College football

[Vrede too]

Wildkitties?

Fun while it lasted, but there's still lots of time, 10-16.

Sigh.

Trey Sermon CAR 29, YDS 331, AVG 11.4, TD 2, LONG 65
Ugh.

[Vrede too]

GO:

#14 Northwestern > #4 Ohio State! Nope.
@Tennessee > #5 Texas A&M (yeah, right). As predicted .
#7 Iowa State > #11 Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship! Ouch, almost a comeback.
Washington State > @Utah. So far so good, 28-7 at the half.

The PSC now has the cover it needs for its predetermination to put Ohio State in the "playoffs".

[GoCubsGo]

Wildkitties?

Fun while it lasted, but there's still lots of time, 10-16.

They hung with them for three quarters.

Good effort, good season.

[GoCubsGo]

Go Gators!

[Vrede too]

Go Gators!

We can dream.

GO:

Vanderbilt (0-9, 0-9 SEC) > @#9 Georgia (7-2, 7-2 SEC) Canceled, lucky Vanderbilt.
@#13 Coastal Carolina (11-0!, 8-0 Sun Belt) > #19 Louisiana (9-1, 7-1 Sun Belt) in the Sun Belt Championship. Canceled
#2 Notre Dame (10-0, 9-0 ACC) > #3 Clemson (9-1, 8-1 ACC)!
Should Notre Dame be in the playoffs after getting stomped so badly? What about an undefeated team - maybe Cincy, San Jose St, Coastal Carolina?
Washington State > @Utah. Ick.
Illinois > @Penn State. Nope. Not a good day for the state of Illinois.
#7 Florida > #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship!
@#9 Cincinnati (8-0, 6-0 American) > 23 Tulsa (6-1, 6-0 American) in the American Athletic Conference Championship. Then, get screwed out of the playoffs. 7-0 early.

Ole Miss (4-4, 4-4 SEC) @LSU (4-5, 4-5 SEC)
Minor significance and I didn’t care who won, but fun to watch. 53-48 LSU!
Undefeated San Jose St > Boise St 34 - 20, Mountain West Champion!
Who? I didn’t care who won. Playoffs!

[Vrede too]

Go Gators!

They had a chance. Good game.

GO:

#7 Florida > #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship!
@#9 Cincinnati (8-0, 6-0 American) > 23 Tulsa (6-1, 6-0 American) in the American Athletic Conference Championship. Then, get screwed out of the playoffs. 7-0 early.

Walkoff 34 yd FG for the win! Playoffs!
More seriously, I think the only suspense is whether TAMU will bump Notre Dame. I don't have an opinion. Cincinnati should finally jump past 3-loss FL and Iowa St, but likely not 2-loss GA and won't skip any of the others. PSC #7 ain't bad.

Will 11-0 #12 Coastal Carolina crack the top 10?

I didn’t care who won, but Stanford @UCLA was exciting. UCLA scored 31 straight to go up 34-20, Stanford forced OT, UCLA failed on a 2PAT attempt for the win in 2OT, lost 47-48.

[billy.pilgrim]

I'm appalled by all of them, not just Auburn. It's especially stark when looking at the cost of firing underachievers. Gus just happened to be the current topic. C'mon, this isn't the first time I've posted about HC salaries.

Better to ask why they are so high, determine the reason and go there for the fix.

O Really says to regulate, but wouldn't that lead to coaches being paid under the table by boosters and corporations? ...

That can be difficult to hide. Look at the NCAA busts for players getting just a few thousand dollars. With active enforcement and severe enough penalties I think that major cheating could be limited.

There's another corporate analogy - the obscene pay for often undeserving CEOs when other parts of the outfit or U have to make do with too little.

To be honest, though, I have so little hope that there will be change that I don't dwell on how we might achieve it. I'll just settle for bitchin', and hoping to someday support a viable fix.

Somehow I would have thought that the progressive idea would be to end the monopolies at the professional level that pay the players and coaches ridiculous salaries. Open up sports and increase the number of teams by 5 or even 10 times. Still the same pie but many more slices.

I also don't understand your corporate analogy. At Auburn, football and basketball profits fund other sports.

How many hundreds of thousands did Zion's parents get from Nike or whichever shoe company funneled payments through their youth program, or the bammer player who received his money while the fbi guy was away from the table? The player whose mom took a thousand lost 2 years eligibility, but the player who got 30,000 walked on a technically.
This shouldn't be a law enforcement random hit or miss enforcement like our pot laws were.

A lot more get away with it than are caught.

Why not just simply end the monolopy clubs and see what happens at the college level.

Doing so was once a dem thing.

[O Really]

O Really says to regulate, but wouldn't that lead to coaches being paid under the table by boosters and corporations? ...

... Open up sports and increase the number of teams by 5 or even 10 times. Still the same pie but many more slices.

The risk (likelihood) of "under the table" transactions doesn't mean efforts shouldn't be made on a national level. You get unscrupulous companies paying employees "under the table" to avoid minimum wage, overtime, or tax laws. Doesn't mean we shouldn't have those laws and enforce them as best we can.

I think a big obstacle to "opening up the monopoly" might be gaining fan/financial support for all the new teams. No alternate leagues have been successful more than a few years at best, unless you count success as being incorporated into the "big" league. Even CFL, which does have a long history, is pretty good football, and doesn't directly conflict very much with the NFL can't get a following in the US.

[Vrede too]

... There's another corporate analogy - the obscene pay for often undeserving CEOs when other parts of the outfit or U have to make do with too little.

To be honest, though, I have so little hope that there will be change that I don't dwell on how we might achieve it. I'll just settle for bitchin', and hoping to someday support a viable fix.

... I also don't understand your corporate analogy. At Auburn, football and basketball profits fund other sports....

Capped head coach pay means more money available for the peons both within and outside of football.

As for your proposed fix, if it gains steam and there aren't too many negatives I'll be happy to hop on the bandwagon.

[Vrede too]

... I think the only suspense is whether TAMU will bump Notre Dame. I don't have an opinion. Cincinnati should finally jump past 3-loss FL and Iowa St, but likely not 2-loss GA and won't skip any of the others. PSC #7 ain't bad.

Will 11-0 #12 Coastal Carolina crack the top 10? ...

College Football Playoff Rankings

Huh.
#5 TAMU got left in the cold.

1/1:
#1 Alabama vs #4 Notre Dame. I want Notre Dame to win it all, but expect it to lose to Alabama.
Alabama is favored by 19.5! That's just embarrassing.
#2 Clemson vs #3 Ohio State. I want Ohio State, which could happen, but Clemson is favored by 7.5.
https://www.vegasinsider.com/college-fo ... gas/?s=720

Cincinnati did jump past 3-loss #10 Iowa St and also 2-loss #9 GA, but not 3-loss #7 FL and was jumped by 2-loss #6 OK. #8.
Coastal Carolina stayed stuck at #12.
So much for my opinion.

8-3 North Carolina finished at #13. Highest since when?
6-2 Northwestern finished at #14. Not bad, GoCubsGo.
Oregon squeaked into #25 , ousting Colorado .

GO:

12/21
Appalachian State (favored by 21!) > North Texas.

12/22
Central Florida > # 16 BYU (favored by 5.5).

12/24
Hawaii > Houston (favored by 10.5).

12/25
SUNY-Buffalo > Marshall (favored by 3).

12/26
#12 Coastal Carolina (favored by 6) > Liberty, of course.

12/29
Miami (FL) > Oklahoma State (favored by 3).
Colorado (favored by 12.5) > Texas.

12/30
Wisconsin > Wake Forest (favored by 6.5).
#7 Florida > #6 Oklahoma (favored by 3), best game?

12/31
Undefeated #22 San Jose State (favored by 7) > Ball State.
Arkansas > Texas Christian (favored by 6).

01/01
#8 Cincinnati > #9 Georgia (favored by 6). Prove they were playoff-worthy.
#14 Northwestern (favored by 3.5) > Auburn.

01/02
#23 North Carolina State > Kentucky (favored by 3).
#25 Oregon > #10 Iowa State (favored by 4).
#13 North Carolina (favored by 6??? misprint?) > #5 Texas AM

I seem to mostly be rooting for underdogs.

Texas A&M Aggies to play in Orange Bowl after being left out of CFP

Texas A&M was left out of the College Football Playoff, but will look to extend its win streak to eight games when it takes on North Carolina in the Capital One Orange Bowl.

The fifth-ranked Aggies (8-1) are the first one-loss SEC team to not make the playoff and will take on the Tar Heels on Jan. 2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The Orange Bowl matchup is an unfamiliar one. North Carolina has never played in the bowl and Texas A&M hasn't appeared in it in 77 years. This will also be the first meeting between the two programs....

Ut-oh.

[billy.pilgrim]

O Really says to regulate, but wouldn't that lead to coaches being paid under the table by boosters and corporations? ...

... Open up sports and increase the number of teams by 5 or even 10 times. Still the same pie but many more slices.

The risk (likelihood) of "under the table" transactions doesn't mean efforts shouldn't be made on a national level. You get unscrupulous companies paying employees "under the table" to avoid minimum wage, overtime, or tax laws. Doesn't mean we shouldn't have those laws and enforce them as best we can.

I think a big obstacle to "opening up the monopoly" might be gaining fan/financial support for all the new teams. No alternate leagues have been successful more than a few years at best, unless you count success as being incorporated into the "big" league. Even CFL, which does have a long history, is pretty good football, and doesn't directly conflict very much with the NFL can't get a following in the US.

Small towns and cities once loved their professional teams, as do the over 100 div 1 college towns. As with college, there would probably be 30 or 40 top teams. They could even be the same as now.

Let the market decide.

[Vrede too]

GO:

12/25
SUNY-Buffalo > Marshall (favored by 3).

12/29
Colorado (favored by 12.5) > Texas.

12/30
Wisconsin > Wake Forest (favored by 6.5).
#7 Florida > #6 Oklahoma (favored by 3), best game?

01/02
#13 North Carolina (favored by 6??? misprint?) > #5 Texas AM

I seem to mostly be rooting for underdogs.

Must have been a glitch. The favorite teams are actually:

GO:

12/25
SUNY-Buffalo (favored by 3) > Marshall.
12/29
Colorado > Texas (favored by 12.5). I had marveled at how far Texas had fallen.
12/30
Wisconsin (favored by 6.5) > Wake Forest. I didn't think Wake Forest was that good.
#7 Florida (favored by 3) > #6 Oklahoma.
01/02
#13 North Carolina > #5 Texas AM (favored by 6). As I suspected.

Anyhow, lesson learned - give gambling sites a few hours to work out the bugs. Other spreads have moved, but that's just normal adjustment caused by bettors.
https://www.vegasinsider.com/college-fo ... gas/?s=720

Today 2:30 PM ESPN - Go Appalachian State (favored by 21!) > North Texas!

[Vrede too]

Today 2:30 PM ESPN - Go Appalachian State (favored by 21!) > North Texas!

Vegas was too cautious. 56-28!
Appalachian State Rushing
CAR 39, YDS 502, AVG 12.9, TD 6, LONG 76
https://www.espn.com/college-football/b ... =401256135

Wow.

GO:

12/22 7:00 PM
Central Florida > # 16 BYU (favored by 5.5 6.5).

Mickey Mouse > Joseph Smith, and Minnie Mouse > his wives!

[Vrede too]

... UCF and Boise need to try playing a schedule. Until then, it's all whining.

... Boise shouldn't receive consideration at anyplace in the top 10 ...

... Boise and ucf are minor teams ...

... The blue field goes down and the whining former blue field coach not only goes down but gets called out for trying to hide a purple suited player in the purple end zone.

Auburn set to hire Boise State's Bryan Harsin as next head football coach, source says

[O Really]

Blue/orange field for Jordan-Hare!

[O Really]

Blue/orange field for Jordan-Hare!

[Vrede too]

GO:

12/22 7:00 PM
Central Florida > # 16 BYU (favored by 5.5 6.5).

Mickey Mouse > Joseph Smith, and Minnie Mouse > his wives!

Opps. Cougars are cats.

[O Really]

Harsin became the 29th head coach at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro on December 12, 2012, succeeding Gus Malzahn, who left for Auburn after just one season. Because Malzahn and his predecessor Hugh Freeze left after just one season in Jonesboro, Harsin's contract at Arkansas State included a $1.75 million buyout clause.[4]

[Vrede too]

GO:

12/24 3:30 PM ET ESPN
Hawaii > Houston (favored by 10.5 10).

[O Really]

I don't know much about Coastal Carolina, and don't know who they played. And anybody can argue about the 4 teams capriciously picked for the fictional "playoff." But in a pandemic year with lots of games moved, delayed, cancelled and playing short schedules (you know who you are Buckeyes), it just t'ain't right for a 11-0 team not to get a bowl you've heard of. They couldn't put them in the Gator, Orange, Cotton, or Fiesta Bowl? The "Cure Bowl"? Seriously? No disrespect for the charitable worthy cause, but the bowl itself is bogus. And while I'm on the soap box - a "Rose Bowl" in Texas? Sure, and why don't we move the Coachella Valley music festival to Kansas while we're at it.