College football week 11 thread: Last MACtion Hero

Cal has a defender named Barth?

 

Cal picks up its first-ever ACC conference football victory.

 

I really have to think a lot of these cross-country alliances are just killing attendance. Playing in the Pac-12, you could always count on a decent visiting team crowd as people lived in various parts of the conference footprint. The uniqueness will wear off quickly. I don't see any new rivalries developing. And since you aren't playing conference teams every year, really hard to get a good hate going against anyone.
Apparently the Oregon AD sent out a letter to donors letting them know that a "significant" challenge is ahead in order to keep the Ducks competitive. NIL, the House Settlement. Pretty sure they'll as for big financial commitments before doling out playoff tickets. Ducks tickets already have a face value of over $100 per game. My guess is they go over $200 per next year.

 

Well … either a lot of Iowa alumni live in SoCal or a lot of Hawkeye fans made the trip, because the Rose Bowl had a lot of black and gold in it.

But as usual, Iowa lost there because their heralded defense couldn’t stop UCLA on the ground. Bruins outplayed Iowa and win 20-17 in a game that was only that close because of UCLA turnovers. I think the Bruins punted once.

 

I think a lot of fans of the traditional Little 8 have jumped at the chance to visit UCLA because this is their chance to see the Rose Bowl, either because of lousy teams or travel being cost prohibitive when their teams occasionally found their way into the Granddaddy. But that cow won’t give milk forever.

 

Only their third trip to Pasadena in 24 years. I didn't know they had that much of a Rose Bowl draught. And yeah, a lot of Iowa alums in SoCal.

 

The Hawkeyes haven’t won there since the 1959 Rose Bowl game.

 

You’ll see the same thing when longtime B1G teams such as Iowa play in Seattle (raises hand), assuming the Huskies stay mediocre and tickets can be had.

But yeah, the novelty will wear off.

 

Hell I thought it was because Iowa was down to its "fifth" quarterback on the roster. I put that in quotation marks because he's like a walk-on linebacker.

 

He actually led them on a game-tying drive in the 4Q. Fifth string or not, he was way better than last year’s big, beefy Hawkeye backup QB who couldn’t throw or run well.

 

Thank goodness one of the playoff rounds are in home stadiums to ease the travel burden on fans, but you wonder how many Oregon fans will invest in a trip to Indy for the Big 10 championship. Even if you win and avoid having to buy a first round ticket for a home game, you would potentially have THREE back to back to back trips to make - likely Fiesta/Rose, then Dallas or Miami and THEN Atlanta. For the NC game. (if you make it that far). I don't even want to do the math on it between the jacked up flight prices and hotel costs. My guess is that the secondary market for the semis might be soft unless local teams are involved.

 

The lady walking her dog.
Or maybe cow tools.
Guess it seemed more obvious to me when I watched it.