Home Football Text from a Friend in ACC/SEC Country

Text from a Friend in ACC/SEC Country

81

A friend of mine who is a Georgia Tech alum feels his team cannot realistically compete because they are not one of the 10-15 yearly teams deemed relevant by ESPN. He’s stopped watching all ncaa football, including GaTech. This morning he sent me this text about a co-worker:

Just had a guy I work with tell me he is boycotting College Football , had never told him how I felt before. Maybe this will catch on…

I wrote back excited, and asked why this friend was boycotting.

He is fed up with the money the big programs get.

Well, there you have it. Between me and these two, that’s three fewer college football fans. I expect this to accelerate over the next five to ten years. Seriously, how do some of you waste an entire Saturday on this crap? I can understand following the Beavs out of loyalty, but with regard to the rest, you might as well watch a reality tv or a soap opera.

81 COMMENTS

  1. You just focus on the kids playing a sport. As I get older (42 now) it’s more like watching kids open Xmas presents just for the sheer joy of it. I watch college football and other college sports just to watch the individual performances. As soon as I think about rankings, bowl games, the ESPN TV contracts, dads accepting bribes for their sons, etc. it pisses me off. But I like the game itself and I like seeing how this game reveals character under adversity.

    • yup, and enhancements over at Goss stadium too. The bullpen will be moving to the outfield
      batting cage area with an extension of the left field grandstands that will hold a multi level plaza (as I understand it, something like the bar across the street from Ameritrade in Omaha, but inside
      the stadium, of course.

  2. I like watching FCS football when I get too cynical about FCS. It’s quite a breath of fresh air and makes me glad my alma mater is too small to ever be in the big money leagues.

  3. I don’t watch NCAA football much. I watch the Beavs occasionally, or highlights, but rarely full games. And I don’t watch other teams. It takes too much time when you can read about it (my preference – I can pick what I want) or catch highlights instead

    I’ve said before, I enjoy the comments, insight, and humor on this blog than the game itself. All of my sports viewing has reduced getting to this point; pro sports went out years ago.

    And I’m not giving up large chunks of Saurdays on a regular basis to miss time with my kid. I catch portions of some Beaver games during my kid’s nap.

    The hope has been that an ethically run OSU program can compete for a “good” or better bowl, ideally a Rose Bowl; but the more one understands the corrupt context of NCAA football, the more one understands how meaningless that hope really is.

  4. “The hope has been that an ethically run OSU program can compete for a “good” or better bowl, ideally a Rose Bowl; but the more one understands the corrupt context of NCAA football, the more one understands how meaningless that hope really is.”

    Should have added – “Or how meaningless it is to “win” anything in this context.”

  5. Now that my boys play sports on the weekends and DirecTV does not have the P-12 network I don’t want much college football anymore. I’ve always found SEC football suspect and pretty boring, so I never have spent much time on it anyway. I like watching good mid-majors play against BCS teams and I watch the Beavers and that’s about it.

  6. if you wish to see the “official list” of 17 teams that matter, go to the ESPN
    College Football home page and you’ll see them in the right hand column.

    • Was hearing the local radio guys talk about that yesterday, saying the committee was build with the goal in mind of appearing transparent rather than being credible. they also theorized putting Rice on the board help cover 2 of their minority bases in one shot. “We’ve got a woman and a black person on our panel….we’re good!”

      Wonder how many college football game Rice watches with her busy schedule? Seems like she should have more important things on her plate.

  7. Things I am doing right now instead of watching NCAA football: shopping for Morgan Dollars on Ebay in my underwear while picking random, hard booger from my nose. How do I relay this to advertisers?

    • Okay, I’m half watching games. FSU is blowing out Maryland 56-0 early in the 4th Q. Winston looks pretty good. Not a tight spiral but he gets the ball in the right place and he can take off and run when he needs/ wants to. 5 TD passes today. Maryland the most over-rated #25 team since the Beavers were #25 at the start of the season.

  8. OT. OrangeJulius was right — Corvallis HS sucks this year. Crescent Valley blew them out last night (62-26), so it wasn’t a valid test for Tanner Sanders. From the little I saw last night, TS has improved as a QB, but I still suspect that TS will end up at WR for the Beavs (if he stays healthy, which is a big if). As for Will Heck, he’s still slow afoot. At 6’1″ and 250 lbs (more or less), he was effective at center and at nose guard against weak opposition last night, but still he wasn’t pancaking or plowing over anyone. Doesn’t seem to me that WH has or will have the size, speed, and athleticism to play O-line for the Beavs. Not in the same league as a young stud like Isaac Seumalo or even a Sean Harlow. Portland State seems a more realistic place for WH (and even that may be a stretch).

    • FWIW, I saw Doug Riesenberg at Winco in Corvallis this morning. Doug started at OT for the NY Giants in Super Bowl XXV, and now coaches the offensive line at Crescent Valley.

      I asked Doug about Tanner Sanders (QB vs WR). Doug says he thinks TS has the athletic ability to play either position for the Beavers. According to Doug, TS has shown more as a WR so far, but that’s at least in part because as a QB TS hasn’t had great receivers to work with at CV.

      I also asked Doug about Will Heck. He says that WH has decent technique, and is still young, so he could get bigger and stronger — perhaps even big and strong enough to play D-1 football. He agrees, however, that WH lacks footspeed, and that WH would need to improve significantly if he hopes to play for a team at or close to the level of the Beavs.

      • Just answering questions from other AB’s regarding OSU recruits or potential recruits that I happen to know from the Corvallis prep sports scene. No man crush on TS, and TS is definitely not my kid.

  9. Minnesota just capped off a 16 play 75 yard drive with a TD. Took 9:44 off the clock. Somebody send video of that drive to Riley. That’s how you play the ducks. By keeping their offense off the field

    • Hopefully banker is learning something? Are you listening to yourself? Banker doesn’t need to learn anything. His schemes are fundamentally sound against offense known to man. When they don’t work it’s because the players didn’t execute. Don’t you know that????

  10. I asked my wife if she wanted to watch her Ducks and Buffs this afternoon. She says, “I don’t know. I mean, it’s nice that we’re good and all that. But they’re so boring to watch. Let’s record it and go do something else. We can always check the final score to see if it’s even worth watching.”

    • Interesting story…I asked my wife if she wanted to watch football all day with me, drink a shortcase of beer and eat a pack of cheese hot dogs and she said she was going to go shopping at Macy’s instead. I don’t think she even cares what the final scores are. I’m starting to think chicks just aren’t into football that much.

      • My wife hates shopping and loves football. We’ll be watching games today.

        We got home in time to turn on the TV and see that the score was 57-16. The next play was the Ducks QB running to the right, running past the line of scrimmage a full two yards right in front of the ref and flipping a lateral to a receiver which went forward by another two yards. The ref didn’t bother to call the illegal forward pass. We looked at each other, turned the game off and deleted the recording figuring the rest of the game would be of similar quality.

  11. Colorado is hanging with Oregon early. Entertaining game so far. Colorado playing outside the box with a few trick plays and even opened the game with an onside kick. Oregon will probably win easy, but its nice to see them have to try a little. CO up 10-8 with 9:30 to go in the first

  12. Richardson just made one of the most impressive catches I’ve ever seen. Stretched out 1 handed catch while the Oregon defender is committing the pass interference penalty. Looks much better today than he did last week.

  13. I know that defense isn’t our forte this season, but I wish it were. Oregon seems less focused this year on that side of the ball and the first team to emphasis it will crush them.

  14. The only people I know that watch college sports at all are people who went to games in college and then stuck with their allegiances after graduation. The actual numbers of people watching college sports is far lower than any outlet is reporting.

  15. Sick of big money programs? Ha! It’s been this way for decades. Notre Dame, USC, Texas, Alabama, OU, Ohio State, Michigan, maybe a few others…that’s your traditional powers with tons of money. In fact, the current situation is probably the most ‘even’ the playing field has ever been with the absurd TV contracts getting thrown around to schools Oregon State, Wazzu, etc.

    • the rich getting richer makes it the most “even” playing field it has ever been huh??? So tell me why we aren’t building these plush football facilities they have at Alabama and Whoregon???? TV revenue is dividided equally per conference team. Tack on whatever rich owner, donor throws at whatever school and the rich get richer. Child, please.

  16. OT:
    Josh McCuistion ?@JLMcCuistion 13m
    Was able to confirm that Booker T. LB Jonathan Willis (@JWilllis32) has committed to #OregonState. #OKPreps

  17. My grandpa boycotted college football too! He says he doesn’t like watching all those doggone commercials. Now he just reads the scores in the newspaper with a tall glass of Ovaltine.

  18. Jason Quick @jwquick

    Lyerla alluded to potential big news coming in conversations I had with him regarding the “circumstances” story.
    6:49 PM – 6 Oct 2013

    • Somebody was posting that he had a bolt loose when we were recruiting him. Guess they were right. Anybody know what is the real story is?

      • only things I have heard (and I don’t claim to be in the know) is when he was being recruited, he was asked to leave halfway through his trip down to UCLA. Not sure exactly why but I have also heard he has a drug problem is currently behind the reason his leaving UO. If he hadn’t left on his own accord he probably would have been kicked off the team. Don’t know if any of that is true, it’s just what I have heard from my only source that “claims” to know dickville. I’m curious to hear what his side of the circumstances story is.

    • Well, he looks like a sound, safe investment: freakish size/ability – all natural no doubt – and good teammate and practice behaviors…

  19. OT – One ranking of the top five PAC Qbs. I think the overall rankings are probably about right based on the games played so far this season:

    http://www.oregonsportsnews.com/team-news/oregon-ducks/top-five-quarterbacks-in-the-pac-12.html

    But I am curious about what people who have watched NCAA football think about Mariota. I understand he is a tremendous dual threat QB. I am curious about his ability to throw; which throws he can/cannot make, and how his decision-making and accuracy are? In seems to me in that offense, with spreading people out and isolating them, that their is not such a premium on accuracy.

    I am knocking him for being successful in the UO system, just curious if he can “make all the throws” as some have suggested.

    • I think this is a glass half full assessment:
      http://rosterwatch.com/2014-nfl-draft-player-profile-marcus-mariota-qb-oregon

      I say that because that was the assessment of his play from last year. While I disagree with the “zip into tight windows” comment, the rest is somewhat objective. And he is not as good this year as he was last year. So take this write-up and make “sometimes wildly inaccurate” into “not really accurate at all.”

      His arm strength is a myth. The reason he “hits tight windows” is because he only throws to receivers he sees open. By the time he gets the ball to the spot, the huge window that was there is now a tiny window. He does have a quick release, so he can be late on these plays on the college level and still wildly succeed. But he can’t make those throws in the NFL and expect anything but a bunch of INTs.

      His accuracy is way down this year because he still doesn’t know how to make a second or third read from the pocket. He can make his one read and throw the ball if he sees the receiver open. But he misses on way too many of those throws. And that’s when receivers are wide open due to the scheme. Most of his completions are behind the LOS or made when the play breaks down and he’s on the loose. He was very accurate last year when he was on the move. But he seems to have regressed in that area as well.

      That being said, he’s going to rack up stupid numbers due to system. And someone will buy him as a first round QB. I’m going to guess Oakland, Tampa or Jax all waste picks on Manziel, Braxton Miller, Boyd or Mariota. And I’m going to say one of those four win the Heisman.

      • I agree. He is a tremendous physical talent but #’s are driven by system. If your goal is to play QB in the NFL, MR’s system is about as good of a training ground as you can get.

      • Every time I’ve seen him play, he’s looked inaccurate to me. During last year’s Civil War game, after getting my first glimpse of him, my thought was “maybe if we force Mariota to throw a bunch we can win this…” Obviously that doesn’t work, but his arm seems like the weak link of the offense to me. He just can’t make 15+ yard throws consistently.

      • And it’s pretty easy when you are throwing to wide open receivers. As good as their Offense has been stat wise. I don’t think they are nearly as sharp as they were a year ago.

      • For the future, there’s a few notable NCAA qb’s that were athletic that didn’t cut it in the pros, including one “mobile” duck Smith and Harrington:

        http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/photos/7001/nfl-draft-quarterbacks-first-round-busts/

        Vince Young among them. He probably was as nearly as good a runner as Mariota, had a stronger arm, but struggled with accuracy.

        Dennis Dixon never made it as a passer (did he play with Kelly as O Coordinator?), I don’t know that he made the Eagles this year; with Kelly as his coach. Mariota seems to be a Dixon-like athlete to me; tall, thin, a good runner and an acceptable passer. In that system. And somebody who can run that system well. I just get the sense that even if the hype for his present is justified, the hype about his pro future might be overstated, and if it is, it will because of his ability/inability to throw with strength and accuracy.

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