American Sports Thread

[AZOffaly]

The College Football playoffs just got interesting.. Ohio State may just have coughed up a chance at retaining the title, as they've been mediocre all year and just lost to Michigan State at home. They might still win the Big10, if they get a flukey result between Michigan State and Penn State, but it's unlikely and they won't be in if they don't win the Big 10. Which opens it up for Iowa. I'd say Iowa will be in the top 4 this week, and if they can win the Big 10, beating Michigan State, they will be in for sure.

Notre Dame may have played their way out of the top 4 this week, ahead of a very tough visit to Stanford. They've lost a starting Corner and probably the starting RB as well this week, so the task is very difficult for them. I know the 'brand' will influence people, but if Notre Dame don't beat Stanford well, I don't think they are in.

I think the top 4 this week are Clemson, Alabama, Iowa and Oklahoma. And I think unless Oklahoma loses again, I think that's the top 4 at the end, with Iowa's spot going to the Big 10 Champion.

[Muck Savage]

The College Football playoffs just got interesting.. Ohio State may just have coughed up a chance at retaining the title, as they've been mediocre all year and just lost to Michigan State at home. They might still win the Big10, if they get a flukey result between Michigan State and Penn State, but it's unlikely and they won't be in if they don't win the Big 10. Which opens it up for Iowa. I'd say Iowa will be in the top 4 this week, and if they can win the Big 10, beating Michigan State, they will be in for sure.

Notre Dame may have played their way out of the top 4 this week, ahead of a very tough visit to Stanford. They've lost a starting Corner and probably the starting RB as well this week, so the task is very difficult for them. I know the 'brand' will influence people, but if Notre Dame don't beat Stanford well, I don't think they are in.

I think the top 4 this week are Clemson, Alabama, Iowa and Oklahoma. And I think unless Oklahoma loses again, I think that's the top 4 at the end, with Iowa's spot going to the Big 10 Champion.

Stanford will beat ND and knock them out of the top 4. No way they can be there with a loss
I don't see Oklahoma State in the top 4 this week but the winner of of the Oklahoma State/Oklahoma game will end up at 4 with the way things are running.

[AZOffaly]

Hard to see ND beating Stanford alright. They are too beat up, and it looks like Prosise is out as well. I don't think Oklahoma State will be in the top 4, in fact I think they are goosed unless ND lose to Stanford and they win the Big 12, but I suspect Oklahoma might be in there this week, along with Iowa, and ND will have to beat Stanford and hope Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma.

[cadhlancian]

The College Football playoffs just got interesting.. Ohio State may just have coughed up a chance at retaining the title, as they've been mediocre all year and just lost to Michigan State at home. They might still win the Big10, if they get a flukey result between Michigan State and Penn State, but it's unlikely and they won't be in if they don't win the Big 10. Which opens it up for Iowa. I'd say Iowa will be in the top 4 this week, and if they can win the Big 10, beating Michigan State, they will be in for sure.

Notre Dame may have played their way out of the top 4 this week, ahead of a very tough visit to Stanford. They've lost a starting Corner and probably the starting RB as well this week, so the task is very difficult for them. I know the 'brand' will influence people, but if Notre Dame don't beat Stanford well, I don't think they are in.

I think the top 4 this week are Clemson, Alabama, Iowa and Oklahoma. And I think unless Oklahoma loses again, I think that's the top 4 at the end, with Iowa's spot going to the Big 10 Champion.

If ND beat Stanford, they will be in . Regardless of how much or how they beat them, and regardless if Iowa beats Sparty ( which they won't ), they WILL be in...

[AZOffaly]

I don't know. I'm not sure we'll find out, but I think the big 10 champ gets in before them, and so do Oklahoma if they beat ok state.

[cadhlancian]

I'm not saying they would deserve to be in if they beat Stanford. Although a narrow loss on the road at Clemson aren't bad credentials. My point is, if it's anywhere close or contentious, Notre Dame will get in. Too much money involved ....what's new I suppose...

[AZOffaly]

Yeah, I know what you're saying.

[AZOffaly]

Clemson, Alabama, Iowa and Oklahoma are the top 4. Michigan State 5 and ND 6.

I think ND are out. You can't drop the Big 10 champ, if it's the current #3 or #5 and if Oklahoma beat TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma State, all highly ranked teams, 1 after the other, they have to stay in, you can't punish them if they beat OK State.

I think Notre Dame has missed the boat unless Ok State beat Oklahoma.

[Zulu]

Lads, can any of the college football fans here give me a basic rundown of how the competitions are run? How do you make the main bowl (final)? Are there different groups and results are weighted based on the quality of teams you play?

[AZOffaly]

Wooo. And you thought the Kerry County Championship was hard?

I wrote something on this before, lets see if I can dig it out.

[AZOffaly]

Most people in Ireland are vaguely aware of NCAA (college) American Football. Everyone has heard of the marching bands and the cheerleaders; most have seen 'Rudy', 'the Blind Side' or one of the other football movies; many have heard of Notre Dame (the Fighting Irish), and quite a few may even have attended the series of games in Dublin which started in the 90s. Notre Dame, Navy, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Boston College and Army all played games in Croke Park or the old Lansdowne Road, and the fixture has renewed in this century with Notre Dame and Navy again in the new Aviva at Lansdowne Road and Penn State and University of Central Florida in Croke Park.
With BT Sports and ESPN joining forces to add ESPN to the BT Sports package, a lot of sports fans in Ireland have access to a lot of College Football and ,with another memorable occasion sure to take place next year with Boston College and Georgia Tech visiting the Aviva Stadium, let's take a look at, and try to explain, some of the nuances of the phenomenon that is College Football.
The History
College Football is one of the oldest sports in the United States, and the first National Champion was crowned in 1869 (Princeton). The game back then was much different to what is played today, but essentially the spirit of college football was born then, and this longevity is comparable with anything on this side of the pond.
The early days of the game were dominated by the Ivy League type schools, as names like Princeton, Yale and Harvard dominate the initial roll of honour, but as the game became more popular it spread from its base in the north east and you begin to see champions from the North and Mid West, such as Michigan, Minnesota and Chicago emerge, as well as the initial 'green shoots' from the area now dominant, the South. Louisiana State University (LSU) was co-champion in 1908, while Auburn got a share of the title in 1909.
Terms like 'co-champions' and 'got a share of' hint at one of the frustrating and confusing aspects of this great competition, especially as Irish people are looking in from afar. Until 1998 (more anon) the National Champions were crowned by opinion poll, as crazy as that seems to us. Basically all the schools played their seasons out, and all throughout the season, from week to week, various organisations (such as sports writers, coaches, media outlets etc) published their polls to name their top 25 teams, and more importantly, their number 1. This voting system was essentially, at its simplest, a group of people deciding that IF a team from California (say) were to play a team from Georgia or somewhere like that, which one would probably win, and basing their top 25 on a whole host of hypothetical situations like that.
Of course there were tangible factors as well, such as the results of games against other contenders and the results of other games your opponents played (known as strength of schedule) , but there is no doubt that the entire process was highly unsatisfactory and very subjective. There were also charges of bias towards colleges in the Central or Eastern time zones as voters got to see all those games in the television age, whereas a 7pm game in California had a 10pm kick off in New York and viewing figures suffered accordingly. As each polling organisation obviously felt theirs was the most accurate poll, you had many instances of multiple teams being awarded 'shares' in the National Championship, as the NCAA recognised all the polls equally.
In 1998, the NCAA decided to try and name their national champions on the field, which seems obvious to us in Ireland but was a huge step because of the history and politics involved. However their solution (the BCS or Bowl Championship Series), while better than the predecessors, was still fundamentally flawed and based on factors not in the direct control of the competing schools. The system still relied on a combination of the pollsters, plus a highly complex computer weighting algorithm based on strength of schedule, winning margins and other factors, and at the end of it all, the computer spat out the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country who faced off in a National Championship Game. Of course it was better to have such a game, but critics still pointed to the subjective element involved and there were active proponents of a playoff system such as that operating in the NFL.

In 2014, those proponents got their wish, partially at least, with the introduction of the College Football Playoffs. This development is intended to identify the top 4 teams in the country, and have National Championship Semi Finals and Finals. Of course, given the nature of the season and sheer numbers of eligible teams, the process for arriving at this final four is still quite subjective, and shrouded in a deal of secrecy. Essentially a selection committee has been appointed, made up of very respected figures from the world of College Football and beyond- including, rather bizarrely, Condoleezza Rice. From a period roughly mid season, November 3rd this year, the committee meets weekly and discusses a whole host of factors before publicising their top 25. Each week is supposed to be completely independently evaluated from the prior week, and at the end of the regular season the committee identifies their top 25, including the crucial slots in the top 4, who then go on to play the semi final and final bowl games. (more anon)
The Nicknames
One of the features of college football is the pageantry, history and colour which surrounds the game, and it is this that draws in many casual fans initially. The cheerleaders, mascots and 'fight songs' are all big parts of this festival type atmosphere, and all colleges have a nickname, and a theme around their game festivities that is based on that nickname. The nickname is normally either related to the location, wildlife or history of the school itself and some of the more famous include the Notre Dame 'Fighting Irish', the Miami 'Hurricanes',  The USC 'Trojans', Ohio State 'Buckeyes' and the Michigan 'Wolverines'.
Some colleges go to great lengths to promote this nickname, and mascot, and pre game displays can include such scenes as an American Indian from the Seminole Tribe riding on horseback and plunging a burning spear into the end zone as a challenge to Florida State (the Seminoles) opponents. Notre Dame have a somewhat cringeworthy leprechaun, while LSU have a real Bengal Tiger on the sideline during a game. Woe betide any referee that crosses the bayou faithful!
That's the (very brief) background and history, so let's take a look how the season is structured, and what you may watch on ESPN  as it unfolds.

The Regular Season
There are 128 schools eligible to compete to be crowned National Champions, and the majority of these schools compete in conferences which are primarily geographically based (similar to our provincial championships in the GAA). Each of these conferences operates like a co-op where negotiation with TV is done on a collective basis, revenue sharing, etc. There are 5 conferences which are deemed superior to the rest, (The Power 5) and 5 other conferences (The Group of Five) which are deemed 'mid' majors or, more brutally, good but not great. There are also a small number of independents (operating outside conference boundaries, usually because they want to maintain autonomy in TV deals etc.) who are eligible, as part of the 128.
Each team plays a regular season schedule of between 10-12 games, and this schedule consists of intra conference games (which are hugely important in terms of deciding the Conference Champion) and external games against other teams from other conferences which can be vital in terms of boosting strength of schedule. Teams in weak conferences will try to schedule games against strong teams to boost their strength of schedule (a big factor in the Playoff Selection Committee deliberations), while teams in strong conferences will try to schedule games that either make a lot of money for them, or are of minimal risk in terms of a loss. Independents, obviously, play all of their games on the basis of strength of schedule and money from TV.
A lot of schools have inter conference games they schedule regularly, for years in advance, because of rivalries built up over the years. Notre Dame figure in quite a few of these, such as games with University of Southern California (USC), Navy, Stanford and the 'Holy War' against Boston College (Both colleges are seen as intensely Irish and Catholic).
The Conferences
The 5 major conferences are :
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which is based around the east coast and features teams such as Boston College, Clemson, Miami and Florida State.
The Big 12, which is located in the central/ south central states of the USA. The main teams here are Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor and TCU.
The Big 10 (which actually has 12 members in 2015), is centred around the northern central states, and has notables in Ohio State, Michigan, Penn(sylvania) State and Nebraska (who has recently defected from the Big 12).
The Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC)-12 is located in the south west and west coasts, and features teams from Arizona to Washington, including big hitters such as University of Southern California, UCLA and Oregon.
Finally we have the South Eastern Conference, the SEC, the most powerful conference at the moment. The SEC has provided 7 of the last 10 national champions, although neither of the last 2. Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Louisiana State would be the biggest names here, however competition in the SEC is fierce and other teams like Ole Miss (seen in the movie Blind Side) certainly provide stiff competition.

The 5 'lesser' Conferences, or the Group of Five, are :
Conference USA, based around the southern states.
Mid American Conference (The MAC), which is based around the Great Lakes area.
Mountain West Conference, based around the Western US.
The Sun Belt Conference, also based around the south.
The American Athletic Conference,  which has schools from all around the south, south east and east
Finally, the 3 independents eligible are Notre Dame, Brigham Young (BYU) and Army.
Post Season and the Bowl Games
The basic aim of every team in the country is to end the season with a winning record (more wins than losses). Finishing with a winning record makes you eligible for a 'Bowl' game, which is a postseason game that earns the school money, and is played against a team from a different conference.
Currently there are 41 bowl games, including the National Championship semi finals and final, which ensures that  80 teams out of the 128 get some sort of reward game in the post season. We'll discuss the Playoff  bowls later on, but let's take a look at the other bowls for a moment, as this is another element of college football that people find strange.
Firstly, what is a 'bowl'? Essentially a bowl game is usually a business sponsored game, also focused on the tourism benefits, which rewards both participants financially, and rewards the host city by attracting visitors to the city for several days either side of the game.
As the profile of the games go up, so too do the financial rewards accruing to the schools and indeed to the cities as more and more fans descend to have a good time. There is also a recruiting benefit as bowl games get national TV coverage, and may help young High School athletes decide to go to a particular college if they are often competing in such games.
So, with 41 bowl games, and 80 slots to fill, who decides what teams play where? This is the essence of the bowl system, and if you understand this, you'll understand all of college football. Again, let's worry about the non-Playoff bowls first.
The first thing about bowls that you need to understand is that they are tied to conferences in many cases. For example, the Cactus Bowl, played in Phoenix, Arizona, has a contractual arrangement that allows, and obligates, it to invite the 6th place team in the Big 12, and the 7th placed PAC 12 team. The Outback Bowl, in Florida, has its choice of SEC teams left over after other big bowl contracts are fulfilled, and a team in the Big 10.  There are contingencies in place in case some of those contracted positions are ineligible because of not having a winning record, but that very seldom happens.
This contractual arrangement means that in the vast majority of the cases, the teams know themselves which bowl they are going to at the end of the season, although there are instances where the bowl can choose to pick either the 3rd, 4th or 5th team in the SEC, for example, based on how they think it will affect the marketability of the game.
And so to the Playoff bowls, or as they have become known, the 'New Years Six'.  What are they, and why are they different? Basically, the main differences between the Playoff bowls and the rest of the bowls are a)prestige but b) and more importantly in this era, 2 of those 6 games serve as the semi finals for the National Championship. As the name implies, there are 6 playoff bowls, and on a rotating basis 2 are annointed semi finals each year. In 2015/16 the semi finals will be the Cotton Bowl, in Arlington Texas, and the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.  The teams designated as 1 through 4 compete in these semi finals, and the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl Champion will meet in the National Championship Final in Phoeniz Arizona on January 11th 2016.

The following tie-ins exist for bowls in the years they are not hosting the national semi finals, and assuming their tie in teams are not in the semi finals:

Rose Bowl — The oldest bowl of them all, in Pasadena, California. Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1
Sugar Bowl — In New Orleans, Louisiana. SEC #1 vs. Big 12 #1
Orange Bowl — In Miami, Florida.  ACC #1 vs. SEC #2, Big Ten #2, or Notre Dame
Cotton Bowl — In Arlington, Texas.  At-large or "Group of Five" (committee selection)
Fiesta Bowl — In Phoenix, Arizona. At-large or "Group of Five" (committee selection)
Peach Bowl — In Atlanta, Georgia. At-large or "Group of Five" (committee selection)

The Group of Five selection is simply that the highest ranked team from the 'Group of Five' conferences is guaranteed a spot in one of the big 6 bowl games, assuming they are not in the semi final itself. They are placed in a bowl at the committee's discretion. The other At Large teams are basically any team that is ranked highly enough, that the committee feel deserve a spot in the major bowls.
December and January sees the bowl season take place, with the games spread throughout the Christmas and New Year season. It's a feast of television for those with the appetite for it, and while a lot of the bowls are of academic (no pun intended) interest to the non-combatants, the games towards the end are often thrilling fixtures, very closely matched, and show all that is best about the college game. Look out for the period just after New Year as the playoff bowls and the National Championship Game get settled then.
So that's the general gist of it, and if you have a couple of hours on a Saturday evening/night, you should take a look to see what you think, especially if you have any grá for the NFL. The games are on at convenient times because of the spread across the USA, and tend to start about 5pm our time on a Saturday.

[gawa316]

Warriors set new record to start of season 16-0. Hard to know when they'll get beat. Maybe games at Toronto or Pacers. Cavs on Xmas day should be a good one...oh and Kobe needs to retire

[AZOffaly]

Kobe and Peyton Manning.

[gawa316]

Kobe and Peyton Manning.

Correct

[Zulu]

Most people in Ireland are vaguely aware of NCAA (college) American Football. Everyone has heard of the marching bands and the cheerleaders; most have seen 'Rudy', 'the Blind Side' or one of the other football movies; many have heard of Notre Dame (the Fighting Irish), and quite a few may even have attended the series of games in Dublin which started in the 90s. Notre Dame, Navy, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Boston College and Army all played games in Croke Park or the old Lansdowne Road, and the fixture has renewed in this century with Notre Dame and Navy again in the new Aviva at Lansdowne Road and Penn State and University of Central Florida in Croke Park.
With BT Sports and ESPN joining forces to add ESPN to the BT Sports package, a lot of sports fans in Ireland have access to a lot of College Football and ,with another memorable occasion sure to take place next year with Boston College and Georgia Tech visiting the Aviva Stadium, let's take a look at, and try to explain, some of the nuances of the phenomenon that is College Football.
The History
College Football is one of the oldest sports in the United States, and the first National Champion was crowned in 1869 (Princeton). The game back then was much different to what is played today, but essentially the spirit of college football was born then, and this longevity is comparable with anything on this side of the pond.
The early days of the game were dominated by the Ivy League type schools, as names like Princeton, Yale and Harvard dominate the initial roll of honour, but as the game became more popular it spread from its base in the north east and you begin to see champions from the North and Mid West, such as Michigan, Minnesota and Chicago emerge, as well as the initial 'green shoots' from the area now dominant, the South. Louisiana State University (LSU) was co-champion in 1908, while Auburn got a share of the title in 1909.
Terms like 'co-champions' and 'got a share of' hint at one of the frustrating and confusing aspects of this great competition, especially as Irish people are looking in from afar. Until 1998 (more anon) the National Champions were crowned by opinion poll, as crazy as that seems to us. Basically all the schools played their seasons out, and all throughout the season, from week to week, various organisations (such as sports writers, coaches, media outlets etc) published their polls to name their top 25 teams, and more importantly, their number 1. This voting system was essentially, at its simplest, a group of people deciding that IF a team from California (say) were to play a team from Georgia or somewhere like that, which one would probably win, and basing their top 25 on a whole host of hypothetical situations like that.
Of course there were tangible factors as well, such as the results of games against other contenders and the results of other games your opponents played (known as strength of schedule) , but there is no doubt that the entire process was highly unsatisfactory and very subjective. There were also charges of bias towards colleges in the Central or Eastern time zones as voters got to see all those games in the television age, whereas a 7pm game in California had a 10pm kick off in New York and viewing figures suffered accordingly. As each polling organisation obviously felt theirs was the most accurate poll, you had many instances of multiple teams being awarded 'shares' in the National Championship, as the NCAA recognised all the polls equally.
In 1998, the NCAA decided to try and name their national champions on the field, which seems obvious to us in Ireland but was a huge step because of the history and politics involved. However their solution (the BCS or Bowl Championship Series), while better than the predecessors, was still fundamentally flawed and based on factors not in the direct control of the competing schools. The system still relied on a combination of the pollsters, plus a highly complex computer weighting algorithm based on strength of schedule, winning margins and other factors, and at the end of it all, the computer spat out the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country who faced off in a National Championship Game. Of course it was better to have such a game, but critics still pointed to the subjective element involved and there were active proponents of a playoff system such as that operating in the NFL.

In 2014, those proponents got their wish, partially at least, with the introduction of the College Football Playoffs. This development is intended to identify the top 4 teams in the country, and have National Championship Semi Finals and Finals. Of course, given the nature of the season and sheer numbers of eligible teams, the process for arriving at this final four is still quite subjective, and shrouded in a deal of secrecy. Essentially a selection committee has been appointed, made up of very respected figures from the world of College Football and beyond- including, rather bizarrely, Condoleezza Rice. From a period roughly mid season, November 3rd this year, the committee meets weekly and discusses a whole host of factors before publicising their top 25. Each week is supposed to be completely independently evaluated from the prior week, and at the end of the regular season the committee identifies their top 25, including the crucial slots in the top 4, who then go on to play the semi final and final bowl games. (more anon)
The Nicknames
One of the features of college football is the pageantry, history and colour which surrounds the game, and it is this that draws in many casual fans initially. The cheerleaders, mascots and 'fight songs' are all big parts of this festival type atmosphere, and all colleges have a nickname, and a theme around their game festivities that is based on that nickname. The nickname is normally either related to the location, wildlife or history of the school itself and some of the more famous include the Notre Dame 'Fighting Irish', the Miami 'Hurricanes',  The USC 'Trojans', Ohio State 'Buckeyes' and the Michigan 'Wolverines'.
Some colleges go to great lengths to promote this nickname, and mascot, and pre game displays can include such scenes as an American Indian from the Seminole Tribe riding on horseback and plunging a burning spear into the end zone as a challenge to Florida State (the Seminoles) opponents. Notre Dame have a somewhat cringeworthy leprechaun, while LSU have a real Bengal Tiger on the sideline during a game. Woe betide any referee that crosses the bayou faithful!
That's the (very brief) background and history, so let's take a look how the season is structured, and what you may watch on ESPN  as it unfolds.

The Regular Season
There are 128 schools eligible to compete to be crowned National Champions, and the majority of these schools compete in conferences which are primarily geographically based (similar to our provincial championships in the GAA). Each of these conferences operates like a co-op where negotiation with TV is done on a collective basis, revenue sharing, etc. There are 5 conferences which are deemed superior to the rest, (The Power 5) and 5 other conferences (The Group of Five) which are deemed 'mid' majors or, more brutally, good but not great. There are also a small number of independents (operating outside conference boundaries, usually because they want to maintain autonomy in TV deals etc.) who are eligible, as part of the 128.
Each team plays a regular season schedule of between 10-12 games, and this schedule consists of intra conference games (which are hugely important in terms of deciding the Conference Champion) and external games against other teams from other conferences which can be vital in terms of boosting strength of schedule. Teams in weak conferences will try to schedule games against strong teams to boost their strength of schedule (a big factor in the Playoff Selection Committee deliberations), while teams in strong conferences will try to schedule games that either make a lot of money for them, or are of minimal risk in terms of a loss. Independents, obviously, play all of their games on the basis of strength of schedule and money from TV.
A lot of schools have inter conference games they schedule regularly, for years in advance, because of rivalries built up over the years. Notre Dame figure in quite a few of these, such as games with University of Southern California (USC), Navy, Stanford and the 'Holy War' against Boston College (Both colleges are seen as intensely Irish and Catholic).
The Conferences
The 5 major conferences are :
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which is based around the east coast and features teams such as Boston College, Clemson, Miami and Florida State.
The Big 12, which is located in the central/ south central states of the USA. The main teams here are Oklahoma, Texas and Baylor and TCU.
The Big 10 (which actually has 12 members in 2015), is centred around the northern central states, and has notables in Ohio State, Michigan, Penn(sylvania) State and Nebraska (who has recently defected from the Big 12).
The Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC)-12 is located in the south west and west coasts, and features teams from Arizona to Washington, including big hitters such as University of Southern California, UCLA and Oregon.
Finally we have the South Eastern Conference, the SEC, the most powerful conference at the moment. The SEC has provided 7 of the last 10 national champions, although neither of the last 2. Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Louisiana State would be the biggest names here, however competition in the SEC is fierce and other teams like Ole Miss (seen in the movie Blind Side) certainly provide stiff competition.

The 5 'lesser' Conferences, or the Group of Five, are :
Conference USA, based around the southern states.
Mid American Conference (The MAC), which is based around the Great Lakes area.
Mountain West Conference, based around the Western US.
The Sun Belt Conference, also based around the south.
The American Athletic Conference,  which has schools from all around the south, south east and east
Finally, the 3 independents eligible are Notre Dame, Brigham Young (BYU) and Army.
Post Season and the Bowl Games
The basic aim of every team in the country is to end the season with a winning record (more wins than losses). Finishing with a winning record makes you eligible for a 'Bowl' game, which is a postseason game that earns the school money, and is played against a team from a different conference.
Currently there are 41 bowl games, including the National Championship semi finals and final, which ensures that  80 teams out of the 128 get some sort of reward game in the post season. We'll discuss the Playoff  bowls later on, but let's take a look at the other bowls for a moment, as this is another element of college football that people find strange.
Firstly, what is a 'bowl'? Essentially a bowl game is usually a business sponsored game, also focused on the tourism benefits, which rewards both participants financially, and rewards the host city by attracting visitors to the city for several days either side of the game.
As the profile of the games go up, so too do the financial rewards accruing to the schools and indeed to the cities as more and more fans descend to have a good time. There is also a recruiting benefit as bowl games get national TV coverage, and may help young High School athletes decide to go to a particular college if they are often competing in such games.
So, with 41 bowl games, and 80 slots to fill, who decides what teams play where? This is the essence of the bowl system, and if you understand this, you'll understand all of college football. Again, let's worry about the non-Playoff bowls first.
The first thing about bowls that you need to understand is that they are tied to conferences in many cases. For example, the Cactus Bowl, played in Phoenix, Arizona, has a contractual arrangement that allows, and obligates, it to invite the 6th place team in the Big 12, and the 7th placed PAC 12 team. The Outback Bowl, in Florida, has its choice of SEC teams left over after other big bowl contracts are fulfilled, and a team in the Big 10.  There are contingencies in place in case some of those contracted positions are ineligible because of not having a winning record, but that very seldom happens.
This contractual arrangement means that in the vast majority of the cases, the teams know themselves which bowl they are going to at the end of the season, although there are instances where the bowl can choose to pick either the 3rd, 4th or 5th team in the SEC, for example, based on how they think it will affect the marketability of the game.
And so to the Playoff bowls, or as they have become known, the 'New Years Six'.  What are they, and why are they different? Basically, the main differences between the Playoff bowls and the rest of the bowls are a)prestige but b) and more importantly in this era, 2 of those 6 games serve as the semi finals for the National Championship. As the name implies, there are 6 playoff bowls, and on a rotating basis 2 are annointed semi finals each year. In 2015/16 the semi finals will be the Cotton Bowl, in Arlington Texas, and the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.  The teams designated as 1 through 4 compete in these semi finals, and the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl Champion will meet in the National Championship Final in Phoeniz Arizona on January 11th 2016.

The following tie-ins exist for bowls in the years they are not hosting the national semi finals, and assuming their tie in teams are not in the semi finals:

Rose Bowl — The oldest bowl of them all, in Pasadena, California. Big Ten #1 vs. Pac-12 #1
Sugar Bowl — In New Orleans, Louisiana. SEC #1 vs. Big 12 #1
Orange Bowl — In Miami, Florida.  ACC #1 vs. SEC #2, Big Ten #2, or Notre Dame
Cotton Bowl — In Arlington, Texas.  At-large or "Group of Five" (committee selection)
Fiesta Bowl — In Phoenix, Arizona. At-large or "Group of Five" (committee selection)
Peach Bowl — In Atlanta, Georgia. At-large or "Group of Five" (committee selection)

The Group of Five selection is simply that the highest ranked team from the 'Group of Five' conferences is guaranteed a spot in one of the big 6 bowl games, assuming they are not in the semi final itself. They are placed in a bowl at the committee's discretion. The other At Large teams are basically any team that is ranked highly enough, that the committee feel deserve a spot in the major bowls.
December and January sees the bowl season take place, with the games spread throughout the Christmas and New Year season. It's a feast of television for those with the appetite for it, and while a lot of the bowls are of academic (no pun intended) interest to the non-combatants, the games towards the end are often thrilling fixtures, very closely matched, and show all that is best about the college game. Look out for the period just after New Year as the playoff bowls and the National Championship Game get settled then.
So that's the general gist of it, and if you have a couple of hours on a Saturday evening/night, you should take a look to see what you think, especially if you have any grá for the NFL. The games are on at convenient times because of the spread across the USA, and tend to start about 5pm our time on a Saturday.

Crikey, thanks AZ but I'm kinda sorry I asked now 

Don't think I fully get it after reading it but it's interesting even if it seems to not necessarily produce the most worthy champion.