CFB 2022 Week 7: Are we sure we want Tennessee to be good again?

luckiestman

Son of the Harpy
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
32,618
Forgive me for looking ahead. SEC could have an interesting scenario. What if Georgia beats Tenn, and Bama beats Georgia in the championship game. You get 3 one loss teams where Tenn beat Bama beat Georgia beat Tenn.
 

canderson

Mr. Brightside
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
39,429
Harrisburg, Pa.
Forgive me for looking ahead. SEC could have an interesting scenario. What if Georgia beats Tenn, and Bama beats Georgia in the championship game. You get 3 one loss teams where Tenn beat Bama beat Georgia beat Tenn.
Add to that - what if Michigan beats Ohio State buy then loses in the big 12 title game?

Today was chaos for the playoffs.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,429
Rocky Top can score on anyone

Hooker looks legit
Just needs to avoid stupid fumbles

Bama and ND lose
Good day
 

CFB_Rules

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2016
1,603
He looks up, sees the ball was gone, puts hands on him, and follows through with a push to the ground. Foul. The rule is clear, if it's reasonable to expect the defender to know that the ball is away, he just can't touch the QB. This guy knew or should have known the ball was gone.

He's fine until the hands extend to push him to the ground.
 

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
He looks up, sees the ball was gone, puts hands on him, and follows through with a push to the ground. Foul. The rule is clear, if it's reasonable to expect the defender to know that the ball is away, he just can't touch the QB. This guy knew or should have known the ball was gone.

He's fine until the hands extend to push him to the ground.
What happened on that interception near the end of the game? Clear PI, but the interception runback burned several seconds off the clock. Except the clock got stopped during the runback! Figured there were 4 seconds, left, they made it 13! So USC got 2 extra plays, not that it ended up mattering.
 

CFB_Rules

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2016
1,603
What happened on that interception near the end of the game? Clear PI, but the interception runback burned several seconds off the clock. Except the clock got stopped during the runback! Figured there were 4 seconds, left, they made it 13! So USC got 2 extra plays, not that it ended up mattering.
First I think #83 gave him an extra shove at the end out of bounds into the bench.

This kind of clock error is really hard to catch unless the clock operator fesses up to it (if they aren't on the radio system with the crew they could just run the clock out forcing the crew to make a correction). At the end of the play the officials will look at the clock and see it running and then stopped. It's not such a huge time discrepancy that it would trigger internal alarm bells like if only two seconds had come off the clock. Replay can get this. There is an old-school practice that some side judges do that's going out of style. They keep the game time on their wrist-watch and start and stop it just as the game clock operator would. During timeouts they re-sync their watch to the game time if there is no egregious difference. Before replay it was the only way to make informed time corrections. That's the only way the on-field crew could catch this I think, and most side judges don't do it anymore.

EDIT: Oh wow I didn't watch the whole thing, there's more to unpack here. So there was a timeout signal given on the field by an official, which is treated exactly like an inadvertent whistle. The game clock operator did nothing wrong. The penalty bails the officials out of the nasty aspects of having an IW (foul enforcement trumps IW enforcement). The calling official is the one who stopped the clock, maybe he calls basketball too
 
Last edited:

Humphrey

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 3, 2010
3,163
Regarding NCAA games and the way they're called/telecast.

The games take way, way, way too long to play (Bama game well over 4 hours), interrupted by numerous (often needlessly lengthy) replays and excessively long commercial breaks. Plus, when they come back from a break, they don't start the game right away.
 

nolasoxfan

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 11, 2004
6,930
Displaced
Vols for sure seems correct. I have not watched much Michigan yet.
Doesn't really matter. Clemson will be a playoff team if they finish undefeated and win the ACC title game.

The bigger question: will the Committee dare to leave a one-loss Tulane out of the playoff? :p
 

terrynever

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 25, 2005
21,717
pawtucket
Paper (Nittany) Lions
This was first used in regards to Penn State when in 1971 the 10-0 Nits got hammered in Knoxville, 31-10. George Plimpton’s movie “Paper Lion” came out in 1968 and the Philly Daily News used a Paper Lions headline on the back page. Been used many times since, most recently by you.
The 1971 Lions finished their season with a 30-6 romp over Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
 

Remagellan

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
This was first used in regards to Penn State when in 1971 the 10-0 Nits got hammered in Knoxville, 31-10. George Plimpton’s movie “Paper Lion” came out in 1968 and the Philly Daily News used a Paper Lions headline on the back page. Been used many times since, most recently by you.
The 1971 Lions finished their season with a 30-6 romp over Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Good, I root for them, although I went to Not Penn State, not there. But that was a pretty disappointing effort in a game that has to serve as a measuring stick for how good this team really is. That said, I'll certainly be rooting that they finish as well as they did in 1971.
 

terrynever

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 25, 2005
21,717
pawtucket
Good, I root for them, although I went to Not Penn State, not there. But that was a pretty disappointing effort in a game that has to serve as a measuring stick for how good this team really is. That said, I'll certainly be rooting that they finish as well as they did in 1971.
Did you hear or read about the halftime verbal jousting in the tunnel? Sounds like the Nits we’re talking smack and Michigan just shut them up. When your defense’s best players are in the secondary, and you routinely play 5 DBs on many plays, Michigan is going to pound you to death.
 

jsinger121

@jsinger121
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
17,676
Clemson did not impress against BC at least on the offensive side of the ball.
Also who has Clemson really beaten as well. Wake forest and NC State and a bunch of scrubs. I’d rather have Tennessee’s win over Alabama, LSU and Florida than Clemson’s mid ranked ACC teams.
 

nolasoxfan

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 11, 2004
6,930
Displaced
Also who has Clemson really beaten as well. Wake forest and NC State and a bunch of scrubs. I’d rather have Tennessee’s win over Alabama, LSU and Florida than Clemson’s mid ranked ACC teams.
Those ACC "scrubs" you refer to are ranked #13 and #23, respectively, right now (and were ranked higher when Clemson beat them).
Tell me where LSU and Florida are ranked.

And Fla St., the team Clemson just handled, beat LSU.

Edit: I'll say it again, Clemson will be a playoff team if they finish undefeated and win the ACC title game.

Edit2: removed the FFS. The post wasn't meant to be snark or aggressive. Apologies to @jsinger121.
 
Last edited:

nolasoxfan

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 11, 2004
6,930
Displaced
Probably “correct” considering Michigan soundly beat #10 Penn State this week whereas Clemson had some trouble with un-ranked Florida State.
Trouble? They ran off 27 unanswered points and dominated the game from the middle of the second quarter until the latter half of the fourth. The only "trouble" was the defense losing focus and clock watching as the game wound down.
 

Awesome Fossum

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
3,893
Austin, TX
An undefeated Clemson is clearly making the playoff. I think we're down to TCU, UCLA, and Syracuse as teams that could finish undefeated and theoretically be left out.
 

dhappy42

Straw Man
Oct 27, 2013
15,725
Michigan
Trouble? They ran off 27 unanswered points and dominated the game from the middle of the second quarter until the latter half of the fourth. The only "trouble" was the defense losing focus and clock watching as the game wound down.
Yes, “some trouble.” Favored by 4.5. Won by 6.

Dabo Swinney reacts to Clemson football’s ‘disappointing’ finish in FSU win
https://amp.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/clemson-university/article267364837.html

Michigan stomped Penn State. Favored by 4.5. Won 41-17.
 

thehitcat

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 25, 2003
2,376
Windham, ME
Yeah Tennesee still has Georgia and Michigan Ohio State so only 2 of those teams at most will get through unscathed. That leaves Clemson to play out the remainder of their schedule and unless they do something boneheaded like lose to Syracuse they'll be in the playoff.

As for where the polls are this week well Clemson moved ahead of Michigan despite Michigan winning a couple of weeks ago. It's all perception at this point. We haven't even had a CFP poll yet.
 

Average Reds

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 24, 2007
35,330
Southwestern CT
Yeah Tennesee still has Georgia and Michigan Ohio State so only 2 of those teams at most will get through unscathed. That leaves Clemson to play out the remainder of their schedule and unless they do something boneheaded like lose to Syracuse they'll be in the playoff.

As for where the polls are this week well Clemson moved ahead of Michigan despite Michigan winning a couple of weeks ago. It's all perception at this point. We haven't even had a CFP poll yet.
This seems right.

If the Big 10 champ is either Michigan or OSU they will be in the playoff. (If the winner of the Big 10 West wins the conference, they won’t be going.) If Clemson wins the ACC they will be in the playoff.

Where they stand in the polls now is irrelevant.
 

smokin joe wood

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
834
Regarding NCAA games and the way they're called/telecast.

The games take way, way, way too long to play (Bama game well over 4 hours), interrupted by numerous (often needlessly lengthy) replays and excessively long commercial breaks. Plus, when they come back from a break, they don't start the game right away.
Almost all college football games of consequence give the broadcast crew approx. 20 total seconds to get to commercial break and come back from commercial break. It's baked into the timing. It's negligible when you consider all of the other factors at work.

Each individual network DOES control how many commercial breaks are in each quarter and how long they are. That is something I don't think most fans keep track of. FOX games have more commercial inventory than ESPN games for example.

Shortening college games is pretty simple:
Run the clock after first downs. Offenses in college are much faster than the pros. They don't need the crutch. Chain crews shouldn't be a determining factor.
Shorten halftime. 20 minutes is too long. Make it 15. Still longer than the NFL.
Train new and younger replay officials. Too often the replay review booth is slowed by old men who don't know how to properly watch multiple things at the same time and it leads to needless and lengthy reviews.
 

CFB_Rules

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2016
1,603
Shortening college games is pretty simple:
Run the clock after first downs. Offenses in college are much faster than the pros. They don't need the crutch. Chain crews shouldn't be a determining factor.
Shorten halftime. 20 minutes is too long. Make it 15. Still longer than the NFL.
Train new and younger replay officials. Too often the replay review booth is slowed by old men who don't know how to properly watch multiple things at the same time and it leads to needless and lengthy reviews.
How about you shorten the number of commercials, and sell the limited slots at a higher price?
 

Average Reds

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 24, 2007
35,330
Southwestern CT
How about you shorten the number of commercials, and sell the limited slots at a higher price?
Agree that commercials are the driver for the ridiculous length of games, but the core problem is the ever-escalating rights fees that networks are paying to the conferences.

The networks may charge more, but I don’t think they will be reducing inventory unless viewers refuse to watch because of it.
 

smokin joe wood

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
834
How about you shorten the number of commercials, and sell the limited slots at a higher price?
I think this is something the networks should look at for many of the lower-level games. ESPNU, FS2, SEC Network, etc...

We are talking about two separate things. Shortening the games and too many commercials. There are easily doable measures that can help both. For example, shortening halftime by 5 minutes would eliminate two commercial breaks in each game.

We have a great example of how to shorten games. The NFL plays most of their games in a 3-hour window with the same timing structure (four 15-min quarters), a shorter halftime (by 8 minutes), and more and longer commercials. The average NFL game is 20-25 minutes shorter than the average college game. That includes college games where there is very little inventory and commercial breaks are less than half the length of an average NFL commercial break.

Rule changes are easily the most pragmatic way to shorten college football games. Getting all of the different networks to agree to remove inventory from live sporting events is not practical in the current landscape. Cable companies and live streaming services NEED that ad space to keep their products from being insanely expensive.

Fun fact: The NFL did a survey a few years ago on longer commercials vs. fewer commercials and most fans wanted fewer commercials that were longer. So the uniform commercial format changed to a 4/4/4/4 format. Which is 4 breaks per quarter.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,429
NFL games are shorter purely because a first down does not stop the clock and shorter halftime
 
Last edited:

CFB_Rules

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2016
1,603
NFL games are shorter purely because a first down does not stop the clock
I don't know most FBS-level referees will wind the clock within 3-4 seconds of a 1st down being made (unless it is the end of the half). So if you have 60 or so 1st downs in a game (which is obviously a high estimate, see Iowa football) that's only a couple minutes. That's also partially offset by the fact that the NFL has a full stoppage with 2 minutes to go in each half and CFB doesn't.

According to online stats, the average NFL game is 3 hours 12 minutes. Steve Shaw says the average FBS game this year is 3 hours 26 minutes, which is up from previous years. 8 minutes of the 14 minute difference is directly attributable to halftime. The remaining 6 minutes could be 1st downs or just general college tempo. College FB averages 20 more plays per game than the NFL.