# College Football 2024 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [March 1, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326 "2024-03-01T18:06:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/321 "2025-01-03T02:43:49Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > There’s another option: leave it the hell alone Forget it Jake, it’s NCAA town. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/322 "2025-01-03T03:17:56Z")
Where is the most money? 16 teams me thinks! ---
**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:** [January 3, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/323 "2025-01-03T08:06:25Z")
No such thing. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/324 "2025-01-03T18:25:36Z")
Personally, I think 12 teams is too many. 12 doesn’t do anything that eight doesn’t. Every team remaining will have to win a total of four games to win the national championship. That is a crazy number of postseason games for a college football player to play. I no longer care about the student athlete/work life balance that these players have to figure out, but this is excessive. Let the top four conference champions host the first round at home, which is already a huge advantage. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/325 "2025-01-03T18:37:47Z")
In today’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Minnesota has a fat chance to beat the spread against Virginia Tech. But some fans have made the trip to egg them on. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/326 "2025-01-03T18:41:45Z")
It’ll be a Miracle if VT Whips the Gophers. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/327 "2025-01-03T20:07:20Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Personally, I think 12 teams is too many. 12 doesn’t do anything that eight doesn’t. Every team remaining will have to win a total of four games to win the national championship. That is a crazy number of postseason games for a college football player to play. I no longer care about the student athlete/work life balance that these players have to figure out, but this is excessive. Let the top four conference champions host the first round at home, which is already a huge advantage. The problem with eight is, either you get rid of one of the promises the CFP made to the non-Power conferences where at least one of them would be involved, or have five conference champions and only three at-large teams, which, this year, would have kept Ohio State out. Also, with an 8-team tournament, none of the games will be “home games,” except for things like UCLA somehow getting into the tournament and playing at the Rose Bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/328 "2025-01-09T13:24:47Z")
Seems really weird that there’s an important college football game on tonight (and tomorrow). I’m an Irish fan, and it’s not quite real in my mind yet. I don’t watch cable sports news anymore - is it all they can talk about right now? Or is a month long college football playoff just too much to hold people’s attention anymore? ---
**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:** [January 9, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/329 "2025-01-09T14:52:53Z")
To be fair, more important news stories are getting the headlines, and the sports reports are concentrating on the NFL playoffs. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/330 "2025-01-09T19:52:31Z")
I know for me, the new world of mega conferences, NIL and transfer protocol have about killed my interest in the sport. Dragging things out way past New Years Day may simply turn out to be the killing of the Golden Goose. It almost seems like the NCAA is on their way to being a rival pro league competitor to the NFL and that usually doesn’t end well. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/331 "2025-01-09T20:03:14Z")
Looking at the nine stories listed as “Top Headlines” on [espn.com](http://espn.com), none of them mention the playoff. Six are NFL-related, two NBA, one golf, one Premier League, and the other is about college football, but is about a Vanderbilt player deciding not to enter the draft, so arguably that’s also an NFL story. It seems safe to say the extended playoff has not captured the imagination of American sports fans in the way the NCAA hoped it would. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/332 "2025-01-09T20:07:35Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > It seems safe to say the extended playoff has not captured the imagination of American sports fans in the way the NCAA hoped it would. I tend to agree with this statement, except for the fact that Notre Dame is still alive. As long as the Irish have a chance to win it all, their legions (multitudes?) of fans will be tuning in to any game in which Dame is playing. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/333 "2025-01-09T20:11:48Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > It seems safe to say the extended playoff has not captured the imagination of American sports fans in the way the NCAA hoped it would. IMHO part of the problem is that the timing of the games is odd. If they are going to insist on playing the second round on New Year’s Eve and Day, then the first round should be on Christmas Eve and Day, and the third and fourth rounds one week and two weeks later, regardless of what days those happen to fall on. Having 10 plus days between games is a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/334 "2025-01-09T20:14:08Z")
Granted ND is an extreme case, but realistically any school that makes it this far is going to have a large fanbase. But if nobody pays attention except actual fans of the teams involved, the ratings are still going to be anemic. And playing the crucial games on random weeknights so as not to conflict with the NFL won’t help, either. They should do an eight team playoff, with the final on New Year’s Day as God intended. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/335 "2025-01-09T20:16:13Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > with the final on New Year’s Day as God intended Then only two good teams will be playing on New Years. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/336 "2025-01-09T20:19:02Z")
That’s true, fans are conditioned to expect a lot of high-level games on New Years. Besides, with conference championships happening on the second weekend in December, there’s not enough time to do three rounds and finish by New Years. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/337 "2025-01-09T20:30:45Z")
Once Oregon had their crazy collapse in the playoffs I lost interest myself. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/338 "2025-01-09T20:56:50Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Then only two good teams will be playing on New Years. Tons of good teams would have a New Year’s bowl. An 8 team playoff would have been the 5 conference champs, ND, Texas and Penn St. (though I think Ohio St. would get a higher rank in an 8 team playoff scenario over Penn St.). That leaves a bunch of teams left out to grab Jan. 1 bowl games. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/339 "2025-01-09T21:49:17Z")
[quote=“Munch, post:338, topic:998326, full:true”] Tons of good teams would have a New Year’s bowl. An 8 team playoff would have been the 5 conference champs, ND, Texas and Penn St.[/quote] …which is probably the primary reason the playoff isn’t limited to 8 teams. One of the problems with scheduling the playoff: is the Army-Navy game entitled to being the only game played that day? Almost certainly, it needs to be the only game on at that time, but if you need to schedule four other games that weekend, how do you do it without having two games against each other or playing on Friday afternoon where not everybody will be home from work yet? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326/340 "2025-01-09T22:07:40Z")
I wondered what they’d do if Army or Navy was a contender. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-2024/998326.md?page=18)