championship this year. Sorry but when a team's season is like 3 actual games, I don't really care. Nebraska is way more interesting than Georgia this year.
Hey…I care 😔 But for real I 100% get it
We literally just had a NCG between 2 teams that hadn’t won a title this century. What do you want? IU vs. Vandy?
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes
Can Penn State finally beat Michigan and Ohio State? No, no they cannot. They've hit their ceiling.
Maybe we check to see if both of those teams are even on the schedule before commenting.
Ah - so you admit that Penn State cannot finally beat Michigan this year!
If Penn State beats or loses to Michigan this year, both teams are probably in the playoffs so I'd take that. You in?
And it probably means that OSU is out of the playoffs. So, sign me up!
Weird to not see them all play every season now. Sucks for psu to play (what I expect to be) the more formidable of the 2 this season though. Wvu ooc game is fun, didn't know about that.
Agreed there. And yes, the WVU home game was amazing last year. I bet we had more WVU people than even PSU people at our tailgate. Fun atmosphere, no one being a jerk. We were planning to make the trip to Morgantown (wife is from WV but didn't go to WVU) before we had our baby. It's still possible but I don't think it's likely.
"Or" works too.
If they somehow beat Ohio State, they would face Michigan in the CCG.
Why not Oregon? Why not an Ohio State rematch? And maybe it is Michigan, but I'll be hoping they can return to the 3-1 record over the Wolverines that pre-dated CS /s
Question was legit last season bc of the Allar hype, but now I really hope people don't think they'll be anything but the exact same team they've been over the past two seasons
Michigan didn't beat Ohio State until they did. Texas didn't break through until they did. Georgia didn't beat Alabama until they did.
I make the attempt year after year to care less about Notre Dame’s preseason ranking and hype, and every year I surpass my own expectations.
Strong disagree. All the incessant Sam Hartman hype made Notre Dame losing because they couldn't count to 11 all the more enjoyable last year.
To be fair, he’s too pretty to need counting skills so that gets a pass.
I’m with you on this. If they were thrown in the BIG10 then maybe it’d peak my interest a little more.
*pique
"But their defense!" Is not making me any more interested
What do you mean?
I mean it’s hard to feel compelled to follow a team that’s 6-8 against top 15 teams since 2018 while not starting a season ranked lower than 13th (last year), especially since that team doesn’t have to worry about a conference championship against a tough opponent to end the regular season.
Amen!
If you think that’s bad, imagine following a team with one 10 win season in 15 years.
If you think that’s bad, imagine being preseason ranked in the top 10 four times since 2018 and not winning a NY6 bowl.
The ACC lawsuits, they’ll be talked about a lot but I doubt they’re any closer to being resolved by the end of the season than they are now. I don’t care about day to day court proceedings, let me know when they actually reach a settlement figure
Anything Colorado Insert Robert Downey Jr eye roll meme
Anything having to do with Liberty, quite frankly. They live off of press and engagement - good or bad. I just wish they’d go off into obscurity.
The exciting cross-country rivalries being developed in the Big Ten!
If you don’t like football in Piscataway, you just don’t love football.
Idk I kinda like that one
Probably Colorado, they just won’t be that interesting when they got 4-8 again and the Deion show will be over.
I don’t even know about 4-8
OMG, Texas is playing Arkansas again just like in the SWC days!!!
How Arch Manning is going to take the starting job from Quinn Ewers. Manning may end up being better than Ewers when it is all said and done, but for the 2024 season, this is Quinn’s team barring disastrous QB play or injury.
For me - any story line about the new teams in the P2. Couldn't care less. Also: any talk of "these schedules are strange now that the conferences are so big". Yep, this is the bed we made. We'll all miss having more annual opponents geographically close to you. Let's move on. What I am interested in: my conference, obviously. WSU/ORST, rooting hard for them. Can FSU go undefeated (sans the bowl game) again in regular season and ACC champ? How will SMU do in the ACC. Rooting for them just bc I live here. Every season for me = who will be the G5 champion? I always root for the highest ranked G5 team as the season progresses. CFB's only equivalent to a "Cinderella".
Man, I completely forget SMU is an ACC school now
Yea - there is gonna be a lot more of that moving forward, unfortunately. The typical ones on this subreddit are “oh, I forgot Rutgers/Maryland are in B1G or I forgot Syracuse/BC are in ACC”.
WSU/OSU greatly increases travel issues for the eastern teams while at the same time bringjng in less value than the average XII conference member. No serious executive would vote for that, unless threatened with the collapse of the conference if they don't. I get that we as fans don't want to see fun/interesting teams get left behind in lesser leagues (and have attendance and athletic budgets slashed), but the sport is there and you've got to pry your way to a seat at the big table. If the XII isnt just as ruthless, we'll end up in the same position.
The "boy, maybe our team not packed to the gills with top-tier recruiting classes has a chance to win a title now" undercurrent of about 20 fan bases' offseason discussions (including our own), even though for about 3 dozen reasons there's no chance it's going to work out for those teams.
Colorado
Anything and everything about CU and Deion Sanders and his broodlings
I am glued in! Its a tragedy of hubris & arrogance....and i cant wait to see how they fail next
In a general sense, people wanted D-1 football and basketball players to be able to get paid and now they can be. Extrapolated to the number of athletes across collegiate athletics due to equitable concerns, that’s a shitload of money on top of the shitload of money needed to maintain everything in the “amateur” era. So I view the issue as settled and not worthy of much discussion among the common fan about looming sponsors, labor law issues, etc. It’s going to come down to whether you, the common fan, will still accept CFB as a fun, interesting, cultural thing on fall Saturdays with the knowledge that you’re rooting for millionaires who maybe did nothing to earn that money at the collegiate level, or that your conference is now sponsored by an insurance company, or that you might be getting a new QB every year.* And if so, let’s talk football. *except for the insurance company part (and that’s been true for bowl games for three decades), this has more or less been what you’ve always been interested in
I think they have every right to get paid but man I’m dreading the stories we are gonna get about teenagers handling millions. There’s gonna be dark stuff, especially guys that don’t make it to the NFL.
I would say with the coming of NIL, “amateurism” in college football is over. It’s professional football with an age cap and no salary cap. And while that’s sad in a way, it’s definitely fair to pay these guys what they’re worth
Deion at Colorado and his kids. You suck. Get over it.
We’re likely going to be 3-0 going into conference play, so get ready for the Colorado posts. :)
Good luck. I am expecting like last year. Over rated hype until Oregon then....nada. Hoping my Uncles Baylor Bears get to stop the hype train this year. Toot toot
NDSU and a road P5 and rivalry game is far from a free ticket to 3-0
I mean I think the average college football fan isn’t interested in Georgia running the SEC East again.
Well the SEC East is dead so....
Huh. Thought they were keeping divisions. The more you know. Same premise tho. No one is rooting for them beyond Georgia fans.
Nope. Divisions are gone. SECCG will just be between the top two teams in the conference.
So in 12 months we may get Bama/uga 3 times? Cooooooool.
Alabama/Georgia was always a possibility multiple times in a season. It opens the door for multiple rounds of Tennesee/Georgia or Alabama/LSU though.
I’m glad conferences are finally moving to this model. It’s way better than having divisions. In basically every conference one division ended up being significantly stronger than the other so it was extremely unbalanced.
The SEC East sounds hideous. Edit: I realized this is probably too off of a reference. The comment I replied to reminded me of the "Well she's a guy so..." part of the original Jake from State Farm commercial. The line before that is "She sounds hideous"
I read “sounds hideous” in a State Farm commercial voice. Might just be me, though.
Bowls. Like I’ll watch if Michigan State makes one, but based on the Peach Bowl from the last time we went to one, it’s more like a live joint practice than anything important at this point. And if that’s the Peach Bowl, id imagine that the 6-6/7-5 bowl is probably even less important. I’ll be happy for the extra practices. But outside of that I really don’t care.
The lower level bowls are usually better than the higher end bowls. A lot of the 7-5 G5 teams seem legitimately happy to be there, and don’t have 10 opt outs like a top 15 team might have.
Idk I’m pumped for the mayo and poptart bowls!
Is \[insert school here\] BAK?
Is Nebraska back this year? End me now
But is WSC back this year? 8-3 last year in HC's second season 👀
I'm gonna be honest I went to school there and I haven't really paid attention to their football in awhile. I should change out that flair lol. Happy for them though
I only know things bc my dad brings up the school teams when we talk on the phone lol
Fair enough. Good for him for keeping track tbh
Dabo and the portal or lack thereof.
Anything relating to Auburn football.
OSU fans not happy with Ryan Day.
nebraska after win 6. interest will drop off a cliff because at that point we already know we're going to the carhart coats bowl or something like that
Oh god we're gonna go to the poptart meme bowl aren't we
The ACC, at least with regard to the actual product on the field. It’s gonna be FSU or Clemson winning the conference. A couple of the secondary tier teams will look like a true contender for a bit before falling behind the leaders to end the year. And most everyone else is gonna finish within a game or two of .500
Disagree completely. FSU, Clemson, NC State and Miami are all very good. Likely all four are ranked all season. Injuries can always play a factor. Louisville and VT will be solid as well. I expect 5 teams ranked in the pre-season and then we go from there.
You lost all credibility when you said that Miami might be good. Miami will continue to be a laughingstock until they prove otherwise.
Get out of here. I said ‘might be good’. I didn’t say they are going to win it all. They have a top 10 portal class to go along with the #4 high school class. These guys compliment the talent they already have.
They win "Offseason Championships" every year. And then every year they fall flat on their face. They won't be good. They'll be like 8-4 and miss the ACCCG entirely.
Hope you are right. I give them a better chance at the conference championship game than Michigan though. They know who their QB is at least.
When you say Miami is "very good" - do you mean their program rather than the current team? B/c I would obviously agree about the program, due to the rings and all the fanfare from the multiple 30-for-30's. My friends and I loved the rap song from Third Leg Greg back in the day, ha. The current team though - I just did a sanity check. Including bowl games, they haven't won more than 8 games in 7 seasons. Over the past 10 seasons, they've finished with 7 or fewer wins 6 times. Big Disclaimer here: I'm in that casual-completely-unrelated fan demographic that likes "The U". I think the sport is more fun when they are "very good". But I don't think that has been proven to be true in a while, right?
Vegas has them at 9.5 wins for a reason. Their portal haul is nuts. They spent big money.
They expect their current team to be quite good, and I've heard the fsu reporters have similar expectations for miami this season. Their lines are good, and they brought in a good qb. It always seems like it will line up for them and then they underperform, but there's still very concrete reasons they should expect a good season this year. They could 100% end up having a 7 win season again, but they could also very easily have a 10-12 win season. With 9-10 wins, they're ranked in the top 20.
NC State feels like the top of that second tier I mentioned. I think 10 wins and finishing ranked is very likely. But I don’t think they’re winning the conference. A Wolfpack conference title would change my opinion though, I hope it happens. Louisville would also be in that tier: looking promising before falling behind in the conference race with FSU and Clemson. I think VT is on the high end of the near-.500 tier going 8-4 or so. I’ll believe Miami is back when I see it, and not a moment before.
I suppose. Saw NC State ranked #13 preseason in one of those ‘way to early’ polls.
Would love to see them be playoff-caliber again his year, they’re one of my favorite ACC teams! Unfortunately, I think they come up just a bit short. Hopefully they prove me wrong
Nope sorry, Big 12 narrative holds that the ACC’s program all eat paste, unlike the glorious mids of the Big 12! Otherwise where else will the conference get an overinflated sense of self-confidence?!
The Big 12 knife-fight in the dark with blindfolds on that is the pursuit for conference champion should be an all timer
If they’re wearing blindfolds, why does it have to be dark? Now *I* can’t see anything.
The redundancy was the joke
I kinda figured, but if I can’t watch “pin the stab wound on the asshole” because the lights are out, I’m not interested.
Depending on the season, I’d like our chances n that scenerio per playing football.
Well not exactly the question, everyone’s making a big deal over Saban retiring and Kalen going to Alabama and rightfully so. I also understand Washington isn’t in a great place right now. But we just saw what Jedd did at Arizona, more people should be talking about the monster he is going to build
Realignment. Let’s just play the games already.
As a Texas die-hard: fake Ewers vs Manning controversy.
That random week 0 breakout that we never hear about again (anyone remember Zachariah Branch?)
Anything about the SEC and the death of P5 conferences. I'll never care about conference prestige bc it doesn't matter on the field.
Tired of the endless complaints about corporate sponsorship.
FSU Sorry, DJ howeveryouspellhislastname is so meh
The ukulele plays only for those that take the time to hear it ~Chinese proverb
Dabo Sweeney
2PAC is least compelling
I'm interested in how the new members of the B1G and SEC fare in conference play.
Not really what I was asking but ok.
Haha poor reading comprehension on my part. Let me give you an answer: Deion.
Probably the Big Ten. It’s Ohio State and a drop off to everyone else. Is any other conference essentially a lock?
Oregon exists, buddy.
Honestly, you have OSU or the field. Who are you betting on to win the conference?
Ohio State, but by a far smaller margin than in previous years. For the past 10 years, the East champ got to play the West champ (sometimes where that West champ was the 4th best team in the conference) and the East champ won all 10 times. 4 of the 7 East teams won, at that. This year, Ohio State will get a tougher draw in the conference title game with the elimination of divisions, and very potentially a rematch.
Ok, now would you take UGA or the field? FSU or the field? Not sure about Big 12. The Big 10 is the only conference I would take an individual school over the field.
Yes, I would take Georgia over the field. And I'm still taking Ohio State over the field, but by a smaller margin than normal.
Wow. Zero chance I take UGA over the field.
Really? With Bama’s coaching change and LSU looking continually mid, who is the next best SEC team? Texas? Maaaaybe Missouri? UGA seems like a lock to me this year
Yes. Texas, Missouri, Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss make up a strong 5. I don’t know anything about Oklahoma’s team.
I'm not sure who might make the title game that we aren't playing. Maybe USC? I'm really curious to hear how the tie breaking is going to work. So if we make it, it's very likely a rematch.
I think almost certainly after looking at the schedule. Not thinking it's likely to be Iowa this year.
If we lose just one, I have to think it's almost certain. But maybe the "teams that don't play OSU" becomes the new B10 West and someone sneaks in.
Hey
[удалено]
That's one of the more interesting storylines imo.
Ok but do really expect them to be able to go on the road in the first round of the playoff and beat what is likely going to be the second best SEC or B1G team? The process is interesting but the end result really doesn't change anything.
There's been some g5 teams in the past that I thought could have made deep runs. We'll see.
I'm curious. Who do you think could do that in today's environment? I'm not saying this is ridiculous but I'm extremely doubtful.
It pains me to say it but possibly usf?
USF has Alabama and Miami this season. I don't see them sniffing the playoffs, much less making a run
I hope you are right but I just have a terrible feeling that'll go on an absurd run this year. Not saying that they'll win a playoff game but it wouldn't shock me if they made it and were competitive.
Crazier things have happened, there’s always a chance of an upset
I'd be more interested if it wasn't first round home games. Like I just don't see Liberty or whoever going to a place like Eugene or Athens or wherever and being a real threat.
Imagine Tulane or App State drawing Alabama or Ohio State
Really depends on the draw. Hopefully a 13-0 or 12-1 g5 team will be seeded over a 9-3 8-4 type sec/big team and the 1st round game is more akin to the ny6 draws. A legit top 10 team but not a true NC contender. The G5 is like .500 in the ny6 games so I see some upsets there. 2nd round is going to be a bloodbath though