Is college football in danger of losing popularity

[HammerDown]

holy wall of text _______

(can't say the name in the joke without twisting up a certain tittiebaby)

Cocaine. It’s a helluva drug.

 

[HammerDown]

Bama/UGA had a higher viewership than the NBA Finals

so im gonna with...

That’s because Lebron is the new face of the NBA. Would YOU watch that shit???

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Idk brah. Kinda?

I know I'm not the target audience for CFB because my school basically sucked dick for 17 of 20 years from '98 to '18 and then gave up and plays mostly community colleges/culinary academies in Utah, Montana, and Oregon now but I sure as hell don't give a shit about college ball anymore.

I've noticed a similar trend with a lot of the people I talk to about sports and shit but that's a small sample size and might not really mean anything. Just personally, the more NFL ball I watch the harder it is to enjoy CFB outside the FBS playoffs. That said, I think it's clear that NFL, CFB, and MLB are still the top dogs in this country. So how bad can it really be for CFB? I have no doubt it's still the biggest game in town in the south.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

That’s because Lebron is the new face of the NBA. Would YOU watch that shit???

I legit don't know a single person who watches the NBA. Then again most of my friends are fhegs who are all more interested in the half time show than the game when I have them over for the Super Bowl.

JK I have no friends. I'm talking about me.

 

[78Cyclones]

How dare you, you ignorant slut. I went to Forest Hill, we hated Lake Worth. Had some pretty big brawls with them on the baseball diamond, then we got together each summer for Legion Post 12 and had a fantastic team, then fought again the next year. Great memories. You from the area?

Just tieing some lose ends here from the thread. My sister-in-law was a Lake Worth grad from a blue collar background (Her Dad was a WWII Marine Vet who served in the Pacific). She is smart as a whip. MENSA smart.

She went to FSU Undergrad and LSU Law School. Has a comfy life in New Orleans, but she is in therapy because she didn't get to play Squash growing up to increase her odds of going to Yale! / sarcasm.

Seriously, that elitist B.S. is such a waste of time. I grew up somewhere in the middle with some family doing the Private route and some doing the State U. route. When I was trying to find a school, I narrowed it down to State Universities with a 1-A Football team! lol. Chose well, I did, for me!

Let's Go State!

 

[Deep Creek]

I just read the article below that takes what you are saying in a totally different direction, but with the same concept.

This serious article will have you laughing your ass off at the idiotic rich parents. The jabs they take at us "normal" people is hilarious. I really feel sorry for them and their kids. It's a long read, but worth it.

The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents

I despise stuff like this, and what happened with the recent admissions scam. And I despise the likes of IMG Academy type places.

Whatever happened to developing skills on the sandlot, concrete hoops courts and municipal golf course driving ranges.

I can tell you this from watching the local young golfers. I've seen all four "make it" and "not make it".

I've witnessed the country club (money) crew. Some leave their kids be and at the hands of local coaches and other local youth golf advocates to "get whatever instruction is available." Others decide that isn't good enough so they've paid some high priced instructors to fly in from Scottsdale, Palm SPrings, etc.

On the other end, I've seen the municipal course (no money) crew do exactly what the money crew does except some of them don't have the money to do the 2nd and more or less bankrupt the family.

And guess what, with a couple of exceptions, both groups have thrown money at something their own kids didn't really want. I had one tell me she was doing well with "Mr. Rickey" who was teaching her how to correct her own errors.

Adults are screwing a lot of kids up.

 

[Volbound1700]

So how does a program like Minnesota whose dominance spanned AT LEAST 8 entire decades. Natties won in 5 of those decades by 3 different coaches, Conf Titles won in 7 of the 8, and multiple players from 7 of those 8 decades are enshrined in the Cfb Hall of Fame, and former Gophers kicking tail in pro football spans across EVERY decade for the last 13 decades, from the very first Pro fb player in history, Pudge Heffelfinger whose statue greets everyone visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the entrance, to Tony Dungy becoming the first ever Black coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl Title just over a decade ago. In between, Pudge's time at Minnesota and becoming the first ever pro fb player in history, and Dungy's historic Super Bowl win, a UMner invented Cheerleading, then Pudge, as an asst to Head Coach Henry L Williams helped Williams develop the 4 man backfield which contributed to UMn's undefeated team stopping Michigan's Point a minute squad, tying the eventual Natl Champs in 1903. Bobby Marshall became the first black player to play in the B1G Conf. Williams was one of the first to propose the forward pass and one of the first to utilize it successfully in the teens. In 1920 former Gopher Bobby Marshall became the first ever black fb player to play in the NFL. Former Gopher Gil Dobie was establishing the long held cfb record unbeaten streak that was so long, it spanned THREE different coaching gigs, including his entire career at the University of Washington. This is a record that may never be matched. In the 20s Bronko Nagurski was so good he was named to the All-American team at 3 different positions, 2 in the same year even. And this was legit, as the DEFENSIVE Cfb POY Award is named after him, yet he was inducted into the Pro Fb Hall of Fame as an offensive player as a Fullback and was so good a famous movie scene was all about how Nagurski came out of retirement to help his old team win the Championship again in 1943. Former Gophers were coached so well by Henry Williams that they even shared Natl Titles as coaches as they did in 1940 when both Bernie Bierman coaching the Gophers went undefeated and were named Natl Champs and Clark Shaughnessy coaching Stanford went undefeated and were also named Natl Champs. So good were former Gophers at coaching, that Tulane University hired 3 straight former Gophers to coach them and for 3-4 decades Tulane was actually a blue blood. And at least one of the Natl Titles Bierman won at Minnesota was called the Henry L Williams Trophy, as it was renamed that after Minnesota won the Knute Rockne Trophy 3 times in a row. Had Bierman won the Title in 1942, it would have been retired and renamed after him possibly? But instead, Bierman's dominance at Minnesota was so dominating that it literally took the US Govt choosing to get involved in WW2 to end UMn's dominance as they were picked to win the Natl Title again, in 1942, which would have been their 6th Title in 9 years, but instead Bierman was taken away and placed as the coach of the Iowa Seahawks military training team, and over half of the Gopher's players were scooped away for military service several who ended up playing AGAINST the Gophers, including Unanimous All-American Bill Daley who finished 7th in the Heisman voting in 1943. But the kick in the nuts was when it was the Iowa Seahawks coached by Bernie Bierman himself and with a roster that included several former Gophers, were the team that ended UMn's winning streak. So it was Notre Dame who eventually retired the Henry L Williams trophy and got it renamed. After the war and after Bernie Bierman had to try to rebuild the program basically from scratch with players who, Bud Grant admitted to later on, didn't respond well to Bierman's coaching style because of their wartime experiences. They were probably good enough to win another Title in 1949 but the bad attitudes of the players, Bud Grant himself admitted, cost the team their 2 losses. So after Bierman who was already very old, retired, and UMn had missed out on the opportunity to hire either former Gophers Biggie Munn or Bud Wilkinson who combined dominated the late 1940s and early 1950s cfb scene, the UMn admin went with an outsider, and his failing to make an immediate impact got them seriously considering giving up on football all together, but then Warmath came out of nowhere, partly due to his being one of the first to bring in lots of black players, unusual in the 50s, and won the Natl Title in 1960 and continued doing well throughout the 60s. UMn's influence on the game of football in the 50s and into the 60s was SO WIDE, that former Gophers were taking turns coaching their teams to the CFL Grey Cup Championship game, and former Gophers were taking turns coaching their cfb teams to Natl Titles, all while UMn was doing fairly good as well. In 1962, Wisc, coached by a former Gopher, finished #2, Oklahoma, coached by a former Gopher finished #8, UMn finished #10, and Mizzou, coached by a former UMn-Duluth player, who was coached by a former Gopher, finished #12 in the nation all while Bud Grant's team was winning the Grey Cup Title. Biggie Munn stepped away from the sideline to lead MSU into the B1G conf as their Athletic Director, Bud Wilkinson retired soon after the 62 season and went into politics and being a game announcer/commentator and a very good one I've read, Devine moved on to Notre Dame and a Natl Title and infamy in how he was portrayed in the movie Rudy, Bud Grant went on into a Pro Hall of Fame career as an NFL coach, and Murray Warmath retired soon after winning a share of the Big Ten title in 1967 and unfortunately not getting his name in the cfb Hall of Fame where it probably deserves to be. Warmath's players went on to dominate in the NFL in the late 1960s and well into the 1970s and even a few into the 1980s. Bierman's former players continued coaching as late as into the 80s, as well as at least one of Warmath's players although most of his ended up playing in the NFL, not coaching. And Bierman's and that one Warmath player's impact on the game lasted into the 21st Century as both Tony Dungy and multiple CFL Title winning Coach Marc Trestman played for Cal Stoll while he was coaching Minnesota and beating #1 ranked Michigan in 77. And among Joe Salem's assistant coaches were Mike Martz and Mike Shanahan.

Now I'm sure I missed a bunch. The B1G conf didn't allow B1G teams to play in bowl games for most of UMn's peak years, so they weren't able to build up a ton of bowl game wins like some programs, yet since they became supposedly "irrelevant", they still were able to play in Bowl games in each of the last 6 decades, and have gotten to a bowl game in 15 of the 20 years of the 21st Century, so far, winning 7 of them, including their last 4.

Did I mention that UMn has had players end up the high pt scorer in the entire NFL 10 times by 4 different players in 4 different decades?

Did I mention that UMn has had players end up as NFL All-Decade players 10 times in 6 different decades, more than any other school that I am aware of, as I checked after the 2000s all-Decade team, not after the 2010s team came out.

Looking at the teams on that list,
UMn has SIX Recognized Titles & 4-6 Poll Era Titles(34 AP & 35 UPI polls make it 6 for UMn), and UMn has a

1-0 record vs Bama,
1-0 record vs Clemson. Clemson has just 3 Poll Era Titles, and 3 Recognized Titles.
1-0 record vs Auburn. Auburn has just 2 Poll Era Titles, and 3 Recognized Titles.
1-0 record vs Texas. UT has just 5 Poll Era Titles and 4 Recognized Titles.
1-0 record vs Ark. Ark has just 1 recognized Title
1-0 record vs GT. GT has just 1 Poll Era Title and 4 Recognized Titles
33-25-2 rcrd vs Nebraska
10-7 record vs Washington
9-3 record vs Pitt. Pitt has just 2 Poll Era Titles.
2-1 record vs UCLA. UCLA has just 1 Poll Era Title & only 1 Recognized Title.
62-49-2 rcrd vs Iowa. Iowa has ZERO Poll Era Titles, but 1 Recognized Title.
1-1-1 rcrd vs Stanford. Stanford has ZERO Poll Era Titles, but 1 Recognized Title.

That's 12 of the 30 teams on that list. UMn's cumulative record vs those 12 blue bloods & potential blue bloods is

123-86-5

61-37-3 not including Iowa.

We never played Geo, LSU, Flor, A&M, FSU, Miami, VT or WVU.

That brings it to TWENTY. 20 of the 30 teams on that list either never played the Gophers or do NOT have a winning record vs the Gophers. Of the teams on that list, who have not played Minnesota, lets compare # of Titles

UMn = 6 Recognized Titles. 4/6 Poll Era Titles.
LSU = 5 Recognized Titles. 4 Poll Era Titles.
Mia = 5 Recognized Titles. 5

This is why Tennessee was a good comparison, under Bob Neyland, they were just as dominate as Bear Bryant's Alabama teams but it is mostly forgotten like Minnesota. Both programs don't look like they are coming back to that high level anytime soon. (Tennessee has more potential due to still having large fan support and ability to get recruits).

Minnesota's issue seems to be summed up with my personal experience. I met people all the time from Minnesota. I
No one seems to be a Golden Gopher fan. They acknowledge the school exist but no one keeps up with them. The Minnesota Vikings, however, are another story. Most of the Minnesotans that I have met love the Vikings. Seems like the school is mostly an after thought and the NFL team gets all of the exposure. Hard to win in college without a large, rabid fan base.

 

[Deep Creek]

Select baseball in suburban Texas, my town in particular, isn't quite that bad but it is pretty bad. I enjoy what I do but would enjoy it even more if not for the parents. And some of the kids I feel bad for. There is one kid who tries out every season and he works his ass off and I know he would be one of the kids that hustles and he has enough skill to be on the team. But his dad is a grade-A asshat who thinks his kid hung the moon and is Mike Trout v2. The first tryout I was watching the kids and taking notes and he was in my ear about how bad other kids were doing and "wait until you see my son, he's so polished you will be lucky to have him" and on and on and on. Refuse to pick the kid up because I don't want to hear it from his dad when I put him on the bench or when he doesn't play the position he wants.

Baseball coach at the high school where my wife was a counselor and our daughters graduated from was a friend of ours. After season we were waiting on him to join us for our Wednesday afternoon administrators/coach 9 hole weekly scramble that involved a lot more beer than golf. He asked us to put him the last group. Had a couple of parents conferences the day after the last game.

After he gets a couple of beers down him he says to me, "I've got to be the dumbest baseball coach in the world." I said "Don't think so Tommy, you done quite well." He said "yeah, we've had success in my 22 years but I just now figured something out at the parent conferences this afternoon. Parents geniunely want the me to play the 8 best baseball players on my team and their child." I just now firgured that out. I'm a slow learner."

Like any good counselor's husband I offered up my best theraputic solution and said, "Here. Have another beer."

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

This one is going to be controversial but stick with me here. One thing that I use to love about college football was how exciting and balanced it used to be as a sport. I actually tell people that I miss the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s which I consider to be the height of the sport and not just because my team was better.

The issue with CFB today is that it has started to get too lop-sided. The same teams tend to win their leagues every year: Alabama with the SEC, Clemson with the ACC, Ohio State with the B1G, Oklahoma with the Big12. Meanwhile traditional powers such as Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Nebraska, wallow in obscurity.

Worse, entire areas of the country are no longer that competitive. The Pac12 isn't what the Pac10 once was, the Northeast doesn't have great football anymore (Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse have been so bad for so long that people forget that they actually used to have good teams).

This presents challenges for the sport as fans dial out and don't want to watch when their teams continually lose. As a Tennessee fan, why watch when we are going to get creamed by Alabama, Florida, and Georgia every year?

Take a classic example snapshot, the 1998 season.

The Big12 had an undefeated Kansas State team and the Pac12 had an undefeated UCLA team going into the final week of football. UCLA was upset by Miami and Kansas State by Texas A&M in the Big12 title game. This opened the door to one loss Florida State or Ohio State teams to make it in with FSU ultimately getting the nod. The previous year, Nebraska and Michigan shared a title. Before that Florida beat FSU for the title.

You see the variety in teams? Also, there are teams from each region involved. In 1998, Syracuse nearly beat Tennessee and beat defending National Champion Michigan as well as won the Big East. The variety was there. Teams felt like they could beat the big dogs and anyone could win on any given Saturday. The talent was pretty evenly dispersed across the country. The game was fun to watch.

2000s also was a great decade. You had Pete Carroll's USC teams, great Cal teams, multiple SEC teams vying for the title, and Oklahoma/Texas with great teams. Still, things starting to go awry in this decade, starting with the B1G as Ohio State started to take the lead and would not relinquish it. Meanwhile ACC powers FSU, Miami, and Virginia Tech started to decline and the league would eventually become open for Clemson to start its run.

Fast forward to the last 5-6 years. It is the same teams nearly every year. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma. Every once in a while a Georgia, Oregon, or LSU breaks in but no one else is really competitive. Fan support is dwindling because all of the talent is focused on a few schools. Already, everyone is expecting a title game between Alabama and Clemson with Ohio State maybe being in the mix.

Teams like Pittsburgh, UCLA, Nebraska, etc. haven't been good in 20 years. Fans are leaving the sport.

The NFL probably has a better model. Overtime, nearly any team can rise up with the exception of the Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders lol. Is CFB declining?

(I also think that the stupid rules that limit defenses are hurting but that is another topic).

Remember when bowl games used to mean something? Getting into a BCS bowl was a big deal. Your "BCS bowl trips" were tallied like a trophy. "USC has been to X number of BCS bowls in X amount of years". Now it's you make a 4 team playoff or you play in a meaningless bowl that no one will remember, with two teams who probably don't have their best players because of NFL opt-outs. The playoff killed some of the luster in the sport.

 

[Thiefery]

Baseball coach at the high school where my wife was a counselor and our daughters graduated from was a friend of ours. After season we were waiting on him to join us for our Wednesday afternoon administrators/coach 9 hole weekly scramble that involved a lot more beer than golf. He asked us to put him the last group. Had a couple of parents conferences the day after the last game.

After he gets a couple of beers down him he says to me, "I've got to be the dumbest baseball coach in the world." I said "Don't think so Tommy, you done quite well." He said "yeah, we've had success in my 22 years but I just now figured something out at the parent conferences this afternoon. Parents geniunely want the me to play the 8 best baseball players on my team and their child." I just now firgured that out. I'm a slow learner."

Like any good counselor's husband I offered up my best theraputic solution and said, "Here. Have another beer."

Last year I had to coach a traveling soccer team in a pinch for the fall season.. My wife had to help me out with making sure everyone played the same amount or close to the same amount of time. We got blown out the first game of the season, but we ran the table the rest of the way heading to the championship game. I had no complaints about the way I was substituting or anything. Well we end up losing the Championship game 3-2 in the final minute after we had just tied it.

After giving out brown bags full of candy, cliff bars, chips and orange slices.. we took pics with the trophy. As we were heading to the parking lot I had 2 different parents asking me why I didn't take out there son (and daughter). I was like why? They just said because they aren't that good and if they were out we would have won.. all in front of both players. They told me, they rather have been on the bench if it meant to have won the championship than playing and coming up with the runner up trophy..

I felt bad because they played hard and did their best.. This was a 8-10 yr old league.. They were fine, the other team had older kids playing the majority of the game. I just shook my head and I hugged the two players and said you two had a great season, you earned that trophy and next spring you will win the big one.

Unfortunately Covid canceled the Spring season.. and my daughter has now moved up to a different league that's more competitive. Wish some parents would just appreciate their child competing and getting better week by week.

 

[fordman84]

Baseball coach at the high school where my wife was a counselor and our daughters graduated from was a friend of ours. After season we were waiting on him to join us for our Wednesday afternoon administrators/coach 9 hole weekly scramble that involved a lot more beer than golf. He asked us to put him the last group. Had a couple of parents conferences the day after the last game.

After he gets a couple of beers down him he says to me, "I've got to be the dumbest baseball coach in the world." I said "Don't think so Tommy, you done quite well." He said "yeah, we've had success in my 22 years but I just now figured something out at the parent conferences this afternoon. Parents geniunely want the me to play the 8 best baseball players on my team and their child." I just now firgured that out. I'm a slow learner."

Like any good counselor's husband I offered up my best theraputic solution and said, "Here. Have another beer."

Yup, I tell parents that if I had a personal grudge against their kid then the kid wouldn't remain on the team. I'm putting the best team on the field and the kids in their best chance to win. I have one kid this year that begs every practice and game to pitch. But he is just god awful. I tell him he needs to keep working, and finally pulled him over with his dad and explained that I can see he is working on things but I'm not going to put him on the mound where he will fail because that will set him back. His dad is cool and understood. Helps that the kid is the fastest one on my team and has a niche spot that he knows he is the go to guy.

 

[Deep Creek]

Last year I had to coach a traveling soccer team in a pinch for the fall season.. My wife had to help me out with making sure everyone played the same amount or close to the same amount of time. We got blown out the first game of the season, but we ran the table the rest of the way heading to the championship game. I had no complaints about the way I was substituting or anything. Well we end up losing the Championship game 3-2 in the final minute after we had just tied it.

After giving out brown bags full of candy, cliff bars, chips and orange slices.. we took pics with the trophy. As we were heading to the parking lot I had 2 different parents asking me why I didn't take out there son (and daughter). I was like why? They just said because they aren't that good and if they were out we would have won.. all in front of both players. They told me, they rather have been on the bench if it meant to have won the championship than playing and coming up with the runner up trophy..

I felt bad because they played hard and did their best.. This was a 8-10 yr old league.. They were fine, the other team had older kids playing the majority of the game. I just shook my head and I hugged the two players and said you two had a great season, you earned that trophy and next spring you will win the big one.

Unfortunately Covid canceled the Spring season.. and my daughter has now moved up to a different league that's more competitive. Wish some parents would just appreciate their child competing and getting better week by week.

While those parents may have thought they were being honest and doing the right thing, shouldn't have been said in front of the kids...if said at all.

Here is an opposite one for you. I was the principal during this winning streak. We'd just won the 38th game of it when I saw some commotion as the kids were leaving the field to the locker room. Long story short, there were parents arguing with each other and throwing barbs at the coach because "He wasn't playing the right players." Mind you, he'd just had two undefeated state championship seasons and was finishing up a third and "he wasn't playing the right players."

Monday following the game, Coach and I had a conference with the players of the parents spewing that crap. All five players said to just ignore their parents....and one even added "And don't listen to my Uncle Manny either. He's full of crap."

A couple of years later it ended at 70.

 

[Thiefery]

While those parents may have thought they were being honest and doing the right thing, shouldn't have been said in front of the kids...if said at all.

Here is an opposite one for you. I was the principal during this winning streak. We'd just won the 38th game of it when I saw some commotion as the kids were leaving the field to the locker room. Long story short, there were parents arguing with each other and throwing barbs at the coach because "He wasn't playing the right players." Mind you, he'd just had two undefeated state championship seasons and was finishing up a third and "he wasn't playing the right players."

Monday following the game, Coach and I had a conference with the players of the parents spewing that crap. All five players said to just ignore their parents....and one even added "And don't listen to my Uncle Manny either. He's full of crap."

A couple of years later it ended at 70.
View attachment 7598

LOL.. damn now that's a streak.. in my entire youth life of playing sports..I only remember two parents ever crossing the line.. and they fought in the parking lot as we were boarding back onto the bus to head back to school. Now, I have seen the DC punch the headcoach on the sideline playing in Georgetown, TX. I was just a freshman but I got to travel with the team to help unload all the equipment.. It was the very first time I had been to a Varsity game.. My freshman coach saw the shock look on my face and told me..don't sweat that, it happens all the time lol..

 

[fishinabarrel]

So how does a program like Minnesota whose dominance spanned AT LEAST 8 entire decades. Natties won in 5 of those decades by 3 different coaches, Conf Titles won in 7 of the 8, and multiple players from 7 of those 8 decades are enshrined in the Cfb Hall of Fame, and former Gophers kicking tail in pro football spans across EVERY decade for the last 13 decades, from the very first Pro fb player in history, Pudge Heffelfinger whose statue greets everyone visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the entrance, to Tony Dungy becoming the first ever Black coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl Title just over a decade ago. In between, Pudge's time at Minnesota and becoming the first ever pro fb player in history, and Dungy's historic Super Bowl win, a UMner invented Cheerleading, then Pudge, as an asst to Head Coach Henry L Williams helped Williams develop the 4 man backfield which contributed to UMn's undefeated team stopping Michigan's Point a minute squad, tying the eventual Natl Champs in 1903. Bobby Marshall became the first black player to play in the B1G Conf. Williams was one of the first to propose the forward pass and one of the first to utilize it successfully in the teens. In 1920 former Gopher Bobby Marshall became the first ever black fb player to play in the NFL. Former Gopher Gil Dobie was establishing the long held cfb record unbeaten streak that was so long, it spanned THREE different coaching gigs, including his entire career at the University of Washington. This is a record that may never be matched. In the 20s Bronko Nagurski was so good he was named to the All-American team at 3 different positions, 2 in the same year even. And this was legit, as the DEFENSIVE Cfb POY Award is named after him, yet he was inducted into the Pro Fb Hall of Fame as an offensive player as a Fullback and was so good a famous movie scene was all about how Nagurski came out of retirement to help his old team win the Championship again in 1943. Former Gophers were coached so well by Henry Williams that they even shared Natl Titles as coaches as they did in 1940 when both Bernie Bierman coaching the Gophers went undefeated and were named Natl Champs and Clark Shaughnessy coaching Stanford went undefeated and were also named Natl Champs. So good were former Gophers at coaching, that Tulane University hired 3 straight former Gophers to coach them and for 3-4 decades Tulane was actually a blue blood. And at least one of the Natl Titles Bierman won at Minnesota was called the Henry L Williams Trophy, as it was renamed that after Minnesota won the Knute Rockne Trophy 3 times in a row. Had Bierman won the Title in 1942, it would have been retired and renamed after him possibly? But instead, Bierman's dominance at Minnesota was so dominating that it literally took the US Govt choosing to get involved in WW2 to end UMn's dominance as they were picked to win the Natl Title again, in 1942, which would have been their 6th Title in 9 years, but instead Bierman was taken away and placed as the coach of the Iowa Seahawks military training team, and over half of the Gopher's players were scooped away for military service several who ended up playing AGAINST the Gophers, including Unanimous All-American Bill Daley who finished 7th in the Heisman voting in 1943. But the kick in the nuts was when it was the Iowa Seahawks coached by Bernie Bierman himself and with a roster that included several former Gophers, were the team that ended UMn's winning streak. So it was Notre Dame who eventually retired the Henry L Williams trophy and got it renamed. After the war and after Bernie Bierman had to try to rebuild the program basically from scratch with players who, Bud Grant admitted to later on, didn't respond well to Bierman's coaching style because of their wartime experiences. They were probably good enough to win another Title in 1949 but the bad attitudes of the players, Bud Grant himself admitted, cost the team their 2 losses. So after Bierman who was already very old, retired, and UMn had missed out on the opportunity to hire either former Gophers Biggie Munn or Bud Wilkinson who combined dominated the late 1940s and early 1950s cfb scene, the UMn admin went with an outsider, and his failing to make an immediate impact got them seriously considering giving up on football all together, but then Warmath came out of nowhere, partly due to his being one of the first to bring in lots of black players, unusual in the 50s, and won the Natl Title in 1960 and continued doing well throughout the 60s. UMn's influence on the game of football in the 50s and into the 60s was SO WIDE, that former Gophers were taking turns coaching their teams to the CFL Grey Cup Championship game, and former Gophers were taking turns coaching their cfb teams to Natl Titles, all while UMn was doing fairly good as well. In 1962, Wisc, coached by a former Gopher, finished #2, Oklahoma, coached by a former Gopher finished #8, UMn finished #10, and Mizzou, coached by a former UMn-Duluth player, who was coached by a former Gopher, finished #12 in the nation all while Bud Grant's team was winning the Grey Cup Title. Biggie Munn stepped away from the sideline to lead MSU into the B1G conf as their Athletic Director, Bud Wilkinson retired soon after the 62 season and went into politics and being a game announcer/commentator and a very good one I've read, Devine moved on to Notre Dame and a Natl Title and infamy in how he was portrayed in the movie Rudy, Bud Grant went on into a Pro Hall of Fame career as an NFL coach, and Murray Warmath retired soon after winning a share of the Big Ten title in 1967 and unfortunately not getting his name in the cfb Hall of Fame where it probably deserves to be. Warmath's players went on to dominate in the NFL in the late 1960s and well into the 1970s and even a few into the 1980s. Bierman's former players continued coaching as late as into the 80s, as well as at least one of Warmath's players although most of his ended up playing in the NFL, not coaching. And Bierman's and that one Warmath player's impact on the game lasted into the 21st Century as both Tony Dungy and multiple CFL Title winning Coach Marc Trestman played for Cal Stoll while he was coaching Minnesota and beating #1 ranked Michigan in 77. And among Joe Salem's assistant coaches were Mike Martz and Mike Shanahan.

Now I'm sure I missed a bunch. The B1G conf didn't allow B1G teams to play in bowl games for most of UMn's peak years, so they weren't able to build up a ton of bowl game wins like some programs, yet since they became supposedly "irrelevant", they still were able to play in Bowl games in each of the last 6 decades, and have gotten to a bowl game in 15 of the 20 years of the 21st Century, so far, winning 7 of them, including their last 4.

Did I mention that UMn has had players end up the high pt scorer in the entire NFL 10 times by 4 different players in 4 different decades?

Did I mention that UMn has had players end up as NFL All-Decade players 10 times in 6 different decades, more than any other school that I am aware of, as I checked after the 2000s all-Decade team, not after the 2010s team came out.

Looking at the teams on that list,
UMn has SIX Recognized Titles & 4-6 Poll Era Titles(34 AP & 35 UPI polls make it 6 for UMn), and UMn has a

1-0 record vs Bama,
1-0 record vs Clemson. Clemson has just 3 Poll Era Titles, and 3 Recognized Titles.
1-0 record vs Auburn. Auburn has just 2 Poll Era Titles, and 3 Recognized Titles.
1-0 record vs Texas. UT has just 5 Poll Era Titles and 4 Recognized Titles.
1-0 record vs Ark. Ark has just 1 recognized Title
1-0 record vs GT. GT has just 1 Poll Era Title and 4 Recognized Titles
33-25-2 rcrd vs Nebraska
10-7 record vs Washington
9-3 record vs Pitt. Pitt has just 2 Poll Era Titles.
2-1 record vs UCLA. UCLA has just 1 Poll Era Title & only 1 Recognized Title.
62-49-2 rcrd vs Iowa. Iowa has ZERO Poll Era Titles, but 1 Recognized Title.
1-1-1 rcrd vs Stanford. Stanford has ZERO Poll Era Titles, but 1 Recognized Title.

That's 12 of the 30 teams on that list. UMn's cumulative record vs those 12 blue bloods & potential blue bloods is

123-86-5

61-37-3 not including Iowa.

We never played Geo, LSU, Flor, A&M, FSU, Miami, VT or WVU.

That brings it to TWENTY. 20 of the 30 teams on that list either never played the Gophers or do NOT have a winning record vs the Gophers. Of the teams on that list, who have not played Minnesota, lets compare # of Titles

UMn = 6 Recognized Titles. 4/6 Poll Era Titles.
LSU = 5 Recognized Titles. 4 Poll Era Titles.
Mia = 5 Recognized Titles. 5 Poll Era Titles.
Flor = 3 Recognized Titles. 3 Poll Era Titles.
FSU = 3 Recognized Titles. 3 Poll Era Titles.
VTch = 0 Recognized Titles. 0 Poll Era Titles.
WVU = 0 Recognized Titles. 0 Poll Era Titles.

Michigan, just for those who are interested? Just TWO poll Era Titles. Pitt also has only 2 Poll Era Titles.
Col, Geo, GT, A&M, UCLA all only have 1 Poll Era Title.

Of the 10 remaining teams, Tennessee has just a 0-1 record vs UMn, and just 2 Poll Era Titles & only 4 Recognized Titles.
PSU has just a 6-9 advantage over Minnesota in head to head, & PSU has just 2 Poll Era Titles & only 4 Recognized Titles.

OSU & Mich have massive advantages over the Gophers, as does Notre Dame and USC.

That leaves Oklahoma, of the 8 legit Blue Bloods, with a decent advantage over the Gophers, but I must remind you all, it was a former Gopher that made Oklahoma into what they are, Bud Wilkinson led them to their first three Titles.

Fred? Is that you? Or maybe the dead girlfriend

 

[Gatorchip]

Fred? Is that you? Or maybe the dead girlfriend

The length of his original post is too large, so I have to cut out a few paragraphs.

 

[WhosYourDawggy]

Just tieing some lose ends here from the thread. My sister-in-law was a Lake Worth grad from a blue collar background (Her Dad was a WWII Marine Vet who served in the Pacific). She is smart as a whip. MENSA smart.

She went to FSU Undergrad and LSU Law School. Has a comfy life in New Orleans, but she is in therapy because she didn't get to play Squash growing up to increase her odds of going to Yale! / sarcasm.

Seriously, that elitist B.S. is such a waste of time. I grew up somewhere in the middle with some family doing the Private route and some doing the State U. route. When I was trying to find a school, I narrowed it down to State Universities with a 1-A Football team! lol. Chose well, I did, for me!

Let's Go State!

I can't complain, I never wanted for anything. While I grew up in West Palm Beach, we lived a block from the intracoastal waterway, dad was lawyer, mom an accountant. So, I was fortunate. We didn't have all the stuff they have now for sports ... I was born in 1959, so that stuff just didn't exist. My brother did UVa and Penn, I did Vandy and UGA Law, and parents paid for it all. So while I wasn't Palm Beach rich, I can't say I suffered in any way. That said, I laughed my ass off at the elite bullshit in those articles. My work ethic and sensibilities are way more public school than that private school nonsense.

 

[Thiefery]

I can't complain, I never wanted for anything. While I grew up in West Palm Beach, we lived a block from the intracoastal waterway, dad was lawyer, mom an accountant. So, I was fortunate. We didn't have all the stuff they have now for sports ... I was born in 1959, so that stuff just didn't exist. My brother did UVa and Penn, I did Vandy and UGA Law, and parents paid for it all. So while I wasn't Palm Beach rich, I can't say I suffered in any way. That said, I laughed my ass off at the elite bullshit in those articles. My work ethic and sensibilities are way more public school than that private school nonsense.

DAD?

 

[jjc2009]

Yup. My dad when to Miami High. He grew up in a house in the Kendall/Perrine area, in the middle of some old mango fields. UF grad, hated FSU and Miami. Different place now.

I lived down in Palmetto Bay (what they call Perrine now) for many years before relocating to the Grove.

 

[jjc2009]

Select baseball in suburban Texas, my town in particular, isn't quite that bad but it is pretty bad. I enjoy what I do but would enjoy it even more if not for the parents. And some of the kids I feel bad for. There is one kid who tries out every season and he works his ass off and I know he would be one of the kids that hustles and he has enough skill to be on the team. But his dad is a grade-A asshat who thinks his kid hung the moon and is Mike Trout v2. The first tryout I was watching the kids and taking notes and he was in my ear about how bad other kids were doing and "wait until you see my son, he's so polished you will be lucky to have him" and on and on and on. Refuse to pick the kid up because I don't want to hear it from his dad when I put him on the bench or when he doesn't play the position he wants.

Reminds me of a dad I knew in a rec league I coached in for a few years. He had two sons, his youngest was my son’s age. But this guy I think fervently believed his sons were Div. 1 material in a rec league. He was not a coach both would “offer” his opinions and help. I remember him being super impatient in tee ball for Christ’s sake. Then the guy I coached with drafted his son when we moved up to 8-U. I remember the first day the head coach went up to shake his hand and the first words out of his mouth were, are you here to win or have fun because I saw how you coached last year and it was just to have fun. We were like uh, yeah, it was tee ball you weirdo.

Anyway his kids always looked miserable. And his older boy, who I think had daddy’s dreams foisted on him was good, for a rec league, but was no world beater in his age group.
He was the same asshole dad in pop warner too.

 

[WhosYourDawggy]

Reminds me of a dad I knew in a rec league I coached in for a few years. He had two sons, his youngest was my son’s age. But this guy I think fervently believed his sons were Div. 1 material in a rec league. He was not a coach both would “offer” his opinions and help. I remember him being super impatient in tee ball for Christ’s sake. Then the guy I coached with drafted his son when we moved up to 8-U. I remember the first day the head coach went up to shake his hand and the first words out of his mouth were, are you here to win or have fun because I saw how you coached last year and it was just to have fun. We were like uh, yeah, it was tee ball you weirdo.

Anyway his kids always looked miserable. And his older boy, who I think had daddy’s dreams foisted on him was good, for a rec league, but was no world beater in his age group.
He was the same asshole dad in pop warner too.

Kind the opposite side of the coin, when my oldest played rec ball here in NC, there was a kid he played against for several years who was so much better than everyone else that I said, "he will go a long way." His parents were good people, and he was a good kid. But, he was a man amongst boys. He'd get a hit every time, steal second and third, and then go half way down the line to home. Didn't matter what the kids did, he would score. He and my son became friends and he kept getting better and better. He was on our very good HS team ... my son was not good enough to make it but was the manager so he could hang around his friends. He was drafted by the Angels in the middle of the 1st round by the Angels and considered their 4th best prospect. He would have been AAA this year, and was on their 60 man roster this year.

I know I am going way beyond your post and this thread, but I think from your posts you and a few others will enjoy this. Baseball USA is located here in Cary. Incredible baseball complex where all the 8U, 12U, 16U, 18U and college USA national teams train. Every year they have the National High School Invitational tournament. The best 15 high school teams are brought in from all over the USA, with a local team that serves as the host team. Our HS team is good - state runner up a few years ago - but far from nationally elite. They were the host team, which always loses early, for the most part against these national powerhouses. Anyway, it's a fantastic tournament and our kids just kept winning. Ended up in the finals where they lost. But what an experience. The kid I was talking about, Jordyn Adams was a star in the tournament. As MLB said - "Adams jumped more firmly onto the Draft map with a breakout performance at USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational in 2018." Again, my son was the manager and is the kid with the maroon shirt on. Sorry for the long story: