Tag: New Years Six

Should Group of Five schools conduct their own championship?

Why are we keeping the Group of Five under the same umbrella as the Power Five?

Talk of Big 12 schools leaving the conference for greener pastures means the future of college football has become a hot topic yet again. There’s speculation that longtime rivals Texas and Oklahoma will leave for the SEC. We’ve also heard of Kansas and Iowa State heading to the Big Ten. It makes one wonder if the Big 12 even has a future as a Power Five conference.

Then, amidst all that discussion, you see tweets like this from Statistically Speaking Podcast host Kyle Umlang:

Notre Dame no longer being an independent aside, this graphic gives you pause. Note that some Group of Five schools have been bumped up to Power Five status. “Some” is the key word here. Most of them remain on the outside looking in.

The point is the Power Five conferences only are going to get bigger as time goes on. Unless they eventually admit all Group of Five schools, which is unlikely, what’s even the point of those schools trying to compete with the big boys? Invitations to major bowls already are hard to come by for them, and the new College Football Playoff proposal only serves to benefit the Power Five even more.

Given all of this, there is only one solution: Break the Group of Five conferences away from the Power Five, and let them compete for their own championship. The likes of Northern Illinois and UAB have no hope of winning a national championship under the current or future structure. A new playoff system just for them would at least give them a shot at adding serious hardware to their trophy case. No reasonable college football observer can say they have one now.

Power Five schools still would be allowed to schedule Group of Five schools if they wish, just like they currently do with Football Championship Subdivision Schools. After all, Nick Saban is well within his right to schedule lesser opponents just ahead of the Iron Bowl, as cheap as that is. However, it no longer does any good for the Power Five and Group of Five to compete under the same umbrella. The Group of Five schools barely ever has a shot at New Year’s Six bowls anymore, let alone a national title. That structure is keeping these programs from growing, and they’re stuck where they are as a result.

Let’s discontinue this charade of all Football Bowl Subdivision schools being on equal footing. It’s not true, and everyone knows it. By starting a new playoff for the Group of Five, there would be more opportunities for those schools to play for high stakes, and that would be better for the development of both the players and coaches. When the best you realistically can hope for is a conference championship, something is amiss. At least with March Madness, every Division I conference has a shot at standing above the rest.

Let’s add yet another champion to the college football season. Some might call it a cheap move, but is it any better than what we have now? Heck, the new Division I subdivision can take some of the bowls its team already gets sent to. Would it really bother the Power Five schools if they didn’t get to go to the New Orleans Bowl or Bahamas Bowl?

The national championship is the goal for every team. Give the Group of Five teams a chance. It’s time to set them free from the grips of the Power Five.

Notre Dame/Iowa State: How to Watch the Camping World Bowl

That day, at least in terms of college football, begins at noon ET on the 28th as Notre Dame takes on Iowa State in a contest that airs on ABC.

Saturday, December 28 will be one of the best Saturday’s of the season for college fans with a couple of intruiging bowl games before the College Football Playoff takes over at night.

That day, at least in terms of college football, begins at noon ET on the 28th as Notre Dame takes on Iowa State in a contest that airs on ABC.

Penn State and Memphis doing battle in the Cotton Bowl will kickoff at the same time on ESPN.

Finally the College Football Playoff will begin following the Cotton Bowl with both games airing on ESPN.

LSU and Oklahoma doing battle in the Peach Bowl and Ohio State takes on Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl.  It has not yet been announced which of those two games will air first and which will be shown in primetime, but I’d be willing to bet the Fiesta gets the nod.

ESPN experts predict Alabama’s 2019 Bowl Game

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team may have suffered a heart-breaking loss in the 2019 Iron Bowl against Auburn that took them out of the running to participate in the College Football Playoff, but that doesn’t mean their season is done. Nick …

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team may have suffered a heart-breaking loss in the 2019 Iron Bowl against Auburn that took them out of the running to participate in the College Football Playoff, but that doesn’t mean their season is done.

Nick Saban’s 10-2 team has been bowl eligible since beating Texas A&M in their Week 6 matchup at Kyle Field.

Well, since the Crimson Tide have one game left to play, it’s time to start guessing which bowl game they will be playing in and who they will be playing against.

ESPN college football experts Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach weighed in.

Schlabach predicts Alabama will be making the trip to Dallas, Texas to face off against the Memphis Tigers of the American Athletic Conference in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

The 11-1 Tigers could potentially be the 2019 AAC Champions.

It is also worth noting that since 2016, Alabama has only lost to schools whose mascots are Tigers (Auburn, Clemson and LSU)

Bonagura has the Crimson Tide playing the Virgina Cavaliers in the 2019 Capital One Orange Bowl.

This would be Alabama’s second consecutive year in the Orange Bowl after they defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2019 College Football Playoff Semi-final game to advance to the National Championship.

We are roughly two weeks away from knowing where Alabama will play their bowl game, and under three weeks away from the first bowl game being played on Dec. 20 when the Makers Wanted Bahama Bowl and the Frsco Bowl kick off.

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CFP Rankings: Cotton Bowl Dream Dead for Notre Dame

Perhaps both Ohio State and Minnesota win Saturday, handing Michigan and Wisconsin their third losses of the year, but after that it gets tricky.

Although no games were played Tuesday night Notre Dame saw their hopes of ending their season in the Cotton Bowl for a second year in a row come to an unofficial end.

As the College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night, Notre Dame remained at number 16 in the country, still the lowest of any two-loss power-five teams and also still behind three-loss Auburn.

So as it sits with No. 16 Notre Dame having just one game remaining against an under-500 Stanford team that won’t count for much, even if it does end with a 50 point win for the Irish.

The problem is that Notre Dame has already routed better teams than Stanford in recent weeks and gained no ground.

Unless you can figure out a way that Notre Dame jumps six teams and gets into the top-ten, then they’re headed to Orlando for the Camping World Bowl against a Big XII team.

With the games remaining it’s hard to find six losses that are going to benefit Notre Dame.

Auburn losing to Alabama would probably finally get the Irish ahead of the currently three-loss Tigers.

Perhaps both Ohio State and Minnesota win Saturday, handing Michigan and Wisconsin their third losses of the year, but after that it gets tricky.

Kansas over Baylor or Rutgers over Penn State?  No help coming in either of those.

Same pretty much going for Colorado’s chances against Utah, Florida State’s to upset Florida.

Not only would Notre Dame need one of those to happen, they’d need three of the last four listed in order to have a chance, couple with those Auburn, Michigan and Wisconsin losses listed above.

As you can tell the chances at the Cotton Bowl are about as good as gone. so if interested you might as well get those flights booked to Orlando.

That’s the unfortunate reality when what happens in Ann Arbor in late October happen to you in front of a national audience.

 

CFP Rankings: Notre Dame Done No Favors by Committee

Auburn clearly has a better win to its name than Notre Dame has as the Tigers knocked off now No. 6 Oregon way back on opening weekend.

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The latest College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night with little actual movement at the top as Nos. 1-6 all remained the exact same as a week ago.

What will perhaps anger some Notre Dame fans however is what happened to the Irish after dismantling previously No. 23 Navy:

The Irish remained at 16 with three-loss Auburn coming in a spot above them at 15.

Auburn clearly has a better win to its name than Notre Dame has as the Tigers knocked off now No. 6 Oregon way back on opening weekend.

The Irish have one win over a top-25 team, that being in mid-October over No. 23 USC. They also knocked Navy out of the top-25 last week while Virginia Tech is knocking on the door to enter the rankings.

Is it frustrating that you see three losses next to Auburn’s name and two next to Notre Dame’s yet see the Tigers ranked ahead?

Absolutely.

But the problem here isn’t an Auburn/Notre Dame problem, it’s a Notre Dame/Michigan problem.

If Notre Dame shows up for that game and simply doesn’t get routed they’re not sitting at 16 right now, they’re a couple spots higher and the path to a Cotton Bowl is much easier to figure out.

But get blown out in a game where a 45-14 was somehow worse than the score even indicated.

I wish I could work up the energy to be upset but it’s as simple as that late-October date in Ann Arbor will probably cost the Irish a New Year’s Six date, which sucks for Irish fans but is plenty deserved.