Ummmm, I'm attending a game on Feb 22nd against the dookies that' I'm expecting us to win..... But I'll be hoping for a 2nd win in 2025 in Sept.....
CFB Playoff & Bowl Games
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Exactly
they would do that if they were fair and/or had the best interests of college football at heart. they dont .
The TNT games when head to head with the NFL games that day. Perhaps that's whey ESPN farmed them out.
ESPN criticized for focus on Georgia walk-on who committed sideline penalty
ESPN is being criticized for highlighting a sideline interference penalty by a Georgia walk-on hours after the incident occurred.
awfulannouncing.com
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
ESPN would NEVER just latch onto a relatively minor incident and blow it completely out of proportion, would it?? 
Minny just went up 21-7 over Va Tech. If Minny finishes this job, this has to cement the B1G as the best conference this season as if it weren't already clear.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
"[P. J. Fleck]'s going to smell like the Sigma Chi house at Arizona State..."
-- ESPN announcer, Duke's Mayo Bowl.
I don't think I want to know how he knows that.
-- ESPN announcer, Duke's Mayo Bowl.
I don't think I want to know how he knows that.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
And that's not even the most cringe-inducing line from and ESPN announcer this week. Sean McDonough's "Thanks for the healthy groin, Dad" line after ND's kicker made a field goal was one of the biggest "WTF" lines I've ever heard a PBP announcer say. Imagine turning the game on right as he said that.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
I had missed that one.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
I just returned from Orlando, where I attended an outstanding college football game and spent six days at Disney. The latter was by no means "EVIL." Overall, an outstanding trip!!
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Awaiting the next (final?) AP Top 25 rankings. Teams ranked #7 thru #15, plus Colorado, all lost their first and only post season games. With those 10 defeats, our ILLINI should move up considerably in that poll! Are we now considered better than:
9-4 Colorado -- yes, definitely
9-4 South Carolina -- yes, definitely
10-4 Clemson -- maybe
9-4 Alabama -- maybe
10-3 Miami -- maybe
11-3 Arizona St. -- likely not (they should have knocked off Texas)
11-3 SMU -- maybe
12-2 Boise St. -- maybe
11-2 Indiana -- maybe
10-3 Tennessee -- likely not
Worst case = #19
9-4 Colorado -- yes, definitely
9-4 South Carolina -- yes, definitely
10-4 Clemson -- maybe
9-4 Alabama -- maybe
10-3 Miami -- maybe
11-3 Arizona St. -- likely not (they should have knocked off Texas)
11-3 SMU -- maybe
12-2 Boise St. -- maybe
11-2 Indiana -- maybe
10-3 Tennessee -- likely not
Worst case = #19
I like your take, but I think we still get disrespected, partly because of the mischaracterizations of Bret's "taunting" of poor little Baby Beamer.
The Indiana final ranking vs where we get ranked will be interesting. I’ve said all season long if they played our schedule they would likely have the same record as us and vice versa
Now after the bowl games though, I think the feeling would be that if Notre Dame played South Carolina it would be a very competitive game. The fact that we beat SC and Indiana wasn’t competitive against ND has to stick in voters minds, plus just some anger that Indiana was even in the playoff as a complete fraud will likely turn off many voters - as it should
Joel Goodson
- it's all ball bearings, nowadays
normally, I'm not into piling on, but this is a very warranted exception:
ESPN was built during the cable era and benefited from a near monopoly on national TV sports coverage. They collected a couple bucks of tax from everyone who paid cable fees and were the only alternative to the really staid Saturday and Sunday afternoon sports broadcasts of the traditional national networks or the amateurish local TV stations. Content was cheap when you were competing against local TV for most college and professional sports outside NY and LA. That era of success supported high quality and neutral content.
That model completely broke down with the rise of streaming and the realization from the other networks that sports were a more consistent income stream then trying to produce the next Game of Thrones or Sopranos. The mess ESPN is now is the result.
Classic case of what happens when corporations downsize. The wrong people are let go. The best no talent suckups somehow survive. Anyone with real talent and ambition jumps ship. Everyone left from the C-suite down spends more time figuring out how to keep their jobs than producing the best product. That now means shilling whatever product your management was able to outbid Fox or the Peacock for.
I imagine some folks on here disagree, but I pretty much always pull for B1G teams in all non conference games. Please please please let me have an all B1G championship game. Inexcusable to think otherwise when the opponents are ND and the SEC, and our teams are neither Michigan, nor Iowa. ( Nor NW, but its laughable to think of NW here.)
To some extent. Let's not forget: he had the rare opportunity to come into a program that fired its last coach but not because that coach didn't win. He had a great year in 2019, but other than that, their fans are disappointed with his Glen Mason-esque records and inability to take the next step. Really, the only coach in the last 25 years to struggle there was Tim Brewster. Jerry Kill built that program into what Fleck took over, and Kill has let his thoughts about Fleck known...
Minny is a tough job, one of the toughest ones in CFB. Maybe their ceiling is higher than Fleck can take them but I'd rather be 7-5 and winner of 6 straight bowls than testing for someone better if I was them.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Minnesota is basically the same program as Illinois, but in a decent-sized metro area. I don't understand exactly what Gopher fans are expecting.
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