Bama knocked UGA out, and Oklahoma in. First, as for UGA, Kirby Smart got too cutesy and blew that game. The loss is on him. But, UGA is the youngest team in all of FBS, 70% under-classmen. They will be right back there the next two years for sure. Eventually they will clear that Bama hurdle.
Clemson will clobber Pitt and the Top 4 will be set:
#1 Bama vs. #4 OK
#2 Clemson vs. #3 ND
Yeppers to your two highlighted statements.
This disastrous UGA fake helped hand Bama the SEC title
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them try a fake punt, on the 50, in a tie game against Bama, with ~3:00 to play in regulation. What in the H-E double hockey sticks was he thinking? Talk about your all time goofball plays
It was stupid, period. But it was especially stupid given the play that was called...and it was 4th and 11 too....and the fact Bama was not fooled and left their 1st string regular defense in the game!!! Hello! There was time to call a timeout and then simply punt it. Didn't someone on the UGA side see Bama was waiting for it? Guess not...
I hate UT just as much as OU, Alabama, Georgia, ND, OSU, etc....Just seemed to me that the refs in all the games leaned heavily to whichever team could make more $$$$$$ for the conference. Watching UT, I thought maybe our Dawgs were playing an away game against the SEC. Officiating really sucks but I guess it consistently sucks so that's good.
The Belch > CUSA yesterday.
First, the Belch's game was on ESPN with lightyears' of better production quality than CBSSN. Not too mention 20X viewership. And, Appy State's fans mostly showed up, while MTSU's fans....were, who knows? It is true, Appy State didn't show up as much as they often do for regular season games, but at least the stands were not sparse.
Some folks are giving reasons (making excuses?) saying well, fans have one week to plan to attend a conference championship game and often just can't pull it off. And that makes sense, especially for those fans who have to make hotel arrangements, etc...
Is this just a G5 issue? Looked like most of the P5 CCGs were well-attended...as was UCF's! They had 45K+. I know the advantages the P5s, and UCF, have over the average G5s. As for CUSA's yesterday...Murfreesboro is about 200 miles from B'ham, and UAB knew they were playing December 1 weeks ago, somewhere. No excuse for their fanbase (what there is of it) not to have kept this weekend open. And MTSU...what the heck!? No show.
I know we would not have done much, or any, better. Regardless where the game was being played, had it been a road game. I have to think (hope) we'd done a little better than MTSU showing up for a home CCG though. This is more a reflection on the sorry state of affairs in CUSA, the worst FBS conference in the nation. It starts at the top with lousy...zero....leadership at CUSA, and trickles through the ranks of every Prez/AD at every CUSA school. I know our Prez/AD absolutely suck and apparently, from reading comments on the CUSA Forum, other schools suffer that same affliction.
Sad...
What a novel concept
These G5 (and probably some P5) championships are for TV only. The G5 championships mean nothing to the fans (did you notice Boise last night?). One thing I don't gauge Holtz on is actually winning a C-USA championship. I do think he should win the west more than he has. The G5s need leadership to set up a better TV deal. IMO, they should get rid of ANY TV production that does not include a national audience. Forcing fans to actually drive to the game...imagine that! No way our TV deals from ESPN Plus, Stadium, and Facebook offset the loss in revenue from ticket sales. It is much easier for ADs like ours to look the other way rather than actually selling tickets.
Winning your conference should be the #1 goal of every program, at every school. Yes, there are rewards beyond that in every sport...the NCAA playoffs, bowl games....but it should start with being conference champion. In hoops the focus has become winning the conference tourney and getting that precious ticket to the Big Dance. Still, the goal in hoops should be to be both regular season and tourney conference champions.
In football, nothing good comes from NOT winning your own conference title. You don't see UGA holding a parade today to honor the runners-up! Ditto with all the CG losers. One can argue, well, what good does it do to win a conference title in the G5s? Is UAB really any different today than they were Friday? Well....yeah, they are....they are champions. What did losing do for MTSU then? They sure as heck didn't garner any real advantage. Maybe an extra week of practice? Maybe a little TV exposure?
I do hold Holtz accountable for not winning a CUSA title. It's one of the things on the check list, that includes, but is not limited to:
* winning a conference title
* winning 10+ games
* finishing ranked in the Top 25
* earning a NY6 bowl berth
* winning said NY6 bowl game
As we see, that is a rather long list....unchecked.
What have we lost from not winning the cUSA title? What would we gain? It is certainly not prestigious unless you think playing in front of 5000 in your home stadium would be a fun day. We just had one of those and it wasn't fun
… For that matter it doesn't matter if you win it in baseball or basketball. It might help in baseball some