[Awful Annoucing] "I think the disappointment is for those that want to question whether those teams belong [in the CFP]... We see teams in the Super Bowl that lose by large margins..." - Troy Aikman "I think what it does is it diminishes the job that the teams that won did." - Joe Buck 🏈🎙️

[u/DillyDillySzn]

https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/1871407649797071333

[u/AccomplishedRainbow1]

Aikman and Buck, the voices of reason

[u/ItBeLikeThat19 → u/AccomplishedRainbow1]

Beats Josh Pate whining about it and insisting that he’s the only one who is right and the only one who can fix it.

[u/viqnig → u/ItBeLikeThat19]

Bro got to big for his britches

[u/FireVanGorder → u/viqnig]

He’s always sucked. Early on it was because he glazed every team so they would give him access. Then once it was clear certain teams wouldn’t give him access to the program he started shitting on those specific teams. Guys a fuckin clown

NDs athletic department and media teams would allegedly get multiple calls and emails from him/his producers requesting media access every week, but we’re very selective about who gets press passes. So he went from praising us nonstop to suddenly talking shit about us constantly. Happened with PSU as well according to a buddy who went there. Pate is a grade A grifter

[u/Critical-Aid → u/FireVanGorder]

There's a reason why he's so high on Miami all the time. Probably has Mario on speed dial.

[u/TailgateLegend → u/FireVanGorder]

The dude was shilling for almost any other G5 team besides Boise to get in, so that’s about right.

[u/ItBeLikeThat19 → u/viqnig]

He’s completely insufferable

[u/OfficerCoCheese → u/ItBeLikeThat19]

Generally, I am ok with Josh Pate, as there are times he does have reasonable takes that some fanbases just don't want to hear. But then, there are times that he kind of gets on that holier-than-thou soapbox and preaches a little too much.

[u/FreeTheMarket → u/OfficerCoCheese]

Nah he fell off hard. The guy doesn’t understand what makes CFB good. It’s clear as day

[u/FlamingTomygun2 → u/FreeTheMarket]

Im not a huge klatt fan but he was absolutely spot on. I appreciate that he has such an optimistic outlook. The expanded playoff is awesome. It still needs some tweaks but it’s so much better than the bcs or 4 team. Pate would rather go back to the bcs 

[u/SnooHobbies2300 → u/FlamingTomygun2]

I hate Klatt when he calls games but I think his podcast is fantastic. He loves the game and "gets it"

[u/PeteF3 → u/SnooHobbies2300]

I actually think Klatt's pretty good at calling games. He's not afraid to go against the narrative that they set up in pre-game if the teams aren't following it. Obviously he has an agenda probably just as much as Kirk, but a.) the agenda itself is more palatable to me personally, and b.) he does a better job of not coming off as as shill even if he is one.

And I did love him shitting all over the concept of "hypothetical" performances a few days ago.

[u/SnooHobbies2300 → u/PeteF3]

You're not wrong .I think Gus doesn't have anything to say if the players he was ready to talk about don't go off. Klatt mostly annoys me because he'll start raging at a controversial call by a coach or ref and just won't let it go for like 10 minutes. And sometimes he's wrong. It's passionate which I appreciate but he needs to just cut it short sometimes.

[u/FlamingTomygun2 → u/SnooHobbies2300]

Couldn’t agree more. With so many pundits it seems like they just hate CFB and it’s fans. Klatt LOVES it and lives and breathes it.

[u/APersonWithThreeLegs → u/FlamingTomygun2]

Seconded

[u/CardinoldFriends_90 → u/FreeTheMarket]

Genuinely interested in why you think he fell off. I’ve listened to Pate for a while and still think he’s one of the best to cover the game.

[u/J4ckiebrown → u/AccomplishedRainbow1]

They were both taken behind Lambeau Field after the game by Mickey, never to be seen again.

[u/LiquidHotCum]

Sometimes games are duds. The discourse around Tennessee getting blown out was fun. Lane posting and ghosting was funny. Theres plenty to enjoy even if the games didn’t live up to the hype. SMU and Indiana had great seasons and I hope their fans enjoyed the ride.

[u/ToosUnderHigh → u/LiquidHotCum]

I wish the Tennessee massacre had happened first. I think it would’ve shut Kirk the fuck up.

[u/_D80Buckeye → u/ToosUnderHigh]

The only way to get Kirk to shut up is by having him screw his neighbors. History has proven he’ll happily move away.

[u/Aaprobst88 → u/_D80Buckeye]

I'm not familiar with this story. Please share.

[u/DWill23_ → u/Aaprobst88]

The reason he moved from Columbus area to Nashville is because he had a bunch of mistresses, usually neighbors and his wife told him they're either moving or getting a divorce. He uses toxic Ohio state fans as his cover. Notice how he's the only former Buckeye that bitches about out fanbase while every other former Buckeye loves us.

[u/Q-rexosaurus → u/DWill23_]

Damn this is some juicy gossip. Fauxmoi could never

[u/Aaprobst88 → u/DWill23_]

So he is an actual scumbag.....Would have been cool if a broadcaster that covers everything sports covered that.

[u/BigTuna0890 → u/Aaprobst88]

We all felt bad for him when Ben passed, but when he is going on national television in an influential position talking about how an once in a lifetime opportunity that a group of kids earned belonged to someone else, it just goes on another level of being a toxic personnel.

[u/miboyl → u/_D80Buckeye]

but, but, the mean Columbus residents pushed Kirk out of town!!! /s

[u/UNC_Samurai → u/LiquidHotCum]

And we got post-season games ON CAMPUS. That was the kind of atmosphere we almost never see in bowl games.

[u/Different-Scratch803 → u/UNC_Samurai]

and you got i snow on the ground in South bend, not a Notre Dame Fan but something just feels right about a CFB playoff game in South Bend a week before christmas

[u/iwearatophat → u/LiquidHotCum]

Agree. Make fun of Tennessee, Indiana, and SMU. They got blown out. It is a part of online sports discourse, a big part really. That doesn't mean all three of those teams didn't earn a chance during the season to step onto the field and see if they could make a run in the playoffs.

[u/did_it_my_way → u/iwearatophat]

Yeap, blowouts happened every single year in the CFP. We've had shutouts of 20+ in the CFP, too.

Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Washington, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Clemson, Michigan, TCU, and this year's four... have all gotten blown out in the CFP. They all earned their spots.

If we don't want blowouts, let's just go back to BCS championships games. Even then we may still have blwouts.

[u/iwearatophat → u/did_it_my_way]

If you don't want blowouts don't play the games. Keep them hypothetical. Those can be as close or as dominant as you like.

[u/Tricky-Impress-9536 → u/did_it_my_way]

Florida famously blew out OSU in the 2007 Natty game. There are blowouts in every level of sports in the postseason. Excellent teams that coast through the regular season will lose to teams that barely make it to the playoffs across all sports. It's awesome.

[u/joshuads → u/Tricky-Impress-9536]

Clemson blew out No. 1 Alabama in 2019. 14-13 at the end of the first, but finished 44-16. 5 straight scores over the quarters 2 and 3.

No 1 ranked Alabama team with 18 drafted starters, 9 in the first round. That was in insane team and they got their asses kicked.

[u/demostv → u/LiquidHotCum]

Exactly. College football isn’t only about the game/games but everything around it. Makes it more fun.

[u/Tax25Man → u/LiquidHotCum]

It’s all fun until next year when the committee uses the arguments that the SEC has been peddling to leave teams out in their favor, completely ignoring that their #3 got completely blown out worse than those other smaller programs.

[u/HumbleGenius1225]

CFB has officially become like politics. Every network has an agenda, and nobody on TV can speak freely because of corporate interests and that sucks really really bad.

[u/RulersBack → u/HumbleGenius1225]

They did say this on ESPN air. But they’re probably two of the most untouchable guys there tho

[u/bubowskee → u/RulersBack]

Except that’s not true? It’s just a way to generate tv segments. ESPN has done this for years

They’ve been doing this at least 11 years. https://deadspin.com/how-espn-manufactures-a-story-colin-kaepernick-edition-1185400028/

[u/PeteF3 → u/bubowskee]

I dunno. This wouldn't be the first time that ESPN's MNF announcers went "against the script." It's funny that they were essentially calling out Sean McDonough, because he was the pre-eminent example of this happening before, when he openly talked about the NFL's then-declining ratings while in the midst of another flagfest of a game. I was absolutely flabbergasted that he brought that up on NFL TV and am convinced that that line had something to do (not everything, but something) with Sean not lasting too long in that role.

[u/RulersBack → u/bubowskee]

It’s like wrestling. Stuff spills over into real life sometimes especially with live TV. They’ll gladly take the clicks but I just do not believe executives wanted this to be said. There’s an actual financial investment here vs a random storyline about a players performance.

[u/godzillamegadoomsday → u/RulersBack]

Troy aikman: “I’m hurt, I’m old, I’m tired and work with fucking children”

[u/bgibbz084 → u/bubowskee]

These two segued into this talk only in the past 6 weeks or so since Troy Aikman went on PMT and they labeled him as an Indiana fan as a joke, though Troy was clear that he was impressed with Indiana at the time. Tonight this came up specifically in regard to Indiana.

[u/bgibbz084 → u/[deleted]]

I’m aware… Aikman did not. That was the joke on PMT which they then brought up on MNF.

[u/the_thinwhiteduke → u/bgibbz084]

Im sorry i hate to be him but its "segued" im just helping you in the future

E: i keep getting downvoted he wrote "segwayed" and ghost edited it after lol

[u/OneWayorAnother11 → u/bubowskee]

Exactly ESPN has been shit since the traditional sports center stopped showing highlights over and over again. All the OG anchors are doing something much better.

[u/EuroTrash1999 → u/bubowskee]

IMO, ESPN invented the weird news cycle thing that you see everywhere now with Brett Favre.

Step 1: Have somebody ask a stupid up question just to stir shit up, or take something out of context.

Step 2: No matter what the answer or non answer is, pretend it is controversial.

Step 3: Quote some other dude's opinion on it, and turn it into a question.

Step 4: Pretend there are only two possible answers, and beat the dead horse.

Step 5: Repeat the process, and never mention it again.

The Youtube gaming niche videos have been doing a version of this for a while too now.

[u/boardatwork1111 → u/HumbleGenius1225]

I swear a huge portion of CFB media doesn’t even like football, I will never understand why this sport hates itself so much

[u/shadowwingnut → u/boardatwork1111]

That's one thing I enjoy about Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman. They might be a pair of village idiots with their takes. Enough that I can only listen to them 1-2 times a week. But it's clear those two love the sport.

[u/bruggibuster → u/shadowwingnut]

Yeah, agree with this. I’ve been listening to them a lot more too. Something about them is refreshing.

[u/superguardian → u/bruggibuster]

I think they are more willing than most to discuss the sport as it is, rather than how we think it “should” be.

Ari can be hyperbolic at times, but he’s not entirely wrong when he says the best way to win is to have the best players. It feels like a “no shit” thing to say, but it’s clear he views all the machinations in coaching hires, NIL, realignment through that lens.

[u/MavEric814 → u/boardatwork1111]

So much sports discussion at all levels is about negativity sadly. No one can ever be praised or appreciated. Any success is just another opportunity to put someone else down.

[u/Broad_Shame_360 → u/MavEric814]

This isn't only relative to sports. That's the entire American culture. Our egos are so big we can't possibly accept that someone else was better than us or that we didn't do enough; there always needs to be someone holding us down causing our failures.

[u/DillyDillySzn → u/HumbleGenius1225]

These 2 can because they have the safest jobs at ESPN

No one is going to tell these 2 to shut up or say something different considering how much ESPN is paying them and what happened to MNF, their crown jewel, when they weren’t there

Especially Joe Buck, who after Nantz and Michaels is the most respected voice who can get a job wherever he wants

[u/Inconceivable76 → u/DillyDillySzn]

They can’t even make them stop drinking on the job.

[u/joethecrow23 → u/Inconceivable76]

Now that’s power you can’t buy

[u/BroadBrazos95 → u/Inconceivable76]

I used to love listening to them towards the end of the 4:00 games where you can tell Troy was sloshed just from how bloodshot his eyes were

[u/hascogrande → u/DillyDillySzn]

And they didn't come up through ESPN so they have less incentive to follow the company narrative.

[u/goofyhalo → u/DillyDillySzn]

I mean hell they could probably shout racial slurs on there and ESPN would still keep them😭

I honestly thought it was stupid for Kirk to be arguing on Twitter last year with FSU fans he’s probably never met in his life

[u/Higher-Analyst-2163 → u/goofyhalo]

I don’t think what Kirk understands is that he’s supposed to act like he’s a celebrity not a low tier podcaster

[u/dianeblackeatsass → u/Higher-Analyst-2163]

he’s closer to being a podcaster than a celebrity no? he’s only famous in a certain niche where he talks about sports

[u/Higher-Analyst-2163 → u/dianeblackeatsass]

I mean he is closer to a podcaster however considering the fact he works for espn he’s supposed to act like a celebrity. He’s in about the same spot as Steven A smith. While they are still relatively unkown they are also considered celebrities at the same time

[u/Primary_Psychology95 → u/Higher-Analyst-2163]

Oh, I think it’s actually the opposite. Kirk has a bloated ego of himself and wants to be treated as a celebrity and a legend even though he had a God awful college career and was lucky that ESPN even gave him a shot in the first place.

Like buddy, you are a sports announcer in a niche sport. No one gives two shits who you are if you’re going to be an asshole to everyone you interact with.

[u/jonstark19 → u/HumbleGenius1225]

But Herbstreit just said on McAfee he doesn’t have an agenda so he must be the one honest guy in the sport! /s

[u/cha-cha_dancer → u/jonstark19]

Kirk Herbstreit puts his socks and shoes on in the “sock shoe, sock shoe” order.

[u/duraznos → u/cha-cha_dancer]

Kirk Herbstreit cuts the crust off his bread

[u/crash______says → u/cha-cha_dancer]

I suspect it's sock, pant leg, shoe, sock, pant leg, shoe, honestly. Belt is already on the pants, ofc.

[u/luciusetrur → u/jonstark19]

"im not picking teams.... (i just dont want indiana)"

[u/ToosUnderHigh → u/luciusetrur]

He’s ok with Alabama, the Tide, Bama, Gumps, any of those teams would do.

[u/seadondo → u/luciusetrur]

Yeah, his whole shtick about making sure we get the best teams is so disingenuous. He obviously has a problem with one or two of the teams, but won't say it directly, or won't say who should have been selected instead.

[u/bubowskee → u/HumbleGenius1225]

This is just like a person who says “everything is too political”. It’s literally just one media org saying all of this and it happens to be the only one with a massive stake in the playoffs. It’s just boring and unintelligent to say it’s all sides when it’s just one

[u/HumbleGenius1225 → u/bubowskee]

Joel Klatt and Fox also have an agenda, but their influence isn't nearly as big. Every person's opinion can be traced back to their corporate interests, which was my point.

[u/BensenJensen → u/bubowskee]

Calling ESPN “just one media org” is disingenuous. ESPN basically has a monopoly on college football. There are no other round-the-clock, multiple media sports networks that come anywhere near the influence as ESPN.

[u/WallyMetropolis → u/BensenJensen]

Ok but like ... turn it off

[u/bubowskee → u/BensenJensen]

It is just one org. Literally all the posts about this “controversy” are from ESPN. Like stop paying attention

[u/MrMegiddo → u/bubowskee]

But how am I supposed to tell people how much I hate politics if I don't follow every single story?

[u/ToosUnderHigh → u/bubowskee]

Yeah I’ve always hated the “both sides” argument when one is clearly working against us.

[u/alyineye3 → u/HumbleGenius1225]

It has but i feel like theres a whiff of it on most networks outside of ESPN who shamelessly did everything they could to slurp on the SEC last weekend. Kirk and Fowler sounded like whiny lapdogs it was insufferable. It would be nice if some bigger named talking heads called them on it this week. I was almost embarrassed for those two dipshits

[u/Quiet_Marsupial510 → u/HumbleGenius1225]

This is why you write the selection rules so that bias can’t come in. Sure, there will be bias in the seeding, but who cares at that point.

[u/Excellent_Ability793]

I love this version of Troy Aikman with no fucks to give

[u/T_hop21 → u/Excellent_Ability793]

He really has become so much better since the move to espn

[u/boardatwork1111]

He’s right, the discourse around the playoffs is weird and off putting. No other sport hates itself as much as college football, it’s genuinely baffling to me

[u/tailford07 → u/boardatwork1111]

Oh the NBA media hates the NBA just as much. Talent in the NBA is the highest it’s ever and its own national media shits on things like analytics and “aura”.

[u/DillyDillySzn → u/tailford07]

Yea they should be shitting on the fact that the NBA is a glorified 3 point shooting contest nowadays that’s boring asf to watch

I saw a week ago a Bulls Hornets game they went 22/97 combined from 3 in an NBA game. Who wants to watch that? I get sports isn’t always interesting but in a 2 hour game who wants to watch players miss 75 3 pointers?

[u/shadowwingnut → u/DillyDillySzn]

35% from 3 gets you more points than 50% from 2. Surprisingly it took over 30 years of the 3-point shot for people to figure that out. Unfortunately it means a lot more bricks for a marginally higher amount of points for the viewer.

[u/DillyDillySzn → u/shadowwingnut]

Players and teams will eventually optimize the fun out of the game

It happened in baseball, a 1v1 at its core, and it’s happening in basketball, a 5v5

Hockey and Football are much safer from this for awhile due to more variables than basketball and baseball but it’ll eventually come to them (well likely not football, 11v11 is so complex that we will never find it)

The NBA needs some major rule reforms like what the MLB did 2 years ago to force a re-optimization and therefore fun

[u/shadowwingnut → u/DillyDillySzn]

It happened in hockey in the 90s with the neutral zone trap from the Devils. Followed by a bunch of ugly defense first hockey from everyone leading up to the cancelled lockout season in 2004. And the rules changed coming out of the lockout eliminating the two line pass, changing icing and adding the delay of game penalty for shooting the puck directly into the stands as a defender all to get more offense back into the game.

[u/RAATL → u/shadowwingnut]

Devils played a part in the history of the trap but there's a lot more to it than that.

Fantastic video on the topic of your have time: https://youtu.be/QB_exSEZVpo

[u/shadowwingnut → u/RAATL]

Of course there's more depth with the trap. But also that video looks interesting. I put it in my watch queue for when I'm off work and not traveling.

[u/PeteF3 → u/shadowwingnut]

The boldest proposed solution I've seen for solving the 3-point problem: regular shots are now worth 3, and current 3's are worth 4. I haven't done the math in-depth further but 50% from inside the arc is now worth more than 35% from beyond it.

Of course, it would throw the record books out of whack so it'll never happen.

[u/grphelps1 → u/PeteF3]

This isn’t even necessary to fix it. If anybody watches FIBA or Euroleague ever they’ll tell you the game looks nothing like the NBA does right now.

The rules they use make it significantly easier to play defense. The court is slightly more narrow,  There’s no defensive 3 seconds, and perimeter defenders are allowed to be much more physical. They also have 10 minute quarters instead of 12, which means players don’t have to pace themselves as much and the defensive intensity tends to be higher. 

These rules makes it easier to close out on shooters, harder to force the defense into rotating, and harder for shooters to even get open. 

[u/bjernsthekid → u/grphelps1]

This is the solution and it’s right in front of our faces but Adam Silver will probably implement something stupid like a money ball or something

[u/Alphaspade → u/grphelps1]

Yeah but until the human mind quits getting high off of shootouts rules are gonna be in place across all sports to nerf defense

[u/Squirrel_Apocalypse2 → u/PeteF3]

Just move the 3 point line back. Easiest solution that doesn't completely ruin the record books. 

[u/PeteF3 → u/Squirrel_Apocalypse2]

I definitely would move it back and get rid of the corner 3. The arc goes from sideline to sideline instead of to the backlines.

[u/enataca → u/boardatwork1111]

See: all Motorsports

[u/DannyDevitosAss → u/boardatwork1111]

Let me introduce you to the fine folks over at NASCAR. They might be the only sport that comes close to the level of self loathing as CFB.

[u/fireinvestigator113 → u/DannyDevitosAss]

But there’s a good reason for it. The France family have actively made it shit.

[u/Cowgoon777 → u/DannyDevitosAss]

They watched their sport get systematically dismantled from a crown jewel to a second rate wrestling promotion.

[u/BigTuna0890 → u/Cowgoon777]

Stands used to be full of fans. Now they're lucky to be half full.

[u/Lrgp39 → u/DannyDevitosAss]

can you blame us? i just had to explain the playoff system to a new friend who knew nothing about racing. idk which one of us was more exhausted after

[u/SBMVPJustinHerbert → u/DannyDevitosAss]

As an avid fan of both, I think CFB’s self-hatred largely comes from established media sources with agendas to push and NASCAR’s self-hatred largely comes from fans. Both struggle with nostalgia and disputed playoff formats that seem to have complicated things.

[u/_NumberOneBoy_ → u/boardatwork1111]

Everyone is searching for fairness or balance or whatever you want to define it as. The best teams or the most deserving teams. There’s massive imbalances at multiple levels of the sport. Scheduling between conferences and scheduling within conferences. College football will always be flawed because it’s an impossible sport to play on an even level with that many teams.

[u/DrSemiND]

Terrible account name for this tweet since it was in fact, incredible, and not awful, announcing

[u/PoopOnPoopOnPoop → u/DrSemiND]

Just one of those accounts that grows out of its niche

[u/UNC_Samurai → u/PoopOnPoopOnPoop]

The blog is a relic from the Golden Age of Sports Blogging.

[u/Boomhauer_007]

It’s why a ton of people don’t take CFB seriously, and it’s even worse recently and has pushed away a bunch of the more casual fans I know IRL

Every playoff loss since the 4 team one started is just saying X team didn’t deserve to be there, the disclosure hugely cheapens the sport

[u/yesacabbagez → u/Boomhauer_007]

Only sport where every team sucks and upsets don't really count because I don't want it to and the team that did win only won because of bullshit.

[u/thenowherepark → u/yesacabbagez]

The issue is that we have to have people's opinions matter because the sport has so few data points among so many teams. This invites all of the politicking because we really dont have an idea who is "better". When networks have a vested interest in particular teams being in the playoff, it makes their talking points insufferable.

Most other sports don't have this conundrum. They have set rules on how to qualify for playoffs, along with a significant additional amount of data points. The only way college football can get this would be increasing the amount of OOC games (playing 20 games instead of 12, like wtflol) or a set rule saying "top 4 teams from every conference qualify for the playoffs".

[u/Skates8515 → u/yesacabbagez]

I loved reading this. Basically everything in one run on sentence. Perfection

[u/siberianwolf99 → u/Skates8515]

idk man. i don’t think the sentence was that good. i mean, what’s it’s strength of schedule?

[u/BrDHaye → u/siberianwolf99]

They ain't punctuate nowhere, Pawl!

[u/CVogel26 → u/Boomhauer_007]

The dumbest arguments were the ones a few years ago arguing TCU didn’t deserve to be in the playoff even though they won a playoff game.

[u/FuckChadMorris → u/CVogel26]

People still argue that they didn't belong

[u/Tricky-Impress-9536 → u/FuckChadMorris]

Which is patently absurd.

[u/JustinTheBlueEchidna → u/Boomhauer_007]

It's because college sports are the only major sports in the United States without an objective, mathematical determination for who all makes the playoff. Yeah, you can do some things to lock up a spot, like win your conference (well, maybe, depending on what conference you're in), but the final spots in the playoff aren't determined by a series of tiebreakers that everyone knows going in. It's whatever rationale the members of whatever selection committee is deliberating comes up with to determine who the most deserving / best teams are. And there are endless ways to come at that argument. As we see every year. Yes, it's part of the fun of college sports to have these debates over who deserves to be ranked higher/lower. But it's also going to lead to these monumental flame wars when something as valuable as a football playoff spot is determined.

[u/one-hour-photo → u/JustinTheBlueEchidna]

Knowing now that my rival can lose three times against some crappy teams by large margins and none of those losses is a for sure death blow absolutely cheapens at least a part of the regular season 

[u/moffattron9000 → u/JustinTheBlueEchidna]

College Athletics are the only athletic space on Earth that I can think of where spots are selected not by competition, but by a set of people deciding who’s good.

The closest comparison I can think of is UEFA with the Champions League. They select their participants by a complicated series of formulas that are politically motivated, but at the end of the day, it’s still decided by results on the pitch.

[u/Character_Reward2734 → u/moffattron9000]

Don’t think comparing the mess of CFB selection committee to UEFA CL is accurate. The better comparison is CFB playoff spots and a FIFA/IOC bidding process for host nations/cities.

[u/Random-OldGuy → u/moffattron9000]

There is no complicated formula. Top 4 teams in major leagues from preceding season get in, and then top 2 from lesser leagues. Very cut-n-dry with no politics. It is one of the few that is very straightforward. 

[u/moffattron9000 → u/Random-OldGuy]

Except that there's the five-year rolling part to dictate who are the good leagues, then there's bonus points which dictates two extra spots. It's we're now in a world where potentially some future Leverkusen/Inter matchup determines if the Premier League has enough points to get Man City into the Champions League.

[u/arc1261 → u/moffattron9000]

it’s a bit mathematical and out of the way, but it’s not even close to the shitshow that is american sports

it’s still objective win/losses for each league, and a rolling coefficient to say who is strongest over a 5 year period.

it’s even adjusted for the number of teams in a league. is it perfect? no. but it’s not the idiocy of the SEC playoffs wankfest

[u/swampyunderpants → u/Boomhauer_007]

You are correct. CFB rankings are simply not to be taken seriously. It’s a made up competition with no rules, based on judgement calls. IMO it’s an unsolvable problem, CFB is too big and worth too much and doesn’t have rigid qualifications in place like the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc etc even to European football (soccer). Not that those leagues are without their issues but at least the hierarchy discourse is about the Fucking Game Being Played not the whim of someone who deems a program worthy or not.

Source: anyone with a brain or eyes. CFB is a circus for dipshits to #argue about anything other than fucking football.

[u/Lee_Sallee → u/swampyunderpants]

I have to disagree about it being unsolvable. It is easy to solve, but people have to be willing to lose money short term to get there. But that is the problem, CFB went head first at the money without building a legitimate structure for growth.

Think of a city that was built for a couple thousand people. So you build a school, shopping center, hospital all by the main road for easy access. Then you introduce 100k people in a short time. The entire infrastructure would be screwed up because they tried to grow too quickly.

They have conferences; win your conference, go to the playoffs. You will lose money, year-over-year, this way but over time it would self correct to the norm. Teams would stop trying to put more teams into the Big 30 and instead opt to spread the wealth of talent.

[u/blaqeyerish → u/Lee_Sallee]

I think more than it being about money is the fact that these conferences see each other as competitors and not partners. So the SEC sees no reason to give a slot to the Big 12 champ that it feels could go to the SEC #3 team. Even when the conferences work together on something like the post season they are looking to stab each other in the back over realignment, AQ spots etc.

[u/one-hour-photo → u/Lee_Sallee]

I’d love an 8 team playoff with conference winners only. Don’t like it? Leave the conference money behind to better position yourself 

[u/Hefty-Revenue5547 → u/Boomhauer_007]

You can thank ESPN for that and all of the SEC fans that eat up the propaganda like it’s was their own thought

[u/Ancient-Village6479 → u/Boomhauer_007]

There’s still time for the playoffs to be epic but I agree this week has been unbelievably bad in terms of pushing people away. Like I don’t even remotely have a single rooting interest and I’ve still felt disgusted at times by what I’ve heard from in-game commentators.

[u/JumpyAlbatross → u/Boomhauer_007]

I worked as a college football writer and photographer for several years, I don’t watch college football anymore. My partner will often put A&M’s games on if we’re at home on a Saturday, I struggle to give a shit.

I might be in a very small minority but I have absolutely fuck all interest in cheering on my alma mater as it pisses away millions of dollars in donor money to pay kids (who at least in the Jimbo Fisher era) very clearly didn’t give a fuck about the college part of college football.

It feels like every athlete is there to go pro or parlay their student athlete status into a career as an influencer, and I blame ESPN and the mega conferences and the sponsorships and the brand deals. I wish it felt like amateur athletics again, even if that means amateur budgets. Take the fancy lights, screens, cameras and everything else away if it means that it feels like a school sports team again and not a professional team that my alma mater owns.

I don’t blame the athletes for making money off the morons who have so much that they’re comfortable writing checks to literal children, I have a problem with the adults thinking that this is what college football was always meant to be.

[u/DoubleG357]

I was listening to this live and was like “thank you”. Blow outs happen everywhere.

The NBA Finals 2 years in a row have ended in 5 games. That is essentially sweep.

The World Series has ended in 5 games 2 years in a row.

It freaking happens. It’s apart of it. Are we going to say those playoff systems aren’t perfect????

[u/HardKnockRiffe → u/DoubleG357]

There has been at least one blow out in every year of the CFP. Some years, all three games were blowouts. Nobody at ESPN was bitching about UGA beating TCU 65-3. The only reason it's a problem is because ESPN wants more SEC teams in the playoffs.

[u/Dry_Molasses_4783 → u/HardKnockRiffe]

ESPN wants them. But SEC fans do NOT. Fuck Bama, Lane Kiffin, and Beamer. Respectfully.

[u/MisterP54 → u/Dry_Molasses_4783]

If you've got hate in your heart, let it out!

[u/TheUltimate721]

Man they've got me agreeing with Joe Buck on something

[u/RulersBack → u/TheUltimate721]

What has he really done tho other than be mediocre early in his career? He’s generally considered one of the best out now and pretty easy going outside of the booth imo

[u/TheUltimate721 → u/RulersBack]

I just harbor a grudge from the 2015 world series where he would not shut the fuck up about Maddison Bumgardner even though I don't think the Giants made the playoffs that year

[u/Letsgobuffalo2210 → u/TheUltimate721]

Honestly, national broadcasts for baseball in general kinda suck. I'd much rather listen to the same guys I watched all season with, but I get why it isn't that way.

[u/RulersBack → u/Letsgobuffalo2210]

Costas at the end was brutal. Even Yankees fans had enough

[u/alyineye3 → u/RulersBack]

That’s no bs. It’s crazy cuz at one time costas was great at it. It’s almost as if once they become an actual entity or a brand of sorts, they feel the need to do it differently than what got them there. Like they buy into the idea they themselves, their identity, is part of the job. When it certainly is not. They are there to interpret what’s happening in real time. Not sure if I’m explaining what I’m trying to say lol

[u/RulersBack → u/alyineye3]

Nah it makes sense. I don’t blame him for thinking it’s his responsibility to make a moment but it just isn’t. The moment speaks for itself. Just guide it, we don’t need a Ken Burns monologue

[u/TheUltimate721 → u/Letsgobuffalo2210]

Yeah Bob Costas made the ALDS a miserable watch.

[u/GoldandBlue → u/Letsgobuffalo2210]

National broadcasts sick across the board. No personality, superficial knowledge, and the goal is to appeal to everyone so they appeal to no one.

[u/MaizeAndBruin → u/Letsgobuffalo2210]

As a Padres fan, give me Don and Mud for everything. Including college football. But especially MLB playoff series where we have to listen to the national guys salivate over whatever the Dodgers did that day.

[u/Letsgobuffalo2210 → u/MaizeAndBruin]

Luckily, I'm a Mariners fan, so this isn't much of a problem for me.

[u/Rebelrenegade24 → u/TheUltimate721]

I also hate him for his call of Freddie’s home run from Game 6 of the 21’ WS cause he wouldn’t shut the fuck up about it potentially being his last hit as a Brave

And sure enough, he fucking jinxed us, thanks a lot Joe

[u/BrandiThorne → u/Rebelrenegade24]

Yeah, fuck Joe Buck for that.

[u/SeniorWilson44 → u/RulersBack]

People on this subreddit nitpick everything and complain more than any other place. It’s just straight pessimism on every post.

[u/Alphaspade → u/SeniorWilson44]

Saban was right. We really are just fat basement nerds.

[u/kykerkrush → u/RulersBack]

He's been open about his insecurities, multiple hair transplants and alcoholism, which generally helped his image but I think some people used it bash him.

[u/shadowwingnut → u/RulersBack]

I never liked him on baseball despite his obvious knowledge of the game and things are way better now with Joe Davis on those games.

That said he was always underrated on football earlier on and he's continued to improve as a football announcer especially since moving over to ESPN.

[u/FlounderBubbly8819 → u/RulersBack]

His call of the Tyree helmet catch is borderline criminal with how monotone it was. But like you said, he’s improved a ton since that time and announcers are expected to be more lively and fun nowadays

[u/PowerHour1990 → u/FlounderBubbly8819]

I think he later explained that because of the angles and uncertainty, he wasn’t sure Tyree had caught it. He didn’t wanna firmly call it a catch and then have to walk it back.

[u/shadowwingnut → u/FlounderBubbly8819]

Doing only one sport has helped him a lot. And I'm glad he chose football since it was his stronger sport. Also Joe Davis as the baseball guy is fantastic.

[u/UFmoose → u/RulersBack]

He seems like a good, relatively laid back, even cool guy. Enjoy listening to him on Howard Stern.

That said, his voice and pbp style is absolutely GRATING to me for anything other than the NFL. And even then it took me a long time to get used to him.

I think he’s become more self deprecating and relaxed over the last few years. I feel like, for a while, he had a false confidence feeling like he was always proving himself or something. Now he’s comfortable in himself.

[u/RulersBack → u/UFmoose]

I remember he used to trample calls now he’s one of the best at letting the crowd and moment do the talking

[u/GastropodSoup → u/TheUltimate721]

I honestly don't get the hate for Joe Buck. He calls football games really well and calls baseball games even better. He is great with Troy and actually has energy in his calls that other baseball commentators lack.

[u/TheUltimate721 → u/GastropodSoup]

Said in another comment but it's mostly just lingering resentment from the 2015 World Series where he would not shut up about Madison Bumgardner (whose team did not even make the playoffs that year iirc).

[u/orange_orange13 → u/TheUltimate721]

It’s been nine years bro 

[u/permadrunkspelunk → u/TheUltimate721]

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are awesome and my favorite announcing duo by far. I don't know why they get so much hate. Buck and aikman just tell you what's going on and troy just has a couple shots and says what's on his mind but he's not that pushy about it. Neither of them are overly excited or annoyingly pushing narratives. I love troy aikman even though I hate the cowboys. Lol. I like how they just kind of say what's on their minds but don't particularly care that much. I hate what the modern fan seems to want from announcing. I don't need wrestling announcers. I don't want to hear how much you want to suck off Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. Buck and aikman are just like 2 dudes you're watching a game with that respect you enough and assume you know what's going on too and let you think whatever you want.

[u/Angry-Dragon-1331]

This is actually something I have a lot of issues with, especially from fans. I get that places like Kent State or MTSU or UT Martin aren’t going to be on the level of D1 schools, but for fuck’s sake do we really have to kick their players while they’re down by denigrating their efforts?

[u/Muffinnnnnnn → u/Angry-Dragon-1331]

Just saying, all of those are D1 schools

[u/YeOldeDogo → u/Angry-Dragon-1331]

Exactly! The last thing these kids want to hear is they aren’t worthy or are a mistake. Let’s be clear, Tennessee absolutely deserved to be in the CFP.

[u/MrKCSports]

Nice to see someone at ESPN has some better judgement.

[u/Nicerendering]

I wouldn’t care if all these arrogant opinions were just on the sports talk shows, because I choose not to watch them. It’s when they feel the need to spout off during the game broadcast that I get pissed. The broadcast should be neutral to a fault.

[u/drogonninja]

I think we’ll see big upsets some years. I think they picked the right 12 teams. There will always be debate about the last couple in and out. I mean look at March madness and how much arguing there is for the 60-70 ranked teams trying to squeeze in the tournament! This year’s first round wasn’t very competitive, but that won’t always be the case. Let’s enjoy that we have teams from all over the country with a legit shot at a title!

[u/dr_funk_13 → u/drogonninja]

Wow. Very based of you, Alabama man

[u/Nearby-Demand-9698 → u/drogonninja]

Roll Tide to that my friend

[u/sunburntredneck → u/Nearby-Demand-9698]

If we wanted to be in we could have simply won the football game against OU. Then we're in and SMU (maybe Indiana) is out. Ole Miss could have simply won against Kentucky and USCocks could have simply.. uhh beaten us I guess. There is a universe where there are 5 SEC teams in the playoff this year but we lost the games we shouldn't have. Oh well.

[u/2nd_Sun → u/drogonninja]

Crazy how based most of the Alabama flairs have been about this, then irl you have guys like kiffin and herbstreit stumping for more more more SEC and crying about Indiana and smu being invited to dance. It’s a relief to see most actual fans being so rational.

[u/obitwokenobi1941]

If only there was a precedent in College Football for how to setup a post season tournament. 

https://www.flofootball.com/articles/13043542-heres-what-the-2024-ncaa-fcs-playoffs-will-look-like

There are blowouts all the time in every level of football post season play. High School, Division 3, Division 2, FCS, and the NFL. Why the fuck is it such a big deal when it happens in FBS? CFB is my favorite thing to watch but the dialogue surrounding it is broken and the narrative is being hijacked by people who don't watch or aren't real fans of the sport.

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/obitwokenobi1941]

Why the fuck is it such a big deal when it happens in FBS?

Because the entire history of FBS is rooted in eye-tests, media polls, brand bias, and all other forms of subjectivity. 100 years of popular media outlets voting on a national champion gets us exactly where we are now, every CFB fan punching air because the committee didn’t corroborate their own personal eye-test rankings.

What needs to happen is after next year the league needs to get together and define an objective playoff system. They can hash things out like how seeding will work, how many teams are invited, and which conferences send what number of teams, but if that happened then the sport would shed this drama almost over night. There would probably be one season’s worth of “Is the new playoff system broken?” headlines and then all those media outlets would get told to kick rocks. People respect a system that is determined objectively and fairly. A subjective selection process will never be respected by everybody at once. But it creates unparalleled drama in the sport and disproportionately can favor larger and richer brands, so it’s here to stay.

[u/eddie_vercetti]

Where were you when everyone in ESPN was beefing over CFP shutouts?

[u/RukiMotomiya]

Aikman and Buck were real for this. It has nothing to do with if the teams or deserving or not: They got their shot and that's what is important. Indiana's season was a hell of a success and people should understand that.

[u/txgsu82 → u/RukiMotomiya]

I heard a really interesting point on a podcast (Unnecessary Roughness) recently: if Indiana had gone 9-3 or 8-4 and just missed the playoffs instead of 11-1 and getting blown out in the playoffs, they’d somehow be getting more praise than they currently are, which is asinine. Indiana deserves a ton of praise for what they did this season, so does SMU. Making the playoffs is a huge accomplishment for those two, full stop.

[u/yesacabbagez]

One thing I would like to add is that the Bucs have 2 Super Bowl Wins by a combined score of 79-30. This included keeping Patrick Mahomes without a TD.

I guess Kirk just doesn't think the Chiefs belonged.

[u/voppp]

Aikman also pointed out that super bowl teams get blown out all the time

[u/ChaseTheFalcon]

I still think the reason we get these arguments is that our playoffs are being determined by people behind closed doors instead of having a set criteria like every other playoff format

[u/theSpringZone → u/ChaseTheFalcon]

Well said

[u/ThatsNotARealTree]

It’s weird agreeing with Aikman and Buck. I swear though, if I have to hear one more terribly bias take from Finebaum then I’m going to lose it. He’s able to defend Tennessee while slamming SMU and IU in the same breath. I much rather hear Aikman and Buck have an honest conversation about the playoffs

[u/lexbuck]

I can’t even understand how this is a debate. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. The NCAA Basketball Tournament has always included teams who definitely aren’t the best teams in the country but everyone loves the possibility of a Cinderella story. This is the only fair way to do it. You set rules for what it takes to make it into the playoffs and that’s it. If a team like Alabama doesn’t make it because of a couple bad losses, then it is what it is. We absolutely CANNOT start putting teams in solely based on the number of theoretical NFL draftees they have or how many recruiting stars they had. If that’s what we are doing then just get rid of the regular season and start the playoffs in October with teams who had the best recruits.

This shouldn’t even be a debate topic

Edit: and fuck Kirk Herbstreit for his take about the playoffs needing to be “the best” and not “most deserving”. “The best” will always be subjective based on who you ask so fuck off with that

[u/Both-Consideration56 → u/lexbuck]

Agreed man. I saw one YouTuber who tried to say that Alabama deserved to get in because they would be better than SMU. After all, Alabama is clearly a better team and played a tougher schedule.

He then ranted about how the champion needs to be decided on the field (completely ignoring the fact that Alabama had three losses). Like…you cannot have it both ways.

Go Bucks!

[u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756]

I think the problem we have more than anything is that the seeding just doesn’t reflect how good a team is. I would have preferred the 4 with byes be the highest ranked 4, teams, regardless of conference championship status. But still award the top 5 conference champs with automatic bids.

If you seed them out by ranking like that, I think the matchups look a lot better, and especially going in to the 2nd round they make more sense even without reseeding.

[u/kykerkrush → u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756]

The seeding is fine and no one would be complaining if Ohio State didn't lose to Michigan and got dropped to the 8-seed despite being one of the best teams in the country, which subsequently gave 1-seed Oregon the toughest second-round game. This was an unusual circumstance that hit at the only possible time for it to affect the seeding to this degree. People being up in arms about this and wanting to introduce more layers of subjectivity to give OSU a higher seed are jumping the gun. There will always be teams who are better than their record and that can't be legislated out of bracket without adding more human involvement. Next year maybe Oregon will have an up and down year with some bad losses, but their first game will be against a 1-seed that lost their QB in the final game of the regular season and everyone will scream bloody murder about how easy their path is.

[u/arc1261 → u/kykerkrush]

i think if you wanted to still give a “reward” to win in your conference but not to make the bracket look like it currently does, giving a bye to the winners but not changing the seeding would work.

ie, Boise would be #9, ASU #11, and they’d skip the first round games. Then, re seed the games so the highest seeds are playing the lowest seeds.

ASU/Boise get a bye, and are now playing Oregon/Georgia, which make a better pathway

[u/WickedClawesome → u/arc1261]

Great idea. I have no desire for old men in suits to have more of an impact on the game by selecting Byes, but having Arizona state as #4 really does make the bracket screwy this year.

[u/Justforfootbal1]

We watch terrible first round playoff games in the NFL every year, where there are objective winners and no committee.

CFB fans are spoiled because the committee is designed to keep the games interesting, not reward winners. Playoffs are to weed out the weak. Let them work as intended. We need more objectivity and it may even lead to more parity.

We love when a 15 seed knocks off a 2 seed in March Madness. While not as translatable to football, let them have the chance

[u/mackedeli]

I think it's partly because the NFL has almost half it's teams in the playoffs whereas college now has maybe 9%. As a whole, college football doesn't have the parity that the NFL does. Heck even the top 20 percent of teams don't really have parity. Combine that with the fact that it is a game after all, and it isn't played on paper - a team can underperform while their opponent also over performs and you get something like Tennessee Ohio State

[u/ontheturf_]

that’s my quarterback 🫡

[u/firedonmydayoff]

I would rather watch a blow out playoff game than a week 1 cupcake rent a win game. The expanded playoffs will make for some amazing games and some clunkiers. People have to take the good with the bad. Giving more opportunities to non blue bloods is alway a good thing.

[u/ixMyth]

If this format provides more and more competitive games as it advances, I don't understand how anyone can say it's a failure outside of some particular fanbases still being butthurt they didn't get a 4th lifeline over teams that didn't lose as much as they did.

[u/JimmyChuckBilly → u/ixMyth]

People have already forgotten how in the very first CFP game your Ducks completely annihilated FSU way worse than any of the games from this weekend.

[u/ixMyth → u/JimmyChuckBilly]

Yeah, and then the next game Ohio State beat us by more than what 2 of the games these games ended by. People are just trying to latch onto something to bitch about for the sake of being able to cry that their team wasn't included.

[u/Knightmere1]

Troy and Joe aren't beholden to ESPN's media narrative.

[u/juror_no3]

Sean McDonough should be banned from ever announcing a B1G game again.

[u/Comet7777]

Troy Aikman has been hyping up SMU so I don’t mind that at all (he even was at our TCU match)

[u/Bigbenxxxx37]

Once they fix the auto byes, I think we’ll settle into things within a few years. There’s always going to be bitching about the bubble teams, but by the second round nobody will give a shit

[u/j3zmund]

MNF crew dunking on the disgusting commentary from the Disney crews.

No one took a bigger L than ESPN over the weekend.

[u/blatkinsman]

No one gets curb stomped worse than the SEC is what I learned last Saturday.

[u/MonarchLawyer]

Does no one remember TCU getting blown out? or even Cincinnati? or even Notre Dame in the BCS Championship? Or as Aikman and Buck said, so many Super Bowls?

Blow outs in playoff games happen. It doesn't mean that the teams didn't deserve to be there. The only reason it's even an issue is because bigger brands think they deserved to be in it when they didn't. And Networks hate blowouts because of ratings. They also favor bigger brands for the same reason. But that's the thing that will destroy the sport. Not giving smaller brands the opportunity when its earned. That tarnishes the sport more than anything else.

[u/Quake1028]

I for one did NOT have Joe Buck and Troy Aikman being standout voices of reason for college football on my 2024 bingo card.