Tradition in college football

[JohnnyLingo]

Does it seem to you that many college football commentators are desperately trying to restore programs to prominence by hyping them?

Think about it. Notre Dame and Michigan haven't done jack in some years, yet every year we're treated to ESPN commentators saying how great they'll be this time around. Michigan was a Top-5 team in the 2008 preseason rankings, yet again failed to do much of anything in the regular season.

Many of these writers and TV personalities want to see the great ones return to greatness, and figure that if they hype the team enough, that will help with recruiting, which will help the team get more wins, and therefore fulfill the prophecy.

And it bugs me to no end. Talk about who is good now. Don't spend time looking backwards and hoping the glory days return. If they, they do. But I'm against attempting to artificially bring them back.

[/rant]

[Fiyero]

Does it seem to you that many college football commentators are desperately trying to restore programs to prominence by hyping them?

Think about it. Notre Dame and Michigan haven't done jack in some years, yet every year we're treated to ESPN commentators saying how great they'll be this time around. Michigan was a Top-5 team in the 2008 preseason rankings, yet again failed to do much of anything in the regular season.

Many of these writers and TV personalities want to see the great ones return to greatness, and figure that if they hype the team enough, that will help with recruiting, which will help the team get more wins, and therefore fulfill the prophecy.

And it bugs me to no end. Talk about who is good now. Don't spend time looking backwards and hoping the glory days return. If they, they do. But I'm against attempting to artificially bring them back.

[/rant]

Next

[WashingtonCoug]

It's all about TV viewership #'s. The networks receive the highest viewership ratings when the big schools with the most tradition are playing. If nobody wants to watch because the big teams suck the networks lose money. The idea is that if you hype them up enough (The Big East/SEC), then viewers will think that they are watching good football.

[Babs]

It's all about TV viewership #'s. The networks receive the highest viewership ratings when the big schools with the most tradition are playing. If nobody wants to watch because the big teams suck the networks lose money. The idea is that if you hype them up enough (The Big East/SEC), then viewers will think that they are watching good football.

That would be pretty fun, if 85% of the games they started out with, "In all honestly, this game is of no consequence. Neither of these teams has been good in, oh..., two decades now." Or even better if right before kickoff Brent Musberger announced, "Folks, you might as well turn off your set - this one's already over. Let's face it - Notre Dame doesn't stand a chance."

(Wait. Notre Dame's on NBC. That's not Musberger. You get the idea, though.)

[woot]

Does it seem to you that many college football commentators are desperately trying to restore programs to prominence by hyping them?

Think about it. Notre Dame and Michigan haven't done jack in some years, yet every year we're treated to ESPN commentators saying how great they'll be this time around. Michigan was a Top-5 team in the 2008 preseason rankings, yet again failed to do much of anything in the regular season.

Many of these writers and TV personalities want to see the great ones return to greatness, and figure that if they hype the team enough, that will help with recruiting, which will help the team get more wins, and therefore fulfill the prophecy.

And it bugs me to no end. Talk about who is good now. Don't spend time looking backwards and hoping the glory days return. If they, they do. But I'm against attempting to artificially bring them back.

[/rant]

Michigan was really good in 2007 so your use of the word "again" doesn't make any sense. They might be ok this season depending on QB play, since they've had an offseason to implement the completely new offense and get used to a new coach. Notre Dame is more worthy of criticism, but they actually might be decent this year as well. I do agree that some of the hype gets out of control, but I think that some of what you see as hype is just attention in general. These teams have enormous fan bases, so of course ESPN are going to give them some attention.

[JohnnyLingo]

It's all about TV viewership #'s. The networks receive the highest viewership ratings when the big schools with the most tradition are playing. If nobody wants to watch because the big teams suck the networks lose money. The idea is that if you hype them up enough (The Big East/SEC), then viewers will think that they are watching good football.

That is an excellent point... TV ratings do drive a lot of it. But I think many of the people pimping big dogs that used to be good really do want to see them return to prominence. It's probably a mix of both.

[woot]

It appears that 2006 is the really good year for Michigan I was thinking of. 2007 was still a pretty good year though. 2008 seems to be the aberration.

[All-American]

There are certain teams I would rather have be good, just because it makes the game feel better. Can't explain it. Just does.

Among those teams are, for me, the following:

Notre Dame
Michigan
Penn State
Nebraska (sorta)
Miami
Florida State
Alabama

[Borg]

It's all about TV viewership #'s. The networks receive the highest viewership ratings when the big schools with the most tradition are playing. If nobody wants to watch because the big teams suck the networks lose money. The idea is that if you hype them up enough (The Big East/SEC), then viewers will think that they are watching good football.

Which of course is a built in boost to those thinking it's good football, and thus, get the rankings boost from voters, and so on, and so on, and so on....


It's maddening.