College Football Playoffs

[TonyDown]

At least three bowl eligible teams have decided to forego bowl games, including Notre Dame.

Notre Dame specifically cited being snubbed by the college football playoff committee.  

My opinion, I am not all that interested in watching 5 SEC teams and 3 Big Ten teams complete in the playoffs.    Yes those 8 are great teams.  I'm just not excited to see more of the same brand that's been on TV week after week, if Notre Dame is not in the mix. 

Looking at Notre Dame's schedule, they had an impressive year.  Alabama just got beat soundly and now has 3 losses.  They have already lost to 2 of the 12 playoff teams.  Both Miami and Alabama lost to some lower teams.  Seems like a farce that both of them are in, and not Notre Dame. 

ESPN/Disney/ABC has not been doing well financially.  They might benefit with 3 Big Ten and 8 SEC teams, yet Notre Dame pulls good rating too.

I get it.  I'm old school, from the days when you would just throw on a pair of jeans and head to the stadium, perhaps with a bottle of one's favorite adult beverage.  There was far less gambling, far less media hype and not so many crazy over reacting fans.  But such is the state of sports today.   

One can search on Google how much revenue and donations some of these schools take in.  It's huge.  For example, Penn State football just hired Iowa States coach at a salary of $10,000,000.  They have the money to do that.  Iowa State players voted to skip their bowl game.  I don't blame them.  To me, knowing how hard the players train all year at schools like Notre Dame and Iowa State, it's demoralizing to lose your coach or get snubbed by the CFP committee.  Yup, that's college football these days.

I've threatened to switch allegiance to the NFL, and perhaps now I will.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, from the NY Times sports page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2025 by TonyDown

[Johnrom]

Now they are backfilling bowl games with 5-7 teams.   Brutal.   Something has to change fast. 😩😩😩

[Johnrom]

I am boycotting watching any bowl game with a 5-7 team and half empty stadiums.  🏟️ 

[+ azdr0710]

certainly not a rabid football fan, but I remember my Dad saying, when I was a kid, that he liked college sports better than pro because of the school spirit and rah-rah of it all........things have changed

Edited December 9, 2025 by azdr0710

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I attended last Friday's semi-final game in Atlanta with my alma mater decisively handling the Oregon Ducks to advance to the national championship game in Miami on the 19th.  The crowd was definitely partisan towards the Hoosiers and the atmosphere was electric, especially on the first two plays.  The solid tackle by Indiana on the kick off returner was cheered by the crowd, to be followed by Indiana's Pick 6 to have a 7-0 lead in the first 10 seconds of the game!  From there everything kept going.

Looking forward to Miami-Indiana game next week!

P.S.  Whenever there was a Chick-Fil-A ad with the "eat more chicken" slogan (Chick-Fil-A was the corporate sponsor of the game) you could hear fans yelling, "eat more duck."

[TonyDown]

I watched the Peach Bowl on ESPN.  Indiana was impressive.

I reminisced how our dormitory house drove to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl, longtime ago, when it was a minor bowl. 

While in Atlanta we ventured to a restaurant bar on the upper floors of the Peachtree Plaza Hotel and then down to Underground Atlanta in a bar where cute college boys from the opposing school joined at our table.  Together, we raised toasts and sang along as a bluegrass band attempted to play our respective fight songs.  What fun that was for a bunch of small town boys!

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:39 AM by TonyDown