No person watched the Rose Bowl on TV, despite the fact that it was a very good sport.
Penn State received 35-21, upsetting Utah for the Nittany Lions’ second victory of the season. The primary was… [checks Penn State’s schedule] …in Auburn? The sport was performed on a Monday afternoon, or the day after New Yr’s, which meant that solely your retired grandfather watched “Granddaddy of Them All”.
This yr’s Rose Bowl has its lowest TV score ever.
My column I wrote final weekend about disliking the present format of the “New Yr’s Six” bowl video games outdoors of the Faculty Soccer Playoff elicited very robust reactions – Each good and dangerous – After which America authorised it on Mondays, for good or for dangerous. The semi-finals are lastly delivered with two nice video games, but it surely might be school soccer post-season soooo A lot better.
However is not this one thing we have recognized for a very long time?
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If solely there was a strategy to make these well-run bowl video games part of the American consciousness yearly. True. There may be positively as a result of folks on this nation get pleasure from gala’s.
No person’s complaining about Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading into the postseason with an 8-8 document in Week 18 of the NFL schedule. Now think about Brady heading to a postseason exhibition sport despite the fact that the Bucs received the NFC South. He’ll most likely retire earlier than the sport.
Evolution is coming for faculty soccer, and perhaps in 5 years or 10 years we’ll additionally name it a revolution. The 12-team playoff format begins in 2024, however they’re already speaking about increasing it to 16 groups beginning in 2026. I have been a 16-team champion for years. Why wait any longer for the inevitable?
Picture of Tulane within the Cotton Bowl upsetting USC. Very effectively, is not it? A cute little feel-good story. Now pictured is No. 12 Tulane taking part in with the wire towards No. 5 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in a first-round sport. Speak about turning again the clock on school soccer. Tulane and Alabama like the nice previous days? That is the stuff of legends way back on the flip of the twentieth century. Beneath the brand new 12-team playoff format, groups ranked 5 by means of eight by the Faculty Soccer Playoff choice committee will host first-round video games. What a prize. Should not groups ranked 1-4 get an opportunity to host a playoff? Would not America deserve the possibility to have 16 legendary gamers like Troy upsetting a #1 ranked SEC crew on the street within the playoffs?
It seems to be so lovely that I might cry.
Tulane impressed America on Monday with its impression of USC on the Cotton Bowl. Tulane hasn’t even run the desk this season within the American Athletic Convention. The Inexperienced Wave misplaced to Central Florida 38-31 and likewise dropped a sport to their non-conference opponent, the Golden Eagles went 4-4 within the Solar Belt.
Tulane’s story has been a terrific story this season and everybody liked seeing the Inexperienced Wave win the cotton race. guess what? Troy was higher. The Trojans might have given TCU a terrific sport this season. It would not appear unimaginable for a crew like Troy, UAB, or Tulane to make a 16-team playoff sooner or later. No, it appears probably.
UAB coach Trent Dilfer Would not sound loopy in spite of everything.
When Dilfer took over at Southside, the previous NFL quarterback turned coach mentioned it was time to start out serious about the faculty soccer sport. He was not mistaken. UAB joins the AAC in 2023 And it instantly activates an thrilling schedule. The Blazers have rival Memphis, South Florida, Florida Atlantic, and Temple at house. Convention away video games towards North Texas, UTSA, Tulane and Navy.
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Alternative is energy, and it results in profitable TV offers, too. The NCAA Match will not be contemplating increasing to incorporate 25 % of its Division I groups totally free.
No. 3 TCU (13-1) performs No. 1 Georgia (14-0) at 6:30 p.m. ET Monday night time within the Faculty Soccer Playoff Championship sport at Sophie Stadium within the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. No person ever anticipated TCU to make the Faculty Soccer Playoff this season, however new coach Sonny Dykes has been mining effectively on the switch portal and the Horned Frogs are on hearth with veteran quarterback Max Duggan. Duggan wasn’t even a TCU participant within the first sport of the season. He was, nevertheless, the primary choose for the Heisman Trophy, and I be ok with that choose after TCU beat Michigan 51-45 within the CFP semifinals.
Is TCU a coincidence or a pattern? I might choose the latter as a result of in 2021 Cincinnati turned the primary of the G-5 groups to make a CFP. It would not seem like TCU goes away both. The Horned Frogs are restocking for subsequent season with transfers from SEC colleges, together with three gamers from Alabama: offensive guard Tommy Brookermayer, receiver Jojo Earle, and most not too long ago, working again Trey Sanders.
Alabama followers He all the time makes enjoyable of transfers leaving this system They usually say to themselves it would not damage the crimson tide, however that is not the purpose, is it? The purpose is, TCU would not should play the SEC schedule, but it surely does fill the gaps in its roster with gamers from the league’s finest. Of TCU’s 20 transfers between 2021 and 2022, six began within the Massive 12 Championship sport or within the CFP Semifinals. They have been linebacker Josh Newton of Louisiana-Monroe, security Mark Perry of Colorado, Jared Wiley of Texas, offensive lineman Alan Ali of SMU, linebacker Johnny Hodges of Navy and linebacker Shadrach Banks of Texas A&M. Former Georgia participant Tymon Mitchell is the backup nostril sort out for TCU.
The switch portal and NIL swimming pools are reshaping school soccer quicker than anybody thought attainable, however the biggest aim of all is postseason growth.
Does TCU’s place within the Faculty Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship sport give Texas and Oklahoma a second considered becoming a member of the SEC? should. No means this TCU crew can flip the tables within the SEC. How ridiculous wouldn’t it really feel for the Longhorns to affix the SEC after which watch TCU make the Faculty Soccer Playoff? TCU has received Texas 17-10 this season.
As a columnist who primarily covers the Securities and Change Fee, I am glad Texas and Oklahoma are becoming a member of the league in 2025 (however perhaps 2024). The circus might be inside a zoo throughout a spherical rodeo wrapped round Mardi Gras each weekend. As a university soccer fan, I am extra excited in regards to the future well being of the sport if the Faculty Soccer Playoff jumps to 16 groups.
Georgia is the 12.5-point favourite within the Nationwide Championship sport, and everybody will announce the Bulldogs as the following Alabama with back-to-back championships, but it surely appears fairly clear to me that the decades-old dynasty days are on the way in which. Outdoors. Or a minimum of change to one thing else.
Is that this how a dynasty ends for Alabama’s Nick Saban, or is it the usual that makes a dynasty flip into one thing else? Bobby Bowden’s dynasty at FSU is measured towards historical past by Noles’ consecutive 10-win seasons (14). Alabama’s run with Saban produced six nationwide championships in 12 seasons and 15 consecutive 10-win seasons (and the primary season ever to incorporate 11 straight wins towards SEC opponents, which is so historic and legendary that I wrote a e book about it). With parity created by the switch gate and prolonged NIL and postseason swimming pools, will making the playoffs be the brand new norm for Energy 5 heavyweights?
Who’s the following TCU? It might be Colorado. don’t giggle. New Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has already picked 17 gamers from the switch portal. When the Buffs make the playoffs in 2024, you already know that the Faculty Soccer choice committee might be putting the prime-time coach contained in the Rose Bowl.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist to the Alabama Media Group, and creator “We Need Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Closing Workforce”. Yow will discover him on Twitter @worker.