, Coaches Corner (0/2) , Howtos (0/10) , Inside Deventer Devils (0/28) , Jack6s RZA Guide (0/21) , News (0/638) , Rumours (0/0) , Stories (0/4) , Top25 Rankings (0/22) 2025-01-13 09:09
We are closing in to the end of the 2024 (/2025) college football season.
What will be interesting is, how the final polls will look like.
Because you might know or remember, the college football National Champion is based on the final rankings of several polls, most prominent the AP-poll of the press representatives and the coaches poll of the FBS coaches. Regarding those 2 major polls, they are done by quite few people, AP-poll is collected by a selection of 62 journalists of print and broadcasting and the coaches-poll is combined by 62 FBS coaches, so not even every coach of FBS level. They systems are the same for both polls, each member of the poll does bring in an individual list of TOP25 and the then the lists are combined by just adding up the positions.
Some polls are done by computer programs, which use many different algorithm to come up with a TOP25 or a complete list of ranks for all FBS.
Since the logics and in case of human opinions the perception is different for every participant, the polls might differ and they did differ in the end result, even at #1.
And if that happens, more than one team can claim to be National Champion of that season.
The whole system of the former BCS, the 4-team-playoffs and now the 12-team-playoffs is only the base for the coaches poll officially.
Of course does every poll take the results of the games played after regular season into the calculation, but that does not mean, that the winner of the National Champion game is crowed #1 in every poll.
In 2003 Oklahoma, USC and LSU had a tight race for #1, #2 and #3 in every poll. Since that was BCS era, the final BCS standing did determine the teams playing in the National Championship game. On the last regular season poll, AP- and coaches poll did put USC at #1, LSU at #2 and Oklahoma at #3, but BCS did put Oklahoma at #1 and LSU #2 with USC at #3.
So Oklahoma and LSU did battle it out in the National Championship game and USC did play #4 (in all polls) Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
LSU won and USC won, which did result in AP-Poll to name USC #1 and coaches poll LSU #1. A split National Championship.
That was the first one in BCS-era or beyond.
BCS started in 1998 with the goal to have a clear punch on the #1, to eliminate split national championships, which were common before that. 1990 had 4 different teams at #1, 2 for the 2 major polls and 2 different ones for other polls. Those 2 teams who got named #1 in the minor polls did not claim the title, still, a bit unfortune and the result is listed as unclaimed national title o their teams list in Wikipedia.
Before 2003 the limitation of the BCS became visible, it did not even unite the minor polls, which did name a different champ already in 2000.
The most severe break on the current era did happen in 2017, when UCF did play a perfect season, got only placed prior the bowls at #12 and by that not selected to play in the semis, won against higher ranked Auburn in the Peach Bowl and was then named #1 in the Colley poll, one of the many minor polls at the end of the season. UCF did claim the Championship with a lot of head shaking by all other FBS teams, but that’s how the system work. In that season did Alabama win the National Championship game and got all polls behind them, except Colley.
To be fair, since then, all National Champs were named by all polls the same, but now with the 12-team system, there is room for strangeness.
Granted, there is not much room. The Algorithms will likely grant plus points to the winners and minus points to the losers so the more ranked teams the final champ did beat, the better the team will get calculated.
More concerning are human polls, since here the perception and eventually personal affiliations might come into place.
I’m right now confident, that AP- and coaches-poll will be aligned on the #1, because with 50+ people, any affiliation is smoothed out and they will also respect the wins against ranked teams and the losers will get some malus. But I think at least this season we are save and we will get a unique National Champion.
Some other news came in during the week.
You might remember that the PAC-12, this season with only 2 teams in competition, did boost their team count for the 2026 season in total to 7 football playing teams, 1 short of the needed 8 teams. That is still intact.
The teams the PAC-12 did add came mostly from the Mountain West, which was in danger to lose so many teams, they might fall under the 8 teams minimum rule. They invite UTEP to join, to be at count of 8 for 2026, so all fine already.
The news was now, that Northern Illinois will leave the MAC on football in 2026 to join the MWC also as 9th football playing teams. The team will likely switch to a different conference for all other sports, so the MAC does lose NIU for good in all sports.
That does bring in the 1st crack in the lines of the so far very stable Mid-American. With the PAC-12 still looking for an 8th team, the realignment process is far from done.
Let's review the last set of bowls.
SEVENTH SET OF BOWLs
Thursday, January 9th
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl (College Football Playoff Semifinal)
#5 Notre Dame vs #4 Penn State
I think that was a great game, even I did not pick the right winner.
Penn State had a better start (if you can call it that way, when the 1st points are scored in 2nd quarter) with a field goal after an Irish INT and a touchdown a drive later.
Notre Dame did get on the scoreboard before the half after a quick drive with a field goal when time expired.
But they scored a TD right after the break with the 1st drive to tie the game at 10.
Then came a lot of nothing again, until the 4th quarter started, which did bring a wild end.
Notre Dame did score to take the lead, Penn State did score to tie the game again at 17.
Notre Dame did throw and INT on the next play and Penn State scored a TD on the next drive to take the lead, only to have the Irish tying the game again on the drive afterwards.
So, all back and forth.
The time remaining did shrink and no team was able to separate themselves from the other.
Notre Dame did cross midfield again late in the game, but got stopped, punted and Penn State tried to get points on the board with 38 seconds left. And here Penn States QB did throw a fatal INT on a very bad decision throw under pressure and Notre Dame got in field goal range and did kick the ball for the National Championship ticket throw the uprights for a final score of 27:24.
Most astonishing in that game was, that the reliable Penn State QB did throw many INTs, but 2 of the 3 were taken back by penalties. I did see 2 of those INTs in the recap and both were bad throws, even one was taken back by penalties.
Of course that does at the end not cost you a game in total, but it is one of those major performances, which did help the opponent.
For Penn State, a disappointing result, they could have won the game with a bit more discipline, for Notre Dame a great accomplishment.
Jacks BOWL Score: 21-19
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (College Football Playoff Semifinal)
#6 Ohio State vs #3 Texas
The 1st half was quite as expected, a close game, no team with a real advantage.
Only surprising was the 1st drive of the Buckeyes, which had 10 plays, went over 2/3 of the field and ended with a TD for the Buckeyes lead.
The Longhorns did counter late in the 2nd quarter after a long period of punt-drives with a TD to tie the game, but Ohio State needed only 1 big play (75-yard pass-TD) right after the return to take the lead back for the halftime break.
Then did the 2nd half start great for the Longhorns with an OSU INT, but they were unable to get points out of that, only a drive later did they score a TD to tie the game again.
Then, already in the 4th quarter, did Ohio State again have a long drive to take the lead and it followed the neck breaker right afterwards.
Longhorns down by 7 did get a drive going, was right before the Buckeyes endzone and the QB tried to make a play, got sacked and lost the ball. The ball was picked up and returned for the final score of 28:14.
Of course did Texas try to get back into the game afterwards, but with a bit more than 2 minutes to play against that defense was too much to pray for. That drive ended in an INT, which sealed the game officially.
Ohio State with a remarkable playoff run after that bad regular season ending and now close to win a National Championship.
I guess any discussion on the coaches job are for now over, regardless the result of the upcoming game.
Jacks BOWL Score: 22-19
There is only 1 game left, the National Championship game.
This season the 1st time quite deep in January, because of the 12-team playoff format and the resulting needed extra weeks for preparation and of course playing down the brackets to determine the participating teams.
The EIGHTH AND FINAL SET OF BOWLs on Monday 20th of January.
Monday, January 20th
College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T
#6 Ohio State vs #5 Notre Dame
@Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Played in the stadium of the Atlanta Falcons (and the SEC Championship game) this season.
This game is, even while the system did change from a 4-team-playoffs to a 12-team-playoffs system, the 11th playoff championship game.
I did skip again the year naming on the name of the bowl (it had 2025 in it), since at least it does confuse ME.
It's the Championship game for the 2024 season, but of course played in 2025.
Since starting the CFP-Series, the record of winning is (year is the season, not the date of contest) Ohio State (2014), Alabama (2015, 2017, 2020), Clemson (2016, 2018), LSU (2019), Georgia (2021, 2022) and Michigan (2023).
That makes at 10 games, 6 titles for the SEC, 2 for the BIG10 and 2 for the ACC.
Ohio State had 2 chances so far and won in 2014, lost in 2020, while Notre Dame was the last time in a championship game in 2012 in BCS era, where they lost.
One last info, before I dive into the game, according to the official seating numbers (the number before my matchup are the rankings of the final committee ranks) the game is between #8 and #7. I’m telling you this, since there were a lot of talks after the losses of the conference champs to change the seating and the format, but if you stick the committee rankings to find the participants, already this season no high ranked team would have survived, so the discussion is useless.
Now, to the game itself.
I think nobody had foreseen that matchup for 2 reasons.
The 1st is, Ohio State did look bad at the end of the regular season and the chance to get that deep was slim. On the other hand did they made a push in offseason to get a championship caliber and many did see them in the Championship game in preseason and were of course disappointed, when OSU did lose against Michigan.
The 2nd is, Notre Dame did suck against NIU and had a quite soft schedule, so seeing them winning in the playoffs against teams, which did play against some of the best teams in the country and won, was quite unreasonable. But here they are, both teams.
Funny is, Ohio State is heavily favored to win this game, despite the fact that Notre Dame did win against all those teams in the playoffs.
Vegas has them favored by 8.5 points, which is quite a lot.
I usually am very hard on Notre Dame, when they play against top teams, but this time, I think the Notre Dame defense is something very special and I expect a closer game.
Their offense is not as explosive as the Buckeyes offense can be, but as seen against the Texas defense, the Buckeyes offense can be controlled, even the Longhorns did not manage to control the teams for the whole game.
I’m not sure, which defense is actually better, the Notre Dame defense or the Ohio State defense, but I think Notre Dame has a very fine one.
That means, I think the key aspect in the game will be, whether the Notre Dame offense will be able to move the ball regularly or not.
They did move the ball quite well against Penn State, so likely they will have a chance to do the same against Ohio State.
But you never know.
Overall, I lean towards Ohio State, because they did show so much improvement on the past 3 games.
IF Notre Dame wins this, it will be a instant hint and ferry tale for the Irish fans, and it is plausible they will do this, but I have doubts they will the stamina to overcome THAT Buckeyes team.
Buckeyes win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2025-01-06 07:18
The attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas have shifted one quarterfinal, the one in New Orleans, from Wednesday to Thursday.
I cannot understand why such people as the drive and the bombers do such actions, but overall, I happen they are so dumb and so poor prepared, that the damage is limited. Every injured and dead person is tragic, but everyone has to ask themselves, what can be done and should be done to prevent such events, and how much freedom are you willing to give up to do so. Because the more you do tighten the net to get that 1 out of a million or more people willing to do such action, the more do the rest suffer under the restrictions.
Shortly before Christmas we had a similar attack like the New Orleans driver did, in Germany and the discussions which followed were, and still are, far from objective and neutral. None of the right now discussed and requested changes (we do elect a new parliament in February) would have helped to prevent the event which happened. None. The only action which would have helped, and which is already identified, was, that a police car was not stationed on the entry of a Christmas market as planned and because of the stationing at a different spot, the driver was able to enter the market. That’s all. No harder punishment on migrants, no enhanced rights to spy on people, nothing would have helped.
Well, let’s get back to football.
SIXTH SET OF BOWLs
Wednesday, January 1st
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (College Football Playoff Quarterfinal)
#3 Texas vs #12 Arizona State
At the start Texas did look strong and Arizona did look like they are a bit out of their league.
The offense of Texas did OK, not great, the offense of Arizona State did bad.
At the half did Texas lead 17:3.
Then came a period of mixed results, ASU did score a Safety, and on the ensuing drive a field goal to get a bit closer.
But Texas did answer with a TD to extend the lead to 24:8.
And then it became a thriller with Texas looking absolutely ridiculous.
The Sun Devils scored a TD + 2-pointer to make it a one-score game.
Two plays later did Texas throw an INT and Arizona got the ball back.
A few plays later did they then score another TD with a 2-pointer to tie the game.
Still 5 minutes left to play.
The Longhorns got the ball and took a longer drive, only stopped at the ASU 30-yard line, so they tried a field goal and missed it.
Sun Devils with the ball and they got nothing going and punted.
Less than a minute to play, Texas went over the field and were again stopped, this time on the ASU 19-yard line.
Another kick and the ball did hit the goal post for no-good.
Ridiculous.
The teams went to OT and here did the Sun Devils scored 1st a TD, did even play a 4th and 1 to get a new 1st down, to get Texas under pressure.
But Texas did answer and scored a TD also, on 4th and 13! The 1st great play since a long time for Texas.
Now, 2nd OT, Texas with the 1st drive, did score a TD.
Arizona State? On the 1st play, the pass and get intercepted.
Game over, Texas wins in 2 OT 39:31 and will play in the Semifinal.
Good game by the Sun Devils, but the Cinderella story is over.
Jacks BOWL Score: 18-15
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the 2025 Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (College Football Playoff Quarterfinal)
#6 Ohio State vs #1 Oregon
Rematch of the regular season game and boy, that was a disappointing outing of the Ducks.
Their offense was not on the field for most of the game.
How that did happen? I don’t know.
Sure, Ohio State has a good defense, but that high powered offense limited to 8 points in the 1st half did hit the Ducks so hard, they were unable to recover.
At that point did OSU lead 34:8!
And it was not on turnovers, just stop and punt, except one turnover on downs the Ducks did try at mid-field on 4th and 3.
The Ducks defense was helpless to stop Ohio States offense and since the Ducks offense was unable to stay in the game or better get on the field at any time, the team did look like a joke and not like the BIG10 Champ!
At the end did Ohio State win 41:21 and in those last 2 games they did look like the team which all did anticipate. Why they needed to wait until that time of the year is beyond me.
They will play Texas in the Cotton Bowl for the ticket to the National Championship game.
Jacks BOWL Score: 18-16
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl (College Football Playoff Quarterfinal)
#5 Notre Dame vs #2 Georgia
This was shifted for a day after the terror attack in New Orleans.
I don’t know, whether that made any difference, if so, it was good for the Irish and bad for the Bulldogs.
Both teams started slow, no scoring on the 1st few drives.
First bad action by Georgia fumbling the ball close the Notre Dame endzone and losing the ball. No score and loss of the possession.
The Irish made nothing out of that, and Georgia got the ball back, but this time had to settle for a field goal.
Notre Dame answered with their 1st long drive and kicked a field goal, too.
Then a lot of nothing until the most crucial time period of the game came.
It started with a long drive by the Irish, which did end with another field goal kick. At that time there were 39 seconds left on the clock for the 1st half, Irish leading now 6:3.
Georgia got the ball back on a touchback after the kickoff, the QB got sacked and fumbled the ball away.
Notre Dame again with the ball and close the endzone, took advantage of the confusion and scored a TD with 27 seconds left.
Georgia with no big gain before the half did go into the locker room.
After the break, kickoff by Georgia, Notre Dame returned the ball 98 yards for a TD and the 20:3 lead, 15 seconds into the half.
All this in less than a minute.
Georgia was shocked but tried to turn the game.
Tried to get 1st downs on 4th down situations and failed, several times.
Notre Dame did eat down the clock, did kick a field goal at some point and won at the end, 23:10.
Georgia with the backup QB did not look like the SEC Champ, even their QB did play OK on stats, but what was missing was for sure their running game, which was miserable. Their start RB, with 38 yards. Pffff. In total, 62 yards.
Notre Dame had 150!
Most ridiculous on that game was not that Georgias offense was not in peak form, no, the Georgia Defense did play like a 2nd tier defense and not as a unit which won the SEC.
Good job, Irish, well deserved win.
They will play Penn State in the semifinal, so likely a big defense battle.
Jacks BOWL Score: 18-17
Thursday, January 2nd
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
Duke vs Ole Miss
There is not much to tell here.
Ole Miss did score at least 10 points in every quarter, 14 in most.
Duke did score 13 as max in the last quarter in garbage time and much less in all others.
Ole Miss did out score Duke, 52:20 and won this big time.
Jacks BOWL Score: 19-17
Friday, January 3rd
Servpro First Responder Bowl
North Texas vs Texas State
Well, this went from one side to the other and it had it all.
North Texas did lead early and limited the Bobcats to field goals, which increased the lead of North Texas slowly, when they scored another TD.
Then, late in the 2nd quarter did Texas State finally score a TD and took the lead, but North Texas went over the (almost) whole field and on a 2nd goal on the 15-yard line did the QB throw and INT and the 16:16 lead of Texas State stayed alive for the break.
After the break did Texas State increase the lead to 23:14 and a lot of nothing did follow.
The 4th quarter started, and an absurd sequence of turnovers did start.
Texas State did throw an INT in the North Texas half.
North Texas did then have a short drive which brought them deep in Texas State territory and fumbled the ball away.
Texas State used the opportunity and went back into the half of North Texas and ... fumbled the ball away.
Now finally did North Texas use the chance and with some plays, including a big play, the Mean Green did score a TD to get closer, within 2 points.
Which did now ring the bell for the final scoring reigns.
Two plays after the North Texas TD, with a 73 yards run, did Texas State score a TD and North Texas did answer with 70 yards run a few plays later for another TD, still 2 points behind.
Texas State was stopped and had to punt and North Texas had only 35 seconds left to go over the whole field and score, which they were unable to do, they were intercepted deep in their own half.
Texas State did kneel down and won 30:28.
Jacks BOWL Score: 20-17
Duke's Mayo Bowl
Minnesota vs Virginia Tech
Minnesota had one real good quarter and Virginia Tech had none.
You can not blame turnovers, it was just bad offense and defense of VT, which led a 21:3 2nd quarter and a 24:10 win of Minnesota in this bowl.
I hope, Minnesota gets this drive transported to next season, because I loved the seasons, when they were really dangerous, while I hope that Virginia Tech gets their problems solved at some point.
Jacks BOWL Score: 21-17
Saturday, January 4th
Bahamas Bowl
Buffalo vs Liberty
I hope the Bahamas Bowl is now toast.
Less than 5.000 people were in the stadium and the game itself was also more than boring.
Liberty had issues during the season and they had all that in the game
here.
A non-existing offense did at the end try one field goal in the 1st half (ok, that’s special teams, but still, the offense made one try possible) and that was missed from 49 yards out.
Buffalo on the other hand was a bid better and managed to kick 3 successful field goals to lead 9:0 at the half.
They scored after the break with the 1st possession of the half a TD and Liberty did fumble the ball on the next drive to give Buffalo finally the chance to miss a field goal try.
From here onwards all Buffalo, who kicked another field goal and scored an INT-TD on the next Liberty drive on top.
Liberty finally got points on the board on the next drive, but that was already in garbage time and Buffalo won 26:7.
I hope Liberty gets their issues solved, I liked it, when they were fearless and not that predictable.
With the lowest attendance every, it will be interesting to see, how important that is. Likely the TV ratings and incomes are more interesting, on which I don’t have data so far.
Jacks BOWL Score: 21-18
That ends the bowl flooding and the only games left to play are the College Football Playoffs Semifinals and the National Championship game.
Of course I can only preview the Semis right now, so here they come.
The SEVENTH SET OF BOWLs is from Thursday 9th of January to Friday 10th of January.
Thursday, January 9th
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl (College Football Playoff Semifinal)
#5 Notre Dame vs #4 Penn State
@Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
This season the Orange Bowl did get again a Semifinal, special this season is, it's the 1st semifinal in the 12-team-playoff-system.
In the past it was an ACC/SEC/BIG 10/Notre Dame bowl, but of course this link to conferences ended, when this (and the other major six bowls) became part of the playoff rotation.
The SEC has a 23-17 record here, including last years win brutal win and the SEC won also the last 6 games. The conference has the most wins in this bowl.
But the record-holder for games is the old Big Eight conference (out of which in the mid-90s the BIG-12 was founded) with 42 games.
A quite surprising matchup compared to the expectations prior the season.
Notre Dame did win against Georgia and Indiana to get here, Penn State against Boise State and SMU.
Penn State had likely the easiest path to this spot, but they are not to be taken lightly.
Their defense is good, their offense decent enough, so far.
Most surprising for me so far was, that the Georgia defense was unable to control the Notre Dame offense, so I don’t know, how good Penn State will play against them.
The Irish Defense did limit the opponents also very well, so Penn State offense will also have to find ways to get things done.
I expect a defense battle royal and a low scoring game.
So far is Notre Dame favored by 2.0 points.
Funny is, both teams remind me of defense driven teams, which did in the past win championships, so which team will be able to move the ball at the right time, will likely win.
I think Penn State has a case and can do it.
Nittany Lions win.
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 89th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (College Football Playoff Semifinal)
#6 Ohio State vs #3 Texas
@AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
The last of the six major bowls this season. Got the 2nd semifinal of the new 12-team-playoff-system.
Played since 1937 this was a long time already and at-large-bowl, but of course now it has to take, what comes up in the playoffs.
It's played in the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
After all those seasons since the conference did die in 1996 the Southwest Conference, out of which a lot of teams went on to build the BIG 12, has still the record for most games, 57, but their win total is at 24, while the still active SEC got their 25th win last year in 42 games.
The team, which did fall apart in the last few games and missed a BIG10 title game spot, but resurrected in the playoffs, against the team, which lost the SEC title game by an inch and won the last playoff game by another inch.
With the last two games performances of Ohio State, they did get a big bonus on the betting line and are now a 6.0-point favorite to win.
Texas did their best by those close losses and wins to undermine the public opinion on strength and confidence in the team, so maybe that is OK.
If the Longhorns do play 100%, they can beat everyone and if Ohio State plays like in the last 2 games, that’s also true for them.
So, which team to pick?
I prefer Texas, but the peak on the Buckeyes performance can’t be ignored.
If the Texas defense shows up and can pressure the Ohio State QB, they have a good chance.
If not, they will fail, big time.
Coin toss ...
Buckeyes win.
That’s it for the 7th set of Bowl games. After the games I will preview the National Championship game next week.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite
