The game was heavily watched in Alabama ... and almost nowhere else
Posted on 01/10/2012 1:34:01 PM PST by Zakeet
Link only as per posting guidelines: USA Today
Gist of article: Ratings for title game down 8 percent from last year; barely (by 0.3 percent) above all time low; all BCS games down 12 percent from last year
The game was heavily watched in Alabama ... and almost nowhere else
Monday nite at 8:30 P.M. after a bowl season of arena football scores.Boy,I didn’t see that coming!
You don’t say- a rerun of the most boring and over-hyped regular season game fails to generate viewer interest? The funny part is that I get the score on my Yahoo home page, and it was posted as 9-6 last night, the score of the first bore bowl.
Stopped watching at the half.
Watched TiVoed Pawn Stars...............
The ESPN BCS alliance is turning out badly. They’ve spread the games out too long, making the same mistake the NBA makes in the playoffs (trying to avoid games happening simultaneously). And for the “championship” being a rematch of two SEC teams that already played a boring game in the regular season this just wasn’t a draw. BCS currently stand for Boring Collegiate Sports. Time to shrink things back up, get Bowl Week back to actually a week, and get all the BCS bowls not the championship back in Bowl Week with the championship the first Monday of the new year.
they need to get more than one region involved to get better ratings and that didn’t happen this year.
It had all the makings of a great game. The unquestioned two top teams; played each other earlier in the year and essentially tied (game was decided on a single play).
But...
Holding the game over a week after New Year’s day, on a Monday night no less was a dunderhead move.
My college football interest turns off on New Year’s day. The season’s over after that—at least emotionally for me. Trying to get me to watch a college football game on the 9th of January is absurd.
And, Monday night? I have to get up early in the mornings. So my choice is stay up late and watch the entire game (and be miserable the next morning) or only watching the first half then going to bed (which is worse than not watching the game at all). I chose not to watch the game at all.
Had this been a New Year’s day game, I almost certainly would have watched it, but Jan. 9th, late on a Monday?
When you have a re-match of two teams from the same conference, it’s what you get. Even worse, the Orange Bowl was a ratings disaster. Two mediocre teams from the same general area interested no one outside that area.
Boise State would have generated much better ratings.
I would acknowledge Alabama as champion if they beat Oklahoma State in a playoff game.
I watched the first half but tried to get in to it for the second half but the damned commercial breaks were dense and looong. I had to turn it off.
I was watching a recorded show on some `Downton Abbey’ about the dynamics between the swells and `miladies’ on the main floor and the working people in the basement. And WWI.
I was building bonnet credits in order to watch sports.
There was a football game last night?
I tried hard to figure out why these big bowl games were broadcast on a cable/sat carrier instead of traditional network television. While more and more have access to cable or satellite programming, there really are quite a few who don’t have such service (mostly by choice).
Exactly. Used to be that New Years Day was special, with all the bowl games going all day.
You'd lay on the couch in a hangover stupor in front of two TVs so you could watch all the games. (back in the days before cable and PIP)
The Entertainment Sports and Pedophilia Network
ESPN had a taped confession from the wife of the Syracuse assistant baskeball coach Fine admitting her husband ‘had a problem’ with boning little boys in 2002. They sat on the tape until 2011, beyond the statute of limitations.
Not only does Fine walk, but since he wasn’t caught until 2011, an untold number of kids lost their anal virginity to this idiot - courtesy of ESPN.
“Providing taped confessions of a wife admitting her husband is a pedophile is NOT OUR JOB.”
God forbid we stand register our moral outrage by boycotting ESPN.
It’s ironic this clown car is owned by Disney. You’d think they’d be upset about condoning pedophila, but perhaps maybe ESPN is the apple falling not far from the tree.
“He could. go. all. the. way.” Indeed.
Because the championship game is between the number 1 and 2 teams at the end of the regular season and Alabama was #2. Simple.
Big college football fan here, but watched Blazing Saddles and Groundhog Day last night instead of Alabama-LSU.
They’re on cable because ESPN threw $125 million a year at the BCS, or $25 per game through 2014.
The game was 8 days after New Years. By the time this game was played most,except the bookies and the alums, had turned their attention to the pro playoffs, and hoops, and hockey. Has nothing really to do with dinosaur media, but with the arrogance and ignorance of the college Presidents and ADs, searching for the almighty buck.
The simple answer is that Oklahoma St. lost to an unranked team, and Alabama only lost by 3 points in overtime to the number 1 team in the nation.
The boobs at Espn gave us a rematch of a game few wanted to see. I wanted to see Ok st get a shot. Not a rematch from the same conference.
I’m not sure Alabama and Lsu were excited about the game.
Saw it as just another ridiculous bowl game. No integrity in getting to a bowl game this year. Too many bowl games and teams with losing records playing some of those games.
Bama came to kill LSU. They played at the same level or better as the 1st game. Some of LSU's players showed up with their heads up their a$$es. Jordan Jefferson, after running that option all year long, all of a sudden decided to not execute it correctly one time.
Hats off to Alabama, b/c they stuffed LSU all night long. And this is coming from a huge LSU fan. I think Bama would have absolutely slaughtered any other team, mainly due to the fact that no other team besides these two has the calibre of defense.
Except OK St. lost to Iowa State. Can’t do that and play for the championship.
The best two teams in the nation played last night, and the better team won.
I watched it because I’m from the New Orleans area. Besides the fact that it was a terrible from an LSU point of view, I can’t take these “color commentators” feeling like they have to constantly talk and talk so loud when speaking. It’s like if a second of dead air was to happen, then they’ve failed in some way. It wasn’t just the case with this game, but many NFL games as well. Some are worse than others. Why do we need to know what the coaches and players may be thinking, and such other nonsense? When you attend the games in person, you hear the announcer over the loudspeaker telling you if it’s 1st down, how many yards were gained, etc. We seem to understand what’s going on with the game without all the incessant chatter of the “color” guys.
ML/NJ
LSU should have known better than to play in New Orleans during high Tide! LOL.
After all, they both beat:
Florida
Tennessee
Auburn
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Miss State
*Each other (so over half of their wins came against the same competition)
And a handful of other teams…some of them not even Division 1AA…
Were they 2 of the best teams in the nation? Yup. Were they the top 2 teams in the nation? We will never know.
I hope the above was at least one reason why the ratings for Monday's game were so poor.
Here’s the solution, assuming a four-team playoff:
Have all of the traditional bowl games on New Years’ Day.
The National Semifinals on Jan 2.
The National Championship game on Jan 9.
The first game should have ended in a tie. If they got rid of overtime in college football, I would not mind one bit....why should a team get the same credit for winning in OT than they get winning in regulation?
I saw the 4th qtr. Seems like I saw enough.
Sputter sputter punt. Sputter sputter punt. Zzzzz. Oh damn, a touchdown! Woo hoo. Clank. Ungggh.
Poor, honey badger.
No surprise. I think they need to think about putting this game closer to New Years Day. In this case most casual college football fans outside the south have simply moved on to other interests and dont care about a game between 2 southern teams.
I have suggested something similar to what you have suggested. Instead of the BCS picking two teams they should pick 4 teams and play a two semifinal games on New Years Day and then maybe a week later play the championship game.
It could have been even more more bizarre than that. After the regular season ended there was a legitimate chance that the BCS Championship game could have matched up two teams (LSU and Alabama) that both came from the same conference, with NEITHER of them winning their own conference championship!
If Georgia had beaten LSU in the SEC title game, the BCS championship probably still would have matched up LSU and Alabama. And Arkansas would have been the odd one out because their only two losses this year came to LSU and Alabama . . . talk about a hard-luck team!
I would acknowledge Alabama as champion if they beat Oklahoma State in a playoff game.
I understand the sentiment, but there's no way you can fault the BCS process just because one conference had two teams that were so dominant. It's even more amazing when you go beyond those two teams and add Arkansas to the mix. With Arkansas finishing the season ranked #5, you not only had three of the top five teams in the nation from the same conference . . . but they were all from the same division (the SEC West). This is why the SEC title game had LSU matched up against Georgia . . . which was ranked somewhere around #14 at the time but was actually ranked behind South Carolina . . . on the strength of SC's win over Georgia early in the season . . . and yet Georgia finished above them in the SEC East on the strength of their better conference record.
And by the way -- Georgia has to be one of the most difficult teams to assess in college football. They finished ranked #19 even with four losses because all four losses came to teams that were ranked very high in the final BCS rankings (Boise State at #8, South Carolina at #9, LSU at #2 and Michigan State at #12).
For anyone who really thinks Oklahoma State deserved to play in the BCS Championship game, I have two words for you: IOWA STATE. C'mon, man -- if they had just beated that 6-7 team this whole controversy would have been avoided!
I would also have the semifinal games in the home stadium of the higher ranked team.....no more neutral site games.
That’s “Honey..............Bad-juh” /Brent Musberger Voice
I love college football. This game had me turning it off after 15 minutes.
Been there, done that. On the other hand I enjoyed the heck out of the Baylor game.
I was off to Top Gear.
Among other reasons, the nation's NCAA Division I football coaches from the Big 12, Big 10, Pac 12, ACC, Big East, and similar conferences, who had a vested interest in voting anyone other than an SEC team as #2 in the nation, looked at all of the NCAA Division I football teams and voted Alabama #2. Despite their conference and regional prejudices, they voted Alabama #2.
Despite all of the yelling about ESPN having an unholy alliance with the SEC, the nation's NCAA Division I football coaches thought Alabama was the #2 team.
Despite all of the whining about the BCS, even Pac 12 and Big 10 and Big 12 coaches said: 'd*mn, nobody other than possibly LSU is better than Alabama."
And apparently they were right.
Did you realize that NFL Scouts said that 20 of the 22 starters on defense last night will probably play in the NFL? We probably saw the best NCAA Division I football defense in history last night . . . and I hate Alabama.
I hate to break this to you, but there will never be a “real” championship in any football league (yes, that includes the NFL) because the season is so short that nobody plays balanced schedules. If you have a playoff with the top four teams, then there will always be a #5 team that will claim it deserved a shot at the title. If you have a playoff with the top eight teams, it will be a #9 that deserved a shot, etc.
Sorry I missed that one...the Stanford/OK St. game was entertaining(unless you're the Stanford kicker).
I miss the old bowl blitz on New Years Day...they spread the bowl games out too far, with lousy match-ups in many 'ta boot. New folks(bean counters)in charge I suppose. The closer they(NCAA)get to ESPN...the worse it's going to get....same goes with NASCAR.
2012 to 2015:
Four-team playoff with two current BCS bowl games for semifinals on New Year's Day and final one week later.
2016 and beyond:
Eight-team playoff with #1 versus #8, #2 versus #7, #3 versus #6 and #4 versus #5, quarterfinals played first weekend in December at home stadium of higher-ranked team. Reseed four remaining teams and play semifinal and finals using method I mentioned earlier.
Don’t forget the droopy eyes.
Poorest excuse for an offensive effort I ever saw in my life.
The question all LSU fans are asking-why didn’t Miles replace that pathetic excuse of a QB?
You do know that several years ago (the year an undefeated Auburn got locked out of the BCS championship game), the SEC pushed hard for exactly that: a 4 team playoff.
Every other conference except the SEC turned it down flat.
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