My stream of thoughts on BG and College Football

[daspollak]

Now that the 2014-2015 football season is over I have some thoughts and opinions about the sport.

1. Stop calling OSU the Undisputed Nat. Champ., TCU has a legitimate argument about being excluded.

2. The 4 team play-off is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be 8 teams. P5 conference champs, a G5 representative, and 2 at large teams.

3. We at least get a few more weeks with recruiting in full force.

4. BG disappointed and impressed me this season. I had high expectations that they didn't live up to, but they also didn't fold. The bowl win will give them some momentum and so will getting Matt Johnson back.

5. For all the complaints about the BG defense, they did have a lot of turnovers.

6. Better days are ahead for this team.

7. No college football coach is worth $8 million a year. Its sad that people are willing to support a sport, but not donate to fund the actual purpose of a college, education.

8. Stop using bowl games to be your final judgement on teams and conferences. They are glorified exhibition games. Some players don't care to put in the work, other are protecting themselves for the NFL draft, and yes some teams are fired up to be there. Also coaching changes have an impact on the games.

9. NIU isn't going to the Big 12. They don't have the profile.

10. I can't wait for next season.

[MarkL]

Re: 7. Harbaugh is not making 8 million a year. That figure might reflect the entire coaching staff. While he is very well paid, he actually is not the highest paid coach in college football, or even in the Big Ten.

Re: 10. Damn straight.

[zete]

7. Sick to think what some of them make. Sad reflection on our culture.

[Flipper]

Why is that a sad reflection on our culture? Being successful at that level of football is difficult...it takes a rare set of skills to do it. Universities that have prominent, successful programs generate a lot of revenue and alum donations....I have no problem with paying a guy like Harbaugh or Meyer $$ given the amount of $$$ they can generate. The gap between us and them has become a bit mind blowing, but that's the reality of a competitive marketplace.

[Globetrotter]

Why is that a sad reflection on our culture? Being successful at that level of football is difficult...it takes a rare set of skills to do it. Universities that have prominent, successful programs generate a lot of revenue and alum donations....I have no problem with paying a guy like Harbaugh or Meyer $$ given the amount of $$$ they can generate. The gap between us and them has become a bit mind blowing, but that's the reality of a competitive marketplace.

Didn't you also say a CEO should make and deserves whatever they can get? Income inequality,and indirectly campaign finance are the biggest issues of our times. This is just another symptom/example.

[Falcon137]

1. I don't like Ohio State what so ever. But, beat the #1 and #2 teams in the country, you're undisputed. More so than any college team before them.

7. I see both sides of the argument to this. I personally agree that the money spent at programs like OSU, Michigan, and Alabama is absurd, but, also agree with Flipper about the current money they bring in. It's not like the money Michigan is paying Harbaugh is taking away from their business school. Those upper echelon athletic programs make money hand over fist. The better question to ask is about lower level power 5 programs and non power 5 programs, is Darrell Hazell really worth $2 million dollars to Purdue? Is Dino Babers really worth, $450,000 to BG? I guess your worth whatever someone is willing to offer. But, when will schools like Purdue realize they will never be Ohio State?

It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years. Unless you're naive, you already know top level college football is just minor league NFL. Once the cost of tuition kicks in, players will essentially be making upwards of $70,000+ a year at certain schools. Will people be turned off when it's apparent it's just the equivalent to AAA baseball? Probably not. But, then again, I don't understand how people back tax payer funded stadiums so billionaires can turn profits so cities and counties can go deeper in debt.

My own thought....

Who is going to be the first player to sit out a year and wait for the draft? Todd Gurley should have this past year, Clowney should have the year before that, I think Ezekiel Elliott should this year. If Elliott left OSU right now an agent would probably give him a $100,000 signing bonus and pay for him to train year round in Florida, Texas, or California to get ready for the 2016 draft.

[Schadenfreude]

2. The 4 team play-off is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be 8 teams. P5 conference champs, a G5 representative, and 2 at large teams.

Some of us would prefer 16 teams, with automatic bids for each conference and at-large picks to fill out the field. This is more or less the model in FCS, Division II, and Division III. Your vision would get us closer to that vision, obviously.

[Flipper]

Why is that a sad reflection on our culture? Being successful at that level of football is difficult...it takes a rare set of skills to do it. Universities that have prominent, successful programs generate a lot of revenue and alum donations....I have no problem with paying a guy like Harbaugh or Meyer $$ given the amount of $$$ they can generate. The gap between us and them has become a bit mind blowing, but that's the reality of a competitive marketplace.

Didn't you also say a CEO should make and deserves whatever they can get? Income inequality,and indirectly campaign finance are the biggest issues of our times. This is just another symptom/example.

I think CEO's should be paid whatever the board and shareholders and market allow...do you disagree with that?

I think the biggest issues we face are the cognitive functioning gap between the cognitive elites and the less gifted. and the governments attempts to gain access into every aspect under our lives and control the free exchange of ideas via the internet.

[MarkL]

7. Sick to think what some of them make. Sad reflection on our culture.

Re: 7. Harbaugh is not making 8 million a year. That figure might reflect the entire coaching staff. While he is very well paid, he actually is not the highest paid coach in college football, or even in the Big Ten.

I'm not big on the high salaries either. It has been an arms race for a long time. During Woody Hayes' tenure at OSU, the university president once declined a Rose Bowl bid indicating that football has gotten too big. Hayes was infuriated but ultimately accepted the decision and respected the president's academic priority. Imagine that happening at a major program today.

That being said .... Harbaugh is not being paid 8 million a year. I would find that salary disgusting too, but it is a false report.

[hammb]

2. The 4 team play-off is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be 8 teams. P5 conference champs, a G5 representative, and 2 at large teams.

Some of us would prefer 16 teams, with automatic bids for each conference and at-large picks to fill out the field. This is more or less the model in FCS, Division II, and Division III. Your vision would get us closer to that vision, obviously.

That is the only system I would support. If an 8 team version like daspollak laid out gets us to the 16 I suppose I could live with it for a term, but I still don't like it. daspollak's model suggests that 1 token bid is all the non P5 teams would ever deserve, and that's just not fair. It wasn't that long ago that both TCU & Boise played their way into the BCS.

All conference champs should get a berth in a playoff. That is the only system that makes sense, and it's the only system the NCAA can legally endorse. There is a reason this playoff thingy is now called a "playoff national championship" and not an NCAA title. The NCAA knows it'll get its ass sued (and LOSE) if they were to endorse this system of inequality.

Personally I think the best thing for college sports as a whole is some sort of increased revenue sharing from the big boys, or even a cap on salaries of coaches/recruiting budgets, etc. Not a fan of the socialistic aspect, and certainly think anybody should get paid what their worth, but the truth is that it is ruining the sport. While the OSUs and UMs of the world can afford those things, the other schools cannot compete with those dollar figures and trying to do so is falling short on the field, and raping the budgets off the field.

I still think college football is destined to create a "super rich guy version" for the top 20-30 programs, and everybody else gets left behind. Honestly BG is closer to Purdue/Northwestern, than those two are to OSU/UM.

[mscarn]

I still think college football is destined to create a "super rich guy version" for the top 20-30 programs, and everybody else gets left behind. Honestly BG is closer to Purdue/Northwestern, than those two are to OSU/UM.

Totally agree, and the Purdue's of the world won't put a stop to it because they're delusional. The second someone tells these fan bases that they can't compete financially they'll cite a couple outlier years and find an athletic director that will tell them what they want to hear.

The best part of the MAC is the competitive equality. All the budgets and most the facilities are relatively equal. In the SEC, you've got a team that spends $15 million on football while Alabama spends $60. Auburn just hired a coordinator for $1.7 million per year. Teams like Minnesota recruit primarily against the MAC and wonder why they lose to Ohio State every year. Forget the Sun Belt and Conference USA; they are phasing out the majority of schools in their own leagues.

[MarkL]

mscarn, I consider the MAC the most internally competitive and stable conference in FBS, and I'd like to keep it that way. The fact that everybody considers UMass a legit contender next year shows how easily a team can rise in the conference. And since the late 90s, the only changes have been bringing in Temple, swapping Temple for UMass, and soon losing UMass.

[Rollo83]

#1 - ah, no they don't

#2 - no matter how large you expand, always have bubble teams. Just ask the NCAA men's basketball selection committee.

[hammb]

#2 - no matter how large you expand, always have bubble teams. Just ask the NCAA men's basketball selection committee.

This is true, but to me I don't care about bubble teams. If you create a system where all conference champs get a fair shot (as the NCAA hoops tourney provides) then I don't really care about the whining.

As much as we've thought at times the MAC deserved a 2nd bid to the hoops tourney I don't complain that much. The conference champ is given a shot and if the teams that feel left out on the bubble have an issue with it then they should have won the conference.

Create a system in college football that gives all conference champs a bid, and I'll be happy. I know you'll have runners up that get their panties in a wad (especially as the MAC champion gets in by the #3 SEC team wouldn't), but I don't really care. Those teams were all given an opportunity to win their conference.

That's my biggest issue right now. The system we have created is one where roughly half the teams (perhaps more like 3/4?) could go undefeated in any given year and still not be given a shot at the national title.

[Lord_Byron]

Nate Silver looks at expanding to eight and the probabilities of various teams getting into the playoff:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/exp ... l-playoff/" target="_blank