It wasn't long ago that your average team considered it a successful year if they played a New Years bowl game. This meant you were a contender in your conference and each game you held your breath because the air was relatively rare. To go 10-2 was a stellar year and 11-1 or better was euphoric to say the least. This is not the case anymore. Now? Lose one game and your school asks for your head.

Lose two games and the media is writing stories about your HC's ability to retain his job. Lose 3 games in the same year? Buy out a $50 million contract. (4) but who's counting? Oregon State has a new coach mid-season, so does Oklahoma St., Penn St, Florida, Arkansas, UCLA, VA Tech, Colorado St, Alabama-Birmingham. Is Wisconsin next?

Some of those teams needed it. But, mid-season? ....maybe. In my opinion we are seeing an overall change in expectation due to NIL. Schools, and their donors, are now allowed to drop serious money into their programs. One must ask, "If I donate $50 grand then shouldn't I get some return on my investments?" If the program receives 'Investments' that are north of $20 million then what's your expectation?

Ohio St is rumored at $35 million. Texas Tech $28 million. A quick Google search revealed that 15-20 teams have 'Invested' in the neighborhood of $20 million and up. Why? Not to come in 2nd place. And yet 8 of them won't even make the playoffs. The reality is that over the last 25 years most of the teams that have won a NC are named LSU, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio St, and Clemson. We have some singles in there and of course they are mostly Blue Bloods. NIL has evened the field to be sure...Texas Tech anyone? Indiana is a darling of a story. Will they be a perennial power?

If the NIL comes then they will demand it. And don't think for a second that Oregon won't (has already) drift(ed) into this thinking. It wasn't long ago that we all knew Oregon was punching above their weight. It wasn't until the last 2 full years we started seeing the difference. The results of the Cool school with the cash to flash has this team vying for a National Championship last year as well as this year.

But, ask yourself, 'if Oregon was a 10-2 team 3 years in a row, how much howling would be going on? Would Lanning be on the Hot seat? This is the face of ALL college football now. 10-2 is not enough. It's playoffs, first, period. We all would rather have a playoff bid rather than a conference championship. Fair enough. But, would you fire your coach that got you there just last year because they had a poor showing this year. Possibly. Storied programs have little patience anymore. The investment is too great.

When asked about the James Franklin firing, Dan Lanning spoke of how every coach including he...."were just two weeks away" from job insecurity. He stated that it goes with the territory as HC, so they certainly know the stakes.

1 hour ago, 1Funduck said:

But, ask yourself, 'if Oregon was a 10-2 team 3 years in a row, how much howling would be going on? Would Lanning be on the Hot seat?

That was basically life under Cristobal. We were howling that we were bringing in great recruiting classes but always lost one or two games we had no place in losing.

When Cristobal announced he was leaving for Miami that was one of the strangest feelings we have ever had as a fanbase.

On the one hand we were losing someone who had gotten us close to the playoff, had won a Rose Bowl and two conference championships. Cristobal was and remains a good coach but he wasn't going to be the coach to bring the Ducks a national title. We'll continue to see how he does at Miami. He has this strange way of winning enough, and often winning some of the big games to keep people happy but he always finds a way to lose the games he's not supposed to.

Cristobal is kinda the opposite of James Franklin.

Franklin wins the games he supposed to (until the collapse that is) but fails to win the big ones. Cristobal will win many of the big games but lose some head scratches.

Of course the Fighting Ducks. However I think Bama is going to be in the mix too.

36 minutes ago, Duckhart said:

Of course the Fighting Ducks. However I think Bama is going to be in the mix too.

It make me nervous to think that the Ducks might have to face KD with AL's talent in the CFP. To lose to KD in the CFP would really hurt.

Fire the coach?

Some of it is circumstantial.

Getting 10 wins, but two losses were to teams in games where your program was favored. Or, where your team lost because it played with little inspiration rather than an ill-timed referee's call.

A losing streak to your rival. DeBoer would feel the heat with 3 straight losses to Auburn, regardless of W-L.

Controversy over players who transfer out rather than retained.

And, so on. I think the fan expectations are more circumstantial than just W-L.

Great post and ponder point.

The first Playoff Committee Poll will be released on November 4th.

Last night on ESPN's Playoff Committee Championship Poll preview program, the participants agreed that we can all blame Curt Cignetti, with a helping of Clark Lea on the side. This, and while there is still uncertainty and more change to come to CFB, after the House settlement, people are more assured of what the near-term structure will be.

It was one thing for Ole Miss to pay big bucks for a coach and assemble a quality roster out of the portal; the Rebels have won six SEC titles. It was understandable that Oregon, with Uncle Phil's money, would come 'this close' a couple of times. But Indiana back-to-back in the College Football Playoff, joined by a Vanderbilt team with zero SEC titles this season? As Nick Saban noted on GameDay last Saturday when he picked LSU to defeat the Dores, 'I can't wrap my mind around Vandy not being an easy out.'

With the money we're paying Coach X and the cash us boosters have thrown at Good Old State, and with Indiana and Vandy in the top 10, what is wrong with our program? The coach, and maybe the AD also. Clean House!

CFB also has a playoff where you can lose two games, including one as late as possible in the regular season, and win a championship. This raises expectations for programs that had no shot at a BCS or a 4-team title.

It's hard for everyone, even the so-called 'Experts', to 'make sense' of today's CFB. See Clemson, Penn State, and Texas. Indiana couldn't be good back-to-back because the schedule is more difficult, and after all, it's Indiana. Coaches used to have at least three recruiting cycles to get their kind of players on board. Today? No way.

'Buy me to the Moon and let my team play among the Stars. Let me know what life is like with a Natty and Cigars.' If you have BILLIONS of dollars, why not go back to school? Buy your school out of being a long-time joke? The only difference between Men and Boys? The price of their toys.

In addition to the money, you do have to make smart decisions. Especially in the midst of egregious expectations. Fire Dan Mullen and hire Billy Napier, a guy with no experience coaching at CFB's top level? Hmmm. Hire a 62-year-old with no experience coaching at football's upper level. $$$$$. If Indiana and Vandy can do it, why not us at Texas Tech?

Dan gets it. It's all about using the portal wisely to build a championship-quality roster year after year. Oregon has 14 new starters this season and one loss, to the No. 2 team in the nation in a winnable game.

The Champ game? How about Alabama vs. Ohio State? But Vandy vs. Indiana would be delicious.

Waste Wisconsin!

the most recent AP No. 1 at end of season:

2024:  Ohio St

2023:  Michigan

2022:  Georgia

2020:  Alabama

2019:  LSU

2018:  Clemson

2013:  Florida St

2010:  Auburn

2008:  Florida

2005:  Texas

2004:  USC

2001:  Miami

2000:  Oklahoma

1998:  Tennessee

1995:  Nebraska

1990:  Colorado

1988:  Notre Dame

1986:  Penn St

1984:  BYU

1976:  Pitt

For list below, the final AP poll was before bowl games;

1960:  Minnesota - then, lost the Rose Bowl, for example

1959:  Syracuse

1953:  Maryland

1952:  Michigan St

1945:  Army

1939:  Tex A&M

Ole Miss was a "power" in 1959 and 1960, and No. 1 in some non-AP rankings. For example, 1960 would have been No. 1 if ranking after bowl game.

Would Nebraska and Notre Dame fans have believed back then, they would enter No-Title Land? Texas? USC?

Oregon at No. 2 final AP poll:

2014

2012

2001

Oregon at No. 3

2024

2010

It is not surprising to me that AD’s are forced to make changes when top boosters are in upheaval. Welcome to the age of NIL. Losing the support from top boosters jeopardizes a University’s ability to field teams in all sports.

It is common that athletic departments outspend their athletic revenues. Things are going well for Oregon at the moment, but what if we desperately needed to update Autzen to stay competitive, and we were not competitive?

Inflation has sent construction costs through the roof, and obtaining financing is questionable without alumni support.

Many of us are one or two bad years of productivity from losing our businesses, or jobs. Coaches are no different.

If Ryan Day lost a second time to Oregon, would he have been fired last year? If you were Clemson, what would it take to put Dabo on the hot seat? Jim Harbaugh was forced to take a pay cut after the 2020 season. Three years later Michigan was prepared to make him the highest paid coach in history.

I don't think coaches get considerably better five years on the job. Jim Harbaugh, Ryan Day, and Dabo Sweeney were all in their 6 plus years when they won their first title. Sometimes it's having the right alignment, roster experience, and coaching assistants. The greats like Saban could win with freshman QBs, different assistant coaches, and a changing play style. It looks like Ryan Day might be trending in that direction, they lost 18 guys to the NFL. They lost their DC and OC, they have a freshman QB. But they have that dude wearing the whistle.

Kirby Smart and Dabo Sweeney have two titles, but there was continuity on their staffs and they had either a multiple year starter, or they had a phenom behind center. I've seen Georgia, I don't think they are going to make it with that defense. I think Cignetti will out scheme them with three stars.

If you put it to me, I would say my favorites are Ohio State and Alabama.

Oregon and Indiana are right below them with Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas A&M and Miami. These teams have been dominant,or have the components to be dominant.

My sleepers would be Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, BYU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. These are the teams that are in the chase and have had some real good outings.

My over the moon shots would be Virginia, Cincy, USF, Iowa, and Texas. These are the teams that could shock the world if they win out. Virginia is undefeated so maybe they should be a sleeper. Iowa and Texas would have to beat some favorites like Georgia, Texas A&M and Oregon to do so, but those are not out of the realm imo.

Cincy is a real dark horse that has put up over 450 yards a game thus far. They took a relatively healthy and undefeated Iowa State to the woodshed before the Cyclones got some desperation points. The Bearcats run the ball well and pass it equally as well with an Indiana QB and Ohio State RB transfer at both positions. Nobody watches the Big 12 outside of ASU, Texas Tech, Utah, and BYU. But Cincy is dangerous.

We all know about what USF did earlier this year. I'll only thank them for helping get us a new coach. They score a lot of points and have a coach that will probably be at Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, or maybe Washington, Ole Miss, or Missouri depending on the coaching carousel. I don't think he'd take a step down and go to FSU or Oregon State😂 Sorry to any John Canzano readers.

1 hour ago, Jon Joseph said:

'Buy me to the Moon and let my team play among the Stars. Let me know what life is like with a Natty and Cigars.'

Jon!

I was humming it!