I can\'t take college football seriously
 

I've never been able to take college football seriously even though pro football is my favorite sport. I find the whole lack of a playoff system to be completely retarded. Before they had a national championship game I never watched it. Now that they actually have a national championship game I'll watch it a little, but only if I'm really bored. There are way too many lopsided games and even most of the competitive games are meaningless by mid-way through the season cause there's only about 8 teams still in contention, and even most of those teams only have a shot by hoping for several other teams to lose.

Also, I find all the inevitable bickering about rankings, strength of schedule, who beat who by how much, etc. to be so inane, especially when people are arguing about two teams that aren't even in title contention. Does it really matter which team is 14th best? And I don't understand how people get excited about the non-championship bowl games. They are a dumb tradition and are the reason why college football is still the only major sport that does not have a real playoff system.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

if you are an NFL fan just watch it from the perspective of prepping for the NFL draft.

you may even enjoy the games a little too.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

there is more than one winner in life

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

... then don't watch it.

I don't get the recent flood of threads of everyone trying to like every single sport. It's like foods or music, just accept the fact that everyone has their likes or dislikes.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
... then don't watch it.

I don't get the recent flood of threads of everyone trying to like every single sport. It's like foods or music, just accept the fact that everyone has their likes or dislikes.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only reason I even think about it is cause it has so much potential. All they need to do is get rid of the garbage teams like FIU and institute an 8 or 16 team playoff and it would be so much better.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

bah....sure, ruin depth and intricacy for some superficial playoff that way you can watch a handful of games to "get" the sport.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
bah....sure, ruin depth and intricacy for some superficial playoff that way you can watch a handful of games to "get" the sport.

[/ QUOTE ]

What depth and intricacy are you talking about and how is a playoff system superficial?

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

it severly limits the number of games that impact the national title in a direct and meaningful way

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

It's still the best regular season of any sports.

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And I don't understand how people get excited about the non-championship bowl games.

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You're right. You really don't understand college football.

Personally, I don't want a playoff.

As a counter to NFL, I like that the conference games actually mean something to where the division games of NFL are almost meaningless. Imo, it'd be better if the NFL had 2 divisions per conference. Kind of like how some college conferences are set up.

4 team divisions suck. Yay, a whole 6 division games that you can theoretically lose them all, yet still win your division. Wanna talk worthless games? Where in college can you throw a game(basically rest your starters after locking up home field), and still maintain your position in the national standings?

But it does generate more money for the NFL overall.

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

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Where in college can you throw a game(basically rest your starters after locking up home field), and still maintain your position in the national standings?

But it does generate more money for the NFL overall.

b

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Let me know where in the NFL you can schedule CFL jobbers.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Where in college can you throw a game(basically rest your starters after locking up home field), and still maintain your position in the national standings?

But it does generate more money for the NFL overall.

b

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Let me know where in the NFL you can schedule CFL jobbers.

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Note you're not denying that one can basically throw a game and still maintain it's position in the NFL playoff race.

The only one that really gets credit for playing cupcakes in college is Notre Dame. See all the press about them and how great they are in the 4 games prior to their meeting with USC.

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]

4 team divisions suck. Yay, a whole 6 division games that you can theoretically lose them all, yet still win your division. Wanna talk worthless games? Where in college can you throw a game(basically rest your starters after locking up home field), and still maintain your position in the national standings?

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Where in the pros do you see games where one team is a 30 point favorite? Who cares if there are more divisional games when half of them are just a formality

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

well....I don't like the 30 point spreads, but I don't like parity either.
The NFL often becomes who rides the variance train this week as both teams are real close to each other and whoever gets the break will win.
I miss the days of the Niners in the 80s when there were good teams and bad teams. Instead, there is an ill-defined collection of aggressively mediocre teams.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

I'm saying the difference between a couple teams resting some starters the last game of the season and major college football teams scheduling not only some crap ass teams that they are 4+ TD favorites over, but actually scheduling teams a division below them is not something in CFB's favor.

Let me know the next time you even see an NFL teams as a 3 touchdown dog.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

A playoff system just gives a bunch of teams a chance to get lucky at the end of the season. There's been a NC game for quite a few years, it just rotates. The new NC game gives more teams a chance to play in a BCS bowl (i.e. ND) and is a joke.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
well....I don't like the 30 point spreads, but I don't like parity either.
The NFL often becomes who rides the variance train this week as both teams are real close to each other and whoever gets the break will win.
I miss the days of the Niners in the 80s when there were good teams and bad teams. Instead, there is an ill-defined collection of aggressively mediocre teams.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only sport that has a reasonable argument for having the best team as champion the most often as the NFL is the NBA. Though they might be even better.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm saying the difference between a couple teams resting some starters the last game of the season and major college football teams scheduling not only some crap ass teams that they are 4+ TD favorites over, but actually scheduling teams a division below them is not something in CFB's favor.

Let me know the next time you even see an NFL teams as a 3 touchdown dog.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Houston might've been that big of dogs in some games the last couple years.

Actually, CFB teams scheduling crap teams or 1AA doesn't really help them.

Unless you're ND. Then everyone you beat is considered top 10.

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
well....I don't like the 30 point spreads, but I don't like parity either.
The NFL often becomes who rides the variance train this week as both teams are real close to each other and whoever gets the break will win.
I miss the days of the Niners in the 80s when there were good teams and bad teams. Instead, there is an ill-defined collection of aggressively mediocre teams.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only sport that has a reasonable argument for having the best team as champion the most often as the NFL is the NBA. Though they might be even better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wouldn't this be MLB? Since they play the most games thereby having many more games to decide and seperate the good from bad?

I hate MLB, btw.

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
well....I don't like the 30 point spreads, but I don't like parity either.
The NFL often becomes who rides the variance train this week as both teams are real close to each other and whoever gets the break will win.
I miss the days of the Niners in the 80s when there were good teams and bad teams. Instead, there is an ill-defined collection of aggressively mediocre teams.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only sport that has a reasonable argument for having the best team as champion the most often as the NFL is the NBA. Though they might be even better.

[/ QUOTE ]

did you see the list of college football champions I posted?
It's college football that identifies the best by far.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm saying the difference between a couple teams resting some starters the last game of the season and major college football teams scheduling not only some crap ass teams that they are 4+ TD favorites over, but actually scheduling teams a division below them is not something in CFB's favor.

Let me know the next time you even see an NFL teams as a 3 touchdown dog.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Houston might've been that big of dogs in some games the last couple years.

Actually, CFB teams scheduling crap teams or 1AA doesn't really help them.

Unless you're ND. Then everyone you beat is considered top 10.

b

[/ QUOTE ]

OMFG MY POINT IS HOW EXACTLY THE HELL IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM RESTING YOUR STARTERS ONE WEEK, RARELY TWO, EXCEPT THAT IT HAPPENS LESS OFTEN IN THE NFL. IT'S PRETTY RIDICULOUS TO ACT LIKE COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS SUPERIOR IN THAT ASPECT. NICE JOB GETTING A DIG IN A NOTRE DAME AS WELL IT WAS VERY CLEVER IT HAD MAYBE BEEN AT LEAST 3 OR 4 POSTS BY YOU SINCE THE LAST TIME SO IT WAS CLEARLY OVERDUE

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

No, baseball is probably the worst.

I don't see how anyone could ever know who the best CFB team is very often.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

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No, baseball is probably the worst.

.

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The worst? So more games means less decisiveness? ok

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

I think it's that the baseball playoffs don't define the best team nearly so often

the regular season does a much better job

wilcards = ratings and $$$ however, and that has won out

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

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No, baseball is probably the worst.

.

[/ QUOTE ]

The worst? So more games means less decisiveness? ok

b

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If the team with the most regular season wins was the champion you would have a point.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm saying the difference between a couple teams resting some starters the last game of the season and major college football teams scheduling not only some crap ass teams that they are 4+ TD favorites over, but actually scheduling teams a division below them is not something in CFB's favor.

Let me know the next time you even see an NFL teams as a 3 touchdown dog.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Houston might've been that big of dogs in some games the last couple years.

Actually, CFB teams scheduling crap teams or 1AA doesn't really help them.

Unless you're ND. Then everyone you beat is considered top 10.

b

[/ QUOTE ]

OMFG MY POINT IS HOW EXACTLY THE HELL IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM RESTING YOUR STARTERS ONE WEEK, RARELY TWO, EXCEPT THAT IT HAPPENS LESS OFTEN IN THE NFL. IT'S PRETTY RIDICULOUS TO ACT LIKE COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS SUPERIOR IN THAT ASPECT. NICE JOB GETTING A DIG IN A NOTRE DAME AS WELL IT WAS VERY CLEVER IT HAD MAYBE BEEN AT LEAST 3 OR 4 POSTS BY YOU SINCE THE LAST TIME SO IT WAS CLEARLY OVERDUE

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice caps. How about breathing into a paper sack?

The thing is, if a college team loses to those crap teams it hurts them much more than if an NFL team loses, if it hurts the NFL team at all. Do you understand that? It doesn't really help a college team to play those games. Regular season games mean more in CFB.

Example from last year: Indy v Seattle. Indy didn't really care about that game since they had home field locked and it showed. The loss wouldn't hurt them. Would you ever see 2 top teams in college FB do that near the end of the season?

It also happens less often, primarily, because the NFL has only 1/4 the teams. Though it does seem to happen at least once a year with teams near playoff time.

If the NFL had 117 teams, you'd see cupcakes on some of the schedules.

And yes, I will dig on ND as often as I can for the overrated team that they are.

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think it's that the baseball playoffs don't define the best team nearly so often

the regular season does a much better job

wilcards = ratings and $$$ however, and that has won out

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't it pare down who's more deserving to go to the post season better than any other sports? I think given that it has 162 games that it does.

Playoffs can be a who's hot at the moment in any sport. Isn't the idea to get the best teams to the point of playoffs?

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

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No, baseball is probably the worst.

.

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The worst? So more games means less decisiveness? ok

b

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If the team with the most regular season wins was the champion you would have a point.

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Then why have playoffs at all? MLB over how long that season is, will weed out the best teams over 162 games for the playoffs. You're really saying that's less decisive than any other sport? You really think better teams are being left out of MLB playoffs than in other sports?

b

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

If you want anything in College football get a +1. Where 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 then the winners play each other. I see this being a real possibilty as it keeps the bowl games available. Only thing that might piss people off is that a team may play 15 games which is turning into the NFL schedule. But, at least we wont have as much of this bitching.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

You keep missing my point.

Point is that both the CFB games against jobbers and NFL teams resting some starters is essentially irrelevant for both. When is the last time a national title contender lost to a Div. 2 team? The last time a legit contender lost to a team is was favored against by 4+ TDs? These games don't matter when they are never lost.

There is probably less variance in one NFL playoff game than a seven game series in baseball.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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No, baseball is probably the worst.

.

[/ QUOTE ]

The worst? So more games means less decisiveness? ok

b

[/ QUOTE ]

If the team with the most regular season wins was the champion you would have a point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then why have playoffs at all? MLB over how long that season is, will weed out the best teams over 162 games for the playoffs. You're really saying that's less decisive than any other sport? You really think better teams are being left out of MLB playoffs than in other sports?

b

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No, I'm saying there is an asston of variance in a single MLB game and an asston in a single series. It's not about being left out of the playoffs. Why are there so many more upsets in an MLB postseason than NFL? You can't actually believe St. Louis was the best baseball last year or really even close to it.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think it's that the baseball playoffs don't define the best team nearly so often

the regular season does a much better job

wilcards = ratings and $$$ however, and that has won out

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't it pare down who's more deserving to go to the post season better than any other sports? I think given that it has 162 games that it does.

Playoffs can be a who's hot at the moment in any sport. Isn't the idea to get the best teams to the point of playoffs?

b

[/ QUOTE ]

You end up getting 8 of the 12 best teams or so in the playoffs, and then they play 5 or 7 game series where the small differences between teams don't come into play.

If you stuck the Royals and the Pirates into the playoffs last year, there's a not-insignificant chance one of them would win the whole damned thing. If you put the Raiders and Cardinals in the playoffs, there's almost no chance they'd win. If you put the two worst teams in the NBA playoffs, they'd never win.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

to illustrate all this, I gathered a list of recent champs. I started with 1998 since that is when the BCS kicked into gear bigtime.

College football
1998 Tennessee 13–0
1999 Florida State 12-0
2000 Oklahoma 13-0
2001 Miami (FL) 12-0
2002 Ohio State 14-0
2003 LSU 13-1
2004 USC 13-0
2005 Texas 13-0

NBA
1997-98 62-20 Chicago Bulls
1998-99 37-13 San Antonio Spurs
1999-2000 67-15 Los Angeles Lakers
2000-2001 56-26 Los Angeles Lakers
2001-2002 58-24 Los Angeles Lakers
2002-03 60-23 San Antonio Spurs
2003-04 54-28 Detroit Pistons
2004-05 59-23 San Antonio Spurs
2005-06 52-30 Miami Heat

NFL
1998 Denver
1999 Denver
2000 St. Louis
2001 Baltimore
2002 New England
2003 Tampa Bay
2004 New England
2005 New England
2006 Pittsburgh

NHL
1998 Detroit Red Wings
1999 Dallas Stars
2000 New Jersey Devils
2001 Colorado Avalanche
2002 Detroit Red Wings
2003 New Jersey Devils
2004 Tampa Bay Lightning
2005 greedy owners
2006 Carolina Hurricanes

MLB
1998 New York Yankees
1999 New York Yankees
2000 New York Yankees
2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
2002 Anaheim Angels
2003 Florida Marlins
2004 Boston Red Sox
2005 Chicago White Sox
2006 St. Louis Cardinals

NCAAB
1998 Kentucky
1999 Uconn
2000 Michigan State
2001 Duke
2002 Maryland
2003 Syracuse
2004 Uconn
2005 North Carolina
2006 Florida

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

NCAA BB is teh jopkwe

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

it appears every sport does a decent job

MLB has the real head turners
NHL has a few as well, because regular season hockey does not = playoff hockey at all

it seems clear that the NBA regular season doesn't weed out who the best team is and there is at least one 'unworthy champ' in their as well

the NCAAB is a crapshoot, but it's extremely likely one of the top10 teams will win it. Whether that is a good champ or not is very debatable IMO.

NFL looks relatively solid. Last year was a curve.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
NFL looks relatively solid. Last year was a curve.

[/ QUOTE ]

2002 was a bigtime curve.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you want anything in College football get a +1. Where 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 then the winners play each other. I see this being a real possibilty as it keeps the bowl games available. Only thing that might piss people off is that a team may play 15 games which is turning into the NFL schedule. But, at least we wont have as much of this bitching.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have the four teams play in two of the BCS bowls on New Year's Day and keep the championship game on Jan. 8 as it is now. Nice and simple.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

who would be the 4 teams?

seems like cheapening the regular season pretty big to me as well.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

NCAAB, NHL, and MLB both have ridiculous variance. Syracuse 2003 for one. The NHL winners haven't been that bad, but there have been some ridiculous runs off a hot goalie. I don't think Carolina was the best team in the league last year, but I know nothing about hockey.

NFL's had one major lucky winner, NE 2001, and Pitt really wasn't the best team in the league last year.

I think the NBA does a better job of picking the best team in the league every year. Yeah, Dallas and San Antonio were both better than Miami (a big part of this is west >>>> East, which can't be fixed), but 2002 OSU was pretty damn fluky too (I guess you can't fix too many teams + small sample size either).

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

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NFL looks relatively solid. Last year was a curve.

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2002 was a bigtime curve.

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and i wouldn't call pittsburgh a curve either as the third best team. unless you're talking about the road they took there.

Re: I can\'t take college football seriously
 

4 teams = Michigan, Florida, OSU, Louisville/USC/LSU, probably Louisville.

It'd be nice not to lose one game on a fluke sometimes, and still be in the NC title bid. Lot of variance in one game.