@thehoosierhuddle Continue to think the obvious #s would be the best: 16 for football and 64 for bball. Think the first 2 years have already proven the bye is a farce. Make everyone play the same # of games and we still get 4 extra teams in compared to the current field.
@kkott I'd rather stay at 12 or contact to 8, but that won't happen.
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I think the bye helped Indiana enormously.
We looked exhausted and beat down from Penn State on. The extra time helped. We seemed much healthier.
Most coaches have sucked after the bye. Cig isn't most coaches.
And 16 games is too many. An 8 team playoff is better than 12, which is better than 16 or 24.
Can't ever put the genie back in the bottle though. It's always more grubbing for every last dollar, regardless of the health of the kids.
@openwheel Bye teams are 1-7, so it hasn't accomplished what it was intended to, as the teams rewarded with the bye are getting shellacked. Penn St??? That's a weird game to go back to, Nov 8? Didn't look tired vs WI the following week, then had a regular bye, then had PU bye and then managed to beat OSU the following week. Even without a bye, we'd still have had 2 weeks off. I don't think you can point at the bye as the reason, and not go back 2 months as the example of being tired when we played several more games after that and before playoff.
@kkott The first year of the 12-team playoff was an aberration as Boise and Arizona State had byes and lost as underdogs.
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??@openwheel Bye teams are 1-7, so it hasn't accomplished what it was intended to, as the teams rewarded with the bye are getting shellacked. Penn St??? That's a weird game to go back to, Nov 8? Didn't look tired vs WI the following week, then had a regular bye, then had PU bye and then managed to beat OSU the following week. Even without a bye, we'd still have had 2 weeks off. I don't think you can point at the bye as the reason, and not go back 2 months as the example of being tired when we played several more games after that and before playoff.
Penn State drove it down our throat in part what looked like fatigue. Then the regular season bye helped us going into the Big title game. We needed rest. Even so we had a key player injured just jumping to high five after that game.
It absolutely had us fresh when we started the playoff.
Teams are 1-7? One of those teams was 16-0.
@thehoosierhuddle Ga is legit. 💯. For IU to think that they are at that level annually, it’s gonna take a few more seasons IMO….
GOAT SHITPOSTER
Top 8 teams in the 24 teamer play at home with a bye.
I would wager these Top 8 would win 75% of their opening games.
@thehoosierhuddle Agreed; but even at 3-5 do you think the byes are accomplishing what was intended? It's not the outlier that 1-7 is, but my point is there's no evidence to show that the extra bye week is helping the teams it's intended to, so just let everyone play the same # of games with the same amount of rest, which at this point is still at least 2 weeks. I know simple and obvious isn't the MO of the NCAA, but maybe they could try it once!
@openwheel It could have been fatigue. Honestly, I think it was just that we struggled the most in games vs teams with really good line talent and depth (IA, PSU, OSU) with the outlier being OR, and we performed well in games after that in WI and PU, had a regular bye in there plus 2 weeks after the B10 championship game, so I think it's a reach to attribute the extra week of rest to our crushing Bama. I bought Peach Bowl tix watching the Bama v OU game, because they were so sloppy, I thought we'd thrash either team. I'm not saying it didn't help us, it may have, especially to scheme Daley being out, but we all know that was a total fluke and not due to fatigue. I'm going coaching, chemistry, roster construction, coaching all way before rest in terms of reasons for our performance. If rest was that big a factor, I don't think the other bye teams would be 0-7.
I saw a tired team for some weeks. But in the playoffs, a healthy and fresh team. I thought we were still showing a bit of long season fatigue even in the Big Ten Championship. But we played tough as hell, gutted it out, and overcame.
Not attributing it to why we crushed 'Bama. We could've done that anyway. Attributing it to why we were ready and healthy for the entire playoff.
Reasonable minds disagree. Although I'm right. 😉
It comes back to the main subject. Will lengthening the season ever end? Do we need every possible playoff game because it makes the networks and league more money than the regular season? I'm tired of it. Football was 10-11 games when we started hearing about CTE. Now it's 14-15? Or, glory be, 16? Just because the kids are pros now, doesn't mean they're fodder. And I happen to like the regular season games having meaning.
@openwheel Well, if you think about it, the facts point more to what I'm saying: it was more our coaching and chemistry, than rest, because only 1 team has won with the bye, and that was the team with our staff and roster! If the rest was that big a help, hard to imagine how mostly favored teams are 0-7.
As to your other comments, I agree, and Cig has already said in different interviews that he expects the season to start earlier and for conference championships to go away. I like the conference championship, but OSU proved you can win it without playing in it and I think they will go away, just as they entered in bball. Just where things are headed.
@oneeyedundertaker Getting a rematch with ND this year, and a win, would be oh so sweet!
PS, and another NC wouldn't suck either!