• The KillerFrogs

The ESPN Oracle has spoken...

Ron Swanson

Full Member
Mrs. Brewingfrog turned on Gameday this morning. Normally, I would rather visit the dentist than watch their commercial-a-palooza, but it was on where I couldn't miss it. During the time I was scrambling up some eggs and bacon, they held a "discussion" concerning "the path to the CFP."

Now, I hatey-hate-hate ESPN. The main reason for this is that they have absolute control over the CFP, yet portray themselves as disinterested observers in their commentary and observations. Yet, this morning, they pretty much laid out what they expect, and it was what we expected: TCU loses, they are out.

It's just that simple. The Frogs must win out. No other Conference, or Team, is being treated in this fashion. They pimped a 2-loss LSU as "in" if they win out. Any other Conference Champ with 1-loss is "in" but lowly TCU must win out to even have consideration.

So, there it is. There's ESPN's agenda, and conditions.
That’s actually not at all what they said
 

Ron Swanson

Full Member
Herbstreit answered the question as if they asked him “would TCU be a shoe-in for the playoff if they lose one game and then win the conference championship?”

He misunderstood the question and then after it was clarified to him what was being asked, he changed his tune and said yeah TCU could still be in.

TCU fans need to shake the world is out to get us mentality. We’ve never gotten so much positive press in our school history. We are the talk of the country. Some people love us, some think we’re overrated. Neither is a ridiculous position to take.

Just enjoy the ride and quit looking to be upset about something.
 

Froggy Style

Active Member
I think Brew has already seen three terrible calls in tonight’s game that prove the fix is on.
You can bet there will be no less than 50 posts on both UT and Frog boards saying so. Texas thinks the conference will want the higher ranked team to win (shockingly, never understood that concept before).

I may post 4 or 5 of these myself just to keep the Frog number accurate.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
You can bet there will be no less than 50 posts on both UT and Frog boards saying so. Texas thinks the conference will want the higher ranked team to win (shockingly, never understood that concept before).

I may post 4 or 5 of these myself just to keep the Frog number accurate.
For sure. We’re both gonna get hosed by the officials.

According to a lot college football fans there are two and only two possible results. 1) your team wins or 2) your team gets screwed by the officials.
 

Froggy Style

Active Member
For sure. We’re both gonna get hosed by the officials.

According to a lot college football fans there are two and only two possible results. 1) your team wins or 2) your team gets screwed by the officials.
It's probably generally accurate. It just may not be intentional. With all of the betting now, it may be more intentional than we know; we'll know when a scandal breaks in 2031.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
It's probably generally accurate. It just may not be intentional. With all of the betting now, it may be more intentional than we know; we'll know when a scandal breaks in 2031.
I may be naive, but I refuse to believe officials call games other than as fairly as they can. They are going to miss some things, they are human. But I gotta think they take a lot of pride in getting in right.

Maybe there is some rogue guy out there that is tied on with gamblers but I doubt it’s rampant at all. And the idea that ESPN dictates how the officials call games is laughable IMO.
 

Froggy Style

Active Member
I may be naive, but I refuse to believe officials call games other than as fairly as they can. They are going to miss some things, they are human. But I gotta think they take a lot of pride in getting in right.

Maybe there is some rogue guy out there that is tied on with gamblers but I doubt it’s rampant at all. And the idea that ESPN dictates how the officials call games is laughable IMO.
Generally, I agree, although I suspect there is some conference pressure to not screw up your calls vs the perceived big dogs which could allow them to average several extra calls in their favor (they being us this week); allowing that team to win more as a trip to the playoffs vs not likely means 50-100 million in direct and indirect publicity dollars for a conference...especially vs getting none.

However, I agree with your general premise, which is why I say one team may get screwed unintentionally just by one official making some bad calls.

Example: I think we have seen officials make awful calls like the ones in the OU game missing the ridiculous interference right next to a fantom fair catch from DD. I think he just sucked, but if their QB was coming back in the game, that could have been truly game changing calls...and maybe subconsciously getting the highly ranked team back in the game. Maybe the ref was keeping them around while the QB had a chance to recover, but it did seem emotionally biased for whatever reason...especially when he tried to keep Sonny from talking to the head ref.
 

Casey T

Full Member
One of the clowns on the FS1 halftime show was arguing that 1 loss Oregon could make it in over undefeated Tcu… lol
 

Wexahu

Full Member
Generally, I agree, although I suspect there is some conference pressure to not screw up your calls vs the perceived big dogs which could allow them to average several extra calls in their favor (they being us this week); allowing that team to win more as a trip to the playoffs vs not likely means 50-100 million in direct and indirect publicity dollars for a conference...especially vs getting none.

However, I agree with your general premise, which is why I say one team may get screwed unintentionally just by one official making some bad calls.

Example: I think we have seen officials make awful calls like the ones in the OU game missing the ridiculous interference right next to a fantom fair catch from DD. I think he just sucked, but if their QB was coming back in the game, that could have been truly game changing calls...and maybe subconsciously getting the highly ranked team back in the game. Maybe the ref was keeping them around while the QB had a chance to recover, but it did seem emotionally biased for whatever reason...especially when he tried to keep Sonny from talking to the head ref.
One of the clowns on the FS1 halftime show was arguing that 1 loss Oregon could make it in over undefeated Tcu… lol
Yeah, he’s a clown. People say some really dumb stuff sometimes.

Not really related to TCU, but if the 4th spot comes down to 11-2 SEC champ who just beat the #1 team in the country vs 11-1 Tennessee who beat said SEC champ handily earlier this year, now that’d be an interesting decision.
 

Ron Swanson

Full Member
If you choose to believe that gambling plays little to no role in all of this stuff (including officiating), you are willingly naive.
I’m sure that there are instances where referees get bought. I have no doubt about that, and there’s really nothing that can be done about it.

I just don’t really buy into the conference “rooting” for certain teams conspiracy by having the refs intentionally affect the games for the sake of helping the bigger name.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
I’m sure that there are instances where referees get bought. I have no doubt about that, and there’s really nothing that can be done about it.

I just don’t really buy into the conference “rooting” for certain teams conspiracy by having the refs intentionally affect the games for the sake of helping the bigger name.
And refs getting bought wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d be out to favor the “brands”. Could very well mean the opposite.

But I think it’s very rare, and probably more likely to occur in G5 type games where not near as much attention is paid. No way they are going to try and fix something that 5 million people are watching, those guys ain’t dumb.
 
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