US College Football (CFB)

[SouthStandUpperTier]

1 minute ago, Izzy said:

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 

I have an old school friend who is now a History lecturer at Maryland University (Maryland Terrapins). He tells me that a lot of the highly touted football recruits will be doing degree courses that require very little academic prowess.

[bovril]

17 minutes ago, KingsX said:

Bloody hell! Even I’ve never heard of them 

 

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

 

For the artichokes apparently in the 70s they opened up the naming of the team to the student body with predictable consequences...

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

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

Just realised that Virginia Tech are in a different conference (ACC) to the Gamecocks (SEC)

 

I thought colleages played against teams in the same conference?

 

And it's being played in Atlanta for some reason.

 

Geez this colleage fottball lark is confusing 

[Golden Fox]

32 minutes ago, KingsX said:

Bloody hell! Even I’ve never heard of them 

 

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

 

Actually, that was the local University to me, and I do own a Bananaslugs T-shirt!

 

The classic one as modelled by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction...

 

(It's where Quentin Tarantino studied, but I doubt DAZN will be headlining them for any games this year...)

 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Just realised that Virginia Tech are in a different conference (ACC) to the Gamecocks (SEC)

 

I thought colleages played against teams in the same conference?

 

And it's being played in Atlanta for some reason.

 

Geez this colleage fottball lark is confusing 

Each college will play 4 inter-conference games, the other 8 games will be against opponents within their conference.

[KingsX]

4 minutes ago, Golden Fox said:

Actually, that was the local University to me, and I do own a Bananaslugs T-shirt!

 

The classic one as modelled by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction...

 

(It's where Quentin Tarantino studied, but I doubt DAZN will be headlining them for any games this year...)

 

I’ve got a treasured Banana Slugs hoodie 

 

This was another one where the student body picked the mascot. You’ve been in those forests, so you know all a banana slug does is puke slime and mount other banana slugs. 
 

A perfect mascot for the college experience!

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Gamecocks pulling away now. 80 yard punt return and 64 yard TD pass had them up 24-11.

[bovril]

51 minutes ago, Izzy said:

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 

I doubt anyone would have the time or energy to do a PhD and play first team QB for a major college 

[Izzy]

5 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Each college will play 4 inter-conference games, the other 8 games will be against opponents within their conference.

Ah, I see.

 

Pretty impressive that the stadium is full considering it's over 200 miles from Columbia to Atlanta.

 

And there's a good number of VT fans there too and it's over 400 miles each way for them.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Belichik's North Carolina Tarheels are in action on Monday night against TCU (Texas Christian).

 

Edited 31 August 2025 by SouthStandUpperTier

[Golden Fox]

14 hours ago, KingsX said:

You’ve been in those forests

I did see a Banana Slug before I'd even heard about them. Thought I'd found a new species! 

14 hours ago, KingsX said:

all a banana slug does is puke slime and mount other banana slugs. 
 

A perfect mascot for the college experience!

My college experience did entail bit of that - as well as more worthy pursuits such as playing a bit of basketball for the University 2nd team and captaining the University 2nd chess team in the local leagues. The league went with A and B teams, so some of the teams we played against registered as the  'Aces' and the 'Bullets' or for Durham City it was 'Abbots', 'Bishops' and 'Canons'. 

 

So you can guess where this is headed...

[bovril]

I remember really enjoying the first season of Last Chance U a decade or so ago. Subsequent seasons weren't great. Thought it'd be some typical American cheese fest but it was genuinely one of the best sport documentaries I've seen. 

[CheeseHead]

The one and only college game I ever attended was in the early-90s at the home of the Fighting Illini in Champaign, Illinois - so they are my college team! The attendance was over 60,000 which was mind-blowing to me at the time. They won that day but I can't remember the opponent for the life of me. Bought a lovely blue and orange Fighting Illini hoodie, no idea what eventually happened to it. Think I might get a new one just because this thread reminded me of it..

[Pliskin]

I’ve been following the longhorns ever since I visited their campus for a swim meet. It just blows my mind how much these colleges invest into their sports. When you consider Loughborough is one of only a couple of sporting excellence facilities and that looks like a nursery in comparison.

[KingsX]

7 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I’ve been following the longhorns ever since I visited their campus for a swim meet. It just blows my mind how much these colleges invest into their sports. When you consider Loughborough is one of only a couple of sporting excellence facilities and that looks like a nursery in comparison.

 

How does a third of a billion dollars in yearly athletic revenue strike you?  https://www.burntorangenation.com/2025/1/31/24355797/texas-longhorns-athletics-operating-costs-2024-sec-big-12-cfp

 

College football is big, big business for the top schools.  And yet their designation of the players as "amateur (i.e. unpaid) student-athletes" has only melted away under court challenges in the last few years.

 

Austin is a huge campus and student body by the way, even by US standards.

Edited 7 September 2025 by KingsX

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Good comeback win for The Mean Green last night. 24-10 down at Western Michigan, eventually won 33-30 in OT.

[Pliskin]

29 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

How does a third of a billion dollars in yearly athletic revenue strike you?  https://www.burntorangenation.com/2025/1/31/24355797/texas-longhorns-athletics-operating-costs-2024-sec-big-12-cfp

 

College football is big, big business for the top schools.  And yet their designation of the players as "amateur (i.e. unpaid) student-athletes" has only melted away under court challenges in the last few years.

 

Austin is a huge campus and student body by the way, even by US standards.

Jesus….. I mean it’s huge isn’t it? In some respect it’s got a better following than the NFL. The Darrell K is a sight to behold…. It’s huge beyond words how big it is. Gutted I didn’t get to see a game but I intend to go back and watch a game there! 

[Pliskin]

That longhorns game… daaaayum. 

[KingsX]

It’s Rivalry Week - might as well try to resurrect this thread.

 

The Egg Bowl, the Territorial Cup, Aggies v Longhorns, the Iron Bowl. The games CFB fans live for. The true local derbies of the USA. Our great-grandparents were living and dying with the results of the same matchups. Don’t let the NFL’s temporary, plastic “rivalries” fool you.

 

And the biggest and baddest of them all, The Game. THE Ohio State visiting the cheaters up north. 

We don’t really know how good the Buckeyes are, because the Big Ten has been poor. But if OSU HC Ryan Day finally wins this one, he’s back on track to become one of their greatest ever coaches. If he doesn’t, that’s most of the credit he banked for winning the natty evaporated, in a mere 3 hours.

 

This weekend is heaven. But hell if your team loses.

[KingsX]

Buckeyes head north to their arch-rivals and dominate Equilibrium is restored to the universe (or at least the western hemisphere).

 

And the Buckeyes mascot pulls off the best troll job of the season 

 

[Golden Fox]

The whole world of college football seems a complete disaster.

 

We've just had the Playoffs set with what is meant to be the best 12 teams - but it is decided on by a committee, with various other factors, and without having a dog in the fight, some teams definitley got screwed over and others are in without any merit. A complete dogs dinner!

 

That number 6 seed - Ole Miss - are without their coach, as he jumped ship just before the playoffs with a legitimate shot to win it all to go to LSU, because... money.

 

There is an opening because LSU has fired Brian Kelly. And given him a $54m payout. From a quasi-public institution.

 

Michigan State has just had a $401m donation for their athletics department from a fan who made it rich. Think of what that money could be doing for academic purposes, but it all earmarked for sport.

 

Conference realignment is taking the sport so far from its historical roots. Old rivalries are being stopped, and teams are playing at stupid times, such as Michigan having to play a game kicking off at 11pm ET.

 

It sounds as though fans are starting to get fed up (anectodal evidence that watching games live is so painful being at the mercy of TV ads) and the balance of current students to alumni is now so out of balance, that it is more about selling tickets to corporate alumni rather that current students.

 

And there will be more and more commercialism, with selling ads on jerseys starting to come in, and playing games in Ireland, and this year at Wembley.

 

I know sports has become more and more commercialised, but it is so extreme for College football. With the opening up of NIL payments, it is basically a professional sport now - but with more money sloshing around than most professional sports leagues, but with one of its big selling points being the amatuarish fun of it.

 

Having watched a bit of a couple of games last year and felt the average standard of play was poor, I've not been remotely inclined to try any this year. I remain intrigued by it (and like to have an awareness of NFL top draft picks) but every story I read just turns me off from it more and more.

 

Am I wrong, or is anyone on here looking forward to these CFP playoffs???

[grobyfox1990]

26 minutes ago, Golden Fox said:

The whole world of college football seems a complete disaster.

 

We've just had the Playoffs set with what is meant to be the best 12 teams - but it is decided on by a committee, with various other factors, and without having a dog in the fight, some teams definitley got screwed over and others are in without any merit. A complete dogs dinner!

 

That number 6 seed - Ole Miss - are without their coach, as he jumped ship just before the playoffs with a legitimate shot to win it all to go to LSU, because... money.

 

There is an opening because LSU has fired Brian Kelly. And given him a $54m payout. From a quasi-public institution.

 

Michigan State has just had a $401m donation for their athletics department from a fan who made it rich. Think of what that money could be doing for academic purposes, but it all earmarked for sport.

 

Conference realignment is taking the sport so far from its historical roots. Old rivalries are being stopped, and teams are playing at stupid times, such as Michigan having to play a game kicking off at 11pm ET.

 

It sounds as though fans are starting to get fed up (anectodal evidence that watching games live is so painful being at the mercy of TV ads) and the balance of current students to alumni is now so out of balance, that it is more about selling tickets to corporate alumni rather that current students.

 

And there will be more and more commercialism, with selling ads on jerseys starting to come in, and playing games in Ireland, and this year at Wembley.

 

I know sports has become more and more commercialised, but it is so extreme for College football. With the opening up of NIL payments, it is basically a professional sport now - but with more money sloshing around than most professional sports leagues, but with one of its big selling points being the amatuarish fun of it.

 

Having watched a bit of a couple of games last year and felt the average standard of play was poor, I've not been remotely inclined to try any this year. I remain intrigued by it (and like to have an awareness of NFL top draft picks) but every story I read just turns me off from it more and more.

 

Am I wrong, or is anyone on here looking forward to these CFP playoffs???

That's a very interesting read. I don't know anything about the game, but when I was in the States I was intrigued by the college sports system. Huge crowds, huge TV audiences, my colleagues used to get together and watch games in the same sense UK people do for league football. The stadium where a lot of my colleagues graduated from (James Madison) was a 20k arena. But it's University sports teams...

Do you mean the college teams are playing matches in Ireland and Wembley? I know the NFL play matches abroad but didn't know that had spread to College

[NJFox]

1 hour ago, grobyfox1990 said:

 

Do you mean the college teams are playing matches in Ireland and Wembley? I know the NFL play matches abroad but didn't know that had spread to College

Union Jack Classic, coming to Wembley in 2026. There have been games in Dublin over the last few years, and even some of the more niche sports are getting in on the action, such as the Friendship Four ice hockey tournament in Belfast.

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, Golden Fox said:

LSU has fired Brian Kelly. And given him a $54m payout. 

That is fvcking obscene!

 

I saw the SEC documentary series on Netflix and he came across to me as arrogant and a bang average coach.

 

[KingsX]

12 hours ago, Golden Fox said:

The whole world of college football seems a complete disaster.

 

We've just had the Playoffs set with what is meant to be the best 12 teams - but it is decided on by a committee, with various other factors, and without having a dog in the fight, some teams definitley got screwed over and others are in without any merit. A complete dogs dinner!

 

That number 6 seed - Ole Miss - are without their coach, as he jumped ship just before the playoffs with a legitimate shot to win it all to go to LSU, because... money.

 

There is an opening because LSU has fired Brian Kelly. And given him a $54m payout. From a quasi-public institution.

 

Michigan State has just had a $401m donation for their athletics department from a fan who made it rich. Think of what that money could be doing for academic purposes, but it all earmarked for sport.

 

Conference realignment is taking the sport so far from its historical roots. Old rivalries are being stopped, and teams are playing at stupid times, such as Michigan having to play a game kicking off at 11pm ET.

 

It sounds as though fans are starting to get fed up (anectodal evidence that watching games live is so painful being at the mercy of TV ads) and the balance of current students to alumni is now so out of balance, that it is more about selling tickets to corporate alumni rather that current students.

 

And there will be more and more commercialism, with selling ads on jerseys starting to come in, and playing games in Ireland, and this year at Wembley.

 

I know sports has become more and more commercialised, but it is so extreme for College football. With the opening up of NIL payments, it is basically a professional sport now - but with more money sloshing around than most professional sports leagues, but with one of its big selling points being the amatuarish fun of it.

 

Having watched a bit of a couple of games last year and felt the average standard of play was poor, I've not been remotely inclined to try any this year. I remain intrigued by it (and like to have an awareness of NFL top draft picks) but every story I read just turns me off from it more and more.

 

Am I wrong, or is anyone on here looking forward to these CFP playoffs???

Your observations are valid.  These changes were unthinkable just a few years ago, and now threaten to overwhelm America's greatest sport.

 

But CFB is merely symptomatic of a society where accumulating and deploying wealth is the only thing that matters, and monetary gain has become the criterion for what used to be judgments of the public good.  As social cohesion exits the field, the whims of the few can and do shape everything -- even which colleges can field the best football teams.

 

I think there is still so much tradition and fanbase attachment to the top 50 or so college teams, it will be hard to kill ... so CFB may emerge only moderately ****ed up.  If it becomes just another arena for billionaires to indulge their whims, well, that's what the NFL has been for a few decades.  Those of us hardcore CFB fans who cherish it as the anti-NFL may drift away.

 

but for now, GO BUCKEYES !!!

/s/

A. Junkie