I want Bama to lose every game just slightly less than I want OU to lose every game. I rooted for a meteor in the Orange Bowl. I rooted against ND in the Cotton Bowl. I guess that means I’m rooting for Clemson, but it isn’t a very strong rooting interest. I mainly want a well officiated football game as I often root for the refs.
On top of it all, I’m quite upset that ESPN didn’t get coaches for the film room in the final this year. Having coaches who have played the teams talk about scheme and playcalls has consistently been one of the best parts of the megacast they put on. Gundy and the crew with him last year were phenomenally interesting. Previous years were also great. You had people who know what these teams try and do and how to try and beat it breaking a game down at a level above what the broadcasters were doing with access to a coaches remote and telestrator. It was fantastic hearing them talk about small breakdowns that turned into big plays and how the coaches were working to constrain and set up those breakdowns over time.
And this year, we get the Monday Night Football crew to do it. I’ll give it a listen, but I am not optimistic that a bunch of commentators who haven’t coached can do the job.
I don’t know if there really is such a thing as a dominant conference. SEC had a run of holding the number one spot, but even during that stretch, they weren’t always dominant. Under the BCS, Auburn barely beat Oregon. LSU won 2 BCS titles but it’s debatable as to whether they should have been able to play in that game - on both occasions. Florida in 2006/7 and Alabama in 2012/3 was dominant, but the conference itself was probably not that much better than the rest of the nation. Even now, Clemson and Ohio State have been able to beat Alabama in the modern era.
I’m SEC guy and normally pull for our conference champ, but I honestly think I’ve seen enough of Alabama to last a lifetime. If winning meant Nick Saban would retire, then I’ll definitely pull for the Tide.
I’m not a college football fan (I prefer the honesty of the pro game) but I’m paying some attention and have the game on because my father went to Clemson. Of course, when he was at Clemson the football team’s best years were something like 6-4. I think he’s probably watching the game (I haven’t called) but I doubt he really cares.
Oh please, they also played Texas A&M and South Carolina. Clemson got rewarded for winning every game they played, something very few teams do any given year.
FYI…Georgia Southern has been a member of FCS in the Sun Belt Conference for several years now and are a very respectable team.
Who IIRC, only lost by 2 points in overtime to Clemson. Yet somehow got their asses handed to them by Alabama, although not as bad as Clemson handed Alabama theirs.
I suspect that in a lot of ways, the upper echelons of Power 5 conference football really is an “any given Saturday” type situation.
4 touchdown lead for the Tigers going into the 4th.