# 2014 College Football General Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 30, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937 "2014-08-30T03:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/102 "2014-09-10T12:47:41Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > Yeah, I don’t think we come anywhere close to GaTech, UF or Auburn and it’ll be awhile yet before we’re even with UT or Bama in terms of teams that get UGA VII slobberin’ good (damn y’all got a lot teams to hate!). > > And sorry we didn’t have a nice gully to park our stadium in but at least the field runs north-south. With the exception of Tech, we’re everyone’s second most-hated rival. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/103 "2014-09-10T12:49:47Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Steve Spurrier used to be the QB coach at Ga Tech and he developed a good old fashioned HATE for Georgia while he was at Tech. No, he developed it while at UF as a QB, then cultivated it when we didn’t offer him a job in 1989. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/104 "2014-09-10T14:57:39Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Each conference is represented by 1 AD along with 8 other “independent” people. Funny though that the SEC got one (Archie Manning) and the PAC got TWO (Condi Rice - current Stanford employee and Tyrone Willingham who coached at both Stanford and Washington). So those two conferences have a stake in 5 of 13 votes. But don’t worry, we can trust these people (with ties to a particular conference) to be truly impartial and fair. Three from the Pac-12: Pat Haden, current USC AD, is on the committee–as we all found out when he made a fool of himself on the sidelines of the Stanford game. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/105 "2014-09-10T14:59:33Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > So how do people think this playoff system is going to work out? My suspicion is that only champions of power conferences (or Notre Dame if they go undefeated) need apply. > > Since the committee AFAIK contains representatives of all the conferences, I don’t see them ever admitting two teams from the same conference. Whatever they do will be hysterically criticized by the teams left out, so I think they will be strongly tempted to play it safe and pick only teams that have a conference championship credential to separate them from the pack. (and I believe that is explicitly listed as a criteria they will use). The only exception might be in a weird year where more than one of the power conferences have major upsets in their championship games and end up with a champion with a record of 8-4 or something. ESPN came out with a list showing everyone’s chances of going undefeated. #1: BYU (Independent), which would throw a nice monkey wrench into the works. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/106 "2014-09-10T20:33:53Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > So how do people think this playoff system is going to work out? My suspicion is that only champions of power conferences (or Notre Dame if they go undefeated) need apply. Considering how the top four teams are chosen, I wouldn’t be surprised, although if the SEC champion is #1 at the end of the year and another SEC team’s only loss is to that team, I wouldn’t be surprised to see two SEC teams get in. There’s always the chance that “the next Boise State” can sneak in if two of the big conferences have upsets in their championship games, but then there would be complaints of “who did they beat?” and “how could you not include another major conference team in?”. Here’s the “short version” of how it works: 1. Each committee member chooses 25 teams. Some members cannot choose a particular team (e.g. Pat Haden cannot choose USC). Only teams on at least 3 of the 13 lists are eligible. 2. Each committee member now chooses six of the teams still eligible after step 1. The six teams on the most lists advance to the next step. I am assuming that there is a tiebreaker vote if necessary; also, if a team that is on somebody’s “can’t select them” list is one vote short, another vote is taken to determine if they advance ahead of another team. 3. Each committee member now ranks the six teams from step 2 from 1 to 6. The three teams with the best average rankings are the #1-3 teams. The three remaining teams form the “selection pool”. 4. Repeat step 2, but leave out the six teams previously selected, and only the top three advance to the selection pool. 5. Repeat step 3, with the six teams in the selection pool (the three “leftovers” from step 3, and the three added from step 4), to determine the #4-6 teams. #4 goes into one of the semi-finals; #5 and #6 need to be determined for “major” bowl eligibility. Repeat 4 and 5 to determine teams 7-9, 10-13, 14-17, 18-21, and 22-25. If none of these teams is the champion of a “non-big-5 conference”, the committee chooses one of those teams, as one of them is guaranteed a major bowl bid. Here is the recusal list released last month: Mike Gould - Air Force Jeff Long - Arkansas Dan Radakovich - Clemson Archie Manning - Ole Miss Tom Osborne - Nebraska Pat Haden - USC Condoleezza Rice - Stanford Oliver Luck - West Virginia Barry Alvarez - Wisconsin ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/107 "2014-09-10T20:59:29Z")
Tom Osborne and Condoleezza Rice? Why not just have Hannity and Beck? ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/108 "2014-09-10T21:02:03Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Considering how the top four teams are chosen, I wouldn’t be surprised, although if the SEC champion is #1 at the end of the year and another SEC team’s only loss is to that team, I wouldn’t be surprised to see two SEC teams get in. There’s always the chance that “the next Boise State” can sneak in if two of the big conferences have upsets in their championship games, but then there would be complaints of “who did they beat?” and “how could you not include another major conference team in?”. > > Here’s the “short version” of how it works: > > 1. Each committee member chooses 25 teams. Some members cannot choose a particular team (e.g. Pat Haden cannot choose USC). Only teams on at least 3 of the 13 lists are eligible. > 2. Each committee member now chooses six of the teams still eligible after step 1. The six teams on the most lists advance to the next step. I am assuming that there is a tiebreaker vote if necessary; also, if a team that is on somebody’s “can’t select them” list is one vote short, another vote is taken to determine if they advance ahead of another team. > 3. Each committee member now ranks the six teams from step 2 from 1 to 6. The three teams with the best average rankings are the #1-3 teams. The three remaining teams form the “selection pool”. > 4. Repeat step 2, but leave out the six teams previously selected, and only the top three advance to the selection pool. > 5. Repeat step 3, with the six teams in the selection pool (the three “leftovers” from step 3, and the three added from step 4), to determine the #4-6 teams. #4 goes into one of the semi-finals; #5 and #6 need to be determined for “major” bowl eligibility. > Repeat 4 and 5 to determine teams 7-9, 10-13, 14-17, 18-21, and 22-25. If none of these teams is the champion of a “non-big-5 conference”, the committee chooses one of those teams, as one of them is guaranteed a major bowl bid. > > Here is the recusal list released last month: > Mike Gould - Air Force > Jeff Long - Arkansas > Dan Radakovich - Clemson > Archie Manning - Ole Miss > Tom Osborne - Nebraska > Pat Haden - USC > Condoleezza Rice - Stanford > Oliver Luck - West Virginia > Barry Alvarez - Wisconsin Would anyone be interested simulating this using DOPERS as the committee and someone to do the books? I would participate as a committee member or the accountant. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/109 "2014-09-10T21:44:34Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Would anyone be interested simulating this using DOPERS as the committee and someone to do the books? I would participate as a committee member or the accountant. Brilliant. I’d love to see it, and would volunteer to be a committee member (recusing myself from any discussion of Cal [snerk]). We’d need to find 16 CFB fans amongst the Dopers, though, and that may be hard. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/110 "2014-09-10T22:02:47Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Brilliant. I’d love to see it, and would volunteer to be a committee member (recusing myself from any discussion of Cal [snerk]). > > We’d need to find 16 CFB fans amongst the Dopers, though, and that may be hard. For that purpose you might look at the polls I have been conducting for the past year or two on Top X-number teams to lose in weekly games and click on the “posters counts” and select the ones most frequently participating. At one time I counted over 30 individuals in that category. There may already be that many in this year’s polls alone. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/111 "2014-09-10T22:53:28Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > For that purpose you might look at the polls I have been conducting for the past year or two on Top X-number teams to lose in weekly games and click on the “posters counts” and select the ones most frequently participating. At one time I counted over 30 individuals in that category. There may already be that many in this year’s polls alone. For that matter, 25 individuals have posted in this very thread! (as of the time of this post!) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/112 "2014-09-13T16:06:11Z")
ESPN Gameday was in Fargo and North Dakota St University. NDSU is playing the University of The Incarnate Word. I thought I have heard of every school that plays College football. Nope, Not so fast. University of The Incarnate Word is a new one. Its in San Antonio, TX if you are interested. And they are the Cardinals. No SEC school plays the University of The Incarnate Word this year. Maybe next year. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/113 "2014-09-13T17:46:28Z")
An old friend of mine has a kid going there. I did not know they even knew what football is. Soccer, tennis, track, sure. But football? They had enough people to even field a team? ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/114 "2014-09-13T19:52:14Z")
OMG, heartbreaking loss for my GSU Eagles! They played tough, though! Deep breath… GO Dawgs! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/115 "2014-09-13T21:10:18Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > An old friend of mine has a kid going there. I did not know they even knew what football is. Soccer, tennis, track, sure. But football? They had enough people to even field a team? I googled them; they’re an old school (1881) and relatively large (8400 students). They just moved up a Division, so they’re now playing FCS schools and appearing on the crawl at the bottom of the screen. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/116 "2014-09-13T21:25:53Z")
Well, if Rice can field a football team, I guess any Texas school can. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/117 "2014-09-13T21:27:31Z")
That’s just an old SWC dig… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/118 "2014-09-13T21:38:23Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > No SEC school plays the University of The Incarnate Word this year. Maybe next year. They are afraid of an upset. They want to see them get beat up a little before taking the big risk. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/119 "2014-09-13T22:51:35Z")
Ferentz just tried to “ice” the ISU kicker. He missed. They rekick, of course he nails it. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/120 "2014-09-13T23:04:35Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I googled them; they’re an old school (1881) and relatively large (8400 students). They just moved up a Division, so they’re now playing FCS schools and appearing on the crawl at the bottom of the screen. Really disappointed in you **jsc1953**. I gave you the perfect setup line about the University of The Incarnate Word not on any SEC team’s schedule. And you passed the ball **Gatopescado** , and he took it in for an easy layup. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937/121 "2014-09-14T02:14:05Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Really disappointed in you **jsc1953**. > > I gave you the perfect setup line about the University of The Incarnate Word not on any SEC team’s schedule. > > And you passed the ball **Gatopescado** , and he took it in for an easy layup. Dammit! But at this point it’s like kicking lame puppies. When ESPN, which has a fiduciary obligation to kiss SEC ass, mocks their schedule – there’s no joy in it any more. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-college-football-general-thread/696937.md?page=7)