NCAA Football 2015

[grumbler]

Of course I am a full-on homer for Michigan!  It's my alma mater, and I grew up in Ann Arbor.

Looks like Sam Monson of ProFootballFocus is a full-on homer for Michigan, too, though he mostly does NFL analysis

JIM HARBAUGH HAS BUILT A TERRIFYING MICHIGAN DEFENSE
Here's how.

SAM MONSON | 7 HOURS AGO   

The University of Michigan is rolling right now. After suffering a Week 1 loss to Utah — a loss which is looking increasingly understandable as the weeks go by and Utah remains legit — the Wolverines have notched five straight wins. The last three have been shutouts, and they have scored 97 points while conceding none in those games. In their five-game winning streak they have outscored opponents 160-14 and haven't allowed more than one score in any of the games.

Scoring that many points is reasonably impressive, but this is college football, where points fall out of the sky and touchdowns grow on trees. What is far more impressive is the defensive display — especially notching three straight total shutouts while understanding the point just made about offensive production.

The average number of points conceded (or scored) in this week's FBS schedule was 29.5, including Michigan's shutout-featuring game. Almost all of the other games featuring single-digit scores involved bad teams with losing records, but Michigan did this to a Northwestern team that was 5-0 coming into the game and ranked higher than Michigan in the AP Top 25.

You don't need to look much further than the opening Northwestern drive to see what the Michigan defense is all about. In 34 seconds of game time they forced a three and out, showing quality play at every level of the defense.

1st down: With just six men in the box they stuffed an inside zone run, winning all across the line of scrimmage and just squeezing the holes, leaving the runner with nowhere to go.
2nd down: Jabrill Peppers covers a slant and breaks the pass up as it arrives to force an incompletion.
3rd down: Michigan brings the blitz and the pressure forces an early, off-target pass to come out (Peppers again was in tight coverage even if it had been accurate).
This was all as Michigan was already sitting on a 7-0 lead with the offense yet to take the field after the opening kickoff had been taken back to the house. Games don't begin much better than this if you're a Wolverines fan.

He has an image there that just about says it all:


Northwestern tries a sweep, and by the time the ball carrier reaches the edge, there are five Wolverines waiting for him.  Also note #69 keeping the cutback lane closed.

That should not happen, and does not happen with most defenses. There wasn't even a catastrophic breakdown in blocking assignments to create it. The Wolverines just read, diagnose and attack the football like a pack of hungry dogs chasing after a wayward ribeye steak.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/13/harbaugh-has-built-a-terrifying-michigan-defense/

It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine.

[dps]

Ole Ball Coach just up and retired.  Not shocking, but surprising.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/reports--south-carolina-head-coach-steve-spurrier-plans-to-retire-012729392.html

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier has retired, according to multiple reports.
According to Gamecock Central, Spurrier informed his team and coaching staff of his decision after practice on Monday night while Football Scoop is reporting that an interim head coach will be named at 8:30 ET on Tuesday morning. Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated was the first to report the news.

Spurrier, 70, was in his 11th season at South Carolina. He led the Gamecocks to an SEC East title in 2010 and three straight 11-win seasons from 2011 to 2013, but the team trudged to a 7-6 record in 2014 and has struggled to a 2-4 (0-4 SEC) mark through six games this season.

Overall during his tenure in Columbia, Spurrier registered an 86-49 record with a 44-40 mark in SEC play and five bowl wins. He is South Carolina's all-time winningest coach.

Before his time at South Carolina, the Head Ball Coach spent 12 years at Florida, his alma mater, where he won six SEC titles and the 1996 national championship. He also spent three seasons as the head coach at Duke and two seasons leading the Washington Redskins in 2002 and 2003.

Spurrier, who compiled a 228-89-2 overall record as a collegiate head coach, played quarterback at UF from 1963 to 1966 and won the Heisman Trophy in 1966.

Not surprised that he's retiring, but I'm a bit surprised he isn't going to finish out the season.

[Admiral Yi]

Not surprised that he's retiring, but I'm a bit surprised he isn't going to finish out the season.

I thought the same.  Unless it's health related.

[jimmy olsen]

Here's some stuff from 2013.  Take it for what it's worth, which isn't much other than to show that rumors did exist. http://hardcorehusky.com/forums/#/discussion/4114/the-official-sark-s-nights-on-the-town-thread

I believe every word there is the truth. Sark is a stud for picking up Erin Andrews. I see the winningness that Haden saw in him. However, getting other coaches to apply a plunger to his butthole while on the road allows me a glimpse into his sickness that Haden must have seen today.

I can't believe it.

[alfred russel]

Not surprised that he's retiring, but I'm a bit surprised he isn't going to finish out the season.

The easy thing, and accurate thing, is to say he is quitting when the going is getting tough.

It also doesn't serve a purpose. He almost certainly doesn't want a fairwell tour while getting beat. I guarantee he doesn't want to roll into Florida, Clemson, and Tennessee a heavy underdog that gets beat down. It also doesn't help South Carolina to have an old retiring coach hanging around.

I remember when he went to the NFL from Florida. After the season he just up and quit without warning. I don't think he had an NFL job lined up, but he knew he would get one. He said it did no one any good to drag the process out, and he had a point.

[grumbler]

Not surprised that he's retiring, but I'm a bit surprised he isn't going to finish out the season.

I thought the same.  Unless it's health related.

That's what I thought of, as well.  There must be a reason he can't finish.

Interesting that speculation has Dantonio as one of the candidates.  I'd have thought SC was tired of old coaches.

[alfred russel]

I'd have thought SC was tired of old coaches.

The Holtz / Spurrier years are the golden era of South Carolina football.

[Valmy]

I'd have thought SC was tired of old coaches.

The Holtz / Spurrier years are the golden era of South Carolina football.

I hear Mack Brown is available.

[Berkut]

Good timing on Rich Rod dropping a couple critical Pac-12 games.

Surely they don't want some coach who just lost any chance at winning the Pac-12 south...

[dps]

Not surprised that he's retiring, but I'm a bit surprised he isn't going to finish out the season.

I thought the same.  Unless it's health related.

That's what I thought of, as well.  There must be a reason he can't finish.

Interesting that speculation has Dantonio as one of the candidates.  I'd have thought SC was tired of old coaches.

I'm not sure what this means, or even if it's accurate, but I heard on the radio today that he didn't retire, as was first reported, but instead resigned.

[alfred russel]

I'm not sure what this means, or even if it's accurate, but I heard on the radio today that he didn't retire, as was first reported, but instead resigned.

He said he might coach as a coordinator in high school. Which would be awesome.

[grumbler]

I'm not sure what this means, or even if it's accurate, but I heard on the radio today that he didn't retire, as was first reported, but instead resigned.

He said he might coach as a coordinator in high school. Which would be awesome.

He said he hadn't retired, but was not likely to head coach again.

I'm starting to think that it was recruiting, not play on the field, that governed his timing here.  He hated recruiting and this year that was really showing.  By saying "fuck it, I quit" now, he doesn't leave the school scrambling to find a coach while the recruits are committing to places with less uncertainty surrounding them.  By the time recruits are finalizing their decisions, they will know who their coach will be.

[sbr]

I took it as a big F you to SC.  He knew he would be fired after the season, and said ' you think someone else can do better? Go for it'

[Malthus]

Heh, just learned that my 9 year old niece in Iowa is now a cheerleader; also, that they have a cheerleading section of girls that young doing cheerleading at university football games. All of which struck me as slightly strange. 

[Valmy]

Heh, just learned that my 9 year old niece in Iowa is now a cheerleader; also, that they have a cheerleading section of girls that young doing cheerleading at university football games. All of which struck me as slightly strange. 

Nah they are just involving the community. The football program probably has football camps for kids as well.