Deskgrunt50
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- Mar 12, 2005
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Not every state can be a football powerhouse like Indiana…A thoroughly entertaining first half. The Big Ten should add more teams not from Michigan or Ohio.
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Not every state can be a football powerhouse like Indiana…A thoroughly entertaining first half. The Big Ten should add more teams not from Michigan or Ohio.
I understand the long odds, and I understand it's more pronounced in football. But all it's going to take is one of these teams catching lightning in a bottle, and it's going to be an instant legend and a validation of the expanded format. You think UMBC over Virginia sent shockwaves? Imagine something similar happening in football.A 1 vs. 16 upset in basketball at least has a theoretical chance of coming through because there are only five on the court and 13 scholarships per side.
In football? Nobody wants to watch Oregon vs. Jacksonville State in the regular season, much less the first round. Any microscopic chance of an upset that might have existed in September is long gone by December, when you can be reasonably assured the very top teams are no paper tigers. More importantly, roster attrition is a reality for everyone and the smaller schools feel it the most. You'll be lucky if the spread isn't 50 points.
Georgia-Marshall is the type of matchup you savage the SEC for playing in the regular season. And now you want them to have a national audience the weekend before Christmas?
I remember reading in the 1990s that Arkansas lost a shirt-ton of money by accepting a bid to the now-defunct Carquest Bowl. Frank Broyles saw it then as a loss leader perhaps, but modern ADs will balk at a similar arrangement.
A 1 vs. 16 upset in basketball at least has a theoretical chance of coming through because there are only five on the court and 13 scholarships per side.
In football? Nobody wants to watch Oregon vs. Jacksonville State in the regular season, much less the first round. Any microscopic chance of an upset that might have existed in September is long gone by December, when you can be reasonably assured the very top teams are no paper tigers. More importantly, roster attrition is a reality for everyone and the smaller schools feel it the most. You'll be lucky if the spread isn't 50 points.
Georgia-Marshall is the type of matchup you savage the SEC for playing in the regular season. And now you want them to have a national audience the weekend before Christmas?
UConn's trip to the Fiesta Bowl was its high-water mark in the FBS.
It was also a financial debacle that I'm not sure the football program ever recovered from.