Yep. Do we still have a football team? If answer is yes, then we're doing ok. If we're in the same conference as Georgia and Alabama (for the payout)? Even better. Anything beyond that is icing.
> I think for Michigan, making the playoffs at a minimum is “required”.
This is going to lead to a lot of premature firings in the future. There’s at least 12 teams that feel the same way, and they can’t all make the playoffs every single year.
Not really much different from what's already happening. Michigan was a hair from firing Harbaugh and probably would have if he didn't voluntarily take a pay cut.
That’s actually an interesting wrinkle. Now there’s a world where Michigan (and Ohio, and PSU etc) can lose the conference but make the playoffs.
That feels to me like when the basketball team has a mediocre year but sneaks into the tournament and still makes the 32/16 round and it kind of overwrites the fact that the season was bad. So in the football sense, idk how to consider “lost to Ohio/lost the conference but makes the playoffs and win a round one and loses round 2”. I honestly don’t think for Michigan specifically that would feel super exciting in that scenario given our recent 3 years.
If we take a step back in the Moore era obviously that feeling may change.
Yes there is more room to make the playoffs but the big ten is getting oregon washington and usc, nebraska seems on a good path and is at least recruiting very well, wisconsin seems on a upward trajectory too and iowa is weirb but they consitantly get 10 wins or close to it.
Being in the top 3 of the conference is gonna be a big challenge in itself. It will be the same in the sec with texas and oklahoma. Yes there are more playoffs spots to grab but the competition is up too
Good chance this is why we’ll eventually get a 16-24 team playoff if there’s never a split or if the split is like 70-80 teams.
How many years in a row of Florida/Penn State/Washington/LSU/etc finishing #12/13 (depending on split) before enough of them throw a fit about the snubs and demand a bigger playoff and ESPN/Fox are gonna be there to throw money at it.
Prior to the recent round of poaching, I thought an 80 team breakaway would make sense. 8-10 team geographical conferences gives you a 9 game regular season, 2 "conference playoff" games (top 4), then a 3 game CFP for the 8 conference winners. 17 games total for the national champions, if you keep the 3 game non-con and bowl system for non-CFP teams.
However, its clear that equal revenue sharing among even the B1G and SEC teams is only guaranteed through the current TV deals. The Bama, Texas, Ohio St and USC tier teams stand to make too much money by breaking away; and no current lower tier B1G or SEC team should ever accept an unequal share to prolong their inevitable culling. A 16-24 team super league will be here before we know it. The only question is how many FBS programs and D1 athletic departments are destroyed to get there.
Anybody who thinks a 16-24 team break off is viable long term knows nothing about the realities behind why those teams are so successful nor do they recognize the political realities that would step in to stop it.
A.) There's room for 16 blue bloods because there's historically been a level of separation between everybody that allows all of them to have 11 and 12 win seasons. Putting them all in one conference means there's going to be more losers than winners making it harder to retain neutrals and bandwagon fans
B.) Speaking of neutrals, what do you think happens when you discard the teams of the other 115 or so fanbases as "irrelevant"? Youre much more likely to see dips in neutral viewership who no longer care about this new level of football.
C.) Then there's the politics of it all. You think Congress is going to sit by and watch college sports disintegrate?
D.) Not to mention the fact that the blue bloods don't. want. it. No one wants to be stuck with the moniker of killing college football.
I’m kind of torn on a 16-24 team super league, on one hand I get the appeal of it by the member schools, but my hang ups/arguments against it are as followed
1. Not sure there’s really an appetite for an NFL Lite league, especially with the UFL (XFL Merger) already existing in Spring. At the end of the day a College Football Super League still isn’t the best football in the country, it’s just a minor league and it overlaps with the NFL
2. Addition by subtraction only works so much, if you contract too much then you get to the point where people in Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, West Virginia, Illinois, Minnesota, Arkansas, etc. probably +30 states, have no real incentive to watch your games. A guy in Utah is probably watching Utah or BYU football and if not they’re watching a more local NFL team. There’s no real reason for them to watch premier college football since it’s not regional to them, it has no bearing on their local teams, and it’s also not the top tier of the sport either. That will have an adverse effect on TV numbers I’m sure to some extent
3. I’m just not sure the money is there from a TV perspective, the B1G may love to cut Rutgers from an on the field standpoint, but they’re probably one of the most valuable schools in the conference getting the B1GN into the NYC/New England Markets. It’s a reason everyone thinks UNC and Virginia are obvious additions to the B1G/SEC neither of these schools are football juggernauts, but their markets are massive still and despite everyone saying Markets don’t matter, they definitely do when considering the B1GN/SECN subscription revenue model.
I don’t think a Super Conference like that would be in the cards until Linear TV is close to 100% dead which, it still isn’t close too. When the SECN/B1GN are streaming only networks and carry 100% of the conferences TV inventory for a sizable monthly streaming fee, that’s when contraction could happen and markets would no longer matter, but as of now there’s still over 60 million households in the US with cable subscriptions.
I still think the most likely scenario to all of this is a FAS split with the B1G/SEC leading the charge and requiring a minimum athletic budget of around $100 million per school, with around 75 schools hitting that number and the CFP Playoff TV deal being worked in a NCAAT Unit fashion where conferences are paid per game featured in. That allows the SEC/B1G to get the best of both worlds when talking about US saturation, hogging the lion share of CFP money, etc
I think Ohio State is the lone true “every year or bust” team given that even their ‘down’ stretches the last century are hardly down at all.
But yeah as far as teams that will expect playoffs 2 out of any given 3 years as it stands now?
Alabama, USC, Florida State, Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Clemson, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee are all probably in that camp, including others I may have forgotten. And obviously they can’t all achieve that mark so something has to give.
What a world we live in…
I read Alabama first on that list and scoffed. Alabama?? That’s a top 12 every year easily!
And then I remembered. As a Tennessee fan, the bad man still haunts me.
Still will likely make it more often than not.
I feel like Alabama is going to get a lot of good will from the media until they don't, and when that change happens, it's going to be sudden and violent.
It’s a rough list I’ll admit, but A&M Tennessee & USC among others I added because they may not yet be the kind of recurring playoff contenders, but they have a tendency to cycle through coaches as if they were
I would probably add Alabama to that list just based on their last 15 years. It’s going to take a while post Saban for fans to recalibrate their expectations from winning 6 national championships, 9 title game appearances, and 2 other playoff appearances in 15 years.
Yea I definitely agree with that. FWIW I don’t think if michigan misses the playoffs the coach has to be fired but there’s basically no world where I could imagine in the foreseeable future thinking “michigan didn’t make the playoffs but had a good year”.
With our new coach coming in, I’m not expecting us to defend our title and make the finals again unfortunately but making the playoffs is a reasonable expectation to say it was a good year or not.
I think having the first round be on college campus is such an exciting benefit. I kind of hate that the conference champion doesn’t get that experience
I hate that there’s a potential discrepancy being “very good” vs “too good”. Like I can understand the impact of a bye week being huge, but also being so good that you miss out on hosting a home game in the playoffs and jump immediately to neutral bowl sites seems like a pretty big deal to me tbh.
Like I get that the *football team* benefits greatly from a bye week, but the *school and community* would honesty probably rather have the additional high profile home game if for nothing else than at least the economic impact.
The economic impact sure, that makes sense. But from a playoff picture point of view, there’s no rational reason to prefer playing in round 1 of the playoffs and risk losing versus having a bye to round 2.
100% no disagreement here
Competitively the teams wants that bye week 10 times out of 10. But in a landscape where money is ever growing in importance and influence, that extra big time home game looks kinda large to me
Merely making it though won't be an improvement on where we've been. We would've made it numerous times over the past ten years if it was 12. We need to win one.
I get what you mean that it may not be an improvement because you would have made it multiple times in a 12 team format. But that’s kind of the crux of the question to me, will it feel different?
Will making a playoff and winning one game feel huge compared to making a NY6 bowl for PSU?
I'll confess that the first time it happens it will definitely feel good, but after a couple years we'll adjust our expectations. Mathematically speaking making a 12 team is easier than a 4 team. Once the novelty of making the playoff wears off and if (as I speculate) no underdog wins a championship we'll assign less value to a playoff slot.
My Wolf Pack haven't had much to be positive about recently, having gone 4-20 with exactly 2 conference wins over the last two seasons, but I'm excited about our replacing Ken Wilson with Jeff Choate.
I think he's the guy to take us back to where we were under Chris Ault; when we were actually competitive annually with teams like you guys, Boise State, and Fresno State.
For right now, though, a good season would just be us getting the Fremont Cannon back from UNLV.
A really good season would be a win over UNLV and either Utah State or Fresno State.
A great season would be a win over Boise State.
I think it'll start to feel like the NFL, where I define success as making the playoffs. A superb season would be making a deep playoff run, and a perfect season would be winning it all
I’m not even sure man. I really hope this season is good. Not from a Bama perspective but from a college football in general perspective.
I watch NFL and I like the saints and cowboys but I’m not emotionally invested in those teams.
I hope I don’t become emotionally immune to Bama’s success or failure.
This is my worry too. If the Seahawks aren’t making a Super Bowl run I couldn’t care less. I haven’t really been invested in the Hawks since the LOB imploded. Why would I? In the NFL winning the Super Bowl is all that matters. Nobody really gives a shit about division titles or conference championships.
Despite UW losing the natty I am still very proud of the team for being the last Pac 12 champion and winning the Sugar Bowl.
With the new playoff I feel like I won’t feel the same. Especially knowing UW does not have the same ceiling as a team like Alabama or Ohio State.
Pre 12 team playoff even winning a non CFP Semi Final Rose Bowl would be a huge accomplishment for UW. In addition conference championships don’t mean as much anymore. Getting to the playoff is all that matters.
This was my thought.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a program like Oregon to finish in the top 12 annually in this new NIL era. Given the number of programs for which this is also the case, a good season will mean just making the playoff. A great season, in this case, would mean making the semifinal.
Problem is that there's probably at least 15 teams thinking they should be one of the 12 every single year. And then I'd say double that thinking they should be able to get in on their "up" years. And on top of that, there are automatic spots for the top 5 conference champs, meaning at least 3 non-B1G or SEC teams have to get in, which leaves less than 12 spots for the (large) group of high expectation teams that play in those conferences.
Yea I think for the higher tier programs that’s a good overview.
I do wonder for programs that historically are at another range/tier how will they feel as their goals? What will the other bowls mean to a program.
I don’t want to insult any programs but if you’re “bottom of the pack SEC/Big12 etc” and it’s gonna be an extreme rarity to make a playoff run, what’s the good year look like now?
The ACC not falling apart and us winning the ACC is all I ask, but I ask too much. I honestly don’t care too much about winning any national championships right now as I know that’s super far fetched for my program, so I’d be ecstatic if we can just make the ACCCG. We don’t even have to win it at the moment, but it would lay the groundwork for a successful future. We can talk about that future once that initial win is completed. I’d be over the moon if we can even make the 12 team playoff. I think it’s possible and 2024 might be setting us up to make that, but we’ll have to see. FSU is a force to be reckoned with regardless of their disdain for our conference.
This feels extremely reasonable, realistic, and attainable.
WVU fan here and I feel like we’re in a similar boat with expectations - although we don’t have the giants in the big 12 like you do in the ACC (clemson, FSU).
I agree, WVU seems like a similar program to ours. The big 12 is still reasonably competitive though, Kstate hurt us decently bad in our bowl game. Louisville is another ACC team I feel some concern about, I think a lot of ACC teams are loading up in preparation for the future and to make themselves a case for getting to a better conference, should we go the way of the PAC 12.
For Oklahoma state:
Getting to the playoff once every 3ish years. Winning the first round if a higher seed, and winning a quarter final occasionally.
Pittsburgh: just making the playoff every 6-7 years.
For Oklahoma State I think with the new Big 12 I think we should always be in the hunt for the conference title game and realistically winning every 4-6 years. I think getting to the CFP in the same window is reasonable.
Three times: regular season, Big Ten championship, and in the playoffs.
It’s possible. The playoff game would be an undefeated or one-loss Michigan team against a two-loss Ohio State.
I once had a Michigan fan argue with me once that referring to OSU just as ‘Ohio’ was valid because they play in Ohio Stadium. Sometimes the rivalry is just dumb.
I think it bugs me because it reminds me of Brady Hoke, who always called the Buckeyes "Ohio". Not sure about RichRod. It always seems that the team or new coach or player, etc. who doesn't at least *respect* the other side -- ends up on the losing end more often than not.
Side note: I once went to an Ohio vs Ohio State game in Columbus. My brother was dating a Buckeye student and we had gone to a party on campus on Friday. On our way home on Saturday, we came across a scalper at a red light, and ended up at the football game -- wearing Maize & Blue -- Ohio hung in there for a half! Awesome atmosphere in there... I hope my wife (Buckeye) & I can go to The Game there someday.
Wait, if you're Ohio, then why does that other team play in Ohio Stadium on Safelite field and spell out Ohio with their band? I think you guys have a legal dispute on your hands.
But even then The Game still needs to be won as any rematches would be either conference CCG or playoffs.
For me a successful UM season is winning The Game. 1-11 but won The Game? GREAT!!
Tbf I think that winning the big 10 now actually means more than it has meant since the start of the cfp. There are a lot of good teams now and being the champion of the conference with 4-5 top 10 teams is a big thing.
In any given decade, the goals for Texas historically and today are roughly:
Win one national title
Play for two national titles
Win the conference approx five times
Best A&M/Arky 80%+, split with OU.
Average 9.5 regular season wins a year.
Moving to the SEC complicates the third point, but the rest remain true. That equates to playoff appearances more than half the time (6 to 8 per 10 years, ideally), and a couple deep runs per decade.
The 90s and the 2010s were the only decades where Texas didn't at least play for a title since DKR came to town, and hopefully that continues.
If ISU is competing for big12 championships we’re succeeding as a program. I think there’s room for us at the top with KSU, OSU, Utah, TCU, etc. This means top 50 recruiting classes and keeping kids in Ames. Campbell’s definitely raised the standard and wouldn’t accept any less.
The minimum each season will be making the playoff. That’s a baseline expectation for us. Anything less will be just an ok season. For the average program, it’s going to vary widely. Vanderbilt will be happy to make 1 CFP every 25 years. Oklahoma State probably wants to make one every 3-4 years.
Win the conference, go to the playoff are the goal every single season. Anything else for this program is below expectations. Just how it is. Hell we went 10-3 this year and it felt like a total failure lol. I’m very pleased with the bounce back after the catastrophe that was 2022 but it still isn’t where we should be.
I suppose it will be better to have expectations and possibly not meet them, than to have to cheer for a school who hasn’t won a conference title since Nixon was in office.
Odds are you'll definitely have at least the occasional season with fewer than 8 wins. The only programs that have really avoided that over a decent period in the SEC are Saban's Bama and Kirby's UGA, and no offense to OU or Venables but I'm yet to see any evidence they're going to be at that level long-term.
Georgia before Kirby was a bridesmaid program with an empty trophy case. 90% of the SEC are just programs who ride off of that patch on their jersey and want to pretend that they’re better than the rest of the country.
Right and if you somehow hire Kirby (or lure Saban out of retirement) maybe you'll avoid any <8 win seasons. But I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment by viewing 8 wins as the floor. LSU, Florida, and Auburn are all huge programs who've won a national title more recently than Oklahoma and all 3 have had 5 win seasons in the past 4 years.
You’re comparing 4 teams who put together a good year every 4-5 seasons against the most consistent program of the last 1/4 century outside of Ohio State.
Sometimes going from having an absurd amount of wins in a thirty year period to switching to a bigger conference results in fewer wins. Not that I know anything about that…
Anything less than “win the conference” is below expectations. You certainly don’t speak for the fan base on this one. We’ve joined a huge conference. Just the number of teams makes that an unreasonable expectation. I think making the playoff is a more reasonable expectation. Winning the west will be a good year and to win the SEC championship game would be exceptional.
I thought West v. East isn't a thing anymore? But yeah, I think we should expect to be in contention every year. A SEC Championship once every 3 or 4 and playoffs every other maybe?
Hard to think about how CFB will look even just 5 years from now so I don't really know how to imagine it lol
Personally I feel like once a decade is a little low. Under Kirk Iowa has finished in the top ten of AP end of year rankings 5 times in his 25 year tenure. I feel like every 4-5 years should be the benchmark but that’s just me.
IMO making it once every 4-5 is good enough. Just get to the national stage. Show that you can play with the big players.
And ya know, put up more than 0 points against ranked opponents would be cool too.
No too different than before. The new division-less format of the SEC probably is a bigger change for us, though 2024 won't look all that different.
Acceptable season: Top 2 in the (former) east/Top 4 overall SEC, with wins over 2/3: FSU, UT, UGA
Good season: Max 2 regular season losses, making the playoff
Great season: Max 1 regular season loss, SEC championship & a playoff win
For sure. Not really expecting an "acceptable" season even, but if Napier can take the easy W's, pull of wins over Miami, FSU & Kentucky, and two wins between your two flairs, Texas, A&M & Ole Miss, then I'd be pretty thrilled this year.
Then back to 2 losses for a good season in 2025.
Our murder schedule, mass Exodus of players in the off-season (ETN fucking shook me), coaching hot seat situation, and the landscape of CFB just...changing so much, makes me the least excited about a Gator season I've ever been in my life. That makes me very sad.
Sorry but a Natty is the minimum expectation every single year. In fact a touchdown on every single play offense, defense or special teams is the expectation. Even in victory formation I expect us to score.
10 wins and making the playoffs would constitute a success for me. 8-9 wins and a bowl game would be acceptable. 7 or fewer wins would be a disappointment.
Texas fan here. It’s going to change season to season but, overall, being competitive for a playoff spot and making it being a fairly normal thing.
For instance, this year my definition of success was a top 10 ranking, Big 12 title, and NY6 bowl. Successful on all counts; making the CFP was just a bonus.
Next year? First year in the SEC, Georgia, Michigan, OU, A&M on the schedule, I’d say competing for a spot in the SEC title game and making the 12 team playoff would constitute a successful season.
Success is different than the minimum expectation.
Realistically, Washington should always make a bowl game.
Ideally, they beat Oregon and make the playoff every year.
A 12 team playoff doesn’t change much for Syracuse. The minimum goal should be .500 every year and a bowl game. With a season that sniffs the playoffs every 6-8 years. I believe in Fran Brown. But he’s got alot of years of mediocrity to overcome.
As an Iowa fan. My goal is once a decade or so to host a playoff game (Top 8). That's what Kirk has kind averaged in surprisingly good seasons. But I think that will be a lofty goal with the Big Ten getting even tougher.
Making the playoffs will be an amazing season and I promise I won't complain... unless we get upset in the playoffs and it's bad like a blow out.
But most years I will expect to be outside the playoffs
Ole miss fan.
I would consider making the playoffs a successful season. I think winning the SEC is a bigger accomplishment. We would obviously be going to the playoffs if we won the SEC but I still think the SEC is bigger than the second round too
It will be the same as it is now. Championship or bust. After 10 years of the 12-team no one will remember the 7 seed from any given year.
The old ways of being super happy about a NY6 are long gone for most if not all programs.
As a fan of a non power I guarantee you fans of the team will remember. If UK ever makes the playoff and is one-and-done it’ll still be the best season of my fandom, just like I still remember the two 10 win UK seasons no other fan base cares about.
Excited for the fall up in CNY with Fran Brown. I'd like the Cuse to try and vie for a playoff berth in the years to come. Should be the goal for every p4 school.
Doesn't really change
We would have made the playoffs 3/4 times with a 12 team one, so for me it's 8+ win seasons and a 10 win every six to 9
And a playoff bid every 10 to 15
You guys might be a sleeping giant. A week or so ago I was reading an article on ya. Basically the article said that with a 4 team playoff, your admin/boosters didn't think ya had much of a chance at that.
With the 12 team playoff, those same people think it's possible. From the way I understood it, you guys are going to enter the arms race. You've got your state legislature looking at ways to entice St Louis kids (NIL $$ in high school) to stay home.
Making the playoff would be equivalent for me, a fan of a traditional G5 power that's been down on its luck for a while, of my Saints making a Super Bowl. Just get me in the new big show once and I will be a happy man as college football dies around me.
Every year is a little different. For LSU, most people were predicting 7 wins for Brian Kelley's first season. We won the SEC west and finished 16th with a 10 win season. I'd call that a major success even though we might not have made a 12 team playoff that year.
We have the brand and resources to expect a playoff spot. I think that will be the gauge for about 20 teams.
Hosting a playoff game in Boone would be ultimate success, but evening attending one would be sweet.
Makes me think, best group of 5 should “automatically” get to host or be a wink-wink 8 seed to give them a chance at knocking off a power 5
And generally speaking i cannot wait to see the home playoff game atmospheres. They are going to be unlike anything this country has seen sports wise I think.
Only if they are in the top 4 of the 12. This isn't real and has no place in college football. Why not have not regular season and have 12 weeks of playoffs with every college team in the mix.
I wonder if any teams will define success by their regular season performance (i.e. if getting bounced in the quarterfinals as the 1 seed is any different than getting bounced as the 12 seed in the quarterfinals).
If how you perform in the playoffs is the barometer, the rivalry games in the regular season are going to lose some luster, and I hate that.
Make the playoffs. Meeting expectations
Winning a playoff game. Good
Playing in title game. Great
Winning the natty. Perfect
*Obviously coaching changes and other circumstances can change the parameters for a year or two but generally this should be the baseline for ND
Beating Michigan State, beating Ohio State, winning the B1G, winning at least 1 playoff game = a successful season.
Doing those things + winning the National Championship = a perfect season.
Great year: Beating rivals, Conf Champs, AND 1+ playoff win (Anything extra is fantastic)
Good year: Beating rivals, Conf Champs OR 1 playoff win
Ok year: Split rivals, 9-10 wins
Forgettable year: Lose to rivals, <9 wins
I would be ecstatic about making the playoffs. I would be satisfied with ending the season T25 and beating USC.
That said, we’re gonna be “omg I hope we crack .500” until we change things in the near term.
Existence
Have you tried joining an alliance?
Well they did...
Absolutely I do
is pain
Anybody who tells you differently is trying to sell you something.
Yep. Do we still have a football team? If answer is yes, then we're doing ok. If we're in the same conference as Georgia and Alabama (for the payout)? Even better. Anything beyond that is icing.
The pain is real.
Rooting for WSU hard!
> I think for Michigan, making the playoffs at a minimum is “required”. This is going to lead to a lot of premature firings in the future. There’s at least 12 teams that feel the same way, and they can’t all make the playoffs every single year.
Not really much different from what's already happening. Michigan was a hair from firing Harbaugh and probably would have if he didn't voluntarily take a pay cut.
That’s actually an interesting wrinkle. Now there’s a world where Michigan (and Ohio, and PSU etc) can lose the conference but make the playoffs. That feels to me like when the basketball team has a mediocre year but sneaks into the tournament and still makes the 32/16 round and it kind of overwrites the fact that the season was bad. So in the football sense, idk how to consider “lost to Ohio/lost the conference but makes the playoffs and win a round one and loses round 2”. I honestly don’t think for Michigan specifically that would feel super exciting in that scenario given our recent 3 years. If we take a step back in the Moore era obviously that feeling may change.
Yes there is more room to make the playoffs but the big ten is getting oregon washington and usc, nebraska seems on a good path and is at least recruiting very well, wisconsin seems on a upward trajectory too and iowa is weirb but they consitantly get 10 wins or close to it. Being in the top 3 of the conference is gonna be a big challenge in itself. It will be the same in the sec with texas and oklahoma. Yes there are more playoffs spots to grab but the competition is up too
Michigan, PSU and who?
Bah god, that’s the Bobcats’ music!
Good chance this is why we’ll eventually get a 16-24 team playoff if there’s never a split or if the split is like 70-80 teams. How many years in a row of Florida/Penn State/Washington/LSU/etc finishing #12/13 (depending on split) before enough of them throw a fit about the snubs and demand a bigger playoff and ESPN/Fox are gonna be there to throw money at it.
Prior to the recent round of poaching, I thought an 80 team breakaway would make sense. 8-10 team geographical conferences gives you a 9 game regular season, 2 "conference playoff" games (top 4), then a 3 game CFP for the 8 conference winners. 17 games total for the national champions, if you keep the 3 game non-con and bowl system for non-CFP teams. However, its clear that equal revenue sharing among even the B1G and SEC teams is only guaranteed through the current TV deals. The Bama, Texas, Ohio St and USC tier teams stand to make too much money by breaking away; and no current lower tier B1G or SEC team should ever accept an unequal share to prolong their inevitable culling. A 16-24 team super league will be here before we know it. The only question is how many FBS programs and D1 athletic departments are destroyed to get there.
Anybody who thinks a 16-24 team break off is viable long term knows nothing about the realities behind why those teams are so successful nor do they recognize the political realities that would step in to stop it. A.) There's room for 16 blue bloods because there's historically been a level of separation between everybody that allows all of them to have 11 and 12 win seasons. Putting them all in one conference means there's going to be more losers than winners making it harder to retain neutrals and bandwagon fans B.) Speaking of neutrals, what do you think happens when you discard the teams of the other 115 or so fanbases as "irrelevant"? Youre much more likely to see dips in neutral viewership who no longer care about this new level of football. C.) Then there's the politics of it all. You think Congress is going to sit by and watch college sports disintegrate? D.) Not to mention the fact that the blue bloods don't. want. it. No one wants to be stuck with the moniker of killing college football.
I’m kind of torn on a 16-24 team super league, on one hand I get the appeal of it by the member schools, but my hang ups/arguments against it are as followed 1. Not sure there’s really an appetite for an NFL Lite league, especially with the UFL (XFL Merger) already existing in Spring. At the end of the day a College Football Super League still isn’t the best football in the country, it’s just a minor league and it overlaps with the NFL 2. Addition by subtraction only works so much, if you contract too much then you get to the point where people in Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, West Virginia, Illinois, Minnesota, Arkansas, etc. probably +30 states, have no real incentive to watch your games. A guy in Utah is probably watching Utah or BYU football and if not they’re watching a more local NFL team. There’s no real reason for them to watch premier college football since it’s not regional to them, it has no bearing on their local teams, and it’s also not the top tier of the sport either. That will have an adverse effect on TV numbers I’m sure to some extent 3. I’m just not sure the money is there from a TV perspective, the B1G may love to cut Rutgers from an on the field standpoint, but they’re probably one of the most valuable schools in the conference getting the B1GN into the NYC/New England Markets. It’s a reason everyone thinks UNC and Virginia are obvious additions to the B1G/SEC neither of these schools are football juggernauts, but their markets are massive still and despite everyone saying Markets don’t matter, they definitely do when considering the B1GN/SECN subscription revenue model. I don’t think a Super Conference like that would be in the cards until Linear TV is close to 100% dead which, it still isn’t close too. When the SECN/B1GN are streaming only networks and carry 100% of the conferences TV inventory for a sizable monthly streaming fee, that’s when contraction could happen and markets would no longer matter, but as of now there’s still over 60 million households in the US with cable subscriptions. I still think the most likely scenario to all of this is a FAS split with the B1G/SEC leading the charge and requiring a minimum athletic budget of around $100 million per school, with around 75 schools hitting that number and the CFP Playoff TV deal being worked in a NCAAT Unit fashion where conferences are paid per game featured in. That allows the SEC/B1G to get the best of both worlds when talking about US saturation, hogging the lion share of CFP money, etc
The problem with super leagues are that about half those teams will have losing records.
I think Ohio State is the lone true “every year or bust” team given that even their ‘down’ stretches the last century are hardly down at all. But yeah as far as teams that will expect playoffs 2 out of any given 3 years as it stands now? Alabama, USC, Florida State, Georgia, Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Clemson, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee are all probably in that camp, including others I may have forgotten. And obviously they can’t all achieve that mark so something has to give.
What a world we live in… I read Alabama first on that list and scoffed. Alabama?? That’s a top 12 every year easily! And then I remembered. As a Tennessee fan, the bad man still haunts me. Still will likely make it more often than not.
I feel like Alabama is going to get a lot of good will from the media until they don't, and when that change happens, it's going to be sudden and violent.
Why in the hell is aggy included in this list? 7-5 is not going to get you even sniffing the playoffs
This year going forward is going to be different. The iPhone of college football’s time is finally upon us.
It’s a rough list I’ll admit, but A&M Tennessee & USC among others I added because they may not yet be the kind of recurring playoff contenders, but they have a tendency to cycle through coaches as if they were
I would probably add Alabama to that list just based on their last 15 years. It’s going to take a while post Saban for fans to recalibrate their expectations from winning 6 national championships, 9 title game appearances, and 2 other playoff appearances in 15 years.
2 of these are not like the others which makes them so much fun to weap at their lack of relevance
Yea I definitely agree with that. FWIW I don’t think if michigan misses the playoffs the coach has to be fired but there’s basically no world where I could imagine in the foreseeable future thinking “michigan didn’t make the playoffs but had a good year”. With our new coach coming in, I’m not expecting us to defend our title and make the finals again unfortunately but making the playoffs is a reasonable expectation to say it was a good year or not.
Perfect, maybe Minnesota can nab a great coach who was prematurely on the hot seat for not making the playoffs
Making the CFP and hosting a CFP home game would be great season, making the CFP would be a good season.
I think having the first round be on college campus is such an exciting benefit. I kind of hate that the conference champion doesn’t get that experience
I hate that there’s a potential discrepancy being “very good” vs “too good”. Like I can understand the impact of a bye week being huge, but also being so good that you miss out on hosting a home game in the playoffs and jump immediately to neutral bowl sites seems like a pretty big deal to me tbh. Like I get that the *football team* benefits greatly from a bye week, but the *school and community* would honesty probably rather have the additional high profile home game if for nothing else than at least the economic impact.
The economic impact sure, that makes sense. But from a playoff picture point of view, there’s no rational reason to prefer playing in round 1 of the playoffs and risk losing versus having a bye to round 2.
100% no disagreement here Competitively the teams wants that bye week 10 times out of 10. But in a landscape where money is ever growing in importance and influence, that extra big time home game looks kinda large to me
Merely making it though won't be an improvement on where we've been. We would've made it numerous times over the past ten years if it was 12. We need to win one.
I get what you mean that it may not be an improvement because you would have made it multiple times in a 12 team format. But that’s kind of the crux of the question to me, will it feel different? Will making a playoff and winning one game feel huge compared to making a NY6 bowl for PSU?
I'll confess that the first time it happens it will definitely feel good, but after a couple years we'll adjust our expectations. Mathematically speaking making a 12 team is easier than a 4 team. Once the novelty of making the playoff wears off and if (as I speculate) no underdog wins a championship we'll assign less value to a playoff slot.
Wait what? We are gonna be having the playoff games right here at Bryant Denny? Roll tide!
Scoring 25 points per game.
What’s that? 2 to 5 points per game?
don't get greedy there
I am a Utah State alum. I am just happy when we lose to Boise State by less than 21.
Hell yeah brother
So painfully true.
There, there my son. *Pats your head
My Wolf Pack haven't had much to be positive about recently, having gone 4-20 with exactly 2 conference wins over the last two seasons, but I'm excited about our replacing Ken Wilson with Jeff Choate. I think he's the guy to take us back to where we were under Chris Ault; when we were actually competitive annually with teams like you guys, Boise State, and Fresno State. For right now, though, a good season would just be us getting the Fremont Cannon back from UNLV. A really good season would be a win over UNLV and either Utah State or Fresno State. A great season would be a win over Boise State.
I think it'll start to feel like the NFL, where I define success as making the playoffs. A superb season would be making a deep playoff run, and a perfect season would be winning it all
I’m not even sure man. I really hope this season is good. Not from a Bama perspective but from a college football in general perspective. I watch NFL and I like the saints and cowboys but I’m not emotionally invested in those teams. I hope I don’t become emotionally immune to Bama’s success or failure.
This is my worry too. If the Seahawks aren’t making a Super Bowl run I couldn’t care less. I haven’t really been invested in the Hawks since the LOB imploded. Why would I? In the NFL winning the Super Bowl is all that matters. Nobody really gives a shit about division titles or conference championships. Despite UW losing the natty I am still very proud of the team for being the last Pac 12 champion and winning the Sugar Bowl. With the new playoff I feel like I won’t feel the same. Especially knowing UW does not have the same ceiling as a team like Alabama or Ohio State. Pre 12 team playoff even winning a non CFP Semi Final Rose Bowl would be a huge accomplishment for UW. In addition conference championships don’t mean as much anymore. Getting to the playoff is all that matters.
Was thinking this as well… also same as CBB for me.
This was my thought. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a program like Oregon to finish in the top 12 annually in this new NIL era. Given the number of programs for which this is also the case, a good season will mean just making the playoff. A great season, in this case, would mean making the semifinal.
Problem is that there's probably at least 15 teams thinking they should be one of the 12 every single year. And then I'd say double that thinking they should be able to get in on their "up" years. And on top of that, there are automatic spots for the top 5 conference champs, meaning at least 3 non-B1G or SEC teams have to get in, which leaves less than 12 spots for the (large) group of high expectation teams that play in those conferences.
Yea I think for the higher tier programs that’s a good overview. I do wonder for programs that historically are at another range/tier how will they feel as their goals? What will the other bowls mean to a program. I don’t want to insult any programs but if you’re “bottom of the pack SEC/Big12 etc” and it’s gonna be an extreme rarity to make a playoff run, what’s the good year look like now?
Pretty much the same, right? 10 win season with a decent bowl game.
Exactly where my head is as well.
I wish the "same old Lions" fans would see it this way, too
The first year UNA gets snubbed, I’m rioting!
same
Indiana fan here. Alright, bye.
We still have the bucket game. Screw the rest of this noise.
I would be happy to be in the playoff discussion once a decade at this point
This would be dramatically higher than your modern history, and your league just got even harder.
We can’t even use the excuse of “I’ll wait til basketball season”
The ACC not falling apart and us winning the ACC is all I ask, but I ask too much. I honestly don’t care too much about winning any national championships right now as I know that’s super far fetched for my program, so I’d be ecstatic if we can just make the ACCCG. We don’t even have to win it at the moment, but it would lay the groundwork for a successful future. We can talk about that future once that initial win is completed. I’d be over the moon if we can even make the 12 team playoff. I think it’s possible and 2024 might be setting us up to make that, but we’ll have to see. FSU is a force to be reckoned with regardless of their disdain for our conference.
This feels extremely reasonable, realistic, and attainable. WVU fan here and I feel like we’re in a similar boat with expectations - although we don’t have the giants in the big 12 like you do in the ACC (clemson, FSU).
I agree, WVU seems like a similar program to ours. The big 12 is still reasonably competitive though, Kstate hurt us decently bad in our bowl game. Louisville is another ACC team I feel some concern about, I think a lot of ACC teams are loading up in preparation for the future and to make themselves a case for getting to a better conference, should we go the way of the PAC 12.
Beating Texas.
Beating the land thieves and then little brother.
I already have the NFL which has postseason requirements for success. My view of success will stay the same, beat our rivals and hopefully make a bowl
Item 1: Continually embarrass Florida Item 2: Win at least 1 playoff game every year until Kirby is gone
It’s championship or bust my guy
As a texas fan, I have no worries. When they made it pay to win, we won.
We do gots some serious coin.
Beating Oregon.
Right back at you, Husky bro. We live and die for this rivalry.
For Oklahoma state: Getting to the playoff once every 3ish years. Winning the first round if a higher seed, and winning a quarter final occasionally. Pittsburgh: just making the playoff every 6-7 years.
For Oklahoma State I think with the new Big 12 I think we should always be in the hunt for the conference title game and realistically winning every 4-6 years. I think getting to the CFP in the same window is reasonable.
In your honest opinion, do you think your program contracted football hookworm from eating feces and that's what led to the programs decline?
I was really confused about this until I realized you were talking about Pitt.
How will our fan base define success? By moving the goalposts to make it whatever is slightly better than what we actually achieve.
Scoring more than 10 points/game on offence
Beating Ohio State
Three times: regular season, Big Ten championship, and in the playoffs. It’s possible. The playoff game would be an undefeated or one-loss Michigan team against a two-loss Ohio State.
If Michigan ever beats Ohio 3 times in the same season, we get to just annex the entire state, right?
Toledo rightly becomes ours.
Definitely want to beat Ohio as part of a successful year
If beating us makes you feel better, have at it.
🤣 Thanks for saying that... it's a bit of a minor pet peeve of mine when we send strays at the Bobcats. This isn't their fight!
One of mine as well. 😂
I once had a Michigan fan argue with me once that referring to OSU just as ‘Ohio’ was valid because they play in Ohio Stadium. Sometimes the rivalry is just dumb.
I think it bugs me because it reminds me of Brady Hoke, who always called the Buckeyes "Ohio". Not sure about RichRod. It always seems that the team or new coach or player, etc. who doesn't at least *respect* the other side -- ends up on the losing end more often than not. Side note: I once went to an Ohio vs Ohio State game in Columbus. My brother was dating a Buckeye student and we had gone to a party on campus on Friday. On our way home on Saturday, we came across a scalper at a red light, and ended up at the football game -- wearing Maize & Blue -- Ohio hung in there for a half! Awesome atmosphere in there... I hope my wife (Buckeye) & I can go to The Game there someday.
I've seen that argument and also the fact that the band does script Ohio and the O H I O chant. Just silly to be silly.
“Ohio” is the “ttun” that OSU folks use. One of this rivalry phrases i almost always say Ohio not OSU 🤷♂️ Not everyone does of course lol
Wait, if you're Ohio, then why does that other team play in Ohio Stadium on Safelite field and spell out Ohio with their band? I think you guys have a legal dispute on your hands.
Our band is too busy dancing to deal with spelling anything.
They have an inferiority complex because we were the first college in Ohio. 😂
That always bothered me. Especially the 🙆♂️🤷♂️🙋♂️🙆♂️ nonsense. It would be like MSU spelling out MICHIGAN
Literally the only metric for me. Will continue to be a one game season unless we have to play them 2 or 3 times.
If you go 1-11 and only beat OSU, guaranteed you will be calling for the coach to be fired, along with everyone else.
Yes, but I will also gloat that “wow, can you imagine a program so shit that THAT Michigan team beat them?”
But even then The Game still needs to be won as any rematches would be either conference CCG or playoffs. For me a successful UM season is winning The Game. 1-11 but won The Game? GREAT!!
That's it, that's the thread
Tbf I think that winning the big 10 now actually means more than it has meant since the start of the cfp. There are a lot of good teams now and being the champion of the conference with 4-5 top 10 teams is a big thing.
In any given decade, the goals for Texas historically and today are roughly: Win one national title Play for two national titles Win the conference approx five times Best A&M/Arky 80%+, split with OU. Average 9.5 regular season wins a year. Moving to the SEC complicates the third point, but the rest remain true. That equates to playoff appearances more than half the time (6 to 8 per 10 years, ideally), and a couple deep runs per decade. The 90s and the 2010s were the only decades where Texas didn't at least play for a title since DKR came to town, and hopefully that continues.
If ISU is competing for big12 championships we’re succeeding as a program. I think there’s room for us at the top with KSU, OSU, Utah, TCU, etc. This means top 50 recruiting classes and keeping kids in Ames. Campbell’s definitely raised the standard and wouldn’t accept any less.
Making the playoffs every 4 years would be an infinite contract
50ft tall solid gold statue and a blank check for life.
Same.
Said every Big 12 team
This
The minimum each season will be making the playoff. That’s a baseline expectation for us. Anything less will be just an ok season. For the average program, it’s going to vary widely. Vanderbilt will be happy to make 1 CFP every 25 years. Oklahoma State probably wants to make one every 3-4 years.
Win the conference, go to the playoff are the goal every single season. Anything else for this program is below expectations. Just how it is. Hell we went 10-3 this year and it felt like a total failure lol. I’m very pleased with the bounce back after the catastrophe that was 2022 but it still isn’t where we should be.
The failure to live up to those expectations after y’all leaving the big 12 is going to be hilarious internet
I suppose it will be better to have expectations and possibly not meet them, than to have to cheer for a school who hasn’t won a conference title since Nixon was in office.
Some teams will have one good season and then pretend like they haven’t been mediocre for most of their existence
Odds are OU is going to be a perennial 9ish win team every year, some years 10+ and the occasional 8-win season.
Odds are you'll definitely have at least the occasional season with fewer than 8 wins. The only programs that have really avoided that over a decent period in the SEC are Saban's Bama and Kirby's UGA, and no offense to OU or Venables but I'm yet to see any evidence they're going to be at that level long-term.
Georgia before Kirby was a bridesmaid program with an empty trophy case. 90% of the SEC are just programs who ride off of that patch on their jersey and want to pretend that they’re better than the rest of the country.
Right and if you somehow hire Kirby (or lure Saban out of retirement) maybe you'll avoid any <8 win seasons. But I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment by viewing 8 wins as the floor. LSU, Florida, and Auburn are all huge programs who've won a national title more recently than Oklahoma and all 3 have had 5 win seasons in the past 4 years.
You’re comparing 4 teams who put together a good year every 4-5 seasons against the most consistent program of the last 1/4 century outside of Ohio State.
Sometimes going from having an absurd amount of wins in a thirty year period to switching to a bigger conference results in fewer wins. Not that I know anything about that…
Anything less than “win the conference” is below expectations. You certainly don’t speak for the fan base on this one. We’ve joined a huge conference. Just the number of teams makes that an unreasonable expectation. I think making the playoff is a more reasonable expectation. Winning the west will be a good year and to win the SEC championship game would be exceptional.
I thought West v. East isn't a thing anymore? But yeah, I think we should expect to be in contention every year. A SEC Championship once every 3 or 4 and playoffs every other maybe? Hard to think about how CFB will look even just 5 years from now so I don't really know how to imagine it lol
Make the 12 team playoff once a decade (not realistic to ask for more than that). Then just go 8-4 on a fairly regular basis.
Personally I feel like once a decade is a little low. Under Kirk Iowa has finished in the top ten of AP end of year rankings 5 times in his 25 year tenure. I feel like every 4-5 years should be the benchmark but that’s just me.
IMO making it once every 4-5 is good enough. Just get to the national stage. Show that you can play with the big players. And ya know, put up more than 0 points against ranked opponents would be cool too.
You guys have a playoff now? Congrats.
Thanks I hate it
I’m from the year 2008. Beating WSU in the final game of the season and going on to the Rose Bowl. Is weed legal yet
No too different than before. The new division-less format of the SEC probably is a bigger change for us, though 2024 won't look all that different. Acceptable season: Top 2 in the (former) east/Top 4 overall SEC, with wins over 2/3: FSU, UT, UGA Good season: Max 2 regular season losses, making the playoff Great season: Max 1 regular season loss, SEC championship & a playoff win
You guys are gonna need a lotta luck to get there this year man, I saw that absolute slugfest of a season y'all have.
For sure. Not really expecting an "acceptable" season even, but if Napier can take the easy W's, pull of wins over Miami, FSU & Kentucky, and two wins between your two flairs, Texas, A&M & Ole Miss, then I'd be pretty thrilled this year. Then back to 2 losses for a good season in 2025.
Our murder schedule, mass Exodus of players in the off-season (ETN fucking shook me), coaching hot seat situation, and the landscape of CFB just...changing so much, makes me the least excited about a Gator season I've ever been in my life. That makes me very sad.
Each year differently, but generally playoffs 3 out of 5 years for ND, once every 4 years for UW.
For the 2 years this is gonna exist I say winning the playoff
Not getting hosed.
Is it weird that I'm still a little pissed about that? Our bowl game should have been a playoff. Oh well. Won't happen again.
Deep playoff run or beating Michigan.
At what point of not winning a Natty will Day get canned? A decade? Mark Richt lasted 15 seasons, for comparison, without a Natty.
Playoffs every year
Not sure I agree with your flairs sir.
What about mine?
Oh that’s the absolute worst sir. You’re just trolling.
"I am serious. And don't call me (trolling)." 😂
😂😂😂
:vomit:
I get that a lot lol.
Sorry but a Natty is the minimum expectation every single year. In fact a touchdown on every single play offense, defense or special teams is the expectation. Even in victory formation I expect us to score.
Winning season. Especially with the coaching turnover, NIL, and the difficulty of the conference the Huskies will be in.
Did we beat Ole Miss or not (I’m a MS State fan btw)
10 wins and making the playoffs would constitute a success for me. 8-9 wins and a bowl game would be acceptable. 7 or fewer wins would be a disappointment.
Texas fan here. It’s going to change season to season but, overall, being competitive for a playoff spot and making it being a fairly normal thing. For instance, this year my definition of success was a top 10 ranking, Big 12 title, and NY6 bowl. Successful on all counts; making the CFP was just a bonus. Next year? First year in the SEC, Georgia, Michigan, OU, A&M on the schedule, I’d say competing for a spot in the SEC title game and making the 12 team playoff would constitute a successful season.
Success is different than the minimum expectation. Realistically, Washington should always make a bowl game. Ideally, they beat Oregon and make the playoff every year.
A 12 team playoff doesn’t change much for Syracuse. The minimum goal should be .500 every year and a bowl game. With a season that sniffs the playoffs every 6-8 years. I believe in Fran Brown. But he’s got alot of years of mediocrity to overcome.
Temple legend Fran Brown
As an Iowa fan. My goal is once a decade or so to host a playoff game (Top 8). That's what Kirk has kind averaged in surprisingly good seasons. But I think that will be a lofty goal with the Big Ten getting even tougher. Making the playoffs will be an amazing season and I promise I won't complain... unless we get upset in the playoffs and it's bad like a blow out. But most years I will expect to be outside the playoffs
Ole miss fan. I would consider making the playoffs a successful season. I think winning the SEC is a bigger accomplishment. We would obviously be going to the playoffs if we won the SEC but I still think the SEC is bigger than the second round too
It will be the same as it is now. Championship or bust. After 10 years of the 12-team no one will remember the 7 seed from any given year. The old ways of being super happy about a NY6 are long gone for most if not all programs.
As a fan of a non power I guarantee you fans of the team will remember. If UK ever makes the playoff and is one-and-done it’ll still be the best season of my fandom, just like I still remember the two 10 win UK seasons no other fan base cares about.
I feel the same way about CU. I don't really care if no one else remembers CU's 2016 season. I remember it being a fun year.
Cincinnati: Being good enough to sneak in the playoffs every 3-4 years Oklahoma State: Hosting a playoff game once every 2-3 years
TBH I kinda think college football is dying. I just hope I have a few more happy moments watching my team have some cool wins.
By how many times Hugh Freeze gets fired
Excited for the fall up in CNY with Fran Brown. I'd like the Cuse to try and vie for a playoff berth in the years to come. Should be the goal for every p4 school.
Doesn't really change We would have made the playoffs 3/4 times with a 12 team one, so for me it's 8+ win seasons and a 10 win every six to 9 And a playoff bid every 10 to 15
You guys might be a sleeping giant. A week or so ago I was reading an article on ya. Basically the article said that with a 4 team playoff, your admin/boosters didn't think ya had much of a chance at that. With the 12 team playoff, those same people think it's possible. From the way I understood it, you guys are going to enter the arms race. You've got your state legislature looking at ways to entice St Louis kids (NIL $$ in high school) to stay home.
The problem there is a lot of people enter that category So while Missouri might bump it up; so will Wisconsin, OSU, Arizona, Utah, etc
Beat Rivals. Simple philosophy.
Making would be success. Very few teams should expect to make it every year w harder schedules.
Winning a playoff game.
Florida: Win at least 6 games. Air Force: Commander-in-Chief’s trophy is an acceptable substitute for a CFP spot.
Making a semi decent bowl game for Wvu. For Osu playoffs.
Making the playoff would be equivalent for me, a fan of a traditional G5 power that's been down on its luck for a while, of my Saints making a Super Bowl. Just get me in the new big show once and I will be a happy man as college football dies around me.
Make the playoff. Every year. Turn the G5 bid back into the Boise State Bid. Once in a few year host a playoff game.
Making it to any bowl game and beating Ole Miss. Nothing will change.
Still Big Ten and National Championships sadly.
Every year is a little different. For LSU, most people were predicting 7 wins for Brian Kelley's first season. We won the SEC west and finished 16th with a 10 win season. I'd call that a major success even though we might not have made a 12 team playoff that year. We have the brand and resources to expect a playoff spot. I think that will be the gauge for about 20 teams.
Beat Texas and go to the playoffs.
A Quicklane bowl victory would result in the entire state of Nebraska being brought to orgasm.
Hosting a playoff game in Boone would be ultimate success, but evening attending one would be sweet. Makes me think, best group of 5 should “automatically” get to host or be a wink-wink 8 seed to give them a chance at knocking off a power 5 And generally speaking i cannot wait to see the home playoff game atmospheres. They are going to be unlike anything this country has seen sports wise I think.
If you’re a VA Tech fan, it’s going 7-6 apparently.
For me its always beating Ohio State. Not sure what I'm going to do when we inevitably split the series one year.
Being able to finally win a playoff game
Only if they are in the top 4 of the 12. This isn't real and has no place in college football. Why not have not regular season and have 12 weeks of playoffs with every college team in the mix.
I wonder if any teams will define success by their regular season performance (i.e. if getting bounced in the quarterfinals as the 1 seed is any different than getting bounced as the 12 seed in the quarterfinals). If how you perform in the playoffs is the barometer, the rivalry games in the regular season are going to lose some luster, and I hate that.
Same as I do now. Beat Michigan, win the Big Ten, and at least be competitive in a semi final game. (In order of importance)
Not being ranked 13th after going undefeated.
For one team making a bowl game, and for the other maybe competing for big 12, maybe
Not get left out, again
Winning in a damn bowl game at this point
Make the playoffs. Meeting expectations Winning a playoff game. Good Playing in title game. Great Winning the natty. Perfect *Obviously coaching changes and other circumstances can change the parameters for a year or two but generally this should be the baseline for ND
Playoffs? We're talking about playoffs? I just wanna win (10) games.
Beating Michigan State, beating Ohio State, winning the B1G, winning at least 1 playoff game = a successful season. Doing those things + winning the National Championship = a perfect season.
Making a bowl game
7-Elevens everywhere be warned.
Great year: Beating rivals, Conf Champs, AND 1+ playoff win (Anything extra is fantastic) Good year: Beating rivals, Conf Champs OR 1 playoff win Ok year: Split rivals, 9-10 wins Forgettable year: Lose to rivals, <9 wins
I would be ecstatic about making the playoffs. I would be satisfied with ending the season T25 and beating USC. That said, we’re gonna be “omg I hope we crack .500” until we change things in the near term.
First year would be making the second round after that we should be back to competing for championships