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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: grumbler on September 05, 2021, 05:53:06 PM

Title: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 05, 2021, 05:53:06 PM
Fall hasn't fallen for me until College Football kicks off, and this year was no different.

My Michigan Wolverines came out and kicked some ass, but it was only against Western Michigan, so I'm going to hold my applause.

Unfortunately, Michigan's marquee OOC game is against Washington next week, and, well... the ranked Huskies lost to a BCS team, which makes next week's game lose-lose for the Wolverines.

Surprise stat of the day for me was 109,601 - the attendance at Michigan Stadium.  If you've lived through the online talk about this year's team, you'd have thought that the 42-year 100k+ attendance record was doomed, but the least inviting game of the year still saw more people show up than the stadium can technically hold.

How did your team do?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on September 05, 2021, 06:02:42 PM
10-3 over Clemson and I missed it. Oh well.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 05, 2021, 06:26:27 PM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on September 05, 2021, 06:02:42 PM
10-3 over Clemson and I missed it. Oh well.

Revenge game in the playoffs?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 05, 2021, 06:39:04 PM
Wyoming totally trashed a BCS Montana State, taking them to the woodpile for an old fashioned whooping...

Actually, Wyoming had to have a last ditch drive to win (a TD catch with 40+ seconds left) 19-16 and they looked really mediocre, but those 19 points are like a blowout to a Wyo fan.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 05, 2021, 07:29:01 PM
A ridiculously hard catch by Michigan's Ronnie Bell is negated by a phantom call. https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/32145397 (https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/32145397)

I don't think I've ever seen a receiver snag a ball one-handed like that.

To add insult to (literal) injury, Bell later left the game on a stretcher.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 05, 2021, 07:29:46 PM
Quote from: PDH on September 05, 2021, 06:39:04 PM
Wyoming totally trashed a BCS Montana State, taking them to the woodpile for an old fashioned whooping...

Actually, Wyoming had to have a last ditch drive to win (a TD catch with 40+ seconds left) 19-16 and they looked really mediocre, but those 19 points are like a blowout to a Wyo fan.

A +3 win is always a blowout compared to a -1 loss.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 05, 2021, 10:04:49 PM
Quote from: grumbler on September 05, 2021, 07:29:01 PM
A ridiculously hard catch by Michigan's Ronnie Bell is negated by a phantom call. https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/32145397 (https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/32145397)

I don't think I've ever seen a receiver snag a ball one-handed like that.

To add insult to (literal) injury, Bell later left the game on a stretcher.


That was an amazing catch.

Nothing phantom about the call though. He extended and pushed off the defender, twice.

Not a great call, because the defender was not all that clean either, but certainly not phantom. It's plain as day.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 05, 2021, 10:08:24 PM
Arizona lost in a respectable manner to BYU, keeping our college football leading losing streak alive.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on September 06, 2021, 07:51:48 PM
Exiting Pedo St. Wisconsin game.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 07, 2021, 12:22:26 PM
Quote from: PDH on September 05, 2021, 06:39:04 PM
Wyoming totally trashed a BCS Montana State, taking them to the woodpile for an old fashioned whooping...

Actually, Wyoming had to have a last ditch drive to win (a TD catch with 40+ seconds left) 19-16 and they looked really mediocre, but those 19 points are like a blowout to a Wyo fan.

Better than how UDub did against the other Montana school.

Next weekend Texas goes to Fayettenam to do its dangerous tour of duty against the Pigs and Swine of Arkansas.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 07, 2021, 09:54:47 PM
Dan Dierdorf is retiring at the end of the season from his job broadcasting Michigan games on the radio/internet.

I'll miss him.  Even though the audio wasn't perfectly synched to the TV broadcast (they were about a second ahead of the video), he and Jim Brandstatter were always worth using as the audio for the games.  I hate the thought of going back to the clown the Big10 Network uses.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 09, 2021, 03:05:50 PM
Some of us can probably remember the "Figthing Irish" cups of years ago, but this takes the cake for spelling fuckups:
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/09/04/PIND/260edde3-2eb4-45f2-af71-2926a728b1bc-E-doai1WQAkYF9H.jpeg?width=300&height=599&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)

Yes, Indiana University misspelled "Indiana" on their team jerseys.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Barrister on September 09, 2021, 03:12:32 PM
Quote from: grumbler on September 09, 2021, 03:05:50 PM
Some of us can probably remember the "Figthing Irish" cups of years ago, but this takes the cake for spelling fuckups:
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/09/04/PIND/260edde3-2eb4-45f2-af71-2926a728b1bc-E-doai1WQAkYF9H.jpeg?width=300&height=599&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)

Yes, Indiana University misspelled "Indiana" on their team jerseys.

Because there is nobody I love to nit-pick more than you Grumbles, it was only one jersey on one player, not plural "jerseys".  :contract:

But still - how the fuck does that happen?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 09, 2021, 03:54:24 PM
How did nobody fucking NOTICE????
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 09, 2021, 04:19:31 PM
Quote from: Barrister on September 09, 2021, 03:12:32 PM

Because there is nobody I love to nit-pick more than you Grumbles, it was only one jersey on one player, not plural "jerseys".  :contract:

But still - how the fuck does that happen?

Ah.  The IndiStar account had it as "Jerseys" in their first version. https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2021/09/04/indiana-football-jersey-misspelled-ahead-iowa-game-saturday-iu-hoosiers-indinia/5734470001/ (https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2021/09/04/indiana-football-jersey-misspelled-ahead-iowa-game-saturday-iu-hoosiers-indinia/5734470001/) (see the mouseover). 

At least you got the chance to nitpick.  :lol:  Hope you enjoyed it.  If not, there will be further opportunities.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 11, 2021, 03:06:53 PM
Wow, going and and beating OSU at home! The Pac-12 definitely needed that.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 11, 2021, 03:54:15 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 11, 2021, 03:06:53 PM
Wow, going and and beating OSU at home! The Pac-12 definitely needed that.

So did the Big Ten.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 11, 2021, 06:54:32 PM
Wyoming is Wyoming.  They dominated 3 quarters and the Pokes were up 42-22 vs N. Illinois.  Then they had to have a last minute drive to win after falling behind 43-42...

Still, 2-0 is better than beating your dick with a ball-peen hammer.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 11, 2021, 11:43:13 PM
Arizona is Arizona.

It's going to kind of suck when they beat NAU next week to end The Streak. NAU?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on September 12, 2021, 01:54:53 AM
Haweyes ballin'.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 12, 2021, 06:37:33 AM
I was surprised that Michigan's win over Washington came through running up the middle.  The very things that worked for Montana failed for Michigan, and the reverse.  I'm not sure why Michigan's pass blocking suddenly turned to shit, but it didn't matter in this game.  31-10 is pretty sweet.  2-0 is sweeter.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 08:25:11 AM
Wyoming beat Ball State worse than Penn State did!  :yeah:

The Michigan-Northern Illinois game was boring, in a good way:  Michigan scored touchdowns on its first nine drives (only even reaching third down twice in those drives) and every player not injured got to play... except the punter.  NIU isn't very good, but they DID beat Ga Tech.

The surprise team of the year for me is Rutgers.  They are 3-0 after beating nondescript teams, which might make one say "so they haven't played anybody yet," but that's what people for years have said about the teams that played Rutgers, not about Rutgers.  Greg Schiano just might be as good a coach as his partisans have claimed.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 19, 2021, 08:57:27 AM
I am beginning to suspect that Arizona is not a very good football team.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 09:09:17 AM
Quote from: Berkut on September 19, 2021, 08:57:27 AM
I am beginning to suspect that Arizona is not a very good football team.

I thought that Zona would turn the corner under RichRod, but that just didn't happen.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: ulmont on September 19, 2021, 09:10:21 AM
Quote from: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 08:25:11 AM
NIU isn't very good, but they DID beat Ga Tech.

Ga Tech also isn't very good, keeping Clemson close notwithstanding.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 19, 2021, 09:45:54 AM
Quote from: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 09:09:17 AM
Quote from: Berkut on September 19, 2021, 08:57:27 AM
I am beginning to suspect that Arizona is not a very good football team.

I thought that Zona would turn the corner under RichRod, but that just didn't happen.

Fixing a team like Arizona is very simple, and at the same very, very hard to do.

I am in a couple Wildcats forums, and there is always talk about this offense, or that defense, or some scheme or the culture, or "will to win". I really like that one - you hear it every time the team loses a game you would not think they ought to lose. "WE NEED A TEAM THAT WANTS IT MORE!!!!". That was the big knock on the last coach. He just didn't want it enough, apparently.

It's all horseshit. Or rather, it is all worrying about step D when you already failed on step A.

A team like Arizona cannot compete, cannot win, cannot be a relevant part of the Pac-12 until it starts recruiting its "share" of talent. It never has, and hence it never will have more than transitory success. All the rest is bullshit if you are taking your 2 and 3 star recruits up against the other P12 teams 3 and 4 star recruits, much less the good teams 4 and 5 star recruits.

Arizona being a basketball school, the comparisons are always there. Lute Olson knew how to coach! Lute Olson knew how to get in the head of his opponents. Lute Olson's players loved him and would do anything for him! Sean Miller knows the game better! Blah blah blah. Lute Olson recruited Sean Elliot to come to Arizona. Sean Miller would never even deign to look at a 3 star recruit it was all 4 and 5 stars, elite talent. They were not out there hoping to find diamonds in the rough, they just recruited the actual diamonds everyone knew about.

Fisch seems like a great guy, and a good coach. He's done all the right things so far - reached out to the community, spends time at Arizona high schools, accessibly to the media, seems like he really values culture and doing things the right way. That is all great.

Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. Can he do that?


RichRod was not able to. Neither was Stoops, and neither was Sumlin.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 19, 2021, 12:49:20 PM
As the Grognard said, Wyoming actually played a full game.  Ball State, that powerhouse of the State of Ball was outgunned at War Memorial Stadium yesterday.  Probably seeing mountains was a shock to the players, and the clash of Brown and Gold in the Wyoming uniforms undoubtedly confused them more. 

In the end, Wyoming took it one down at at time, moving the ball with three yards and a cloud of dust to wear down the opposition over time as they matriculated the ball down the field.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 02:55:29 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 19, 2021, 09:45:54 AM
(snip)
A team like Arizona cannot compete, cannot win, cannot be a relevant part of the Pac-12 until it starts recruiting its "share" of talent. It never has, and hence it never will have more than transitory success. All the rest is bullshit if you are taking your 2 and 3 star recruits up against the other P12 teams 3 and 4 star recruits, much less the good teams 4 and 5 star recruits.

RichRod's claim to fame was his ability to coach up his 2 and 3 star West Virginia players and, by using an unorthodox offense, beat teams that had better players.  That's why i thought he might be able to take Arizona to the next level, at which point recruiting gets a lot easier.

Unfortunately, I think that, by the time RR got to Arizona, defense had figured out his pass-heavy option offense and 3-3-5 defense.  He wasn't a good enough recruiter or coach to recover from that.

Hope you enjoy Don Brown.  He's a great interview.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 25, 2021, 06:44:51 PM
Wyoming at UConn.  Wyoming was like a 4 TD favorite at one point, but we all know that's silly.  In fact, when I opened the ESPN Gamecast Wyoming was down 13-0.

Eventually, with 5 minutes left in the 4th, Wyoming was up 17-16, and got an interception.  Then the Pokes marched down to make it 24-16 with less than 3 minutes left.  Never willing to let a chance to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, W-Y-O let the Huskies march down the field, aided by 3 straight Pass Interference calls in 4th downs, and UConn scored a TD.  Wyoming did stop the 2 point conversion, and got the onsides kick to win, but to win by 2 over a team that lost to Holy Cross by 10...

Let's just say I'm glad I have been through this before (in fact, year after year).
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on October 09, 2021, 06:59:58 PM
Nice comeback victory by Iowa at home against Pedo St.  :)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 17, 2021, 07:32:01 PM
Amusing exchange

Nebraska fan:  "Nebraska is the best 3-5 team in the country!"

Michigan fan:  "Yeah, but Nebraska is the only 3-5 team in the country!"

(Nebraska is one of four teams to have played 8 games already).
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on October 22, 2021, 10:27:31 PM
I didn't think it was possible to have a worse looking offensive line then Arizona.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 23, 2021, 09:05:32 AM
Quote from: Berkut on October 22, 2021, 10:27:31 PM
I didn't think it was possible to have a worse looking offensive line then Arizona.

You haven't seen Northwestern's O-line, then.  Individually, they are fully up to mediocre (except their left guard, who is just bad), but they clearly have a scheme where they take turns making a bonehead decision that blows up whatever play is being run.  Their backs get all their yards by themselves when they run, and the QB gets hit every time he drops back (though, sometimes, gets the pass off before he is hit).  It's a minor miracle that they've only given up 12 sacks so far.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 23, 2021, 05:03:39 PM
Illinois (who is really, really bad) defeats Penn State (ranked #7 but also very bad) 20-18 in nine overtimes.  I don't know the game time, because apparently they don't report that on the sites I usually use.

Now watch Penn State go to Columbus and knock off OSU!  :lol:

What a season.  It's already had more ranked team loses than any other, and it's only half-over.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on October 25, 2021, 03:28:54 PM
Wyoming began the season 4-0, and that very un-Wyo Football style start would take a lot of work to overcome.  Luckily, the boys in Laramie have  the drive and the pluck to overcome the best season start in 25 years.  UWyo has now lost 3 straight games, the most recent a 14-3 loss to the previous worst team in the division.

Basically, outside of a 2 minute drill vs Air Force, Wyoming has been unable to move the ball on offense for 3 weeks in a row.  I know this feeling, it is called being a "Wyoming Fan."

Next year will be better!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on October 25, 2021, 03:47:53 PM
I dont know if Arizona will ever get better. They keep figuring out new ways to lose in the same way.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on October 25, 2021, 04:04:40 PM
They should have never left the WAC.  They could at least beat Wyoming every year.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 16, 2021, 08:25:28 AM
Now THIS is funny!  Even if you hate the SEC, you'll like this.

Sorry, Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-QxhxWTUkY&t=248s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-QxhxWTUkY&t=248s)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: ulmont on November 16, 2021, 10:38:20 AM
Quote from: grumbler on November 16, 2021, 08:25:28 AM
Now THIS is funny!  Even if you hate the SEC, you'll like this.

Sorry, Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-QxhxWTUkY&t=248s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-QxhxWTUkY&t=248s)

Ok, that was hilarious.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: jimmy olsen on November 16, 2021, 11:46:54 PM
We don't seem to have an NFL thread, so I just want to chime in and gloat that Mac Jones should obviously have been the first QB pick in the draft.  :licklips:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 19, 2021, 02:04:52 PM
Quote from: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 02:55:29 PM
Hope you enjoy Don Brown.  He's a great interview.

Arizona is terrible of course, but the defense has already had a pretty incredible turnaround. They have not been higher then 8th in the Pac-12 in over a decade, and this year they are fifth.

So I rather like the day, myself. That's a pretty impressive change with basically no upgrade in talent.

We might not have him for long though - apparently he is a finalist for the UMass head coaching job.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 19, 2021, 09:14:57 PM
Quote from: Berkut on November 19, 2021, 02:04:52 PM
Quote from: grumbler on September 19, 2021, 02:55:29 PM
Hope you enjoy Don Brown.  He's a great interview.

Arizona is terrible of course, but the defense has already had a pretty incredible turnaround. They have not been higher then 8th in the Pac-12 in over a decade, and this year they are fifth.

So I rather like the day, myself. That's a pretty impressive change with basically no upgrade in talent.

We might not have him for long though - apparently he is a finalist for the UMass head coaching job.

It's kinda sad that Don Brown's retirement job (if he takes it) will be in a in the same job he first held 18 years earlier.  He did wonderful things in the meantime, but never adapted to offenses that figured out his defense.  I'd love to sit down withy him over a beer, which I can't say about a lot of the top college football coaches (including any of the current Big Ten coaches and assistant coaches).
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Savonarola on November 27, 2021, 03:35:32 PM
Congratulations, Grumbler, that was a beautiful win on an ugly day.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 27, 2021, 03:49:39 PM
Stil finding it hard to process the fact that WE WON THE FUCKING GAME!

I had hopes for this game, but didn't expect them to be met.  In particular, I didn't think they'd be met by Michigan just being brutally efficient on offense.  If you'd just have given the stats of Team A 9.5 YPA, 7.1 YPR, I'd have been sure that Team A was OSU.  Not today. Not today.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on November 27, 2021, 11:30:01 PM
Very exciting comeback by the Iowa against Nebraska.  Blocked punt and fumble recovery. 

As they say Nebraska is the best 3-8 team in the country.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 28, 2021, 08:22:12 AM
Nebraska does that to everyone.  They are 1-8 in the conference but their net score in conference games is +2 (lost 8 by a total of 47 points, won 1 by 49).

Iowa is the only ranked Big Ten team Michigan has not played yet.  Great matchup in the CCG.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 28, 2021, 08:26:47 AM
Arizona is probably not the best 1-11 team in the country.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 28, 2021, 10:37:02 AM
Wyoming went 6-6, a very Wyoming season:  started 4-0, lost the next 4 (and somehow forgot how to score at all...), then split the last 2 which included wins vs rivals (Colorado State, the worst university in the history of colleges ever) and against the conference leader.

6 wins is far better than the 1-11 days of the early 2000s (Sorry, Berk), but this was going to be a "year" with maybe 9 or 10 wins...well, NEXT YEAR!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 28, 2021, 11:05:39 AM
A funny story:  Michigan defensive end David Ojabo was born in Nigeria, grew up in Aberdeen Scotland, and only started playing American football when he got a scholarship for his junior and senior years of High School at Blair Academy in New Jersey. His parents came to the US to see him play in The Game at the Big House.  That was the first American football game they'd ever seen, and Ojabo says that they now think that that is what all American Football games are like.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 28, 2021, 04:14:42 PM
Quote from: grumbler on November 28, 2021, 11:05:39 AM
A funny story:  Michigan defensive end David Ojabo was born in Nigeria, grew up in Aberdeen Scotland, and only started playing American football when he got a scholarship for his junior and senior years of High School at Blair Academy in New Jersey. His parents came to the US to see him play in The Game at the Big House.  That was the first American football game they'd ever seen, and Ojabo says that they now think that that is what all American Football games are like.

Good story.  I also like the one about the kid for Central Michigan who came the to US as an exchange student for one year from Austria where he had played American Football - that small school of 400 kids made a run into the playoffs and he caught the attention of college recruiters.  He played as a tight end/wide receiver and got college scholarships, and has now transitioned to a all-league left tackle.  Of course, he is a very athletic 6'7" kid who kept that after adding 60 lbs to move to the line - that is just a cool thing.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 28, 2021, 08:09:49 PM
Quote from: PDH on November 28, 2021, 04:14:42 PM
Good story.  I also like the one about the kid for Central Michigan who came the to US as an exchange student for one year from Austria where he had played American Football - that small school of 400 kids made a run into the playoffs and he caught the attention of college recruiters.  He played as a tight end/wide receiver and got college scholarships, and has now transitioned to a all-league left tackle.  Of course, he is a very athletic 6'7" kid who kept that after adding 60 lbs to move to the line - that is just a cool thing.

You gotta love those kinds of stories.  In the Rutgers game last year, Ojabo started screaming at the Rutgers QB for spiking the ball right at Ojabos feet.  He'd never even known that a team could spike the ball, and thought the QB was disrespecting him.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on November 28, 2021, 08:16:16 PM
I remember a while back I commented on all the African surnames in college and pro ball and people were like what are you talking about Yi.  They're everywhere.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 28, 2021, 09:04:57 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 28, 2021, 08:16:16 PM
I remember a while back I commented on all the African surnames in college and pro ball and people were like what are you talking about Yi.  They're everywhere.
What are you talking about, Yi?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on November 28, 2021, 10:37:44 PM
That dude named Ojabo.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 29, 2021, 08:47:24 AM
Still basking in the glow...

The Game 2021 had the highest TV rating of any Fox college football game ever.

Aiden Hutcheson's 15 QB hurries is the most ever recorded by Pro Football Focus (which has rated every player in every Division 1 game since 2004).  He also had three rushing TFLs.  Give the man his Heisman.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 01, 2021, 08:17:39 PM
Hutch for Heisman
(https://twitter.com/i/status/1464773318729474061)

https://twitter.com/dpbrugler/status/1464773318729474061 (https://twitter.com/dpbrugler/status/1464773318729474061)

#75 is OSU's 5-star left tackle.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 02, 2021, 09:54:56 AM
Someone needs to work on their footwork.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on December 02, 2021, 10:29:19 AM
If you add up UWyo's line you get close to 5 stars.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 04, 2021, 01:13:22 PM
Another great Hutch moment that I hadn't been aware of:  When Hutch (#97) broke the Michigan single-season sack record in the 2021 Ohio State game, the holder was his father, Chris Hutcheson (#97), who had set it in the 1992 Ohio State game.

I'm a sucker for father-son stories.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: ulmont on December 04, 2021, 08:02:41 PM
LOL UGA.  That is all.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: jimmy olsen on December 06, 2021, 04:34:19 AM
Have to agree with this guy, dangerous precedent.

https://twitter.com/DragonflyJonez/status/1467567485549436931
QuoteNever been a "rules are rules!" dweeb but something about bending rules that are put in place to protect players doesn't sit right with me.

Now Ima be a "this sets a dangerous precedent!" dork too bc if QBs add this to their bag,QBs gonna be getting concussed or worse when defenders launch into em when theyre legit sliding bc they arent "falling" for the fake. Also gives dirty defenders an out to get a cheap shot in

https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1467303599734730753
Quote from: PFFKenny Pickett hit the fake-slide

VIDEO
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 06, 2021, 08:25:00 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 06, 2021, 04:34:19 AM
Have to agree with this guy, dangerous precedent.

https://twitter.com/DragonflyJonez/status/1467567485549436931


Nothing outrageous here.  It's not like he committed to a slide and then came out of it.  It was more a stutter-step.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on December 06, 2021, 08:45:15 AM
Quote from: ulmont on December 04, 2021, 08:02:41 PM
LOL UGA.  That is all.

Still BCS bound.  :sleep:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 06, 2021, 11:57:47 AM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on December 06, 2021, 08:45:15 AM
Quote from: ulmont on December 04, 2021, 08:02:41 PM
LOL UGA.  That is all.

Still BCS bound.  :sleep:

Welcome to 2014. Eddie. :P
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 06, 2021, 12:16:15 PM
Quote from: grumbler on December 06, 2021, 08:25:00 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 06, 2021, 04:34:19 AM
Have to agree with this guy, dangerous precedent.

https://twitter.com/DragonflyJonez/status/1467567485549436931


Nothing outrageous here.  It's not like he committed to a slide and then came out of it.  It was more a stutter-step.

He faked starting a slide. He even *said* he faked starting a slide, and three defenders held up.

It was a rather subtle fake, and amazingly well executed. Hell, I would not have bet you *could* fake starting a slide without actually starting the slide.

The rules say that the ball becomes dead the moment a QB "commits" to a slide, at least, that was the rule back when I was working college football, so a few years ago.

I think we are going to see a change in the rules. You cannot use something put in to protect a player as a tool in your toolchest to avoid getting tackled. And the "slide fake" is definitely going to get someone hurt.

Safety rules are not, should not, and cannot be elements in deception, IMO.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 07, 2021, 09:53:54 PM
I just realized that this year of football finally matched the promise of the excellent hype video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZl35RAxerQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZl35RAxerQ)

Only 12 years late!  :lol:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 07, 2021, 10:29:17 PM
That is definitely the most awesome hype video ever. I loved that a decade ago.

The amount of work that must have went into that...
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 07, 2021, 10:47:08 PM
Quote from: Berkut on December 07, 2021, 10:29:17 PM
That is definitely the most awesome hype video ever. I loved that a decade ago.

The amount of work that must have went into that...

Brian Cook (owner of MGoBlog) had a kind of funny story about that:
QuoteI told Paul I wanted a hype video along the lines that you saw above... and he was skeptical. "I've never put highlights to a waltz," he said. I told the girlfriend I told Paul I wanted a hype video along the lines above and she was incredulous. "But it's desperate and sad," she said. I was kind of like yeah... and? And then also I was kind of like "in desperation there's that shred of hope; people who are down and not desperate are resigned. I could be ignorant or desperate." Actually I didn't say that, I said something along the lines of "hi, I'm a Michigan fan, nice to meet you."

I'd love to see it remade for the 2012-2021 Michigan-Ohio State series.  Lots of heartbreaks there (The Spot, the Two-Point Conversion, etc) and then lots of joy. 

But the lows are so extreme that the good seems fucking cheap
And it teases you for weeks in its absence.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 07, 2021, 10:53:24 PM
When you first posted that video, I loved the song so much I downloaded it and added it to my playlist(s). It is still in my regular rotation.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 08, 2021, 01:00:42 AM
Ban the fake slide.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 09, 2021, 09:42:45 PM
Randy the Plumber predicts the NCS outcomes
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2038059986353706&ref=sharing (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2038059986353706&ref=sharing)

Makes up in enthusiasm what it lacks in analysis.  Hilarious (and may it go from his mouth to God's ear).
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 10, 2021, 10:32:00 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 06, 2021, 04:34:19 AM
Have to agree with this guy, dangerous precedent.

https://twitter.com/DragonflyJonez/status/1467567485549436931
QuoteNever been a "rules are rules!" dweeb but something about bending rules that are put in place to protect players doesn't sit right with me.

Now Ima be a "this sets a dangerous precedent!" dork too bc if QBs add this to their bag,QBs gonna be getting concussed or worse when defenders launch into em when theyre legit sliding bc they arent "falling" for the fake. Also gives dirty defenders an out to get a cheap shot in

https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1467303599734730753
Quote from: PFFKenny Pickett hit the fake-slide

VIDEO

QuoteThe NCAA Football Oversight committee sent a bulletin to game officials regarding the "fake slide" by Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett in the ACC championship game, sources told Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde.

Coordinator of officials Steve Shaw instructed officials to blow a play dead in event of a fake slide attempt by a quarterback. Pickett's fancy move that led to a 58-yard touchdown left fans, teams and everyone in-between wondering if it was legal.

"Any time a ball carrier begins, simulates, or fakes a feet-first slide, the ball should be declared dead by the on field officials at that point. The intent of the rule is player safety, and the objective is to give a ball carrier an option to end the play by sliding feet first and to avoid contact," the ruling reads, in part. "To allow the ball carrier to fake a slide would compromise the defense that is being instructed to let up when the ball carrier slides feet first. A fake slide will not be considered reviewable under Rule 12-3-3 – Dead Ball and Loose Ball."

Play should have been blown dead the moment his ass dropped towards the ground in a apparent slide. I was wrong - the NCAA rules state that the ball becomes dead the moment a player begins a slide, not when the commit to it.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 10, 2021, 04:54:28 PM
Quote from: Berkut on December 10, 2021, 10:32:00 AM
Play should have been blown dead the moment his ass dropped towards the ground in a apparent slide. I was wrong - the NCAA rules state that the ball becomes dead the moment a player begins a slide, not when the commit to it.

So just a ref goof rather than a rules loophole.  That's good, because the fix is instantaneous.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 10, 2021, 10:21:08 PM
So Jim Harbaugh, as expected, gets the 2021 National Coach of the Year award in Football.  Here's an interesting fact, though:  the 2021 National Coach of the Year award in Basketball was Michigan's Juwan Howard (also a star alum who came back to his alma mater to coach).  The Michigan Difference.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Syt on December 12, 2021, 03:52:45 AM
This Austrian cadet seems ... not very enthused. :lol:

(https://i.redd.it/cyqb5od4uz481.jpg)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 12, 2021, 09:59:04 PM
Desmond Howard toasts disgraced but still-shitposting former OSU coach:

(https://mgoblog.com/sites/default/files/users/user204896/PNG%20image.png)

Of the eight billion people in the world, four have a Heisman Trophy and Super bowl MVP.  Zach Smith isn't one of them.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 15, 2021, 11:16:30 AM
Arizona has like....a good recruiting class.

There are these bizarre news articles about recruits flipping from other Pac-12 schools to Arizona, instead of the other way around.

I'm not sure what to make of this....
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 15, 2021, 11:44:37 AM
Quote from: Berkut on December 15, 2021, 11:16:30 AM
Arizona has like....a good recruiting class.

There are these bizarre news articles about recruits flipping from other Pac-12 schools to Arizona, instead of the other way around.

I'm not sure what to make of this....

All that big Arizona NIL cash?

"If you come play for Arizona we can put your face on the best billboards in Tucson!!"
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 15, 2021, 01:43:26 PM
Quote from: Berkut on December 15, 2021, 11:16:30 AM
Arizona has like....a good recruiting class.

There are these bizarre news articles about recruits flipping from other Pac-12 schools to Arizona, instead of the other way around.

I'm not sure what to make of this....

From what I've read, it's because Fisch and company have focused their recruiting on guys that can count on contributing right away.  Rebuilding programs can offer opportunities that more established programs can't.

Jedd was a good recruiter at Michigan, even with players outside his own position group.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 15, 2021, 06:04:39 PM
So Deion Sanders has flipped the #1 recruit of 2021 from Florida State to... Jackson State, an FCS HBCU.

This is OMFG territory.  Sanders did win the FCS coach of the year award (and Jackson State finished 11-1), but Jackson State didn't even qualify for the FCS 24-team playoff.  OTOH, Sanders is probably the best pure-cover cornerback who ever played pro ball, and Travis Hunter is a cornerback, so maybe it was a position-coaching decision.

Nonetheless, this is good news for college football.  A player didn't go for the razzamatazz, but for the coaching.  Also great for HBCUs if he can keep the spotlight through next year's games.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 17, 2021, 02:46:53 AM
Arizona doesn't really sign 5 star football players. Generally just not even in the mix for those guys.

However....

Arizona did sign a excellent QB prospect from Servite HS in Southern Cal, Noah Fifita. Along with a 4 star TE from that same school.

The top rated player from that school is a 5 star WR, Tetairoa McMillan. He had verbally commited to Oregon, but on Wednesday he declined to sign, saying he was going to take a couple days and would sign by Friday.

He is being heavily recruited by Fisch.

Twitter exchange between Fifita and McMillan:

McMillan: "You're so inspirational man."

Fifita: "Love you my bro! Best player in America #4MoreYears?"

That would be so freaking cool, to steal a 5* WR from Oregon...

Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 17, 2021, 03:03:17 AM
Has anyone else noticed how many QBs have off beat names?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on December 17, 2021, 03:20:26 AM
Noah is pretty common.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 17, 2021, 10:14:02 AM
Oregon is going through some recruiting difficulties because of the coaching change.  Michigan picked off their top WR prospect after getting him on campus for the Ohio State game.

A high school with a 4* QB, 5*WR, and 4* TE is... unusual.  I looked them up, though, and they are one of those Catholic prep school football powerhouses.  With only 850 students, they have full teams for Freshman Football, Junior Varsity, and Varsity.  Having an in there must be huge for a school like Arizona.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 17, 2021, 10:30:16 AM
Quote from: grumbler on December 17, 2021, 10:14:02 AM
Oregon is going through some recruiting difficulties because of the coaching change.  Michigan picked off their top WR prospect after getting him on campus for the Ohio State game.

A high school with a 4* QB, 5*WR, and 4* TE is... unusual.  I looked them up, though, and they are one of those Catholic prep school football powerhouses.  With only 850 students, they have full teams for Freshman Football, Junior Varsity, and Varsity.  Having an in there must be huge for a school like Arizona.

Yeah, they are like Mater Dei - one of those private prep schools that are just football powerhouses.

Fisch and his staff have been just relentless recruiting Southern California.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 18, 2021, 02:18:39 PM
I've been saying for a very long time, through Stoops and RichRod and Sumlin, that I really am not impressed with anything any of them do if they cannot recruit. Any success will be transitory. Unless Arizona can gets its "share" of talent in the Pac-12, nothing else really matters that much. It never happened. We had some ok recruiting years, but never good ones. A "good" year was being ranked 6th or 7th in the conference in recruiting.

We have never signed a 5* recruit out of high school, and precious few 4* players. When Arizona had a year or two of success, it was because they had managed to find the 3* player who turned out to be a 5* college player.

Fisch might be a shitty game coach, but in his first year with a bad, bad team full of players who frankly are not CBS caliber players, he has signed the highest rated recruiting class in Arizona history. It's a weird year for sure. The extra eligibility from COVID means that there are a lot fewer spots for the highest talent level players on the blue blood programs, and a lot of coaching changes. But he made the best of that, and signed an incredible class, and we just found out that McMillan is coming to Arizona as well.


(https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/p843x403/268017028_4646827268704570_4327428000972695338_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=YAUr1Oo12LIAX_6iuja&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AT_VID42naqJLRCmbj4w9IkZJFGxqLUGy9tuVwF69ulcAA&oe=61C33FD3)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 18, 2021, 02:48:03 PM
A tweet from the Oregon coaching who was recruiting McMillan yesterday. Apparently trying to convince him that he doesn't need to sign by the deadline, and can just wait....

(https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/269593091_10227273729094046_1733253000546352125_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=b9115d&_nc_ohc=DnAB9TpMybkAX_FSzml&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AT-RwLzEBTPxvljow0yJtnyXHkhpZI3VqxOKHMN0c4ClSA&oe=61C3F2D2)

Reports are that McMillan was going to go ahead and sign with Oregon after all, but decided he didn't want to play for a coach who doesn't know the difference between your and you're.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 19, 2021, 04:45:19 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTlGLjH_6o

Fun trick play.  "Coach, what's the play??"
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 19, 2021, 11:27:18 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 19, 2021, 04:45:19 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTlGLjH_6o

Fun trick play.  "Coach, what's the play??"

Not sure that that isn't "intent to deceive," but if it isn't, you are right that it is the most fun kind of trickeration.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 19, 2021, 11:40:25 AM
Interesting tidbit:  the most explosive offense in the FBS (defined as percentage of plays that go for 50+ yards) is... Michigan.  Even more surprisingly, Michigan had a record ten different players achieve a play that went 50+ yards.

I'm thinking that this is what got Michigan's OC the Broyles award.  He's really good at setting up the defense for an explosive play, even when the plays that set it up don't go for many yards.  I think that it is hard to have the discipline to sacrifice pawns to set up the queen, rather than just going for the most yards possible on each play.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 19, 2021, 01:12:36 PM
Quote from: grumbler on December 19, 2021, 11:27:18 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 19, 2021, 04:45:19 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTlGLjH_6o

Fun trick play.  "Coach, what's the play??"

Not sure that that isn't "intent to deceive," but if it isn't, you are right that it is the most fun kind of trickeration.

I actually don't even think it worked. It doesn't look like the defense was sold, they still all fired off at the snap. He just got the yard they needed anyway.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 19, 2021, 06:17:29 PM
Quote from: Berkut on December 17, 2021, 02:46:53 AM
Arizona did sign a excellent QB prospect from Servite HS in Southern Cal, Noah Fifita. Along with a 4 star TE from that same school.

The top rated player from that school is a 5 star WR, Tetairoa McMillan. He had verbally commited to Oregon, but on Wednesday he declined to sign, saying he was going to take a couple days and would sign by Friday.

Here's a coincidence:  The LA Times High School Player of the Year is from Servite HS, which I read about because he is a Michigan early enrollee: DT Mason Graham.  This place must have amazing coaching, because Graham was a mid-level 3-star when Michigan offered, a high 3-star when he committed, and a high four-star (#220 in  the country) when he signed the LOI.

'Grat's on getting your five-star, btw.  Michigan doesn't have one in its class yet.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on December 20, 2021, 03:20:56 PM
Are those star ratings reliable indicators?  Or is it more of a recruiting tool - come to our school and you will be playing with other high ranked players?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 20, 2021, 03:55:47 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on December 20, 2021, 03:20:56 PM
Are those star ratings reliable indicators?  Or is it more of a recruiting tool - come to our school and you will be playing with other high ranked players?

Reliable? Hmmm.

There is plenty of hype built into them, and certainly a lot of bias.

But its like any generalization of evaluation.

Sure, you can trot out lots of examples of NFL first round draft picks that were busts, of course.

But overall? In general highly drafted players tend to turn into high quality players more then not.

Same with HS recruit rankings. Any particular one its hard to say whether they are really going to be a star in college. And plenty of 2 and 3 star recruits turn into 4 and 5 star players.

But overall? Yeah, the schools that consistently recruit the higher ranked players do better over time, as should be expected.

As I mentioned to a fellow Arizona fan "Find the diamond in the rough is hard and error prone. Better to just get a pile of diamonds and grab the ones you want".
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on December 20, 2021, 04:00:09 PM
makes sense, thanks.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 20, 2021, 08:54:08 PM
Yeah, the star rankings are mere indicators, but they have some predictive power.  There just isn't enough information, though, to reliably rate the roughly half-million juniors and seniors playing high school football in the US (let alone Canada).  But its good enough that 60% of the five-stars get drafted into the NFL, while only 24% of 4-stars do, and only 6% of three-star (pretty generic) players do.  The NFL is rating just on college performance and player measurables.  It doesn't care about how many stars the player had coming out of high school.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 20, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
https://twitter.com/mrsFeef/status/1472267142787596289?s=20&fbclid=IwAR351hAbtmwf1S1hLwJmGYxBY06qJvwvPMxGVEVgYT7PDe3r0YL__qYCyPQ
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on December 21, 2021, 04:46:09 AM
I daresay, a generic high school football player has far less than a 6% chance of making the NFL.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: ulmont on December 21, 2021, 08:28:10 AM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on December 21, 2021, 04:46:09 AM
I daresay, a generic high school football player has far less than a 6% chance of making the NFL.

Every year around 1 million boys play high school football in the US if statista.com can be believed.  Cut that to 250,000 to represent just seniors for a year to year comparison.  Every year the NFL drafts around 250 rookies.  So the odds would be more like 0.1% if by generic you mean "randomly chosen."  If you mean "average high school player", the odds are more like 0.0%.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 21, 2021, 10:48:14 AM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on December 21, 2021, 04:46:09 AM
I daresay, a generic high school football player has far less than a 6% chance of making the NFL.

:lol:  I daresay that you are confusing the word "generic" with the word "average."   You are also mistaking a parenthetical notation with an argument.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on December 21, 2021, 10:50:48 AM
Quote from: ulmont on December 21, 2021, 08:28:10 AM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on December 21, 2021, 04:46:09 AM
I daresay, a generic high school football player has far less than a 6% chance of making the NFL.

Every year around 1 million boys play high school football in the US if statista.com can be believed.  Cut that to 250,000 to represent just seniors for a year to year comparison.  Every year the NFL drafts around 250 rookies.  So the odds would be more like 0.1% if by generic you mean "randomly chosen."  If you mean "average high school player", the odds are more like 0.0%.

There are about 11,000 scholarship football athletes in the FBS. That is about 2,700 scholarship players coming out of college every year. If 250 get into the NFL from the FBS, that is about 9%. A 3 star player having a 6% chance of getting into the NFL actually is a below average NFL prospect in the overall FBS scholarship population.

Obviously more than 250 players get onto NFL rosters than those that were drafted, but equally obviously players get into the NFL without going through FBS teams. Seems like a reasonable rule of thumb.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 21, 2021, 11:15:00 AM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on December 21, 2021, 04:46:09 AM
I daresay, a generic high school football player has far less than a 6% chance of making the NFL.

A generic high school football player is not a 3* recruit. A generic high school football player is a zero star recruit.

Grumbler said they were a generic player, and we were talking about college football.

A guy who is a 3* recruit has multiple offers from high level college football programs. Unless he is at some kind of premier, specialized high school football powerhouse, he is almost certainly the best player on his team, and probably one of the best players in his entire high school area. In high school, the kids if a fucking super star if he is a 3* recruit.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 21, 2021, 12:43:51 PM
3 star recruits are often super stars in high school, grumbler means generic D1 scholarship player not generic high school player.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on December 21, 2021, 02:05:49 PM
Quote from: Berkut on December 21, 2021, 11:15:00 AM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on December 21, 2021, 04:46:09 AM
I daresay, a generic high school football player has far less than a 6% chance of making the NFL.

A generic high school football player is not a 3* recruit. A generic high school football player is a zero star recruit.

Grumbler said they were a generic player, and we were talking about college football.

A guy who is a 3* recruit has multiple offers from high level college football programs. Unless he is at some kind of premier, specialized high school football powerhouse, he is almost certainly the best player on his team, and probably one of the best players in his entire high school area. In high school, the kids if a fucking super star if he is a 3* recruit.

I think I have told this story before - but here it goes again - back in the time before time I was invited to a D1 prospects camp.  After the first couple of drills it was pretty clear that most of us were average some of us (including me) simply did not belong there.  And there were two kids who definitely had a shot.  One of those kids eventually went on to play D1.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 21, 2021, 02:41:58 PM
I've heard it said that the jump from high school to D1 is the largest jump in talent for anyone who makes it to the professional level.

Which makes sense, at least from a statistical standpoint.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on December 21, 2021, 06:02:26 PM
Yeah, I went into that camp thinking I was a pretty big deal.  But as I say, a couple drills in, I turned to one of the kids who was really very good and told him I did not think I was good enough to carry his water bottle.

He just smiled and then dunked over me in the next drill  :D
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 21, 2021, 07:21:49 PM
Quote from: Berkut on December 21, 2021, 02:41:58 PM
I've heard it said that the jump from high school to D1 is the largest jump in talent for anyone who makes it to the professional level.

Which makes sense, at least from a statistical standpoint.

I didn't think that that was true, until I did some rough numbers. There are roughly 250,000 high school football players graduating each year.  Roughly 3600 (130 * average class of 28) get scholarships at Div 1 programs, or about 1.5%.  Of the roughly 2600 Div 1 scholarship players that graduate, 290 or so make a pro team (drafted or UDFA), so roughly 11%.  The other divisions add 150% more players, but only 10 or so guys to the NFL.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: ulmont on December 22, 2021, 06:40:58 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on December 21, 2021, 10:50:48 AM
There are about 11,000 scholarship football athletes in the FBS. That is about 2,700 scholarship players coming out of college every year. If 250 get into the NFL from the FBS, that is about 9%. A 3 star player having a 6% chance of getting into the NFL actually is a below average NFL prospect in the overall FBS scholarship population.

I didn't scroll up far enough to see the 3* discussion.  Agreed 6% is much closer than .1% for a 3* college recruit.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 22, 2021, 06:46:19 PM
There's also the guys who get drafted but don't make the roster.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: ulmont on December 22, 2021, 07:04:31 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 22, 2021, 06:46:19 PM
There's also the guys who get drafted but don't make the roster.

If you get drafted, you made the NFL.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 22, 2021, 07:04:32 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 22, 2021, 06:46:19 PM
There's also the guys who get drafted but don't make the roster.

Sure, but there's no way I know of to separate every NFL player by length of time in the NFL.  We can just look at the number drafted + number of UDFAs.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 22, 2021, 07:06:17 PM
Quote from: ulmont on December 22, 2021, 07:04:31 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 22, 2021, 06:46:19 PM
There's also the guys who get drafted but don't make the roster.

If you get drafted, you made the NFL.

Yeah, Yi is thinking final roster, not off-season roster.  Everyone drafted makes the offseason roster unless they never sign a contract, which I am not sure has happened in the modern era.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 23, 2021, 07:00:28 PM
Here's a weird one:  Ohio State couldn't sell 1/3 of their tickets to the Rose Bowl and had to return them: https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/2021/12/23/ohio-state-football-sold-two-thirds-rose-bowl-ticket-allotment/9009620002/ (https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/2021/12/23/ohio-state-football-sold-two-thirds-rose-bowl-ticket-allotment/9009620002/)

Further, OSU has only sold out seven of its last twelve home games.

OSU had always had one of those fanatical fan bases that always sold out home games and always sold out the big bowls, at least.  Hell, Michigan was supposed to suck this year but still sold out the stadium.

I wonder what's going on with the OSU fan base.  The team is as good as it's ever been.  Maybe Day being such a bland coach is affecting the fans?  That would be strange, because he's 23-1 in conference games!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on December 24, 2021, 10:41:45 AM
OSU has very intellectual fans, who understand the dangers of pandemics, unlike Michigan.


:lmfao:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on January 05, 2022, 11:31:10 PM
Now that the interesting part of the season is over....

What do these changes to the NCAA rules mean for the future of college football?

It seems to me like the NCAA has basically just given up entirely any effort to regulate the paying of players. Players can now be paid, and as far as I can see, there is zero control on that.

Anyone can pay any player anything they want, and with free transfers....doesn't that basically mean every single college football player is an unlimited free agent, all the time?

All this talk about the transfer portal, and who is going where....isn't it already, or going to be, simply a matter of someone with money going to whatever players they like and saying "I'll pay you to transfer to <insert SEC school here>"?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on January 06, 2022, 12:43:48 AM
SEC fans aren't the only people with money.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 06, 2022, 07:27:05 AM
Quote from: Berkut on January 05, 2022, 11:31:10 PM
Now that the interesting part of the season is over....

What do these changes to the NCAA rules mean for the future of college football?

It seems to me like the NCAA has basically just given up entirely any effort to regulate the paying of players. Players can now be paid, and as far as I can see, there is zero control on that.

Anyone can pay any player anything they want, and with free transfers....doesn't that basically mean every single college football player is an unlimited free agent, all the time?

All this talk about the transfer portal, and who is going where....isn't it already, or going to be, simply a matter of someone with money going to whatever players they like and saying "I'll pay you to transfer to <insert SEC school here>"?

Transfers are not unlimited.  You get one free transfer, just like all NCAA sports, and the ability to transfer freely after graduation.

The NIL stuff is going to be interesting.  My understanding is that the universities don't know what the problems are going to be so are afraid of trying to establish rules.  They'll have to, at some point.

I'm hoping that somehow the NFL is forced or convinced to start a minor league to bleed off all of these players who just want to go to the pros.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on January 06, 2022, 08:44:13 AM
I find it amusing that the NCAA is saying that you can pay a player for NIL, but you *cannot* pay a player to just go play at some particular school. As if there is any possible way to actually enforce that.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on January 06, 2022, 09:35:11 AM
Quote from: grumbler on December 23, 2021, 07:00:28 PM
Here's a weird one:  Ohio State couldn't sell 1/3 of their tickets to the Rose Bowl and had to return them: https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/2021/12/23/ohio-state-football-sold-two-thirds-rose-bowl-ticket-allotment/9009620002/ (https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/2021/12/23/ohio-state-football-sold-two-thirds-rose-bowl-ticket-allotment/9009620002/)

Further, OSU has only sold out seven of its last twelve home games.

OSU had always had one of those fanatical fan bases that always sold out home games and always sold out the big bowls, at least.  Hell, Michigan was supposed to suck this year but still sold out the stadium.

I wonder what's going on with the OSU fan base.  The team is as good as it's ever been.  Maybe Day being such a bland coach is affecting the fans?  That would be strange, because he's 23-1 in conference games!

College football is boring without a relevant Miami Hurricanes program?

More seriously, the rose bowl (which is actually officially: the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One Venture X) is now a shit bowl game, just like every other bowl game. It is playoffs or bust. Over 20 something years ago the rose bowl was guaranteed to match up the Big 10 champ and the Pac 10 champ and so that was the goal of any team in those leagues, but this year it is for the Big 10 runner up and that traditional Pac 10/12/whatever team of Utah that dropped games to powerhouses of BYU and San Diego State.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on January 06, 2022, 09:39:13 AM
Quote from: grumbler on January 06, 2022, 07:27:05 AM

I'm hoping that somehow the NFL is forced or convinced to start a minor league to bleed off all of these players who just want to go to the pros.

Almost all the players just want to go to the pros, but since the courts have decided to blow the doors off restrictions on paying players, there is no point to a minor league. That is college football now. Sure you can start a minor league if you want, but the real money is going to be in the minor league called college football, since those teams have the brand equity that will bring the bigger compensation packages.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on January 06, 2022, 12:20:56 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on January 06, 2022, 09:39:13 AM
Quote from: grumbler on January 06, 2022, 07:27:05 AM

I'm hoping that somehow the NFL is forced or convinced to start a minor league to bleed off all of these players who just want to go to the pros.

Almost all the players just want to go to the pros, but since the courts have decided to blow the doors off restrictions on paying players, there is no point to a minor league. That is college football now. Sure you can start a minor league if you want, but the real money is going to be in the minor league called college football, since those teams have the brand equity that will bring the bigger compensation packages.

I think you are right, and to the extent the NFL needs some further farm teams - it has always had the CFL.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on January 06, 2022, 03:58:56 PM
There are not nearly enough teams in the CFL, though obviously it has always been a nice source of talent.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on January 06, 2022, 05:08:59 PM
Quote from: Valmy on January 06, 2022, 03:58:56 PM
There are not nearly enough teams in the CFL, though obviously it has always been a nice source of talent.

What number of teams would be needed in addition to all the college teams?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on January 07, 2022, 11:36:34 AM
https://thespun.com/college-football/caleb-williams-has-received-1-million-transfer-offer?fbclid=IwAR0dbbc2qRSvB-VR8QhNVvrV0A22QZnNU3uyr1t5d-WVW-xKQrAIb2B2ssE (https://thespun.com/college-football/caleb-williams-has-received-1-million-transfer-offer?fbclid=IwAR0dbbc2qRSvB-VR8QhNVvrV0A22QZnNU3uyr1t5d-WVW-xKQrAIb2B2ssE)




I don't see how college athletics survives in any recognizable state.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on January 07, 2022, 12:18:25 PM
Thank you US Supreme Court!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: crazy canuck on January 07, 2022, 12:46:36 PM
I am not sure that disrupting the model is such a bad thing.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 07, 2022, 02:34:26 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on January 07, 2022, 12:18:25 PM
Thank you US Supreme Court!

Actually, it wasn't the Supreme Court, but state legislatures, that forced these rules changes.  The USSC ruling in Alston was about education-related benefits.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on January 07, 2022, 03:06:09 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on January 06, 2022, 05:08:59 PM
Quote from: Valmy on January 06, 2022, 03:58:56 PM
There are not nearly enough teams in the CFL, though obviously it has always been a nice source of talent.

What number of teams would be needed in addition to all the college teams?

Well none. But if we were to use the CFL as the development league instead of College Football it would need to be much bigger. I mean there is a reason why football fans don't start talking about what promising young talent they cannot wait gets called up from the CFL. There is just not a ton of that kind of thing going on every year, though it happens obviously.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on January 07, 2022, 03:07:25 PM
Quote from: Berkut on January 07, 2022, 11:36:34 AM
https://thespun.com/college-football/caleb-williams-has-received-1-million-transfer-offer?fbclid=IwAR0dbbc2qRSvB-VR8QhNVvrV0A22QZnNU3uyr1t5d-WVW-xKQrAIb2B2ssE (https://thespun.com/college-football/caleb-williams-has-received-1-million-transfer-offer?fbclid=IwAR0dbbc2qRSvB-VR8QhNVvrV0A22QZnNU3uyr1t5d-WVW-xKQrAIb2B2ssE)




I don't see how college athletics survives in any recognizable state.

I think Basketball and Football have been in that state for awhile, at least in some form. I don't have any insider information or anything beyond the usual rumors of vast and deep corruption. It is just legal and above board now.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on January 10, 2022, 11:59:56 PM
@ulmont-  :nelson:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on January 11, 2022, 11:31:39 AM
Yeah congrats Georgia. A year where Alabama doesn't win is a victory for us all good and decent people.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 11, 2022, 01:24:54 PM
Quote from: Valmy on January 11, 2022, 11:31:39 AM
Yeah congrats Georgia. A year where Alabama doesn't win is a victory for us all good and decent people.

That's rather ironic, given that Georgia is probably the most corrupt football program not located in the state of Louisiana.  I'm glad to se Alabama lose, but it is bittersweet when it means that Georgia wins. 
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on January 11, 2022, 01:53:22 PM
I think what you're tasting is sour grapes.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 11, 2022, 02:31:13 PM
Quote from: Eddie Teach on January 11, 2022, 01:53:22 PM
I think what you're tasting is sour grapes.

:lol:  I think that what you are experiencing is wishful thinking.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on January 12, 2022, 11:39:22 AM
Man. Arizona had the best recruiting class it has seen in a couple decades.

And now they are just landing a shitload of talent from the transfer portal.

WSU's "freshman" QB who was second in the conference last year in passing yards.

A 4* LB from USC.

A 4* DL from UCLA.

It's just nuts. I am sure it has a lot to do with just how weird the recruiting world is right now, but Fisch has really stepped up Arizona's ability to attract higher end talent. Which is kind of incredible for a team that only one a single game this year....
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 12, 2022, 05:55:50 PM
Quote from: Berkut on January 12, 2022, 11:39:22 AM
Man. Arizona had the best recruiting class it has seen in a couple decades.

And now they are just landing a shitload of talent from the transfer portal.

WSU's "freshman" QB who was second in the conference last year in passing yards.

A 4* LB from USC.

A 4* DL from UCLA.

It's just nuts. I am sure it has a lot to do with just how weird the recruiting world is right now, but Fisch has really stepped up Arizona's ability to attract higher end talent. Which is kind of incredible for a team that only one a single game this year....

They only one won game this year?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on January 12, 2022, 11:31:46 PM
Only won game? That is all they one?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on January 28, 2022, 04:06:00 PM
"That is some voodoo shit right there!"


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKI4VzeUYAE11db?format=jpg&name=large)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on May 21, 2022, 11:43:58 AM
Here's an interesting story from MGoBlog (https://mgoblog.com/content/case-big-ten-showcase#read-more) which proposes to do away with (at least in the Big Ten) the conference championship game and instead have a conference showcase on that Saturday which has all the teams playing, but in matchups designed to create the most compelling games.

The highlights
QuoteThe weekend after Thanksgiving, each team would play one of the four Big Ten opponents they missed during the 9-game regular season, assigned by record. Sometimes—often I suspect—the top game would remain a winner-take-all championship bout. But it would do away with rematches, could do away with the need for divisions, virtually ensure all the championship contenders got a chance to play each other, and finish the season with relatively evenly matched Big Ten games we would have otherwise missed.
...
The Plan
I. Big Ten Championship weekend will be replaced by Showcase games across the conference.

At the end of the regular season (IE the week after Thanksgiving) the Big Ten will host three to seven (preferably seven) games between Big Ten teams that have not yet played each other. These can be hosted on campus, or (sigh) at one or more neutral sites.

We'll have to get approved for a 13th game, but I can't see why they would allow 2 teams to do this and not the rest. If a de facto tenth conference game is an issue with the NCAA, the showcase can be chopped down to just the three best games not played, but that's less fun. More Big Ten football: good for everybody.

II. Best teams that haven't played each other play each other, and on down.

Choosing the games is actually really simple once the data (records and which games haven't been played yet) are in front of you. Let's take the 2021 season:

Seed   School                 Rk  Div   Haven't Yet Played   Showcase Opponent
1   Michigan (8-1)        #1a East   Iowa, Minn, PU, IL   vs. Iowa (Game 1)
2   Ohio State (8-1)     #1b East   Iowa, Wis, IL, NW   vs. Wisconsin (Game 2)
3   Michigan State (7-2)  #3 East   Iowa, Minn, Wis, IL   vs. Minnesota (Game 3)
4   Iowa (7-2)         #1 West   UM, OSU, MSU, RU   @ Michigan (Game 1)
5   Minnesota (6-3)        #2a West   UM, MSU, PSU, RU   @ Michigan State (Game 3)
6   Wisconsin (6-3)        #2b West   OSU, MSU, UMD, IU   @ Ohio State (Game 2)
7   Purdue (6-3)        #2c West   UM, PSU, UMD, RU   @ Penn State (Game 4)
8   Illinois (4-5)         #5 West   UM, OSU, MSU, IU   @ Indiana (Game 5)
9   Penn State (4-5)      #4 East   Minn, PU, Neb, NW   vs. Purdue (Game 4)
10   Maryland (3-6)         #5 East   Wis, PU, Neb, NW   vs. Northwestern (Game 6)
11   Rutgers (2-7)         #6 East   Iowa, Minn, PU, Neb   vs. Nebraska (Game 7)
12   Nebraska (1-8)         #6a West   PSU, UMD, RU, IU   @ Rutgers (Game 7)
13   Northwestern (1-8)    #6b West   OSU, PSU, UMD, IU   @ Maryland (Game 6)
14   Indiana (0-9)         #7 East   Wis, IL, Neb, NW   vs. Illinois (Game 5)

The best opponent Michigan hasn't played is Iowa; there's your Game 1. Ohio State already played Minnesota so they get Wisconsin, and MSU gets Minnesota. The rest fall into place with very little room for decisions (read: controversy).

In cases where there are multiple ways to organize the matchups, go with whatever makes for the best games, based on rivalries and knowledge of the specific teams in the context of that season. The Big Ten can have broad power to build the matchups that work best, so long as the results of the top game(s) will produce an undisputed champion, and there are no rematches.

The NCAA would have to expand the pool of teams eligible to play a thirteenth game, but that's just expanding on what already exists.

Avoiding rematches is key because playing rematches cannot increase our knowledge of which teams are better.  If Team A beats Team B, then Team A has proven itself the better team.  If there is a rematch, then thereare only two possible outcomes:
1.  Team A wins again, which tells us nothing because we already knew Team A was better, or
2. Team B wins, in which case our knowledge from the first game is erased with nothing to replace it (wa can't say that Team B is better, because it already lost to Team A).

This would also mean that every Big Ten team would have five conference home game (not possible now because they play none conference games, so half the teams have five home games and the other half have four).  That opens up a lot of potential home-and-away nonconference matchups because schools won't have to schedule around the years in which they have only four home conference games.

This makes so much sense that it won't ever happen, but it does show that it is very possible to do scheduling designed to produce good matchups, if only the people in charge wanted to.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on May 24, 2022, 07:14:39 AM
It is a terrible idea. It is simply about adding meaningless games to the schedule to increase TV revenue.

When I was a kid the argument against playoffs was that teams play too many games for student athletes. There were `11 games in the regular season; 12 with a bowl game. An 8 team playoff would mean 2 teams would play 14 games, which were just too many.

Now we've got a 12 game regular season, we added a championship game which i guess is cool because it is just two teams competing for a championship? and an 8 team playoff. That is 16 games for a couple teams most of the time.

There isn't a clamor for more meaningless games. Ohio State couldn't sell its Rose Bowl ticket allotment last year as the game has been demoted to consolation game status with the playoffs, and players are now opting out of playing in it.

Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on May 24, 2022, 08:17:47 AM
All college football games are meaningless games designed to attract TV revenue.  The showcase idea just means that we get some games that didn't occur in the regular season.  While it means an extra game for some additional athletes, that extra game already exists for some, so that's not a credible complaint.

The fact that OSU fans were pouty last season doesn't change the fact that this means more football.  Some of the games even quite good games, while others will give teams that finished poorly a chance to redeem themselves a bit.  They are on-campus games, so attendance won't be ore of an issue that for any other home game.

The fact that the matchups are determined after the end of the regular season means that they will be more evenly matched than 90% of the regular-season games.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on May 24, 2022, 08:26:55 AM
Quote from: grumbler on May 24, 2022, 08:17:47 AMAll college football games are meaningless games designed to attract TV revenue.
QuoteI don't think that is true. We had college football games scheduled before TV was invented. If it never was I still think we'd be playing college football.

QuoteThe showcase idea just means that we get some games that didn't occur in the regular season.  While it means an extra game for some additional athletes, that extra game already exists for some, so that's not a credible complaint.

Step 1: Lets introduce a championship game. Yeah it is an extra game but that is just two schools and for those schools the experience of a championship game is going to be worth the drain of their already limited time.
Step 2: We have a championship game so two schools already play a longer season, so if you can't credibly argue that the season would be too long if we extend that to everyone.

QuoteThe fact that OSU fans were pouty last season doesn't change the fact that this means more football.  Some of the games even quite good games, while others will give teams that finished poorly a chance to redeem themselves a bit.  They are on-campus games, so attendance won't be ore of an issue that for any other home game.

The fact that the matchups are determined after the end of the regular season means that they will be more evenly matched than 90% of the regular-season games.

Who really wants to see the #5 Big 10 team play the #6 Big 10 team, even if that is evenly matched? Attendance has been an issue in college football for a while for on campus games too, not just bowl games.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Barrister on June 23, 2022, 01:16:16 PM
Congrats Valmy - apparently Arch Manning (nephew of Peyton and Eli) committed to Texas today.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on June 29, 2022, 12:10:13 AM
Quote from: Barrister on June 23, 2022, 01:16:16 PMCongrats Valmy - apparently Arch Manning (nephew of Peyton and Eli) committed to Texas today.

This is the second coming of Chris Sims (son of Phil Sims). When he committed a ton of great players came with him and powered Texas from 2001-2005. When they all left you could really feel the decrease in talent in the program and the slow decline of Texas Longhorn Football (and then a very fast decline in 2010). And lots of great players seem to committing along with Archibald, just like last time.

Hopefully the rest will also resemble last time.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on June 30, 2022, 01:23:20 PM
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/34173688/source-usc-ucla-considering-move-pac-12-big-ten

Wow. That would just destroy the Pac-12 obviously. Talk about a resulting Super Conference though!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on June 30, 2022, 06:43:40 PM
I wonder how realignment is going to shake out with this.  I can see the Big 12 making a play for Utah, Colorado, and the Arizona schools.  Berkeley, Cal, Washington, and Oregon are all AAU members and the Big ten might want to reach out for some or all of them.  I don't know where Wash St or Oregon State would go.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on June 30, 2022, 06:49:34 PM
This is really dumb.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on June 30, 2022, 07:18:25 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on June 30, 2022, 06:49:34 PMThis is really dumb.
$$$
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on June 30, 2022, 07:22:49 PM
Quote from: grumbler on June 30, 2022, 06:43:40 PMI wonder how realignment is going to shake out with this.  I can see the Big 12 making a play for Utah, Colorado, and the Arizona schools.  Berkeley, Cal, Washington, and Oregon are all AAU members and the Big ten might want to reach out for some or all of them.  I don't know where Wash St or Oregon State would go.

The Big 12 has nothing to offer the Pac 12 remnant that they cannot easily do for themselves thanks to UT and OU leaving. The whole situation is a disaster IMO. I feel like College Football is turning itself from a nationwide obsession to a regional NFL-lite.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: alfred russel on June 30, 2022, 07:23:08 PM
Quote from: Berkut on June 30, 2022, 07:18:25 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on June 30, 2022, 06:49:34 PMThis is really dumb.
$$$

These are universities, that are nonprofits dedicated to education and instilling life skills for its students. I don't think they would make major institutional decisions just for the $$$.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on June 30, 2022, 07:31:57 PM
Well, the only good news in being a fan of an irrelevant team is that this standing will not change.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on June 30, 2022, 09:45:28 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on June 30, 2022, 07:23:08 PMThese are universities, that are nonprofits dedicated to education and instilling life skills for its students. I don't think they would make major institutional decisions just for the $$$.

Yes, but I don't think that deciding which conference their athletic teams play in is a "major institutional decision." 

Big Five schools expect their athletic departments to be self-financing.  The Pac 12 is the least supportive Big Five conference, expecting to pass about $38 million to each school in 2023, while the Big Ten is expected to pass $61 to each school.  Both will renew their TV contracts for 2024, but the Pac 12 is expected to bump their per-school share to only $39 million, while the Big Ten is expected to bump its per-school payout to $87 million (and that's before adding USC and UCLA).  That's not an insignificant difference when the UCLA athletic budget last year was $110 million (which was $62 million more than revenue, due to COVID - but the UCLA athletic department had also lost money in 2020 and 2019).

The Pac 12 turns over 74% of its revenue to the schools. The Big Ten 92%.

It's the $$$ and it makes perfect sense.  For the Big Ten, it also makes sense because the added value to the next TV contract (big new market) more than offsets the added travel costs.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on June 30, 2022, 09:50:05 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 30, 2022, 07:22:49 PMThe Big 12 has nothing to offer the Pac 12 remnant that they cannot easily do for themselves thanks to UT and OU leaving. The whole situation is a disaster IMO. I feel like College Football is turning itself from a nationwide obsession to a regional NFL-lite.

The NIL stuff will do even more damage than the destruction of football traditions that comes with conference realignment.  This is especially true because different states impose different standards for what a school can do. Ohio State's AD is attempting to arrange a $14 million/year deal with boosters that will allow him to choose the players on whom to bestow NIL contract.  In Michigan, universities cannot do anything to help arrange NIL deals.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on June 30, 2022, 10:05:57 PM
Quote from: grumbler on June 30, 2022, 09:50:05 PM
Quote from: Valmy on June 30, 2022, 07:22:49 PMThe Big 12 has nothing to offer the Pac 12 remnant that they cannot easily do for themselves thanks to UT and OU leaving. The whole situation is a disaster IMO. I feel like College Football is turning itself from a nationwide obsession to a regional NFL-lite.

The NIL stuff will do even more damage than the destruction of football traditions that comes with conference realignment.  This is especially true because different states impose different standards for what a school can do. Ohio State's AD is attempting to arrange a $14 million/year deal with boosters that will allow him to choose the players on whom to bestow NIL contract.  In Michigan, universities cannot do anything to help arrange NIL deals.

Definitely. It is becoming something different. Something that seems like it will suck.

But nothing to do but wait and see.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on July 01, 2022, 08:00:09 AM
Man, this sucks.

I mean...I get it. You have to follow the money, and the money for them just doesn't make sense where they are now, and isn't likely to materially change.

But the Pac-12 was a cool conference. 
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on July 01, 2022, 08:36:44 AM
It's gonna get worse.  The little fish, like Wyoming, will be left outside to die in the cold.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on July 01, 2022, 08:48:40 AM
Quote from: PDH on July 01, 2022, 08:36:44 AMIt's gonna get worse.  The little fish, like Wyoming, will be left outside to die in the cold.
Well, I don't know if they will die, but they are definitely going to become even littler fish, as the big fish suck up more of the sweet, sweet cash for themselves.

I just hope Arizona can figure out how to be part of the "big fish" ocean, instead of the little fish pond.

It seems unlikley that the Big10 is done gorging itself. But if they want more Pac12 schools to get some geographic balance to their new West Coast league in the new Super Conference, I don't think grabbing Arizona is likely to make sense. More likely they go after Cal, Stanford, Washington, and Oregon.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on July 01, 2022, 12:05:05 PM
Perhaps overly dramatic, and the dying has been going on for some time, but the little guys get left out more and more this will just be another big step into the exclusion.

You should pray that one of the big conferences wants Arizona, or they will be back to playing Wyoming every year like in the old WAC.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on July 01, 2022, 06:07:24 PM
Latest news is that Oregon and Washington also requested to join the Big Ten, but were told that they need to wait for Notre Dame to definitively accept or reject their longstanding invitation to join.  The B10 is clearly going to accept either two or four new members beyond USC and UCLA.  Four actually makes more sense because two ten-team divisions (or four five-team pods, which I think more likely) would eliminate the distortions caused by crossover games. 
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on July 01, 2022, 08:45:16 PM
The Pac-12 is eating itself.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on July 01, 2022, 09:22:08 PM
To be fair, the Pac 12 was eating itself pretty much full time when Larry Scott was commissioner.  He turned down the addition of Texas and Oklahoma (not that they necessary would have joined, but he nixed the possibility), he set up a dreadful, money-losing Pac 12 network, he vastly expanded the conference payroll at the expense of the schools, and he moved a lot of games to Friday nights, when not even the West Coast fans wanted to watch.  And the conference kept him on for 12 years!

The financial fragility of Pac 12 schools is pretty much 95% his fault.

It really is a pity that a century of football tradition was wrecked by one guy.  I still think football was better when the Big Ten and Pac Ten played for a trip to the Rose Bowl and any other bowl was just a consolation prize.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on July 01, 2022, 09:39:02 PM
Then UT President Powers desperately wanted in the PAC. The only reason Texas and its five regional partners did not move over in 2010 was because Texas A&M said no and Texas didn't want to divorce itself with its main in-state partner/frenemy/rival.

I was never clear why the PAC 16 in 2011 didn't happen. Was it the LHN? Was it not enough money for the Big 12 4? I guess it was Larry Scott.

All ancient history now. But Texas was never going without many regional partners, because of the time zone thing.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on July 01, 2022, 09:55:54 PM
Quote from: PDH on July 01, 2022, 08:45:16 PMThe Pac-12 is eating itself.
Not really.

The Big10 and the SEC are going to be the super conferences, and UCLA and USC saw where the money was, and fucked the Pac12.

I can't really blame them, but I don't think they are any kinds of victims.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on July 01, 2022, 10:29:57 PM
Quote from: Berkut on July 01, 2022, 09:55:54 PMNot really.

The Big10 and the SEC are going to be the super conferences, and UCLA and USC saw where the money was, and fucked the Pac12.

I can't really blame them, but I don't think they are any kinds of victims.

They are no more victims of the Pac 12's incompetence than any other school, true, but they are victims.  They fucked the Pac 12 after the Pac 12 fucked them.  You just can't ignore the conference's weaknesses as a conference.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on August 27, 2022, 09:22:14 PM
Absolutely brutal Nebraska loss after an appalling Scott Frost decision to onside kick up 28-17 late in the third quarter.  Northwestern wasn't going to beat them in the air, so the key for Nebraska was avoiding giving NW a short field.  Scott Frost thought that giving them a short field was a good thing, and I'm surprised the team didn't leave him on the tarmac in Ireland.

I don't think Frost will make it to game 5 this year.  He's just not a good coach.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on August 27, 2022, 11:00:42 PM
It's gonna be a long season.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on August 31, 2022, 07:31:46 PM
Arizona opens against SDSU Saturday on CBS. 

SDSU is playing in their brand new stadium that looks pretty awesome, and they took Arizona apart without much trouble last year.

But Arizona has replaced about 50% of their entire roster since last year, and at nearly every position on offense, they have upgraded their talent considerably - but not so much their experience.

SDSU is favored by 6. I think it is going to be a very, very interesting game....
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 01, 2022, 08:39:25 PM
I always liked Jedd Fisch's playcalling at Michigan.  I don't know if he's going to work out as a head coach, but his passing game should be good and the man can recruit.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 02, 2022, 08:27:17 AM
Quote from: grumbler on September 01, 2022, 08:39:25 PMI always liked Jedd Fisch's playcalling at Michigan.  I don't know if he's going to work out as a head coach, but his passing game should be good and the man can recruit.
I've been saying for...decades?...(in the context of Arizona football, of course) that when it comes to coaching college football, you can talk all you like about Xs and Os and motivation and coaching and teaching all you like. And those things are important.

But none of it means anything at all when it comes to competing at the highest levels if you cannot recruit. You are never going to be, over time, better then the kids you recruit. 

And when it comes to recruiting, the reality is that overall, the ranking services mostly get it right. Not always of course, but overall, they are reasonably accurate when it comes to evaluating high school talent.

So all the "diamonds in the rough" and "coaching them up" is basically code words for "we failed at attracting the best talent, so we are really fucking hoping our guys are actually better then they appear to be".

Fisch going in and grabbing some really high end talent impressed me a lot, especially since he did it swimming against a horrifically bad last....decade? There are not too many Power-5 schools with a less attractive record to new high school recruits then Arizona.

Who knows what he can do if they actually get mediocre and go to a bowl game or two!

Of course, what will likely happen in that case is he leaves to go coach at a true top-25 football school.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 02, 2022, 12:54:36 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 02, 2022, 08:27:17 AMBut none of it means anything at all when it comes to competing at the highest levels if you cannot recruit. You are never going to be, over time, better then the kids you recruit.

Yeah in order to win at the highest levels everything has to be working. Culture, resources, X's and O's, and recruiting and the rest of it. It is a delicate balance that is hard to sustain...unless you are Ohio State then everything just works out of you perfectly decade after decade year after year. Fuck those guys.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 02, 2022, 04:55:03 PM
Quote from: Valmy on September 02, 2022, 12:54:36 PM...unless you are Ohio State then everything just works out of you perfectly decade after decade year after year. Fuck those guys.

"Some guys are born on third base but are convinced that they hit a triple."
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 02, 2022, 10:34:28 PM
So, it's going to  be a different start to the season for Michigan fans, at least emotionally.  Gone is the Black Pit of Negative Expectations, as Brian Cook called it.  It is not impossible to beat Ohio State in the modern era, as last year showed. Beat them like a drum, in fact.

That doesn't mean that I don't think that OSU has the edge in the Big Ten race this year, because they clearly do.  Just like last year.  But what it means is that every Michigan fan can reasonably hope that out team beats their team.

An MgoBlog poster described this preseason anticipation perfectly: (https://mgoblog.com/content/opponent-watch-2022-preview-part-2)
QuoteRemember FOOTBALL?

Yes, I know football never goes away, even during the offseason. We've spent months talking about conference realignment and NIL and division structures and NIL and the transfer portal and NIL and coaching salaries and recruiting rankings and ticket prices and NIL. But that's football. I'm talking about FOOTBALL.

One does not discuss FOOTBALL. FOOTBALL is not an active, purposeful decision. It is an involuntary reaction. An irresistible response to a stimulus planted deep in one's soul. Those of us who are afflicted are the sleeper agents of chaos. Manchurian Candidates of loud noises. And from January through August we wait.

FOOTBALL is the thing that makes you yell stupid, obvious things like "FUMBLE" and "THAT'S A HOLD" and "GET HIM." It causes you to sing Mr. Brightside from the diaphragm to no one in particular. It causes a full body-and-soul reaction when you see a wheel route developing and you realize OH MY GOD IT'S COMING OPEN, or when you see that the blind side corner blitz is going to get home and you find yourself praying to the Gods of Old ⁠— I prefer Marduk, but Quetzalcóatl is also a fine choice ⁠— that the quarterback won't get rid of the ball in time. It's the thing that causes your body to try to expel 37 thoughts at once, but they all come out as LETSGOOOOOOOOOOAAAAGGGHHHHHH.

It an ancient impulse, dating back to the first human to master fire; this thing had a million practical implications, but in that moment all he could do was to stare into the blazing tinder and yell HOLY SHIT WOULD YOU LOOK AT THIS THING.

It's Touchdown Manningham and Wide Open Is Gallon and O-JA-BO. It's a punt return against Ohio State and a punt return against Ohio State. It's Braylonfest. It's the spittle that is still welded to your screen from the profanity you spewed when Karan Higdon got called for holding or Khaleke Hudson got called for pass interference. It's Ronnie Bell breaking open for a long touchdown and Blake Corum hitting the outside and Erick All screaming down the sidelines in direct defiance of the collective will of 100,000 silent white statues. It's the hurdles. My god the hurdles.

There is a lot to hate about football. But football holds the trump card: it can ⁠— and will ⁠—boil the stupid, stupid universe of football down to its essential elements, stripped bare of all the bullshit and hypocrisy and foolishness. And the powers that be know that. They know we will tolerate football because of FOOTBALL.

The ratio of football to FOOTBALL has been steadily increasing over recent years. Perhaps eventually it will hit a tipping point where the FOOTBALL is no longer worth the football. Who knows how much longer we will care the way we care. Who knows how much longer I will be writing this stupid column every week. Who knows how long until we, one by one, shrug and silently walk off to the rest of our lives.

But this is not that time. This is still, for this moment at least, a time of FOOTBALL.

And, of course, the video that predicted this 12 years ago:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 03, 2022, 12:33:37 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 02, 2022, 08:27:17 AMI've been saying for...decades?...(in the context of Arizona football, of course) that when it comes to coaching college football, you can talk all you like about Xs and Os and motivation and coaching and teaching all you like. And those things are important.

But none of it means anything at all when it comes to competing at the highest levels if you cannot recruit. You are never going to be, over time, better then the kids you recruit.

And when it comes to recruiting, the reality is that overall, the ranking services mostly get it right. Not always of course, but overall, they are reasonably accurate when it comes to evaluating high school talent.

So all the "diamonds in the rough" and "coaching them up" is basically code words for "we failed at attracting the best talent, so we are really fucking hoping our guys are actually better then they appear to be".

Fisch going in and grabbing some really high end talent impressed me a lot, especially since he did it swimming against a horrifically bad last....decade? There are not too many Power-5 schools with a less attractive record to new high school recruits then Arizona.

Who knows what he can do if they actually get mediocre and go to a bowl game or two!

Of course, what will likely happen in that case is he leaves to go coach at a true top-25 football school.

Recruiting is getting less important now with the portal essentially allowing college players to consider themselves free agents.  Mel Tucker at Michigan State, for instance, builds the core of his teams off of the portal.  That's an area where Arizona might prosper, given the reputation of the school as a place to cultivate "a good set of friends and a bad set of habits."  In other words, famous for the beauty of the female students.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 03, 2022, 08:49:53 PM
Well, no question that the transfer portal has been very, very good to Arizona.

Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 03, 2022, 11:30:57 PM
Bijan4Heisman!

Though I guess that depends on next week  :ph34r:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 08, 2022, 06:12:21 PM
Some stats from Iowa's gritty 7-3 win over FCS South Dakota State (in which, despite the score, no touchdowns were scored):

The scoring drives in this game combined for 7 total offensive yards: a 5 yard Iowa field goal drive, an 11 yard SDSU field goal drive, and two safeties totaling -9 yards.

Iowa's Spencer Petras averaged 3.3 yards per dropback. But the worst part is that he was the only Iowa quarterback with a pass attempt. Kirk Ferentz said afterward that he never really considered going to the backup, and that he doesn't anticipate making a QB change going forward. For reference, in his last 9 games, Petras has completed 51% of his passes for 5.9 YPA with 1 TD and 8 INTs.

Iowa's offense put up 2.7 yards per play against an FCS opponent.

Even after you factor out sacks, Iowa managed 1.7 yards per carry on 34 rushes. One third of their carries went for zero or negative yards.

The teams combined to go 7 of 33 on 3rd down. Combined, they ran one play in the red zone; it was a fumble. They combined for 286 yards of offense and 936 yards of punting. They punted a total of 21 times and gained a combined 16 first downs.

I suspect that Ferentz will continue to set new records with this team going forward.  It's worth noting that the Iowa defense is its usual outstanding self, but with this pile of shit they are shoveling onto the field and calling an offense, I foresee a lot of 7-3 type games, but going the other way.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 08, 2022, 06:46:12 PM
Apparently since starting to play in 1894, Texas has never lost in the game after the death of a British monarch. I fear that streak is in considerable danger this Saturday.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 08, 2022, 08:07:22 PM
Another very Iowa stat (unverified by me, but believable):  since 1897 (when modern scoring was adopted), teams whose offense gained fewer than 170 yards and scored only three points have a record of 7-17456-4.  Six of the wins and all four ties were by Iowa.  Only Yale has also achieved that feat, and they did it in 1903.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 10, 2022, 04:06:53 PM
Don't look now, but Texas is back.  If they'd had either a run game or good refs, Alabama would have gone down hard.  Hell, if they could just tackle, Texas would have won.  Texas was clearly better a better team than Alabama in this game.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 10, 2022, 04:27:39 PM
Quote from: grumbler on September 10, 2022, 04:06:53 PMDon't look now, but Texas is back.  If they'd had either a run game or good refs, Alabama would have gone down hard.  Hell, if they could just tackle, Texas would have won.  Texas was clearly better a better team than Alabama in this game.

It was a big step forward but it came at a cost. We will see if the injuries to Bijan Robinson and the QBs will be a problem for long.

But Texas is still in this thing. If they can play defense like that the rest of the way (well...except for that one missed tackle...) they can do something special this season.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 10, 2022, 06:31:34 PM
And... Notre Dame goes down again, this time to Marshall, 26-21.  Marshall was a significantly better team than the Domers in all phases bar punting.  Marcus Freeman deserves to be the coach of a better team.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 10, 2022, 09:18:03 PM
Ugh.  This Michigan-Hawai'i game is ugly.  A true baby seal clubbing.  This was supposed to be Arkansas. :(
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on September 10, 2022, 10:28:08 PM
No one is getting laid at U of I this year.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 11, 2022, 04:25:10 PM
Quote from: grumbler on August 27, 2022, 09:22:14 PMAbsolutely brutal Nebraska loss after an appalling Scott Frost decision to onside kick up 28-17 late in the third quarter.  Northwestern wasn't going to beat them in the air, so the key for Nebraska was avoiding giving NW a short field.  Scott Frost thought that giving them a short field was a good thing, and I'm surprised the team didn't leave him on the tarmac in Ireland.

I don't think Frost will make it to game 5 this year.  He's just not a good coach.

He did not, in fact, even make it to game 4.  Fired after losing to Georgia Southern.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 12, 2022, 08:04:52 PM
Sucks for Big Red. They might not win another game this season.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 12, 2022, 09:03:38 PM
Quote from: Valmy on September 12, 2022, 08:04:52 PMSucks for Big Red. They might not win another game this season.

They have more of a chance now than they did at dawn on Saturday.

On the bright side, Michigan's QB controversy is over.  The young hotshot is shit-hot.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 18, 2022, 10:17:13 AM
What a world were beating a FCS team at home is an upset.

Holy shit North Dakota State University is good. One of the announcers mentioned that in the last decade at the FCS level they have more championships then lost games. That is....insane. 

I am sure nobody outside of Tucson and North Dakota watched the game, but it was one hell of a football game. It's weird - we got some late stops when it was needed against a rushing attack that seemed to be able to do whatever they wanted all night, and that was the difference in a 31-28 win. And you want to get excited, but then....well, its against a FCS team! But a really, really good one!

Anyway, Arizona is 2-1. I still don't have much confidence in them making a bowl game this year, but the improvement in talent and more importantly in attitude and moral is very marked.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 18, 2022, 11:09:27 AM
As Jim Harbaugh once said, "Good shit, Jedd."
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 18, 2022, 11:11:16 AM
Oh, and Michigan State turns out to be over-rated AGAIN.  Shocking.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 18, 2022, 12:45:58 PM
Wyoming started off by playing horribly against Illinois.  Horribly might be an understatement.  Since then there was an overtime victory against Tulsa, a tight game that was blown open vs Northern Colorado, and then on Friday a tight win against what was billed a strong Air Force team.

3-1 right now is a lot better than after the first week, unsure if the team is real.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 18, 2022, 02:47:17 PM
Illinois is looking a lot better this year (Brett Bielema is the real deal).  No shame in losing to them.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 19, 2022, 11:35:31 AM
I'll take anything I can, it is just that I am a Wyoming fan.  So many promising starts have ended with flameouts, all Wyoming fans are some degree or another like this.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 19, 2022, 12:51:53 PM
Some very bad news today out of Phoenix. ASU fired their head coach.

I just hope this doesn't lead to them firing their AD as well.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 19, 2022, 01:04:10 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 19, 2022, 12:51:53 PMSome very bad news today out of Phoenix. ASU fired their head coach.

I just hope this doesn't lead to them firing their AD as well.

Arizona State will do whatever they can to fuck up their season, they have guaranteed it.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 19, 2022, 03:53:22 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 19, 2022, 12:51:53 PMSome very bad news today out of Phoenix. ASU fired their head coach.

I just hope this doesn't lead to them firing their AD as well.

I thought that the Herm Edwards thing was going to fail far more quickly than it did.  It's not good new for ASU opponents that he is gone.

Saw some ASU fans posting that they thought ASU could get Urban Meyer.  Seems doubtful to me, but maybe ASU has lots of money and no scruples.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 19, 2022, 10:02:26 PM
Is Urban really interested in a challenge like that? He took over Florida and Ohio State when they had just stumbled for a minute under Ron Zook and um....er...*wikipedia* Luke Fickel. Arizona State seems in disarray and not just in their football program but their entire athletic department.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on September 23, 2022, 09:43:44 AM
How long has it been since Michigan last had a genuinely elite quarterback?

QuoteMichigan's JJ McCarthy has 0 negatively graded plays through Week 3

Every other Power 5 QB has at least 6 (@PFF)

— Anthony Treash (@PFF_Anthony) September 20, 2022

True, that's been play against three tomato cans, but QBs can make mistakes against anyone.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 09:59:10 AM
Does Quinn Ewers already have six? Dude has only played five quarters!

Hoping for a dramatic return tomorrow against Tech.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 23, 2022, 10:06:01 AM
Wyoming plays the evil empire, BYU, this week.  BYU destroyed rivalries and such when they left the MWC in a huff because Utah got the PAC invite.

The Pokes will lose, that is what they do when they start a promising trend, but I hope they renew the ancient BYU hatred of the Wyoming Cowboys - resplendent with made up stories of Wyoming fans throwing bags of urine at the opposing team (I am unclear how drunken Cowboy fans managed to fill them) and the like.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:19:54 AM
Quote from: PDH on September 23, 2022, 10:06:01 AMWyoming plays the evil empire, BYU, this week.  BYU destroyed rivalries and such when they left the MWC in a huff because Utah got the PAC invite.

The Pokes will lose, that is what they do when they start a promising trend, but I hope they renew the ancient BYU hatred of the Wyoming Cowboys - resplendent with made up stories of Wyoming fans throwing bags of urine at the opposing team (I am unclear how drunken Cowboy fans managed to fill them) and the like.

Don't call them Mormons, apparently that is a slur now. So don't say Mormon while throwing urine on them.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Barrister on September 23, 2022, 10:30:24 AM
Quote from: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:19:54 AMDon't call them Mormons, apparently that is a slur now.

:huh:

It's the name of their holy book.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:39:07 AM
Quote from: Barrister on September 23, 2022, 10:30:24 AM
Quote from: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:19:54 AMDon't call them Mormons, apparently that is a slur now.

:huh:

It's the name of their holy book.

Not only that they did a huge nationwide advertising campaign around 2008 or so when they plastered "I am a Mormon" billboards all over the country. There were also TV ads and ads all over the internet. I don't know if you saw those in Canada but I am sure most Americans who were around back then remember that. But at some point in the last couple years the LDS Church announced that Mormons was a slur, was always a slur, it is equivalent to calling a black person the N-word, and we have always been at war with Eastasia.

It's ridiculous. However the Oregon fans probably crossed a line by chanting "Fuck the Mormons" at the game last week. You probably shouldn't chant "Fuck the Catholics" when playing Notre Dame either. But not because they used the term "Mormon"
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Barrister on September 23, 2022, 10:51:11 AM
Quote from: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:39:07 AM
Quote from: Barrister on September 23, 2022, 10:30:24 AM
Quote from: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:19:54 AMDon't call them Mormons, apparently that is a slur now.

:huh:

It's the name of their holy book.

Not only that they did a huge nationwide advertising campaign around 2008 or so when they plastered "I am a Mormon" billboards all over the country. There were also TV ads and ads all over the internet. I don't know if you saw those in Canada but I am sure most Americans who were around back then remember that. But at some point in the last couple years the LDS Church announced that Mormons was a slur, was always a slur, it is equivalent to calling a black person the N-word, and we have always been at war with Eastasia.

It's ridiculous. However the Oregon fans probably crossed a line by chanting "Fuck the Mormons" at the game last week. You probably shouldn't chant "Fuck the Catholics" when playing Notre Dame either. But not because they used the term "Mormon"

I don't remember that specific ad, but I remember in the 90s they ran a whole bunch of very nice ads supporting family life, with a tag line "the Church of Latter-Day Saints - the Mormons".

Yeah: "Fuck the mormons" is offensive, but not because of the word "Mormon".
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on September 23, 2022, 12:01:29 PM
Wyoming fans always cut to the chase and chanted "Fuck You, BYU" because it was nasty and it fits the rhyme scheme most college fans understand.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Barrister on September 23, 2022, 12:03:46 PM
Quote from: PDH on September 23, 2022, 12:01:29 PMWyoming fans always cut to the chase and chanted "Fuck You, BYU" because it was nasty and it fits the rhyme scheme most college fans understand.

Short and to the point. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on September 24, 2022, 01:15:44 AM
Quote from: Valmy on September 23, 2022, 10:39:07 AMBut at some point in the last couple years the LDS Church announced that Mormons was a slur, was always a slur, it is equivalent to calling a black person the N-word, and we have always been at war with Eastasia.

Good luck with that.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Syt on September 24, 2022, 02:57:06 AM
Guess the change of mind happened 2018/19?

Because this 2018 album of the Tabernacle Choir still includes "Mormon": https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/shop/products/merry-little-christmas-2018.html

(https://i.postimg.cc/QdZcMzsX/image.png)

While this 2019 album doesn't: https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/shop/products/let-us-all-press-on-2019.html

(https://i.postimg.cc/kMkTxf9H/image.png)

What's their reasoning? Mormon is a name that whitey non-believers gave them?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Syt on September 24, 2022, 03:01:42 AM
https://mormonscholar.org/the-original-intention-behind-the-term-mormon/

QuoteABSTRACT

Many sources claim that the term "Mormon" was originally a derogatory term that Mormons later adopted as their own. This work evaluates that claim using original sources. It also considers alternate criteria that would indicate whether a term is derogatory or descriptive, such as whether outsiders used the term to insult other outsiders, whether outsiders used the term to insult insiders without relying on qualifiers to imply negative intent, and whether church leadership had adopted the term prior to the term acquiring unambiguously pejorative meanings. The first instance of the term among reviewed publications appears in January 1831 in local newspapers. The evidence seems to suggest that the etymology of the word "Mormon", as it refers to the people who follow the teachings of Joseph Smith, originally meant "disciples of the Book of Mormon" and did not carry any implied negative meaning. Prior literature suggests that the term shifted to having a derogatory use with the advent of the term "Jack Mormon" during conflicts such as the Missouri War, possibly as early as 1834.

And wiki suggests "It's complicated": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormons#Terminology

QuoteTerminology
The word Mormon was originally coined to describe any person who believes in the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture.[11] The term Mormonite and Mormon were originally descriptive terms used by outsiders to the faith[12][13] and occasionally used by church leaders.[14] The term Mormon later evolved into a derogatory term, likely during the 1838 Mormon War,[15] although the term was later adopted by Joseph Smith.[14]

Today, while the term Mormonism can act as a blanket term for all sects following the religious tradition started by Joseph Smith, many sects do not prefer the term Mormon as an acceptable label. For example, the largest sect, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, recently clarified in a style guide that it prefers the term Latter-day Saints among other acceptable terms.[16][17] The term preferred by the Salt Lake-based LDS church has varied in the past, and at various points it has embraced the term Mormon and also stated that other sects within the shared faith tradition should not be called Mormon.[18] The second-largest sect, the Community of Christ, also rejects the term Mormon due to its association with the practice of polygamy among Brighamite sects.[19] Other sects, including several fundamentalist branches of the Brighamite tradition, embrace the term Mormon.

Footnote 18 reads:

QuoteThe LDS Church has taken the position that the term Mormon should only apply to the LDS Church and its members, and not other adherents who have adopted the term. (See: "Style Guide – The Name of the Church". LDS Newsroom. April 9, 2010. Retrieved November 11, 2011.) The Church cites the AP Stylebook, which states, "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other Latter Day Saints churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith's death." ("Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The", Associated Press, The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, 2002, ISBN 0-7382-0740-3, p.48) Despite the LDS Church's position, the term Mormon is widely used by journalists and non-journalists to refer to adherents of Mormon fundamentalism.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on September 24, 2022, 09:23:19 AM
Huh. I've never even considered the idea that calling someone who is a Mormon, Mormon, could be a slur. 

And I dated someone - considered marrying someone, and all that would entail, who was a member of the LDS church.

I certainly don't recall her ever feeling slighted or saying anything about being called Mormon. I think she used the term to describe herself, in fact.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 24, 2022, 10:01:10 AM
Quote from: Berkut on September 24, 2022, 09:23:19 AMHuh. I've never even considered the idea that calling someone who is a Mormon, Mormon, could be a slur.

And I dated someone - considered marrying someone, and all that would entail, who was a member of the LDS church.

I certainly don't recall her ever feeling slighted or saying anything about being called Mormon. I think she used the term to describe herself, in fact.

This is a very recent development. Syt mentions 2019 but I think it happened last year or something.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on September 24, 2022, 11:50:58 AM
Pretty presumptuous to want to be called a saint.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on September 24, 2022, 12:04:56 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on September 24, 2022, 11:50:58 AMPretty presumptuous to want to be called a saint.

Or a Seer, Prophet, and Revelator. But that's what they do.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on September 24, 2022, 12:12:29 PM
Quote from: Valmy on September 24, 2022, 12:04:56 PMOr a Seer, Prophet, and Revelator. But that's what they do.

Funky.  Did not know.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 01, 2022, 10:30:26 AM
So, my Wolverines face the Iowa HawkYis today.  Iowa is a bit unusual this year:  they are #1 in scoring defense and #131 (dead last) in scoring offense.  Michigan is #4 in scoring offense and #8 in scoring defense.  Sounds like not much of a contest, eh?

Except that Michigan has lost four in a row at Kinnick, only once when Iowa was favored.  Except that Iowa has won 5 of their last last 6 home games against Top-5 teams, and they were even ranked in only one of those.

Kinnick Field has a weird juju, and, these days, a weird team (you can look up how historically-awful they are at QB and wide receiver).  Logic says those past records have no bearing on today's game, but a little voice in me says "that's what we thought last time, too."

Well, win or lose, at least everyone gets to wave at the kids in the Children's hospital during the break at the end of the first quarter, one of college football's best (if also one of the most recent, the hospital only having been completed in 2017) traditions.

Go Blue!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on October 01, 2022, 01:43:49 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 24, 2022, 09:23:19 AMHuh. I've never even considered the idea that calling someone who is a Mormon, Mormon, could be a slur.

And I dated someone - considered marrying someone, and all that would entail, who was a member of the LDS church.

I certainly don't recall her ever feeling slighted or saying anything about being called Mormon. I think she used the term to describe herself, in fact.

It's very new and most practicing LDS don't really follow it per se, but the intention is over time their members quit using it and eventually society quits using it. AFAICT it's purely a branding effort.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 01, 2022, 05:41:35 PM
Kinnick Iowa showed up today, but they needed a last-second touchdown to make it respectable M27-I14.  Dunno why I was so worried about this, other than "it's Kinnick." 
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on October 08, 2022, 12:43:18 PM
In my sober and objective analysis of the first half today OU fucking sucks and their meth addled fans can all go fuck themselves.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on October 08, 2022, 01:35:52 PM
Huge game tonight in Tucson. I don't think Arizona will win this game, because the Ducks simply have too good of a running game against a pretty bad Arizona rushing defense, but I think it will be exciting.

And if Bo Nix makes some early mistakes.....who knows?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on October 08, 2022, 02:20:22 PM
Three years of OU reaching into our chests and ripping out our beating hearts and feeding them to their trailer park hell hounds wiped away in one glorious historic beat down. I only wish it was 223-0.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 08, 2022, 05:23:57 PM
Strange game in Bloomington.  Michigan raced in front of Indiana, then RB coach Mike Hart (a Michigan legend and beloved of the team) had some sort of seizure, was carted off to the hospital, and the Michigan team kinda went into shock for the rest of the half.  At the half it was 10-10 and Indiana actually had a few more yards gained than Michigan.

Second half, Michigan scored 21 unanswered points, Indian got like 60 total yards, and the result was 31-10.

Hart appears to be 100% okay, but they haven't identified the cause of the seizure, so that's worrisome. 

Congrats to Texas for arranging the departure of Lincoln Riley last year.  That was a dominant performance by Texas against Oklahoma.  The SEC may not be as happy, but fuck the SEC. 
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on October 08, 2022, 11:45:28 PM
Quote from: Berkut on October 08, 2022, 01:35:52 PMHuge game tonight in Tucson. I don't think Arizona will win this game, because the Ducks simply have too good of a running game against a pretty bad Arizona rushing defense, but I think it will be exciting.

And if Bo Nix makes some early mistakes.....who knows?

Boy you aren't kidding. 300 yards and 7.5 yards per carry. Hard to win games when teams can do that to you.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on October 08, 2022, 11:47:22 PM
Quote from: grumbler on October 08, 2022, 05:23:57 PMCongrats to Texas for arranging the departure of Lincoln Riley last year.

If only we had found a way to deploy that magic against Bob Stoops.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on October 09, 2022, 08:32:32 AM
Quote from: Valmy on October 08, 2022, 11:45:28 PM
Quote from: Berkut on October 08, 2022, 01:35:52 PMHuge game tonight in Tucson. I don't think Arizona will win this game, because the Ducks simply have too good of a running game against a pretty bad Arizona rushing defense, but I think it will be exciting.

And if Bo Nix makes some early mistakes.....who knows?

Boy you aren't kidding. 300 yards and 7.5 yards per carry. Hard to win games when teams can do that to you.
Yeah, that was not pretty to say the least.

Arizona was terrible, and now they are just bad.

When bad teams play terrible teams, its easy to imagine they aren't that bad (Arizona playing Colorado). But then they run into the best team Phil's money can buy, and you realize that no, you are actually a rather bad football team.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 15, 2022, 06:40:48 PM
The #5 v #10 showdown between Michigan and Pen State turned out to be not such a slugfest.  Penn State had the ball for only 18 minutes, never forced Michigan to punt, and was outgained 563-268.  41-17 was the final.

Unless the boys lose their focus, Michigan should be 11-0 going into Columbus. Michigan is for real.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on October 15, 2022, 07:50:18 PM
It all feels like who gets to be scrimmage fodder for SECSECSEC but I guess it is good it won't be Notre Dame this year.

Texas survived its annual slugfest against Iowa State. On to Stillwater.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on October 15, 2022, 09:56:00 PM
I don't complain about officiating much.

And I don't want to blame Arizona losing on a bad call. They did not stop Washington all night.

The Arizona OL (poor) against the Washington DL (decent), and the Arizona DL (terrible) against the Washington OL (pretty good) is why Arizona lost this game.

But....

Arizona did not get stops muc all night. But they battled and scrapped and fought. They came back from being down 14-0 to tie it in the first, and went into the second half down 21-14. Washington scored three more time in the 3rd, to make it 42-31. Arizona somehow battled back to close it to 31-42, scored and got the 2 point conversion to close it to 39-42 with about 10 minutes left in the game

Washington marches back down the field, and on 1st and 10 rushes for no gain. 2nd and 10, throw a screen, IIRC, and get tackled for a loss of 1. 3rd and 11, and Penix, who had all night to throw, and took advantage of it, throws deep down the seam, but overthrows his received by about 4 or 5 yards. Holy shit. Arizona got a stop. Oh wait.....here comes the flag. Defensive holding. 1st and 10. They score on the next play.

Replay shows that there was no holding. The Arizona corner had his arm along the waist, but there was no restriction at all. I can understand why the BJ probably thought he saw holding, but it was definitely not there. He is going to get downgraded on that call.

Such a critical moment in the game. I am sure that BJ is about ten times the official I ever was, which is why he is doing games where he is, and I am....not. But that was just a killer, killer error at such a critical moment.

Sigh.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on October 15, 2022, 10:07:37 PM
There was another odd, and critical play in the game. 

Arizona is down at the Washington end of the field late. It is 4th and about 2, and they are going for it. This was at the end of the 3rd quarter, and Arizona is fighting back, down 24-42 I think.

So again, it's like 4th and two and 15 yard line going in. 

deLaura takes the shotgun snap, turns, and pitches it to the running back, pretty clear lateral, he bobbles the ball, drops it, then scoops it back up, and runs to the stick, going out of bounds right at the first down marker. The line judge blows his whistle, and signals an incomplete pass.* Turnover on downs, Washingtons ball 1st and ten at the 15 or so.

Now, it seemed pretty clear it was lateral. But he calls it incomplete, so Washington is going to get the ball at the 15.

Oh wait, they are going to review it! Yeah!

After review, they confirm that it was a backward pass. However, by rule, since it was blown incomplete, so it cannot be advanced. So the result of the review is that Arizona doesn't get the first down, OR an incomplete pass, and Washington gets another 5 yards out of the deal! So now it is 1st and 10 for Washington at the 19 instead! They gained yards on the review, which went in Arizona's favor!


*-Having been a head linesman before I moved to referee, this is actually a tough play to officiate. On 4th and short, you are going to immediately move to the line to gain to make sure you get a good spot, but a pass to your side behind the LOS is your call, and that can be very hard to see an angle on from 10 yards down the field. And we were taught that when in doubt, it is a incomplete pass. However, we did not have replay, and my understanding with replay is that now when in doubt, it is backward/lateral pass, since that, if you get it wrong, can be fixed, while if you blow it dead for an incomplete pass, that cannot be fixed really (since the defense will stop when the whistle blows).
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on October 15, 2022, 10:17:14 PM
Vols over Tide.  Wow.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 16, 2022, 09:02:53 AM
Tennessee fans waited longer for that win over Alabama than Michigan fans did over Ohio State.  All the ones I know had basically reconciled themselves to it never happening again.  And this was not one of those "Alabama overlooked them" kinds of Alabama losses. 

Plus, it was just a great game all-around.  Alabama got a bullshit call, and was sloppy with the penalties, but the back-and-forth momentum almost seemed scripted.  I'm never going to not be happy Alabama lost, but my hat is off to them for the grit they showed in this game.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on October 16, 2022, 02:08:14 PM
Everything was set up for Tennessee to destroy Bama, which seemed to just barely be surviving most of the season. Instead Bama gave them all they could handle. Shots fired at the rest of the SEC West I guess.

Tennessee still has to somehow get past UGA. Good luck to them.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 16, 2022, 10:17:09 PM
How far has Notre Dame sunk?  Of the three teams that have beaten them, only one has a second P5 victory.  They are going to lose some prime recruits.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 17, 2022, 10:17:59 PM
Huh.  So, every week a company called Pro Football Focus does a detailed breakdown of every pro and Div 1 game and player, grading them for fantasy football league results (it has a pay site with the results).  Michigan's offensive line spearheaded a rushing attack that totaled 418 yards against the sixth-best run defense in the country.  The team averaged 7.6 yards per carry.  Pulling centers and guards were wiping out linebackers.  PFF rated them a 58.  58 must be good, right? 

No.  60 is an average game by an average line.

Wow, so Penn State's line must have gotten a terrible grade.  Other than a 60-yard quarterback keeper that was all scheme, the line delivered the runners for 2.1 YPC.  No successful pulls.  Their grade:  64.

What.  the.  fuck?

You just gotta laugh when you see something that bizarre.  What game could they have been watching?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 24, 2022, 08:03:32 AM
Here's an interesting chart from some outfit called "StatsoWar (https://twitter.com/statsowar/status/1584194152769560577) that might shed some light on what's happening thi8s season.  Lok at where Illinois is!

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfwwIlYUYAE4Mji?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on October 24, 2022, 09:30:01 AM
Yeah, I'm not into it but the Pro Football Focus ratings are really big among people I know who gamble heavily on college sports. I think there's a few other sites with similar products and the hardcore gamblers pay for all of them.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 29, 2022, 10:28:02 PM
So, after the 29-7 Michigan beat-down on Sparty, some Sparty players found M receiver Andrel Anthony by himself in the tunnel, and
https://twitter.com/i/status/1586555477319614464 (https://twitter.com/i/status/1586555477319614464)

How is it possible that
1.  These fucking morons think that wearing masks will protect them when they are wearing fucking numbers that identify them, and
2. That fucking program has any fans.  They've been thugs since Dantonio arrived in 2006 and they are thugs today.
3.  Fucking Matt Charbaneau can dismiss this gang assault (beating the guy to the ground and then kicking him from all directions) as a "scuffle."  Shitty sports coverage gives you shitty fans.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on October 30, 2022, 12:31:50 PM
The beat down is pretty reprehensible but in re "why does MSU have any fans", I don't understand why a hypothetical MSU fan would care about bad behavior? As far as I can tell bad behavior has been hilariously normalized in the last 30 years of college sports.

Coaches constantly committing low grade sexual offenses, getting either a wrist slap or at worst spending a season in the woods followed by another high profile hiring.

Teams blatantly paying players back before NIL legalized it--and some being rewarded with National Championships that were never taken back (hi Cam Newton and Auburn.)

Coaches not bothering to tell their current team they've taken a new job for more money until half-heartedly remembering to call them via group conference call from the plane out of town.

Coaches defending assistants for any range of things, including allegations of sexual improprieties with minors, beating their wives etc.

Coaches making excuses for, or minimizing known pedophiles or sexual abusers associated with the athletics department something that sadly we know about for four big 10 powers albeit not all in football--Ohio State (wrestling), Michigan State (Larry Nassar), Michigan(Robert Anderson) and Penn State (Sandusky).

I dunno, I still enjoy watching college football, but I retain almost none of the sepia toned sentimentality for it that I may have had many years ago. Even the service academies which aren't quite as polluted by the cash and professionalization of the sport have had a number of serious scandals around their sports teams in the last 20 years.

It frankly feels like big time sports brings out the worst in basically the entire country, and there's almost no limit to the number of people who are associated with big time sports who will cover up, minimize, or excuse any level of terrible thing if it services the interests of their sports team.

A gang beat down of a essentially defenseless person is a crime--the MSU players should be prosecuted. But it doesn't materially change the moral weight I assign to the various teams, because I assign almost none. These are teams with professional coaches who care almost exclusively about their own careers, Athletic Directors who care almost exclusively about department revenue and booster service, and players who are now entirely mercenary to the core. This is minor league pro football but without anything like a commissioner to keep it on the rails.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on October 30, 2022, 01:39:32 PM
Oh, and here's what happened to the next Michigan player that came down the tunnel:
a worse assault:  hitting the M player in the head swinging a helmet (https://twitter.com/i/status/1586751303962738689)
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 07, 2022, 08:45:49 PM
Here's a stat that tells you something about the Michigan defensive staff and their ability to adjust:  Michigan in the last 4 games has outscored their opponents 100-3 in the second half.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 07, 2022, 11:49:23 PM
Quote from: grumbler on November 07, 2022, 08:45:49 PMHere's a stat that tells you something about the Michigan defensive staff and their ability to adjust:  Michigan in the last 4 games has outscored their opponents 100-3 in the second half.

Texas sucks in the second half. Boy are they amazing in the first half though. They would be right there in the playoff hunt if they could play well in the second half.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 08, 2022, 12:14:29 AM
Arizona's defense is much more consistent, sucking in both halves.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 08, 2022, 08:54:53 AM
Quote from: Valmy on November 07, 2022, 11:49:23 PMTexas sucks in the second half. Boy are they amazing in the first half though. They would be right there in the playoff hunt if they could play well in the second half.

Please fix that before Saturday.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 08, 2022, 10:16:41 AM
Quote from: grumbler on November 08, 2022, 08:54:53 AM
Quote from: Valmy on November 07, 2022, 11:49:23 PMTexas sucks in the second half. Boy are they amazing in the first half though. They would be right there in the playoff hunt if they could play well in the second half.

Please fix that before Saturday.

Unlikely. TCU is the opposite, a team that screws around for three quarters and then storms back in the 4th quarter. So maybe Texas can build a 45-0 lead and hold on for dear life. Also TCU sucks against the run and the majority of our offense is Bijan Robinson, so that bodes well.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 12, 2022, 11:33:50 PM
Hello darkness my old friend...

Sorry grumbler. Texas fails again.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 12, 2022, 11:48:42 PM
Wyoming gutted out a 14-13 win over arch-rival CSU.  Chants of "It sucks.  To be.  A C-S-U Ram." were heard in the visitor's locker room.

Surprisingly, Wyoming is now 7-3 (5-1 in the conference) and with a home game vs Boise State the division could be theirs.  Of course, this scenario happened when a certain Josh Allen was the QB, and Wyoming lost the conference championship.  But still, a guy's gotta hope before having all those dreams crushed by the reality that all true Wyoming fans secretly know.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 13, 2022, 02:14:21 AM
Well, that was one hell of a game.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 13, 2022, 07:59:45 AM
Quote from: Valmy on November 12, 2022, 11:33:50 PMHello darkness my old friend...

Sorry grumbler. Texas fails again.

That was a very surprising game.  Both defenses played surprisingly well.  Well, except for that one play...

Still, you can't feel terrible to lose by one score to the #4 team in the country.

Go Baylor!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 25, 2022, 11:52:49 AM
Having fun grumbler?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 25, 2022, 01:58:21 PM
Well I guess it doesn't get much bigger then undefeated Michigan playing undefeated Ohio State, does it?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 25, 2022, 02:17:42 PM
Quote from: Berkut on November 25, 2022, 01:58:21 PMWell I guess it doesn't get much bigger then undefeated Michigan playing undefeated Ohio State, does it?
I mean, other then the Arizona-Arizona State game today, of course.

A game where the passion is so high because the stakes are so low....
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 25, 2022, 03:35:29 PM
Texas' entire season comes down to the Kansas-Kansas State game. Surely the most important game in College Football tomorrow.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 25, 2022, 09:14:12 PM
Quote from: Valmy on November 25, 2022, 11:52:49 AMHaving fun grumbler?

I'll be having more fun when I see who suits up for Michigan tomorrow.  Being down both starting running backs, their best receiver, two starting offensive linemen, two best tight ends, one starting defensive lineman, their best linebacker, best corner, and best safety last week has me more than a bit concerned.  I'm hoping those were precautionary/healing sit-outs as opposed to actual injuries.

Hate Week has been fun, though.  It's nice to see the rivalry have national relevance for the first time in a few years.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 26, 2022, 12:37:29 PM
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kristinascarcelli.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FCome-On-You-Wolverines-Don-Troiani.jpg&hash=a33360c3c6fc93d6824530676113a114b63eecdf)

Come on you Wolverines!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 26, 2022, 04:24:58 PM
Something tells me Grumbler is going to down an entire amphora of wine he has been saving since the end of "The March Upcountry"
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Berkut on November 26, 2022, 04:34:24 PM
The referee on the game is someone I know and have reffed with a bunch. He is one of the best.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 26, 2022, 05:16:25 PM
Quote from: PDH on November 26, 2022, 04:24:58 PMSomething tells me Grumbler is going to down an entire amphora of wine he has been saving since the end of "The March Upcountry"

Wasshat yu sayyyy?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 26, 2022, 05:34:08 PM
Quote from: grumbler on November 26, 2022, 05:16:25 PM
Quote from: PDH on November 26, 2022, 04:24:58 PMSomething tells me Grumbler is going to down an entire amphora of wine he has been saving since the end of "The March Upcountry"

Wasshat yu sayyyy?
:cheers:
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 26, 2022, 05:37:39 PM
That game went nothing like I expected, and nothing like any Michigan game this year.  Michigan is a grind-em-down offense... that completed only 13 passes this game, about what you'd expect.  What I didn't expect was that those 12 passes would go for 278 yards!  Michigan's offense was not unleashing haymakers like that until today.  I didn't even think that they could.  When it was clear that Blake Corum's injury was still keeping him out of play, I thought Michigan was toast.  But the staff had a whole different bag of tricks prepared for that eventuality, and the rest of the offense was ready to step up.  Crucially, they kept alive their remarkable stat for limiting turnovers.  In twelve games, they have had only six turnovers.

What I only hoped for was that Michigan's defensive staff would continue to be brilliant at halftime adjustments.  They came through.  Only two conference opponents scored more than 3 points in the second half against Michigan this year.  Ohio state was not one of those two.  Michigan better break out the money cannons to fire at their assistants and position coaches.

Buckeye writer Tony Gerdman made a very interesting comment after the game last year (https://buckeyescoop.com/michigan-monday-its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/?amp=1)

QuoteWhen the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes nine days ago, a sleeping giant was awakened.

But we won't know until next year if that giant was Michigan or Ohio State.

Now we know.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 26, 2022, 06:22:15 PM
Quote from: PDH on November 26, 2022, 05:34:08 PM
Quote from: grumbler on November 26, 2022, 05:16:25 PM
Quote from: PDH on November 26, 2022, 04:24:58 PMSomething tells me Grumbler is going to down an entire amphora of wine he has been saving since the end of "The March Upcountry"

Wasshat yu sayyyy?
:cheers:

I wasn't kidding.  I am home, now, so getting spectacularly drunk is in the cards.  This win is even sweeter than last year's win.  Buckeye tears taste like honey.  They lost at home by a bunch and now have to hope someone saves them to get into the playoff.  Been there, done that, and I'm utterly delighted to see the shoe on the other foot.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: PDH on November 26, 2022, 07:28:37 PM
Nor was I kidding...okay, maybe a bit about the amphora as I doubt you kept it intact after last year...but I know the feeling (if less often than you do).

I remember the win vs ranked Boise State to basically cement the Mountain Division in 2016, but I remember very little of the following hours.  Also, the opening day win vs Missouri in 2019 was a high.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on November 27, 2022, 11:39:18 PM
Kansas lost so Texas' season ends in failure to win the Big 12 once again.

On to the Alamo Bowl against UCLA or Oregon.

The defense suddenly got really good towards the end of the season and it is a pretty young unit. That maybe bodes well for next year...but a lot can change during the off season. We'll see.

TCU better win and help keep Ohio State and Alabama out of the playoffs.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 30, 2022, 02:43:52 PM
Best thread title I've seen so far on the Michigan-Ohio State game:
QuoteThe North Remembers*




*for the non-USAians:  Ohio State's athletic department and many fans have this affectation where they refuse to say the word "Michigan" (although they forget about that when they refer to Michigan State) and just refer to "that school up north."
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Eddie Teach on November 30, 2022, 10:00:44 PM
Was that a line in ASOIAF?
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on November 30, 2022, 10:08:54 PM
(https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-18fedf5ade584841f0c146da26e590b3-lq)

She mispronounced "Day" as "Frey" but she had the right sentiment.

There are no good pictures of House Day choking, alas.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on December 12, 2022, 08:46:44 AM
Looks like the always entertaining Mike Leach is in a bad way--suffered an undisclosed medical emergency at his home Sunday night and was rushed to the hospital. Nothing official, but some sources well-connected to the Mississippi State Athletic Department have posted that things are very grave, and he needs a "miracle."
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 12, 2022, 09:16:10 AM
Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on December 12, 2022, 08:46:44 AMLooks like the always entertaining Mike Leach is in a bad way--suffered an undisclosed medical emergency at his home Sunday night and was rushed to the hospital. Nothing official, but some sources well-connected to the Mississippi State Athletic Department have posted that things are very grave, and he needs a "miracle."

Yeah, I've been following this.  Losing him would be a major loss in the war against coachspeak.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 12, 2022, 12:18:22 PM
Sources now saying Leach is brain dead and will be taken off life support.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on December 12, 2022, 12:24:43 PM
Yeah, I had just seen similar--it sounds like he had a massive heart attack in his home, and it was over 15 minutes before EMTs arrived and were able to get his heart beating again. Obviously not a doctor or anything but that specific scenario almost always means brain death, it sounds like he was being kept on life support to let some of his family travel to the area and possibly (if he was an organ donor) to preserve organs for donation.

Definitely sucks not just for his family and such which is obvious, but he was one of the true "characters" of college football that was always entertaining to watch. He also had a really big coaching tree and a big influence on the game with his "Air Raid" offense, which while never my favorite to watch, has definitely percolated around the sport and influenced lots of coaches.

He had been struggling with pneumonia for quite a while, which could be contributory, it isn't unheard of for lingering infections like that to lead to cardiac damage / complications.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 12, 2022, 02:54:14 PM
Wow what a tragedy. I heard rumors he was in poor health this season but nothing indicating he was in danger of something like this. RIP coach, you were a legend. The greatest coach ever for Texas Tech that is for sure.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 13, 2022, 09:19:05 AM
And Coach Leach has passed away.

One of his many humorous analogies went like this:  "This game is like a bacon and egg breakfast.  They are the chicken, and we are the pig.  Now, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed."
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on December 13, 2022, 10:43:35 AM
It appears Coach Leach was an organ donor and several of his organs were harvested for donation.

The biggest thing I could say about Leach is look where he won--Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State

All three were historically mid-tier programs who played tough schedules and had been disasters of losing before he showed up, he won at all three. Lot of people can win games coaching Alabama or Georgia, little harder at the places Leach coached.

He also had a very respectable coaching tree:

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1602668703824449538?s=20&t=7YpjZcBBfnNicMpqPkVeTw
QuoteLeach's tree: Lincoln Riley, Dave Aranda, Sonny Cumbie, Dana Holgorsen, Seth Littrell, Art Briles, Ken Wilson, Neal Brown, Josh Heupel, Eric Morris, Sonny Dykes, Kliff Kingsbury, Ruffin McNeill and assistants Wes Welker, Bill Bedenbaugh, Robert Anae, Alex Grinch, Brandon Jones.

Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 19, 2022, 09:30:36 AM
Michigan wins the Joe Moore award for best offensive line in college football, becoming the first back-to-back winners. This is especially impressive because only two of last year's starters were starters this year.  It's the coaching and culture.  This is the kind of thing we Michigan fans were hoping for when Jim Harbaugh got there. Go Blue!
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 06:24:53 PM
I see Michigan is having as much success running against the purple wall as Texas did.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on December 31, 2022, 06:56:39 PM
Quote from: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 06:24:53 PMI see Michigan is having as much success running against the purple wall as Texas did.

5.1 YPC is much better than Texas's 1.3.  The problem is that Michigan isn't slowing down the TCU run game (but, then, neither did Texas)..
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: OttoVonBismarck on December 31, 2022, 07:12:43 PM
It's a game again.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 07:37:27 PM
Quote from: grumbler on December 31, 2022, 06:56:39 PM
Quote from: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 06:24:53 PMI see Michigan is having as much success running against the purple wall as Texas did.

5.1 YPC is much better than Texas's 1.3.  The problem is that Michigan isn't slowing down the TCU run game (but, then, neither did Texas)..

Well the game has changed a lot since I wrote that. I was empathizing with your plight when it was 21-9 not throwing shade.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 10:24:15 PM
Damn. Crazy games today.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 11:01:54 PM
How are the Buckeyes always this good? I am so damn jealous.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Valmy on January 01, 2023, 12:06:48 AM
Ok I am not jealous anymore. That was a heartbreaker.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Admiral Yi on January 01, 2023, 02:42:07 AM
Quote from: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 11:01:54 PMHow are the Buckeyes always this good? I am so damn jealous.

Massive home field advantage.  I met a Hawkeye third string linebacker and he said playing at Ohio St. freaked him out. 
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 01, 2023, 08:37:25 AM
Quote from: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 11:01:54 PMHow are the Buckeyes always this good? I am so damn jealous.

Recruiting and development at the WR position.  They are also in a talent-rich state without much in-state recruiting competition.  Every Ohio HS football player dreams of playing for OSU.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on January 01, 2023, 08:41:38 AM
Quote from: Valmy on December 31, 2022, 07:37:27 PMWell the game has changed a lot since I wrote that. I was empathizing with your plight when it was 21-9 not throwing shade.

Got it.  But it was Emari Demarcado (who?  :lol: ) that killed Michigan.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: Savonarola on January 03, 2023, 05:12:01 PM
CB and I finally went to a bowl game after all our years of living in Florida.  We went to the Citrus Bowl... which could have gone a little bit better for Purdue.  After Purdue threw the third interception my wife pointed out that there were vultures circling the stadium; that seemed fitting.  At least their band was good.
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: HVC on February 14, 2023, 06:18:19 AM
Title: Re: College Football, 2021-22
Post by: grumbler on February 14, 2023, 08:24:02 AM
Quote from: HVC on February 14, 2023, 06:18:19 AM

The whole "Army vs Navy" or "Navy vs Air Force" thing has always kind of bugged me.  It's really "Military Academy vs Naval Academy" but hyped up as an interservice rivalry because reasons.  Most guys I knew in the Navy didn't much care.