NCAA Foootball 2017

[dps]

I think the Fighting Irish of '43 could compete in the NFL for about a half against the 2017 Cleveland Browns.

If there were enough of them still alive to field a full NFL squad, they could probably beat the Browns.

Of course, the fallacy here is the idea that the current Cleveland Browns are an actual NFL team in anything but name.

[alfred russel]

If there were enough of them still alive to field a full NFL squad, they could probably beat the Browns.

Of course, the fallacy here is the idea that the current Cleveland Browns are an actual NFL team in anything but name.

What is amazing to me is that before the draft Brian Kelly, his college coach, came out and said that Kizer wasn't ready for the NFL, and called out that he needed to "grow off the field".

As a Notre Dame fan, I'm a bit worried about that. Recruits want to get into the NFL, and if a coach is publicly giving negative recommendations that isn't a reason to play for him. But nevertheless, that is a huge red flag for any organization--but the Browns still drafted him and he started a bunch of games his rookie year. Wtf Cleveland? Are you even trying?

[dps]

You'd think that the Browns, of all teams, would be sensitive to that "grow off the field" bit after the Manziel debacle.

[Berkut]

A lot of buzz about Ken Niumatalolo being the new Arizona coach. He is currently at Navy, has been their 10 years, where he has done rather well.

http://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/football/photos-arizona-wildcats-coaching-candidate-ken-niumatalolo/collection_f34dab9e-f7c0-11e7-b375-ab491019d615.html#6


I'm not really wowed by this. He seems like a solid hire, not going to be a d-bag, but is he going to bring the option to Arizona or something?

[Barrister]

You'd think that the Browns, of all teams, would be sensitive to that "grow off the field" bit after the Manziel debacle.

So, there's been a fair bit of Johnny Manziel in the news in Canada.

So, the CFL has something called the negotiation list.  Each team has a certain number of US players on their list.  If those players ever want to come to Canada they can only sign with that one team.

Johnny Manziel is on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats list.

The Ti-Cats are interested in signing Manziel, but apparently Manziel's agent is playing hardball.  He even issued a public statement about the negotiations:

As Hamilton has announced, and per the aforementioned restrictive rule requirements, they sent us a place-holder contract in order to maintain Johnny's rights and allow us adequate time to negotiate a deal. During our diligence process and at my request, Hamilton also graciously gave me permission to discuss potential trade options with at least one other club. Johnny and I met with those executives in Texas to discuss their organization and thoughts on Johnny's market and value around the CFL. However, due to Johnny's strong relationship with Coach Jones and Hamilton executive Kent Austin, we've made the decision to deal exclusively with Hamilton and give them until January 31st to work out a fair deal to make him their Quarterback. So that there will not be any ambiguity in regards to financial expectations, and so the public understands how seriously Johnny is considering this move, I will tell you that we believe 'fair deal' means on par with what Hamilton has paid their QB in recent years, despite not having much on-field success. If we cannot reach a deal with Hamilton by this date, we will turn our focus to several other professional options readily available to us."

First why if any of this being made public?  Second exactly how much leverage does Manziel think he has?  Historically big-name NCAA QBs have flopped when they come to Canada.  Andre Ware, Eric Crouch, Troy Smith.  You have to go back to Doug Flutie to see them have any success.

And finally "other professional options readily available to us"?   Whatever those options might be, they sure don't involve playing football.

[Berkut]

Sources are saying that Niumatalolo was offered the job...

[The Minsky Moment]

2000 Hurricanes couldn't even beat the Unviersity of Washington.  How are they going to beat NFL teams? 

[alfred russel]

2000 Hurricanes couldn't even beat the Unviersity of Washington.  How are they going to beat NFL teams?

Because a lot of the talent on the team was really young/on the bench.

Also, the average NFL career is only ~4 years...there are ~130 FBS schools, but NFL talent is heavily skewed to come from the top quarter of them. If you do the math, it shouldn't be surprising that a really extraordinarily talented college team is NFL caliber talent wise.

[crazy canuck]

2000 Hurricanes couldn't even beat the Unviersity of Washington.  How are they going to beat NFL teams?

Because a lot of the talent on the team was really young/on the bench.

Also, the average NFL career is only ~4 years...there are ~130 FBS schools, but NFL talent is heavily skewed to come from the top quarter of them. If you do the math, it shouldn't be surprising that a really extraordinarily talented college team is NFL caliber talent wise.

Just because the NFL draws most of its players from the top college teams does not mean one of those college teams could compete in the NFL.

[alfred russel]

Just because the NFL draws most of its players from the top college teams does not mean one of those college teams could compete in the NFL.

Of course not. No one has said otherwise.

[crazy canuck]

Just because the NFL draws most of its players from the top college teams does not mean one of those college teams could compete in the NFL.

Of course not. No one has said otherwise.

What did you mean when you said 'it shouldn't be surprising that a really extraordinarily talented college team is NFL caliber talent wise"

[alfred russel]

Just because the NFL draws most of its players from the top college teams does not mean one of those college teams could compete in the NFL.

Of course not. No one has said otherwise.

What did you mean when you said 'it shouldn't be surprising that a really extraordinarily talented college team is NFL caliber talent wise"

It means that as a collection of players, a college team may be more talented.

For example, to bring this back to a sport you know about, if you assembled a basketball team of 5 year olds, each of whom would grow up to be NBA all stars and with a few hall of famers, you would have one of the most talented teams ever assembled. But it probably wouldn't be able to compete in a decent middle school league.

[crazy canuck]

Just because the NFL draws most of its players from the top college teams does not mean one of those college teams could compete in the NFL.

Of course not. No one has said otherwise.

What did you mean when you said 'it shouldn't be surprising that a really extraordinarily talented college team is NFL caliber talent wise"

It means that as a collection of players, a college team may be more talented.

For example, to bring this back to a sport you know about, if you assembled a basketball team of 5 year olds, each of whom would grow up to be NBA all stars and with a few hall of famers, you would have one of the most talented teams ever assembled. But it probably wouldn't be able to compete in a decent middle school league.

Sure but that is never going to happen in either scenario

Basketball is actually a good example of why.  Even with only 5 players on the court there is no one College team who would ever stack up against an NBA team.  The matchup problem goes up significantly more when matching all the offensive, defensive and special teams players of a football team.  Even if the college team produces a number of all stars there is still going to be considerable weaknesses the NFL team can exploit.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Sources are saying that Niumatalolo was offered the job...

Well that would be a helluva change of pace.

[Eddie Teach]

Cc that's where the aging comes in. Reassemble Phi Slamma jamma in the early 90s and you have a competitive team.