2025 NCAA Football Thread

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Quitting is one thing, but we're talking about other teams being able to hire active coaches to their teams mid-season. Why are teams allowed to interview current coaches for lateral moves mid-season anyway? It's odd. And results in people who routinely do it - like Kiffin - to be widely reviled for it, as we're seeing.

Well he doesn't consider it lateral I guess.

The coaches have all the power here. If a school tried to get a non-compete clause, they'd never be able to hire the coach they really want. Kiffin would certainly never have agreed to something like that at Ole Miss.

Yes Kiffin is reviled but if he wins they will love him in BTR. Doesn't strike me as a guy that cares a lot about honor and legacy. Well other than he wants to be known as a guy who won a natty.

He almost accepted the Auburn job a few years ago. He campaigned for the Alabama job. And rumor has it he told his assistants he was going to Florida earlier this year until a better job came along.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Non-compete clause would surely not be legal. Buyout money with offsets is a quasi non-compete clause because you won't be able to collect it all unless you stay out of coaching. I also doubt teams would go European soccer and start having release clauses in coaches contracts that would force another school to pay someone to take their coach, but it would be better hedge than a non-compete IMO.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Well he doesn't consider it lateral I guess.



The coaches have all the power here. If a school tried to get a non-compete clause, they'd never be able to hire the coach they really want. Kiffin would certainly never have agreed to something like that at Ole Miss.



Yes Kiffin is reviled but if he wins they will love him in BTR. Doesn't strike me as a guy that cares a lot about honor and legacy. Well other than he wants to be known as a guy who won a natty.



He almost accepted the Auburn job a few years ago. He campaigned for the Alabama job. And rumor has it he told his assistants he was going to Florida earlier this year until a better job came along.

Oh agreed about Kiffin. This isn't a hill I'm going to die on, that's true how it would make it harder for schools to hire their true #1. Safe to say it just has a greasy feel to it, it's an odd quirk you don't see in the pros. You'd also think it'd be more damaging to a coach's reputation like Lane than it seems to be..

LSU fans just better not act shocked when it inevitably happens to them to...though I know they will.

[Strange Brew]

Tough news for Notre Dame in the CFP. If BYU beats Texas Tech, they’re out.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Tough news for Notre Dame in the CFP. If BYU beats Texas Tech, they’re out.

Good. ND may or may not be one of the best teams in college ball, but their resume is horrendously weak.

Also this scenario exists.

With the inclusion of JMU at No. 25 in the selection committee's penultimate ranking -- its first appearance all season -- the possibility of the ACC being excluded from the playoff entirely just got real. Five-loss Duke is nowhere to be found in the ranking.

If Duke beats Virginia in the ACC championship game, it's not guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field. It could open the door for two Group of 5 conference champions to compete for a national title, and if the playoff were today, it would be Tulane out of the American and JMU from the Sun Belt. The ACC's best team, Miami, is still on the outside.

At No. 12, the Hurricanes still need some help, but Alabama increased its chances of earning a spot as the SEC runner-up with a small promotion to No. 9. The conference championship games can still alter the picture, but hope on the bubble is dwindling.

That would be wild.

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-watch-week-14

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I generally have no problem with the committee decisions. ND is probably a top 5 team in the country but they lost their two most important games and have a mediocre resume. Same issue as Miami and BYU and several other bubble teams.

Someone is gonna be unhappy. If you want in, then win. Simple as that.

All that being said, what the #### is the committee smoking when they say #### like this:

CFP chair Hunter Yurachek, on Alabama beating 5-7 Auburn: "The committee just felt that was enough of a win, of a metric, to push Alabama ahead of Notre Dame.

Auburn is an awful team. If they consider that a signature win for Bama then they’ve lost all credibility.

[Strange Brew]

Yeah I don’t get that logic either. A&M plummeted to the bottom of the 1 loss teams. Don't see anyone talking about their Auburn win as a signature win.

They really reward later season wins over early season wins.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Tough news for Notre Dame in the CFP. If BYU beats Texas Tech, they’re out.

Alabama would have to lose too in that scenario. It seems pretty irrelevant that Alabama passed ND, except to try to make the case of keeping them ahead of Miami with a loss in certain scenarios.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Alabama would have to lose too in that scenario. It seems pretty irrelevant that Alabama passed ND, except to try to make the case of keeping them ahead of Miami with a loss in certain scenarios.

Why would Alabama have to lose? Spots 11 and 12 are basically reserved for other teams (Virginia and a power 5 school, or 2 power 5 schools).

If BYU wins, they are in. Texas Tech won’t drop out so someone in the top 10 gets bumped. Right now that would be the Domers.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I would be pretty shocked if ESPN allowed Notre Dame to miss the playoff. They would totally drop Texas Tech if the loss is bad enough. One day of controversy for doubling (at least) the TV rating is an easy call.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Why would Alabama have to lose? Spots 11 and 12 are basically reserved for other teams (Virginia and a power 5 school, or 2 power 5 schools).

If BYU wins, they are in. Texas Tech won’t drop out so someone in the top 10 gets bumped. Right now that would be the Domers.

Sorry, I meant Alabama would have to win in that scenario to keep ND out.

I don't see how it makes any difference if Alabama is ahead or behind ND this week.

If Alabama wins, they are in automatically, if they lose they'll drop behind ND, and are probably set up to stay ahead of Miami.

ND would have had to move ahead of Oklahoma this week to be safe. There is no spot for them if both Alabama and BYU win, and they aren't going to move them ahead of a team that also isn't playing this week.

It's pretty wild that there is a 95% chance that a team from Virginia will be in the playoffs!

[Strange Brew]

No way TT would get dropped all the way out for losing their conference championship. If the fix was in for Notre Dame they wouldn’t have dropped to 9.

[Senator Clay Davis]

We'll see. But in almost all previous instances when a committee gets to choose (Four team playoff included) they choose TV over all. And as I said last year when we ran into the last team conversation, for the 12th team in a playoff that barely has six worthy teams people aren't gonna be that up in arms.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

We'll see. But in almost all previous instances when a committee gets to choose (Four team playoff included) they choose TV over all. And as I said last year when we ran into the last team conversation, for the 12th team in a playoff that barely has six worthy teams people aren't gonna be that up in arms.

ND isn't nearly the national draw they used to be. Their independence is hurting in the age of the P2 conferences.

https://www.on3.com/news/college-foo...s-2025-season/

ESPN also has less incentive to promote an NBC team.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

We'll see. But in almost all previous instances when a committee gets to choose (Four team playoff included) they choose TV over all. And as I said last year when we ran into the last team conversation, for the 12th team in a playoff that barely has six worthy teams people aren't gonna be that up in arms.

Which instances are those? Because the committee has time and again chosen their top 4 or 12 teams regardless of ratings.

[Strange Brew]

Yeah the conspiracy is kind of fun to kick around but it's not a serious conversation. Maybe if TT loes 100-0 or something but even then.

If you want to find a conspiracy, watch the Duke-Virginia game this weekend. If Duke wins, pretty decent chance the ACC doesn't send a team to the CFP. Their automatic bid gets nixed if they are not one of 5 highest rated conference champions. So someone like James Madison. So get ready for a Montreal screwjob ending in that game if Duke is competitive (which they probably won't be).

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Sorry, I meant Alabama would have to win in that scenario to keep ND out.

I don't see how it makes any difference if Alabama is ahead or behind ND this week.

If Alabama wins, they are in automatically, if they lose they'll drop behind ND, and are probably set up to stay ahead of Miami.

ND would have had to move ahead of Oklahoma this week to be safe. There is no spot for them if both Alabama and BYU win, and they aren't going to move them ahead of a team that also isn't playing this week.

It's pretty wild that there is a 95% chance that a team from Virginia will be in the playoffs!

If Alabama plays well against Georgia and is competitive, no way should they drop behind a team not playing this week. It is a playoff game and that extra loss shouldn't count against them.

If they look like a total fraud, that's a different story.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Ya the only way a conference championship loser drops is if they get clobbered.

So the committee is definitely hoping BYU gets annihilated to make their decision easier.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I generally have no problem with the committee decisions. ND is probably a top 5 team in the country but they lost their two most important games and have a mediocre resume. Same issue as Miami and BYU and several other bubble teams.

Someone is gonna be unhappy. If you want in, then win. Simple as that.

All that being said, what the #### is the committee smoking when they say #### like this:



Auburn is an awful team. If they consider that a signature win for Bama then they’ve lost all credibility.

Yeah exactly, losing both those first 2 games kinda screwed them. My issue is more that they've been cruising at #9 for weeks, and finally got dropped right after their most dominating win of the season...confusing. Probably because A&M lost, after ND's Week 1 loss to them.

And agreed about Bama...what was their signature win? Getting by on SEC vibes.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Yeah exactly, losing both those first 2 games kinda screwed them. My issue is more that they've been cruising at #9 for weeks, and finally got dropped right after their most dominating win of the season...confusing. Probably because A&M lost, after ND's Week 1 loss to them.

And agreed about Bama...what was their signature win? Getting by on SEC vibes.

They beat Georgia on the road. ND has nothing remotely close.