Plenty of "irony" and greed to go around. The decision completely denigrates the college conference system. The schools have done that already I guess but.... They allowed the "extra" Conf Championship games a few years back, for the money of course, but also to filter out teams for the playoff. This was viewed as the first playoff round. You have to put the undefeated conf champs in the final four, unless you have all-five undefeated - just imho. So, had UGA won, keeping FSU out would have been easier to understand. The bama loss to TX should keep them out. Also, ironic that what would have really helped FSU this year was a 'normal' good Clemson team. The entire thing is blowing up and reforming anyway. I hate to say but there is very little loyalty in competitive sports...
And ironic also that Clemson and FSU weighed in heavily in making that decision. The current ACC media rights deal will go down as one of the dumbest decisions in sports business history. Signing a 20 year deal in the midst of a once in a lifetime shift in the media landscape is bonkers. Amazon, Apple, Warner, Netflix are all companies that might have put up bids now if the ACC hadn't been so short sighted. It was also dumb to sign an exclusive media contract with a network that clearly favors the SEC. It's going to be quite the legal fight for FSU, Clemson, whoever else to leave the conference. And I'm not sure it really makes sense for any of them to leave from a purely competitive standpoint (there are going to be a lot of 7-5 SEC teams in the years ahead). It's all about money. Interestingly, I think now that we're moving to a 12 team football playoff (and therefore conference championships are basically meaningless), the economics favor going independent if anything now for big brand teams. Hence Notre Dame's decision not to get caught up in any conference alignment moves (whose existing media rights deal paid them $22 million/year (plus an additional sum from the ACC) but the new one they just signed almost assuredly gets them at least $50 million/year or more. Time will tell what this all means for the rest of college sports.
Agreed. Unfortunately the ironies, hypocrisy, and mind boggling decisions know no bounds in college sports. The Power 5’s do it best simply because the amount of money, but no one is immune. Delaware was in a budget crisis just a few years back, but, apparently now have $5million to join the FBS.
FSU didn't make the playoff because it plays in a weak conference. Going undefeated is an achievement---but it doesn't make you more deserving of a playoff spot than a 1-loss team who played a tougher schedule. The 12-team playoff is a joke and just another example of commercial greed. There is no practical need for a 12-team playoff--except for $$$. In last year's championship game, Georgia crushed TCU, 65-7. And that was with 4 teams. With 12 teams you'll just have more teams that aren't going to win the title. It's just greed--the same thing with see with all pro sports that are constantly expanding their seasons and/or playoffs. The ACC is getting abused by Notre Dame. I've no idea why they agreed to let the Irish join but stay independent in football. Makes no real sense.
LOL, you’re very wrong and in the minority here. The 12 team playoff is the best thing to happen to college Football in the sports history.
Our resume' is stronger than Alabama's. We beat LSU at a neutral site worse than Alabama beat them at home. We beat Clemson at Clemson, the only team to do that. We beat Duke, Miami (who beat A&M), We beat our arch rival at their place with a back up QB. We beat Louisville a top 15 team with their 6th year QB against our True Fr making his first start. Our defense was as dominant as any teams' offense in final 4. We had one really weak game against BC at BC where we won 31-29/ Our defense has gotten better as the season has progressed. Were it not for those amazing ACC refs, UF scores 11 points instead of 15. Alabama had a 10 point loss at home! Repeat 10 point loss at home. They had underperforming games against USF 17-3, Tex A&M 26-20, ARkansas 24-21 and Auburn win Auburn 27-24 on a last second play. They looked good against Georgia, but benefitted from a non reviewed 4th down catch, not catch. I'm sorry, but that is garbage. Michael Alford said it well. " "Wins matter. Losses matter. Those that compete in the arena know this," he continued. "Those on the committee who also competed in the sport and should have known this have forgotten it. Today, they changed the way success is assessed in college football, from a tangible metric – winning on the field – to an intangible, subjective one. Evidently, predicting the future matters more. "For many of us, today's decision by the committee has forever damaged the credibility of the institution that is the College Football Playoff. And, saddest of all, it was self-inflicted. They chose predictive competitiveness over proven performance; subjectivity over fact. They have become a committee of prognosticators. They have abandoned their responsibility by discarding their purpose – to evaluate performance on the field.
McCarthy only threw for 60 yds against Penn State. Maybe Michigan shouldn’t have made it either. They only have 3 top 25 wins.
FSU gained more yards than Michigan in their championship match. With their full starting line up. Somehow didn’t bump them down at all…
The broadcast rights to the Southeastern Conference’s biggest football games, like the annual Iron Bowl matchup between Alabama and Auburn, have been purchased by Disney, meaning that all of the league’s games will appear on its networks including ABC and ESPN for 10 years starting in 2024. ESPN will pay the SEC around $300 million annually for the rights, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak publicly. That is nearly a six fold increase from the $55 million annually CBS currently pays. No way the SEC will be denied. Especially to an ACC football team.
A drama filled offseason already and it hasn't even been a full month. Duke commit flips to FSU. UNC commit decides to go pro instead. Transfer portal musical chairs. Duke and Wake Forest are the only ones to announce any transfer portal signings publicly (and they are probably the best transfer signing classes in the country so far). Will be interesting to see what the new Miami and Boston College coaches are able to do in the portal...
In the what might have been category. When ACCOPOTY Onyi Echegini decided to transfer 2 years ago, Brian Pensky, the coach of Tennessee at the time immediately contacted her. She politely told him she wanted to play in the ACC. 2 months later he was hired by FSU and she reached out to see if he was still interested. The rest is history. The amazing thing is is that no ACC team had shown interest in her! Think she might could have helped a couple of teams? To be fair, her stats at Miss St didn't suggest ACCOPOTY material, but BP had the advantage of having played against her.
Incoming Freshman for UNC, Duke, UVA, Wake Forest, Notre Dame and Louisville all represented at latest U17 USYNT training camp… https://www.soccerwire.com/news/thi...-for-first-u-17-uswynt-training-camp-of-2024/
FSU and Duke still announcing transfer signings through the Holidays, with Duke announcing a huge (and shocking?) one today with Hannah Bebar leaving Harvard to join the Blue Devils.
Because her first season was cancelled due to Covid (Ivy's did not play at all that year). https://gocrimson.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/hannah-bebar/26663
Ahh. Her bio snapshot on the Harvard website still says Junior. But you see this was indeed her senior year once you scroll down. So she still has two years of eligibility left should she choose to take them both.
The December Top Drawer recruiting rankings for Class of 2024 have… #3 UNC #4 Notre Dame #6 FSU #9 Duke #14 Wake Forest #16 Virginia #17 Virginia Tech And Pitt is on the ones to watch list. Late transfer additions from FSU and Duke aren’t included, which could maybe see one or both rise further. No real surprises here. Based on the season they just had I maybe would’ve expected to see UVA hit the transfer portal a little harder like Duke has? But maybe they’re confident injured players returning will be enough of a boost. There’s also still plenty of time and more transfers coming for all teams. I generally think recruiting class rankings are pretty dubious but I think it’s just interesting to see public perception. This is also the first time I can remember that the rankings haven’t been hidden behind a paywall: https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/clu...womens-di-recruiting-ranks:-december_aid52930
And in football Georgia beat FSU by 60--repeat 60---points. That will end any complaining by the noles about not making the playoff. The most lopsided defeat in the history of college-football bowl games.
Never let facts get in the way of a good story. FSU had, like what, more than 1/2 their starting lineup that didn’t suit up?
It’s a tacky post by L’orange, of course, but the Orange Bowl fiasco does tell us something about the state of college athletics today. While it’s not a national championship game, a team has a chance to finish undefeated, an extraordinary achievement, and to claim a trophy in a major bowl game, yet a number of players choose not to play. Don’t want to try to make too much of it, but it seems to reflect a different mindset that many of us older fans have trouble understanding. We still tend to think in terms of school, team, etc. — perhaps that was pretty naive to start with — but today’s players in all sports, including our beloved women’s soccer, have a more individual focus. I’m not trying to dump on the players, just trying to figure out what is going on. And trying to figure out how to keep caring much about my school’s team.
Can't blame any of the players for opting out and can't blame any of the players playing giving zero effort after seeing being undefeated is not enough and seeing all your team mates opt out. Beyond that, FSU's season was over once Travis went down and even with him, they probably lose. But this was just a scrimmage and FSU was always going to get hammered. It ended up worse than expected but the flaw was in the system. First that an undefeated champion got left out because College Football is now a Power 2 conference and everyone else is irrelevant and secondly, no bowl game except the playoff matters anymore. College soccer is better off but still it's a new day and age in college athletics and even here players will transfer quicker, go to the pros quicker, flip their commitments or transfer due to NIL etc. Loyality is not a thing anymore. There is too much money in play and the money in women's soccer is rising fast as well.