NFL or College football Fans

[PTP]

flood lights have tripped...wtf...no sound, no lights, bizarre scenes...going to bed

[Mostar]

Incredible.

Still no power in the one half of the stadium.

[Alex]

Ask Alex how it was he has been training

It was the worst day of my life and I am not going back


Seriously though, those guys are hard as nails if they do this for a living. It hurts more than Rugby.

[spud_gun]

Aaron Hernandez arrested this morning in connection with an ongoing murder enquiry.

Patriots have announced they've cut him.

What a waste.

[RichC]

He's been charged now as well

[Sarb]

He was involved in another shooting a year or so ago I beleive where someone lost an eye. Think that will be coming up again too.

Must be pretty conclusive for him to be dropped like that by his team before the charges had been formalised

[Hollowman]

Yeah, some dude in Florida has refiled a lawsuit against him, alleging he was shot in the arm but the bullet went through to his head (?!? someone call Oliver Stone).

Not the first time for Hernandez. He was given a deferred prosecution for stomping some dude in a bar his first year with the Gators. Then he was questioned about a shooting after the Auburn game in 2007. Apparently he had some interesting friends in high school in Connecticut who had come down to visit him at the time.

There were worries about him when he was drafted - he was considered a late first/early second round prospect, but slid to the fourth, mostly because of a series of failed drug tests. Dude was stoned the whole time he was Gainesville. The assaults and shootings **** add colour to it now.

[paulg]

Any thoughts or predictions on the new NFL season? Or College for that matter. I've seen some pretty damning comments about Johnny Manziel's prospects. "Not as tall / big as his numbers state", "Mentally may not cope with NFL".

[Hollowman]

Manziel isn't your archetypal pro QB, but he reads coverage well, is an exceptional improviser, and lit up what is by far the best defensive conference in 1A. There'll be questions about his size, his arm, and whether he can play consistently from inside the pocket, but right now he has bigger problems. Like are the NCAA even going to let him play this year. If scouts have questions, his off-field nonsense certainly isn't going to get him the benefit of any doubt.

[paulg]

Would it be a unique precedent if the previous year's Heismann winner was banned the following year? Or are Heismann winners usually Seniors?
Also, this is probably a really stupid question, I can't make any sense of the NCAA league / bowl system. Some teams seem to be in more than one pool, or competing for more than one trophy.

[Hollowman]

Traditionally the Heisman winner was always a Junior (year 3) or Senior (year 4), so they usually get it right before they go pro. Tebow became the first sophomore to win it, and he started a streak as Bradford and Mark Ingram were sophomores too (Bradford missed the nest year through injury before going pro). Manziel is the first freshman to win it. I can't think of a player who won it and was then suspended. The closest is Reggie Bush's win being 'vacated' (like everyone is going to forget he shat all over college football that year?) years later when the booster scandal came to light and USC were heavily sanctioned (no postseason for three years, a loss of scholarships etc).

The conference, rankings, and bowl system is pretty arcane and can be off-putting to new fans. Basically, there is no real structured 'tournament' (although it is becoming slightly more organised). Up until about ten years ago it worked like this - there are several polls to decide the ranking (literally straw polls - coaches and journalists were asked their top 25 each week) as the season goes along. The conferences each have deals in place with different bowl games (e.g. the winners of the Big Ten and the PAC-12 meet in the Rose Bowl) which are decided by the teams' final positions in their conferences. Usually it would shake down that teams would know they would end the season number one if they won their bowl game, and therefore be named national champions. Occasionally it would work out that the number one and two teams would meet in a bowl game which became a de facto championship game. This didn't happen very often though.

There are tons of bowl games - last season there were something like 35, which meant 70 teams from a total of 120ish went to a bowl. There'll be a bowl which is like the seventh placed SEC team versus the fourth placed ACC team or something. The tie-ins change all the time and are usually arranged on three year deals.

The BCS came into it about ten years ago. This changed things slightly as the big conferences got automatic bids to what became the BCS Bowls - the Rose, Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar Bowls - and a new National Championship Game which was the number one versus number two team. The rankings system was tweaked. Teams are given a score, two-thirds of which is decided by the multiple polls, and the other third by an average of six computer systems which take into account stuff like strength of schedule (so a team like Florida State, who dominate their division but play teams of complete chimps every week, tend to score higher in the polls than they do with the computers).

This is the last season of the BCS. Next season will see a new Playoff system where the top four teams will be drawn in semi finals, with the winners playing off for the title. The rankings system will change again, and apparently there is going to be a committee of some sort, so there'll be massive rows no doubt. Four teams usually shake themselves out though. The only major controversies will be if a team like Boise (who will be playing in the ashes of the Big East) goes unbeaten on a not great schedule, and someone like LSU or Florida has two defeats but wins over big teams.

This probably hasn't made anything any clearer, has it?

Basically, there are only a handful of conferences you have to worry about to start with - the SEC, the Big Ten (which has twelve teams), the Big 12 (which has nine teams), the PAC-12 (they can count properly), the ACC, and whatever mess is the Big East at any given time.

The SEC is by miles the best conference at the moment, both in terms of depth and in terms of the very best sides - SEC teams have won the national title for the last seven years (with Alabama winning three of the last four). Most of the other conferences have one or two good teams, but nothing like the SEC.

There are a few teams outside the big conferences worth a look. Boise State have been regular BCS busters. They were going to join the Big East, but that conference is a shambles, so they're sticking with the Mountain West for now (which also has some other half decent non-BCS sides like San Diego State, Utah State, Nevada (Kaepernick played for them), Hawaii, etc). Northern Illinois and Kent State in the MAC will be on the fringes.

[spud_gun]

Were talking like Johnny Football was 1st overall

File under Tebow.

[Hollowman]

Tebow had obvious technical issues though, which Manziel doesn't. The questions about his playing ability are mostly physical. He has demonstrated a great ability to read defences and I think would be more capable in the pocket than people think. But when the spread works so well (and in the SEC of all places - who thought the spread would beat Bama?) why would you make him play any other way? It can be hard judging a QB who plays in a spread of gimmick offence. Nobody thought Kaepernick was going to become the pro he has after the way Nevada used him. Manziel has had one year of football, so going overboard one way or the other is a bit mad. I mean, for all that he got on his wheels and scrambled last year, he also threw for over 3000 yards against some of the best 1A defences.

[paulg]

Cheers Hollowman, really appreciate that low down.
I started to follow Notre Dame, last season, only really cos of their 'Irish' link. Looking forward to this year, if I can get my streams and media centre sorted :-)

[Hollowman]

Half decent selection of games scheduled on ESPN over the opening weekend, but no GameDay. Cunts.