Random Thoughts on Week 12

[donovan]

Boise did not execute against Air Force. You cannot believe you are invincible.

With Harbaugh, Meyer and Dantonio, the Big Ten has several more very good years ahead.

I wished Elliott had not spoken out, (what a pompous patootie) then I would echo the thought that was the worse play calling of the year. All Michigan State did, was validate Ohio State’s critics, and that also drive me nuts, the talking heads getting validated.

South Florida’s rise has not been a flash in the pan. They are the real deal. Coaches can make a difference.

Florida is not the real deal and that will be validated next week against Florida State.

Oregon, who I refuse to root for, is playing as well as anyone in the country right now. If Adams had been healthy, bad finger, all year, not sure where they would be right now. They are they spoilers and will not get much for the damage they are doing.

Oklahoma State lets Baylor beat them in Stillwater for the first time since 1939. Validating Baylor as a contender is like saying Big Mac’s must be healthy, a lot of people buy them. (Me included.)

I wanted Beamer to win.

The current playoff system punishes conferences with parity, prime example, the Big 12.

Iowa has been the most underrated team from the get go. (Probably because they are not a “money team”)

The coach my leave but the evidence remains. Spurrier you should have cowboyed up and stayed to the end.

Les Miles will be available at year’s end, but this is no revelation.

UCLA wanted it more the Utah. All Utah did this year was affirming they can play in the PAC 12. All UCLA did was make for a interesting UCLA USC match up. That will be a money game.

Houston is a prime example of no slack for teams that are not the big Money Teams, one stumble and you are a small print box score.

Most fun game to watch yesterday was Arkansas and Mississippi State. This game proved a couple of things. First is the SEC is not the conference of defense. Secondly you get a big viewership if you start your game in the middle of the night. Heartbreaking loss for Arkansas but a big win for watching football into the wee hours.
If you are playing at Fenway Park, never leave runners on base. Kelly said as much, but that is what Notre Dame did. The curse of the Bambino is don’t play football on a sacred baseball field.

Stanford should have played like that all year. McCaffrey was phenomenal.

Lastly, Ohio State will be better off without Jones and Elliott…maybe they could transfer to Missouri, they seem to like those type of players!

[Spence]

I usually am not in favor of a player calling out a coach, but in this case I don't mind. Elliott has done absolutely everything they have ever asked him to do. He run blocks, he pass blocks (when most "star" backs are on the side line) , he catches passes and gets the tough up the gut yards when they need him. He has been a team player his whole career at Ohio State. I think he probably regrets saying what he said, but he said what everyone who knows anything about football was thinking, so I can't blame him for saying it. He just said it in the wrong place in front of the wrong people.

On the other side of the ball - The Michigan State defense played lights out. It was their kind of day. Wet, rainy, cold, and windy. It was a day in which ball control reigned and Mark Dantonio is from the Tressel school of ball control football. They deserved to win the game. They played better all day. Congrats to MSU.

Coach Meyer was right before the game when he said the most prepared team will win. They did.

[collegefbfan-8898]

Just wondering what happened to Florida. Look what they needed to get by whoever it was they beat. LSU loses another one. Now Miles is on the hot seat. They could still have a ten win season .... I think. The Big XII is really knocking their teams around. BC gave Notre Dame a fight.

Now I want to know the next VT coach... now.

[donovan]

Rich Rodriguez....because that is their mentality. They will only hire a Southerner and no Northern coach would go there...There is a culture there that dooms an outsider. Not good nor bad, just how it is. True of many areas.

[billybud]

Florida has great athletes....they lost Will Grier (QB) on October 15 and have not yet developed his back up.

Florida vs FSU can never be predicted..it is a rivalry game in the Swamp. Vegas has the Gators by 3 (they do have a very good defense).

Boston College has had five games that averaged less than a three point separation (2.8 point average). If they had any offense, they might be undefeated.

Notre Dame is limping badly...beat up, missing starters...the injury list is eye catching and that is too bad since the upcoming game with Stanford is probably their most important game in several years.

[Spence]

Rich Rodriguez....because that is their mentality. They will only hire a Southerner and no Northern coach would go there...There is a culture there that dooms an outsider. Not good nor bad, just how it is. True of many areas.

It is that way at Ohio State too. John Cooper is the only outsidered to be hired since the 1940's and as much success that he had, he never was successful against Michigan and because of that he never got the full support of the alumni and boosters.

[Eric]

Boston College's defense is great, but they lost Darius Wade early. And Wade wasn't even great, but he could run around the field a little bit, which could have gotten them a couple extra wins over the course of the year.

Speaking of BC, there seems to be a class of irrelevant programs in major conferences. Colorado, Virginia, Boston College, Syracuse, Washington, and Illinois. I would like to see one of these programs rise up out of the ashes and get back on the college football map. I mean even when they're average, they don't get as much attention as teams who are struggling (like a Purdue or a Kansas). I see Kansas and Iowa State get on big college football broadcasts more than these teams ever do, which is odd. It's like college football purgatory.

[billybud]

You could add a few more to that list,,,Indiana (one winning season in last 20 years)...

I guess it is regional, but I see Virginia and Cuse on TV...while I do not see Purdue, and some other non regional teams..it could be my choices or that that I am watching the reverse mirror in the south featuring teams of our interest while the midwest has a different game on their mirror.

The data says that in 2013, more folks watched Boston College than some other teams...more than watched Arizona, VT, Minnesota, TCU, WVU, Oregon State, Maryland, BYU...and on...

BC was ranked #38 in viewership.

[Eric]

Right, the TV markets come into play there. I'm sure on the ground and regionally it's different for these schools. I'm thinking more along the lines of national perception to the average college football fan. The teams that ESPN, etc. like to focus on. These schools are complete afterthoughts, but it always seems like a team like Purdue and even Indiana ends up on ESPN or ESPN2 somehow when they face a good Big 10 team. Obviously there is the TV deal involved there, but a lot of mid-level ACC teams keep getting relegated to ESPNU. Colorado and Washington are always buried on the Pac-12 Network it seems. Boston College got the Thursday night game against FSU and Saturday night against Notre Dame on NBC, but I think that's been it as far as national broadcasts go. They were on ESPNU against Clemson. That kind of thing. Now if they were playing Ohio State instead Clemson, it probably would have gotten the 8 o'clock ABC broadcast, like the Minnesota / Ohio State game.

[Cane from the Bend]

It is all regional, and network association.

An example of networks:

A few years back, I was set to watch the Miami/FSU game at home, on espn; I had Direct TV back then --- a friend of mine, who was having a down day, invited me over to his house, and said, we'd watch the game there, so I thought, okay, a friend in need, so I accepted his invitation; he had comcast as his provider --- alas, come game time, we turned on espn, and a different game was on.

TV deals happen across the board. Money talks, and unless a team has true National interest, you will get what is available to the broadcaster of the provider you have.

Today, I rarely miss anything, because I watch most of the games online. And I can see whatever game[s] I choose.

...

Speaking of BC, there seems to be a class of irrelevant programs in major conferences. Colorado, Virginia, Boston College, Syracuse, Washington, and Illinois.

It may seem slow going, because of how long it has been since they've been relevant. But Colorado is making some movement in the right direction. I've watched quite a bit of them this season, and they have been very competitive. They aren't going to be a "force" per se, though, I would suggest that if they keep on the same track, they will be a spoiler to teams in their conference here in the next year or two.

If so, that could bring them back to a place where they are "talked about" by the media, in that, "they are a dangerous team", sort of way. This might be enough to reinvent public opinion of them, so that they can start being more competitive in the recruiting field.

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[billybud]

Right, the TV markets come into play there. I'm sure on the ground and regionally it's different for these schools. I'm thinking more along the lines of national perception to the average college football fan. The teams that ESPN, etc. like to focus on. These schools are complete afterthoughts, but it always seems like a team like Purdue and even Indiana ends up on ESPN or ESPN2 somehow when they face a good Big 10 team. Obviously there is the TV deal involved there, but a lot of mid-level ACC teams keep getting relegated to ESPNU. Colorado and Washington are always buried on the Pac-12 Network it seems. Boston College got the Thursday night game against FSU and Saturday night against Notre Dame on NBC, but I think that's been it as far as national broadcasts go. They were on ESPNU against Clemson. That kind of thing. Now if they were playing Ohio State instead Clemson, it probably would have gotten the 8 o'clock ABC broadcast, like the Minnesota / Ohio State game.

The ACC has some odd days/hours to play....Thursday and Friday nights. FSU plays often on Thursday nights....and when Ohio State played Minnesota at 8:00 in prime time...FSU played at noon...against Clemson. A bad time slot.

Yet more folks watched that noon FSU game (7.563 million) than the prime time Ohio State (4.739 million). The slot matters less when there is a meaningful game on.

FSU played Boston College on Friday (not Thursday this year)....drew a rating of 3.14 million. #6 most watched of the week.

[donovan]

I remember a few years back, maybe four or five, Boise was one of the first teams to schedule Thursday night games. It was all for TV exposure and money. They were one of the few teams doing it and got on almost weekly, at least on the West Coast. Now it is routing for schools to fight for prime time non Saturday scheduling.

Games that start on the East Coast at noon start at 9:00 AM on the West Coast. Terrible time for West Coast viewers. Forget the hard core fans of this board, the average person is not sitting down to watch football when there are a million other things to be done and the forces to be are giving him the list. Saturday PM and early evening is when most West Coast teams start and that is prime time viewing, but few on the East Coast are going to tune into Oregon State starting at 10:00 PM, and TV stations know this.

We have Comcast, only because the other one insists. (I would have Antennae TV if I had it at all.) I think if you pay the right money you can get any game you want on Comcast. I went to watch a Big Ten game some time back and I could only watch it if I subscribe to the Big Ten network...like that is going to happen. But same thing on Pac 12 games, they have a subscripton service and if you want anything but the money games, you don't get them.


A couple of weeks ago Boise was scheduled for ESPN 2, a million dollar deal. They lost the week before and got bumped to ESPNU. No money for that one. Between Vegas and TV, College Football makes Professional Wrestling look legit.