College Football Discussion

[Jew]

"Suck it, NCAA"-USC

 

It's pretty impressive that despite the worst sanctions since SMU (which I think by now everyone can agree were total bs), USC will have had two 10 win, top-25 ranked seasons and never finished below .500 during those sanctions!

 

Sark has been on a roll recruiting areas of need (linemen, db)...so hopefully USC will pick up right where they left off.

[ZeroGravity55]

I was watching the ESPN 30 for 30 on Maurice Clarett and Jim Tressel and occurred to me that Jim Tressel only has 3 more season on his show clause sanctions. It also occurred to me that he only has to serve the sanctions he would have served at Ohio St if he decided to coach before the show clause was up. Those are sitting out the first five games of the season and the bowl game. Maybe Texas would take a shot at hiring him? He's won a national championship, ran a major college football program, and is a great recruiter. The only thing holding him back is the sanctions for one season and it'll probably take a couple of seasons to get the program running in the right direction. He probably won't get hired at Texas, but I thought that I would throw that out there.

[Jew]

^Would be a very high risk, high reward hire. The NCAA changed their rules now so the head coach is responsible for anything that goes on in the program unless "he shows he fostered a culture of compliance."

[shivtim]

With Notre Dame's bowl win and Michigan's bowl loss on Saturday, the Irish are now the all-time winningest team by percentage.

[larrygator]

I love the Georgia Tech PSA that just ran during the game. I know the video is a few months old but great that the school turned it into their PSA.

 

You Can Do That!

 

Have they been running this all season?

Edited December 30, 2013 by larrygator

[thrillerman1]

^ That was an awesome PSA!

[Jew]

Now that 5 NFL coaches have been fired, in addition to the Texas job opening....the next cycle of the coaching carousel should be getting underway shortly. Which is going to leave a lot of schools scrambling to keep recruiting classes together. The hottest rumor is Bill O'Brien leaving Penn State for the NFL.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Jew

[triggernel]

Anyone been to any bowl games this season? Really gonna try and make it to the Capital One Bowl this year. Have never been to the Citrus Bowl, and I want to see how terrible it is before they rebuild the whole thing for next year. Hoping I can pick up some tickets for around $20, but we'll see.

[ArizonaGuy]

Gosh UT totally sucked tonight. Offense totally gave up.

[Jew]

^Texas never had an offense to begin with.

[Hilltopper39]

Not a terribly exciting day of bowl games, but some good games none the less. Personally my two biggest locks of the bowl season were both major losses. I thought A&M would crush Duke but they somehow forgot how to play defense for 3.5 quarters, then I also thought Stanford would roll over Michigan State but Sparty is tough. It still amazes me that Mark Dantonio's name doesn't get mentioned for bigger jobs, seems like all the guy does is win 8-10 games a year at a somewhat of a lower tier school. Maybe he's waiting for Spurrier to retire so he can take over his alma mater in the next couple of years.

 

I guess UCF was a shocker for most people but I had a feeling that they would compete in that game and maybe even win. I've watched UCF play a few times this year and they were impressive, glad the rest of the nation got a chance to see that last night.

 

Oklahoma vs Bama tonight, I never condone picking Oklahoma ever, but tonight's game feels like one of those where they've got everything to play for and Bama has nothing to play for. I think during the regular season Bama wins this game 99 times out of 100 but weird things tend to happen in bowl games.

[Jew]

^Stanford lost that game for the same reason they lost to USC: their QB is average and they are stubborn about forcing the run. That fourth down play was seen from a mile away. A&M hasn't played defense all year, which is why I am surprised Sumlin gets mentioned for so many jobs.

[ZeroGravity55]

^ Sumlin is supposed to be a defensive guy too. A&M played a lot of freshman and sophomores on defense this season, so they should be better next season.

 

I honestly didn't understand why Michigan St was such a big underdog. I've watched about 6 of their games this season and I thought their defense was way better than Stanford's when they announced the game. I think a lot of people made too much of a fuss over Michigan St losing their captain linebacker who called the plays and made the defensive adjustments on the field. It would have been a much bigger deal if they played a team like Oregon with their incredible pace.

 

There is only one more BCS game until the National Championship game. I still think Auburn's O-line is going absolutely maul Florida St's defense with that run game. Even with a month to prepare, I think Auburn's offense is going to be hard to stop. You can't simulate that I kind of pace with the variations of the zone read and triple option at full speed in practice. Can Auburn's defense stop Florida St? That's the only question. I think the first team to score 40+ plus wins the game.

[Jew]

^I don't think he's ever been known as a defense guy. He's coached nothing but offense his entire career.

[ZeroGravity55]

^ My bad. I thought he had a defensive background for some reason. He did play linebacker in college, but you're right. He coached under a lot of great offensive minds before working his way up to becoming a coordinator at Oklahoma.

[Meteornotes]

Well, this Clemson/OSU game has certainly not been dull...

 

dt

[Jew]

With tOSU's loss, USC will end the BCS era as the team with the most BCS bowl wins and best win percentage in BCS bowls! And that was with the NCAA probation the last four years!

[slither37]

^ Don't USC and OSU both have a net of 5 BCS wins? 6 wins, but each has had one vacated.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_Championship_Series

 

So USC is tied with OSU for most BCS wins. Percentage does go to USC, which has fewer BCS appearances than OSU.

 

Clemson sure kept trying to give OSU the win last night. Guiton should have played the 4th quarter.

[Hoppy]

...then I also thought Stanford would roll over Michigan State but Sparty is tough. It still amazes me that Mark Dantonio's name doesn't get mentioned for bigger jobs, seems like all the guy does is win 8-10 games a year at a somewhat of a lower tier school. Maybe he's waiting for Spurrier to retire so he can take over his alma mater in the next couple of years.

 

I'm sorry, but you thought the Big 10 was considered a 'lower tier' especially MSU?

Can you elaborate on your opinion that we are listed as a lower-tier?

 

We still have a huge conference even if it isn't plastered all over ESPN like the SEC or the PAC 12 - My guess is that, it is because the "rest of the world" only seems to know the Wolverines or OSU; MSU has consistently crushed UM the past 5 of 6yrs and OSU has been tough over the years but we showed everyone who we were knocking them out by double digits in the Big Ten Championship thanks to our #1 D. As a die hard Spartan fan and Alum, it is interesting to see folks around the country that haven't heard of MSU, especially with our stellar basketball program (versus Duke which usually is only good in bball...FB was a surprise this year) not to mention the entire season it was outlined all over EPSN and the media how we were so *underrated* yet blew all opponents out by double digits except the single loss to ND (I'm sure you read the reports how bad that game was at the end to give ND the win).

 

FWIW - Dantonio has been contacted by Texas and may other 'bigger jobs' but his heart lies in East Lansing and he wants to showcase our Elite team. MSU's journey to elite status seems to now be complete (finally) after years of terrible John L Smith.

 

Oh, and don't get me started on how TERRIBLE the Stanford band is...damn trees which is what everyone thinks is Stanford's mascot now...I'm glad we showed up with class as the Spartan Marching Band, put on a helluva performance and didn't pull out stale jokes and a crappy music selection that made the entire stadium erupt with a loud BOO!

 

/rant if it sounds like it, my bad...

 

Stanford lost that game for the same reason they lost to USC: their QB is average and they are stubborn about forcing the run. That fourth down play was seen from a mile away.

 

Funny you say this...while ESPN 'analysts' kept stating that the Stanford QB was so much better than Cook - Cook plays hard and if you guys saw our first few games, we were swapping two QBs in and out which is why our Offense was downplayed the rest of the season. Yes, that 4th down play was rather obvious hence the MSU timeout to put more folks in the middle and stop them - that was a damn good play! I actually thought it was gonna be a QB sneak when they saw our coverage, or the QB was going to try a quick pass outside...

[Jew]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: every conference is about the same. The top of every conference is strong, then there is the 2nd tier of teams that can put together a run every now and then, then there is the 3rd tier of the constant 7-6/8-4, and then there is the bottom tier which is crap.

 

The BIG-10 WAS weak this year, because those 2nd tier teams didn't step up their game. Ohio State's loss somewhat shows that. Doesn't take away from MSU being a great team this season. And lets face it, Michigan State is NEVER going to be a high profile team like USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, etc. Doesn't mean they won't be a good to great football team every year (that's what good coaching does), but they will NEVER get the same exposure as those schools. The fact that this was MSU's first Rose Bowl win/appearance in 26 years somewhat proves that.

 

The top rated high school players from anywhere outside of the midwest for the most part aren't going to have Michigan State on their top-5 school lists…but that doesn't mean MSU still won't be a solid program. It will never be an "it" program.

 

^ Don't USC and OSU both have a net of 5 BCS wins? 6 wins, but each has had one vacated.

 

Yeah, but I hate that whole vacated win thing. Everyone knows what really happened, so what is the point in trying to pretend those games didn't happen?

Edited January 4, 2014 by Jew

[Hilltopper39]

...then I also thought Stanford would roll over Michigan State but Sparty is tough. It still amazes me that Mark Dantonio's name doesn't get mentioned for bigger jobs, seems like all the guy does is win 8-10 games a year at a somewhat of a lower tier school. Maybe he's waiting for Spurrier to retire so he can take over his alma mater in the next couple of years.

 

I'm sorry, but you thought the Big 10 was considered a 'lower tier' especially MSU?

Can you elaborate on your opinion that we are listed as a lower-tier?

 

We still have a huge conference even if it isn't plastered all over ESPN like the SEC or the PAC 12 - My guess is that, it is because the "rest of the world" only seems to know the Wolverines or OSU; MSU has consistently crushed UM the past 5 of 6yrs and OSU has been tough over the years but we showed everyone who we were knocking them out by double digits in the Big Ten Championship thanks to our #1 D. As a die hard Spartan fan and Alum, it is interesting to see folks around the country that haven't heard of MSU, especially with our stellar basketball program (versus Duke which usually is only good in bball...FB was a surprise this year) not to mention the entire season it was outlined all over EPSN and the media how we were so *underrated* yet blew all opponents out by double digits except the single loss to ND (I'm sure you read the reports how bad that game was at the end to give ND the win).

 

FWIW - Dantonio has been contacted by Texas and may other 'bigger jobs' but his heart lies in East Lansing and he wants to showcase our Elite team. MSU's journey to elite status seems to now be complete (finally) after years of terrible John L Smith.

 

 

/rant if it sounds like it, my bad...

 

 

What I meant by "lower tier" was, like you said, they're not Michigan and they're not Ohio State, and in the Big 10 those are the two teams that I would consider "top tier" and then teams like Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Penn State I would consider a "lower tier", not the lowest tier but lower. The point I was trying to make was that usually when a coach has any sort of sustained success at a "lower tier" school more often than not they end up taking a job elsewhere (see Steve Sarkisian, Charlie Strong, Nick Saban, Brian Kelly, Jim Harbaugh, etc.). I didn't mean it as an insult or anything but let's be honest on a national stage over the past decade MSU hasn't garnished the same type of respect and attention as Ohio State or other "top tier" programs, but that might change now. In my eyes Michigan State is kind of in the same position now that Stanford was 2 or 3 years ago where they are just on the edge of becoming a top tier type program (even though MSU has had more sustained success over the past decade.)

 

 

I'm sorry, but you thought the Big 10 was considered a 'lower tier' especially MSU?

For whatever it's worth, yes absolutely the Big 10 is a lower tier conference at this point in time, not lowest, but certainly lower. In my opinion the SEC is still the best but not the Pac 12 is a lot closer than people realize, then the Big 12 and ACC are next with the Big 10 behind them. I mean the Big 10 was 4-10 in the Rose Bowl in the BCS era and 5-21 against Top 10 non-conference teams since 2006. It doesn't take an expert to watch a little Big 10 football and realize the level of play in that conference isn't what it used to be.

[Hoppy]

^ Fair enough, thanks much for your clarification and additional details...they helped me come to peace with such a great year and now on to bball with Izzo!

[Jew]

[Jew]

Double post, but…is it time for signing day yet?

 

Crazy 4th quarter to end the SEC's run of titles. I can't help but fee bad for Auburn fans, since I know all too well how it feels to be there when the team you root for loses a BCS title game in the Rose Bowl in the 4th quarter...

[Hilltopper39]

^^I love that Texas graphic, it's great!

 

Hell of a game last night. Both teams made a lot of great plays and it came down to the Heisman trophy winner leading an incredible drive to score a TD to win the National Championship, great way to end the season and the BCS era. However I'm already kind of tired of all of the commentary about who made what mistakes and how FSU ended the SEC streak and everything. Can't we just enjoy the moment for what it was? It was a great football game between two great teams but for some reason that's still not good enough for some people out there. A couple of callers on the local radio this morning were still trying to refute FSU legitimacy as National Champions citing weak schedule and all of the same arguments, absolutely ridiculous, people are dumb.

 

Oh well, time to move on to signing period and next season. There's an awful lot to look forward next season with the 4 team playoff coming. I'm expecting more controversy over the 4 playoff spots than there ever was over the 1 & 2 for the BCS title game, but in the process the 4 team playoff will be the biggest thing to happen to sports in a long long time. It will be absolutely huge and I can't wait. If there were a 4 team playoff this year, we would more than likely be awaiting an FSU vs Alabama game next weekend following a game like last nights, it's going to be insane!