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Post by EvilVodka on Jan 10, 2023 20:18:47 GMT
I think I'm coming closer to recognizing this as a truth
The SEC elite absolutely dominated this season, and it really wasn't even close.
(Sure Ohio State was close in 1 game vs. Georgia, but in two short seasons, it won't be TCU waiting for the Buckeyes in the natty, it will be Alabama. Good luck with that!)
The rest of the elite SEC mopped up with devastating wins against the Big XII and ACC Champs.
And that was just this season...Since 2006, the SEC has absolutely dominated the college football landscape. We only have 4 non-SEC Champs in that span. (And the SEC can fix that by simply adding FSU and Clemson). With USC-UCLA & Texas-OU joining the P2, and the vast amounts of money they'll be making, I think the level of competition will become so skewed that it might force a breakaway.
It should force a breakaway. The SEC is a runaway freight train that no one is going to be able to catch up to.
Add some western PAC teams for the B1G, and split the ACC, FSU-Clemson and a few others going to the SEC, and North Carolina-Virginia going to the B1G, and there is your new 2 conference league.
What remains will be what college football used to be, and the new P2 league will be a new mutant semi-pro league on steroids.
I think the power brokers of college football are simultaneously trying to funnel as much money as possible while introducing new playoff formats to try and maintain a competitive balance, but this is burning the candle at both ends. It can't be done.
I just wonder how long it will take ACC, Big XII, and PAC 12 leftovers to realize this? They are essentially the new IAA
Personally, I'd prefer a split.
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Post by aufan on Jan 12, 2023 6:22:11 GMT
The SEC has dominated since 2003, it just wasn’t always recognized. Use your logic about Clemson and FSU, and Texas/Oklahoma joining the SEC, then it’s fair to say since 1998.
The sport has been fundamentally broken for awhile. It’s an amateur sport with professional money. Universities are whoring themselves out for profits. Advertisers are pushing every limit because fans don’t care as long as they get their fix.
As I’ve grown older I have become literally embarrassed to be a fan. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s I idolized the players, as they were grown men to me. In the later 2000’s and 2010’s they were still older or at least peers and I cheered them on. Now in the 2020’s as an adult I now see the players as kids as they are. I look back remember gruesome hits like Reggie Brown or Tyrone Prothro and realize they were just kids playing a game.
It’s so hard to watch the sport now knowing that it’s basically cable TV milking grown men watching kids risk their brain and bodies for a scholarship to a dummy degree under the guise of amateur athletics. At least NIL helps distribute some of the profits back to these kids.
As you say it’s only a matter of time before it’s a semi-pro SEC vs Big10 two division league. Maybe the NFL can sponsor it and we can stop the universities from pretending it’s and amateur sport for student athletes.
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Post by bluehen on Jan 12, 2023 10:32:59 GMT
I share some of those feelings, aufan
I kinda feel that a multi-tiered NFL minor league system might relieve most of the pressure to escalate , so called, 'college football' (at the highest level) to full professionalism. It's fantasy solution, of course. The mega entertainment NFL should/would never invest big money in something it gets for free.
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Post by EvilVodka on Jan 12, 2023 15:02:50 GMT
The SEC has dominated since 2003, it just wasn’t always recognized. Use your logic about Clemson and FSU, and Texas/Oklahoma joining the SEC, then it’s fair to say since 1998. The sport has been fundamentally broken for awhile. It’s an amateur sport with professional money. Universities are whoring themselves out for profits. Advertisers are pushing every limit because fans don’t care as long as they get their fix. As I’ve grown older I have become literally embarrassed to be a fan. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s I idolized the players, as they were grown men to me. In the later 2000’s and 2010’s they were still older or at least peers and I cheered them on. Now in the 2020’s as an adult I now see the players as kids as they are. I look back remember gruesome hits like Reggie Brown or Tyrone Prothro and realize they were just kids playing a game. It’s so hard to watch the sport now knowing that it’s basically cable TV milking grown men watching kids risk their brain and bodies for a scholarship to a dummy degree under the guise of amateur athletics. At least NIL helps distribute some of the profits back to these kids. As you say it’s only a matter of time before it’s a semi-pro SEC vs Big10 two division league. Maybe the NFL can sponsor it and we can stop the universities from pretending it’s and amateur sport for student athletes. I kind of felt the change occurred in 2006, after Ohio St and Michigan had their "Game of the Century" game, #1 vs. #2. There was some sentiment for a rematch between the two, but the BCS ultimately put Florida in, and they dominated Ohio State. Before that, you had SEC Auburn get left out of the 2004 Championship, and LSU had to split a title with media darling USC in '03.
In addition, the four team playoff was created out of national indifference to the 2011 Championship rematch, where Alabama played a mulligan against LSU while 4 of the other major conference sat watching.
The sport is schizophrenic...one group of people is trying to create playoffs to maintain a competitive balance, while conferences are growing so big and getting so much money that they are cannibalizing their fellow P5. The Big 10 and PAC 10 have always been sister-conferences, sending their champs to the Rose Bowl. USC and UCLA to the Big 10 is really blasphemous to old school college football.
---
Back to the TCU game Honestly, I found all of the hoopla about TCU in the playoffs really eye-opening.
The media, as usual, went to their small school cinderalla vs the big boys narrative right off from the beginning. Sonny Dykes even complained about it.
The difference this time was, TCU got to play their way in. They beat Big 10 Champ Michigan, and the mental gymnastics people went through to explain this was pretty laughable. "Michigan beat themselves", "they played the game of their lives", blah blah blah.
newsflash to everyone: TCU over Michigan wasn't some damn miracle. TCU literally led the whole damn game.
But the dominance of Georgia over TCU was on a scale that was shocking to me. The average casual (and dumb) college football fan explained this away as "TCU didn't belong there".
So lets zoom out some...Alabama also blew out Kansas State in similar fashion. Maybe its the Big 12? Tennessee blew out Clemson. LSU beat Purdue 63-7.
Ok, lets zoom out some more....these SEC blow outs aren't something new. Michigan State '15, Notre Dame '12, on and on and on. The competitive balance is getting worse, not better, to the point were I'd say probably 90% of college football can't compete. Only 4 non-SEC championships since 2006.
If we've reached a point where Big XII, PAC 12, ACC teams, (and even most Big 10 teams) "don't belong" in a championship scenario, then what are we playing the games for? I don't think MR. Casual college football fan understands that this is in fact, very bad for the sport...that this runaway train of money through realignment and tv contracts is creating a competitive divide that cannot be fixed, and is undermining the cohesiveness of the sport.
It will be interesting to see the 12 team playoff in motion. If it becomes an all-SEC affair, I wonder how viewership and ratings will hold up after 10 years of watching SEC team 1 play SEC team 2.
As fake as the NFL is, at least it has variety
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Post by EvilVodka on Jan 12, 2023 15:14:15 GMT
I share some of those feelings, aufan I kinda feel that a multi-tiered NFL minor league system might relieve most of the pressure to escalate , so called, 'college football' (at the highest level) to full professionalism. It's fantasy solution, of course. The mega entertainment NFL should/would never invest big money in something it gets for free.
The creation of the P2 is headed this way IMO.
I predict many, many all-SEC national championships with the introduction of the new playoff, in a sport that already has SEC fatigue.
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Post by tigercpa on Jan 12, 2023 18:37:50 GMT
I share some of those feelings, aufan I kinda feel that a multi-tiered NFL minor league system might relieve most of the pressure to escalate , so called, 'college football' (at the highest level) to full professionalism. It's fantasy solution, of course. The mega entertainment NFL should/would never invest big money in something it gets for free.
The creation of the P2 is headed this way IMO.
I predict many, many all-SEC national championships with the introduction of the new playoff, in a sport that already has SEC fatigue.
And Zoom out a little on that, its Southern fatigue not just SEC fatigue. 4 of the recent nattys have been won by 2 teams separated by only ~75 miles. The concentration leaves most of the country out of the natty "process". Those areas have always been more NFL-centric. There's certainly more parity in the NFL. Why is that? I believe it's the quality of LBs and CBs in the NFL. Far fewer busts and missed assignments, reaulting in far fewer "explosive plays" comapared to college ball.
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Post by doc on Jan 13, 2023 16:32:20 GMT
Not sure it’s broken but with all the latest changes - NIL and Transfer Portal - the gap between the haves and have nots is only going to widen. The top teams are there due to money, tradition, money, facilities, money and rabid fan bases. So when you introduce these new changes who do you think will benefit most? It’s going to be a different games - right now it’s a Ted Nugent world - it’s a free-for-all!
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Post by bluehen on Jan 13, 2023 22:05:45 GMT
Of course ...the 'have nots' that occasionally recruit or develop a 'have' level player can't hold on to him as the 'have' programs simply buy him. No good.
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Post by tigercpa on Jan 14, 2023 14:26:11 GMT
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Post by Hero on Jan 14, 2023 19:43:04 GMT
Of course ...the 'have nots' that occasionally recruit or develop a 'have' level player can't hold on to him as the 'have' programs simply buy him. No good. I can remember when you were saying the coaches can switch schools so why not the players. I think my response was be careful what you pray for because you just might get it.
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Post by Hero on Jan 14, 2023 19:45:55 GMT
I said several years ago the college football I grew up with is gone. Once Pandora's Box is open everything changes.
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Post by bluehen on Jan 15, 2023 0:48:32 GMT
Of course ...the 'have nots' that occasionally recruit or develop a 'have' level player can't hold on to him as the 'have' programs simply buy him. No good. I can remember when you were saying the coaches can switch schools so why not the players. I think my response was be careful what you pray for because you just might get it. You might be thinking if somebody else saying that, hero, but good point. Can't blame the transfers. I just feel bad for the 'have not' programs developing some good players for the 'have' programs.
Getting ready to watch the Chargers and Jags and noticed that the LA Chargers active roster features twice as many Delaware Blue Hens as Alabama players (1). #24 Adderley-s and # 42 Reeder -LB are the UD boys. Just a little fun-ish trivia
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Post by Hero on Jan 15, 2023 1:04:51 GMT
I can remember when you were saying the coaches can switch schools so why not the players. I think my response was be careful what you pray for because you just might get it. You might be thinking if somebody else saying that, hero, but good point. Can't blame the transfers. I just feel bad for the 'have not' programs developing some good players for the 'have' programs.
Getting ready to watch the Chargers and Jags and noticed that the LA Chargers active roster features twice as many Delaware Blue Hens as Alabama players (1). #24 Adderley-s and # 42 Reeder -LB are the UD boys. Just a little fun-ish trivia
Well shucks, I guess I have to pull for the Jags. I have always seen the transfer portal as another benefit for the rich. Saban said BAMA would lose good players and replace them with great players. That said, the short term numbers can get skewed for any team.
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Post by tigercpa on Jan 21, 2023 18:48:27 GMT
Teams don’t magically have a shot at a National Title just because you throw them to the wolves in an expanded 12-team format
Nobody would argue that throwing a man into a den of lions would result in anything other than the man getting mutilated. But, for some reason, we believe this in CFB.
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Post by Bevo on Jan 22, 2023 1:09:07 GMT
The SEC has dominated since 2003, it just wasn’t always recognized. Use your logic about Clemson and FSU, and Texas/Oklahoma joining the SEC, then it’s fair to say since 1998. The sport has been fundamentally broken for awhile. It’s an amateur sport with professional money. Universities are whoring themselves out for profits. Advertisers are pushing every limit because fans don’t care as long as they get their fix. As I’ve grown older I have become literally embarrassed to be a fan. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s I idolized the players, as they were grown men to me. In the later 2000’s and 2010’s they were still older or at least peers and I cheered them on. Now in the 2020’s as an adult I now see the players as kids as they are. I look back remember gruesome hits like Reggie Brown or Tyrone Prothro and realize they were just kids playing a game. It’s so hard to watch the sport now knowing that it’s basically cable TV milking grown men watching kids risk their brain and bodies for a scholarship to a dummy degree under the guise of amateur athletics. At least NIL helps distribute some of the profits back to these kids. As you say it’s only a matter of time before it’s a semi-pro SEC vs Big10 two division league. Maybe the NFL can sponsor it and we can stop the universities from pretending it’s and amateur sport for student athletes. I wish I could disagree.... but, I don't really.
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