US College Football (CFB)

[KingsX]

College football is the apotheosis of American sport.  For millions of us, fall Saturdays exist only for going to games and watching on TV. 

 

Its beauty is its regionalization and adherence to old traditions.  What’s on the field, and the spectacle surrounding it, are equally compelling.  Mascots and nicknames, rivalries, silly traditions and trophies, tailgating scenes -- these would be perfectly recognizable to our great-great-grandparents.

 

It’s far from an NFL-type homogenized product.  The results are far more random, and the venues and experiences far more unique. 

 

What’s happening to it as more and more money gets shoved in, is analogous to what’s happening to your football.  The income is increasingly tilted from the have-nots to the haves.  Games are scheduled 100% by and for the media giants.  Local rivalries played since the 19th century have been shit-canned to set up coast-to-coast super leagues.  The intense and cherished off-field part of the experience -- especially the brilliant marching bands -- is rarely shown on TV.  But the fan bases will NEVER give it up.

 

Games are available on DAZN … so I’m hoping enough are watching to keep a thread going.  And that some of you might find it a better fit than the NFL -- even if the football isn't quite as polished.

[Footballwipe]

CFB overtakes soccer in my life from now until January. Love Gameday, love the big games and adore the atmosphere and chaos of it all.

 

First got into it channel hopping a few years ago on BT Sport and came across Auburn-Alabama. Hooked since then.

 

The DAZN deal is fantastic for us, and sorted a stream for the Fox Big Noon games we don't get.

 

Love that we're already in chaos with Alabama losing and the brill LSU-Clemson game.

[KingsX]

28 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Help me understand something here please mate...

 

I'm now an official South Carloina Gamecocks fan having walked around their stadium and I know they're in the SEC which I think has 10 teams?

 

But there's also other college football conferences right such as Big 10, ACC, Pac 12 etc?

 

So how do the crown the ultimate best college team each season?

 

Do all the seperate conference winners then play off to determine the overall champion?

The long version, courtesy of Google AI:

College football determines its national champion through a playoff system, currently the 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP), which replaced the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 2014 and the poll-based era before that. The CFP uses a committee to rank the top teams, with the four highest-ranked conference champions receiving automatic bids, to create a bracket-style tournament culminating in the CFP National Championship game to crown the champion.
 
- Early Years (pre-1936): National champions were recognized through various polls, mathematical systems, and based on the subjective opinions of sportswriters or coaches.
- AP Poll Era (1936-1997):  The Associated Press (AP) poll provided a more defined way to determine a national champion, naming a champion based on a poll taken at the end of the regular season.
- BCS (1998-2013):  The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was created to match the top two teams in a national championship game, based on a combination of computer rankings and polls.
- CFP (2014-present):  The CFP replaced the BCS, beginning with the 2014 season. The CFP system was expanded from four to twelve teams starting with the 2024 season, featuring a single-elimination playoff bracket.

 

A Selection Committee of university administrators, athletic directors, and former coaches ranks the teams throughout the season.   The five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic bids into the playoff.   The remaining seven teams are selected as at-large teams by the committee.  The top four teams receive a first-round bye, with the remaining teams playing in the first round. The winners of the playoff advance to the semifinals, hosted by the New Year's Six bowls, with the victors playing in the CFP National Championship game.

 

[cheshamfox17]

 

32 minutes ago, KingsX said:

What’s happening to it as more and more money gets shoved in, is analogous to what’s happening to your football

This is why I am much more into the NFL when it comes to US football, it feels like it's going to be about money and relationships.

 

In the NFL, you can make a case for literally any team to win the Super Bowl in the next 5 years, teams can rise from right to the bottom to the top with good drafting and coaching.

 

Now with NIL and then dominance of certain conferences, I worry CFB will lose the thing that makes US sports magic

[Golden Fox]

Have followed it on and off for a few years - knowing who's top of the rankings and then what's happening in the CFB, but not invested much time in actually watching games.

 

Only seen a couple, but don't have a team to root for (I guess maybe Stanford closest to where I've spent most my time in the states) but the level of play does feel what you'd expect from college kids (with a handful of NFL talent on each roster) and it feels a bit uncomfortable seeing the level of expectation placed on these guys. The landscape of teams is so vast as well, you only ever see a little snapshot of what is going on.

 

It really feels to me as an experience you have to be there for, and definitely on the bucket list to get to a game.

 

Having just discovered the CFL, I've been enjoying that so much, I'm going to have enough trouble juggling watching the NFL and the Argos, without fitting any college football in as well! 

 

 

[KingsX]

3 minutes ago, cheshamfox17 said:

 

This is why I am much more into the NFL when it comes to US football, it feels like it's going to be about money and relationships.

 

In the NFL, you can make a case for literally any team to win the Super Bowl in the next 5 years, teams can rise from right to the bottom to the top with good drafting and coaching.

 

Now with NIL and then dominance of certain conferences, I worry CFB will lose the thing that makes US sports magic

 

Your point is valid.

 

In both the NFL and CFB, going into any season, there are about a half dozen teams with the talent to win it all.  Those teams will rotate almost yearly in the NFL.  In CFB, the powers have changed less, and more slowly.  In the new $$$ era, the Big Ten and SEC media deals are now separating the rich from the poor.  Potentially offset by rich boosters throwing millions at teenagers at, say, Texas Tech.

 

So, whiffy professionalism is indeed moving CFB more toward the NFL.  "The Shield" has been 100% about the money for decades, but happens to offer carefully-engineered parity.  If you are a Jags or Colts fan, you have an actual chance to win the Super Bowl someday.

 

Whereas if you are a Boise State fan, you have a chance to win your conference, but not the whole shebang.  BUT you'll have the blue turf, Buster Bronco running around on the sideline and a chant and a fight song the whole stadium actually sings. I know because we've been to a game there which did more for me than going to a Seahawks game ever would.

 

 

 

 

s

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, KingsX said:

 

Your point is valid.

 

In both the NFL and CFB, going into any season, there are about a half dozen teams with the talent to win it all.  Those teams will rotate almost yearly in the NFL.  In CFB, the powers have changed less, and more slowly.  In the new $$$ era, the Big Ten and SEC media deals are now separating the rich from the poor.  Potentially offset by rich boosters throwing millions at teenagers at, say, Texas Tech.

 

So, whiffy professionalism is indeed moving CFB more toward the NFL.  "The Shield" has been 100% about the money for decades, but happens to offer carefully-engineered parity.  If you are a Jags or Colts fan, you have an actual chance to win the Super Bowl someday.

 

Whereas if you are a Boise State fan, you have a chance to win your conference, but not the whole shebang.  BUT you'll have the blue turf, Buster Bronco running around on the sideline and a chant and a fight song the whole stadium actually sings. I know because we've been to a game there which did more for me than going to a Seahawks game ever would.

 

I'm assuming there's no relegation from these conferences?

 

If a college is constantly shit and comes bottom of it's conference every year, can they be relegated and replaced with another college?

 

Also, do colleges change conferences from time to time to mix it up a bit? With my Gamecocks example, have they always been in the SEC and will they be forever?

 

Thanks for being our guru on this 

 

Edited 31 August 2025 by Izzy

[KingsX]

23 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I'm assuming there's no relegation from these conferences?

 

If a college is constantly shit and comes bottom of it's conference every year, can they be relegated and replaced with another college?

 

Also, do colleges change conferences from time to time to mix it up a bit? With my Gamecocks example, have they always been in the SEC and will they be forever?

 

Thanks for being our guru on this 

 

Even gurus have to google 

 

[KingsX]

Your Gamecocks were non-affiliated independents when I came of age (apparently because their football coach couldn’t field a competitive team without paying some guys who couldn’t spell C-A-T). University presidents have always held the votes on who is admitted to their conference and that must have been too much for them to take.

 

You sure you want to stick with South Carolina?

[bovril]

I like college football I just wish they'd tell you what they're studying. I guess most of the big linemen are doing business management or something similar or perhaps I'm just being prejudiced. Love it when you get some speccy walk on kicker winning the iron bowl or something in the last second.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

38 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I'm assuming there's no relegation from these conferences?

 

If a college is constantly shit and comes bottom of it's conference every year, can they be relegated and replaced with another college?

 

Also, do colleges change conferences from time to time to mix it up a bit? With my Gamecocks example, have they always been in the SEC and will they be forever?

 

Thanks for being our guru on this 

 

There's no direct relegation as such, but it's not unknown for smaller, unsuccessful colleges in less glamourous conferences to abandon their football programs if continuing with it makes no financial sense.

[KingsX]

The conferences always aggregated teams based on geography and similar size, resources and emphasis on athletics. There is no relegation. Schools occasionally changed leagues for a better fit. Georgia Tech, for example, left the SEC because it was focused more on academics than football and was becoming less and less competitive.

 

in recent years, most of the money in college sports has come via the league broadcasting deals and schools have lawyered up and will go to extreme lengths to better or preserve their lot. The Big Ten and SEC, traditionally home to the most power programs, pull in 50 mill a year or more for their schools, regardless of how much those schools put into their CFB programs. The ACC and Big 12 round out the “power 4” (P4) at less than half that sum. The other conferences basically get scraps, and since the inception of the transfer portal  have their good players and coaches poached faster than a League One side.

[RowlattsFox]

Don't follow it as such but there is always a couple of times where I stumble across game day and watch it for hours. Usually really excited presenters about 3 hours before anything actually kicks off 

Then spend a bit of time researching American college sports, before doing it again a few months later because I've forgot. 

College sports is pretty unreal really. 

 

Mrs usually asks what the **** am I watching...

 

[KingsX]

7 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Don't follow it as such but there is always a couple of times where I stumble across game day and watch it for hours. Usually really excited presenters about 3 hours before anything actually kicks off 

Then spend a bit of time researching American college sports, before doing it again a few months later because I've forgot. 

College sports is pretty unreal really. 

 

Mrs usually asks what the **** am I watching...

 

Game Day is a big part of the experience mate! 
 

But … it’s on at the same time as a City 3 pm kickoff…?!  

[SouthStandUpperTier]

@Izzy's Gamecocks are currently locked in defensive struggle with the Virginia Tech Hokies. Leading 10-8 at HT.

[bovril]

Best team name has to be the fighting artichokes

[Izzy]

48 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

You sure you want to stick with South Carolina?

You don't choose the South Carolina GameCocks mate, they choose you.

 

GO COCKS!!

[Izzy]

15 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

@Izzy's Gamecocks are currently locked in defensive struggle with the Virginia Tech Hokies. Leading 10-8 at HT.

Some kind soul is streaming it live on YT - how kind (and probably illigal)

 

One for the purists is this.

 

 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

I've decided to follow the North Texas Mean Green.

[Izzy]

40 minutes ago, bovril said:

I like college football I just wish they'd tell you what they're studying. I guess most of the big linemen are doing business management or something similar or perhaps I'm just being prejudiced. Love it when you get some speccy walk on kicker winning the iron bowl or something in the last second.

On the Netflix doc there's some QB at LSU who's 23 and in his sixth season.

 

Apparently he's still there doing a PHD of some sorts (sounds well dodgy to me) 

[Izzy]

6 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

I've decided to follow the North Texas Mean Green.

If I wasn't a life long die hard Game Cocks fan, I'd probably support Virginia Tech purely for going mental to Metallica as they come out

 

 

[bovril]

7 minutes ago, Izzy said:

On the Netflix doc there's some QB at LSU who's 23 and in his sixth season.

 

Apparently he's still there doing a PHD of some sorts (sounds well dodgy to me) 

That sounds like a PhD to be fair

[Golden Fox]

Don't know much about the Gamecocks, bur was watching "Receiver" , when Deebo Samuel went back there for a visit. The whole setup just looked phenomenal, amd I reckon its just a patch on some of the other programs. 

[Izzy]

1 minute ago, bovril said:

That sounds like a PhD to be fair

Well yeah but if he was some average Joe, I wonder if he'd really have got the grades to do a PhD.

 

The fact he's the leagues best QB and they want him to play forever makes me wonder if they pulled a few strings/bent the rules/inflated his scores just so they could keep him on the team.

 

And I might be cynical and way of the mark of course 

[KingsX]

31 minutes ago, bovril said:

Best team name has to be the fighting artichokes

Bloody hell! Even I’ve never heard of them 

 

I have a soft spot for the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs myself