College Football in 2020 is an Aberration

[Lexjacket]

I wonder if people would be excusing the season still if we were 5-1 right now. Would it still be a practice season with "double" or "triple" asterisks then?

As a side note, thank you very much for your service

No, if we were 5-1 I'd take the asterisks away and talk about how we're going to beat Notre Dame and looking forward to the national championships we will compete for . But, we're not 5-1, we're 2-4 with wins over Florida State (who beat UNC )and Louisville (who almost beat ND then slaughtered FSU). Will we beat anybody else, probably. Will it be ND, not likely but we've yet to play the game. I'm very glad to see college football this year especially the way things are and I appreciate the effort it took to make it happen. I didn't mean to make excuses for anybody. Coaches and players will be held accountable, but not by me, I'm not the 'boss of them'. They don't like losing much more than we do, they have a lot more skin in the game.

As a side note - You are very welcome, It was an honor to serve and I have no regrets

 

[Lexjacket]

This year is still an aberration, I hare to agree with Mark Bradley, but........

Could the strangest college season end the same old way?

“Unprecedented circumstances” were the words Geoff Collins used Saturday night, his deep voice tracking a crescendo to describe Georgia Tech’s November, which included no games until the 28th. We could use the same description as a blanket over the entirety of college football in this pandemic year.

www.ajc.com

 

[Buzztheirazz]

Great article.
“Dabo is easily outraged” hahaha

 

[LargeFO]

Great article.
“Dabo is easily outraged” hahaha

Dude has made his full heel turn. Hogan to the NWO style.

 

[TechBurn]

nm

 

[Vespidae]

It’s a weird year, but ...

Does the PGA not count majors won this year? Does MLB say the Series doesn’t count?

Once you decide to play, you play.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Said it before on a different thread. There should be no national champion crowned this year.

In a normal year if you lost players, canceled games, or couldn’t practice because of football injuries, you would call it unprecedented but you would also still call it “just part of the game.” What has happened this year is not part of the game.

This season the game became an experiment in carrying on in the face of a larger adversity, even akin to pretending things were normal for the sake of moral, or maybe even the economy. As an attempt to carry on as normal it was either courageous or foolish.

As a football season, it has been a disaster. It has been so uninspiring, through not fault of the gallant attempts by student athletes, that no one has been truly distracted from the pandemic. Meanwhile, in less than a year, we have lost twice as many Americans as we lost in a single year of WW II. To try to crown a victor in this seems hollow and pointless.

 

[JacketOff]

Said it before on a different thread. There should be no national champion crowned this year.

In a normal year if you lost players, canceled games, or couldn’t practice because of football injuries, you would call it unprecedented but you would also still call it “just part of the game.” What has happened this year is not part of the game.

This season the game became an experiment in carrying on in the face of a larger adversity, even akin to pretending things were normal for the sake of moral, or maybe even the economy. As an attempt to carry on as normal it was either courageous or foolish.

As a football season, it has been a disaster. It has been so uninspiring, through not fault of the gallant attempts by student athletes, that no one has been truly distracted from the pandemic. Meanwhile, in less than a year, we have lost twice as many Americans as we lost in a single year of WW II. To try to crown a victor in this seems hollow and pointless.

National champions were crowned during the 1918 pandemic, WW1, after Pearl Harbor, WW2, Korean War, Vietnam, and after 9/11.
There’s already been a World Series champion crowned, and the NBA and NHL have crowned champions. The PGA hosted and declared winners for the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and The Masters. NASCAR crowned a champion, Formula 1 will declare a champion in December, various soccer leagues are playing for championships. The NFL is on their way to setting the playoff field.

Why would college football be seemingly the only sport in the world to just give up on the season and not declare a champion? Everyone will remember 2020 as a year with an asterisk beside it, might as well embrace it.

 

[yeti92]

National champions were crowned during the 1918 pandemic, WW1, after Pearl Harbor, WW2, Korean War, Vietnam, and after 9/11.
There’s already been a World Series champion crowned, and the NBA and NHL have crowned champions. The PGA hosted and declared winners for the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and The Masters. NASCAR crowned a champion, Formula 1 will declare a champion in December, various soccer leagues are playing for championships. The NFL is on their way to setting the playoff field.

Why would college football be seemingly the only sport in the world to just give up on the season and not declare a champion? Everyone will remember 2020 as a year with an asterisk beside it, might as well embrace it.

Everything you mentioned is a professional sport - how do other collegiate sports compare?

 

[jayparr]

So why do we keep saying we have young players? Sure at QB and RB, but our WRs are mostly Jrs and Srs. 4 of our O linemen the same. TE is young. On defense our secondary are mostly Srs. One LB is 25 years old. Now that said all of them will be back again next year. Fact, we had the most returning starters in the ACC.

We do have a LOT of fr and sophs playing! you just need to get a roster as you watch a game! It is amazing that so many are playing!!!

 

[Vespidae]

As a football season, it has been a disaster. It has been so uninspiring, through not fault of the gallant attempts by student athletes, that no one has been truly distracted from the pandemic. Meanwhile, in less than a year, we have lost twice as many Americans as we lost in a single year of WW II. To try to crown a victor in this seems hollow and pointless.

Ok. I understand your point. But ... once a decision was made to play, isn’t it moot?

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Ok. I understand your point. But ... once a decision was made to play, isn’t it moot?

It is ok to change one’s mind about a decision if it is the wrong decision.

 

[Vespidae]

It is ok to change one’s mind about a decision if it is the wrong decision.

Sure. But they (the NCAA, the conferences) haven’t. They ARE playing.

 

[Vespidae]

It’s just a bad experiment in my opinion with little reward.

Here’s another way to look at it. If colleges took a knee this year and sat out, most would be screwed financially. Eighty percent of colleges operate their athletics departments at break even. Not playing has huge implications for the future of those programs and we are already seeing programs cut at some universities.

If we want a return to normal, we have to maintain a degree of normalcy.

 

[stinger 1957]

This year seems like a year of practice to me, doesn't prove anything, just get to watch kids get better.

 

[GTpdm]

It is ok to change one’s mind about a decision if it is the wrong decision.

Perhaps, but we are talking about the NCAA here. They are the poster-child for making the wrong decision and then not just sticking with it, but doubling down on it.

 

[jacket_fan]

I think the poster with the double/triple asterisk is right. 2020 will go down in history as the most asterisk season ever.

 

[FredJacket]

I consider myself a very "stable" person. Others (actual professionals) maybe would disagree. I have a great supportive network of family/friends. This pandemic has done a number on me (relatively)... emotionally. I am in fine health... physically... and I'm am blessed to have a job that is not threatened by the pandemic.

Another perspective... but I am sooooooo thankful sports "came back" to occupy my time/mind. I have no way to put any sort of quantitative/objective number to it... but sports have been therapeutic for me. I realize my mental health was not part of any calculus by the NHL, MLB, NFL or CFB in their decision to salvage seasons under the circumstances...but it appears all of these leagues and the respective athletes have managed to stay as healthy or healthier than the general public... so, it appears the risks were mitigated to allow for play during the pandemic. I'm quite thankful.

As for asterisks... fine. Put a literal or figurative asterisk on all of 2020 outcomes. I have experienced/watched it. I understand what it is.

 

[CuseJacket]

All - great discussion. Zero to do with college football in the last page or so. I kindly ask that you migrate the tangential topics to the Lounge or a more appropriate thread.

 

[Milwaukee]

It’s a weird year, but ...

Does the PGA not count majors won this year? Does MLB say the Series doesn’t count?

Once you decide to play, you play.

Yes they all count but there’s an enormous asterisk beside every one of them. It’s not even remotely close to being the same. Fans equal pressure. I’m just personally glad we’re playing, but it ain’t like the real thing. Not by a MILE.
2020 Championships in all sports are not the same. Facts.