2025-2026 College Football Thread

[ChadFL]

Quarterfinal matchups all set. It was initially expected that #1 Oregon would be favored by at least a few against Ohio St., but it seems like the Buckeyes impressive win over Tennessee changed that. Not too surprising. Oregon only barely scraped by against Ohio St. in the regular season when they had home field advantage.

Sugar Bowl - 2. Georgia (-1.5) vs. 7. Notre Dame
Fiesta Bowl - 6. Penn St. (-10) vs. 3. Boise St.
Peach Bowl - 5. Texas (-13.5) vs. 4. Arizona St.
Rose Bowl - 8. Ohio St. (-1) vs. 1. Oregon

I do think the favorites prevail in all four - Georgia, Penn St., Texas, Ohio St.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Quarterfinal matchups all set. It was initially expected that #1 Oregon would be favored by at least a few against Ohio St., but it seems like the Buckeyes impressive win over Tennessee changed that. Not too surprising. Oregon only barely scraped by against Ohio St. in the regular season when they had home field advantage.

Sugar Bowl - 2. Georgia (-1.5) vs. 7. Notre Dame
Fiesta Bowl - 6. Penn St. (-10) vs. 3. Boise St.
Peach Bowl - 5. Texas (-13.5) vs. 4. Arizona St.
Rose Bowl - 8. Ohio St. (-1) vs. 1. Oregon

I do think the favorites prevail in all four - Georgia, Penn St., Texas, Ohio St.

You know something's messed up when the three of the four teams with first-round byes are underdogs according to Vegas odds makers.

[JDub1]

So far, these playoff games have been lame.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by JDub1

So far, these playoff games have been lame.

The early games in the FCS playoffs are typically blowouts too.

[BizCat]

Go Bucks.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by The Lizard King

You know something's messed up when the three of the four teams with first-round byes are underdogs according to Vegas odds makers.

I do think their seeding was well intentioned, but certainly doesn't reflect an accurate ranking of the teams in the field.

I got the impression that the committee put an excessive weighting into conference champions and not selecting more than one team from any one conference for a bye. This is how you ended up with teams ranked #8 and #10 in the final AP poll getting byes. I don't think anyone truly believes Boise or Arizona St. were ever anywhere close to being among the top-4 teams in the nation, and the fact that both are double-digit underdogs to teams seeded lower proves that out. Seems the NCAA is aware that many fans don't care for the emerging super conferences (SEC and Big Ten) and are reluctant to give out too many byes or playoff spots to schools in those conferences.

As a grad of a school whose team missed out on any shot at a national title by being a non-power program for many years, I appreciate that schools like Boise now get a playoff shot, but the seedings for the playoff need to be more realistic. Boise was #81 in strength of schedule, Arizona St. was #64 and lost 2 games.

I would say the first round byes should probably go to the teams who would have made the CFP. This season, that would have meant Oregon, Georgia, Texas, and likely Notre Dame would have gotten byes. Possibly Penn St. over Notre Dame, but not very likely.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by The Lizard King

The early games in the FCS playoffs are typically blowouts too.

Yep, and an expanded playoff is going to create even more of them. While I do think it's nice seeing smaller programs get a shot, in most cases the end result is going to be similar to that Cincinnati team that made the playoff in 2021 - getting blown out in the first game, or recent performances similar to that of the Big-12 or Pac-12 programs or Notre Dame that made the playoff, where they get blown out in the semi-final or slip through to the final and get blown out (ex. Washington 2023, TCU 2022).

[ChadFL]

And now, for an update on the smaller division college football postseason.

I-AA/FCS - Montana St. (15-0) vs. North Dakota St. (13-2) in the national title gameon January 6th.

Montana St. is perfect for the season and going for their first national title since 1984. They've won almost every game in a blowout.

North Dakota St. is obviously much better known, being the preeminent national power in recent decades, going for their 11th national title in 15 years, producing some NFL talent like Carson Wentz. One of their two losses this season was really impressive, only narrowly losing @ Colorado against Deion's ranked D1 team, which includes the Heisman winner. Montana St. is slightly favored in the title game.

Division 2 - Ferris St. (14-1, located in MI) d. Valdosta St. (13-1, located in GA) in the national title game in a 49-14 blowout. This was Ferris St.'s 3rd national title in 4 years.

Division 3 - North Central (14-0, located in IL) vs. Mount Union (14-0, located in OH) in the national title game. Mount Union was the powerhouse program in D3 in the 90's-00's, and while still excellent, hasn't been as dominant in recent years. North Central has won a few national titles in recent years and this season they have won every game by 20+ points, and are heavily favored in this game.

NAIA - North Valley (14-0, located in IA) d. Keiser (12-1, located in FL) 35-7 in the national title game.

[JDub1]

Watching Miami, FL vs iowa state in the Pop Tart Bowl. The Cyclones school colors are red and yellow, but they are wearing black & white uniforms. Makes no sense, but we are talkng about Lames, IA

[Bigdog]

Sanders got smoked against BYU, half of his stat line came in garbage time so it doesn't paint the full picture. Would have been better off pulling the I'm not playing game imo!

I got to imagine the Giants staff watched that game yesterday and came away extremely confused on what to do in April.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Sanders got smoked against BYU, half of his stat line came in garbage time so it doesn't paint the full picture. Would have been better off pulling the I'm not playing game imo!

I got to imagine the Giants staff watched that game yesterday and came away extremely confused on what to do in April.

This is what I absolutely loathe about bowl/postseason games. As with many teams, both BYU and Colorado had not played a single game for a month. It makes these games far more unpredictable than any regular season game, where you never have a layoff of more than two weeks tops.

Every team reacts different to these prolonged layoffs. Wouldn't shock me if the same thing happens to some teams that got byes in the playoff. Some of them probably come out playing stale next week as they haven't played a game in nearly a month, which their opponents all played and won about 10 days prior, which is an ideal amount of rest.

The CFP really should have made it one week between regular season and start of first round of the playoff, not two. No other division in college football stretches things out this much. Some other college football divisions have five or even SIX rounds, yet they finish the title game by late December or first week of January. Division 1 has only 4 rounds with some byes, but the title game isn't until January 20th. I get some of it is financial and they have to avoid D1 games overlapping with NFL games, but that can be accomplished without prolonging the season this long.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

This is what I absolutely loathe about bowl/postseason games. As with many teams, both BYU and Colorado had not played a single game for a month. It makes these games far more unpredictable than any regular season game, where you never have a layoff of more than two weeks tops.

Every team reacts different to these prolonged layoffs. Wouldn't shock me if the same thing happens to some teams that got byes in the playoff. Some of them probably come out playing stale next week as they haven't played a game in nearly a month, which their opponents all played and won about 10 days prior, which is an ideal amount of rest.

The CFP really should have made it one week between regular season and start of first round of the playoff, not two. No other division in college football stretches things out this much. Some other college football divisions have five or even SIX rounds, yet they finish the title game by late December or first week of January. Division 1 has only 4 rounds with some byes, but the title game isn't until January 20th. I get some of it is financial and they have to avoid D1 games overlapping with NFL games, but that can be accomplished without prolonging the season this long.

The traditional New Year's Day bowels that are actually held on New Year's Day are the reason why there is a month between the regular season and bowel season.

I'm sure that the universities are claiming that it's the time necessary for the student-athlete to catch up with their studies, but in the age of NIL and the transfer porthole, I'm not sure if the players even have to attend class.

[JDub1]

I remember when you would wake up on New Years Day and turn on the tv in the late morning hours and see the Cotton Bowl, Gator Bowl & Fiesta Bowl on multiple tv channels. Not anymore now that ESPN has pretty much cornered & manipulated the bowl/playoff games.

[JDub1]

Am hearing that the Sugar Bowl featuring Notre Dame vs Georgia is being moved to a different day after the terror attacks in New Orleans.

[Eye Candy]

Originally Posted by JDub1

Am hearing that the Sugar Bowl featuring Notre Dame vs Georgia is being moved to a different day after the terror attacks in New Orleans.

Thursday night now for the Sugar Bowl.

[ChadFL]

Surprisingly great game between Arizona State and Texas. Ohio State keeps looking dominant against Oregon.

[emac213]

Ducks getting smoked!

[ChadFL]

Rose Bowl over in the 2nd quarter. No way Oregon can bounce back from 34-0.

[BizCat]

Bucks!!

[JDub1]

I'm watching the Georgia vs Notre Dame game.What's up with the Georgia fans and their silly looking costumes? Many are wearing football shoulder pads with gold colored spikes on them. It's a college football game, not pro wrestling!