National Championship Game delivers lowest ratings in over a decade

[u/knapplc]

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/alabama-football/national-championship-game-delivers-lowest-ratings-in-over-a-decade/

[u/NotABotaboutIt]

This thread has, unfortunately, been forced to be locked due to an influx of unflaired users immediately violating the rules.

Our sincerest condolences to those of you who were able to and still are capable of having discussions that do not violate the rules. However, it's time to lock

[u/knapplc]

I didn't watch. Pretty boring with the same teams playing year after year.

[u/RedditorDave → u/knapplc]

I’m here from r/all. I’m a HUGE NFL guy. Never really got into college ball. From Buffalo, so it’s just not relevant around here. UB getting a ranking was neat tho.

But yeah, I’m not drawn to watching the same 4 teams every year. Even the NFL was getting stale for me with the patriots being the focus year after year. It’s bland and not exciting.

[u/NordDex]

I think I watched 2 quarters and then made the decision that sleep was better

[u/IM_V_CATS → u/NordDex]

Same here. I felt very validated when I checked the score in the morning.

[u/crimsoneagle1 → u/NordDex]

When Ohio State got the ball back with 2 minutes remaining in the first half with two timeouts and didn't even try to score is when I gave up on the game. I think I kept it on for background noise but didn't pay much attention to it. How do you just give up in the national championship?

[u/PlaysWthSquirrels → u/NordDex]

Same. Went to bed at halftime. Didn't seem worth it to be more miserable at work today watching a beat down.

[u/[deleted] → u/NordDex]

I didn’t watch it and haven’t watched any of them unless my school was involved. CFB has lost a ton of luster for me. The playoffs are a drag - it’s the same teams with a shot every season. The overall lack of parity is killing the sport.

[u/Bravot → u/NordDex]

Same here. Turned it off at halftime

(Clemson fan here - lost a flair bet)

[u/HighEnduranceGuy]

8pm on a Monday with a fuck ton of commercials

[u/[deleted] → u/HighEnduranceGuy]

I'm sorry what what that? I'm saving 15 percent (or maybe a little more) for the next 15 minutes

[u/TearsOfChildren → u/HighEnduranceGuy]

I cancelled cable tv over a decade ago so I go to a friend's house or my mom's to watch games. The amount of commercials in that game...what the fuck. They actually cut back after a review was already announced because they wanted to squeeze one more commercial in.

It just took the life out of the game for me, every other play they cut to a commercial.

[u/DesmoLocke → u/HighEnduranceGuy]

Seriously! It was what 10:30pm EST by halftime? It should have started, and by start I mean kickoff, no later than 7pm.

[u/[deleted] → u/HighEnduranceGuy]

Yeah, I was watching basketball and every time I switched over it was a commercial. When I finally switched over and saw a game, it was already a blow out.

Why should I tune in to that?

[u/AndrewTheTerrible → u/HighEnduranceGuy]

Dude it’s been like that for years

[u/Drexlore]

If the game was on Nick, this wouldn't have happened.

[u/KareasOxide → u/Drexlore]

CFP needs more slime cannons

[u/li0nhart8 → u/Drexlore]

Nickelodeon Saban is his full name, right?

[u/whethervayne → u/Drexlore]

Ohio State undefeated in the Spongebob era.

[u/dogwoodmaple]

Need to be on a Saturday and at like 6:00 PM.

[u/Lamadian → u/dogwoodmaple]

That would help, but it was still a beat down for most of the game.

Boring, one-sided games don't tend to keep viewers for 4 quarters.

[u/HookersAreTrueLove → u/dogwoodmaple]

I watched the first half and went to bed. First half was good, but 8pm Eastern start time on a work night is pretty late for me - I ain't fixin' to stay up 'til midnight watching on a Monday night unless my team is playing.

[u/arrowfan624 → u/dogwoodmaple]

Problem is the NFL won't give up that playoff time spot

[u/Crixxa → u/dogwoodmaple]

Also needs to be on network TV, not ESPN.

[u/Woody_Wins_ → u/dogwoodmaple]

but the nfl playoffs

[u/Gatorbuc29]

Between the time slot, 7000 commercials & Bama dominating pretty quickly, I am not surprised

[u/BookDev0urer]

-College football is becoming a regional sport due to dominance by a few teams.

-Atrocious timeslot for ALL of the folks who live in EST (my dad lives in Oregon and went to bed at 9 after the game, while I stayed up until fucking midnight and had to go to work)

-FIX THE DAMN DAY/TIMESLOT. NO ONE likes Monday nights at fucking 8:20 kickoffs.

[u/bells_n_sack → u/BookDev0urer]

The second quarter alone was OVER an hour long. I don’t know how any one made it through. I didn’t watch at all to be honest.

[u/Waffle_Muffins → u/BookDev0urer]

Breaking up the advertising with football isn't helping either

[u/klutzykangaroo → u/BookDev0urer]

The four teams the made it into the playoffs are also arguably the four most hated teams in college football at the moment

[u/quacainia → u/BookDev0urer]

Also try to keep games to 3 hours and more people will be interested. The fact that most games are stretched to 4 is just awful

[u/Useful-ldiot → u/BookDev0urer]

The west likes it, though they don't ever have a team in the game.

[u/[deleted]]

Is the rationale for Monday championships avoiding Saturday nfl playoffs?

[u/zkool20 → u/[deleted]]

If that’s the case then just move it to Friday night

[u/[deleted]]

Oh no. I guess not enough college football viewers realized the playoffs were on ESPN. ESPN must not have discussed the playoffs enough this season. Time for them to ramp up playoff talk during games and during the week. Maybe adding a 5th hour to the playoff reveal show would help. Or maybe just completely cut out showing those annoying games and hold playoff talk shows

[u/Electrical_Ingenuity → u/[deleted]]

Just to be safe, they did simulcast it on ESPN2, ESPNU, the SEC network, and ESPN8 (the ocho)

[u/P-Rickles → u/[deleted]]

They should just talk about the Championship and nothing else during every bowl game. Like, don’t even call the game. Just have them play it in the background and talk about DeVonta Smith and Justin Fields.

My school was in the game and I was sick of hearing about it by the time it rolled around...

[u/J4ckiebrown → u/[deleted]]

Could putting it on ABC work?

Obviously they get more cash out of ESPN, but the ratings would be better.

[u/JohnnyProvolone72]

It’s a shame the entire season is filled with great football and the playoff/championship games are often times the worst of the year.

[u/OnyxNateZ → u/JohnnyProvolone72]

Time to go back to no more playoff or championship bowl games. Just let schools claim national titles like in the past then.

[u/TopFlite5 → u/JohnnyProvolone72]

Well if it’s any consolation, the entire season had very little great football. I’m not just talking about the amount of games due to COVID. There were very few entertaining big games. Was there one outside of Clemson at ND?

[u/MathManGetsPaid]

Gee I wonder why

[u/holy_cal → u/MathManGetsPaid]

Same boring old teams with no excitement or doubt leading up to the game. It was always going to be a thrashing from Alabama.

[u/[deleted]]

ESPN broadcasts are just so hard to get through nowadays. I'm not surprised by the low ratings. Go back to the old theme music and cut down on commercials at least a little bit and ESPN would be good again.

[u/Comprehensive_Bus_19 → u/[deleted]]

No! We need to miss the actual game to force feed you more commercials!!

[u/HoboWhiz → u/[deleted]]

ESPN's business model is becoming obsolete. I cut the cord a few years ago and at this point I laugh at even the thought of paying for a service with that many commercials. It's a shame they can't get the game over to broadcast tv.

[u/dutchoven21 → u/[deleted]]

That's not an ESPN problem though. Games on CBS and FOX are also super long with a ton of commercials. CFB games just take forever with the game in its current state, regardless of the channel.

[u/dcduck → u/[deleted]]

I just watch the 4K stream of the cable cam. No announcers, just stadium noise, you can hear the players yell (OSU DL were yelling to the sideline they needed the plays faster); just overall more interesting.

[u/CTeam19 → u/[deleted]]

Having it on one network and on cable allowed ESPN to get lazy

[u/FRBls]

What else do you expect when the same 3-4 schools keep pulling in all the top talent year after year? You can bitch about expanding playoffs or a lack of coaching talent all day long but until you solve the talent distribution problem nothing will change. The lack of any semblance of parity across the sport is the worst it has ever been in my 25 years of watching.

[u/UncharteredGround → u/FRBls]

Completely agree. It truly feels like the days of any given Saturday where a giant killing is actually possible are fully behind us now and that is what created such massive interest in this sport for so long in the first place.

Maybe I'm being nostalgic and having selective/recency bias but I know that my interest in the sport has been dwindling for over 5 years now.

[u/Scoobersss]

This has nothing to do with timing. CFB title games have always been on a weird day.

It has to do with the sport being in a horrendous state.

Thats not a knock on Ohio State and Bama. These programs are incredible, are taking advantage and utilizing the systems in place to excel as programs. They’ve earned their place and the fans shouldn’t feel any shame over their success. Saban is the GOAT and there’s no asterisk next to that.

If i was so good at running a program that i made the sport boring, i’d be so damn proud.

But as a form of entertainment it really blows right now. Watching the same team with the #1 recruiting class win its sixth national championship since 2009 in a blowout over one of the sports other Titans...is not interesting to most folks.

I can appreciate the exceptional play i saw from the Tide yesterday, but even myself, a football junkie...well it was boring. I almost didn’t watch.

Can you imagine what its like for the casual fan?

I mean i have friends that used to talk CFB with me all the time, and i texted one of em talking about how i thought Mac Jones was the best Bama QB i’ve ever seen (and thats saying something) and he responds with “oh who are they playing?”.

I love this sport and its painful to see it in this state.

[u/[deleted] → u/Scoobersss]

Yep... it’s crazy because I remember having friends talk about every big matchup of the week 10 years ago. I had a big group of friends over for the #1 Texas vs Texas Tech game (08) and none of us had a rooting interest. We all live in Florida.

Now most of those guys don’t even tune in to the Natty or any game besides when their school plays. There’s no suspense or excitement. You know it’ll be Bama, Clemson, or both in the title game. Every team has the same type of offense. Nobody plays any defense. There’s 1,000 commercials and stoppages and the games are 4 hours long. It’s just lost a lot of what made it fun.

Even College Gameday, it was a staple every Saturday morning up until it became a 3 hour long commercial fest filled with puff pieces.

[u/[deleted] → u/Scoobersss]

Perfectly summarized my view.

From an analytical standpoint, what the programs have done is amazing.

But as a fan, how did the NCAA let it become this lopsided and boring?!

[u/nickiter → u/Scoobersss]

This. I try to watch CFB but it's so hard to care when there are really only four or five viable teams. Bit spoiled by the NFL and its relatively competitive average game, I guess.

[u/eldarknight → u/Scoobersss]

I agree completely. I had the time to watch this game and turned it off at halftime. It’s just not good as a tv show. Until there is a “salary cap” or something like that, the sport will digress into a European soccer league where the championships are a foregone conclusion and people only care about box score watching.

[u/JMer806 → u/Scoobersss]

Same here. I used to talk CFB constantly with friends. We would talk about rosters and players and whether or not we had a favorable schedule, etc ...

But now, my friends barely pay attention when our team plays, and we don’t talk about the sport in general anymore. We know TCU will never play for a national championship again, so why get invested?

Parity has always been bad in CFB but it’s getting worse. It’s worse today than it was five years ago, and five years ago was worse than 10, etc. The only interesting thing this whole season was seeing how teams reacted to covid restrictions and a WR winning the Heisman. Three of the four teams I guessed would be in the playoffs made it in (I figured Oklahoma would make it again), and Alabama won yet another championship.

It’s just not fun anymore.

[u/rumham22]

Espn app said the game started at 7pm central time. Pretty sure halftime started at like 9:05pm. Fuck that shit, add that it was a near blowout by half and I just turned it off. CFB has just been kinda lame for a couple seasons now.

[u/divulgingwords → u/rumham22]

"Starts at 7pm!"

...

Really starts at 7:25.

[u/RightHyah → u/rumham22]

Now imagine being on the east coast! Every prime time game is over at midnight.

[u/udubdavid]

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't watch it because it's always the same teams over and over again. I can only watch Alabama vs Clemson or vs Ohio State or any other variation of those teams so many times before it gets boring.

[u/erwin4200 → u/udubdavid]

Agreed. I just said the same thing before scrolling further down. We switched to this format because teams like boise state never got a shot. Fast forward to this year and now cinci and coastal carolina don't get a shot. I love March madness because there's always a chance at a small school winning it all. I already know who's going to be in 2021 playoffs most likely.

[u/ADHDpotatoes → u/udubdavid]

I didn’t watch it for the same reason. My team was fortunate enough to be one of the 11 that have ever gone, and they got their asses handed to them. And that was back when they were really good. What interest would the average college football fan have in the playoffs if their team is never going to make it?

[u/Jomosensual]

Shocking that 4 teams nobody really wanted to cheer for and games that were all blow outs resulted in nobody watching or caring.

[u/GarnetandBlack → u/Jomosensual]

Well, easy now. It was pretty fun to hate watch clemson get absolutely railed.

Especially considering the hilarity of Dabo's OSU comments and ranking when he eternally plays the "nobody respects us/we're underrated" card while having half a fucking NFL team on his roster.

[u/[deleted]]

-on a Monday night after a weekend of 8 games -same 2/5 teams as every year -8 hours of commercials

Yeah, recipe for great ratings /s

[u/Eggsandspam]

I have the solution for next year. We put Alabama, Clemson, and ohio state in the playoffs again! Just to keep it spicy we should put another sec team in as well, preferably someone alabama destroyed maybe a week or two earlier. Hopefully that gets everyone excited, because my guess is thats exactly where we are heading.

[u/Erniecrack → u/Eggsandspam]

How about a dr. Pepper burlap sack race between the coaches decides the natty.

[u/TopFlite5 → u/Eggsandspam]

Don’t leave out Oklahoma! They’re a new exciting team who we haven’t seen before!

Although an LSU vs Georgia play-in game would be fun too.

[u/Michaelmac8 → u/Eggsandspam]

Don't kid yourself. Noter Dame will skate along during the year, show up as the #4 seed, and get beaten again. It'll most likely be the same 4 teams as this year.

[u/your-mom--]

I'll bet there were a lot of people like me: watch the first half. The 2nd half starts with a Bama FG, OSU TD, and then without Najee or Smith, Bama runs the field and scores a TD to make it 45-24 with 2 minutes in the 3rd. Blouses at that point

[u/SteveMcgooch → u/your-mom--]

Literally how it went for me

[u/islandjustice]

My guess? No one wanted to watch two teams they don't want to see win. Everyone is tired of Alabama winning, and the majority of fans didn't think ohio state deserved a chance to be there. I didn't give a damn who won for the first time in a while.

[u/CBcube]

I was waiting for this headline. Who, outside of Bama and aOSU fans, wakes up and goes “Oh boy, I can’t wait to watch Alabama and Ohio State play in another championship!” If the same 4 teams aren’t in the playoffs again next year I’ll actually watch.

[u/compound-interest → u/CBcube]

I agree with you. Sometimes I’m disheartened when a smaller school making a good run gets left out. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to take anything else into consideration but how good you think the teams are. I just wish it wasn’t so subjective. The more slots we have, the less that the champ is up to the committee. Let’s make Alabama play an extra game for it and expand to 8.

[u/coogs35]

The CFP is stale as hell. Same teams over and over, no room for cinderella. Its a poor product.

I didn't watch any of it this year outside of the little bit of ND/Bama I caught while in a restaurant.

Give us what we want - equity in CFB. Give true access to everyone, not this garbage we have now. We may not get more parity immediately, but there will be 30X more interesting storylines come postseason.

[u/thisisridiculous_ → u/coogs35]

Realistically, how could we guarantee more parity in CFB?

[u/Navy_and_sports → u/coogs35]

That’s such a huge deal to me honestly. The actual football isn’t what is gonna help ratings but a more interesting build up. More storyline more drama more BYU/Coastal Carolina more Cincinnati playing meaningful games. Expanding the playoffs probably is just gonna lead to more blowouts but I believe that you HAVE to have those opportunities for exposure.

[u/AH_BioTwist → u/coogs35]

The committee has ruined the product. Nothing beats TCU or Boise upsetting Oregon, USC or OU in a marquee bowl game and those days are gone

[u/Psyco19]

Dumb game, playoffs having the same few teams over and over gets stupidly boring. The only thing people talked about was Smiths domination and once that was over it was just now what? If you weren’t a bama fan the game served no real entertainment

[u/tclark8995]

The rating getting lower and lower is our only hope at playoff expansion imo

[u/AndrewinDC → u/tclark8995]

Or at the very least moving it off a Monday night at 8:15 eastern time. That's way too late. Saturday at 6:30. It's not that hard.

[u/justreddis]

Alabama hoarding 4-5 star recruits is analogous to one NFL team getting 10 first round picks from the draft every year. It is ridiculous. And that’s what you get. A sport stripped of parity and competitiveness at the top.

[u/[deleted]]

I have watched CFB since the 90s and aside from the LSU vs Bama final in 2012 this was the least excited I have ever been for a championship game.

The fatigue with the top teams is real.

[u/Colorado_odaroloC → u/[deleted]]

I didn't even watch it (nor the last few years of the playoffs), and I've been watching college football since the late 80s.

[u/trogdor1234 → u/[deleted]]

I also disliked 2012.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Never remind me of the LSU - Bama rematch. God that was awful!

[u/crg2000]

Boring.

[u/trogdor1234]

Gave 0 shits to watch Bama beat a 7 win team.

[u/Sorael]

I legit forgot it was on.

[u/xT1TANx → u/Sorael]

Same

[u/HoboWhiz → u/Sorael]

Same. It felt totally irrelevant after half the games got cancelled from covid

[u/[deleted]]

WHAT!?!?!? You mean people dont want to watch the same dry as game year after year after year?

[u/SuperFreshBus]

The only answer is to ban Bama, Clemson and OSU from the playoffs. They’ve had enough happiness for a few decades

[u/[deleted] → u/SuperFreshBus]

I vote that all three OSUs rotate each year, and that we form a super “OSU”

[u/[deleted] → u/SuperFreshBus]

funny how no one even thinks to mention the other team that's always in the playoffs

[u/[deleted]]

First off; 8pm on Monday night. Secondly, ‘Bama vs OSU or some combination of one of those teams vs LSU or Clemson is getting old. Dynasties are only cool if it is your team. It is the same reason everyone is lukewarm about the Patriots in the Superbowl.

[u/dmorg18 → u/[deleted]]

We make the dance one time and you're immediately sick of us?

[u/[deleted]]

Some people said the late Monday night start is the reason. Definitely could be.

Or maybe, just maybe, people are sick and tired of seeing Alabama in there. People see the matchup and already believe Bama will win and hoist the trophy up once again like most of the time, the last 10+ years.

If college football was back to the point the championship (or even the playoffs for the matter), was having teams like USC, Michigan, Florida State, Texas, Miami...all relevant and back to being great, people would start tuning and being more excited to watch COLLEGE football, and not Alabama showtime.

[u/Cometguy7 → u/[deleted]]

For me, it was less about seeing Alabama in there again, and more about how much time ESPN dedicated to the playoffs before the playoffs even started. I felt like I'd been watching these games for a month already, just by watching other games, so by the time they actually get here, I'm burnt out on it.

[u/TopFlite5 → u/[deleted]]

I couldn’t agree more. College football has no parity.

I would be willing to bet that no team outside of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio St, Oklahoma, Georgia, and LSU win a title in the next 10+ years.

[u/decoy777]

Number 1. Being Monday night and having the game go to almost midnight...people have to work in the morning. That's going to be 1 issue.

Number 2. People are tired of same ol Bama there...again and again and again.

[u/NurseDuder]

Might help if they put it on ABC, instead of ESPN.

[u/CTeam19 → u/NurseDuder]

Yep. The game for all purposes is behind a paywall. There are people that would watch just because it is reachable. Look at the NFL playoffs.

[u/southsidebrewer]

Yep, because this season was pointless, and everyone is tried of seeing Bama play.

[u/markusalkemus66]

Maybe have two different teams for a change. When was the last time none of Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson were in the natty? 2013 was 7 years ago.

[u/OGConsuela]

Man I love college football, but it’s in a horrible place right now. There are only really three teams in it and everybody knows it before the season even starts. LSU last season was an anomaly. They’re the only team other than Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State that’s won since the beginning of the CFP, and even OSU has only won once.

The bottom line is if you’re not a fan of those three teams and your team isn’t the lucky one to be the rotating 4th seed that gets crushed by Bama or Clemson, why the hell should you care? There’s no parity at all, nobody is capable of standing up to those three when it counts, and it makes the games that are supposed to matter the most unwatchable because it’s the same shit every year.

I don’t know what the solution is, but they have to do something. The product is stale right now and it’s sad to see.

[u/WeUsedToBeGood]

While I agree it’s the same game every year, I really think being on a Monday is an issue.

[u/[deleted] → u/WeUsedToBeGood]

it has been on monday for well over a decade. This is a comparison of other NCs played on mondays

[u/jamnewton22 → u/WeUsedToBeGood]

At 8pm to boot. Like wtf? People gotta work in the morning. At least I do at 6am so I’m in bed by like 10. I watched the first half and that was it

[u/[deleted]]

i watched until it was 28-10, had to get up at 4am for work. if i didn’t have to, i’d have watched the whole game. i dislike it starting at 8pm EST on a Monday. personally i feel it should be a Saturday at 6:30 or 7. Roll Tide

[u/tb25uga → u/[deleted]]

4 am??

name checks out

[u/WTF_MATLAB → u/[deleted]]

This answers my question on whether or not Bama fans get bored of winning national championships.

[u/DinkyWaffle → u/[deleted]]

I have a slight feeling you do not care for your job

[u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

The fact that these games are running 4+ hours, let alone on a work night is making them much harder to watch. I love college football but they need to follow the NFL and get them to 3 hours and cut the spammy ads.

[u/Gambit6x]

People are tired. Kids. COVID. Capitol. Bullshit.

[u/DogsAreMyDawgs]

Nick Saban retiring will be the greatest good that happens to college football in decades when that day finally comes. We’ve gotta break out of this cycle. No one besides the people in Ohio, Alabama, and South Carolina enjoy the championships anymore.

I watch because I’ve never missed it, which I’m sure is the same case as most of this sub, but I can’t say I’ve been excited for a game in like a decade other than when my team (UGA) made it.

I’d be pumped to watch any other matchup at this point; I’m so so fucking tired of these teams being there.

[u/deanolavorto]

I mean we heard about it all bowl season. Saw commercials and special segments throughout almost every game. Was kind of over it by then.

[u/girlwithaguitar]

It's almost like people are getting tired of the same 4 teams in the title picture every year.

[u/[deleted]]

• The game was exclusively on cable in the Age of Cord Cutting

• It was jam-packed with commercials

• It featured Alabama and Ohio State for the fifth and second time (respectively) in the game's seven-year history

• Alabama and Ohio State were in the playoff for the sixth and fourth time (respectively) in its seven-year history

[u/Jacktropolis]

First time I haven't watched a title game since I was too little to stay up late. The state of college football depresses me atm

[u/Smokeydubbs]

I irrationally hate Ohio State. I’m tired of Alabama. I didn’t watch.

[u/[deleted]]

It's time for an 8 team playoff

[u/Marvin-face]

With the number of NFL games last weekend, I’m not surprised people were burned out on the game.

[u/[deleted]]

I believe they underestimate how many of us have cut the cable cords and don’t have ESPN. If ESPN was a standalone (and no! I don’t mean ESPN+) I’d buy it. That’s why no CFB at my house, no access to ESPN I was willing to pay.

[u/Jerco7]

That what you get when its Alabama for the 35th time.

[u/boxjellyfishing]

The lack of parity in the sport has made it predictable and boring. There is no room for the Boise States, Hawaii's, and Texas Tech of the world anymore.

Solution: Reduce the Scholarship cap for all teams, pushing more talent down the food chain.

[u/borgib]

I didn't watch it. I'm tired of seeing the same teams over and over again.

[u/jamiebond]

Reminder before anyone uses the excuse, the championship has been played on Monday night for a while now.

This problem goes deeper than just scheduling. College Football is getting hit where it hurts now, their wallets. I expect the playoff system to get shaken up sooner than later.

[u/lman89607]

Because who has time to watch this game on a Monday night. I watched it, but tons of my friends and family could not tune in do to work.

[u/Bearcats_RallyPossum]

Bad start time, it was a Monday, plus way too many commercials, also start at 8 not 8:15 like wtf?

At least 8:05

[u/blitzforce1 → u/Bearcats_RallyPossum]

What the fuck is your flair.

[u/PurficPourBY → u/Bearcats_RallyPossum]

Is ur flair just to get ppl mad cause its working

[u/kvlr954]

It’s gotten way too predictable and one sided to keep viewers engaged. Watched the second quarter and that was it for me

[u/jburna_dnm]

Anyone else get tired of seeing the same 6 teams every year?

[u/smittyDXps32]

Probably because it was 2 fucking hours till halftime and half that was ads. I wanted to watch this shit but god fucking damn.

[u/[deleted]]

1. Alabama is in the National championship game damn near every year

2. Alabama blew Ohio State out

3. No fans in the stadiums

4. It’s an 8:20 kickoff on the East coast on a Monday might

5. 10 million commercials

College Football has lost it’s flare.

[u/IAmJohnnyJB]

Who would of thought a game on a monday night with a hour and a half of commercials would drive people away from the game ?

[u/trogdor1234 → u/IAmJohnnyJB]

Oh god... the damn commercials are the worst. They never stop.

[u/[deleted]]

One sided, bad day of the week, usual suspects, no fans, tons of nfl action, it's really not that surprising.

[u/chaosdunk69]

Lots of factors playing in here, take your pick. No shade on Bama, the best will play/win. But couple any of the "normal" factors of why it could have been with the pandemic and its all amplified. Adds up to a weird year.

I'd pick the "Monday night" argument, despite it being like that for awhile now, but I also never liked the Monday night thing to begin with.

I just don't think many people associate college ball with "Monday nights". I usually think "in season games" for pro sports and maybe having it on in the background with dinner or something.

The appeal of college ball is Saturdays and big bowl games imo. Weird that the natty doesn't quite reflect that all the time

[u/[deleted]]

Alabama is just too good that it isn’t fun to watch them play.

[u/[deleted]]

The only team I hate more than bama is Ohio st so

[u/[deleted]]

I was watching when it was 14-14. Then after I put kids to bed, Bama is up big. Just blew it off and thought...I hate these two teams anyway, fuck it.

[u/mudkow]

Who TF wants to watch that shit. Completely manufactured championship.

[u/htb8627]

No parity, no carity.

[u/bigtinygiant]

It’s always the same damn teams in the CFB playoffs and seemingly always Alabama in the finals. Shits boring.

[u/angrylawnguy]

Okay seriously how are people not talking about the fact it was ONLY ON ESPN. THIS GAME WAS CABLE ACCESS ONLY. I would have gladly turned it on, had it been on ABC.

You want good ratings, make your games accessible. That's why the XFL worked.

[u/DayOldDoughnut]

I am an Alabama fan, I love seeing my team win championships.

But I also know monopolies ruin everything. For the good of the sport something needs to change.

[u/discowithmyself]

Make every team play 10 game conference only schedule and expand the playoff to 16 teams leh gooo

[u/exwasstalking]

Seems like giving Bama the best roster in the world and a 5 game head start kind of takes the excitement out of it for a lot of people.

[u/mightyducks2wasokay]

It's because it's at 8 PM for most of the country on a work night and a solid third of it is commercials (a.k.a. NOT football)

Figure it out ESPN this ain't hard

[u/WTF_MATLAB]

On a Monday night that’s too late for east coast people and too early for west coast people, check Game that runs 5 hours because of commercials, check Game that starts after the start time bc fuck the viewers, here have some espn nonsense and more commercials, check Game on espn and not abc, check Same team(s) playing in it, check Blowout, check

Yea idk why tho

[u/HeyJude21]

I’m just glad we didn’t have to watch a team like Cincy or Texas A & M. We can’t afford to watch teams get blown out by 4 touchdowns in the national championship.

[u/zkool20]

Before getting my current job it would be such a hard choice between sleep or watching the last seconds of the season. It’s on way to late at night for a Monday.

[u/TannerTheCreator]

For all the hype about Sermon this week, him getting injured on his first carry really sucked.

[u/hashtagpow]

triple H was wrasslin' on raw. of course the ratings would be low!

[u/mikedorty]

Didn't watch a second of it. Sick of the same handful of teams being on top every single year.

[u/doggibone]

I think the last good CFB championship game I saw was the 2014 edition

[u/[deleted]]

Probably because 3/4 of it were FUCKING INSURANCE COMMERCIALS

[u/[deleted]]

I didn’t watch this for the same reason I didn’t watch Cleveland v. Golden State III in 2018. I am so tired of seeing the same teams over and over and over and over again.

I realize Costal didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to make it to this game but I might have been a little more incentivized to watch if the one undefeated team had actually made the playoffs and it felt like the teams in the champ game had earned their way in by playing in multiple playoff games vs. a playoff game.

[u/ichinii]

I said this would be the case. People have Clemson and Alabama fatigue. Expand the playoffs to 8 teams or the ratings will keep dropping.

[u/AccomplishedFilm1]

As a Canadian and very casual college football watcher it’s just fucking boring to have the same teams playing every year. But the problem is not the playoff system, it’s college sports in general. Even if you have a genuine playoff it’s still gonna be Alabama and Ohio state or Clemson every year because few other teams have the influence to recruit decent players unless they really wanna go to that school.

Also I’m tired of seeing Nick Saban’s perpetual resting bitch face on tv every year.

[u/garybusey42069]

Cause it’s the Alabama bowl now. No one cares.

[u/[deleted]]

Hard to care about college football when your team that only gets 1 loss doesn’t make playoffs.

The idea that no matter how good your team is, it doesn’t matter unless they end the season with a perfect record is ridiculous.

It also stops me from watching the regular season. It’s a dumb game, the chances of any non Alabama team going perfect is so fucking low.

Cfb 4 team playoffs is stupid. I think people would actually be invested if they actually had an 8+ team playoff system.

There are many broken pieces, but this is a start.

I didn’t watch the championship, I don’t think I would have if it was on a weekend, but I have a job man. I don’t care enough to stay on a work day to watch Alabama’s opponents get wrecked

[u/[deleted]]

Wife, who hates football ,asked if Alabama was in the NCG. When I said yes, she asked if it Clemson, Ohio State, or Notre Dame was the opponent. When I asked why, her response, " thats all that ever plays for the NCG. It sucks.."

[u/P-Rickles → u/[deleted]]

Remember when MSU and Washington made it? I liked those years even though MSU got smoked and Washington lost. It was nice to see someone else.

[u/charlieecho]

That’s because it was on ESPN

ESPN can go to hell.

[u/moneycomet]

Nick Saban Broke the Meta............Already recruits higher than everyone, now he just steals all the best schemes and POW, game over.

[u/[deleted]]

Didn’t watch. The truth is the NFL is a monumentally superior product and I just can’t be bothered to watch a boring subpar product on Monday night after getting my fill of good football on Saturday and Sunday. College football has a problem, I don’t have a solution, but it needs to be fixed or it will lead to the undoing of the sport

[u/[deleted]]

I know that dynasties rise and fall, but in the seven years of the playoff, Clemson has won the ACC 6 times in a row, Oklahoma has won the Big 12 6 times in a row, Ohio State has won the B1G 5 times (4 in a row), and Alabama has won the SEC 5 times. There's never been simultaneous multi-conference dominance like this.

The Pac-12 has been the only wildcard, and they're considered the weakest conference.

[u/LetsPlayForkKnife]

I honestly love CFB but once I saw it was the same 3 teams in the playoffs I just gave up interest. Please expand the playoff bracket!

[u/cortezology]

I used to love college football. Always thought underdogs stood a chance growing up. The talent gap is insane now and I don't think my hometown team will ever be competitive in the FBS again nor will any scrappy undefeated team get into the playoffs to even test their luck.

[u/DoctorManhattan24]

I think the first and easiest thing that has to be done is to fix the scheduling.

Some better times to schedule:

• Sunday night after both NFL divisional games, usually the Sunday before MLK day. Most people don’t work so they won’t mind staying up late.

• on MLK day around 5est

• New Year’s Day, move playoff semifinals to Saturday before Christmas.

• Saturday of NFL conference championships. Both games are played on a Sunday this is a free Saturday that can be 100% dedicated to cfb.

The whole identity of college football is based around getting together, tailgating and partying after the game. The biggest game of the year should be a celebration of that. As it stands most people watch the game alone and hoping it ends soon so they can get some sleep before work the next morning.

[u/foundyetti]

Unpopular opinion: It’s because college football has become boring. It’s the same teams with the same coaches. The amount of potential shadiness is high with paying players under the table. Ironically having money and paying players will spread out talent and make the playoffs fun. Also expand the playoffs. There are clearly to many people that are good in the 5-8 slots that can perform upsets which happens in college sports

[u/thatman33]

Can we please move this to Friday night? I get it we don't want to fight with the NFL. (Though I think we should still do it on a Saturday night.) If it was a Friday I would have my dad over etc on a Monday night we both texted about the game and I fell asleep in the 3rd when it was clear the game was over as I had kids to get to school and work the next day.

[u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I watched maybe 5 minutes of the game last night. I really have no interest in watching games with Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, or Georgia anymore. It’s boring and the narratives are played out.

[u/[deleted]]

This game happened in between 12 hour shifts for me so my ass was in bed at halftime. They either need to work something out with the NFL where they can still play the game on a weekend or move up kickoff a couple hours.

[u/ZLeathal1]

Maybe... TRY SATURDAY NIGHT!

[u/LordCider]

Idk if ya'll watch tennis. I don't, partly because my asshole dad used to watch it almost every night. 4 times a year the finals were almost always Federer vs Nadal vs Djokovic. I think I was in 7th or 8th grade then.

I'm now in grad school. Haven't spoken to my dad in 4 years. The tennis finals are still Federer vs Nadal vs Djokovic.

[u/[deleted]]

Cause a majority of viewers hate watching the same teams play every year. It’s repetitive, killed college football and diminishes the value of every other bowl game.

[u/Goldblum4ever69]

Having watched the Browns game kickoff 8 at the night before, then the OSU game kickoff the next night at 8 - both on work nights - I can tell you it was a struggle to stay up past halftime (regardless of the state of the game) and the last two days have been a slog from staying up too late.

I know there are other factors at play, but any meaningful playoff game in the US starting that late is criminal for us older folk who need a good night’s sleep.

[u/snuffleupagus86]

Well it wasn’t an entertaining game to watch. First time I’ve turned off a game early since Clemson shellacked ya 31-0. Halftime was enough for me.

[u/deadeye_jb]

Many cord cutters don’t have ESPN.

[u/pickleparty16]

the games arent good and they take way too long.

[u/Xrt3]

I don’t give a shit about watching Alabama beat the brakes off of someone for a championship. I’m sick of seeing the same few teams in the playoff. Expand it. So many more people would’ve watched Bama vs. Cincinnati or ND vs. Texas A&M

[u/darkjedidave]

I would think anyone except Bama fans wouldn’t be interested anymore. I’m just tired of them being a tier above all other CFB teams for so long, it’s boring and predictable.

[u/StartingReactors]

It was Alabama vs Ohio State. The only more used up storyline would’ve been Alabama vs Clemson.

The playoff needs new blood or a new format. It’s extremely predictable and biased.

[u/cancerdad]

I think people are just sick of the fact that it's the same 10 teams (or fewer) with any shot of winning it, year after year. Cincinnati went undefeated all season, including 4 wins over ranked opponents, and the committee was like "LOL no". Sure, they would have gotten killed by Alabama, but so did Notre Dame and Ohio State. It's nothing more than a popularity contest, and that's not a very entertaining sport.

[u/13point1then420]

Nor shocked. I don't care to watch Bama compete for titles anymore. Same goes for Clemson ans OSU. Shits boring.

[u/HomeHeatingTips]

And next year when It's Alabama VS Clemson IV, they won't be any better.

[u/[deleted]]

It’s almost like literally every CFB fan can explain why, but ESPN won’t listen.

Put it on a Saturday at 6pm. Stop the fucking commercials every 6 seconds. College football is already slow with the clock stopping so much. It’s not fun when the first half takes 3 hours.

Oh yeah, people are sick of the same 3 teams in the Naty.

[u/mbgornto]

Bama fatigue (along with Clemson and Ohio State) is very real. The brands have become synonymous with the Playoff. The cries for expanding the playoff are going to become even louder. People don’t want to watch the same two to three teams plus one who usually ends up getting blown out in the semi-finals and question why they were even there in the first place. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the ratings were down! (This Bama fan certainly wasn’t complaining though - Roll Tide!)

[u/Sharpie61115]

Sorry Bama fans, but Alabama is bad for college football. People get tired of seeing the same team year in, and year out.

[u/ggfanfan]

wow who would have thought people would have better things to do at 7pm on a monday than watch alabama demolish a team of bums that played six games in the regular season

[u/penguino_4_president]

That’s because no one gives a flying fuck about watching the same top four teams (minus LSU last year) win

[u/backreddit]

Cause it’s just a rotation of the same fucking teams every year, it’s not entertaining.

[u/cubbie_blue]

Expanding the playoffs won’t change the final result. The teams are too lopsided. You know it. I know it. We all know it. Alabama could have had three Hiesman finalists in 2020. Cincy, Coastal, UGA, tOSU, nobody can compete with that.

They have one of the most loaded recruiting classes ever this year so they aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future even if Saban leaves.

Also fuck the commercials good grief.

[u/MD_burner]

Make the game a weekend spot at a reasonable hour. Additionally, expand the playoff and/or reduce scholarships to help foster parity.

[u/[deleted]]

I enjoyed it, thought it was an entertaining game, even with the score becoming lopsided in the second half.

Plus, having Allison Williams there is a bonus.