College Football Season 2021

[Guitarzan]

Why so many bowl games?

You know why.

The schools want the money for appearing.

The coaches want the additional practice time to evaluate and develop players.

The broadcasters want the programming.

Players used to want to attend a bowl no matter what because they go to take a vacation and get some nice SWAG they otherwise would not get and have one last fun event before moving on to the real world. That has changed from 30 years ago because the circumstances and the utes are different.

 

[Guitarzan]

Caleb Williams, Oklahoma's second starting QB of the season and replacement Spencer Rattler, put his name in the transfer portal. Rattler had pre-season Heisman hype but could not finish the season as a starter and already made his transfer move.

Williams may go to USC to be with Lincoln Reilly, and that would be my bet. There is talk about numerous programs, including Georgia, but UGA is stacked with QB's and it would probably not he his best opportunity. Certainly not like going to USC and working with an offensive minded HC that already made him a starter.

 

[Guitarzan]

Jim Harbaugh is making his negotiation moves with Michigan. He took a pay cut prior to the season, supposedly to avoid termination, and then he won the conference and made it into a CFP game (but was whipped badly). His progress this year is enough to get his compensation back and more concessions from the school, so his agent and he have put the word out about interest in NFL jobs such as the Raiders.

 

[DekeDog]

I'm a UNC fan, so you know how my season went. Pre-season ranked in the top 10, lost our first game to Va Tech, and ended up going 6-7... a team much like Florida- lots of talent, but no coaching or fire. If UNC was a rock band, they'd be ABBA.

Looks like Alabama will do it again this year. I have a brother-in-law who was there while Namath was. Saban is tough to beat, and runs a clean program, so for those reasons I'm okay if they win again. But, my paternal grandfather was a UGA grad, and most of my family comes from GA, so there's that. Looking for a competitive championship game. I'll be watching.

 

[reactor99]

Big respect to LSU from a Tide fan for playing their bowl game last night with only 39 scholarship players, not one of whom was a QB. Could easily have declared an "outbreak" and bowed out, but apparently folks down there love the game and don't believe in quitting. See y'all later in death valley!

 

[Guitarzan]

Looks like Alabama will do it again this year. I have a brother-in-law who was there while Namath was. Saban is tough to beat, and runs a clean program, so for those reasons I'm okay if they win again. But, my paternal grandfather was a UGA grad, and most of my family comes from GA, so there's that. Looking for a competitive championship game. I'll be watching.

I am inclined to believe that Bammer will beat Georgia again. The staff is going to play PeeWee Bennett and have the 5 star with the higher ceiling and better record on third down stand on the sideline.

Roman Harper is a former Bammer player and commentator on the SEC Network. He picked Bammer to win the SEC CG over UGA because Bammer had the better coach and the better quarterback. His premise was not wrong and neither was his prediction.

PeeWee cannot win the big game against peer or near pear competition. Michigan might have been the best in the Big 10, but it clearly is not a peer to the best in the SEC. Many say that we have to trust the coaches because they see practice every day and state that as if coaches to not have biases and flawed thought processes like everyone else. I believe the coaching staffs thought process is colored by the desire to promote Bennett because he is a walk on, made a big commitment to the program, made a lot of sacrifices, he did not drop out or transfer when things did not go his way, and thereby use him as a counter-example to the impatience and impulse to transfer as seen with former UGA QB Justin Fields and many other players in other programs.

 

[schmee]

Pretty surprised Bama ended rated on top this year. Glad to see Harbaugh trounced. I kinda think Georgia will win out, they were amazing earlier in the year, then lost their mojo for a bit.

 

[Killing Floor]

I'm a UNC fan, so you know how my season went. Pre-season ranked in the top 10, lost our first game to Va Tech, and ended up going 6-7... a team much like Florida- lots of talent, but no coaching or fire. If UNC was a rock band, they'd be ABBA.

Looks like Alabama will do it again this year. I have a brother-in-law who was there while Namath was. Saban is tough to beat, and runs a clean program, so for those reasons I'm okay if they win again. But, my paternal grandfather was a UGA grad, and most of my family comes from GA, so there's that. Looking for a competitive championship game. I'll be watching.

Your quarterback will win a Lombardi before it’s over. Howell has smashed most of Trevor Lawrence’s stats without the benefit of the O line and weapons Clemson had previously.

 

[Killing Floor]

Sic’em Bears!

 

[Lawdawg]

I am inclined to believe that Bammer will beat Georgia again. The staff is going to play PeeWee Bennett and have the 5 star with the higher ceiling and better record on third down stand on the sideline.

Roman Harper is a former Bammer player and commentator on the SEC Network. He picked Bammer to win the SEC CG over UGA because Bammer had the better coach and the better quarterback. His premise was not wrong and neither was his prediction.

PeeWee cannot win the big game against peer or near pear competition. Michigan might have been the best in the Big 10, but it clearly is not a peer to the best in the SEC. Many say that we have to trust the coaches because they see practice every day and state that as if coaches to not have biases and flawed thought processes like everyone else. I believe the coaching staffs thought process is colored by the desire to promote Bennett because he is a walk on, made a big commitment to the program, made a lot of sacrifices, he did not drop out or transfer when things did not go his way, and thereby use him as a counter-example to the impatience and impulse to transfer as seen with former UGA QB Justin Fields and many other players in other programs.

I agree with most of your post except for that last part. If the coaches have any bias in favor of Bennett, it's simply the "dance with the one that brung you" factor rather than trying to send some message about being a walk on. From what I've heard, the other players love Bennett, and coaches are reluctant to bench a QB who they perceive gets the best effort from the team. Bennett obviously isn't nearly as good as Bryce Young, but I'm not totally convinced JT is that much better than Bennett.

That said, I hope Kirby Smart learned from their prior loss to Bama in the national championship not to be afraid of swapping QBs like Bama did pulling Hurts for Tagovailoa.

 

[Guitarzan]

The ugly result expected from the NIL rules involving bidding wars appears to be here in the pursuit of Caleb Williams.

Charlie Batch offers Caleb Williams $1 million to play at Eastern Michigan - Sports Illustrated

One former NFL QB is offering Caleb Williams some major money ahead of the 2022 season.

www.si.com

 

[Killing Floor]

I hope the CFP moves to include more teams soon. 4 is too few without picking favorites and/or bowing to pressure instead of selecting the best team.
Before some chucklehead say “but football isn’t conducive to a tournament format…” the FCS has a 24 team playoff bracket. That’s football and it’s division 1 and there’s no doubt at the end who is the best in class. I wish they would turn 4 or 8 bowls into bracket games. The viewership and value to advertisers would be the same or maybe even improve because more people would tune in for a playoff than to watch 2 6-6 teams.
I have no doubt Chick-fil-A is a good team but they weren’t top 10 good any more than UCF was a few years ago when they made the same stink about deserving to be in the championship because they won easy games. Meanwhile teams with a single loss to a top 10 team playing in a top 5 conference are excluded. It’s nonsensical.
The result this year is the same as every year. Someone gets a walkoff win in the semis. Sure, Bama deserves to be there. But Bama deserves to play someone decent on the way. There are teams who could have put up a fight given the chance. But there are 15-20 teams who could have slapped Cincy off the field just like Bama did. The CFP voting is too subjective.

 

[Guitarzan]

I do not believe the CFP championship game would be any different this year if there had been an 8 team playoff.

I am OK with an 8 team playoff but that is probably as big as it needs to get. The committee had a hard enough time trying to find 4 teams worth of playing in the semi-finals, and once again it did not succeed. Two non-competitive semi-final games is evidence of the difficulty in finding enough worthy teams.

The fact that Notre Dame was left out with one loss to Cincinnati, who was in, is not problematic. ND did not beat anyone this past season of any stature and has not done well in the playoffs (an 0-2 record). ND lost to Okie state in the bowl game it did play. I have no sympathy for ND and do not believe it was "left out" or unjustly treated.

If the top 8 teams had been in the playoffs, the additional teams would have been ND, Ohio State, Baylor, and Ole Miss. There is nothing urgent and compelling about seeing any of those mediocre teams play in the playoffs, and the teams other than ND each already had two losses. But we saw Ole Miss lose to Baylor anyway after its QB went down with an injury.

College Football Playoff rankings: Top 25 scores, schedule for bowl games

We're into bowl season for the 2021 college football season. Get College Football Playoff rankings here, including the schedule and scores for all teams.

www.ncaa.com

 

[uriah1]

Does anyone even care about the SEC Intramural this week (Alabama vs Georgia) Didn't they
already play each other a few times.

Well, probably no. I guess it is time to switch hats to NFL.

I think we may see that for years since if think 80% of hyper prospects
go those schools for an early out to the NFL or the like.

 

[DekeDog]

I think four teams in the playoffs is plenty, esp. this season (and probably last, too). The way Cincinnati and Michigan got beat, it seems pretty apparent to me that, unless UGA or 'Bama have one bad playoff game, the two SEC teams are clearly the best. Harbaugh said UGA was the best team that day, but there's no doubt in my mind they'd have whipped Michigan nine out of ten times this season.

 

[JL_LI]

What keeps the college football championship, and March madness for that matter interesting is that while some teams may be statistically better than others, they’re all so good that with one team having a good night, even one or two players having a spectacular night, or an injury or illness, anything can happen, no matter how improbable. Cinderella teams have fallen by this point, but there’s still the possibility of an upset. And if the game gets boring or too one sided, there are always the cheerleaders to hold your gaze, except at Texas A&M.

 

[uriah1]

I love cinderalla team that win, however, I think college basketball has way more than college football.

 

[Guitarzan]

Does anyone even care about the SEC Intramural this week (Alabama vs Georgia)

x

Everyone that likes real football cares.

Those in regions where real football is not played do not care.

 

[Guitarzan]

The big day is here. I am afraid I will see Alabama win again.

But I will take pleasure tomorrow in being wrong if I am wrong.

 

[Resojazznblues]

The big day is here. I am afraid I will see Alabama win again.

But I will take pleasure tomorrow in being wrong if I am wrong.

Blessed. Go Dawgs!!