Let’s fix College Football

[Gamecock Lifer]

This is a good time to talk about stuff that makes too much sense to ever happen right? So let’s fix CFB as I think most of us agree it is the most important college sport!

So, here is how I would do it- from conference realignment to the playoffs, all fixed nice and neat and easy:

First: break up the power 5, completely scrap it all! (Kinda...) realign into 4 conferences. Big ones, obviously.., more like 18 teams than 14... this allows for the current 64/65 power 5 schools to expand to 72. You can play within your conference however you like- but divisions are mandatory and 10 conference games should be mandatory. 8 from your division (all of them) and 2 from the other? Fine! 5/5?- sure! Whatever you want to do, leave it up to the conferences for that. I think 8/2 makes the most sense. (Whiner says: “I want to play more across division games!”- fine, win your division, you get an extra one!)

Leaves 2 non-con games a year, *no FCS schools. Must be a “power 4” team, or vs whatever we will call the group of 5 (new D2?) schools going forward...

I do like the idea being pitched of playing FCS schools as a scrimmage at the end of Spring practice in place of a Spring game, but that is for another discussion and not important....

So, the playoff... People saying it needs to be expanded? Nope. 4 game playoff stands. Except now, as it was intended for decades but the feckless NCAA had no power to make it so- the Conference Championships ARE the first round of the playoffs! So in effect it IS an 8 team playoff.. Conference champions go on to the existing 4 game format.

That is it! All tied up with a nice bow!

FAQ:
“Which conferences comprise the power 4?” All of the current power 5, but we just cannibalize the Pac 12. Sounds like they don’t really want to play ball anyway, they are the smallest/worst of the power 5 anyway... half of their teams are not really on the level.. so let the schools who want to field a team and meet the crIteria to participate at power 4 level (some combination of academics, athletic prowess, facilities..) join up, the rest can go “D2”- just makes room to promote more small schools that are ready. ** perhaps even make it where teams who finish last (bottom 2-3?) fall back and the top team/S from the level below get promoted every 5 years or so...? I think they do thins in European soccer some? Just an aside..

“What if we want to play more non conference teams”- Easy, MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. Make a bowl game! (Will bowl games still exist? Who knows, they are already pointless now..)

“What about other sports?” Eff em, this is about football! Seriously... Football pays ALL the bills.. A few schools profit on basketball too, some do not... Start the fix where the money comes from first and let the others fall in line, or.. Don’t. Baseball teams do not get to set the rules/conferences for FB... That would be the tail wagging the dog. If people want to play other sports in different conferences, let them- ie soccer st USC currently...

“which additional teams get to be upgraded?”
Boise St deserves it TBH. UCF. USF? App State maybe... Schools like that.


That is my plan. It would make things neat and easy to understand, would create a true champion, would not limit revenue potential, would add some teams to the “big time” that have claimed they deserve to be there for years (we shall see!)- all without extending the season or playoffs one single game- the big brother argument against playoff expansion.. *Perhaps best of all though- it completely removes the subjective lunacy of having some computer rankings or groups of people like Condaleza Rice/ people who currently work FOR SCHOOLS in the running pick the teams who get to be on the playoffs. That is the biggest advantage here. No more arguing “__ deserved to be in over __”. That is not a thing any more- you win your division, or you DON’T! Period! No rankings, no lobbying, no BS! Oh it would be so sweet!

You are all welcome. I await my anointing as commissioner of college football.

 

[ConKreteCock]

Wake me when we can get within 2 yrds of the QB without "roughing" him..........

Wake me again when they scrap the *HORRIBLE* "targeting" rule altogether. This ain't football.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

Wake me when we can get within 2 yrds of the QB without "roughing" him..........

Wake me again when they scrap the *HORRIBLE* "targeting" rule altogether. This ain't football.

Oh, I addressed penalties in another thread!
1- eliminate subjective penalties when at all possible! Holding is not a penalty. Holding is so made up it can be called every play of every game. If they chip block while a guy is held high- that is already a penalty, still would be! Block in the back- definable, still a penalty... unnecessary roughness while blocking someone (judo chop??) STILL a penalty. We are just eliminating meaningless ticky tack BS subjective calls at the line where some guy had his hands 2 inches farther outside of where he was grabbing the jersey on every other play that game and gets called for it randomly...

Most PI is eliminated as well- both guys fighting for it? No call. DB arrives a millisecond early? No call. DB runs up and decleates the WR well before the ball arrives while the receiver is going up for the ball? Personal foul- defenseless receiver... Is a penalty, still would be.

Targeting is BS. Agreed. Again- blatant personal fouls are a penalty. Always have been, always will be. That should be the call... guy accidentally grazes someone with the wrong part of his helmet? Not a penalty.

Beyond those- virtually all penalties are quantifiable! Too many men on the field? Offsides? False start? Delay of game? All stay the same... It is the BS calls that leave people mad the day after the game that we need to cut out as much as possible and removing altogether or severely reducing PI and holding would accomplish just that,

 

[ExpatCarolinian]

What conference is just going to absorb the PAC-12? Going to have Florida and Oregon in the same division? Maybe a classic Boston College-UCLA matchup?

In any future realignment, I hope geography rules the day. The volleyball team doesn’t need to travel thousands of miles to play a Wednesday night match. Notre Dame needs to be in the B1G with Indiana and Purdue. Missouri and A&M need to be in the Big 12. West Virginia needs to be in the ACC.

West Virginia v. Pitt > West Virginia v. Texas Tech
Mizzou v. Kansas >. Mizzou v. USC (yes, kill the Columbia Mayor’s Cup)

 

[duckcock2]

Idiots have done their best to ruin...or rurn if you're from the South...college football.

No conference should have more than 12 teams. These ridiculous 14 team conferences are too unwieldy. Some may say 12 teams are too many.

Put teams back where they damn belong. West Virginia in the Big 12. Such bullshirt! Get the Big 8/12 back together. It's gd stupid that Maryland and Rutgers are playing a football game against one another each year, yet Nebraska and Oklahoma and West Virginia and Pitt are not! Also, A&M and Texas. A&M does not belong in the SEC, they belong in a conference with Texas. Maryland in the Big 10 my ass. The people that thought of that should burn in hell!

College football was just fine with the exception of a couple of needed changes.

It needed a rule that didn't have ties in the post-season and it needed more flexibility in bowl matchups. It still does. These bowl tie-ins are too restrictive. There are too many rematches every couple of years. Let it be wide open for the most part. Let's see Florida State vs. Penn State in the Citrus. Let's see Oklahoma vs. Auburn in the Gator. Hell, let's see us vs. Arizona St. in the Sun Bowl.

And that damn playoff needs to go! Idiots want to make college football too much like the NFL. If you like NFL football then watch NFL football. College football was the greatest sport in history and didn't need to be more like the NFL.

Also, bring back the paper version of Spurs and Feathers, even if it loses money, and bring back Gamecock Fever.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

What conference is just going to absorb the PAC-12? Going to have Florida and Oregon in the same division? Maybe a classic Boston College-UCLA matchup?

In any future realignment, I hope geography rules the day. The volleyball team doesn’t need to travel thousands of miles to play a Wednesday night match. Notre Dame needs to be in the B1G with Indiana and Purdue. Missouri and A&M need to be in the Big 12. West Virginia needs to be in the ACC.

West Virginia v. Pitt > West Virginia v. Texas Tech
Mizzou v. Kansas >. Mizzou v. USC (yes, kill the Columbia Mayor’s Cup)

All conferences would have to be realigned in this scenario- no one conference has room to add the whole pc 12 (10) and certainly geography should be the driving metric for those decisions.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

Idiots have done their best to ruin...or rurn if you're from the South...college football.

No conference should have more than 12 teams. These ridiculous 14 team conferences are too unwieldy. Some may say 12 teams are too many.

Put teams back where they damn belong. West Virginia in the Big 12. Such bullshirt! Get the Big 8/12 back together. It's gd stupid that Maryland and Rutgers are playing a football game against one another each year, yet Nebraska and Oklahoma and West Virginia and Pitt are not! Also, A&M and Texas. A&M does not belong in the SEC, they belong in a conference with Texas. Maryland in the Big 10 my ass. The people that thought of that should burn in hell!

College football was just fine with the exception of a couple of needed changes.

It needed a rule that didn't have ties in the post-season and it needed more flexibility in bowl matchups. It still does. These bowl tie-ins are too restrictive. There are too many rematches every couple of years. Let it be wide open for the most part. Let's see Florida State vs. Penn State in the Citrus. Let's see Oklahoma vs. Auburn in the Gator. Hell, let's see us vs. Arizona St. in the Sun Bowl.

And that damn playoff needs to go! Idiots want to make college football too much like the NFL. If you like NFL football then watch NFL football. College football was the greatest sport in history and didn't need to be more like the NFL.

Also, bring back the paper version of Spurs and Feathers, even if it loses money, and bring back Gamecock Fever.

Ahh- one vote for “change it back to how it was in 1969...“ “”It would have stayed perfect too, if it weren't for you meddling kids””- he says as they rip of his mask to reveal it was really old man Farmer the whole time!
Thank you- duly noted. LOL

 

[duckcock2]

Ahh- one vote for “change it back to how it was in 1969...“ It would have stayed perfect too, if it weren't for you meddling kids”- he says as they rip of his mask to reveal it was really old man Farmer behind the mask the whole time..
Thank you- duly noted. LOL

Get off my lawn!

 

[duckcock2]

But no, not 1969....but around the mid-80's on, it just needed a couple of minor things to make it perfect.

Oh, and I want those 1am high scoring WAC games back.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

But no, not 1969....but around the mid-80's on, it just needed a couple of minor things to make it perfect.

Honestly I felt that was the golden age of CFB as well... EXCEPT for the convoluted system of selecting a champion. There wasn’t one! “The AP say ___ is the champ, USA Today say it was ___..” Meant there was NO system. They just tossed names in a hat and picked their favorite teams. My reason for touting this approach is to prevent the eminent move to MORE playoff games which would further dilute the import of regular season games, increase the gap between the “haves and the have nots” and increase the benefits of playing in a creampuff conference which gives you and easy path to the playoff! We have seen all of those things happen just because of the move to a 4 game playoff. You made a good point about “making it like the NFL”- except in the NFL they recognized the lack of parity issue and put things into place to give the worst teams the best draft picks to help level it out a bit... There is no such option in CFB, and no way to do that really unless you are going to give lower teams more scholis and dock one or two from the best schools maybe??

 

[ConKreteCock]

Oh, I addressed penalties in another thread!
1- eliminate subjective penalties when at all possible! Holding is not a penalty. Holding is so made up it can be called every play of every game. If they chip block while a guy is held high- that is already a penalty, still would be! Block in the back- definable, still a penalty... unnecessary roughness while blocking someone (judo chop??) STILL a penalty. We are just eliminating meaningless ticky tack BS subjective calls at the line where some guy had his hands 2 inches farther outside of where he was grabbing the jersey on every other play that game and gets called for it randomly...

Most PI is eliminated as well- both guys fighting for it? No call. DB arrives a millisecond early? No call. DB runs up and decleates the WR well before the ball arrives while the receiver is going up for the ball? Personal foul- defenseless receiver... Is a penalty, still would be.

Targeting is BS. Agreed. Again- blatant personal fouls are a penalty. Always have been, always will be. That should be the call... guy accidentally grazes someone with the wrong part of his helmet? Not a penalty.

Beyond those- virtually all penalties are quantifiable! Too many men on the field? Offsides? False start? Delay of game? All stay the same... It is the BS calls that leave people mad the day after the game that we need to cut out as much as possible and removing altogether or severely reducing PI and holding would accomplish just that,

Ok - Agreed. Wasn't aware of the penalties post. I have 1 more MUST HAVE ---- >> There has to be a way to make replay accountable.......... What I mean is > My wife and I have noticed more and more often as the seasons have gone on.....the replay booth *STILL* gets plays wrong and it's just boneheaded...... WHAT IS THE PROBLEM??? Are they looking at tiny monitors? Hell, get them 65 inch 8K QLED Monitors in the replay booth........

I will list an actual example where *WE* got away with one. I don't recall the game. It was Alshon on an out route. He "caught" it so incredibly close to the sidelines and drug his feet etc........that replay, the entire "Announcers" etc.....kept concentrating on Alshon's feet....... NO DOUBT HE WAS IN. Ruling on the field stood. Completed catch.........

My wife and I literally watched the same replays they were showing on TV and I WAS LOOKING AT THE BALL......NOT HIS FEET.......His ass was juggling that ball the whole way........(no catch) .....replay nor the announcers apparently even bothered to look at the OTHER aspect of the play > The ball. Can't be juggling. Never even looked at it.......Completed catch. Smh.......

There HAS TO BE A WAY TO PUNISH - SEVERELY - These idiots who watch these replays and *STILL* get it wrong........ I'm thinking Chinese re-training camps.......something. It has to stop.

 

[DeepfriedCock]

Quit reading after no FCS schools on the schedule. If fixing college football is taking money from small schools Athletic departments. So they eliminate sports and scholarships opportunities to kids, I'll pass.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

Quit reading after no FCS schools on the schedule. If fixing college football is taking money from small schools Athletic departments. So they eliminate sports and scholarships opportunities to kids, I'll pass.

Well that is just silly. Why are FBS teams responsible for funding the athletic departments of FCS schools? Answer- we are NOT. You do realize that until they stretched the schedules to 12 games, we only played like 1 or 2 FCS school over about a decade+ long period after joining the SEC right? It is a shame all FCS schools in the area went out of busine- wait, whaaaat? They still existed? How could this be? Deepfried said they would all eliminate sports without us handing them millions every year to play a game that serves NO benefit to us??

Look, if they cannot afford to fund their own athletic departments, they should not be playing. The truth is THEY CAN and they did, many without FBS money. Also, I included a payout for them in my plan- the Spring game. It would dramatically improve the Spring game for the fans, as it would be a live game not a glorified practice. We could charge for tickets, concessions, and split/ give most of that to the FCS school so they would keep getting their handouts but the games would be treated as they should be- a scrimmage. A scrimmage where we could play most of our backups a lot without fear of an embarrassing loss, and a game played in the Spring where most any i jury suffered would have time enough to heal before FB really starts..

There is nothing but BAD that can come from FCS games during the regular season for us! We are currently handing those schools a big check to come play us and all we have is risk- Injuries- Anyone recall Connor Shaw getting hurt vs Wofford? That is why Dylan Thompson had to win that heroic game vs clemsun... because out starting QB (best QB of all time) was injured in a meaningless FCS game! 98% of the time the FCS team just gets pummeled, so the games aren’t even fun to watch and regardless of bow big we do win them we get NOTHING! No recognition, no fan fare... If we do lose one (Cough- Citadel-end cough) it is devastating to our reputation for years to come! Michigan fired their coach early in the season after losing to App State who was the best FCS football program in the history of the FCS! I think they had won multiple Nc at that level in a row prior to that season and Michigan still fired their whole staff because they lost one game to App State! This is a comically stupid process that hurts the schools who are paying for the right to get hurt and it needs to stop.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

Well that is just silly. Why are FBS teams responsible for funding the athletic departments of FCS schools? Answer- we are NOT. You do realize that until they stretched the schedules to 12 games, we only played like 1 or 2 FCS school over about a decade+ long period after joining the SEC right? It is a shame all FCS schools in the area went out of busine- wait, whaaaat? They still existed? How could this be? Deepfried said they would all eliminate sports without us handing them millions every year to play a game that serves NO benefit to us??

Look, if they cannot afford to fund their own athletic departments, they should not be playing. The truth is THEY CAN and they did, many without FBS money. Also, I included a payout for them in my plan- the Spring game. It would dramatically improve the Spring game for the fans, as it would be a live game not a glorified practice. We could charge for tickets, concessions, and split/ give most of that to the FCS school so they would keep getting their handouts but the games would be treated as they should be- a scrimmage. A scrimmage where we could play most of our backups a lot without fear of an embarrassing loss, and a game played in the Spring where most any i jury suffered would have time enough to heal before FB really starts..

There is nothing but BAD that can come from FCS games during the regular season for us! We are currently handing those schools a big check to come play us and all we have is risk- Injuries- Anyone recall Connor Shaw getting hurt vs Wofford? That is why Dylan Thompson had to win that heroic game vs clemsun... because out starting QB (best QB of all time) was injured in a meaningless FCS game! 98% of the time the FCS team just gets pummeled, so the games aren’t even fun to watch and regardless of bow big we do win them we get NOTHING! No recognition, no fan fare... If we do lose one (Cough- Citadel-end cough) it is devastating to our reputation for years to come! Michigan fired their coach early in the season after losing to App State who was the best FCS football program in the history of the FCS! I think they had won multiple Nc at that level in a row prior to that season and Michigan still fired their whole staff because they lost one game to App State! This is a comically stupid process that hurts the schools who are paying for the right to get hurt and it needs to stop.

One more comparison- saying we should fund FCS athletics is like saying it is the NFL’s responsibility to pay for the XFL.

 

[MowerDave]

One thing is certain: they will continue to change college football for the worse.

 

[BobbyFoosball]

We could start with having all real student athletes, instead of many athletes that we just pretend are students.

 

[mUSiC-man]

We could start with having all real student athletes, instead of many athletes that we just pretend are students.

A minor league for football would help that!

 

[Dizzy01]

I’d think it would be better to do 8 leagues based on geography. They want to expand the playoffs anyway so then the winners of those 8 leagues are the 8 playoff teams.

 

[Gamecock Lifer]

I’d think it would be better to do 8 leagues based on geography. They want to expand the playoffs anyway so then the winners of those 8 leagues are the 8 playoff teams.

I hear you, but that is one of the central tenants of why I would prefer 4- I do not personally want an 8 team playoff. Especially after you factor in the championship games as the first round, you are essentially making it a 16 team playoff which is too many. Also, if we did 8 conferences... How many teams per conference? 14? That makes over 100 teams in conferences eligible... I dunno...

All of this is hypothetical obviously as the various conferences would never allow it to happen, and the NCAA has no power to make conferences do ANYTHING, let alone force realignments, force teams like ND to join a conference or any of the thousand other steps it would take to make this all work. They are truly a pointless, feckless mess of an organization. Talk about “tail wagging the dog”- the conferences and even powerful individual schools make the NCAA dance like a sock puppet! We need a centralized organization the runs college athletics not just some broken “enforcement” committee which all the NCAA really is. They let conferences do what they want and only step in to defend their enslavement if college athletes under the guise of “amateurism”. What a crock! If there was a unified policy committee that could say “you have to do THIS to qualify for championships (and thus be of interest to TV stations that pay the majority of college athletic revenue) these schools and conferences would jump in line so fast! As is, they just ket schools like Notre Dame “big shot” them! The NCAA stated decades ago that the conference championships were intended to be the first round of the playoffs, then just stood around and watched as conferences scoffed at the idea of even having a championship!?! Then a playoff system gets set up that in no way aligns the number of playoff teams with the number of potential conference championships? Nothing they have done to date has fixed any of the issues at hand, they just recycle the same system in a new package and move along... PERHAPS this covid mess with cause enough issues and upheaval And cost enough money that conferences will finally realize the benefits they could have from a unified vision and move towards that. The first step needs to be the power conferences LEAVING THE NCAA and cresting their own thing!

 

[atl-cock]

What conference is just going to absorb the PAC-12? Going to have Florida and Oregon in the same division? Maybe a classic Boston College-UCLA matchup?

In any future realignment, I hope geography rules the day. The volleyball team doesn’t need to travel thousands of miles to play a Wednesday night match. Notre Dame needs to be in the B1G with Indiana and Purdue. Missouri and A&M need to be in the Big 12. West Virginia needs to be in the ACC.

West Virginia v. Pitt > West Virginia v. Texas Tech
Mizzou v. Kansas >. Mizzou v. USC (yes, kill the Columbia Mayor’s Cup)

Notre Dame tried to join the B1G in the 1920s, but was rejected due to their Catholic affiliation. We've come a long way in that regard.

 

[atl-cock]

"Important" is a subjective term. Means different things to different people.

 

[DeepfriedCock]

Well that is just silly. Why are FBS teams responsible for funding the athletic departments of FCS schools? Answer- we are NOT. You do realize that until they stretched the schedules to 12 games, we only played like 1 or 2 FCS school over about a decade+ long period after joining the SEC right? It is a shame all FCS schools in the area went out of busine- wait, whaaaat? They still existed? How could this be? Deepfried said they would all eliminate sports without us handing them millions every year to play a game that serves NO benefit to us??

Look, if they cannot afford to fund their own athletic departments, they should not be playing. The truth is THEY CAN and they did, many without FBS money. Also, I included a payout for them in my plan- the Spring game. It would dramatically improve the Spring game for the fans, as it would be a live game not a glorified practice. We could charge for tickets, concessions, and split/ give most of that to the FCS school so they would keep getting their handouts but the games would be treated as they should be- a scrimmage. A scrimmage where we could play most of our backups a lot without fear of an embarrassing loss, and a game played in the Spring where most any i jury suffered would have time enough to heal before FB really starts..

There is nothing but BAD that can come from FCS games during the regular season for us! We are currently handing those schools a big check to come play us and all we have is risk- Injuries- Anyone recall Connor Shaw getting hurt vs Wofford? That is why Dylan Thompson had to win that heroic game vs clemsun... because out starting QB (best QB of all time) was injured in a meaningless FCS game! 98% of the time the FCS team just gets pummeled, so the games aren’t even fun to watch and regardless of bow big we do win them we get NOTHING! No recognition, no fan fare... If we do lose one (Cough- Citadel-end cough) it is devastating to our reputation for years to come! Michigan fired their coach early in the season after losing to App State who was the best FCS football program in the history of the FCS! I think they had won multiple Nc at that level in a row prior to that season and Michigan still fired their whole staff because they lost one game to App State! This is a comically stupid process that hurts the schools who are paying for the right to get hurt and it needs to stop.

If you don't understand the benefits of creating Cash for smaller football programs. Giving more student athletes the opportunity of a college scholarship, you won't ever get it. And teams like Central Florida, Marshall, Lousiana tech were Division 2 when we scheduled them years in advance in the 90s.