College football - Week 10
 

Georgia Tech vs. Virgina Tech tonight

This should be an interesting game and by interesting I mean Virgina Tech should steamroll GT.

It's all about 'Bama vs. LSU for me.

Michigan also tries to decide how much it wants to limp towards the end of the season. 7-5 to me was the breaking point, so a loss here pretty much locks in a 6-6 season.

And hopefully the end of the ridiculous RR era.

Without a big win at OSU I don't see how RR keeps his job after the PSU debacle.

This is depressing, but with JT Floyd going down for the season this is Michigan's depth chart in the secondary:

RCB
Rogers (Never played before this year)
True freshman Terrence Talbott
True freshman Cullen Christian

LCB
True freshman Courtney Avery
TBD – Some Walk-on/Talbott/Christian

FS
True freshman Ray Vinopal
True freshman Carvin Johnson

Hybrid
Redshirt freshman Cam Gordon OR
Redshirt freshman Thomas Gordon
Walk-on Simmons

SS
Former Walk-on Kovacs
True freshman Marvin Robinson

And the lack of sophomores and juniors is in vast part to blame due to recruiting. 'Bama lost almost two whole squads in their defense and can paste together something at least respectable. Unless they get JR. College transfers, Michigan's backfield will be filled with sophomores and freshmen and the cry of being so young will ring out again. As it stands, Michigan only has two DB recruits for next year and only one is a 4 star.

Switching from the 3-4 we used last year was just ridiculous. Yes it would have put more pressure on the DB's but at least it would have at least opened up more avenues to pressure the QB.

The 3-3-5 can only work if you are constantly blitzing guys but we are playing a 3-3-5 soft zone all game which is the worst idea ever. It's just a license to gash us.

I can't even being to express how asinine I think a 3-3-5 defense is for a base defense. You can't stop the run and you can't get any pressure on the QB. Awesome.

Considering how popular the spread is in college football right now I'm surprised the 3-3-5 hasn't caught on more. It gives you so much flexibility in coverage and with blitzes while allowing you to remain strong against the run by bringing up one of the safeties.

Lack of blitzing would definitely be a problem though. Add to that the soft coverage Gibby teaches and it's going to become even more of an issue. I remember WVU fans constantly bitching about our DBs playing 10 yards off of receivers at all times. Down and distance didn't matter. It's the Gibby way.

I don't get the switch this year either. Rich obviously knew heading into this season that he was on the hot seat and he decides it's a good idea to switch defensive schemes?

With the right personnel, the 3-3-5 is pretty much the same as a 3-4 front.

The only difference is that you essentially need two good strong safeties to split time as an extra outside linebacker (see Robert Sands and Sidney Glover currently at WVU). It isn't like the defense calls for teams to drop 5 DBs back into coverage every time.

Michigan's problem (and WVU's during Rod's tenure) on defense, as we have discussed, is that he doesn't focus on it in recruiting and would rather see how athletes work out at receiver or running back (or ever quarterback) and, if they don't fit in there, move them over to defense. Team that with a defensive backs coach that has never shown the ability to teach the position and you have a lot of toast in the secondary.

He also didn't seem to put much emphasis on recruiting on the defensive line while at WVU. I thought he would do much better at getting good linemen and ends at Michigan (and he may be, I haven't followed closesly).

NCAA adds third probation year for Michigan - ESPN

Michigan gets a slap on the wrist by having a 3rd year of probation added on.

Cam Newton offered for cash in exchange for signing letter of intent, ex-Mississippi State quarterback said - ESPN

This will be an interesting one. I'll guess the NCAA tries to sweep it under the rug. Yahoo! Sports pulls up a ton of dirt and buries the school. NCAA comes in years later because of all the pressure and has to do something like with USC.

Problem is that any coach going up against Michigan for a DB will say that you won't see the field for four years

Am I the only one that finds this quote rather shocking, coming from a "preacher"?

That's "bishop" IIRC.

And no, you weren't the only one who had an elevated eyebrow after reading it.

So GT leads VT 14-7 at the half in Blacksburg ... and Nesbitt will miss the 2nd half, apparently some sort of arm injury suffered while trying to make a tackle.

Does Nesbitt really need his arm? It's not like he can throw with it.

a) I can only assume it hampers his ability to either hold onto the ball or pitch it
and
b) How's he supposed to tackle with one arm after throwing a pick?

lol at b

Okay, I'm not watching the game, just tracking it online.

Please tell me that, with the defense playing well for the first time all season, we did NOT just go for it on 4th & 2 at the Hokies 45.

It wasn't even close either.

I also don't get him being a bishop for 5 different churches.

That might have been my last straw with CPJ.

Not being able to recruit for shit is one thing.
Being that fucking dumb given those circumstances is another entirely.

See, that's life as a GT fan. Almost miraculously the Jackets score & tie it up with the backup QB ... and VT runs the KO back for a TD.

Yay! Lets rush the field for beating an unranked team!

Nesbitt broke his arm and is out for the season. Thank you for 3 and a half great seasons. One of my all time favorite Jackets for his heart and drive.

Thats too bad. Good luck in the pros.

It's not an ACC game unless someone's turning the ball over on the last drive.

Good luck being a bitch, you nobody piece of shit. But I suppose theres no need for luck when it comes so naturally.

I feel the same - hell of a player. He set the record for most rushing yards by a QB in the ACC (Woody Dantzler) earlier this game; glad that happened before the injury.

I feared as much, otherwise he would have been out there.

Glad he got the QB rushing record before the injury. The inexplicable passing woes that developed during his career aside, he was at least a guy that you knew feared nothing & would give you everything he had.

That's too bad, he was fun to watch.

Speaking of Woody Dantzler, whatever happened to him? Thought he made an NFL roster a few years back.

He spent a few years bouncing between the Cowboys and Falcons and did a couple stints with each.

Spent 2 years in Arena Ball.

Then came back home to SC and became a HS coach. He is a great dude, and I still run into him about every 3-4 months through some mutual friends.

I find it odd how much GT celebrated him breaking that record...#1 wasn't an option QB...and if we start adding total passing yards into the equation it isn't even close.

Not really sure what your point is. He got hurt one quarter after breaking Dantzler's record, so I'm not sure how much celebrating went on.

And though Dantzler wasn't an "option" quarterback, he had more than 10 rushing attempts in 32 of his 38 games that he started and averaged more than 15 rushing attempts a game. So while not an option QB, he was certainly a rushing QB. Trust me, I still remember back-up LB Sterling Green trying to chase him down in 2001.

Dantzler was a fantastic player, no doubt. I would hope you feel the same about Joshua--lord knows you saw him play enough.

IBTL!

The talk was really more before the week we played, all we heard was how h was going to break the record in Death Valley and celebrate on the field blah blah blah.

Dantzler had a number of rushes many because he flushed quickly from the pocket, in addition to the zone read stuff.

Again, not sure where you're pulling that from, local yahoos on sports radio maybe? I searched the Hive and the Ga Tech rivals site and can't find one mention of Tech fans crowing about the record prior to the Clemson game. In fact, the only quote I can find about is by Dabo saying Nesbitt would have to "get those yards elsewhere."

But, I can see how it is hard for you to praise a guy who beat you in 3 of the 4 games he started and 4 out of 5 of the games he played (your current bragging rights notwithstanding).

He didn't beat me, per se I was 2-0 against GT ;)

nah we had several jacket fans come onto Clemson's board the week of the game talking shiat....nothing too major.

Its kinda funny every time I go to Atlanta its a decent crowd, every GT fan that comes up to Clemson seems to be a JA, by rule.

Ok, quick question. All the stuff I've seen about Newton has been either statements that Auburn has done nothing wrong or commentators saying I can't believe Auburn would do that blah blah blah. So for argument's sake, let's say Auburn University and employees did nothing wrong.

But lets say a booster gave the kid and his family money, and Auburn had no clue. What would happen to Auburn and their season at this point?

Well did the NCAA get their own cut?

I don't see anyway that Newton wouldn't be retroactively ineligible and they wouldn't forfeit those wins. If any of this is true, that's probably best case scenario for Auburn if they knew nothing about it (and sounds like Auburn is either pretty clean or they are doing a really nice job of controlling the media)

Now if they continue to play him when the smoking gun is there, I don't know if that opens them up to further sanctions from the NCAA. They might be wise to sit him this weekend as they probably won't need him to pull out the W.

See: Five, Fab

Athletic departments are still responsible for boosters. When the NCAA hammered the Washington football program in '93, they noted that the coaches hadn't broken any rules, but it was still "lack of institutional control" by the athletic department for not monitoring what their boosters were doing.

It's obviously worse if the coaches or administrators are breaking rules, but Auburn could still get hit with sanctions if it turns out boosters broke rules to get Newton.

Auburn could be the first domino to fall exposing FBS recruiting games.

I used him as my backup QB in Madden at one point I believe.

What about that mushroom cloud that nearly vaporized the UNC program before the season began? It also managed to get a lot of fingers pointed at various SEC players while they were at it. I think without that mess being touched off with Marvin Austin's tweet, almost none of what's happened since--the UNC assistant coach on the take, the SI article about the blatant agent money games, and now Cam Newton (whether the last one is true or not)--would have come to light.

I suppose if you want to get really picky about it, you could argue the that the near-miss on the death penalty USC got for the Reggie Bush case made everyone more sensitive to the money issues and then Marvin made his tweet in just such an environment, sort of like lighting a match in a coal mine.

I think the summer conference realignment talk had more to do with this than anyone is willing to admit. I think 4 mega conferences is the scariest thing the NCAA can imagine as they would lose much of their leverage and the BCS could be exposed for the sham it is.

Based on this, I see all the sudden investigations as,"Oh yeah, try to re-align against our will, we will show you."

The BCS has already been exposed as a sham. I don't know how mega-conferences could hurt its integrity anymore. I also don't think this is intentional. It's just a different age where information can be disseminated much faster. And we have a media that piggybacks on stories and runs them into the ground. Once they smell blood, they keep going in for more. Whether it's PEDs in baseball, concussions in football, or illegal activity in college sports.