College Football, 2021-22

[PDH]

Something 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?

[grumbler]

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

When 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.

[grumbler]

Something 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?

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.

[PDH]

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.

[Valmy]

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.

[grumbler]

Best thread title I've seen so far on the Michigan-Ohio State game:

The 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."

[Eddie Teach]

Was that a line in ASOIAF?

[grumbler]

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

There are no good pictures of House Day choking, alas.

[OttoVonBismarck]

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."

[grumbler]

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."

Yeah, I've been following this.  Losing him would be a major loss in the war against coachspeak.

[grumbler]

Sources now saying Leach is brain dead and will be taken off life support.

[OttoVonBismarck]

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.

[Valmy]

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.

[grumbler]

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."

[OttoVonBismarck]

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

Leach'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.