Here for the Wins

Too many teams, too few games, too many unbalanced schedules. This discussion has centered entirely around the number of teams. The inequality of seedings is impactful. Ole Miss and Oregon are getting gifts this year due to seeding. Tech is the #4 because of their weak schedule. Tech and Ole Miss were gifted their seeds and to a lesser degree Oregon. OU was fortunate to get a spot yet gets a home game. Miami played what 8 home games? They never left home until October. We played as many games away from home in October as they and Ole Miss did the entire season. Also due to imbalanced schedules you have to address whether you want the best X number of teams or the x best seasons. It’s a legitimate case that Texas and Notre Dame were top 6-ish teams at the end of the year. They’re actually two teams that could impact things. If you want to chase a system for playoff purposes, you have to limit the teams so you can balance the schedules. Even within a divisional structure you’ll still have unbalanced schedules, but you have some defined structure.

Let’s not confuse Wingo with a 2nd year broke hand Worthy, particularly after Worthy put up the freshman year he did.

That is not Pff. Overall, pff had Campbell higher with Robertson not too far off. Think they had Hutson as higher graded in run blocking. PFF had one Olineman that was a disaster for us, which is probably a reasonably accurate depiction.

I said trending more to a casual fan not that there aren’t many casuals as it is. Attendance at many institutions hasn’t changed dramatically over the years. That’s what I would consider a large population of non-casual fans. You may be right on fans not tuning in as much as they say they do. But my small population of known fans don’t really miss any Texas games. To get more eyeballs on the tv, it has to be the casual fan. Some of those become serious fans but probably smaller proportions.

Trending to a more casual fan because of greater access is not a positive in many ways for us non-casual fans. But that’ll just take a generation or two to wipe us out. There still is only 1 championship. You can say Tulane and James Madison are competing, but are they really? In all years past, the SEC and Big 10 teams were competing. You just didn’t like how that looked.

If 9-3 is the minimum requirement, guess what that means? You’ve now enticed more teams to schedule less vigorously in the non-conference. People need to consider that increasing the number of playoff participants that will ultimately jockey for position. The more that are jockeying for position with a such a qualifier, the fewer risks more teams will take. So maybe a borderline top 20 team contemplates playing Georgia. Why when that’s a 25% chance at a win? Or a Tennessee in the SEC, says no way am I scheduling anyone worth a damn. Ironically enough, a talking point for playoff expansion encourages tougher scheduling. Look how long that took to question that belief. Think of all the middle tier conference teams that they think they’d have a shot at 16 or 24. You are not incentivizing them to have more difficult schedules. There are reasons college football has the greatest regular season that lasts 3 months. So many willing to sacrifice for the hope of one good month. Keep chasing that perfect solution that doesn’t exist. Actually 2005 was about perfect, never to be seen again.

Bobby, uninformed or inaccurate stuff is a message board tradition. If you remove all that, what do we have left? I will never quite understand the mentality of fans wanting the program to push people out the door assuming they go about their business the right way. With NIL and the portal, things have shifted, but I’m not quite to that point. Obviously we can improve, but this team didn’t lose games because we were physically incapable. We simply did not make enough plays at the right time. We were far from healthy too and the schedule was the most difficult to navigate. I am woefully uninformed on NIL allocations and with that I cannot begin to discuss the proper moves regarding the roster. So I take the guys for who they are and their upside, which for many players that upside is realized over the years and not necessarily from year 1.

The argument can also be made for Notre Dame and Miami.

I gave my reasons subsequent to Kevin’s initial post. Rather than being so arrogant and stating there was zero logic there perhaps you should inquire as to what my logic is before making such a declaration. And the point you are making is not one that applies only to a 24 teams playoff. Sure, this year I’d rather be in than not. And you can certainly track my posts to reflect that. I am an old man now. So many years ago, the last time I played a game of football I never knew, never thought it’d be my last. It was. There are emotions associated with that. So I’m not going to call a bowl game or any game meaningless. But you go ahead. And as a fan, I’ll look forward to it and cheer the Horns on. Additionally on the season ticket holder bit, I feel the need/desire to be there for all the big games. The more games you have the more pressure from a financial and time perspective. Perhaps you have more of those resources than I do, perhaps less. I have no idea. But I’ve already gone through the exercise of attempting to manage this thought process last year. Adding another layer does not help that but also just expands the issues on the selection process. These dudes can’t handle 12. They won’t be able to handle doubly thst.

It’s expensive enough as it is. You’re also getting into family time. I’ve missed maybe 5 home games in 30 years, one being Clemson for that very reason. The 24 teams devalues the regular season. You only play 12 games so we may be in the midst of a debate as to whether we schedule tough teams. I care little about a team that loses 4 games (or 33%) getting a shot at an undefeated. So there’s a possibility that we shelve the marquee games. If so, I’ve now lost one of the best reasons to have tickets. Even if you get that one back in the postseason, you may be paying for an extra throwaway game early on. All in favor of shuffling the chairs on the Titanic. The more teams you allow in, the more debate will ensue. Not just who is in but the seeds. Those seeds determine who gets byes, who gets home games, who get the James Madisons. All those factors will get teams hyper focused on manipulating their schedules to maximize their opportunities.

As a season ticket holder, 24 teams is terrible. You’ll still have the same issues anyway. You haven’t heard the seeding complaints yet. Why does such and such get the 11 seed or 12 seed to play. Thats a massive benefit.

The above reproach official deemed he was pushed out. Even though they did not show much of a push. I request you look back in memory banks to 2021 OU when our defense came out. They converted 3rd down on such a play. Jacoby jones got hurt that drive then a TD. It was bs.

Are they acting as instructed?

He may not be quite prepared for the pressure. Really, he can’t win no matter what he does. i do not see the justification for having Ole Miss in front of the Aggies. That could be incredibly significant in that one gets the 11 seed the other gets the 10. I’m not completely certain that Oregon deserves it either. But pushing the Aggies down to 7 and Vandy at 14 diminishes those two wins slightly. There is bad information out there. Saban just said Miami kicked Notre dames ass. Kicked the game winner with 1 minute left. They outgained them by 25 yards. Miami got two turnovers in scoring position. They got 1 first down and 3 points. For a game at home, that’s not ass kicking. But the world views it as such now.

Texas led Vandy for 59:45 of the game. For 55 minutes they couldn’t even tie the game. They only had 4 snaps in the entire game to tie it up. If they call the interference on the overturned TD, there’s a good chance we win by 2-3 scores.

Money is the cause of much of this no doubt. But fans have clamored for playoffs for decades. With that those with the most power were never going to be satisfied getting shorted their seats at the table and their dollars. People are complaining about the top 12, but it’s also the seeding that matters too. That won’t change. If you expand it to 16, you’re introducing more into the argument. And you still have the issue of too many teams with too few games in unbalanced schedules. With 16, you’ll have to do something with the conference championships because now there’s no byes. Right now you get people arguing over Miami versus Notre Dame because they won a coin flip game late on a FG in the first game of the year. Is it the best 12 teams or those with the seasons? I’d say Texas and Notre Dame are both top 12 right now based on the available information. Theres more of a debate whether Notre Dame and Texas have had one of the 12 (or 10) best seasons. In my opinion they have. With each attempt to get the playoffs right, you give away something that was meaningful over the 100 plus years of college football that made it a special thing. Bowl games and conference championships meant something. You know what season was perfect? Texas-USC. Last year Ohio State didn’t even win their conference but were national champs. Not making the conference championship likely helped that effort. The super conferences are the only way to get this consistent. You can schedule as you like in non-conference cause advancement is not dependent upon it. You can then somewhat balance the conference schedules. Then the divisions within the conference determines who advances. It sounds terrible, but that’s the path.

Forgetting? No. I’d wager people are unaware, don’t care. I wasn’t aware. I’ve paid quite a bit of attention, but you’re the first I’ve known give this any attention. Thing is this year that Texas and Vandy have the potential to make waves, probably more so than many years. So the “win it on the field” mantra isn’t exactly accurate this year.

Fewer games than the NFL, far more unbalanced schedules leads to inconclusive choices.

I think A&M got hosed to keep us out of it. Maybe Vandy too.

Um, lack of understanding?

Other notes or points of discussion. South Florida sent UF reeling. LSU got them at home and Lagway fell apart. Miami got them at their low point. The latter two games on the road. The week off prior to Texas allowed them to regroup and rally like they did last year. Manny was out and Wilson played for the first time. Their top 2 WRs versus us that accounted for 65% of their passing yards did not play versus Ole Miss. Wilson had about 20 snaps versus Georgia. Brown didn’t play versus Georgia. So, yes, their game versus Texas was very different from a timing, location and personnel standpoint.

OU being a lock is a joke. They lost at home. They lost a neutral site. Is Tennessee their 2nd best win? Or Michigan? Tennessee got blown out at home by Vandy. Michigan got handled by OSU at home. Vandy beat most of OUs contenders for 2nd best win. The only metric they have us on is losses. And lost head to head. By 3 scores.

Yet Doc I feel as though you wasted my time. JH, not so much.

I would like to see a good, in depth analysis of home versus away win-loss percentage. As there is some premature, preliminary debate on should Texas schedule the Ohio States or also rans, this would add another discussion point regarding such decisions. That extra loss may cost you an invite to the party, but it certainly is likely to cost you a home game. Actually it’s not the losing of a home game, but it’s giving you an away game rather than a neutral site game. There are references made, but it’s minimally discussed. There are too many teams with them all having unbalanced schedules, playing too few games to be awarding significant advantages based those factors.