The Official 2025 College Football Regular Season Discussion Thread

[Dubb]

As someone who has been a Duke fan for over 30 years, I celebrate their ACC championship despite the criticism it has received. From 1989-2007 we were the laughing stock of college football power conferences, usually winning at best 3-4 games a year if we got lucky against some lesser conference schools. and before Steve spurrier it had been since the 60s that we had anything resembling success.

So did we luck into a tie breaker? Sure. But dammit we still went out and won when that’s all we could do. And I’m proud of them. And I love manny Diaz. And fuck Mike Elko.

furthermore, I truly don’t think Duke belonged in the playoffs despite their conference championship win. I can be a honest fan and say they arent one of the top 12 teams in the country. Thsy said neither is JMU and I do take issue with the rules and the fact thar JMU was “ranked” higher than them Despite them having 0 power conference wins and only 1 win against a bowl eligible team (Duke played a schedule that ultimately had all but two teams I believe that were bowl eligible). I don’t think either team should’ve been in (notre dame should have a spot) but with the current rules I can't understand ranking JMU as one of the top 25 teams in the country.

Thats my soapbox for the night. Proud of my blue devils and hope everyone who can return returns and we have a fuck the haters season next year

 

[O-Blaze]

Lot of teams declined bowl games. Tbh. Shows its less about being a sore loser, and more about just wanting to prepare and move on for next season.

 

[Mr. PrettyGood]

5-7 teams declining a bowl should be like me refusing my induction into the NBA Hall of Fame.

If I were a high school player, I’d have second thoughts about signing any letter of intent with a school that openly and vocally refuses to play the game.

 

[O-Blaze]

But on the other hand, you also gotta think about you'll be going to a team who's getting prepared for next season ahead of other teams. A lot of these extra bowl games are meaningless. Why really risk an injury for something that win or lose, nothing changes? I could see MAYBE playing and starting back ups, give them a chance as they have less wear and tear. But other than that, the risk to just say "We won the Slim Jim Bowl" or whatever names they give them these days isn't worth it when it could impact your season next year.

 

[Mr. PrettyGood]

Here’s something that I think most of us can agree on to some extent. I hate to say this because I like the bowls, but they’ve outlived their usefulness. Bowl season is no longer the well earned big showcase after a great season. This used to be a team’s big chance to play in front of a national audience and get all of the eyes on them, but now, we could watch any game from any part of the country with a minimal amount of effort if we wanted to.

The playoffs have assimilated the biggest bowl games and have the biggest teams, but they did not usurp the benefits of the other bowls. National broadcasts and streaming did that. The decline of the overbloated postseason has been inevitable and it has lasted longer than I expected it to last.

Unrelated: Go Navy! Beat Army!

 

[Chris]

As I've gotten older and the rose colored glasses have started to come off, I see next to no reason to keep the bowls. Everything fun about them became a cesspool of late stage capitalism before the playoffs really ramped up them becoming obsolete.

Listen to who is calling for them to stay vs who has issues with them, it's everyone with money involved saying how necessary they are and then the players and schools (who themselves are seeing less money from going now) talking about how much of a burden they've become. I may not follow that closely anymore, so I defer to those involved and I tend to support the littler establishment vs the bigger establishment when those are my only options

 

[Mr. PrettyGood]

All of that being said, I still like certain celebrations like what happens after the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and the PopTarts Bowl. It seems like these could be moved to kickoff weekend. Maybe we could arrange week 1 and 0 games off of last year’s results… and they’d count.

 

[Deadd2009]

Lot of teams declined bowl games. Tbh. Shows its less about being a sore loser, and more about just wanting to prepare and move on for next season.

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I mean there's a difference between declining because of classes/preparing for the draft/preparing for next season etc but declining a bowl game and then the fan base going on social media and saying the school should boycott and end the ACC partnership is in poor taste. This isnt like Florida State from last year where they went undefeated and won the ACC title.

 

[Chris]

Down with the conference proletariats

 

[O-Blaze]

I mean there's a difference between declining because of classes/preparing for the draft/preparing for next season etc but declining a bowl game and then the fan base going on social media and saying the school should boycott and end the ACC partnership is in poor taste. This isnt like Florida State from last year where they went undefeated and won the ACC title.

Well the school can't control the fanbase, so I don't see how that's relevant when my point I was making.