NCAAF 2021 - WEEK TWELVE

[supremebve]

14 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

They should still be a team in the conference title hunt every season though, yeah getting past Ohio State is rough but the Buckeyes aren't that much better to where its not even a contest anymore, that's all on the admin for sticking with Carr way to long, hiring Rodriguez getting buyers remorse the next day and then bringing in Hoke purely due to him being a "Michigan Man", on paper Harbaugh was a smart hire but he's not the answer and if they were smart they'd let him go.

Ohio State is only behind Alabama for sustained greatness. Michigan is not close. Honestly,  the best programs in the country are Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma,  gap, and then Clemson,  Georgia(could be moving up to the top group) , another gap, LSU and not because of anything LSU has actually done. These teams should expect to be good. Every other team is going to be up and down based on their recruiting class. 

@Robert C , I can't dispute what you wrote above, it's all 100% true. My point is that Texas' history is the only reason any of those other schools have a chance in recruiting. Do you think it's an accident that Oklahoma is a preferred destination for kids in Dallas? Texas didn't allow a single black player on the team until 1970. Every black football player in Texas has someone in their life that remembers that.  I grew up in racist ass rural Ohio,  and trust me when I tell you that your parents and grandparents remember all of the racist ass institutions throughout their lives.  Ohio State never comes up.  Texas has never even tried to distance themselves from their history, and all those other schools benefit from it. There is no reason Baylor,  TCU, A&M, or Texas Tech should get a recruit over Texas other than Texas wants to be Texas, and that means a lot.

@MarioI'm going to go ahead and say,  I can't judge any man who decides to date a woman who has earned the professional title,  "Pole Assassin." I understand why you would at least give that relationship a try. 

[Robert C]

5 minutes ago, supremebve said:

@Robert C , I can't dispute what you wrote above, it's all 100% true. My point is that Texas' history is the only reason any of those other schools have a chance in recruiting. Do you think it's an accident that Oklahoma is a preferred destination for kids in Dallas? Texas didn't allow a single black player on the team until 1970. Every black football player in Texas has someone in their life that remembers that.  I grew up in racist ass rural Ohio,  and trust me when I tell you that your parents and grandparents remember all of the racist ass institutions throughout their lives.  Ohio State never comes up.  Texas has never even tried to distance themselves from their history, and all those other schools benefit from it. There is no reason Baylor,  TCU, A&M, or Texas Tech should get a recruit over Texas other than Texas wants to be Texas, and that means a lot.

I can certainly understand avoiding a school due to racism.  I'm a white guy with an over the top southern accent. I fit right in with the good ol' boys.  My wife isn't.  She turned down a full ride at Notre Dame, which her family was pushing hard, after visiting their campus.  Her direct quote was something like "it was the first time I felt like I didn't belong somewhere because I was Mexican".

And I'm definitely not defending Texas. If it was up to me, they'd never win a game ever again.

If playing that awful song every time they gain four yards keeps the recruits headed to A&M, more power to em, I guess.

[JLowe]

22 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Ohio State is only behind Alabama for sustained greatness. Michigan is not close. Honestly,  the best programs in the country are Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma,  gap, and then Clemson,  Georgia(could be moving up to the top group) , another gap, LSU and not because of anything LSU has actually done. These teams should expect to be good. Every other team is going to be up and down based on their recruiting class. 

@Robert C , I can't dispute what you wrote above, it's all 100% true. My point is that Texas' history is the only reason any of those other schools have a chance in recruiting. Do you think it's an accident that Oklahoma is a preferred destination for kids in Dallas? Texas didn't allow a single black player on the team until 1970. Every black football player in Texas has someone in their life that remembers that.  I grew up in racist ass rural Ohio,  and trust me when I tell you that your parents and grandparents remember all of the racist ass institutions throughout their lives.  Ohio State never comes up.  Texas has never even tried to distance themselves from their history, and all those other schools benefit from it. There is no reason Baylor,  TCU, A&M, or Texas Tech should get a recruit over Texas other than Texas wants to be Texas, and that means a lot.

@MarioI'm going to go ahead and say,  I can't judge any man who decides to date a woman who has earned the professional title,  "Pole Assassin." I understand why you would at least give that relationship a try. 

You're absolutely right that UT was the last segregated team to win a national championship, in 1969. Julius Whittier was the first black football player at UT, but as freshman in 1969 he was not allowed on varsity due to NCAA rules. There is a statue of him at the football stadium now.

A&M football integrated in 1967, two years earlier. They have a statue of Sul Ross, a confederate general, on their campus that the students wanted removed, and Kellen Mond spoke out about.

University of Florida: 1968. Auburn 1968.

Alabama football had their first black player in 1971, 1 or 2 years after UT. Georgia was the same year. Ole Miss (still named the Rebels) had their first black players in 1972.

There is an awful history across the south around segregation of schools and athletics.

[Robert C]

1 minute ago, JLowe said:

A&M football integrated in 1967, two years earlier. They have a statue of Sul Ross, a confederate general, on their campus that the students wanted removed, and Kellen Mond spoke out about.

The administration's approach to that thing is beyond gutless.  They've announced the Texas legislature, which sure as shit ain't gonna do anything, is the only body that can remove it.  I'm an Aggie, and I'd gladly push the button to blow the damn thing up.

[supremebve]

The thing about all those schools with the racist history is that if nothing else the football programs have tried to distance themselves from that history. Texas has specifically and explicitly tried to hold onto it. 

Honestly,  A&M is the biggest mystery to me. I think the first time I learned about the corps of cadets, I was completely out on everything they have to do with. If you want to play army man, we have an actual army,  go be all that you can be. But walking around your college campus acting like you're in the military,  except without the danger of being in the military...I can't support that type of behavior at all. 

[Robert C]

18 minutes ago, supremebve said:

The thing about all those schools with the racist history is that if nothing else the football programs have tried to distance themselves from that history. Texas has specifically and explicitly tried to hold onto it. 

Honestly,  A&M is the biggest mystery to me. I think the first time I learned about the corps of cadets, I was completely out on everything they have to do with. If you want to play army man, we have an actual army,  go be all that you can be. But walking around your college campus acting like you're in the military,  except without the danger of being in the military...I can't support that type of behavior at all. 

A large percentage of them do go directly from school to the military - the ones that do are committed by their junior year if I remember correctly.  Last game I went to, they had the leader of the band from a couple years earlier (that's a really big deal at A&M) on the field at halftime.  His face was essentially gone.  He wasn't playing army.  The ones that don't commit, well there's a reason why the term "boot chasers" was created, referring to girls being attracted to the seniors in their high top leather boots.

I never thought about joining the corps.  Probably a good thing, since I was engineering major.  Freshman year classes were full of guys in corps uniforms.  By the time I got to upper level engineering classes, there wasn't a corps uniform to be found.  I probably shared as many upper level classes with football players as I did corps members.

[Robert C]

All these openings are gonna make a bunch of coaches a bunch of money.  Like 10 years @ 9.5M money.  Remember when 10 years @ 7.5M for Fisher seemed insane?  At this point, I'm half expecting A&M to tell him "did we say $9 million per year?  We meant $12 million.  Do you want a pony too?"

[Zimbra]

4 hours ago, Robert C said:

A large percentage of them do go directly from school to the military - the ones that do are committed by their junior year if I remember correctly.  Last game I went to, they had the leader of the band from a couple years earlier (that's a really big deal at A&M) on the field at halftime.  His face was essentially gone.  He wasn't playing army.  The ones that don't commit, well there's a reason why the term "boot chasers" was created, referring to girls being attracted to the seniors in their high top leather boots.

I never thought about joining the corps.  Probably a good thing, since I was engineering major.  Freshman year classes were full of guys in corps uniforms.  By the time I got to upper level engineering classes, there wasn't a corps uniform to be found.  I probably shared as many upper level classes with football players as I did corps members.

Man, A&M was the best campus visit I had in high school and by the end of the day I was really thinking it was going to be my choice, until they insisted my dad & I meet with the Corps people before we left.  That was pretty much the end of that idea.  Nice campus and real friendly people though.

[Robert C]

9 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Man, A&M was the best campus visit I had in high school and by the end of the day I was really thinking it was going to be my choice, until they insisted my dad & I meet with the Corps people before we left.  That was pretty much the end of that idea.  Nice campus and real friendly people though.

Weird.  I never had a single conversation with them during my visit.  Maybe it just depended on who was running it that day.

[Zimbra]

23 minutes ago, Robert C said:

Weird.  I never had a single conversation with them during my visit.  Maybe it just depended on who was running it that day.

Given how much I got pursued by military recruiters I think I just looked like an easy mark when I was 17.

[EVA]

Michigan State going a hundred milli for Mel Tucker based on 3/4’s of a good season on the back of an out-of-nowhere Heisman-caliber RB seems like a very sound decision that they will in no way come to regret.

[Brian Fowler]

Speaking of both segregated racist southern programs and Michigan State, Sparty's best sustained run was when they realized "hey, there's a lot of absurdly talented black kids in the south who keep going to schools like Grambling. Maybe we should bring em up here and let them beat Michigan and Ohio State for us."

[supremebve]

9 hours ago, EVA said:

Michigan State going a hundred milli for Mel Tucker based on 3/4’s of a good season on the back of an out-of-nowhere Heisman-caliber RB seems like a very sound decision that they will in no way come to regret.

This is your fault for expecting people who work for institutes of higher learning to be able to make educated decisions.  

[Robert C]

10 hours ago, EVA said:

Michigan State going a hundred milli for Mel Tucker based on 3/4’s of a good season on the back of an out-of-nowhere Heisman-caliber RB seems like a very sound decision that they will in no way come to regret.

You're absolutely right there, especially if it's fully guaranteed, but I'm guessing that contract won't look so outlandish for long.  It's setting a new bar for that level of coach, but other schools are gonna jump right on over that bar.  I figure it could get passed up a couple times by January. 

No idea how valid the rumors are, but supposedly LSU offered Lincoln Riley $12 million per year.  Riley's a step above Tucker, but he ain't Saban either.  LSU is gonna pay somebody more than Michigan State will be paying Tucker by January.  USC might too.  Florida could as well, either this year or next.  And Texas might next year.  That's a lot of big time money teams looking for at a very limited number of candidates.

Of course none of that is gonna make things look better for Michigan State if they're going 7-5 three years from now, looking at seven more years at $9.5m per year with no way out.  Glad coaches' contracts weren't this crazy when Sumlin won 11 games and beat Bama his first year at A&M.  Imagine how badly that contract would've aged.

[JLowe]

2 hours ago, Robert C said:

You're absolutely right there, especially if it's fully guaranteed, but I'm guessing that contract won't look so outlandish for long.  It's setting a new bar for that level of coach, but other schools are gonna jump right on over that bar.  I figure it could get passed up a couple times by January. 

No idea how valid the rumors are, but supposedly LSU offered Lincoln Riley $12 million per year.  Riley's a step above Tucker, but he ain't Saban either.  LSU is gonna pay somebody more than Michigan State will be paying Tucker by January.  USC might too.  Florida could as well, either this year or next.  And Texas might next year.  That's a lot of big time money teams looking for at a very limited number of candidates.

Of course none of that is gonna make things look better for Michigan State if they're going 7-5 three years from now, looking at seven more years at $9.5m per year with no way out.  Glad coaches' contracts weren't this crazy when Sumlin won 11 games and beat Bama his first year at A&M.  Imagine how badly that contract would've aged.

I know athletics budgets are generally separate at larger schools but MSU doing that for Tucker while asking their professors and academic staff to volunteer in the dining halls is a very bad look.

I figure LSU will do like Texas and offer obscene money to their top guys (Riley and Jimbo) and then, when they get turned down, offer more reasonable market value deals to someone like Napier.

[Tabe]

On 11/17/2021 at 8:36 AM, supremebve said:

Ohio State is only behind Alabama for sustained greatness.

Alabama has a much higher peak with all the championships, obviously, but Ohio State has had a longer run of greatness.  Over the last 18 full football seasons, Ohio has 16 10-win seasons.  Alabama has 14.  If you go back 10 more years, Ohio has 5 10-win seasons, Alabama has 4.  

Alabama is clearly the gold standard but I honestly don't expect that to last once Saban retires.  

[Robert C]

1 hour ago, JLowe said:

I know athletics budgets are generally separate at larger schools but MSU doing that for Tucker while asking their professors and academic staff to volunteer in the dining halls is a very bad look.

Apparently it's funded by two boosters, but you're not wrong there.  My father was a professor at Texas for about 40 years.  I'm trying to imagine his response if he was told to "volunteer" to work in the dining halls.  I'd pay good money to watch somebody make that suggestion to him.

[supremebve]

2 hours ago, JLowe said:

I figure LSU will do like Texas and offer obscene money to their top guys (Riley and Jimbo) and then, when they get turned down, offer more reasonable market value deals to someone like Napier.

LSU may be the very best job in the country. Les Miles and Ed Orgeron win national championships there,  and it ain't because they're coaching geniuses. They have access to an absurd level of talent. I don't know what's going on in the bayou, but those funny talking people can play some football. They ebb and flow,  but every few years they stumble upon a juggernaut almost on accident. 

[JLowe]

5 minutes ago, supremebve said:

LSU may be the very best job in the country. Les Miles and Ed Orgeron win national championships there,  and it ain't because they're coaching geniuses. They have access to an absurd level of talent. I don't know what's going on in the bayou, but those funny talking people can play some football. They ebb and flow,  but every few years they stumble upon a juggernaut almost on accident. 

That's the argument I've seen on why Riley would leave OU for LSU. They lock that state down for the most part. LSU also does really well with East and Southeast Texas guys.

Orgeron hit the lottery with Brady and Burrow.

[supremebve]

13 minutes ago, JLowe said:

That's the argument I've seen on why Riley would leave OU for LSU. They lock that state down for the most part. LSU also does really well with East and Southeast Texas guys.

Orgeron hit the lottery with Brady and Burrow.

Someone needs to write a feature about how the Georgia, Ohio State,  LSU, quarterback situation where Justin Fields left Georgia for Ohio State,  making Joe Burrow leave for LSU. Georgia picking Jake Fromm over Fields is kind of an all- time bond headed decision. Ohio State probably doesn't regret taking Fields,  but Burrow had what may be the best season ever for a college quarterback. 

[RIPPA]

Dabo said that WR Justyn Ross will have foot surgery and then bring preparation for the NFL Draft so he is done at Clemson

[Tabe]

On 11/18/2021 at 1:21 PM, supremebve said:

Someone needs to write a feature about how the Georgia, Ohio State,  LSU, quarterback situation where Justin Fields left Georgia for Ohio State,  making Joe Burrow leave for LSU. Georgia picking Jake Fromm over Fields is kind of an all- time bond headed decision. Ohio State probably doesn't regret taking Fields,  but Burrow had what may be the best season ever for a college quarterback. 

I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a season better than Burrow's.  He averaged 370 yards and 4 touchdown passes per game that year.  *4* touchdown passes per game.  They won by 4 touchdowns in the SEC title game.  They named the scored in the CFP semis with Burrow getting 8 TDs (7 pass, 1 run) in 3/4 of a game.  Then they dominated the title game with Burrow throwing 5 more TDs.  Burrow completed 71.1% of his passes or more in *every* game.  His *lowest* passer rating in any game was 143.5.  He threw 5 TDs in a game *six* times.  The numbers are all just mind-boggling.  What an incredible year.  

Edited November 21, 2021 by Tabe

[supremebve]

8 minutes ago, Tabe said:

I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a season better than Burrow's.  He averaged 370 yards and 4 touchdown passes for per game that year.  *4* touchdown passes per game.  They won by 4 touchdowns in the SEC title game.  They named the scored in the CFP semis with Burrow getting 8 TDs (7 pass, 1 run) in 3/4 of a game.  Then they dominated the title game with Burrow throwing 5 more TDs.  Burrow completed 71.1% of his passes or more in *every* game.  His *lowest* passer rating in any game was 143.5.  He threw 5 TDs in a game *six* times.  The numbers are all just mind-boggling.  What an incredible year.  

The only real competition for Burrow is Cam Newton and Tim Tebow, who happened to be on the same team at one point.  Burrow and Tebow had all-time great teams from top to bottom, but Cam pretty much won the 2010 National Championship by himself. I just looked at the Auburn roster from that year and Nick Fairley is then only other name i recognized. Cam's numbers don't match up,  but he was a force of nature that season. 

[Robert C]

Well, Texas is having a nice Friday night  

https://www.hookem.com/story/sports/football/2021/11/19/texas-football-brian-jones-donors-pressuring-seve-sarkisian-race/8687690002/

[Brian Fowler]

That LSU team was insane. Like legitimately probably the best college football team I've ever seen. And it came out of nowhere, sandwiched between years of talented but underachieving teams that couldn't find a QB or passing attack.

Joe Burrow put up better than Big XII numbers in the SEC.