Nick Saban has never lost a non-conference road game in his 15 years at Alabama. If Bama wins at Texas this season, he will move to 3-0.

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Think about it, in years where they don't play on the road in the non-conference and they make it to the national championship, they'll have played 4 of 15 games on the road.
 

Are neutral sites not considered road games?
 

P.J. Fleck is also 3-0 in non-conference away games, with road wins against Oregon State, Fresno State and Colorado.

I wonder who Alabama played in their 3 (count 'em) big non-conference road wins...?
 


PMWinSTP said:
Are neutral sites not considered road games?
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No, Neutral site games are counted as away games but they are not considered to be road games since neither team is considered the home team.
 

MNVCGUY said:
No, Neutral site games are counted as away games but they are not considered to be road games since neither team is considered the home team.
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It's information like this that I come to this message board.
 


PMWinSTP said:
Are neutral sites not considered road games?
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And definitely not when Alabama has played in the stadium several times before. (Cowboys stadium and Mercedes Benz in Atlanta).
 



Zero incentive to play them once a playoff was installed. Bigger playoff = far less interesting regular season. The bigger the playoff the more boring the regular season becomes.
 

btowngopher said:
Zero incentive to play them once a playoff was installed. Bigger playoff = far less interesting regular season. The bigger the playoff the more boring the regular season becomes.
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Not to derail the thread but I actually disagree with the bigger playoffs meaning far less interesting regular season. I actually think it is the opposite. In my dream scenario, you'd expand the playoffs to approximately 12 teams - All conference champions get an automatic bid and then a couple of at large bids. That would make the regular season far more interesting and a lot more teams (including our favorite team) having a realistic chance at making the playoffs.
 

MNfootballfan said:
Not to derail the thread but I actually disagree with the bigger playoffs meaning far less interesting regular season. I actually think it is the opposite. In my dream scenario, you'd expand the playoffs to approximately 12 teams - All conference champions get an automatic bid and then a couple of at large bids. That would make the regular season far more interesting and a lot more teams (including our favorite team) having a realistic chance at making the playoffs.
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Don't think you need to worry too much about derailing this thread. :)

I agree with your take on larger playoffs not diluting the regular season in this case. In pro leagues where there are only 30 some teams, expanded playoffs can make the regular season less interesting because like half the teams make it. I know this is definitely the case in the NBA where the regular season is pretty meaningless.

In college football right now you only have 4 of the 100+ FBS schools making the playoffs, so even if you expand the playoffs you still have a small percentage of the total eligible teams making it. Now granted, a good chunk of those "eligible" teams have little to no shot of ever making the playoff.

Seems like playoff expansion is going to happen here at some point, just a matter of when.
 






MNfootballfan said:
Not to derail the thread but I actually disagree with the bigger playoffs meaning far less interesting regular season. I actually think it is the opposite. In my dream scenario, you'd expand the playoffs to approximately 12 teams - All conference champions get an automatic bid and then a couple of at large bids. That would make the regular season far more interesting and a lot more teams (including our favorite team) having a realistic chance at making the playoffs.
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The first half of the season would be meaningless. Just wait to watch how the conferences are shaking out. The whole non conference schedule would be marginalized. The old way was far better as every week teams are falling out of contention or gaining new life. Strength of schedule mattered. So much more interesting as the season basically acted as the playoff.
 


btowngopher said:
The first half of the season would be meaningless. Just wait to watch how the conferences are shaking out. The whole non conference schedule would be marginalized. The old way was far better as every week teams are falling out of contention or gaining new life. Strength of schedule mattered. So much more interesting as the season basically acted as the playoff.
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btowngopher said:
The first half of the season would be meaningless. Just wait to watch how the conferences are shaking out. The whole non conference schedule would be marginalized. The old way was far better as every week teams are falling out of contention or gaining new life. Strength of schedule mattered. So much more interesting as the season basically acted as the playoff.
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Not the case if the leagues go to 10 or 12 conference games. Which they could if the structure was based on objective criteria rather than a beauty contest.

And right now over half the teams in the FBS have zero shot at a playoff. So if Playoff implications are the standard half the schedule is already meaningless.
 


Some guy said:
Not the case if the leagues go to 10 or 12 conference games. Which they could if the structure was based on objective criteria rather than a beauty contest.

And right now over half the teams in the FBS have zero shot at a playoff. So if Playoff implications are the standard half the schedule is already meaningless.
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Name a memorable season since playoffs went to four. This is what we used to have, just insanely more fun and interesting week to week. Maybe expanding it more will be better than four, but I doubt it will be better than 2 or none, as four is far worse than 2 or none in my eyes. We’ll see though, I’m sure it’s inevitable that it will expand. This sport continues to change in ways that make it less appealing for me so I’m sure that won’t stop.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Because you have to travel, on the road, to get to them. I consider road and away games to mean the same thing, not a home game.
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The distinction being it's not a home game for your opponent.
 


Dakota2 said:
The distinction being it's not a home game for your opponent.
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Yes, I understand the inference that he is only talking about when the other team is at home, but that doesn't change that those others are away and road games.
 

If it is VT, Duke and Penn State, then he would have already played 3 and Texas would be 4 - 0. Too lazy to look up but was Saban at Bama in 2009?
 

I'm in Austin (TX) for the week, surprisingly little discussion going on about Bama coming to town. I listened a bit to the radio this morning and the main convo topic on UT football was how bad their O-Line recruits have panned out. Something along the line of over the past 15 years they've had around 40+ four and five-star O-Line recruits without a single one getting drafted.
 

btowngopher said:
The first half of the season would be meaningless. Just wait to watch how the conferences are shaking out. The whole non conference schedule would be marginalized. The old way was far better as every week teams are falling out of contention or gaining new life. Strength of schedule mattered. So much more interesting as the season basically acted as the playoff.
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Does the non-conference even matter now? Let’s say the gophers win every game, including the Big Ten Championship but were upset by Purdue or Illinois - I guarantee you we are not making the playoffs.

Let’s say Ohio State loses to Notre Dame and loses another Big Ten game so they have two losses. Michigan goes undefeated before losing to Ohio State in the last game of the year. Ohio State doesn’t make the championship but would bet every dollar I own a 2 loss Ohio State team would make it over a 1 loss Minnesota team.
 

btowngopher said:
Name a memorable season since playoffs went to four. This is what we used to have, just insanely more fun and interesting week to week. Maybe expanding it more will be better than four, but I doubt it will be better than 2 or none, as four is far worse than 2 or none in my eyes. We’ll see though, I’m sure it’s inevitable that it will expand. This sport continues to change in ways that make it less appealing for me so I’m sure that won’t stop.
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2019
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
I'm in Austin (TX) for the week, surprisingly little discussion going on about Bama coming to town. I listened a bit to the radio this morning and the main convo topic on UT football was how bad their O-Line recruits have panned out. Something along the line of over the past 15 years they've had around 40+ four and five-star O-Line recruits without a single one getting drafted.
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That is astounding. That much talent and no draft choices.
 

Upon further review, the 2009 game against VT, was a neutral site game at the Georgia Dome. So, it's Duke and PSU. Although hard to do, Go Longhorns!
 

MNfootballfan said:
Does the non-conference even matter now? Let’s say the gophers win every game, including the Big Ten Championship but were upset by Purdue or Illinois - I guarantee you we are not making the playoffs.

Let’s say Ohio State loses to Notre Dame and loses another Big Ten game so they have two losses. Michigan goes undefeated before losing to Ohio State in the last game of the year. Ohio State doesn’t make the championship but would bet every dollar I own a 2 loss Ohio State team would make it over a 1 loss Minnesota team.
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Not sure I really see the value in inventing crazy scenarios like this and trying to determine how they would play out. :)
 

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