Also, even from a player/coach perspective, it's much harder to get fired up for the foster farms bowl than it is the Orange Bowl. Coaches and players can say what they want, but it's true.

Posted by strikeout26 on 12/29/2017 10:58:00 AM (view original):
Also, even from a player/coach perspective, it's much harder to get fired up for the foster farms bowl than it is the Orange Bowl. Coaches and players can say what they want, but it's true.

Agree with the general public comment the post before, but as I said, the only first-hand experience I've ever been around differs greatly than your belief posted here about players and coaches. What are you basing it on? (The < 1% of players who sit-out their Bowl games before going pro?)

I know some people like to make snide remarks when I use personal experiences and I've tried to avoid it, but it's how I relate.

The school that i coach at is transitioning from NAIA to NCAA DII. There is a 3 year probation period where you aren't post season eligible. Luckily, we are also a member of the NCCAA. It's the National Christian College league. That is the only post season we had for the past 3 years. The competition is atrocious. I got more pumped up playing USC-Aiken, Lander, and North GA than I did when we went to the NCCAA World Series. The ultimate goal is a NCAA title whether you're talking about where I coach or DI football. Anything short of that leaves you feeling a little empty preparing for the game.

Players are sitting out the lesser bowl games. As best I can tell, no one is sitting out playoff games or major bowl games. It's just a fact. And the empty stands will tell you how far people will travel, or how much they'll spend, to see their team in the Valero bowl.

As I've said on this thread in general few bowl games really matter in the overall scheme of things. Teams have different motivations, different excitement levels, some travel far and some are basically home, etc.

there are some games though where you would expect going in to have basically equal level of play. The Cotton Bowl tonight is one of those games.

also, while an individual game here and there probably doesnt matter, you can certainly make broad generalizations of a conference if it dominates or totally ***** the bed.

Some of it will come from the coach. I can't imagine a Saban/Meyer coaching differently if it's the Sun Bowl or the Nat Championship. But I can see a 6-6 coach preferring to get his underclassmen more playing time.

SEC now 0-3 after Kentucky loss to Northwestern. Some very odd coaching decisions in that game from both coaches.

Buckeyes looking good. 17-0. Complete game on all facets through just over a quarter

Complete and total domination by Ohio State. Best conference in country moves to 5-0.

Posted by moranis on 12/29/2017 8:49:00 PM (view original):
SEC now 0-3 after Kentucky loss to Northwestern. Some very odd coaching decisions in that game from both coaches.

Also weird officiating. I'm not sure what the kid, or the ref, was doing when the RB was tossed. Then ejecting the LB for targeting looked like a "make up" call.

But 24-23 on a missed 2 point attempt is about right. Evenly matched with one catching the extra break for the win.

FWIW, OSU did shitkick USC. Thought that would be a better game.

So, does the Pac-12 totally s*ck, or just not care? I don't know how to tell the difference.

Posted by moranis on 12/30/2017 12:14:00 AM (view original):
Complete and total domination by Ohio State. Best conference in country moves to 5-0.

SEC 2 teams in playoff, Big 10 0.

Posted by strikeout26 on 12/30/2017 8:35:00 AM (view original):

Posted by moranis on 12/30/2017 12:14:00 AM (view original):
Complete and total domination by Ohio State. Best conference in country moves to 5-0.

SEC 2 teams in playoff, Big 10 0.

Big Ten is the best conference this year. I've been consistent with that statement for months. It is easier to have 0 or 1 loss when you fill your 4 non-con with easy wins and then only play 8 conference games in a generally bad conference.

UGA had a decent non-con. App State and GA Tech were both competitive and ND was good.

FSU was a national contender when Bama put them on the schedule 4 years ago. Colorado State and Fresno State are both competitive FB teams.

I do think the Big 10 is a competitive conference this year. Honestly, I give you crap about it because you get so worked up about it. I could give 2 craps about who has the better bottom half of any conference. The my garbage is better than your garbage argument is kind of boring to me. I think that the top 3 in the SEC are better than the top 3 in the Big 10.

Come on FSU was a below .500 ACC team (3-5 in conference). They could have scheduled the game 100 years ago for all it matters it doesn't change the fact that they were a bad ACC team. CSU finished 7-6 (7-5 pre bowl) in a pretty weak mountain west. I wouldn't call that a competitive team (and certainly not for a top tier program). Fresno was ok. Bama also had a FCS team on the schedule. Couple that with a pretty weak SEC and Bama had a **** schedule on the whole.

I believe Clemson totally shuts down Bama's mediocre offense and wins the playoff game easily. That Clemson DL is just unbelievably good.