OFFICIAL 2021 COLLEGE FOOTBALL OFFSEASON THREAD

[dacomeup]

But when you mention that "they" (ie The powers that be in college football) need to fix this How are they supposed to fix historically great programs underperforming. There's nothing stopping USC, Texas and Miami from getting their stuff together.

I never really mentioned “they” need to fix it? Could be wrong though. CFB is largely cyclical. I think that the changing landscapes of the country, demographics and media has only exacerbated some of these issues. But conference realignment hasn’t really helped in the ways that people wanted, outside of making bigger media deals. I don’t think it’s an easy fix and the answer may just be that CFB is going to be a regional sport, where Midwestern and SE schools care the rest of the country doesn’t particularly. But that will hurt college football in the long term as well.

 

[atlsfinest]

I never really mentioned “they” need to fix it? Could be wrong though. CFB is largely cyclical. I think that the changing landscapes of the country, demographics and media has only exacerbated some of these issues. But conference realignment hasn’t really helped in the ways that people wanted, outside of making bigger media deals. I don’t think it’s an easy fix and the answer may just be that CFB is going to be a regional sport, where Midwestern and SE schools care the rest of the country doesn’t particularly. But that will hurt college football in the long term as well.

My bad, I was referencing what nako xl said. I totally agree that population shift and youth football not being as big on the west coast and up north hurt the prospects of those schools ever becoming elite. Also, college football is a self-fulfilling prophecy in many ways. The good schools have more money and resources which just snowballs into them getting better players and being better into perpetuity.

I think expanding the playoffs will help. The way the college football playoff is marketed ("are you in?" and the weekly selection show) puts a hyper focus on making the playoffs and essentially everything else is minimized and unimportant. I think in the future you're going to see players opt out in the middle of the season once their teams are out of the playoff hunt.

 

[MVP]

The West and East coast teams just gotta get better. Get better and start winning and the media coverage and spoils will come. For all the doom and gloom, CFB still by far and away the 2nd most popular sport in the country.

 

[N41D]

Interest and viewership in sports has been down across the board. It's not just specific to CFB.

College football is and probably always has been the most lopsided sport in existence. And they're the only one deadset on this sham of a postseason structure despite having 126 teams in their upper division.

It's a stupid format. But it kind of is what it is unless they're ready to make significant changes on the whole - which there's no indication they're ready to do.

 

[dacomeup]

The West and East coast teams just gotta get better. Get better and start winning and the media coverage and spoils will come. For all the doom and gloom, CFB still by far and away the 2nd most popular sport in the country.

It’s absolutely not that simple. Changing demographics of the country are already and will continue to affect things. Nobody cares about the sport in masses outside of Texas, SE and the Midwest. And sure, even slumping massively it’s still more popular than the most Black league in sports and baseball, a dying sport. That’s really not much for CFB to hang it’s hat on given the shear number of people who have ties to colleges and universities across the country, though.

 

[atlsfinest]

Interest and viewership in sports has been down across the board. It's not just specific to CFB.

College football is and probably always has been the most lopsided sport in existence. And they're the only one deadset on this sham of a postseason structure despite having 126 teams in their upper division.

It's a stupid format. But it kind of is what it is unless they're ready to make significant changes on the whole - which there's no indication they're ready to do.

Exactly. College football has always been the least equitable sport in the country. The thing that kept fans from non elite schools happy was the fact that college football had other goals like beating your rival, winning your conference, etc. than winning the national championship. Mississippi State fans knew they would never win the national championship but they were more than happy to win the Egg Bowl every year.


The playoffs have ruined that. The college football is like every other sport where the only goal is winning a championship and everything else is irrelevant. beating your rival is great but if it doesn't help you get the playoffs, what's the point?

 

[atlsfinest]

It’s absolutely not that simple. Changing demographics of the country are already and will continue to affect things. Nobody cares about the sport in masses outside of Texas, SE and the Midwest. And sure, even slumping massively it’s still more popular than the most Black league in sports and baseball, a dying sport. That’s really not much for CFB to hang it’s hat on given the shear number of people who have ties to colleges and universities across the country, though.

I'm not really sure how you expect college football to change these things. Conference commissioners in school ADs can't make schools more competitive and they can't make people more interested.

It's still massively popular and they're making more money than ever. Nothing is going to change unless the money stops flowing. If the viewership numbers continue to dip and the next iteration of TV contracts is less valuable than the current ones, you'll see the powers that be in college football change their tune very quickly.

 

[dacomeup]

I'm not really sure how you expect college football to change these things. Conference commissioners in school ADs can't make schools more competitive and they can't make people more interested.

It's still massively popular and they're making more money than ever. Nothing is going to change unless the money stops flowing. If the viewership numbers continue to dip and the next iteration of TV contracts is less valuable than the current ones, you'll see the powers that be in college football change their tune very quickly.

It’s the sports’ job to figure these problems out. It’s literally the job of the people in charge to make it so that people are more interested .

The sport is also just structurally unique. We have 5 major conferences, who all have different interests. It’ll never be a completely balanced sport. But what sport is completely egalitarian? People are losing interest in the sport, and whether it bears out now or over the next decade it will surely be something they’ll have to address. Or there will be serious ramifications. People will lose jobs. Colleges will lose students. Small businesses will be effected. Don’t think it’s enough to shrug it off as “what do you want them to do?”

 

[D StaXX]

I'm from Texas so of course football is religion.
First time I met my girls cousins in New York, they legit were shocked at how important football was and what it meant. I was shocked that they didn't care. I couldn't believe they had never went to a tailgate. Crazy how different we grew up.

 

[atlsfinest]

I'm from Texas so of course football is religion.
First time I met my girls cousins in New York, they legit were shocked at how important football was and what it meant. I was shocked that they didn't care. I couldn't believe they had never went to a tailgate. Crazy how different we grew up.

I grew up in Georgia and I didn't realize college football wasn't a big deal up north until I walked into a bar in Newport Rhode Island. it was the first Saturday of the college football season and I asked the bartender to put the game on. The dude looked at me like I was crazy and he said "what game? The Patriots don't play until next Sunday"

I legit thought he was joking.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

(He chose Ole Miss)

 

[witnesskb24]

i don’t think it’s strictly due to East/Weet coast teams being down but that plays a factor. Who are people on the East going to watch? Maryland? Rutgers? Syracuse? They have no reason to tune in every Saturday and watch football. Same with the west cost. USC and Oregon are about the only two teams that are consistently good but they aren’t elite (though I think both are definitely trending upwards). So besides those two who are west coasters going to watch? When Oregon and USC were both in their elite phases not too long ago I’m sure the ratings on the west coast were significantly higher.

At the same time college football will never be and has never been a sport where normal people are going to spend every Saturday watching games of random teams they don’t care about. That’s the super fans like us that love the game.

I don’t think adding more teams to the playoff will help anything. Sure it’ll make ratings higher maybe for a few years but then what? It’s still going to be the Bama/Clemson type teams playing for the title. Sure a G5 might pull a random upset in an expanded field, but we all know the chances of them getting three wins in a row to win a title is slim to none. Expanding is also just going to allow more teams from the Southwest/Midwest to get in the playoff. You’ll have a 9-3 LSU in there with “good losses” to Bama, A&M, and some OOC ranked team.

If the exclusivity of the current playoff is that bad for ratings, why was the BCS around for so long? The ratings for games now compared to BCS era games aren’t that different. And this is after literally doubling the participants that have a shot at the national title with a playoff

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-playoff-ratings-bcs/

 

[N41D]

(He chose Ole Miss)

What a weird breakdown of the

Was FSU even really init? I thought it had been A&M or Ole Miss for awhile now.

 

[fahqu001]

I grew up in Georgia and I didn't realize college football wasn't a big deal up north until I walked into a bar in Newport Rhode Island. it was the first Saturday of the college football season and I asked the bartender to put the game on. The dude looked at me like I was crazy and he said "what game? The Patriots don't play until next Sunday"

I legit thought he was joking.

Should have left. You don’t need that negativity in your life.

 

[aepps20]

I grew up in Georgia and I didn't realize college football wasn't a big deal up north until I walked into a bar in Newport Rhode Island. it was the first Saturday of the college football season and I asked the bartender to put the game on. The dude looked at me like I was crazy and he said "what game? The Patriots don't play until next Sunday"

I legit thought he was joking.

And we've been friends ever since.

 

[nako xl]

i don’t think it’s strictly due to East/Weet coast teams being down but that plays a factor. Who are people on the East going to watch? Maryland? Rutgers? Syracuse? They have no reason to tune in every Saturday and watch football. Same with the west cost. USC and Oregon are about the only two teams that are consistently good but they aren’t elite (though I think both are definitely trending upwards). So besides those two who are west coasters going to watch? When Oregon and USC were both in their elite phases not too long ago I’m sure the ratings on the west coast were significantly higher.

At the same time college football will never be and has never been a sport where normal people are going to spend every Saturday watching games of random teams they don’t care about. That’s the super fans like us that love the game.

I don’t think adding more teams to the playoff will help anything. Sure it’ll make ratings higher maybe for a few years but then what? It’s still going to be the Bama/Clemson type teams playing for the title. Sure a G5 might pull a random upset in an expanded field, but we all know the chances of them getting three wins in a row to win a title is slim to none. Expanding is also just going to allow more teams from the Southwest/Midwest to get in the playoff. You’ll have a 9-3 LSU in there with “good losses” to Bama, A&M, and some OOC ranked team.

If the exclusivity of the current playoff is that bad for ratings, why was the BCS around for so long? The ratings for games now compared to BCS era games aren’t that different. And this is after literally doubling the participants that have a shot at the national title with a playoff

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college-football-playoff-ratings-bcs/

It’s pretty much been proven that the BCS formula would have gotten you very similar top 4s with a handful of substitutions that the general public would have agreed with more than the teams that ultimately went. (I think it would have kept our Michigan State that one year and I forget who else.)

The playoff was expanded because the national championship game was making them a lot of money and they realized they could make even more money if they added 2 more semi national championship final games. That’s the only reason. Not fairness. Not in pursuit of the one true champion.

 

[atlsfinest]

I'm not sure if they can get away with this nowadays

 

[nako xl]

Bruh

 

[witnesskb24]

Ole cardboard looking trash

 

[nako xl]

Oh they're putting him on the coaching staff. Sounds like he's replacing Claiborne. Interesting.

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casper90403 you ever heard of this kid?

LSU offer wasn't really full and was a PWO offer too.

 

[IATT]

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

Get paid young brotha get paid

 

[N41D]

Conner Weigman committed to A&M

RIP Cade Klubnik dreams...

His recruitment is gonna get reaaaaaal interesting after Simpson commits to Clemson.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

Need him in Tally.

Him or AJ Duffy.

(Neither of which will likely happen).

Maybe UT goes after him harder instead of investing time in Ewers?

 

[N41D]

He supposedly really likes Auburn/Harsin...

Would be a damn shame if they pulled Davis and Klubnik outta Texas back-to-back.