College Football 2017-2018

I kept wondering what this game would've been like if either one of these teams had Lamar Jackson at quarterback.

 

Why, were you hoping to see more incompletions and interceptions?

 

Looks like I may be wrong on Sumlin. Word on our end is he was in Tucson for two days and an announcement could come soon. One of our former players (Sirr Parker) has posted it’s a done deal, fwiw.

I don’t think the Herm Edwards experiment will be successful, but the one area I thought he might do well is in recruiting. If this happens, that potential advantage is gone. He won’t outrecruit Summy.

 

The plot thickens Matt. Maybe Sumlin is too used to A&M cash (the 10.5 million buyout does mean he can be very selective or enjoy a different type of life), because I've got word that it's going to be Beau Baldwin (Cal OC, coached Eastern Wash to a Natty & had some great QBs). Who knows what's behind the scenes.

 

Hearing the same today. It’s not his money, but the allotment for assistants that’s the issue. In 2016, you guys paid $2.83M (or about $310k per coach) for assistants. If that number hasn’t moved much, I can see why established coaches are passing on the job. Heard Mike Sanford, HC at W Kentucky, is under consideration as well. He and Baldwin would be better fits with that sort of budget because that’s more in line with what their staffs are used to making.

 

First, sorry for the slow response it's year-end close and I haven't had much personal time. Second, Matt we are talking apples and oranges about competition. I can still sit and watch any individual game and enjoy college football on some level because the games on the field are competitive. When I refer to competition suffering it is inter and intraconference competition that has, in my opinion, suffered since the megaconferences were formed and the playoff system has done nothing for me to determine a true national champion.

To answer your questions, since the inception of the playoff format I don't feel anymore like I know who the best team in the county is than I did when the bowl system held it's conference integrity and yes I used to feel college football was focused on competition rather than money. The playoff finalists didn't matter to me other than reinforcing that winning your conference isn't that important anymore. Year-end bowl games were once must watch TV for me but I don't feel that way anymore. In fact, I don't even feel compelled to watch the "important" bowl games which feature the playoff teams. If it is an individual match-up that I find interesting I will watch. If not then I don't watch.

Don has already posted most of the reasons I feel this way so I'm just going to recap his points from my perspective:

(1) Ranking is still largely based on opinion of sports writers and coaches. I know there is some mathematical wizardry involved as well but instead the flaws of determining who the national champion was have only been replaced by pretty much the same flaws for determining who should be in the playoffs.

(2) Winning your conference used to mean everything because it was the only way to the major post season Bowl game for your conference. Now we have multiple conferences where a champion is crowned without some of the best teams playing each other and Alabama just proved that winning your conference isn't that important.

(3) Bowl games used to be games that were fun for the fans nationally! Unless you're in the playoffs they have at best been relegated to regional importance and at worst they just don't matter anymore. There are far too many bowl games for them to have any meaning in terms of how you finished in your conference. When players don't want to play in Bowl games why should anyone want to watch. I agree with Don again when he said "Now, instead of a bowl game being a reward for a solid season, NOT being selected is the easiest excuse to fire your head coach."

(4) And most damning of all, "Now, we have a national championship system which doesn't include unbeaten/untied teams but does include teams who can avoid playing for their conference championship." I firmly believe that if a conference produces two playoff caliber teams that did not play each other during the regular season or conference championship then it shouldn't be allowable for both teams to receive playoff bids because the conference is scamming the purpose of the playoff system. If a conference can't figure who is truly deserving of a playoff bid then why reward that conference with two bids? I thought the playoffs were supposed to give the little guys a chance but that is never going to happen in this format.

College football used to be in my top 3 favorite sports to watch but it has turned into a Premiere League type of situation with the haves and have nots being more pronounced than ever before. For me college football and who is crowned national champion is not as compelling as it once was. I will raise my hand and say I thought the playoff system would heighten my interest in college football but it has had the opposite effect for me. I care less now about who is crowned national champion than I ever have before; I find myself losing interest every passing year in the playoffs and sadly in the Bowl games I used to love and I don't see that changing in the near future.