Lots of turbulence in NCAA football this offseason: conference realignment, the Deon Sanders story (basically kicking out all of Colorado's players and starting over), but, especially, NIL developments. The latter culd change/ruin college football in a fairly short amount of time.
The most fascinating development in NIL came yesterday, when the state of Texas enacted a new law that says, basically, that the NCAA cannot enforce its rules in Texas Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs transformative NIL bill (https://www.on3.com/nil/news/texas-gov-greg-abbott-signs-transformative-nil-bill-ncaa/).
QuoteThe revised Texas legislation includes a number of provisions that are school and student-athlete friendly. But the most notable change appears to provide cover for state schools from being punished by the NCAA for any NIL-related violations, including any committed by collectives that have been set up to support student-athletes through deal facilitation.
According to the legislation: "An athletic association, an athletic conference, or any other group or organization with authority over an intercollegiate athletic program at an institution to which this section applies may not enforce a contract term, a rule, a regulation, a standard, or any other requirement that prohibits the institution from participating in intercollegiate athletics or otherwise penalizes the institution or the institution's intercollegiate athletic program for performing, participating in, or allowing an activity required or authorized by this section."
Texas arguably has one of the most expansive and striking groups of NIL collectives in the country. Collectives have become crucial ways for schools to keep talent on rosters and attract talented recruits.
Now, this legislation is absurd on the face of it. The state of Texas has no authority whatever to prohibit or control the actions of interstate organizations like the SEC and NCAA. But this sort of blustery contempt for the facts seems highly appealing to Texas voters. Other states like NY have passed laws that have some similar provisions, but the Texas law, because it applies to so many institutions and because Texas law now allows schools to get directly involved in the NIL payment system, is the one that most fundamentally attempts to undermine college athletics in the name of bragging rights.
The NCAA has to respond strongly or it is finished. Schools in flagrant violation of NCAA rules must be expelled. States seeking to undermine the NCAA's authority must lose any hosting of NCAA activities, like the NCAA basketball tournament (in which its teams would be unable to participate). No results of games with non-NCAA members will be counted towards regular-season records.
If the NCAA yields control of intercollegiate athletics to the state legislatures, then it becomes nothing more than an advisory institution, and intercollegiate athletics doesn't need more of those.
What can the NCAA do? They've been fucked ever since the NIL ruling.
Maybe institute a salary. 🤔
The NCAA can enforce the single limiting rule they placed on NIL deals: no signed deals can be contingent on a players signing with a given school. Violators should be tossed out. Deals made after signing are okay.
I know basically nothing about NCAA... so is this essentially that the NCAA has a number of rules intended to institute some sort of even playing field among schools, and Abbott basically said "those rules don't apply to Texas schools"?
And does this apply just to football or to all college sports?
Quote from: Jacob on June 12, 2023, 11:36:58 AMI know basically nothing about NCAA... so is this essentially that the NCAA has a number of rules intended to institute some sort of even playing field among schools, and Abbott basically said "those rules don't apply to Texas schools"?
And does this apply just to football or to all college sports?
The rules apply to all college sports. New York and Oklahoma have laws that similarly bar the NCAA from being the NCAA in their states, but the Texas law is different because it allows the schools themselves to run NIL collectives and provide athletic department benefits to those who contribute to the collectives.
Slightly more clear now. Thank you :cheers:
Quote from: Jacob on June 13, 2023, 12:50:54 PMSlightly more clear now. Thank you :cheers:
I should have pointed out that the bag of worms is that the NCAA explicitly does not allow the schools to run the NIL collectives because that makes the players employees of the school. Making players employees has two huge downsides:
1. Many/most/nearly all public schools can only hire people to carry out or support the school's educational goals or directly benefit the students (sports falling in the latter category). My
alma mater, for instance, could not hire football players.
2. If football players are employees, then the schools cannot require them to be students, as that would be a restraint of trade (employees cannot be discriminated against for factors unrelated to the job for which they are hired). Similarly, the schools could not fire players simply because there is a, say, better quarterback available. The NFL can do this because doing so is part of the NFL Players' Association contract with the league. There is no collective bargaining institution for college football players. I suppose each school could set one up with that school's players, but then competitiveness goes out the window because larger schools could field much larger teams and be much likelier to field better talent (unlike the NFL or NBA, where the teams are all the same size in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement).
Texas is cutting the throat of college sports for the sake of a transitory advantage in recruiting. Other states with short-sighted legislatures will follow suit, and there will be a race to the bottom with the sane-state schools left out in the cold.
A seismic shift in NCAA football today, as Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah join Colorado in bolting the Pac 12, and, as a result, Washington and Oregon leaving for the Big Ten.
The Pac is left with four members. All will probably have to find homes in Group of Five conferences, as the conference has failed to get a TV deal even with ten members, let alone four.
One hundred and eight years of tradition just... poof! gone. This sucks for college football and even for the Big 12 and Big Ten.
It kind of seems like College Sports is being killed in many parts of the country. It is really sad how what is (once was?) a national obsession is seemingly being driven to be a regional obsession.
This has been a long time coming though.
Is Notre Dame joining the SEC now that regionalism of conferences doesn't exist anymore?
Quote from: Grey Fox on August 04, 2023, 08:40:13 PMIs Notre Dame joining the SEC now that regionalism of conferences doesn't exist anymore?
If ND joins a conference, it will be the Big Ten. They care about academics. But I think that they will ride the Independent/not independent horse for a while yet.
Quote from: grumbler on August 04, 2023, 09:48:02 PMQuote from: Grey Fox on August 04, 2023, 08:40:13 PMIs Notre Dame joining the SEC now that regionalism of conferences doesn't exist anymore?
If ND joins a conference, it will be the Big Ten. They care about academics. But I think that they will ride the Independent/not independent horse for a while yet.
Notre Dame is in the ACC. Their independence is just for show and for football only.
Quote from: Valmy on August 05, 2023, 11:21:01 PMNotre Dame is in the ACC. Their independence is just for show and for football only.
Notre dame is an associate member of the Big Ten for hockey and has a different Grant of Rights than the other ACC members. Conference alignment is about football.
Quote from: grumbler on August 04, 2023, 06:54:06 PMA seismic shift in NCAA football today, as Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah join Colorado in bolting the Pac 12, and, as a result, Washington and Oregon leaving for the Big Ten.
The Pac is left with four members. All will probably have to find homes in Group of Five conferences, as the conference has failed to get a TV deal even with ten members, let alone four.
One hundred and eight years of tradition just... poof! gone. This sucks for college football and even for the Big 12 and Big Ten.
It's all such a goddamned shame.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on August 06, 2023, 09:13:21 PMIt's all such a goddamned shame.
It really is.
However, there are still some good west coast schools out there. A pacific coast conference can be assembled that can be pretty good at most sports...but not a football. Which is really what this is about.
Quote from: grumbler on August 06, 2023, 08:17:54 AMQuote from: Valmy on August 05, 2023, 11:21:01 PMNotre Dame is in the ACC. Their independence is just for show and for football only.
Notre dame is an associate member of the Big Ten for hockey and has a different Grant of Rights than the other ACC members. Conference alignment is about football.
True. They are aligned with the ACC is football though. Their bowl affiliation is tied to the ACC and they are contractually obligated to play a certain number of ACC teams.
Awesome move by JJ McCarthy
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F5BuoL5W0AAHwFE?format=jpg&name=large)
Maybe it's time to resurrect this thread. :lol:
Texas-OkState is quite the defensive battle... not. 28 points in the first quarter. Ewers looks completely unstoppable.
To continue the discussion from the OT thread, the CFP Selection Committee will be facing a delicious dilemma if all the conference games go chalk except Alabama-Georgia. The committee will be forced to choose between its own declared selection policies and its loyalty to the SEC in that case; their stated policy is that, if there are two teams with equal records competing for one slot,
1. A conference champ gets in over a non-champ;
2. The winner of a head-to-head gets in over the loser
3. If both teams are champs and there is no head to head, then (and only then) is the committee going to look at each team's resume.
The only exception to this is if the committee considers that a team that would otherwise go is too damaged by late-season injuries to realistically compete (keeping in mind, though, that Ohio State won a national championship with their third-string quarterback).
The CFP rules pretty clearly indicate that Texas should get in before Alabama, because of the head-to-head win. However, ESPN has the TV rights to the CFP games, and clearly wants to have a team from their partner conference, the SEC, in the playoffs. Justice says Texas, money says Alabama.
I'm sorta hoping that FSU loses so there's a chance that Michigan plays Texas (they've, somewhat astonishingly, only met once before, a barnburner 38-37 Texas win in the 2005 Rose Bowl). But I'm also kinda hoping that the CFP committee shows itself for the fraud that it is by choosing Alabama after an FSU win. Next year will be a new era for the CFP and it would be nice to see a more honest selection committee at the top.
Part of my anticipated nostalgia for this year in college football is that it marks the end of the Big Ten as much as it does the end of the Pac 12. In particular, it means the end of that delightful entity known as the Big Ten West. Only in the Big Ten West could a team that boasts four of the five lowest over/under scores in NCAA football sportsbook history (all in the last 2 years, and all of them paying on the under) win a division crown going away. Only in the Big Ten West could a team win the division while averaging more net punt yardage than total offense yardage. Bry_Mac on MGoBlog had a great eulogy (warning: only for the CFB enthusiast):
QuotePUNT
By Bryan MacKenzie
@Bry_Mac
Today, we lose something beautiful. Something pure. Something unsullied by outside world and the excesses of modernity. A testament to a bygone era, when men wore flannel and donned massive mustaches, coffee was black, modems said BeeeeebBaBoopBabDingDingDingEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHH, and punting was winning.
Before the clock strikes midnight tonight, the Big Ten West will cease to exist.
The addition of Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA gave the conference no choice but to abandon the concept of divisions, and to instead adopt a "whatever dogpile arrangement yields the biggest television ratings" structure. Likewise, the structure of the conference championship game will fundamentally change. Everyone will be thrown in the same pot of Hormel chili, with the expectation that the best two teams will emerge by the end of the season and play in Indianapolis (or Chicago or Vegas or Qatar or the deck of the U.S.S. Nimitz or the moon).
Sure, there are problems with that structure, such as "these teams are going to have wildly unbalanced conference schedule strengths" and "Michigan and Ohio State might play twice in 8 days" and "have y'all considered what will happen if, like, three teams go undefeated or four teams end up with the same record?" But the biggest problem, in this author's humble opinion, is that it ruins the ecosystems that have developed in the two halves of the conference.
The East is... well, the East has been 'better' in all material respects for the ten years of this divisional arrangement. When the lines were drawn, Penn State was still in "will they ever recover?" mode, and people expected Nebraska and Wisconsin to be the counterbalances to a middling Michigan, a solid Michigan State, and Ohio State. It, uh, did not work out that way. Penn State came back, Michigan came back, and Nebraska is riding the nation's longest Power 5 bowl-less streak. As a result, the East is 9-0 in Big Ten Championship games, most of which have not been particularly competitive, and their representative in today's game is a three-touchdown favorite.
But the Big Ten West never flinched. At no point did they look in the mirror and say, "I need to be someone else." Because the Ancient Gods of the Big Ten West do not look kindly on such things. Nebraska isn't bad because of bad luck or a couple of bad hires. No, they are bad because they eschewed the option offense and tried to be, [derisive air quotes here] "Modern." Wisconsin was doing great for DECADES until they had the audacity to recruit a blue-chip quarterback and tried to throw the football (other than throws to the flat to guys wearing neck rolls. The Ancient Ones grudgingly accept such things). Then, instead of admitting the error of their ways, they brought in an AIR RAID guy. The hell were they thinking?
But then there's Iowa. Good ol' Iowa.
There has never been a more Big Ten West team than 2023 Iowa. Iowa finished last in the Big Ten West (and #124 in the nation) in scoring offense. They're last in the West in yards per play. They're last in the West in yards per pass attempt. They're second-to-last in the West in yards per carry. They're last in the West in first downs per game. They're last in the West in converting third downs. They're last in the West in red zone touchdown percentage. They were, by almost any objective measure, the worst offense in the Big Ten West, the worst offense in the Big Ten, and probably the worst offense in the Power 5.
And they ran away with the West division crown.
Some would say this reflected the degeneracy of the West. They'll argue it shows the need to destroy this last bastion of waggle-based warfare. I argue the opposite. It shows the power of believing in your inner beauty, no matter how ugly your outer self might be. Iowa was Iowa to the very end, regardless of the booing and the Drive to 325 jokes and the I'm Here For The Punting shirts and the overall national scorn.
I will unironically miss the Big Ten West. Sure, they played some aesthetically challenging football games. But that's part of what makes college football fun. The football in the NFL is better, but it can never hold a candle to the weird beauty of college football. College football matches wildly different styles and philosophies and skill levels. It reminds me of the Roman gladiatorial battles of old, where rich, bored Romans would say "I dunno, give that dude a full suit of armor, and give that one a fishing net and a trident, and let's see what happens." It's a chance to live out "would you rather fight a hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck." These isolated environments have fostered this kind of entertainment. The death of the West is one more step towards homogeneity. There is a place in this world for stupid beauty, and Iowa City has been its spiritual home for a while now.
I don't think it's any coincidence that, in solidarity with Brian Ferentz, every single Big Ten West team refused to score 25 points per game this season. While they are usually hated rivals, they nevertheless recognized that in this time of upheaval, Iowa is the staunchest defender of their way of life. And in this, the West's swan swan song, I believe Iowa will make this their pièce de résistance. Their magnum opus. Their Charge of the Punt Brigade. They will not win, because that is not the way of the West. But they will make sure everyone remembers the West, not as it died, but as it lived. Michigan 3, Iowa 2.
https://mgoblog.com/content/punt-counterpunt-big-ten-championship-2023#read-more
Quote from: grumbler on December 02, 2023, 01:04:57 PMMaybe it's time to resurrect this thread. :lol:
Texas-OkState is quite the defensive battle... not. 28 points in the first quarter. Ewers looks completely unstoppable.
Well it was a Big 12 title game. 35-14 at the half was about what we should have expected.
Bama wins. So this should be fun.
(https://fanbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/11/GettyImages-1776479851-e1699737832170.jpg?w=1056)
LFG
All right, I guess I have to root for Louisville just to get that Michigan-Texas game.
Quote from: grumbler on December 02, 2023, 08:51:34 PMAll right, I guess I have to root for Louisville just to get that Michigan-Texas game.
Oh its brutal so far. Florida State's injured QB must be amazing because the rest of their offense is awful.
At least Wyoming finished with an 8-4 record and the head coach is (finally) at .500 for his record, Craig Bohl is now 60-60. That is something indeed, since the last coach at Laramie with a winning record was in the 90s.
I am not sure what to think, against the really good teams Wyoming played well, but lost. Against anyone coming to Laramie they played really well, and against pansies the team won. I guess, given the fact that when I returned to grad school there the Cowboys won 5 games in 3 years, I will take this as a golden age.
First half for Iowa: net 231 yards punting, 61 yards total offense.
Just another Saturday for Iowa.
Congrats to Michigan! Grumber, you got the exact result you wanted. Maybe the SEC gets shut out.
We'll see. Nothing to do but see what the committee does now.
I don't see FSU making the playoffs after that game.
Michigan-Washington-Texas-Alabama.
I like the chances of a Texas-Michigan game with that setup.
It's killing me that my feed ended before the presentation of the Big Ten championship trophy and none of the YouTube channels have that ceremony yet.
I really am hoping the Jim Harbaugh ripped the trophy out of Teeny Petit's hands, or that TP played the Covid card and pussied out of presenting it. I guess I have to wait to see.
I can't wait for Michigan to get out of this chickenshit conference.
Okay, so Harbaugh made Teeny give the award to Zak Zinter, Michigan's injured guard. That's good enough.
Michigan is #1 and going to the Rose Bowl against Bama.
Texas is #3 and gets a 2022 Alamo Bowl rematch with Washington. Both teams are basically the same people so it should be interesting to see how Texas tries to defend Penix this time.
I was so sure Texas was going to get left out and Florida State included. I am shocked. Glad this is the last year of this committee stuff.
I think that is a good matchup for Michigan. Put pressure on Milroe and Bama isn't that great. If they play like they did against Ohio State they can do it.
FSU plays Georgia in the Orange Bowl for 5th place.
Quote from: Valmy on December 03, 2023, 02:13:44 PMFSU plays Georgia in the Orange Bowl for 5th place.
And FSU is going to get destroyed.
A Texas-Michigan title game is all I want for
Christmas the New Year.
Quote from: grumbler on December 03, 2023, 02:33:06 PMQuote from: Valmy on December 03, 2023, 02:13:44 PMFSU plays Georgia in the Orange Bowl for 5th place.
And FSU is going to get destroyed.
A Texas-Michigan title game is all I want for Christmas the New Year.
Damn right. Please New Years Santa.
This is the worse time line so Bama will win every thing now ☹️
I hope Valmy and Grumbler get their wish :)
Meanwhile all these power conference types are too afraid to meet Wyoming in the mighty Arizona Bowl (or some bowl name like that). Instead, the Pokes will face Toledo in what will undoubtedly be a football bowl game of some importance to those few people who give a damn.
I wish that Michigan had the guts to face Wyoming next year, but they already have a full schedule next year, what with playing the #2, #3, #7, #8, and #10 teams in this year's final BCS poll. That will be an insane strength of schedule. Chance of going undefeated in regular-season play for a third year look dim.
As an interesting aside, UCLA will be the first team ever to join the Big Ten and not play Michigan in their first year in conference.
Quote from: PDH on December 05, 2023, 11:17:20 PMMeanwhile all these power conference types are too afraid to meet Wyoming in the mighty Arizona Bowl (or some bowl name like that). Instead, the Pokes will face Toledo in what will undoubtedly be a football bowl game of some importance to those few people who give a damn.
I was thinking of that glorious double overtime victory in the Arizona Bowl...but then remembered it was the New Mexico Bowl.
There is also a Texas Bowl. We just need to bring back the California Bowl and we will have the entire southern border covered.
I love this graphic.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GCdaYizWUAAyfw2?format=png&name=4096x4096)
But it's not the fact that Michigan is the national favorite that is so great, it's that the fans in Ohio, Oregon, and Georgia are all rooting against their conference rival and thus look out of place.
Congratulations to the 2023 Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl Champions! A game whose epic conclusion is an inspiration to us all.
Quote from: grumblerBut it's not the fact that Michigan is the national favorite that is so great, it's that the fans in Ohio, Oregon, and Georgia are all rooting against their conference rival and thus look out of place.
I don't understand why Oklahoma is rooting for us.
Well the mighty Toledo Somethings folded to the Wyoming Cowboys (on a last second FG on the end of a 10 point 4th Quarter comeback) like a cheap suit. Craig Bohl, in his last game as HC got over .500 for his tenure in Wyoming, and everyone felt good complaining about the score, the play, and the fact that we "settle for mediocrity" (I spent enough years with 1 and 2 win seasons to aspire to mediocrity).
Next year there is a new head coach, a "new offensive philosophy", and more of the same Wyoming football - fans might look back on this stretch later as one of the golden years.
Okay, this one was funny:
It's looking great! (https://twitter.com/GOBLUE37/status/1741148419060641824)
I haven't really followed NCAA much in years due to general distaste for how it has evolved into the minor league pro football; but I see a lot of people upset that FSU had so many players opt out of their bowl, creating a bad game for fans / ticket buyers / etc.
Since NCAA is pro sports now, why don't the bowls just offer cash bonuses to the players who attend? Or is that already done and I haven't heard about it. I dunno, but in professional sports I can understand players opting out of a meaningless game they make no money from, and that carries a non-zero risk of impacting their future earnings potential.
The problem with professionalizing college football is that it would endanger the schools' tax-free status, which is based on them only engaging in activities that further the educational and research missions of the schools. Most couldn't employ football players within their charter anyway.
The death of the college bowl system is just a microcosm of the death of college football. Both choked to death on money.
Enjoy what's left of the last even semi-real college football season. We will not see its like again.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 31, 2023, 03:01:08 PMI haven't really followed NCAA much in years due to general distaste for how it has evolved into the minor league pro football; but I see a lot of people upset that FSU had so many players opt out of their bowl, creating a bad game for fans / ticket buyers / etc.
Since NCAA is pro sports now, why don't the bowls just offer cash bonuses to the players who attend? Or is that already done and I haven't heard about it. I dunno, but in professional sports I can understand players opting out of a meaningless game they make no money from, and that carries a non-zero risk of impacting their future earnings potential.
I think the sponsors should probably pay the players a cash bonus.
The issue is how the players are making money though. They get cash for rights to their Name/Image/Likeness rather than some contract to play. So I could see the sponsor of a bowl game giving rights regarding that players NIL for that game or something as a way to make things work.
However, having watched Florida State play against both Florida and Louisville I am not convinced that would have been a good game if their players hadn't opted out. Georgia still probably would have won by a big margin.
From what little I have watched this season, FSU before the opt outs would not have won, it almost certainly would have had to have been a better game.
If their starting QB hadn't been injured maybe they would have won--but it seems like they also would have gotten into the playoffs in that circumstance so it would have been a moot point.
I didn't watch it but I was surprised to see the score line on Ohio State v Mizzou--Ohio State scored 3 points for the entire game, but were leading until the 4th quarter, when Mizzou scored 14. What in the fuck was going on there?
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 31, 2023, 08:05:56 PMIf their starting QB hadn't been injured maybe they would have won--but it seems like they also would have gotten into the playoffs in that circumstance so it would have been a moot point.
Travis must have been some kind of god because I keep hearing how great they were before he got hurt, but I never watched him play. I only watched FSU's last two games because those games were of concern to Texas. Both their backup Rodemaker I think was his name (he got injured against Florida), and their third string guy Glenn were not very accurate QBs. But FSU couldn't run the ball either. They could barely move the ball against either Florida or Louisville. I thought they had to come up with something or they might get shut out by Georgia, or hope Georgia turned it over a lot, but no such luck.
What I did not anticipate is FSU giving up over 350 yards rushing. That is what turned this from a 28-0 type game, which is what I thought it was going to be, to a 63-3 game.
Halftime at the Rose Bowl, and Michigan is letting Alabama stay in the game, leading by just 3 despite getting twice the yardage. I hate games like these, where Michigan is the clearly superior team, but just does dumb stuff to let their opponents score easy points.
Gongrats to the Michigan Grumblers, though I suspect the pucker factor was a bit high on that last play.
I was nervous for you grumbler, but your boys came to life at just the right time.
Hopefully we see you in Houston grumbler. That was a gutsy win, Michigan has an elite defensive front.
Time for Texas in the Sugar Bowl. I am so damn nervous.
One down, one to go. I hope all the betting money goes against Michigan again, because the team plays better with a chip on their shoulder.
I sense a slightly higher scoring game here...
Quote from: PDH on January 01, 2024, 09:24:47 PMI sense a slightly higher scoring game here...
Texas has one glaring weakness...a terrible secondary. Only OU has made them pay so far.
So, needless to say, Washington scares the shit out of me. Texas needs to score a lot to win.
Crazy first half. Texas played pretty badly but thanks to a Washington fumble and a very questionable decision to go for a 4th down in field goal range, Texas and Washington are tied at 21.
This is going to be close and come down to who has the ball last, just as I figured.
Penix is everything he was advertised to be.
I'm thinking that Washington is going to regret settling for field goals the last two times they got within scoring distance. Texas can win with two TDs.
One more TD to go
Too bad. But somewhere Katmai and Camper are celebrating
Congrats to Washington. They were clearly the better team.
But what a heartbreaker.
Kind of cool the last year the Pac is a relevant conference they will send their champion to play for the NC versus the Big 10 Champion, harkening back to the historical end of season game those champions played every year prior to the BCS / CFP era.
Just going to highjack this thread as search is dead and I can't find the LFFL thread:
Congrats to funkmonk for winning LFFL 2024 thanks to Lamar Jackson circling and underlining his MVP status.
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on January 02, 2024, 09:00:13 AMKind of cool the last year the Pac is a relevant conference they will send their champion to play for the NC versus the Big 10 Champion, harkening back to the historical end of season game those champions played every year prior to the BCS / CFP era.
Yeah, that's a nice bit of throwback in my eyes, as well.
I've been impressed all season with the way Michigan, with the 14th-most-talented squad according to the recruiting ratings, has beaten teams with many more high-star players (Alabama has 18 5-stars on its roster, OSU and Texas 10, and Michigan 2). But Washington puts Michigan to shame, with zero 5 stars and only 27 blue-chips recruits total (compared to 56 for Texas and 74 for Alabama).
This is the first time the NC game features two teams outside the top 10 in recruiting. With the expanded playoff, it may be the last. So, enjoy the brief triumph of culture, coaching, and conditioning over recruiting NIL $$$.
Quote from: grumbler on January 03, 2024, 10:17:01 PMI've been impressed all season with the way Michigan, with the 14th-most-talented squad according to the recruiting ratings, has beaten teams with many more high-star players (Alabama has 18 5-stars on its roster, OSU and Texas 10, and Michigan 2). But Washington puts Michigan to shame, with zero 5 stars and only 27 blue-chips recruits total (compared to 56 for Texas and 74 for Alabama).
This is the first time the NC game features two teams outside the top 10 in recruiting. With the expanded playoff, it may be the last. So, enjoy the brief triumph of culture, coaching, and conditioning over recruiting NIL $$$.
Washington certainly wasn't any less talented than Texas. At no point did I look at them and think "oh yes what a scrappy little cute team" they were loaded as fuck, that is why I was so worried about playing them. I would have much preferred Alabama. Washington was pretty elite with speed and talent at every position. Their cornerbacks were able to lock down Texas' receivers while still pressuring our QB. I was jealous as hell, it has been a very long time since Texas could do something like that. Bama could neither pressure Ewers nor cover Worthy and Mitchell as well as Washington did. Ultimate their ability to do that won the game at the end, they kept rushing Ewers on those last plays, if he could have sat back there unmolested for even one play he is able to win that game. But Washington wouldn't let him, that was cool to see...well ok it was cool in retrospect. At the time it caused me a great deal of unhappiness.
Texas, on the other hand, couldn't touch or even hurry Penix much despite bringing people most of the game.
Also I just want to point out that Texas' best player, T'vondre Sweat, was a 3* recruit. But saying he isn't an elite talent NOW is kind of ridiculous. Sure he was a skinny and lanky kid coming out of High School, but hey things change. I do not even know who the 5* players are on Texas' team but I bet a couple of them didn't even play. Some people just peak in High School. Well ok one of them was Arch Manning, but unless his 5* shine inspired people from the sideline I don't think having him on the team was very relevant to the game that was just played.
Now I don't want to minimize recruiting. Sure getting blue chip recruits out of High School is a big part of success. But that is over an aggregate of the entire country over many decades, we are talking about 4 specific teams. And today, thanks to the portal, the ability to get veteran players from other programs changes things a little bit. In the very recent pass it would be unlikely that Penix is even playing for Washington, or at least he would have had to sit out last year. Great coaching attracting veteran players in the transfer portal is very viable. They got their NIL and now they want to play and get a chance at the NFL. I think culture, coaching, and conditioning are going to be just as important, if not more important, going forward. But the Big 10 is going to have plenty of $$$ to compete. The scrappy underdogs are the schools left out of the SEC and Big 10. I predict we will see plenty of Washington and Michigan in the future.
Also shouldn't the expanded playoff help the schools who normally would just be left out thanks to the beauty contest nature of the four team playoff and the BCS before them? Michigan should be a perennial participant (along with its best friend Ohio State).
Washington was considerably less-talented than Texas, but had talent where it needed it in order to match up well. Texas's pass defense was a weak spot, while Washington's pass offense was their strength. Texas ran all over Washington, though, and would have beaten them, IMO, if they'd just stuck to what was working.
Washington has the best pass offense, and Michigan the best pass defense, in the country. That will be quite the matchup. Unless Michigan makes mistakes, though (and they are the least-penalized P5 team, with the best turnover margin in FBS) I don't see how they can stop Michigan's run game, as their run defense is a weakness and Michigan's run offense is elite (only a hair below Texas). Washington's pass defense is okay at best, and Michigan's pass offense above average.
But mistakes and sloppy execution are always a possibility, and if Michigan isn't careful it could find itself in a shootout.
LFG, and BET.
Quote from: grumbler on January 08, 2024, 07:23:59 PMWashington was considerably less-talented than Texas, but had talent where it needed it in order to match up well.
So more talented in a way that gives no advantage in a game of football? Sounds like many of Texas' numerous losses to Oklahoma State :lol:
Anyway talent is as talent does. Theoretical talent isn't very useful.
QuoteTexas's pass defense was a weak spot, while Washington's pass offense was their strength. Texas ran all over Washington, though, and would have beaten them, IMO, if they'd just stuck to what was working.
And likewise Washington kept screwing up their drives by inexplicably running, if they just kept passing they would have scored at least two more touchdowns. Also Texas just kept fumbling, which was something they hadn't done much this season. So that was an unfortunate way the running game got off track in the second half.
Washington can't really stop the run. But if they had just hit a couple of those wide open receivers, they would be out in front.
It'll be an interesting second half.
Enjoy the victory Grumbler
Congrats Michigan! Hell of a season!
Texas will see you in Ann Arbor in September!
Quote from: crazy canuck on January 08, 2024, 11:05:16 PMEnjoy the victory Grumbler
I am. This was a special season for a special team. They knew it was championship or bust, though, because next year's team won't be nearly as experienced and I think that a lot of the coaches from this team will be getting promotions to other teams. So, I've been savoring this (when I wasn't spitting mad about all the lies the click-chasing sports "journalists" were spreading about so-called "cheating." Luckily, "ball don't lie."
Quote from: Valmy on January 08, 2024, 11:09:21 PMCongrats Michigan! Hell of a season!
Texas will see you in Ann Arbor in September!
Hell of a season for your guys, as well. You and I didn't get the final matchup we wanted, but we'll get that matchup in 2024 and 2027. I suspect those will be two very different teams in September.
Alabama is the only one of the final four that doesn't get to play the others in the 2024 regular season.
But Those Who Stay were, indeed, finally champions.
I was also astonished by the constant poor-mouthing of Michigan by all those so-called "Sports Journalists." ESPN's survey of 48 prominent sports journalists had 32 of them predict a Washington win, and it was worse against Alabama (though no one predicted a 63-14 loss like the SEC Network host). I mean, WTF? Don't those sports "journalists" know anything about sports?
Michigan ended Saban! :o
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39281202/alabama-crimson-tide-football-coach-nick-saban-retiring
QuoteSources: Alabama coach Nick Saban retiring with 7 national titles
Yes, we broke Saban. :P
Michigan also ended up featuring in the #1 most-watched college football game (the Rose Bowl), #2 (the CF Championship Game), and #3 (The Game). The talking heads don't respect Michigan, but people sure do like to watch them play.
Quote from: grumbler on January 10, 2024, 11:09:11 PMYes, we broke Saban. :P
Michigan also ended up featuring in the #1 most-watched college football game (the Rose Bowl), #2 (the CF Championship Game), and #3 (The Game). The talking heads don't respect Michigan, but people sure do like to watch them play.
Any school outside the SEC SEC SEC is upsetting to them.
Which is weird since if the SEC SEC SEC ended up dominating all the time, College Football would die as a national sport. One would think their interests would be to promote the national nature of the sport as much as possible instead of working to make it regional. But here we are.
Quote from: Valmy on January 11, 2024, 02:05:44 PMWhich is weird since if the SEC SEC SEC ended up dominating all the time, College Football would die as a national sport. One would think their interests would be to promote the national nature of the sport as much as possible instead of working to make it regional. But here we are.
It's as if a sense of history or long term planning has taken a back seat to the almighty dollar.
Quote from: grumbler on January 10, 2024, 11:09:11 PMYes, we broke Saban. :P
Michigan also ended up featuring in the #1 most-watched college football game (the Rose Bowl), #2 (the CF Championship Game), and #3 (The Game). The talking heads don't respect Michigan, but people sure do like to watch them play.
Yep, I normally don't watch college football but I watched this year because of Michigan. They were fun to watch.
After all these (15!) years, someone could finally update this to have a happy ending rather than settling for a mere hopeful one:
Harbough left for the NFL, Chargers.