GrantNKY

On 10/25/2021 at 8:41 AM, futurecoach said:

In this scenario. A one lost UK team from the SEC could potentially have a shot to be that team that sneaks in if Oregon also slips up somewhere. 

UC wins over Notre Dame would be better than anything on UKs schedule. Notre Dames resume will likely be better as well. Same with a 1 loss Michigan or Michigan State. Kentucky is dead and buried and far as the playoff unless Georgia somehow loses 2 games between now and then and UK gets a shot at Bama. 

There is such a big gap between Georgia/Ohio State/Bama and everyone else. I think Oklahoma and UC are clearly the best of the rest. But both lose to any of the top 3 schools by a minimum of 17 points. I really just want to get another shot at Oregon. 
 

What I want to see happen: Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, and Cincy. 
 

I worry for UC though because I still need to see it to believe it before I think they get in over a 1 loss P5 Champ or even a 1 loss non conference champ. Let’s say Mich State or Michigan only have 1 loss to Ohio State. I don’t think it’s crazy to say that they would get in over UC. We already know that if Bama knocks over UGA that they are both getting in. I think that could happen in the B1G as well and it would be at the expense of UC. 

I’m not sure how this season is really any different than the majority of Harbaughs seasons at UM. This is what they do. I was at the game Saturday. Michigan got dominated by Nebraska physically in that game. Credit to Michigan for not making the mistakes and winning the game, but that’s not an elite football team. At the end of the day, I don’t think they’re better than OSU, PSU, or MSU. If they can win 1 of those games and finish 10-2 Harbaugh will likely be fine. If they lose all 3 (which I think they will) it’s the same situation over and over again. 

Morning after thoughts: Stroud is going to be really good. He’s Dwayne Haskins when it comes to talent. He will never be Fields. No one will. Just need him to have Fields work ethic with Haskins talent and this team will be just fine. I think he has that. He’ll make mistakes, but Olave and Wilson will bail him out until he gets comfortable. No worries at all when it comes to Stroud. Ohio States ability to win a national championship does not rest on his shoulders. 
 

Denzel Burke is a freshman all-American and I don’t think you can take him off the field the rest of the year even when Brown and Banks come back. Burke got picked on last night but I loved the way he played. By years end he will undoubtably be our best corner. 
 

I don’t understand targeting. If you think you do you’re wrong. 

I love the defensive scheme change to the base 4-2-5. Simply because it gets our best athletes on the field at all times and we shouldn’t ever put ourselves in position again to have a Tuf Borland on the field against an Alabama. But those 2 linebackers have to be disciplined on play fakes. Playing single high with corners giving space, the slant route is open 100% of the time if the linebackers bite up on a play fake. I get it Minnesota is a run heavy team with a monstrous OL. I personally think that may be the best OL we play all year unless we face Alabama again. I get that the natural instinct is to help up on the run, but you’re leaving your corners out to dry when you do that and then they look like the bad guys. Need to fix that this week because I’m sure Oregon is going to try to exploit that. 
 

Josh Proctor played his best game as a Buckeye last night. Our best defenses in recent memory 2016 and 2019, Malik Hooker and Jordan Fuller were the most important players to the overall success of the defense. Need that type of play from Proctor. 
 

Treveon Henderson is going to win a heisman before he leaves Ohio State. My god that dude is special. Also how can you not love Miyan Williams? Under recruited kid who came to Ohio State, committed to getting his body in better shape, and is now a certified stud. That’s such a good 1-2 punch. 
 

4 hours ago, John Anthony said:

He’s looked really good in practice, a very coachable kid.  He has a lot to learn I hope they go slow with him.  From what I’ve seen/heard from practice is think of Malik Henry without the attitude.  I personally see a lot of Teddy Bridgewater in his game.

I think Teddy Bridgewater is the perfect comparison. 

10 hours ago, John Anthony said:

Craig Young at the bullet.  What do you mean by throw him to the wolves?

I think he gives him the full Justin Fields playbook. 

I think Day is going to throw Stroud to the wolves on Thursday and I think he’ll be just fine. Have to see it to believe it with the back 7 but looking forward to seeing how they utilize the “bullet” position. 

2 hours ago, Bert said:

The PAC just has to hope and pray no swipes USC or Oregon from them.  If that happens, the PAC is in an uglier situation than the Big 12.

I do wonder if Big 10 leadership considered offering USC or Oregon to try to match the SEC.

FOX is facilitating those talks. 

So essentially this has more to do with FOX than it does anything else. New conference and playoff tv deals are coming up. Fox and the Big 10 are obviously tied at the hip like the SEC and ESPN are. Adding OU and Texas essentially behind everyone’s back while pushing the agenda for playoff expansion that would clearly favor the new SEC that not only would have 2 more teams than any other teams but those 2 teams are a top 5 program in the country right now and the most profitable program in the country. The announcement of the “alliance” was fumbled. There was no need for an announcement except to essentially say we are doing something. But FOX put every detail of this together and is letting the conferences take the fall. The only reason the ACC is involved is because they got absolutely hosed by ESPN on their tv deal. ESPN is paying pennies for the ACC Network and their tv rights. In the end though I think ESPN and FOX are both making attempts to seize as much power as possible because as scared as they are of each other, Apple and Amazon will eventually come along and be able to outbid them both and there will be nothing they can do about it. 

My fiancée is 2 years and 2 1/2 months younger than me. 

 Very excited about the upcoming season but also a bit concerned. Supposedly the theme is a back to basics season. I’ve been rewatching some old seasons occasionally over the past year of so and the older seasons just allowed for so much more character development and story arcs. I loved that aspect of the show but if they can combine that with the more recent seasons better filming it will be perfect. 
 

I don’t understand the need for dropping essentially 2 weeks off of the show. There will now be a tribal council every other day and I’m not sure that will be a good change to the show. I’m hoping that it will somehow be explained due to COVID and it isn’t a permanent change to the show. 

3 hours ago, The Raven said:

So A&M is basically admitting that, on even ground, they can never compete with Texas, at anything.  Quit craying and get better.

From what I’ve taken away from the whole ordeal is that A&M wasn’t let in on the conversations and was purposely left out of the conversations. I think they have a right to be upset about that. 

13 minutes ago, bugatti said:

With you here.

I'm sorry, I don't need to see a 7-5 Buffalo team in the expanded playoffs. This isn't March Madness.

Agreed. I consider myself a supporter of G5 football. That’s why even though they will be included in the new 12 team system, they should really just have their own playoff. I’d even be fine with making it a P6 by adding the AAC because despite not being on the P5 level, they are clearly leaps and bounds better than every other G5 league. But the MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, and CUSA aren’t in a position where they deserve to be given an automatic spot just to be fodder for Alabama. 

13 hours ago, futurecoach said:

I’ll just say this I disagree with the statement that college football always crowns the true best team National Champ, because there is no way to know that for sure. College football for the majority of its existence has crowned its champs more on human opinion, or what a computer system said was the best. While it is easy for human opinion to think after the fact, that yeah that team was the best. There was no way to know for sure. It truly isn’t getting completely decided on the field, when some teams don’t even get the chance to decide it on the field. Human opinion should not be stopping say a power conference champ from getting a chance to play for a title. Or even in UC’s case last year, do I think they would have won it no. Should they have been given a chance to prove it on the field in the playoffs, absolutely! Just because many humans wouldn’t think they would win it, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get the chance, when they did everything they were suppose to in its season. 
 

Quite honestly your OSU team from 2014 is the perfect example. Majority of people wouldn’t have thought OSU with their third string QB would first beat Bama and then also a great Oregon team. However, OSU was fortunate enough to be given their chance to prove it on the field in the playoffs. While TCU which also very easily could have been the 4 seed instead, was not given that chance. It is easy to think no way TCU does what OSU does and the committee was right to pick OSU, but we will never know. Just like going into it, no one but OSU would have thought they would end up doing what did. Yet OSU was given the chance to prove it and they took advantage of it. They very easily could have been left out, and another team could have been crowned champs, and no one would ever known that OSU with their third string QB truly was the best. Teams have to be given the chance to prove it. 
 

Which as mentioned a 12 team playoff won’t probably give us anymore new champs. In fact it will help even more the power teams like a Bama and OSU. However, now IMO you can truly call the best team a true NATIONAL Champ. Since it truly would be decided on the field and teams would be given their fair chance to compete for a title. Since most teams now know going into the season they truly control their destiny, because if they win their conference they are in and would get the chance to compete for the title then. This would truly allow us to know without a doubt who was the best. 

Since we have adopted the 4 team playoff has there been a year where we are left with doubt that the team that won was the best team? No. That’s the goal and it’s working extremely well as far as I’m concerned. Every team in a power 5 conference going in to the season does control their own destiny going in to the season. Don’t lose. It’s that simple. Under the current structure, no power 5 team is going to be left out if they win their conference. It won’t happen. So they already control their destiny. If they lose a game then they lose the right to control their own destiny because if other teams go undefeated, they were better than that team for the entirety of the season. Week 1 matters just as much as week 13. The regular season is the playoff. Don’t lose, and you’re in. No questions asked. I don’t think that 12 teams is going to drastically change that. The top 4 teams are going to be wildly better than everyone else still. I don’t think adding more teams as fodder for Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State who have proved they belong over the course of the season does anything to make their national championship more legitimate. We have a legitimate champion already. I’m simply ok with the 12 team playoff structure because we get more football, more fun matchups, and the cool atmospheres of playoff games being played at a home field. It changes nothing as far as the legitimacy of the eventual champion. At least in my eyes. 

17 hours ago, bugatti said:

I am pretty well in-line with most of your thinking. I always hate the argument, "well, other divisions have a 16+ team tournament and it works." Well, yeah. Make it 43 teams. Whatever number you set "will work" in that someone is crowned champion, but there is a sweet spot between doing nothing and over-saturation.

And for the record, expanding the field means nothing. North Dakota State has won 8 of the past 10 FCS titles. In Division 3, only five schools have won titles the last 23 years (18 by two schools). It's not as if the wealth is spread across these divisions.

Exactly. People are infatuated with this idea of upsets. But upsets happen in the regular season of college football. They rarely happen in the college football playoff. I’m not sure we’ve had a legit upset (more than a 1or 2 point spread) in the playoff since the first year when Ohio State upset Bama and Oregon. Upsets can and likely will happen in those 5-12 seeds in the first round because that’s where its tougher to differentiate and all of those teams have shown multiple weaknesses that have been exploited at times during the regular season and caused them to lose a game or two. At the end of the day though it’s still basically a formality because it’s going to be Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and either Georgia or Oklahoma for the foreseeable future, 

17 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

If it is a national playoff game on campus, it will also be priced out for 99.9% of fans. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State or whoever is hosting will not be allowed to just fill it up with season ticket holders. Visiting teams will get more tickets than normal and corporate tickets will be made available to those footing the bill for the games. There would be a homefield advantage for sure, but it won't be as it is for a typical home game.

I think semi-finals should be at a neutral site, but I won't be mad if they aren't. I like the 4 highest ranked champions and the next 8 model. I'm completely against automatic qualifiers. I don't want to see some 6-6 or 7-5  Conf USA team in over a 10-2 Power 5 team, that deserves to be in. 

But at least season ticket holders will get to go. Not having to add in insane travel costs make it more reasonable for the average fan. The average fan if they really wanted to, could probably come up with a $1000 for an experience of a lifetime to go to a playoff game at their home field. Traveling to another part of the country and paying $5k plus is just out of the question for almost all of us. 
 

I’ve always agreed with your point that automatic qualifiers are a no go. No reason for a team with 4 losses to automatically get in. The 4 highest ranked champions is a good compromise because the odds of 4 power 5 champions being ranked around 4 anyways is pretty good. Only Alabama and Ohio State have gotten in without winning their conference anyways and the team that won the conference was either in the playoff (Georgia) or right on the edge (Penn State). 

On 6/11/2021 at 10:26 AM, futurecoach said:

For me it wasn’t perfect, because a team should be able to go into a season and know exactly what they would have to do to be able to have a chance to compete for a title. Players put in so much time and effort, they should be able to truly know what they have to do to have a chance to compete for a title. College football has always been basically the only sport, where a team literally could do everything it is supposed to do and still not get a chance to compete for a title. 

The four team playoff was better than the old BCS. However, it still left it to where teams still would not know before the season if they would get a chance to compete for a title. Now with 12 teams, a team can go into it and know they control their own fate in regards to having a chance to win the title. If you are a P5 school win your conference and you know you are in, you don’t have to worry about hoping human opinion thinking you are better than another team.  Then even non P5 teams at least know they will have one guaranteed spot and still a small outside chance for an at large. 
 

College football is still going to be great, because people love football. Just like how the NFL is the most popular Pro sport, and is popular year round. Adding 12 teams is not going to take away from the season. In fact it may give us even more big time non conference games. Teams won’t have to be afraid of scheduling top non conference games and possibly losing a game. Since they would know they would still control their fate by winning their conference. IMO it will give us even more top non conference matchups. Which to me makes it more exciting. 
 

So for me this makes college football even better, but that’s just my opinion. 

My thing with college football and part of why I love it so much is the best team gets crowned national champion every single year. That’s the goal of the season from my perspective. Find the best team. College football does that better than any sport in the US. If Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State win it every year then so be it. I’m fine with that. Despite me hating Bama, I don’t get tired of them winning it because I just want to see the best team. That’s why I, despite growing up in Kentucky, never got along with college basketball. The best team doesn’t always win. The NCAA Tournament means nothing to me because it’s just a tournament. It’s not about finding the best team. Yes the tournament is fun, yes upsets are fun. But calling the winner of that tournament the best team in college basketball is a joke. College football is about finding the best team every single year and at the end of the year everyone agrees. There’s nothing to argue about. It’s indisputable. Everyone on here agrees UK was far and away the best basketball team in the country in 2015. But they didn’t win a stupid end of the season 68 team lose and go home tournament. I agree that the current 12 team proposed format for CFB wouldn’t get us to that level, but any slight turn towards that model gives me pause. In the end I’m ok with it, but this needs to be the end all be all. You can’t expand past 12. This needs to be the model for naming a national champion for the next 100 years. 

On 6/12/2021 at 10:06 AM, Jumper_Dad said:

The SEC would probably love to be able to host a couple of games each season. Why would they hate it? I know everyone is going to say, because they don't want to take a chance on playing up north in the cold. But how many teams really want to roll into Tuscaloosa or Athens and face that atmosphere either.

That said, I don't see the semis ever being on campus. It's probably fairest to the teams to be at a neutral site.

Imagine if college basketball playoffs was played on campus and you had to play the first round of the final four at Cameron, Rupp or Allen Fieldhouse...everyone would be screaming about how unfair that it was.

Neutral site games are a travesty. Traditional bowl games are fine. But the early season neutral site games, playoff games, national championship price out 99.9% of fans. Realistically between ticket prices, air fare, hotel rooms, etc. you’re looking at over $5k per person. The atmospheres suffer from that. The atmospheres of games are part of what make college football so great. I think home games for the higher seed until the finals is the best way to go personally and I think it would add more to the sport. Every other American sport does that. With the proposal there is a defined characteristic. Take the 4 highest ranked conference champions, then rank the remaining 8 teams. If you didn’t get home field advantage you should have won your conference. 🤷🏻‍♂️

On 6/11/2021 at 7:09 PM, TheDeuce said:

I think playing every game up to the semis on campus is exactly what should happen. 

The SEC would NEVER go for that.

Yep. The SEC is not going to go to Columbus, Madison, South Bend, etc. in January. 

I think eventually I will like it. As of right now the only thing I like about it is the first round games being played at home. I do still think that it devalues the regular season on a week to week basis, but eventually I think I’ll like it. College football is without a doubt the best sport in the world. Nothing else compares to it so changing something that I already think is perfect, does give me pause. 

20 minutes ago, nkypete said:

It looks like masks are still going to be required on public transportation like planes and at airports.  That's the requirement that I want to see lifted because my wife and I want to travel out west (without wearing a mask on a plane).  I think businesses still have the ability to choose that customers wear masks on their property.

Honestly, I’m a huge fan of the idea that masks should be required on airplanes from now on. Airplanes are gross. Pre COVID, I would almost always get some sort of head cold or something when flying. I’ve flown quite a bit since COVID wearing a mask and feel 100% when I get off the plane. 

4 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Evaluators just said Bengals have the best 3 receiver set in the NFL!!!

Am I a homer? Absolutely. Do I think this is a crazy take? Absolutely not. I would argue this point pretty strongly. Chase will be a top 5 receiver in the league after this year. Boyd is one of the best true slot receivers in the league. Higgins is a high volume producer and is the jump ball threat. The only teams I think may be ahead are the two teams in the super bowl last year. 

Just absolutely devastating. Thoughts with his family and friends. 

One of the big things I feel like the Bengals really tried to make sure of with these new uniforms is building the rest of the uniform around the helmet. When you wear that helmet which is undeniably the most bold helmet choice in the league, everything else needs to be really understated to highlight the helmet. The new look accomplishes that 100% in my mind. Contrast that with the look they’ve had since 2004 with a ton of contrasting colors, bold fonts, and distracting design elements. The helmet is back to being the main focal point for the jersey and that’s important. The more I see the new uniforms the more I love them. Now once the NFL gets rid of the ridiculous one helmet color thing and we can get some white Tiger helmets then we’ll really be in business. 

1 hour ago, CincySportsFan said:

I disagree.  If you had brought out the new uniforms without saying a word, and without any other pictures from past years to reference...my guess is the majority of people would not have noticed the difference(s) at first glance.

Maybe it’s me, but there are too many distinct changes that make it super noticeable at first glance. The only combo that wouldn’t immediately stand out would be the the white on white vs the old color rush.