Join the club my friend. Here's the issue I'm realizing. Officials are going to change the outcome of every drive with the amount of flags they're throwing. Every aspect is declining. The quality of officiating and players is at an all time low. This is why the NFL continues to decline. The styles between college and the NFL are very far apart. Very few teams concern themselves with quality, that's a sign of how poor the coaching is.
It is a lot more volatile now because of how the game is played and officiated. No doubt.
But were I to look in the mirror, I have to realize that I have failed to adjust to it. Not that I have not tried to adjust to it, but I don't have the same edge. A lot of these results (the wins and losses alike) are head scratchers. That TCU at Baylor game for instance is a head scratcher that makes no sense to me but I won on that one so it doesn't bother me. The Nebraska destruction at the hands of TOSU makes no sense to me (Armstrong or no) even though I won that one. The Charlotte result, the UTSA result ...these all make no sense. None. The first half of the CMich/MOH game was ridiculous.
After watching the first half of a horrible bet I had in the Washington at California game I went on a texting tirade (Sorry Tru) about losing college football as a sport. I think you can love something and then not realize how much you loved it until you no longer have it ... and it makes it hurt all the more. That is how I feel about college football. The product is horrible. I think this could also be contributing to the lower NFL ratings. After watching a crappy product on Saturday, less people are inclined to watch NFL on Sunday.
Now, I did see a couple of good games Saturday and the Alabama at LSU game was an absolute joy to watch. Hard hitting, whistles swallowed for the most part (the one bad late hit call), good tackling, good preparation by LSU and good late adjustments by Alabama. And the scores mattered. When you scored, you had accomplished something. In fact, if there is one major difference between football now and years ago it is that we have switched from a game where scoring was an accomplishment to a game where not scoring is just an abject failure.
Anyway, that game was a pleasure to watch. I also enjoyed the uga kentucky game quite a bit and to a lesser extent the wisconsin northwestern game. There was effort in all those games.
washington/cal is simply not football, and a horrible level of entertainment.
And the problem I have is that I think I could be ok with trying to solve the puzzles of the games, breaking even and enjoying the hell out of my Saturdays watching real football..... but I just cannot warrant the hundreds of hours of handicapping over the course of the 7 or 8 months I focus on it as a hobby if I am not either making money or having a really good time. Even in the years I do really well, I am sacrificing financially from not doing something else with my time that is far more profitable. Again, willing to sacrifice that when the game itself was bringing me so much joy. This product is crap though.
Hopefully they address some of this stuff in the offseason but I don't foresee them doing so... pass interference is about the only thing they can legitimately address anymore, particularly at the college level,because I just don't see them reverting back to prior rules where "player safety" is involved.
And the problem you have is that offensive coordinators are going to go pace because it is a huge advantage and they want the team to succeed and more importantly they want to succeed for their own financial benefit. Not taking advantage of the pace factor (unless overmatched and you are trying to shorten the game) is just leaving chips on the table so to speak.
It is a shame. Millennial beta males are ruining everything.