2025-2026 College Football Thread

[Spurrier Sucks]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

A betting website dropped these projected lines for potential playoff matchups this week.

LSU (-3.5) vs. Georgia
Ohio St. (pick'em) vs. Clemson
Ohio St. (-3.5) vs. LSU
Ohio St. (-7) vs. Georgia

I would expect the oddsmakers to have them: Ohio St. > LSU > Georgia.

The big question mark is Clemson, who I'm thinking people are overlooking because they've played a garbage schedule. Just because their schedule is trash doesn't mean they are. For all the talk of how they're been less than impressive they've only had one really close game this season. Also, last year's Clemson team played zero games against teams that finished in the top-25 all year up until the playoff. They then won their playoff games by 27 and 28 points. Clemson is still the best coached team, with the QB I'd take to win me a playoff game over any other. Trevor Lawrence started off slow, but has crushed it the 2nd half of the season. I still think Lawrence is the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck. Of course, Fields could potentially change my mind.

I think this is it. The two most talented teams are CU and tOSU. Bama has too many injuries and UGA has no QB play or offensive identity. LSU has no D. Utah has great QB play and a really good D. I’m still a bit stunned CU has a chance to win it this year. I didn’t think they did at the start of the season. Lost too much on the D line and are still thin there but Coach V is a wizard. They win it this year then they gave a real shot at 3 in a row. They are stacked next year. That D line will be real and all the young players coming in with the young guys playing this year could be the most talented team Dabo has had at CU.

[Samus Aran]

Ole Miss scores the tying TD at the end of the game, the receiver pretends to be a dog urinating, 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, kicker misses the extra point, Mississippi State wins, 21-20.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Samus Aran

Ole Miss scores the tying TD at the end of the game, the receiver pretends to be a dog urinating, 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, kicker misses the extra point, Mississippi State wins, 21-20.

Funny thing is Ole Miss has done this before. When I was looking it up on Youtube I came across DK Metcalf doing the same thing a few years ago.

Ole Miss Player Dog Pee Celebration 2017 - YouTube

[emac213]

Wow so before today VT beat UVA 15 straight times. I couldn't imagine losing 15 straight to a rival. Crazy!

[BizCat]

Yeah baby GO BUCKS!!!

[BizCat]

Hope Fields can come back... ugh

[BizCat]

Fields comes back and launches a TD.

Love it.

[ChadFL]

I knew I should have thrown down some money on Ohio St. covering. That 9 point line was absurdly low given the talent gap between these teams. Fields is making a real charge for the Heisman. If Ohio St. can finish this season perfect they're probably right up there with 1995 Nebraska and 2001 Miami among the best teams I've ever seen.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by BizCat

Fields comes back and launches a TD.

Love it.

I think now that it's 42-19, if they score on this drive, it'll be safe enough to let him enjoy the rest of the game on the bench.

I just love the fact that Harbaugh will still be winless against Ohio State (as a HC) after this game. It's like John Cooper in reverse.

[BagheeraMcGee]

4th and STUFFED!!!

[ChadFL]

I'm not sure how Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan can be described as anything short of an abject failure in every respect. Like nearly everyone, I assumed a guy with his track record of success at all levels of football would have Michigan a national power within 2-3 years, on par with Ohio St.

Instead Harbaugh is 0-5 vs. Ohio St., 1-3 in bowl games, just one BCS game appearance (a loss), and 3+ losses every season. Even in recruiting he's getting destroyed by Ohio St. The Wolverines have zero 5-star recruit commits for 2020, and are not in the top-10 recruiting classes. If his name were not Harbaugh his job would be in serious jeopardy right now.

[BagheeraMcGee]

There's still time for a 60-burger, but I don't want to get too greedy.

[BizCat]

Lmaoooooo

[blujacket]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

I knew I should have thrown down some money on Ohio St. covering. That 9 point line was absurdly low given the talent gap between these teams. Fields is making a real charge for the Heisman. If Ohio St. can finish this season perfect they're probably right up there with 1995 Nebraska and 2001 Miami among the best teams I've ever seen.

Wow. Thanks Chad. I always thought you were biased against the Buckeyes, but I see that’s not the case. Sorry. That’s why I rarely post in sports threads.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Goddammit, Auburn! You take the lead with a pick-6 and then let Bama's return man take it to the house on the ensuing kickoff!

[Samus Aran]

Missouri fires Barry Odom after he goes 25-25.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by blujacket

Wow. Thanks Chad. I always thought you were biased against the Buckeyes, but I see that’s not the case. Sorry. That’s why I rarely post in sports threads.

Really, I neither love nor hate them. I will admit, part of my judgement on Ohio St. was a bit of a dislike of Urban Meyer. That was never unique to his time at Ohio St.; he left a bad taste in my mouth even in his UF days before leaving that program. I certainly do respect Ohio St.'s program. Initially, I questioned promoting Ryan Day to HC without looking at more experienced alternatives. Couldn't have been more wrong there. It's not just Urban Meyer leaving the cupboard full either. OSU's 2020 class it outstanding.

I do think believe Ohio St., LSU, Clemson this year are all among the more impressive teams I've ever seen. Even there, Ohio St. stands out a bit. One of the best measures of college football teams, in my view, is SRS (Simple Rating System), combining margin of victory and strength of schedule. The typical SRS for a national title team is in the 18-24~ range. Here are the SRS ratings coming into this weekend for the top ranked teams.

Ohio St. 27.1
LSU 21.0
Clemson 20.8
Alabama 20.8
Utah 18.9
Michigan 18.7
Georgia 18.6
Wisconsin 18.2
Penn St. 17.8

The gap is enormous, and will only grow after they routed another highly ranked team.

Here's how their current SRS stacks up against teams widely regarded as among the best of all-time.

Nebraska (1971) 31.5
USC (1972) 30.3
Oklahoma (1974) 27.8
Ohio St. (2019) 27.1
Nebraska (1995) 26.9
Clemson (2016) 26.5
Miami (2001) 26.2
Washington (1991) 26.2
USC (2004) 26.1
Penn St. (1994) 26.0
Notre Dame (1973) 25.7
Florida (2008) 25.4
Texas (2005) 25.0
Florida St. (1993) 24.7
Notre Dame (1988) 24.4
Alabama (2009) 23.7

[ChadFL]

Anyone else sometimes miss the good old 9-6 score slugfest type of games? That used to be the norm, especially in big SEC games between Bama-Auburn or Bama-LSU. Now we get a 46-41 LSU-Bama game and a 38-37 (in the 3rd quarter) Bama-Auburn game. These games can be fun, but good lord, defenses are crumbling at all levels of football.

This is just one of severals reasons why I think Tua might not be as great a prospect as so many believe. Aside from his injuries, he seems a product of the Bama's Saban system. It's a lot easier to look great with a bullet-proof offensive line and all the time in the world to throw the ball. Bama just plugs in a backup QB and still puts up huge offensive numbers.
The NFL is much, much faster.

[Ray O. Blu]

Badgers roughing up the Gophers in some beautiful inclement weather.

Their reward?

Another game against the Buckeyes! Aren’t they lucky?

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Anyone else sometimes miss the good old 9-6 score slugfest type of games? That used to be the norm, especially in big SEC games between Bama-Auburn or Bama-LSU. Now we get a 46-41 LSU-Bama game and a 38-37 (in the 3rd quarter) Bama-Auburn game. These games can be fun, but good lord, defenses are crumbling at all levels of football.

This is just one of severals reasons why I think Tua might not be as great a prospect as so many believe. Aside from his injuries, he seems a product of the Bama's Saban system. It's a lot easier to look great with a bullet-proof offensive line and all the time in the world to throw the ball. Bama just plugs in a backup QB and still puts up huge offensive numbers.
The NFL is much, much faster.

I never thought I'd see the day where SEC scores resembled old Big XII scores.