2018 College Football Thread.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

Well it's that time of year again. Now we can thankfully ignore the overpaid crybabies in the NFL and watch some good football!!   

2018 is going to be an interesting year for the Ducks. The Great Traitor, Willie Taggart (petouie!)(one must always spit when mentioning the traitors name) left for FSU and many of the recruits that he signed withdrew from their commitments. Now we are left with Mario Cristobal as head coach. He is a bit of a question mark as a head coach, he did a great job as assistant under Nick Saban while at Alabama but he had a mixed record as head coach of FIU.

Our first 3 games should be pretty easy, playing Bowling Green U, Portland State and San Jose State, all home games. The first real test will be against one of our main rivals, Stanford, also at home. 

Unfortunately, I don't have enough time off from work to go see any of these games so I'll have to just watch on TV.     I just hope at the end of the season to have a winning record and a bowl game to see the Ducks play in.

Oh, and...

GODUCKS!!!

[DirtDawg]

I have been to two local high school games this season and did not stay for the end of either, but it was "REAL" football at its most intrinsic or highest concentration and purity!

We have a Homecoming (kind of interfering with my trips to the drag strip) this weekend and my daughter is going to the dance afterward without a date. I offered, believe me, but not gonna happen.
She's tough and bought a kind of nice dress all on her own. She is going "Steam Punk", which I like. A little less cleavage, maybe, but hey, she is a lovely seventeen year old.

She will meet up with other friends, both male and female who are also dateless. Not a lot of negatives here.
I had to be sedated and dragged at ignored protests by a girl to get me to one of those, until I found that I could make a lot of money if I left the girl out and brought my sound gear instead.

Anyway, I have played Leatherheads and Rudy recently so I am set for football. Let it happen.

[DirtDawg]

Oh, I have "We Are Marshall" waiting for me to pick up at the library.

Over here college ball is either Notre Dame, Indiana University or Purdue. Not much of a showing lately.

Getting into roundball, which I really don't, we have those surprising Bulldogs.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

A Homecoming game already??  Many high schools haven't even started yet. So I take it your daughter is in her senior year? Empty nest after that?

My old high school has become a joke, football-wise, despite having a former NFL player as a coach (and one that I played alongside at that!). Whenever a player shows potential at my school, they are poached by our cross-town rivals that has the best football team in the Cali central coast. Their school recruits in a similar fashion to a college team, bringing in players from as far as 20 miles away.

Speaking of recruiting, that seems to be the secret to success in college football these days. People are even saying that Nick Saban isn't that great of a coach, despite his record. They say his successes are due to consistently recruiting the best players in the nation, then it's much easier to win. This is a contrast to Chip Kelly from 2009-2012 who took an average team from the middle of the pack in the PAC-12 to the national title game a year later. The only reason the Ducks lost to a much better Auburn Tigers is that they didn't have a good kicker. Chip Kelly was a genius football "General" who could make the most of an average team.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on but it was really exciting anyway (most of the "kids" in the bar were from one of the colleges represented in the game).

[Yuri Bezmenov]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on

What's so hard to understand about American football??   

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on

What's so hard to understand about American football??   

It makes almost as much sense to me as a game of cricket probably would to you. As in it's not like soccer or basketball where pretty much anyone can work out the gist of the game.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on

What's so hard to understand about American football??   

It makes almost as much sense to me as a game of cricket probably would to you. As in it's not like soccer or basketball where pretty much anyone can work out the gist of the game.

The basics of the game are pretty simple.

The team that has possession of the ball has 3 downs (chances) to advance the ball 10 yards. If they do this then they get another set of downs to keep advancing the ball down the field. If they fail then they have 3 choices: kick the ball to the other team (safe choice),  attempt to make their 10 yards on 4th down (risky choice) Or if they are close enough to the goal posts, attempt to kick a field goal for 3 points. If they fail to get to 10 yards on 4th down then the other team gets the ball where they last had possession (hence, why it's risky, you give the other team a much shorter field). Assuming the team with the ball keeps making first downs, they will advance to the goal line and get a touchdown (6 points). After a touchdown, the team that scores has 2 choices for an extra point, kick the ball through the goalposts for 1 point (safe choice) or score a second touchdown from the 5 yard line for 2 points (risky choice and they only get one chance to try). If they are stopped on 4th down but they are close to the goal posts, then they can attempt a field goal for 3 points (again, a safe choice). If they miss their attempt at a field goal, then the other team gets the ball from where they last had possession (same rule as going for it on 4th down). 

Those are the basics, the details are several pages worth.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on

What's so hard to understand about American football??   

It makes almost as much sense to me as a game of cricket probably would to you. As in it's not like soccer or basketball where pretty much anyone can work out the gist of the game.

The basics of the game are pretty simple.

The team that has possession of the ball has 3 downs (chances) to advance the ball 10 yards. If they do this then they get another set of downs to keep advancing the ball down the field. If they fail then they have 3 choices: kick the ball to the other team (safe choice),  attempt to make their 10 yards on 4th down (risky choice) Or if they are close enough to the goal posts, attempt to kick a field goal for 3 points. If they fail to get to 10 yards on 4th down then the other team gets the ball where they last had possession (hence, why it's risky, you give the other team a much shorter field). Assuming the team with the ball keeps making first downs, they will advance to the goal line and get a touchdown (6 points). After a touchdown, the team that scores has 2 choices for an extra point, kick the ball through the goalposts for 1 point (safe choice) or score a second touchdown from the 5 yard line for 2 points (risky choice and they only get one chance to try). If they are stopped on 4th down but they are close to the goal posts, then they can attempt a field goal for 3 points (again, a safe choice). If they miss their attempt at a field goal, then the other team gets the ball from where they last had possession (same rule as going for it on 4th down). 

Those are the basics, the details are several pages worth.

I already got the basics.

When everyone stands up and cheers, that means something exciting is happening. If someone is running with the ball and the cheering keeps getting louder, that means running with the ball is good.

When everyone groans that means something bad just happened.

That's pretty much all you need to know to enjoy the game.

It's like cricket, the basics only seem basic when you've grown up with the game.

[DirtDawg]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on

What's so hard to understand about American football??   

He was not drunk enough?
It is the subtleties of the game, which we talk about constantly, that most of the rest of the world does not get. Hell, one of the reasons I am married to my wife is that she totally got football and we could cuss and discuss plays and strategies and so forth. (who wouldn't want to spend the rest of their lives with a partner you could actually talk to instead of just talk about because she's pretty hot?)
Mostly they see overpaid (free market - I challenge everyone to compete) fat guys, that they could not keep up with BTW, making lines when they do not even know why, then smashing into each other for a few seconds - then go make another line after five minutes.

[renaeden]

Thanks for explaining that, Scrap. Quite interesting.

I'll always like AFL better though. Go the Bombers!

[DirtDawg]

A Homecoming game already?? 

I am talking about high school. Our classes started August 1, as they usually do. They have to have so many days of attendance to meet and they start out by accounting for about twenty something snow days with no school attendance possible.

They have been at it for a month, now and it is time for school spirit parades and fancy outfits. She has never done it before but my daughter is working on the "Senior Float" this year and spends way too much time with twenty five other people doing shit that you and I could pop out in an hour or two with a few power tools - but that is not the point, is it?

[DirtDawg]

I've only watched one college football game, and it was in a large bar in Washington DC. I had no idea WTF was going on

What's so hard to understand about American football??   

It makes almost as much sense to me as a game of cricket probably would to you. As in it's not like soccer or basketball where pretty much anyone can work out the gist of the game.

The basics of the game are pretty simple.

The team that has possession of the ball has 3 downs (chances) to advance the ball 10 yards. If they do this then they get another set of downs to keep advancing the ball down the field. If they fail then they have 3 choices: kick the ball to the other team (safe choice),  attempt to make their 10 yards on 4th down (risky choice) Or if they are close enough to the goal posts, attempt to kick a field goal for 3 points. If they fail to get to 10 yards on 4th down then the other team gets the ball where they last had possession (hence, why it's risky, you give the other team a much shorter field). Assuming the team with the ball keeps making first downs, they will advance to the goal line and get a touchdown (6 points). After a touchdown, the team that scores has 2 choices for an extra point, kick the ball through the goalposts for 1 point (safe choice) or score a second touchdown from the 5 yard line for 2 points (risky choice and they only get one chance to try). If they are stopped on 4th down but they are close to the goal posts, then they can attempt a field goal for 3 points (again, a safe choice). If they miss their attempt at a field goal, then the other team gets the ball from where they last had possession (same rule as going for it on 4th down). 

Those are the basics, the details are several pages worth.

I already got the basics.

When everyone stands up and cheers, that means something exciting is happening. If someone is running with the ball and the cheering keeps getting louder, that means running with the ball is good.

When everyone groans that means something bad just happened.

That's pretty much all you need to know to enjoy the game.

It's like cricket, the basics only seem basic when you've grown up with the game.

That sounds like most hot dates who just want to land herself a regular guy and will do whatever it takes to bag one.

"Oh! everyone is cheering, say YAY!"

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

Judging by how little I enjoy watching Rugby (we have 2 flavours of that here, Rugby League and Rugby Union) or Australian Rules football, even though I know the rules of each pretty well, I don't know whether I would ever get into American Football even if I understood the rules. Maybe if I lived there... but that's unlikely to happen. So my only option would be to get a Pay TV package with lots of sports channels, then watch it late at night after the rest of the family is asleep. As the youngsters in Australia say "yeah..... nah".

But the one time I actually watched it it was really exciting even though I had no idea of WTF was going on.

I've only been to one live professional rugby match as well, it was when Straya won the Rugby Union world cup in 1999. In Cardiff. The most exciting part was when Rolf Harris sang Waltzing Matilda before they started playing. And when Straya got the big trophy at the end. All the stuff between those two events was boring. I paid a lot of money to a scalper for my ticket as well, and it was the worst bloody seat in the stadium.

I got free tickets to an Australian Rules match once. I took my son. We both got bored about halfway through and went home. He liked the food though, I think he had a hotdog and some french fries.

I went to a Major League Baseball game in Baltimore, they were playing one of the Chicago teams (don't ask me which one). The only exciting bit seemed to be when the pitcher threw faster than 100 mph a few times. Some people cheered. It was a pretty one-sided game and the home team lost, which may have explained the subdued atmosphere.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

A Homecoming game already?? 

I am talking about high school. Our classes started August 1, as they usually do. They have to have so many days of attendance to meet and they start out by accounting for about twenty something snow days with no school attendance possible.

That's early by west coast standards. I think our high schools are starting on Tuesday.

They have been at it for a month, now and it is time for school spirit parades and fancy outfits. She has never done it before but my daughter is working on the "Senior Float" this year and spends way too much time with twenty five other people doing shit that you and I could pop out in an hour or two with a few power tools - but that is not the point, is it?

Yeah. it's good for the kids to bond by working on a project together; it forges good memories if nothing else.

Homecoming and "school spirit" never did much for me. I just wanted to tinker with cars and smoke pot.