2008 Experts Roundtable Discussion

It's the 2nd Annual Experts Roundtable Discussion with Charles Davis, Dennis Dodd, Bruce Feldman, Steve Greenberg, Teddy Greenstein and Stewart Mandel joining Pete Fiutak and Richard Cirminiello talking about the college football world. Here's part one: What aspect of college football should you care about, but don't?

Preview 2008 - Experts Roundtable

Part One - What Should You Care About?

CFN is honored to once again get the thoughts and opinions on some of the hot topics from some of the most talented, influential insiders in the college football media, while getting to know a little bit more about them.

Along with Pete Fiutak and Richard Cirminiello from CFN in the discussion are ...

- Charles Davis, NFL Network/FOX Sports
- Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com - College Football Columnist
- Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com - College Football Columnist
- Steve Greenberg, The Sporting News - College Football Columnist
- Teddy "Mr. Media" Greenstein, Chicago Tribune - College Football Columnist, Media Columnist
- Stewart Mandel, SI.com - College Football Columnist

THE TOPICS
- Part 1 What aspect of college football should you care about, but really don't?
- Part 2 Should a two loss LSU team really have won the national title?
- Part 3 How should college football be more like the NFL?
- Part 4 Your college football guilty pleasure
- Part 5 How/why did you get into covering college football?
- Part 6 How/why is the BCS better than a playoff?
- Part 7 I'm not buying into ...
- Part 8 Just how bad is the Big Ten?
- Part 9 Do you have any problems with Tim Tebow winning two Heismans?
- Part 10 Give the 2010 Rankings for: Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska & Notre Dame
- Part 11 How much do you care about non-BCS teams?
- Part 12 When Should Players Be Eligible for the Draft?
- Part 13 The Next Really Big Superpower Will Be ...
- Part 14 The Best & Worst Interviews You've Ever Done
- Part 15 Quick Hitters, Part 1: Greatest Players & Greatest Games
- Part 16 Quick Hitters, Part 2: The National Champion & Heisman Winner

2007 Roundtable Discussion  
- Part One The BCS, tweaks, and college football's biggest problem
- Part Two On-field and off-field changes, steroids and cheating
- Part Three Overrated, underrated, 10 years from now, & what fans don't understand

1. What aspect of college football should you care about, but really don’t?

Charles Davis: I should care about start times and playing on odd days of the week, but my outrage fizzles pretty quickly.

Steve Greenberg: “Others receiving votes.” Without exception, I’d rather watch a single matchup of top-ranked titans than 10 games featuring teams with also-ran bowl hopes.

Fiu: Army-Navy. I’m sorry. I know it makes me a bad human being. I also admit that one of the real flaws in my research world is an inability to get into who all the assistants are and what their philosophies are. They do all the work and the head coach gets all the credit. I know all the big guys, but I really should care about the styles of all the OCs and DCs.

Bruce Feldman: The BCS meetings. Lots of posturing and bluster but it’s always little more than a golf junket.

Dennis Dodd: Recruiting bores me. I know it's a huge part of the game but except for the big stories (Terrelle Pryor etc.), the rest of the stuff puts me to sleep.

Notre Dame has had great recruiting classes that resulted in 6-6 seasons. Kansas went 12-1 last season with a group of seniors whose class was rated in the 40s four years ago.

I wrote a story last year about only the top 10 teams in these rankings really mattering. When USC gets a top 10 class, there is a track record there. Same with Florida, Ohio State, etc. I find it absolutely impossible to evaluate a class based on a 290-pound, 18-year-old offensive tackle.

Richard Cirminiello: I’m slapping my wrist as I write this, but unless your school is involved, most bowl games have become absolutely wretched.  Yes, I care about the International Bowl because it’s a job requirement and a great way to do some advanced scouting, but would I watch if I was a school teacher who attended Albion?  Unlikely.  Beyond just lacking meaning, the quality of play is usually a far cry from the regular season for a host of reasons.  While New Year’s Day remains special, from a fan’s perspective, games in December are just a few notches more interesting than a professional All-Star game.   

Stewart Mandel: I know it sounds bad to say this, but the scandals. I know as a journalist I should be outraged and ready to tear down walls every time any hint of unseemliness arises at a school -- be it player arrests, academic scandals, etc. -- but I'm just so jaded to it at this point that I pretty much shrug my shoulders.

Teddy Greenstein: The Army-Navy game. I've never written about it.