OT: D1

[Ship69]

Waste of time. Would've been better off having Bama in there. They'd compete.

Penn State, third in the B1G East, would have given Georgia a better game than TCU. Their secondary is much better.

I'm worried about the effect NIL will have on D1 football, but there is also the chance the upcoming 12-team playoff will spread the wealth a little and result in a shift in recruiting that will end the dominance of the game by a half-dozen super teams. For the sake of the game, I certainly hope so.

[Fightingscot82]

TCU looked kind of like an SR1 team that used everything it had to squeak through the semis and then ran into a wall when they had to do it again.

Really surprised about that outcome. Assumed Georgia would win but by a much, much closer margin.

[TheBigCat2192]

TCU looked kind of like an SR1 team that used everything it had to squeak through the semis and then ran into a wall when they had to do it again.

[IUPalum]

Great title game.

Good Lord.

Waste of time. Would've been better off having Bama in there. They'd compete.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I think the OSU-Georgia game was the actual title game. How Harbaugh managed to lose to TCU is one for the books — probably one of the worst of his several bad bowl performances. Big 12 teams still don't seem to have a clue about defense.

Having a long time to prepare served TCU well versus Michigan, plus a number of big breaks during the game. If they played Michigan 10 times they’d probably win once. Georgia and TCU aren’t even playing the same game. You could see the strength and speed difference right away and you knew it had a chance to get ugly. This is another reason a larger playoff field is warranted. TCU probably doesn’t survive a 12 team playoff to get to the final. TCU likely would have had three or four losses in the SEC. If TCU and LSU were playing, I expect LSU would be favored and would likely win, and they finished 16th in the polls. TCU lost to Kansas State, which finished 11th. Looking at the top 10 of the final poll, I’m not sure TCU would be favored over any of those teams.

[Ship69]

Great title game.

Good Lord.

I think the OSU-Georgia game was the actual title game. How Harbaugh managed to lose to TCU is one for the books — probably one of the worst of his several bad bowl performances. Big 12 teams still don't seem to have a clue about defense.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Great title game.

Good Lord.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Then there’s this:

A high school student-athlete died Thursday after suffering a medical emergency and collapsing during a varsity flag football game at her school, authorities said Friday. The Clark County coroner identified the girl as Ashari Hughes, 16, and reported that a determination of her cause and manner of death was pending. Desert Oasis High School Principal Ian Salzman said in an email that campus staff members immediate- ly provided medical aid after Hughes collapsed, until paramedics arrived during the school’s home game against Valley High School, the Las Vegas Review-Jour- nal reported.

What a sad situation, but very likely that there was an undiagnosed condition that led to it. I find that the morons complaining about the NFL being “sissified” either never played the game themselves, or, likely couldn’t get through a local high school game let alone a single hit in the NFL. Now if someone wants to talk about the inconsistency of how roughing the passer is called, I’m all for that.

[Ship69]

I've encountered (and I'm sure others have) guys who put down any efforts to make rules more protective of players as turning football into some sort sissified version of the game. I usually suggest to them that they go to a D1 or NFL practice and tell these guys their views on the matter. I remember Dennis Quaid, while filming "Everybody's All-American," shot a football scene in full gear. For realism's sake, he took an actual hit from one of the cast members — former NFL linebacker Willie Lanier. It did not go well. If I remember correctly, Quaid ended up with a couple of cracked ribs — from a single hit.

With today's bigger, faster players, it's a good thing the rules have been modified. Back in the '50s and '60s when I started watching football, stuff such as clotheslining was not illegal. Receivers who tried to run routes over the middle against players like Dick Butkus usually weren't anxious to do it again after getting a forearm shot in the throat.

[Fightingscot82]

Taking death out of the equation, which is remarkably rare in sports in general, football is the most dangerous when you consider the number and severity of injuries by number of participants.

Here’s a good article on sports related injuries from Johns Hopkins: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heal...ury-statistics

If you want to read a pretty good research paper you can find it here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1941297/

It’s also not as simple as looking at the total number of injuries because there’s level of severity. Another thing to consider is cause of injury. In situations where an athlete dies or comes close do dying, it’s often due to an undiagnosed health condition and not something that happened as part of competition. It will be interesting to see what we learn about the Damar Hamlin situation and whether there was an unknown heath risk. If he didn’t have something else going on, it’s going to come up in conversation around dinner tables across the country when Johnny says he wants to play football.

As a former football coach, I can tell you it’s a remarkably violent game even at the high school level. It’s one thing to see it on television or watch from the stands, but another to be right next to it. Not only are games violent, but there’s the additional blows and wear and tear in practices players endure that makes them even more susceptible to injury. In my years of coaching football and baseball, I’ve seen dozens of significant injuries including concussions on the football field, and can count on one hand the number I’ve seen on the baseball field. I love football for sure, but I really don’t want my kid playing it. I wouldn’t tell him he can’t, but I’m glad he seems way more interested in baseball and basketball.

If the steps were taken to REALLY make football safer, it wouldn’t resemble the game we see today.

We haven't even seen an accurate picture of the lifelong effects of head contact. If you are around men who played football beyond high school or college in the 70s or 80s, especially those who took frequent helmet to helmet hits before helmets were scientifically designed, they're not okay. I worked with a 1970s Steeler at RMU and lived next to a 70s Penn State & NFL player when I was first married and you can notice their cognitive issues.

[EyeoftheHawk]

They essentially have been with some of the fair catch rules and kickers who can boot it out of the endzone. It is a dangerous game, but in reality more players are killed by car crashes than during football games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._their_careers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._their_careers

Taking death out of the equation, which is remarkably rare in sports in general, football is the most dangerous when you consider the number and severity of injuries by number of participants.

Here’s a good article on sports related injuries from Johns Hopkins: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heal...ury-statistics

If you want to read a pretty good research paper you can find it here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1941297/

It’s also not as simple as looking at the total number of injuries because there’s level of severity. Another thing to consider is cause of injury. In situations where an athlete dies or comes close do dying, it’s often due to an undiagnosed health condition and not something that happened as part of competition. It will be interesting to see what we learn about the Damar Hamlin situation and whether there was an unknown heath risk. If he didn’t have something else going on, it’s going to come up in conversation around dinner tables across the country when Johnny says he wants to play football.

As a former football coach, I can tell you it’s a remarkably violent game even at the high school level. It’s one thing to see it on television or watch from the stands, but another to be right next to it. Not only are games violent, but there’s the additional blows and wear and tear in practices players endure that makes them even more susceptible to injury. In my years of coaching football and baseball, I’ve seen dozens of significant injuries including concussions on the football field, and can count on one hand the number I’ve seen on the baseball field. I love football for sure, but I really don’t want my kid playing it. I wouldn’t tell him he can’t, but I’m glad he seems way more interested in baseball and basketball.

If the steps were taken to REALLY make football safer, it wouldn’t resemble the game we see today.

[Bart]

Kickoff returns will be the next item eliminated in real football.

They essentially have been with some of the fair catch rules and kickers who can boot it out of the endzone. It is a dangerous game, but in reality more players are killed by car crashes than during football games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._their_careers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._their_careers

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Some very unexpected things can happen in contact sports. When I was attending Ship, we nearly lost a guy in a touch intramural football game. We had kickoffs, and although it was touch football there was blocking. Some guy caught this kid in the mouth, and his tongue doubled up and got stuck in his throat. He dropped to the ground and started turning blue. Somebody went to fetch the school nurse, but she never would have made it there in time. Fortunately, one guy had the presence of mind to figure out what was going on, found a stick, and was able to pry the tongue out of the kid's throat so he could breathe again. I wasn't playing in the game, but I was watching and it was scary. Intramural participants were so shaken by the incident that kickoffs were ended, and teams were simply given the ball on the 20 to start possessions.

Kickoff returns will be the next item eliminated in real football.

[Ship69]

Unfortunate PSAC connection to this saga: former Edinboro QB Hal Galupi died from a similar situation while playing in a softball game. Took a bad hit to the chest on a play at the plate.

Some very unexpected things can happen in contact sports. When I was attending Ship, we nearly lost a guy in a touch intramural football game. We had kickoffs, and although it was touch football there was blocking. Some guy caught this kid in the mouth, and his tongue doubled up and got stuck in his throat. He dropped to the ground and started turning blue. Somebody went to fetch the school nurse, but she never would have made it there in time. Fortunately, one guy had the presence of mind to figure out what was going on, found a stick, and was able to pry the tongue out of the kid's throat so he could breathe again. I wasn't playing in the game, but I was watching and it was scary. Intramural participants were so shaken by the incident that kickoffs were ended, and teams were simply given the ball on the 20 to start possessions.

[Chuck Norris]

Well considering the violent nature of the sport, somebody should have brought up the possibility of this happening and having a protocol in place.

Always plan for the worst case scenario.

The only protocols that mattered were the ones in place to save Damar’s life. The logistics of calling off the game in a manner timely enough to satisfy a public that’s always looking to be mad about something are a secondary concern. Nevertheless I’m sure that process will be looked at going forward.