I had no idea the Pac-12 Championship was THAT big a deal.

okaydo said:

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I had no idea the Pac-12 Championship was THAT big a deal.

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The only other good option was Baylor/OK on Saturday. Excluding the blowout UVa/Clemson game, all other playoff games on ESPN/ABC are nonP5 games. Besides, he flies on a private jet. What's the big deal?

Private jet or otherwise, that's a lot of air travel and prep work to fit into 48 hours. Herbstreit is generally pretty unbiased and fair in his analysis, and definitely knows what he's talking about. I find him to be worlds better than some of the alternatives.

Beardog26 said:

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Private jet or otherwise, that's a lot of air travel and prep work to fit into 48 hours. Herbstreit is generally pretty unbiased and fair in his analysis, and definitely knows what he's talking about. I find him to be worlds better than some of the alternatives.

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Glad to see that Rod Gilmore is not announcing the game!

Beardog26 said:

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Private jet or otherwise, that's a lot of air travel and prep work to fit into 48 hours. Herbstreit is generally pretty unbiased and fair in his analysis, and definitely knows what he's talking about. I find him to be worlds better than some of the alternatives.

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I agree. The other guy I like is Joel Klatt on Fox. Herbstreit and Klatt are the top analysts on their respective networks for a good reason - they are unbiased and unafraid to call out stupid mistakes by players, coaches and referees.

Unfortunately, the gap between them and their peers is quite wide. ESPN, in particular, has a vast pool of lousy analysts.....

Herbstreit has always seemed to like Cal. He's also very good at what he does.

Yeah, I like Klatt, too. He does a good job of analysis.

Rod Gilmore is both a Furd and an idiot (While some might, I don't find those two things to be necessarily intertwined - though it is often the case ;-)

I think his analysis is poor. He is smug and self-righteous. He hates Cal and cannot accept the notion that The Play actually happened and his team and school will always be the losers of that competition. Finally, in a USC game at the Coliseum earlier this season for which he was the analyst, he couldn't control his obvious contempt for SC and called out their fans for ignorance when the kid with "G" painted on his chest was absent for some reason and the group's collective message during a game break spelled "FI_HT ON!"

Putting aside for a moment the notion that the kid may have gone to the bathroom or for a food or beverage break, Gilmore proceeded to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, his own idiocy by using the telestrator to help the allegedly ignorant students and added the "G" between the "H" and the "T." That's right, Rod, "FIHGT ON!" is the correct way to spell it. What a moron!

Beardog26 said:

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Rod Gilmore is both a Furd and an idiot (While some might, I don't find those two things to be necessarily intertwined - though it is often the case ;-)

I think his analysis is poor. He is smug and self-righteous. He hates Cal and cannot accept the notion that The Play actually happened and his team and school will always be the losers of that competition. Finally, in a USC game at the Coliseum earlier this season for which he was the analyst, he couldn't control his obvious contempt for SC and called out their fans for ignorance when the kid with "G" painted on his chest was absent for some reason and the group's collective message during a game break spelled "FI_HT ON!"

Putting aside for a moment the notion that the kid may have gone to the bathroom or for a food or beverage break, Gilmore proceeded to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, his own idiocy by using the telestrator to help the allegedly ignorant students and added the "G" between the "H" and the "T." That's right, Rod, "FIHGT ON!" is the correct way to spell it. What a moron!

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Yup. Gilmore is the worst. I can't remember exactly what, but he had some snide remark about Cal during that SC v UCLA broadcast.

71Bear said:

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okaydo said:

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I had no idea the Pac-12 Championship was THAT big a deal.

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The only other good option was Baylor/OK on Saturday. Excluding the blowout UVa/Clemson game, all other playoff games on ESPN/ABC are nonP5 games. Besides, he flies on a private jet. What's the big deal?

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My point is the Pac-12 Championship game is usually a depressing site: an empty stadium, on a Friday night.

As college football's top analyst, you usually don't associate with Herbstreit going to empty stadium games.

Both teams' fans will travel well.

P12 title game attendance (@ Levis):

2014: 45.6k, Az v Ore (Friday night, Oregon to CFB playoff)
2015: 58.5k, USC v Furd (Saturday night)
2016: 47.1k, CU v UW (Friday night, UW to CFB playoff)
2017: 48.0k, Furd v USC (Friday night)
2018: 35.1k, UW vs Utah (Friday night)

Would guess this barely cracks 40k. If it were a Saturday, I'd say 50k+.

If rather listen to cats fighting right outside my window at 3am than listen to Rod Gilmore do a game.

Herbie wants to see Utah with his own eyes, he sees himself as THE college football expert and I don't think he watched Utah live this year.

I believe it's supposed to rain Friday evening. It's gonna be miserable. There's a tiny chance I'll go if the Stubhub tix are super cheap, and the chance of precipitation goes down.

okaydo said:

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71Bear said:

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okaydo said:

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I had no idea the Pac-12 Championship was THAT big a deal.

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The only other good option was Baylor/OK on Saturday. Excluding the blowout UVa/Clemson game, all other playoff games on ESPN/ABC are nonP5 games. Besides, he flies on a private jet. What's the big deal?

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My point is the Pac-12 Championship game is usually a depressing site: an empty stadium, on a Friday night.

As college football's top analyst, you usually don't associate with Herbstreit going to empty stadium games.

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That is because Herbstreit spends most of time in college football hotbeds. The P12 is a sleepy backwater compared to their counterparts. Heck, Herbstreit or not, I don't expect Levi's to be buzzing on Friday. Of course, it will come alive should Cal receive a Redbox bid!

TouchedTheAxeIn82 said:

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I believe it's supposed to rain Friday evening. It's gonna be miserable. There's a tiny chance I'll go if the Stubhub tix are super cheap, and the chance of precipitation goes down.

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Current prediction for Friday evening is 80% chance of rain. Not looking good.

They're not selling tickets to the upper deck, it'll be the same tarp this year.

This game is a big deal because people love chaos and they want Utah and Oklahoma to win and then we'll see who gets screwed out of the CFP.

Beardog26 said:

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Private jet or otherwise, that's a lot of air travel and prep work to fit into 48 hours. Herbstreit is generally pretty unbiased and fair in his analysis, and definitely knows what he's talking about. I find him to be worlds better than some of the alternatives.

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I think he's unquestionably the best college football analyst for national broadcasts, and has been for a while.

TouchedTheAxeIn82 said:

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They're not selling tickets to the upper deck, it'll be the same tarp this year.

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I think I saw somewhere that level 100+200 = ~44k seats.

With luxury boxes, there are a bit more available.

I have to wonder if the P12 buys unsold tickets and 'gives' them away to boost attendance.

I went for giggles last year and scored nice club seats for $60. So empty. Good thing for Utah was that their colors and seat colors were the same, so the empty seats kind of blended in. UW fans wearing purple made all the empty seats stick out.

Agreed.

Beardog26 said:

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Rod Gilmore is both a Furd and an idiot (While some might, I don't find those two things to be necessarily intertwined - though it is often the case ;-)

I think his analysis is poor. He is smug and self-righteous. He hates Cal and cannot accept the notion that The Play actually happened and his team and school will always be the losers of that competition. Finally, in a USC game at the Coliseum earlier this season for which he was the analyst, he couldn't control his obvious contempt for SC and called out their fans for ignorance when the kid with "G" painted on his chest was absent for some reason and the group's collective message during a game break spelled "FI_HT ON!"

Putting aside for a moment the notion that the kid may have gone to the bathroom or for a food or beverage break, Gilmore proceeded to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, his own idiocy by using the telestrator to help the allegedly ignorant students and added the "G" between the "H" and the "T." That's right, Rod, "FIHGT ON!" is the correct way to spell it. What a moron!

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Did you know that he got his law degree from Cal?

"Ha!! He just kind of jumped back at full speed."

CAL4LIFE said:

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"Ha!! He just kind of jumped back at full speed."

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Herbstreit was calling a Penn State game a few weeks back and he was comparing a guy to DeSean.

I did not, and find it surprising (and disconcerting). Most lawyers I know are fully aware how to spell the word "Fight."

Beardog26 said:

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I did not, and find it surprising (and disconcerting). Most lawyers I know are fully aware how to spell the word "Fight."

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Must be a Furd thing. Have you ever read wifeisafurd? I kid, I kid. Kind of.

TouchedTheAxeIn82 said:

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They're not selling tickets to the upper deck, it'll be the same tarp this year.

This game is a big deal because people love chaos and they want Utah and Oklahoma to win and then we'll see who gets screwed out of the CFP.

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I would not say screwed out of the CFP. I would suggest (assuming LSU beats GA, OSU beats Wisconsin and Clemson beats UVa) that the three unbeaten have earned the right to be in the playoffs. Therefore, someone has to be left out between OK and Utah (assuming they beat Baylor and UO, respectively). The team left out only has themselves to blame. Had they not lost a game in the regular season, they would be a cinch to make the CFP.

I suspect that if both win, Utah will be in because the team to whom they lost (USC) is better than the team to whom the Sooners lost (K-State).

I am hoping GA beats LSU to throw everything into a frenzy. In that case, our friends in the SEC will get two spots (Georgia and LSU) and everyone will whine about a conspiracy!

Beardog26 said:

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I did not, and find it surprising (and disconcerting). Most lawyers I know are fully aware how to spell the word "Fight."

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I understand that most people that attend graduate school are more loyal to the school that they attended as an undergrad, I find it surprising (and disappointing) that Gilmore will bash Cal at every opportunity available even though he is an alumni!

Fir some reason he only makes $400-700k. Other espn sportscasters make double that

I like Petros. He is loud, uncouth, and sortof obnoxious. It he's also strangely entertaining.

I'm also a Petros fan but he seemed toned down this year. Maybe Vereen's presence threw him off, but I don't recall a single Top Dog shoutout.

okaydo said:

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I had no idea the Pac-12 Championship was THAT big a deal.

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Heby pushing Utah (if they win) could get a lot of Midwest votes against the loser (likely Georgia) of the SEC championship for the playoffs. Good news for the Pac for a change. INO Herby in the best college national analyst and he has a lot of sway with both fans and football insiders.

okaydo said:

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71Bear said:

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okaydo said:

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I had no idea the Pac-12 Championship was THAT big a deal.

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The only other good option was Baylor/OK on Saturday. Excluding the blowout UVa/Clemson game, all other playoff games on ESPN/ABC are nonP5 games. Besides, he flies on a private jet. What's the big deal?

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My point is the Pac-12 Championship game is usually a depressing site: an empty stadium, on a Friday night.

As college football's top analyst, you usually don't associate with Herbstreit going to empty stadium games.

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I suspect Utah and Oregon both travel fairly well.