# College Football Thread - BCS, Bowls, Conference Championship, Coaching Changes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979 "2007-11-27T23:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Uga\_VI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/67e7ee/32.png) [@Uga\_VI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uga_VI)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/41 "2007-11-29T03:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Let’s see, when was the last time Georgia played a regular season game outside the south? Oh yeah, Johnson was president. At least it was Lyndon and not Andrew. Play some tough teams on the road and I might respect the Schedule Easy Competition schools. [/QUOTE] We play plenty of tough road games, though I’m not sure what the Mason Dixon line has to do with anything. Regardless, we’re going to Tempe next year to play ASU, does that count? What about Colorado, Oklahoma State or Oregon? That tickle your fancy? I’m not sure why you think we’re scared, if you look a our record vs. your precious Big 10 over the past 20 years. I’m sure you watched the last time your team played UGA. Besides, it has been impossible for us to maintain a 6-game home schedule and play an additional home-and-home OOC opponent. We play GT every year, and have a neutral site game. Thus, the new 12 game schedule has been the first time since the 2 additional teams were added to the SEC that we’ve been able to add a new home-and-home while maintaining a 6-game home schedule. Of course, I guess we could drop Gt or the Jacksonville game, but we tend to think those traditions are more important than what some anonymous message board user thinks of the geographical orientation of our away games. OSU & UM won’t even discuss it, so we’re certainly not the ones who are scared. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/42 "2007-11-29T03:19:00Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Yes, that makes sense. Ohio St. really manages to do that a lot. Youngstown, Kent, Akron, and, oh yes, Washington (4-8). What a tough road game… [/QUOTE] When was the last time a SEC team played a non-conference away game against the 2nd ranked team in the nation in the regular season? You can rip a lot of teams for not scheduling tough OOC opponents, but not OSU. Sure, we have our share of patsies, but we have been scheduling top powers. We played a 7th ranked WaSu team 5 years back, a home/away with Texas, and we have home/aways scheduled with Miami and USC. Anyways, I’d be happy with a plus one and going back to conference based bowls. My rule would be that you have to win your conference and win your bowl game to get in the plus one. I’d have: Rose: Pac 10 vs Big 10 Orange: Acc vs Big East Sugar: Big 12 vs SEC Fiesta: At large. A requirement to take any undefeated Division 1A team. In almost ever year you’d have three teams to choose from. Sure, one team still might arguably be snubbed, but at least that’s only one team vs. the 6 or 7 that have an argument this year. Last year we would have had: Rose: USC vs. Ohio State Orange: Louisville vs. Wake Forest Sugar: Florida vs. Oklahoma Fiesta: Boise State vs. (LSU, Notre Dame, or Michigan) Worst case scenario: OSU, Louisville, Florida, and Boise win. OSU plays either Boise or Florida, and the other gets snubbed. Best case scenario: Boise State loses, and the winners of the Rose and Sugar play. ---
**Author:** ![Uga\_VI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/67e7ee/32.png) [@Uga\_VI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uga_VI)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/43 "2007-11-29T03:30:59Z")
[QUOTE=treis] When was the last time a SEC team played a non-conference away game against the 2nd ranked team in the nation in the regular season? [/QUOTE] Congrats! You have that in common with Appalachian State. (Only kidding 😉 ) Arkansas, 2005. Auburn Scheduled a home-and-home with them a few years ago, as well. I don’t think they were #2 when Auburn played them in LA, though. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/44 "2007-11-29T03:33:00Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Let’s see, when was the last time Georgia played a regular season game outside the south? Oh yeah, Johnson was president. At least it was Lyndon and not Andrew. Play some tough teams on the road and I might respect the Schedule Easy Competition schools. [/QUOTE] Georgia plays home-and-home with (four-time national champion) Georgia Tech every year. For many years, Georgia had a home-and-home with (one-time national champion) Clemson. Georgia also had home and home with South Carolina back in the George Rogers years before it joined the SEC. As for playing teams “outside the South,” why would Georgia want to dilute its schedule? 😃 Oh, and then there’s [this](http://www.secsportsfan.com/bigtenseccomp.html): > [@](#): > > The SEC leads the Big Ten with a 63-45-2 all-time record. > > The SEC has a .582 winning percentage versus the Big Ten. You were saying? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Uga\_VI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/67e7ee/32.png) [@Uga\_VI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uga_VI)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/45 "2007-11-29T03:34:17Z")
[QUOTE=Uga VI] Arkansas, 2005. Auburn Scheduled a home-and-home with them a few years ago, as well. I don’t think they were #2 when Auburn played them in LA, though. [/QUOTE] They played USC, of course. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Uga\_VI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/67e7ee/32.png) [@Uga\_VI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uga_VI)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/46 "2007-11-29T03:36:04Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] As for playing teams “outside the South,” why would Georgia want to dilute its schedule? 😃 Oh, and then there’s [this](http://www.secsportsfan.com/bigtenseccomp.html): You were saying? 😛 [/QUOTE] Not to mention the fact that UGA has played an away game in the Big-10 20 years more recently than the last away SEC game MSU played. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/47 "2007-11-29T03:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=RancidYakButterTeaParty] They have USC the next two years and also Virginia Tech and Miami in the future already on the schedule. [/QUOTE] Well if you want to talk _future_ games, Georgia has future games scheduled at Oklahoma State, home-and-home with Arizona state, at Colorado, home-and-home against Louisville, home-and-home with Clemson, home-and-home with Oregon. All that _in addition to_ the yearly OOC game against Georgia Tech. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/48 "2007-11-29T03:43:59Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] Um, so, Michigan? [/QUOTE] Oklahoma State fan right here! Go Pokes! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/49 "2007-11-29T03:49:29Z")
Too slow to edit in: And we’ll be beating Georgia for the first game of the season in the Brand Spanking New Boone Pickens Stadium in 2009! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/50 "2007-11-29T03:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive] And we’ll be beating Georgia for the first game of the season in the Brand Spanking New Boone Pickens Stadium in 2009! [/QUOTE] Oooh! I know what to get Darth Sensitive for Christmas! A crying towel. He’s gonna need it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Uga\_VI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/67e7ee/32.png) [@Uga\_VI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uga_VI)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/51 "2007-11-29T03:52:17Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive] Too slow to edit in: And we’ll be beating Georgia for the first game of the season in the Brand Spanking New Boone Pickens Stadium in 2009! [/QUOTE] I hope to be there to receive our butt-whooping. We had a good time with your fans (Verplank and a bunch of others tailgated with us before the game) in Athens this year. [/name drop] ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/52 "2007-11-29T04:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] We do? Really? I must have missed the memo. This obsession with the BCS and wanting to be in the national title hunt is exactly why so many teams schedule piss-poor non-conference games. In the past you could count on Miami to play Notre Dame every year, Nebraska - Penn State, FSU-Miami and dozens of other great non-conference games. There was a time when teams like Nebraska didn’t schedule a team that wasn’t in one of the big 4 conferences. Look at the [teams they played](http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=3&SPID=22&Q_SEASON=1986) prior to 1990. Teams used to get ridiculed for scheduling crappy schools. Now even crappy schools schedule crappier schools. I guess I’m a crazy nostalgic in that I’d like to see a handful of decent games prior to October 1st. [/QUOTE] You’re still proving my point as to the fact that your ideas are dated. Miami playing Notre Dame this year??? Would maybe be buried in the depths of the college scores. They both are terrible. Nebraska sucks and PSU is simply average. Miami-FSU the same. If anything, the current system encourages a tough non-conference schedule because the naysayers always point to that at the end of the year. Those naysayers are also voters in the polls. WVU has Auburn next fall in Morgantown. Auburn sucks! you say. Well, they didn’t when we scheduled them a few years back. Unless a team schedules perennial cupcakes (SEC teams I’m looking at you with the fucking Sun Belt conference) you can’t blame the schedule on a team.. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/53 "2007-11-29T04:48:02Z")
Well LSU has “granted permission” for Les Miles to talk to Michigan after the SEC championship game. Maybe I’m reading too much into things but I think that pretty much seals the deal. But I’m guessing LSU knows they are going to lose him, and within two or three days after the game Miles will publicly accept the Michigan job, and LSU will hire their replacement. Both UM and LSU know there is too much at stake in this key part of the recruiting season to have things up in the air. As for Miles I’m not sure exactly what I think of him. He has had success, but not long term and not with “his” players. And there does seem to be a bit of sleeze in his character. On the other hand, this is an important recruiting time, and I’m not sure there is a much better option who is gonna come. There is a part of me that really likes Brian Kelly though. Hungry, smart and a fresh perspective would be good, but it seems the monied alums are dead set on Miles and I’d have to guess the deal is already done. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/54 "2007-11-29T04:50:37Z")
[QUOTE=jtgain] You’re still proving my point as to the fact that your ideas are dated. Miami playing Notre Dame this year??? Would maybe be buried in the depths of the college scores. They both are terrible. Nebraska sucks and PSU is simply average. Miami-FSU the same. If anything, the current system encourages a tough non-conference schedule because the naysayers always point to that at the end of the year. Those naysayers are also voters in the polls. WVU has Auburn next fall in Morgantown. Auburn sucks! you say. Well, they didn’t when we scheduled them a few years back. Unless a team schedules perennial cupcakes (SEC teams I’m looking at you with the fucking Sun Belt conference) you can’t blame the schedule on a team.. [/QUOTE] Oh, stuff and nonsense. Look every team in the country from a major conference basically does the same thing out of conference: schedules one good team, and then fills up on bad teams. I don’t fault OSU for playing the local MAC teams; it’s good for the state, and it helps them get it right before it counts. I don’t fault Georgia for playing local southern second-tier teams for the same reason. But with respect, Georgia had both OkSt. AND GaTech this year, if memory serves me right. And they schedule GaTech every year, and the YellowJackets aren’t usually cream puff teams. Plus, and here is the main point, if you are already playing an IN-conference schedule that includes usually at least three top-25 teams, and often four, what is the NEED to schedule out of conference toughies? And, while it’s slowly improving in the Big-10, usually, beyond OSU and UofM, it’s hit or miss as to who will be in the top-25 in a given year. And the Big-10 teams don’t play a whole round robin, so a team can easily miss the main opposition in a season. When all is said and done, the best indicator of what is truly going on between two conferences is the record over time inter-conference. As has been pointed out, the Big-10 in that matchup can’t even carry the SEC’s jockstrap. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/55 "2007-11-29T04:53:29Z")
College football as a game-day experience is one of the best times in sports. Tracking the in’s and out’s of the college football season, however, is a different matter. Putting this year aside, King Kaufmann of Salon wrote an [interesting column](http://dir.salon.com/story/news/sports/col/kaufman/2004/09/07/tuesday/index.html) a few years ago regarding the problem of following college football as a sport, i.e. outside of rooting interests: > [@](#): > > So normally there’d have been an upset or two (each week). Big deal. College football fans will argue that when there is an upset in the top 25, it really is a big deal, rush-the-field time, excitement city. That’s true, but it’s not enough. For a sport to really cook, the underdog has to have more than a snowball’s chance. Otherwise you’re putting up with too much non-competitiveness just to get that once-in-a-blue-moon upset rush. > > I don’t know what that minimal level of competitiveness is, exactly, but I know that the first round of the NBA playoffs are pretty much unwatchable because only one of the four series in each conference is really a contest. The top three seeds lose their series 13.5 percent of the time. Not enough. > > If I had to pick a minimum required level of competitiveness, I’d put it at 30 percent. Any competition where one side has less than a three-in-10 chance of winning is not competitive enough to warrant sustained interest. > > A college football team that plays .300 ball over a season would finish 3-8. An NFL team would be 5-11. An NBA team would go 25-57, a baseball team would lose 113 games and a college basketball team would finish 9-21. Those would all be bad teams, some worse than others because of the differences in the sports. But they’re all still within the realm of competitiveness, though just barely. Much worse – any worse in some cases – and they wouldn’t be. > > So when it’s routine for there to be eight losses among the college football top 25 in a given week, when that’s the minimum we can expect, let me know. Shoot, I’ll settle for seven losses, even though that’s only 28 percent. I’m a big-hearted person. Even this past season–which has featured quite a few upsets in the top 5, let alone the whole top 25–only two different teams have held the #1 BCS spot. Face it, the BCS is just an elaborate game of musical chairs, and I quit playing that particular “sport” when I was 6… ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/56 "2007-11-29T05:00:27Z")
[QUOTE=CJJ\*] Even this past season–which has featured quite a few upsets in the top 5, let alone the whole top 25–only two different teams have held the #1 BCS spot. Face it, the BCS is just an elaborate game of musical chairs, and I quit playing that particular “sport” when I was 6… [/QUOTE] You count funny. Ohio St. LSU Missouri :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/57 "2007-11-29T05:03:18Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] You count funny. Ohio St. LSU Missouri :smack: [/QUOTE] Well, that completely invalidates my point! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/58 "2007-11-29T05:10:38Z")
No towel needed. Too much practice being a Poke fan. Though your team looks awful scary in 2 years, ours should be too. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/59 "2007-11-29T05:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] Well LSU has “granted permission” for Les Miles to talk to Michigan after the SEC championship game. Maybe I’m reading too much into things but I think that pretty much seals the deal. But I’m guessing LSU knows they are going to lose him, and within two or three days after the game Miles will publicly accept the Michigan job, and LSU will hire their replacement. Both UM and LSU know there is too much at stake in this key part of the recruiting season to have things up in the air. As for Miles I’m not sure exactly what I think of him. He has had success, but not long term and not with “his” players. And there does seem to be a bit of sleeze in his character. On the other hand, this is an important recruiting time, and I’m not sure there is a much better option who is gonna come. There is a part of me that really likes Brian Kelly though. Hungry, smart and a fresh perspective would be good, but it seems the monied alums are dead set on Miles and I’d have to guess the deal is already done. [/QUOTE] Does that mean he’ll be on the phone with Michigan during the half time of his bowl game? Because that hurts the team when you should be making adjustments. Not that I’m residually bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979/60 "2007-11-29T05:16:37Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] But with respect, Georgia had both OkSt. AND GaTech this year, if memory serves me right. [/QUOTE] Not to mention surprising Troy (8-3), whose only three losses came to top-25 SEC teams. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-football-thread-bcs-bowls-conference-championship-coaching-changes/427979.md?page=4)