College Football 2018

[Cal Alamein]

Notre Dame are currently wearing about the lamest sports uniform in any sport in history.

[ursus arctos]

Oy gevalt

[jefe]

testudos wtf

I reiterate. wtf

[Incandenza]

GO BRUINS!

[Cal Alamein]

Congrats Inca.

Proper uniforms indeed.

[Cal Alamein]

Kyler Murray is helluva QB.

That was fun viewing.

[ursus arctos]

He will be a great outfielder in Oakland

[ursus arctos]

I feel like I've seen this before . . .

[Cal Alamein]

He will be a great outfielder in Oakland

It has been fascinating to see him play as well as he has, especially avoiding any sort of major injury jeopardizing that $4+ million MLB offer.

[ursus arctos]

Given what happened in Atlanta, there is now a very good chance that he will get at least one more game for the Sooners.

[Cal Alamein]

That would be cool. Especially to have a month to get some folks healed up.


Would suck to see Ohio State get in.

[Incandenza]

Bama, Clemson, ND, OU.

Alabama v. Notre Dame most likely the network executive dream final.

[Hot Pepsi]

Georgia is probably better than Oklahoma, but they had their chance and Oklahoma won a conference.

[Cal Alamein]

No argument there.

They will have to seriously toughen up and have some tricks up their sleeve if they want to keep it close. The early line has them a 14 pt. underdog which is fine with me and probably w/ the OU coaching staff.

[jefe]

I was kinda hoping against hope for an OU-Wazzu game that would have exploded the scoreboard.

[Cal Alamein]

I was kinda hoping against hope for an OU-Wazzu game that would have exploded the scoreboard.

Mike Leach v. OU --- defense be damned indeed

[ursus arctos]

Urban Meyer is retiring after the Rose Bowl

[Hot Pepsi]

Clearly, Meyer told his staff that Ryan Day would be the heir sooner rather than later. He had chances to take other HC jobs or NFL jobs but he stayed.

Unfortunately, I don't expect Ohio State to get any worse. They'll still shit the bed at least one game a year - Iowa, Purdue, etc. - but it won't be against us.

[Cal Alamein]

Well, down 28-0 to a seriously superior team, glad to see Sooners at least screw up the Vegas spread and lose by less than 14.

Kyler Murray played his butt off - 308 yards passing, 109 running, almost always under intense pressure. Hope he has an injury free baseball career.

Should be a solid championship match w/ Bama v. Clemson.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I'm a bit behind on things but saw the Cotton and Orange Bowls and while it was crushingly predictable to end up with those two in the final, it is the right match up and the last couple of times they've met in the final have been great games so no real complaints.

Anyway, long shot I know but are any of you familiar with ticketing arrangements for the big bowls, specifically the Rose Bowl? Do they pre sell some of the tickets before they get blocked out to the qualifiers? I meant to check the secondary market this year but forgot.

I'm plotting a 'big birthday' trip in three years' time which would have me at the Rose Bowl for the last day of my 40s, and then continuing on to the championship game on the way back (it'll be in Indianapolis that year). Checking the secondary market for this year's championship game I can see tickets in the region of $130 plus fees which seems relatively low, but suppose that is to do with it being on the west coast this year rather than Atlanta or somewhere equally convenient for the finalists?

[ursus arctos]

Open public sale for the Rose Bowl starts in early December. VIP packages and limited sales to Pasadena residents start earlier.

Details here.

There is always a very active secondary market for bowls, and you are right that this year's championship game is much cheaper than it would be if it was in Atlanta or New Orleans (though there is also a bit of matchup fatigue at work).

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Thanks - I looked a while ago and when it said something like "tickets go on sale in December" I assumed it meant just through the colleges but good to see there's public access too. I'm not likely to stretch to VIP ticketing!

[Flynnie]

Open public sale for the Rose Bowl starts in early December. VIP packages and limited sales to Pasadena residents start earlier.

Details here.

There is always a very active secondary market for bowls, and you are right that this year's championship game is much cheaper than it would be if it was in Atlanta or New Orleans (though there is also a bit of matchup fatigue at work).

I think it's matchup fatigue more than location. Everybody I know who isn't an SEC fan is completely checked out of this year's game because it's boring as hell. I'm a Notre Dame fan so I'm biased, but I think I'm on real solid ground when I say Golden Domers Bury Ghost of Holtz vs. Kyler Murray's Last Football Game Ever would be a 1000% better matchup to the casual fan.

I kind of wish the SEC would just fuck off at this point.

[ursus arctos]

Ticket brokers think it is both, but I'm sure you are right about ND-Oklahoma (and the brokers agree).

“You can overcome the lack of novelty if the location is good but even in a situation where there is novelty, location will trump,” Lawrence said. “The best example of that is Alabama-Clemson I which was in Glendale, Arizona. That was first time Clemson had been, there was a lot of novelty there. Alabama had been there before but still it was the first of the matchups and highly anticipated and that was a $200 get-in price.”

Location is a much bigger factor for the CFP title game than the basketball Final Four, where ticket prices are less susceptible to fluctuations based on the proximity of the teams because there are four schools involved and more casual fans plan trips for that event.

Walt should be rooting against ND or Georgia making their first appearance in a final in the year he wants to go (I don't think he needs to worry about Indiana or Purdue).

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Lots of dangerous permutations with that location I suppose (Ohio State can p*** off for a start). If the trip comes off I'd be aiming to book a hotel at the earliest opportunity and if it turned out to be a ridiculously expensive matchup I'd just go along for the build up outside then watch it in a bar, and spend the ticket money elsewhere. The CFP would be the icing really, the Rose Bowl is the (birthday) cake.