OFFICIAL 2020 COLLEGE FOOTBALL OFFSEASON THREAD

[atlsfinest]

Bomani made a great point on his most recent pod..

imagine being nick Saban and on top of catchin that L in that game.. but whatever black recruits were at the game and any black draft eligible players just witnessed that place turn into a trump rally

I miss big critic of Trump and the MAGA mentality as anyone but I don't think this is a big deal most of these high school recruits.

1. As has been mentioned, a lot of these kids are from the deep south. Not only are they from red States, many of them are from rural parts of red States. I could imagine it being a culture shock for some of the West coast kids, but not most of them. A similar scene would happen at just about every southern school unfortunately.

2. Schools like Bama only recruit the top talent. Most of these kids could genuinely care less about the politics of their fans. As long as they are treated well, get girls, and get preferential treatment, most of these kids don't care.Thisis just a business trip and they're looking for the school that gives them the best opportunity to get the NFL.

 

[atlsfinest]

Great points made Bama should be done and rightfully so. I get tired of them playing nobody all year and just cause it's Bama they get put in. See what happens when you play good teams.( See Ohio State washed them plus Clemson washed them twice) sec been trash for a while glad people are starting to realize it.

Bro, I swear, if Alabama makes the playoff over multiple one-loss conference champions without winning their own division the committee might as well change the name of the playoffs into the Alabama Invitational and just select the three other teams if Alabama is going to be gifted spot every single year.

The frustrating part about the committee is that the rationale seems to change from team to team. They make a big deal about quality wins and conference titles until it comes to Alabama, then all of a sudden it's "they barely lost tho", "eye-test tho" or "we just think Alabama is better tho"

 

[atlsfinest]

Could never convince me to go live in Tuscaloosa or Oxford, MS if I was a top recruit. I'm sure the boosters help with that though

Me neither. Norman, OK, Clemson, SC, I wouldn't be caught dead in most of these southern towns but you have to keep in mind that most of the top programs or in the deep South and a lot of the top kids are from those areas. Personally, after growing up in a small town I would be on the first flight out to a West coast School like USC.

These kids dream of playing at these big southern schools, they want their parents and family members to be able to watch them play and they also want the school that will give him the most exposure and the best opportunity to win.

Also, college football is just bigger in the south. Southern schools invest so much more into college football, better facilities, bigger, more die-hard fanbases, etc.

 

[JBII]

Bro, I swear, if Alabama makes the playoff over multiple one-loss conference champions without winning their own division the committee might as well change the name of the playoffs into the Alabama Invitational and just select the three other teams if Alabama is going to be gifted spot every single year.

The frustrating part about the committee is that the rationale seems to change from team to team. They make a big deal about quality wins and conference titles until it comes to Alabama, then all of a sudden it's "they barely lost tho", "eye-test tho" or "we just think Alabama is better tho"

Man I live in Bama you should hear the excuses they make for them on the radio. Well if Tua wasn't hurt we win dawg he threw for 400 yards and 4 TDs come on bruh. The should even be 5. 9 or 10 imo

 

[SuperJ5]

I played and worked in quite a few college towns including Oxford, MS and these kid don’t gaf abt that mostly. They are treated well, taken care of and are not even aware of most of those things dealing with politics.

 

[nako xl]

Could never convince me to go live in Tuscaloosa or Oxford, MS if I was a top recruit. I'm sure the boosters help with that though

I know people who were recruited by and went to Bama. The selling point was “the football program is not the school,” and that was driven into them. Every other student there understood that too and acted accordingly. The players’ experiences were generally not the same as the rest of the Black student population’s.

 

[atlsfinest]

I played and worked in quite a few college towns including Oxford, MS and these kid don’t gaf abt that mostly. They are treated well, taken care of and are not even aware of most of those things dealing with politics.

Exactly. All of us on this board are probably older than these college kids so we have a broader perspective now. I'm a black man graduated from UGA and I can tell you, at age 18 I was more concerned with getting good grades, partying with my friends and girls. Politics weren't really that big of a deal to me (of course this was well before Trump took office).

These football players are treated like gods on campus, they get all the girls, can skip or take all on-line classes etc. They're not worried about politics. They're on some real "I'm not black, I'm OJ" steez. Even if you were and more politically minded college kid, it's in your best interest to view play college football as a business trip.

 

[newbs24]

Exactly. All of us on this board are probably older than these college kids so we have a broader perspective now. I'm a black man graduated from UGA and I can tell you, at age 18 I was more concerned with getting good grades, partying with my friends and girls. Politics weren't really that big of a deal to me (of course this was well before Trump took office).

These football players are treated like gods on campus, they get all the girls, can skip or take all on-line classes etc. They're not worried about politics. They're on some real "I'm not black, I'm OJ" steez. Even if you were and more politically minded college kid, it's in your best interest to view play college football as a business trip.

Yeah... Priorities in life at 18 are much different than they are now at 36 for me...

 

[IATT]

They're not but I can guarantee you none of them were surprised by the reaction, and it will have zero impact on their decisions.

Most of these kids are from SEC country, I doubt it's the first time they've witnessed some MAGAites in action.

i went to high school and played football in jacksonville at one of the top sports prep schools in the country

i ended up going down to miami after actually visiting tallahassee and gainsville (i'm not from the states so all i knew was the football teams).. as i said, most of the kids dont give a shhh unless that shh gets thrown in your face in some manner

 

[N41D]

There's never going to be a perfect system - especially with a 4-team playoff determined by a committee of people that doesn't release any concrete or consistent criteria for how they're picking between teams.

Only thing it's doing is creating a vortex for about 5-6 teams to continually stack talent on talent and maximize resources.

Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, UGA is close. Notre Dame kinda if Brian Kelly didn't suck.

It's a weird vacuum.

 

[atlsfinest]

There's never going to be a perfect system - especially with a 4-team playoff determined by a committee of people that doesn't release any concrete or consistent criteria for how they're picking between teams.

Only thing it's doing is creating a vortex for about 5-6 teams to continually stack talent on talent and maximize resources.

Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, UGA is close. Notre Dame kinda if Brian Kelly didn't suck.

It's a weird vacuum.

We knew there would be issues went there are 5 Power conferences and Notre Dame and only 4 spots, at least 1 conference champ is gonna be left out every year.

Having a playoff trivializes every non-playoff bowl game and I extension trivializes the entire season for most teams. and used to be a big deal to beat your rivals, playing a big bowl game, etc. Now that we have a playoff, the entire sport has become hyper focused on being in the top 4.

 

[IATT]

There's never going to be a perfect system - especially with a 4-team playoff determined by a committee of people that doesn't release any concrete or consistent criteria for how they're picking between teams.

Only thing it's doing is creating a vortex for about 5-6 teams to continually stack talent on talent and maximize resources.

Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, UGA is close. Notre Dame kinda if Brian Kelly didn't suck.

It's a weird vacuum.

that's college football.. i'd include couple other spots that could (or should) easily jump into that equation IF they could ever figure things out just because of their resources and location (like texas, USC, florida and FSU)

but that's college football, i still dont really really get clemson.. but the others all make sense to some degree.. notre dame will never actually win it but they'll be around every other year.. penn state will also always hover around

notre dame might be the only private school that even really sniffs anywhere close to it.. unless miami randomly has a great year, which i doubt we ever see anywhere near what they once were with other schools hitting the south florida area and them being private

 

[IATT]

We knew there would be issues went there are 5 Power conferences and Notre Dame and only 4 spots, at least 1 conference champ is gonna be left out every year.

Having a playoff trivializes every non-playoff bowl game and I extension trivializes the entire season for most teams. and used to be a big deal to beat your rivals, playing a big bowl game, etc. Now that we have a playoff, the entire sport has become hyper focused on being in the top 4.

i mean beating your rivals still matters or how the hell else are you going make it into the top 4

to me the problem comes in if a situation like the following plays out:

UGA beats auburn and wins their remaining games.. so they end up in the SEC championship game.. LSU and alabama also win out, so LSU faces UGA in the SEC championship

UGA wins the SEC championship.. LSU won the head to head with alabama.. Alabama's best win is whatever auburn ends up ranked or texas a & m

all 3 have 1 loss.. and let's assume you have undefeated OSU and clemson.. hell, make things more complicated let's say minnesota takes out OSU in their championship game so theyre undefeated

 

[N41D]

An undefeated conference champ isn't getting left out. So Clemson and one of Ohio State/Minnesota will take two spots. The SEC champ is a lock.

Then how do you sort out 2 one-loss SEC teams, a potential undefeated BigXII champ (Baylor) or one-loss conference champs in Oklahoma and Oregon or Utah?

I don't see any way to justify a spot for Bama at this point. Strength of schedule is bad. Unless LSU really stumbles they won't even play for a conference title. The eyeball test says they're probably one of the 4 most talented teams in the country, but the resume would be a non-starter for literally anyone else in any other conference.

This system sucks as much as the BCS did. It's just as convoluted, muddy, and inconsistent as the computers were. This is actually worse because we have to listen to what amounts to figurehead politicians try to explain why they picked the teams they did and left out the teams the did.

 

[MVP]

I think the playoff has worked much better than the BCS. Need some subjectivity in CFB. Natural progression is going to expand it to 6 teams. 5 power 5 champs and a at large bid. Top 2 seeds get a bye.

 

[N41D]

I think, if it expands, it's gotta go to 8.

All P5 winners, and 3 at-large. Could be talked into highest-ranked G5 getting an auto-bid with 2 at-large bids.

Four is just stupid given the landscape of college football.

The FCS basically gets their entire Top 25 in a playoff, despite their regular season schedules being one game shorter, and the highest level of the sport can't figure this **** out. It's so stupid.

 

[MVP]

I think, if it expands, it's gotta go to 8.

All P5 winners, and 3 at-large. Could be talked into highest-ranked G5 getting an auto-bid with 2 at-large bids.

Four is just stupid given the landscape of college football.

The FCS basically gets their entire Top 25 in a playoff, despite their regular season schedules being one game shorter, and the highest level of the sport can't figure this **** out. It's so stupid.

Until these dudes get actual compensation nah and you kinda water down the regular season a bit. Still can't afford to lose 2 games as it stands right now. Don't think 6 will change that in theory.

 

[nako xl]

Exactly. All of us on this board are probably older than these college kids so we have a broader perspective now. I'm a black man graduated from UGA and I can tell you, at age 18 I was more concerned with getting good grades, partying with my friends and girls. Politics weren't really that big of a deal to me (of course this was well before Trump took office).

These football players are treated like gods on campus, they get all the girls, can skip or take all on-line classes etc. They're not worried about politics. They're on some real "I'm not black, I'm OJ" steez. Even if you were and more politically minded college kid, it's in your best interest to view play college football as a business trip.

The kids that I know that went to Deep South, and some northern, conservative MAGA-mindset-friendly schools viewed it as a 3-5 year business decision. A bunch did transfer because Tuscaloosa and even places like Charleston were too much (or little depending on the perspective) for them, but most were like: “I went down there did what I had to do, kept to my circle of friends, got the degree and got the **** out of there.”

My boy went to OU because they were giving a ton of money to out of state kids and few people from NY applied. He hated every second and never left campus. He got that subsidized degree and a job placement though.

A lot of the kids who go to Bama look at it the same: if your goal is to play in the NFL, getting that Saban letter of recommendation is almost a guaranteed $million after 3 years.

However, if I was a QB, no chance in hell I’d go to Alabama.

 

[atlsfinest]

I think the playoff has worked much better than the BCS. Need some subjectivity in CFB. Natural progression is going to expand it to 6 teams. 5 power 5 champs and a at large bid. Top 2 seeds get a bye.

It's gotten progressively better. The BCS was better than the polling era where we had split national champs and the national champion was effectively based on opinion.

The Playoff is a big step up from the BCS. The #1 team going into the playoffs still hasn't won the title and the #4 team has won multiple times.

 

[nako xl]

An undefeated conference champ isn't getting left out. So Clemson and one of Ohio State/Minnesota will take two spots. The SEC champ is a lock.

Then how do you sort out 2 one-loss SEC teams, a potential undefeated BigXII champ (Baylor) or one-loss conference champs in Oklahoma and Oregon or Utah?

I don't see any way to justify a spot for Bama at this point. Strength of schedule is bad. Unless LSU really stumbles they won't even play for a conference title. The eyeball test says they're probably one of the 4 most talented teams in the country, but the resume would be a non-starter for literally anyone else in any other conference.

This system sucks as much as the BCS did. It's just as convoluted, muddy, and inconsistent as the computers were. This is actually worse because we have to listen to what amounts to figurehead politicians try to explain why they picked the teams they did and left out the teams the did.

couple of people have made the point that, that good 2016 Penn State team and the 2014(?) TCU team that was left out of the playoff and a few other strong teams I forget would have been in the top 4 using the computers analytic system.

So ironically a BCS chosen top 4 would probably be more accurate than what we’ve been getting. The only justification for the committee is 1. Eyeball test and 2. Tv revenue from the weekly selection show

 

[nako xl]

Until these dudes get actual compensation nah and you kinda water down the regular season a bit. Still can't afford to lose 2 games as it stands right now. Don't think 6 will change that in theory.

you can’t have a 6 team playoff when SEC schools are playing an 8 game conference schedule and 4 FCS schools. Until there’s uniformity in college football you can’t give two teams who will likely always be from the SEC what amounts to a 5th or 6th bye week while other schools depending on their conference mandates have 1 in season bye and are playing 9 P5 opponents. It becomes a fairness issue.

A bye would also immediately unlevel the playing field in any tournament. Imagine giving all the #1 seeds in the basketball tourney byes.

 

[MVP]

you can’t have a 6 team playoff when SEC schools are playing an 8 game conference schedule and 4 FCS schools. Until there’s uniformity in college football you can’t give two teams who will likely always be from the SEC what amounts to a 5th or 6th bye week while other schools depending on their conference mandates have 1 in season bye and are playing 9 P5 opponents. It becomes a fairness issue.

A bye would also immediately unlevel the playing field in any tournament. Imagine giving all the #1 seeds in the basketball tourney byes.

Ok fake news

 

[atlsfinest]

I've been tryna tell folks this for a decade: Nebraska will NEVER be a perrenial title contender again. Doesn't matter if they have Saban, Meyer, Dabo, etc. as HC, those days are gone.

The circumstances that led to their success from the 70s through the 90s are gone and aren't coming back. They're an also-ran program with elite history and will be so forever.

 

[Verde Shuttles]

It's kinda what Nebraska is supposed to be, I'm ok with that

 

[IATT]