Alabama is in a league of their own

[ProudUte]

They had the Heisman Trophy winner, Doke Walker winner, and Johnny Unitas winner all on one team.  On top of that, they have offensive linemen who are about 350 pounds each.  How can any other college team play against this?

I know they don’t cheat, but how do we compete with this.  They can get basically any recruit that they want.  I don’t know what can be done about it, but it’s a problem IMO.  Alabama, OSU, Clemson, and Oklahoma have dominated the CFP system since its inception.  A few other teams have been there, but three of the four mentioned are always there.  I wish there was more parity in college football, but oh well.

 

[Central Coast Ute]

Yep that’s why the NCG is unwatchable for me. It’s kinda like the NBA. knowing only one or two teams have a legitimate shot just ruins it for me.

[Utesbyfive]

It’s all so tiresome.

[EagleMountainUte]

Ohio st had a Covid outbreak didn’tt they? I didn’t think Bama would be challenged anyways but this season was just a big ole meh.

[BD]

I wonder if expanding the playoffs to 8 or 16 teams might help. There are only 4 or 5 teams that recruits think will be a playoff team – those few elite playoff teams are getting nearly all of the top, elite talent. Expand the number of playoff teams, and possibly the top, elite talent will be more willing to go to, say, 8 to 12 teams (if expanded to 8 playoff teams), for example, and would spread the top talent a bit more.

Maybe. Maybe not. Just spit-balling here.

[UteBacker]

Count me as someone that has ‘Bama, Ohio St & Clemson fatigue… and you can probably throw Oklahoma in there.  I’ve been pretty steadfast at keeping the playoffs at 4 teams… I know, hear me out… the thing I love most about college football is that the regular season is the most important in all of sports.  If you think about it, the regular season is a giant double-elimination tournament for the P5’s and a single-elimination for the G5’s.  That makes each and every game ultra important.  I’m lucky enough to get to watch college football on Saturdays from 10am to midnight and it’s because I love that those days are a giant slate of elimination games.

That said, I think I’m starting to lean towards being ok with an 8-team playoff for the very reason BD just mentioned: the top talent would be willing to branch out a little bit.  Don’t overcomplicate it, you have the 5 P5 Champs and three at-large teams.  Yes, the G5’s will still have to earn their way in by being undefeated in most cases… that’s their penalty for playing a weaker schedule.

Anyway, my .02, which is worth about that.

[Crazyforu]

I agree with this 100% I am to the point where I don’t even view Utah in the same league, and I don’t see that as a bad thing. Just look at their recruting rankings, it is absolutely absurd the amount of talent they have on that roster. On paper, Utah has zero chance of competing with them.

 

That said, there are only a few teams that currently can compete with Bama, regarding recruiting. Hell, they had 4, 4!!!!! first round WR’s on their team last year (2 were picked last year, 2 will be picked this year). Mac Jones looks to be someone that will get an early round nod, so they had him, Tua, and Hurts as well the last 2-3 years. That is insane. Utah has made some great strides recruiting, they aren’t even in the same stratosphere as Alabama. Oddly enough, only 4-5 schools are, and they are the same ones we see in the playoff every year.

I saw a tweet the other day from Brandon Dart talking about how far and away better the talent is on Bama, compared to everyone else, it cracked me up because Corner Canyon here in Draper is doing the same thing. Everyone wants to be on a winner, at some point people will stop wanting to watch the charrade though.

 

Rant over. Sorry.

[FountainofUte]

I’ll admit, I don’t understand “the regular season matters” and why an inclusive playoff would ruin that.

The truth is, before any FBS team kicks off its first game in late August, half of the field is already eliminated from the playoff. There are about 120 teams. And no G5 will EVER make the playoff, so a G5 will never win the championship of the “league” it belongs to.

Then you look more closely at the P5s and you see that the same standards are not applied to all the teams. USC and Utah do not have the same path to the playoff.

We are in a place where the four playoff spots are penciled in before the season kicks off. Bama, OU, tOSU, and to a slightly lesser extent Clemson and ND are basically assumed as the rightful heirs to the playoff spots and the media lets them sort out which of those WON’T make it any given year. Sad part is that the PAC-12 doesn’t even have a player at that table right now. USC could take a seat at that table the most easily, and Oregon is not far from being in that company. Right now our conference is out.

Those who think 16 is too many have compelling points. But the reason to have a tourney that includes all conference champs is to remove the subjectivity from the post season. If you win your conference, you’re in. No committees. No polls. Cut and dry. Also, an inclusive playoff showcases all of FBS. Right now it’s SEC and B1G heavy. There are 8 other conferences that get rare attention or none at all to show off their best to the nation. That’s slowly killing the sport.

[Johnny]

You are very correct.

[jamarcus24]

Saban’s built a culture.  He wins and he gets guys in the league.  Since he’s taken over at Bama he’s had 95 players selected in the NFL draft.  32 first round picks.  There’s a good chance he could get another 5 or so guys in the first round of this year’s draft.  He’s had several award winning coordinators underneath him leave for high profile jobs and he keeps reloading both in the coaching staff and in the recruiting classes.  The playoffs could expand but I still don’t think that would do much for adding parity to college football.  At least not right away.  The playoff could expand to 8, 12, or even 16 teams but Bama would still sit atop college football because at the end of the day they still win and they still send players to the league better than anyone else does.

[Utesbyfive]

They pull the best talent because the best talent knows they have about a 50/50 shot at a title there. Self perpetuating cycle at this point, for all four or five of the top teams. How to break that cycle? Scholarship limits reduced? 8 team playoff? Don’t know, but the CFP is an exclusive club with almost impossible barriers to entry. It’s just kind of boring.

[jamarcus24]

Well, expanding the playoff is a start.  For one it at least puts the Pac-12 back on the map instead of on the sidelines every year.  Based on the conference’s bowl history the last few years though, the Pac-12 representative would probably get whipped in the first round anyway.

[Johnny]

Correct. It’s becoming a monopoly controlled by the media/social media. Time to tune out and just go to games.

Prediction: Utah starts boycotting, then demand to be at the game goes through the roof, attendance will be insane. 

[Johnny]

Monopoly. The media and social media has way too much control to manipulate things. We need to dial it back a bit for the sake of the younger generations. 

This is out of control. Playoff has to be at least 16 and let all league winners in with wildcards. The recruitment has been a disaster since the Playoffs at 4 and quite frankly, the BCS before that.

The Utah 1994 team would have creamed many if they had the same stakes as today.

I think we all need to start boycotting this crap until they are more inclusive.

[PlainsUte]

There are definitely blue bloods among the P5.  However it doesn’t always HAVE to be the same 4.  What happened to Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, USC, Texas, Nebraska, Miami, FSU, etc?   It is hard to crack into that blue blood group because of the aura of the history of those programs, which helps a lot with getting the best coaches and players.  At the same time nothing is guaranteed among the blue bloods, so it is possible that 10 years from now Alabama will fall and another blue blood or even an outsider could rise to replace them.  Granted, highly unlikely that will happen anytime soon with Saban at the helm, but things change fast in today’s world, and maybe he’ll choose to retire while at, or near the top, as Stoops did recently.

[Utesbyfive]

Until the current four or five top teams fall on hard times, the cycle won’t be broken. How they fall on hard times, when top recruits only consider them, and nobody else, I don’t know.

[UtesRock]

Agreed. Probably need to accept that a handful of teams with huge sponsorship and fan funding are going to dominate.