College Football

First topic message reminder :

Any of you guys looking foward to the start of the season next week, if you like college football, what teams do you like, I myself follow the wolverines and huskers. But only the huskers have an oppportunity for the big one this year. Cant wait for lsu v oregon on the 3rd at cowboys stadium.

bambamwillis wrote:Yep, normally 3 or 4 on each week if I remember right. Trying to decide whether ESPN is worth the £10 a month

Well I've only got it as it was free with our Virgin Media set up, wouldn't pay for it as I'm away at uni most the football season.

I'd say it's worth it but sure with streaming you can watch anything anyway on the TV if you have a HDMI lead.

Anyone looking forward to Michigan/Bama next week, going to be a late night before work but worth it.

I imagine I'll watch it if I can stay awake for it.

Have been watching a few preview shows on ESPN America and they've predicted the National Championship game a few times so far I've heard:
Florida State vs USC. Think the guy picked Flordia State to win but can't quite remember.
Oregon vs Alabama, with Alabama winning.
Florida State vs Alabama, with Alabama winning. Pretty certain that the last two had Alabama winning, was wondering who the more informed of us were thinking would feature at the end of the season.

I'd say LSU, Alabama, USC are the most likely contenders, with Michigan(although I'm bias) and Virginia Tech as darkhorses. Florida St are always overrated. I think they should be in contention when you look at their depth but E.J Manuel gets so much hype despite never doing anything of note.

Anybody going to stay up to watch South Carolina @ Vanderbilt to kick the season off tonight? On ESPN America from 12-3:15.

Watching the game right now because I never finished work til 2am last night. Impressed by Vandy and Lattimore so far

Got a ticket to the Emerald Isle game a few days back should be good crack. Aside from Manti Te'o who should I be on the lookout for?

George Atkinson III. Only a sophomore but I honestly think he will prove to be one of the more exciting players in cfb. Not sure how much game time he will get but it still upsets me that Michigan didn't recruit him for whatever reason. It's unfortunate you won't see Cierre Wood too because of suspension. They have some good Lineman including Martin, their left tackle and also their nose guard Louis Nix. But definitely look out for Stephon Tuitt and Tyler Eifert. Eifert is one of, if not the best tight end prospect in cfb, and Tuitt should shine now that he is a starter. Their center gets lots of praise too. Theo Riddick is also exciting, albeit overrated.

I actually ended up missing the South Carolina vs Vanderbilt game, does look like Lattimore is back and looking good though.

Saw the repeat of Washington State vs Brigham Young University, apart from the first two drives BYU dominated Washington State completely, only the third time one of Mike Leach's team haven't scored a TD. Due to their terrible performance not many from Washington State made an impression though I did feel a bit sorry for Marquess Wilson every time he made a good play they got cancelled out by a penalty, think he had a roughly 50 yard catch and a difficult TD grab ruled out due to penalties elsewhere. For BYU Kyle Van Noy LB caught my attention he seemed to make quite a few big plays, and fellow LB Ansah was getting a lot of attention from the commentators, offensively both WR's Ross Apo and Cody Hoffman looked good and their starting QB Nelson was good though looked more impressive when they were running the hurry up offense, apparently though they're big on freshman Taysom Hill as their future at QB and he did throw a TD in this game. Also the number of penalties in this game was ridiculous!

Don't know much about Notre Dame apart from Eifert and Te'o, and that their QBs have been below poor the few times I've seen them recently.

If Michigan State are going to get to any bowl games this year it will be down to the defense and Le'Veon Bell, he has so far been their complete offense, they just said that with about 7 minutes left of the 3rd quarter only 4 catches had been by Spartans WRs, next catch by a WR ends in a fumble meaning the 4th turn over by this offense tonight!

Heard of Eifert alright didn't realise he was a Notre Dame fella. Should be a great laugh, if this is a success I could see the Steelers coming here.

Game was terribly onesided but the expereince was unreal. Niner you seem to know who to look for. All seemed to do very well the guys you mentioned. The Dame O-line dominated and led to their superb rushing attack. Eifert grabbed a TD as did Tuitt and Atkinson. Riddick looked to have decent feet and hands with adequate acceleration don't know a lot about college ball but I was pretty impressed with him albeit against poor opposition. Navy were shoite but when they moved from the wishbone things looked okay at times but lack the top level ability you need I think

Got to admit that Riddick looked really good. I thought he looked poor as a receiver last year but he looked great at running back. Atkinson will be one of the most versatile weapons around if he continues to improve.

I heard that the Nvy couldnt go over a certain weight and had some 5 year thing. With those two things against you, its no wonder it was one sided. Nice to see it in the Aviva, it kinda suited the stadium.

I thought the atmosphere was good but hate international games unless I'm there. I loved being at Wembley for the London game 2 years ago but couldn't stand watching it on tv last year. The way the american networks try to almost adopt ireland (or London) is so cringy at times

Hadn't heard about the weight thing but the years thing is true. They have trouble recruiting players as anyone who has a good shot at getting into the NFL probably won't stick out the 4/5 years in school as they will be 24 or so by the time they come out. It was a superb spectacle and I'm hoping to see something similar in Ireland for the future be it an NFL game or another ND game.


Everyone involved deserves massive credit for the work put in. Are you an AF fan Sambo? Haven't seen you on here before.

really enjoying Nebraska/ S Miss right now, T-Magic actually looking pretty good, as are Southern Miss. Can see why Jamie Colllins is listed as one of the more underrated college players.

Michigan/Bama will be unreal. A Nebraska win and Michigan upset over Bama will make me so happy. Go Blue.

Thomond wrote:Hadn't heard about the weight thing but the years thing is true. They have trouble recruiting players as anyone who has a good shot at getting into the NFL probably won't stick out the 4/5 years in school as they will be 24 or so by the time they come out. It was a superb spectacle and I'm hoping to see something similar in Ireland for the future be it an NFL game or another ND game.


Everyone involved deserves massive credit for the work put in. Are you an AF fan Sambo? Haven't seen you on here before.

I wouldnt go out of my way too watch it but if its on i'll watch it. I like seeing the athleticism that some players have like Adrian Peterson or (cant remember his first name) jacobs, the athletic ability they have is amazing. I only came onto this thread because it was in Ireland though, enjoyed the game, the weight thing is because they cannot have any extra weight to carry around because they are training to be in the navy, although you guys know better then me.

I can understand it in some ways but it is insane in a lot of ways. Athleticism is truely outstanding. You see guys who are not far from Tony Buckleys size who are just incredible in short spaces speed and strength and you get scenes like these too.


Tackling is shoite but still unbeilvable stuff, athleticism is outstanding. This guy is heavier and taller than Jamie Roberts, Sean O'Brien and Ma'a Nonu but can still do things like this. There are some amazing athletes in America

Spoiler:

Just imagine if they put some of those guys into rugby, they might lose afew pounds but no one would have an easy game against them, Adrian Peterson and Jacobs as centres running over everything and Linebackers as props destroying everything.

Linebackers would be the backrows or second rows I'd say. Defensive lineman probably the ends would be the props. IN the Cian Healy mould with pace to burn.


A lot of those guys would struggle to adapt to rugby initially, some ways similar polar opposites in the other. Mainly in the conditioning. I can remember hearing a story that the 7s US team recruited wide receivers at one stage, now 7s is pretty extreme in aerobic fitness terms but they were gasping for air around 4/5 minutes in. They would need to change a lot of things to be good in another sport!

Anyway, this isnt a rugby thread, well done to Notre Dame and The Navy for putting on a great spectacle, I hope they come to the Aviva (or even Croker) again soon.

Don't think it was necessarily the best game to grow the college following as it was so one sided, getting quality players is always going to be a problem for Navy and the other armed forces teams as in reality if you believe you'll make it to the pros you would choose a different college to attend. I also got annoyed because it over ran on ESPN America so missed the build up and opening few minutes of Ohio @ Penn State which put me off that game a bit too. Am enjoying Southern Miss @ Nebraska though, Nebraska's quarterback is looking impressive, didn't think that the starting QB for Southern Miss deserved to be taken off the field in the second quarter though Alford does look like a good athlete though maybe not a good QB yet.

Wish I had realised Marshall @ West Virgina was today, Mountaineers now have 139 points in their last two games! Plus Vinny Curry was the only Thundering Herd player I knew and he's gone which isn't very good as I'm meant to be a fan of the team.

Don't think after already watching 3 games I want to stay up until 4am for Alabama @ Michigan, am contemplating getting up at 9 though to watch Miami @ Boston College, Clemson @ Auburn, and then Alabama @ Michigan.

Derbyblue wrote:Wish I had realised Marshall @ West Virgina was today, Mountaineers now have 139 points in their last two games! Plus Vinny Curry was the only Thundering Herd player I knew and he's gone which isn't very good as I'm meant to be a fan of the team.

Scrap that, stumbled upon the name of WR Aaron Dobson who's apparently considered by some to be "the best WR in the country".

Andre Ellington ran for over 230 yards v Auburn, looking forward to getting his interview done next week. Don't want to talk about how bad Michigan was though, the D-line was horrible, inexperienced or not. But T-Majic looks like a heisman contender based on last nights form which is great for me and Nebraska

Marquise Lee looked really good yesterday, I thought Robert Woods was getting all the hype but Lee definitely was the better receiver yesterday

I like Lee a lot more than Woods. Wooods is more polished but Lee is much more exciting to watch.

Anyone see the Miami/Boston College game? I mentioned in this thread that Duke Johnson could be a great player but I never expected a freshman to explode like that. He is dynamite.

Saw the second half of the Clemson vs Auburn game, Ellington looked impressive would be interesting to see how many tackles he breaks in the year, also their passing attack wasn't too bad but did want to see Watkins how many games is he suspended for?

Alabama vs Michigan was interesting, Alabama pretty much completely shut down Robinson he wasn't effective through the air the one 70 odd yard pass makes the rest of his stats look better or rushing it, some of the receivers did have a few drops though. Impressed by Alabama's new RB and by the defense, for a team with only 10 returning starters they were still very impressive.

Thanks to NotreDame and Navy for coming to Dublin. Estimated €60-100 million windfall for the Irish economy. Come again please. Next weekend maybe?

Always welcome and what a cheery well behaved mob of fans from both sides.

Anyone watching Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech tonight? Can't wait to see my projected number one overall pick Logan Thomas in action. Watch out for Isaiah Johnson of Georgia Tech too, he didn't want to do an offseason interview with me but still can't help admiring how good a safety he is. Kyle Fuller, James Gayle and Bruce Thomas are ones to watch too.

Anyone watching the games tomorrow night, looking forward to watching my Michigan play followed by LSU/Washington mixed with a lttle USC, then Georgia/Missouri. I just hope I can get back from Hampden by half 8

Might try and watch a bit, but there is far too much going on at the moment and I seemed to have relegated college football all together at the moment!

Some of the games this week are absolute rubbish, Alabama vs Western Kentucky? Florida State vs Savannah State? These are likely to be 50 point blowouts!

Hopefully when the playoff comes in teams will have to schedule stronger out of conference games, to try and impress the committee

I will probably try to watch the Georgia game, interesting to see how Missouri do against an SEC opponent.

Savannah State are being given a 69.5 point head start by the bookies....

Missed all of the weeks College Football, already trying to work out how much of it I can make my girlfriend watch this weekend, I may be lucky to catch a quarter... Will try to record as much as I can and then watch it during the week.

Watched bits of Rutgers @ USF and Washington State @ UNLV, got Cal @ Ohio State, Alabama @ Arkansas, Notre Dame @ Michigan State, and the Wake Forest and Ole Miss games but have forgotten who those two played recorded so plenty to watch during the week.

Wake Forrest played Florida State and Ole Miss I think played Texas.

I was disappointed at how easily Arkansas went down. I know it was without Tyler Wilson but still... could have put up some resistance!

Can anyone tell me why injured players are in full kit on the sideline in College football, do they think if they put the kit on they are going to motivate the team to win?

... West Virginia 70 Baylor 63... Geno Smith with 8 passing TDs... explosive

D FENCE!

AIR RAID!

Geno Smith and WVU must be on for some sort of record?

Geno Smith is one of the players who I'm looking at and wishing we didn't just spend a 1st on Weeden so we could trade back to somewhere between picks 10-20 and get Smith.

At this rate he'll be going up the top, so Cleveland can still go for another QB!

Can someone explain to me how College football works? Just the jist of it, because it bamboozles me completely!

I wrote out a nice long reply to this, but then the site crashed!

Olly wrote:Can someone explain to me how College football works? Just the jist of it, because it bamboozles me completely!

In an effort to be simple... I've failed... anyway, College Football...

Pretty much the same as the NFL rule wise, except the hashmarks are much wider so plays can start nearer the sidelines, the receivers only need one foot in bounds not two and the rules over clock stoppages are slightly different. They are the main differences anyway.

Teams are generally much worse overall than any NFL, simply due to the spread of any talent level. This means games often have much higher scores and it also leads to slightly odd offences designed to make the best of what you have got.

Roughly Geographic conferences of varying sizes, broadly speaking 8-14 teams in each one, with the larger ones split into two sub conferences. Recently there have been all sort of movements between leagues with various leagues poaching other teams. This means that things are no longer so Geographically sensible.
The movement is all possible because unlike the NFL there is no single overriding body in college football save for the NCAA who administer all US college sports big and small. Instead you have the conferences who run themselves under the NCAA banner and therefore wish, like any business, to gain as much money and prestige as possible across the various top level US college sports by getting the best teams to come along for the ride.

There are about 120 teams at the top level of college football, FBS (formerly Division I-A) and then further subdivisions below that of smaller football playing colleges e.g. the FCS (formerly Division I-AA).

The main conferences, along with a few teams for geographic placement are:
South East Conference (SEC): The current powerhouse conference. e.g. Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida Gators, Georgia Buldogs, Lousiana State Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Texas A&M Aggies, Tennessee Volunteers, South Carolina Gamecocks.
Big12: Confusingly with 10 teams e.g. Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners, Kansas State Wildcats, Texas Christian Horned Frogs
Big Ten: Confusingly with 12 teams e.g. Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Wisconsin Badgers, Indiana Hoosiers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions
Pac-12: Actually containing the correct number of teams e.g. USC Trojans, Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins, Stanford Cardinal, Washington Huskies, Arizona State Sun Devils
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC): e.g. Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, Clemson Tigers, North Carolina Tar Heels
Big East: e.g. Pittsburgh Panthers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Syracuse Orange, Louisville Cardinals... Soon to contain some teams that can't ever be considered Eastern like the Houston Cougars and the Boise State Broncos.

Within each conference there is normally a set schedule rotation (like the NFL), however this does not fill a universities schedule completely... it normally takes up 8 games out of 12 say (again, this varies between all the conferences). If the conference has two sub divisions, the winner of each will play off in a Conference Championship game at some neutral venue. Otherwise the conference winner is determined by a pure league table.
The remainder of the schedule is up to the college to decide...
- Sometimes it's done by historic rivalry, e.g. Notre Dame (Independent) always plays Stanford (Pac-12) and USC (Pac-12) despite being a college in Indiana which is nowhere near California.
- Sometimes is a geographic rivalry for teams in different conferences e.g. Florida (SEC) vs Florida State (ACC).
- Sometimes it's because someone paid a lot of money to match up big teams e.g. the "Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game" which was Clemson (ACC) vs Auburn (SEC) this year.
- Sometimes it will frustratingly match a big team and some complete minnow who may not even be in the top 120 odd collective of college teams e.g. Oklahoma State (Big12) vs Savannah State (FCS) where the score was 84-0... the main reason for doing this is because you do not want to loose any games as you generally have to go undefeated to make the BCS National Championship Game (see below) - thus why schedule someone hard!

During the season, but most importantly at the end of the year, teams are ranked into a top 25 covering all conferences big and small (though heavily biased to specific "power" conferences) by a combination of journalists, coaches and fancy computer programs. From the this number 1 and 2 teams at the seasons end participate in the BCS National Championship game, the NCAA equivalent of the Superbowl.

Below that main game there are (currently) four main "Bowl Games"; the Fiesta, Sugar, Rose and Orange Bowls. These are filled using teams from the top portion of the ranked 25 teams although it's complicated by two things.
1) each bowl often has set partners e.g. the Rose Bowl is designed for Big10 and Pac-12 teams and only isn't if the conference champion of one of those divisions makes the BCS National Title Game .
2) the bowls don't actually have to pick the highest remaining team on the ranking list if they don't think it's financially viable to sponsers e.g. last year the Sugar Bowl choose Michigan, ranked 13, to play in it in place of its usual SEC team (LSU was the planned choice, but made the BCS title game as the number 1 team) instead of a team like Boise State (MWC) or Kansas State (Big 12) who were ranked 7th and 8th respectively and didn't get into any of the main bowls at all.

All other teams finishing with winning records are placed into various other Bowl games which all have set procedures for who is involved, e.g. the Cotton Bowl takes the 2nd Big 12 team and the 3rd or 4th SEC team. There are far too many to list, often with comical names due to sponsorship. The rough idea is that college football is far too big to have just one end of season contest. The conferences need there own winners, but there is then the opportunity to get a big trip to somewhere far away and play someone you otherwise wouldn't on National TV. There are around 30 or so of these random games at the moment.

The above system is changing in a few years, 2015 maybe, as a way of trying to stop the obsession of big schools choosing to play minnows just to pad there win total and to combat the perceived bias towards the conferences (known as automatically qualifying conferences) who have all the pre-set slots in the main 4 bowl games.
This is going to take the form of a 4 team playoff selected more on the base of strength of schedule than pure wins and computer polls. Below that the current system of Bowl games will still operate for everyone else.

Ok I sort of get it Dave! Completely confusing lol. I now understand the main ins and outs, always wondered why the scores were so high, but seems a lot easier to score points in college football!

Thank you Dave

ok maybe my reply wasn't that long ... great post dave!

Can anyone stop the Crimson Tide?