Official 2021 College Football thread

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Why is Oklahoma State-Kansas the primetime game for the Big XII this week?
SI

Because it’s on FS1, and they aren’t very high on the pecking order. I see that the primetime Pac-12 game is 0-7 Arizona at 3-4 USC on ESPNU.

[Brian Swartz]

Congrats to the MSU people. Pretty much a dream start to the game for Michigan, and if you can't hold a 30-14 third-quarter lead you don't deserve to win.

[Swaggs]

I wonder if Mel Tucker might get some looks from NFL teams this off-season. What he is doing this year is impressive.

[GrantDawg]

Maybe, but LSU is probably going to offer the most money.

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[Edward64]

Caught bits and pieces early on, thought Michigan had it well at hand. Pretty sad collapse.

Mississippi State beating up on #12 KY is not good and does not reinforce my (somewhat) confidence that we'll beat them next week.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Congrats to the MSU people. Pretty much a dream start to the game for Michigan, and if you can't hold a 30-14 third-quarter lead you don't deserve to win.

Would be interested to get some takes on Harbaugh from UM fans. I suppose it ultimately depends on the tOSU game but is he doing just enough to stay or just enough to get fired?

[JPhillips]

My guess for Tuesday night.

1 Georgia
2 Oklahoma
3 MSU
4 Cincy
5 Alabama
6 Oregon
7 Ohio State
8 Wake Forest
9 Notre Dame
10 Michigan

I'll be shocked if they don't set it up to make it easy to screw even an undefeated Cincy team out of the playoff. Ranking them 2nd makes it hard to replace them.

[tarcone]

What I think Tuesday night looks like

1. Georgia
2. tOSU
3. Alabama
4. MSU
5. Oklahoma
6. Cincy
7. Wake Forest
8. Oregon
9. ND
10. Mich.

This guarantees one B1G, 2 SEC and the dog fight for the last spot between OU and Cincy with Wake a dark horse.

[Lathum]

Cinci will be in the top 4 with that win over ND. My guess is it will be Georgia, MSU, OK, Cinci. Bama and tOSU control their own fate regardless.

[HerRealName]

I'm an OSU alum but I'm very uncomfortable with Ohio State being ranked over Oregon at this point.

[tarcone]

When Iowa coach Bob Commings was fired, it had been 20 years since Iowa won a conference championship.
Right now, it has been 17 years since Iowa has won a conference championship.

[Ksyrup]

If this happens, RIP CUSA.

Sources: The potential for Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee joining the MAC is coming into focus. There are separate calls scheduled with the MAC ADs and MAC presidents tomorrow in which the potential additions will be discussed, which will be a key part of the process.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 31, 2021

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Bobble

suppose it ultimately depends on the tOSU game but is he doing just enough to stay or just enough to get fired?

I don't think there's much chance of beating Ohio State. I think if they were going to fire him they'd have done it already. It's pretty clear McNamara is as effective as any QB they've had - I think they're keeping him because it's more likely the replacement would be worse than better. I really just look at this as - they were 2-4 last year. It was a disaster. This year they should go to a good bowl and win ten games. Going from 2-4 to winning the Big Ten was never really realistic IMO. Obviously they are underperforming in big games and that's a problem - I'd be in favor of replacing him if there's a better option, but I don't see one.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Gary Patterson out at TCU

Long-time Big 12 coach announces he's leaving program, effective immediately

[GrantDawg]

Patterson had such a good run for a long time at TCU. He could have left for a bigger program several times in the past, but stay with them. It sad that it ended like this.

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[miami_fan]

They asked Patterson to finish the season and he declined to do so. Did Patterson quit on his team in the middle of the season?

[HomerSimpson98]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

They asked Patterson to finish the season and he declined to do so. Did Patterson quit on his team in the middle of the season?

Coach P is an old school coach. He demanded respect from his players, the university, and the community. He also gave alot back ad was rock-solid in the FW community. He is much loved by current and former players. Having said all that, he was struggling mightily with the recent changes to the system, namely NIL stuff. He fits the dictator mold but would do anything for guys that bought into his system. Over the summer, he basically told TCU boosters that they need to pony up cash in order to pay players going forward, otherwise TCU would fall behind. He's not wrong. But he's a very stubborn guy who feels that he had banked enough credit to weather the recent run of subpar seasons. He feels like he doesnt need or have to apologize for a downturn, considering where this program was when he arrived. But this is a new era in college athletics, for better or worse. Apparently, the administration sat him down yesterday and basically asked him to retire at the end of the year. Coach P told them to go fuck themselves. Not sure if that's "quitting" or not. Either way, sad ending to a great run. I'm not sure if TCU will ever be the same.

[Swaggs]

I worry a lot about the NIL stuff at schools like mine (West Virginia). I am aware of a few contracts that are out, but they are with the car dealership that provides cars to the coaches, local law firms, and sports-themed shops/restaurants.

Between the NIL and the transfer portal with immediate eligibility (which I still don't completely understand), it seems like the schools a tier ahead of us will be able to poach from us (we lost two starting DBs to Georgia and Auburn - one left with his position coach) and we will, in-turn have to poach from the schools a tier below us. I think football can still be fun, but it is just going to be a lot different than the days of seeing 4th and 5th year system guys that make programs like ours able to compete on a more national scale every 4 or 5 years.

I'm interested to see how basketball will work. I think we've already had almost ten kids enter the portal during the season. I think college basketball is going to be insane with transfers and NIL-baiting, because one or two kids can make a huge difference in basketball.

[Swaggs]

Dola - I meant to sort of my above post to the ones about Patterson, as TCU is a pretty small, private school with 90,000 living alumni (Texas has 540,000 and A&M lists 508,000 for contrast - even WVU has over 200,000). They are in a great area and I'm sure have some wealthy alums, but they may struggle with this stuff, too. In reading over the list of potential replacements, it doesn't look like there is a slam dunk hire. I feel like Tom Herman should be getting some buzz for some of these jobs, but I think I have heard is not that well-liked by people that have worked with him in the past.

[cuervo72]

Hey, just wait until the SEC changes the rule again to allow in-season transfers!!!

[Ksyrup]

Umm... I don't know which parts of the Texas special teams coach stories are true, but they build one heck of a headline if you put them all together.

Something along the lines of... Texas special teams coach leaves wife and kids for stripper named Pole Assassin who has pet monkey that allegedly attacked a child last night during Halloween.

Quite the Mad Lib going on there.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Hey, just wait until the SEC changes the rule again to allow in-season transfers!!!

Will bring a new meaning to the phrase "listed day-to-day"

[JonInMiddleGA]

Clay Helton reportedly to Ga Southern -- 5 yrs / $800k per year

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Umm... I don't know which parts of the Texas special teams coach stories are true, but they build one heck of a headline if you put them all together.

Something along the lines of... Texas special teams coach leaves wife and kids for stripper named Pole Assassin who has pet monkey that allegedly attacked a child last night during Halloween.

Quite the Mad Lib going on there.

Just did a Google search for "Texas special teams coach". Usually that leads to a Wiki entry or maybe the school's website. This time, it led straight to this story and ... well it is in Sports Illustrated.

Jeff Banks: Texas coach's girlfriend's monkey accusing of biting kid - Sports Illustrated

[GrantDawg]

Yeah, the CFP ranking is crap. A team that list to a unranked team number two? A team ranked ahead of the team that beat them with the same record? What?

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[RainMaker]

The Ohio State ranking is weird. A loss to Oregon at home who was missing their best player. They haven't beaten anyone of consequence this year. Sure if they take out Michigan and Michigan State later in the year, but what exactly have they done to deserve #5?

Alabama at #2 despite only having one quality win and a bad loss to A&M.

And I know Wake Forest hasn't played anyone, but we both know if that was Clemson at 8-0 with the same schedule, they'd be in the top 4.

Oregon is the most baffling. They have a terrible loss to Stanford and have looked really pedestrian in a bad conference. They don't pass the on-field results test or the eye test. They would barely crack my top-10. What possible justification can be made to have them over Oklahoma?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

What possible justification can be made to have them over Oklahoma?

I'll just let ESPN handle the laundry list on that one

The Sooners have zero wins against opponents ranked by the selection committee, and struggled to beat Kansas, Tulane, Nebraska and others

The Sooners eye test looks bad, even against a lackluster schedule.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The Sooners eye test looks bad, even against a lackluster schedule.

I agree, but Oregon has looked like crap against some bad competition too (including the worst loss out of any team in the top 10 of the rankings). So if we're using the eye test, they have no business in the top 4.

[tarcone]

My rankings were damn close.

This is a beauty contest. Cinci has no shot. And the rankings will be rigged to make sure of that, even with a bunch of one loss teams.

[Lathum]

I did my part of my undergrad at UC so I am biased but this is shit. UC has the best win in the country (yes, you can make the argument). Alabama lost as a 17 point favorite to A and M, Oregon lost to a horrible Stanford, and OK has struggled in several wins including Kansas.

[JPhillips]

I knew Cincy would get screwed eventually, but I didn't expect it so soon.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I knew Cincy would get screwed eventually, but I didn't expect it so soon.

Yeah. They sent a clear message there is literally nothing they can do to get in at this point. The best they can do is win out and hope for a New Years day game against a Wake Forest.

Georgia can lose and still get in. tOSU will beat MSU and Michigan and get in. Oregon is the interesting one. If they win out I don't see how you drop them. Does a 2 loss Bama get in?

I know a lot will change, but lets say Bama wins the SEC title game, them and Georgia both in. tOSU wins the big 10 and is in. Then it comes down to Oregon and Ok.

[GrantDawg]

Hey Lathum let's don't. Let's say Georgia wins out, and the rest can fight for second place.

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[Ksyrup]

As someone on Twitter pointed out, ESPN better be ready to blur a shitload of signs on Saturday.

[bhlloy]

At some point you might as well just come out and admit the criteria is which 4 teams somewhere around the top 10 can we make the most TV money from.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Georgia can lose and still get in. tOSU will beat MSU and Michigan and get in. Oregon is the interesting one. If they win out I don't see how you drop them. Does a 2 loss Bama get in?

Bama is the interesting part to me. I think they're clearly one of the four best teams by appearance, but losses have to matter. Herbstreit says there's no way they get in with two losses. I hope that's true but I don't think it is.

If they get in with two losses and a Cincinatti or other is unbeaten and doesn't get in, I think we'd see (rightfully) a whole new level of anger.

[JPhillips]

I like this.

1. Every FBS team starts with 100 marbles, plus 10 bonus marbles for every P5 team on their schedule

2. Win at home, take 20% of your opponent's marbles; win on the road, take 25% of your opponent's marbles.

[sovereignstar v2]

Looks like the marble rankings mentioned above are kept up to date here:

http://thenemindex.blogspot.com/2021...eek-9.html?m=1

[HomerSimpson98]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Bama is the interesting part to me. I think they're clearly one of the four best teams by appearance, but losses have to matter. Herbstreit says there's no way they get in with two losses. I hope that's true but I don't think it is.

If they get in with two losses and a Cincinatti or other is unbeaten and doesn't get in, I think we'd see (rightfully) a whole new level of anger.

Nah a 2-loss bama team means they dont win the SEC West. Or UGA beat their ass in the SEC Championship - too late for them to overcome anything

[Brian Swartz]

They're #2 now with a loss. I don't think it's at all foregone that if they win the rest until the SEC championship and lose competitively to Georgia they drop three spots.

[Ksyrup]

If Alabama loses a close game to clear #1 UGA, they will make it with 2 losses.

This shit is so infuriating. A few years ago Alabama lost to Auburn, lost the SEC West, and got to sit a game while Auburn lost to a UGA team they had beaten earlier in the year, so Alabama could make the playoff without having to risk that extra game they could have potentially lost.

Why would 2 losses prevent them from being in the top 4?

I want the BCS back if all we're trying to do if crown the "best" team. Two teams, vote on who's the best two, and play. If we're doing 4, 8, 12, 16, etc., it becomes a tournament. And in tournaments, the best teams don't always make it or win. We've got the worst of both worlds right now.

[cuervo72]

Shoot, I'd endorse the marble rankings.

[bob]

I really don’t understand why people have problems with Cincinnati’s ranking. They are #2 in the AP because they started #7 and teams above them lost and moving up is how it works. But outside of beating ND*, who exactly on this list of murders row impressed you:

4-5 Miami of Ohio?
3-5 FCS Murray State?
2-6 Indiana?
3-5 Temple?
5-3 UCF?
2-6 Navy?
1-7 Tulane?

* - I’m guessing most of you didn’t watch the ND game. Kudos for winning and all, but they had only two drives of any length, their other points coming off unforced turnovers. Also, very likely ND wins that game if stubborn Brian Kelly switched QBs earlier in the game so they didn’t have a statue in the pocket.

On a related note, ND is really not any good this year. Yeah, they have won the rest of their games, but their opponents haven’t been that great either. To his credit, Kelly has gotten to the point where he pretty much always beats teams he should. Just rarely wins a big game.

[bob]

Marble thing is cool except it incentivizes you to play the worst possible opponent in game one.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by bob

Marble thing is cool except it incentivizes you to play the worst possible opponent in game one.

This, plus shitty P5 teams become absolute scheduling gold dust. There's no incentive to play a good team at the start of the year because you're getting just as many marbles if you beat Vanderbilt OOC than if you beat Ohio State. It's a fun idea, but it feels like it has enough holes in it to drive a truck through and would immediately be gamed by everyone.

[cuervo72]

If those P5 teams are going to be a part of the system, some good teams have to play them. Vanderbilt could conceivably be good; someone has to beat them down eventually. If nobody good ever plays them you get...Wake Forest.

If you want to kick those teams OUT of the P5...well, I might be cool with that, too.

What it might incentivize is to stop scheduling the non-P5 cupcakes.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by bob

I really don’t understand why people have problems with Cincinnati’s ranking. They are #2 in the AP because they started #7 and teams above them lost and moving up is how it works. But outside of beating ND*, who exactly on this list of murders row impressed you:

4-5 Miami of Ohio?
3-5 FCS Murray State?
2-6 Indiana?
3-5 Temple?
5-3 UCF?
2-6 Navy?
1-7 Tulane?

* - I’m guessing most of you didn’t watch the ND game. Kudos for winning and all, but they had only two drives of any length, their other points coming off unforced turnovers. Also, very likely ND wins that game if stubborn Brian Kelly switched QBs earlier in the game so they didn’t have a statue in the pocket.

On a related note, ND is really not any good this year. Yeah, they have won the rest of their games, but their opponents haven’t been that great either. To his credit, Kelly has gotten to the point where he pretty much always beats teams he should. Just rarely wins a big game.

Ah yes, the old, "the Notre Dame game shouldn't impress you, and even if it does, they suck" argument. Good stuff

[bob]

It's hilarious how after the CFP announcement everyone suddenly started making the argument that Notre Dame was a good team simply because of Cincy's win over them, all while Notre Dame fans have been saying they suck now.

I’ve been a ND fan all my life. They aren’t that good.

[Ksyrup]

But that's the thing - if we're doing a tournament style playoff and Cincy wins its conference and goes undefeated, they should be in. Period.

The Atlanta Braves won fewer games than 11 other teams this year. It didn't matter in the playoffs. They won their division and were in the playoffs.

This is why we need to expand the CFP to make it as close as FB can get to the basketball, baseball, softball... heck, pretty much every other sport ... tournament eligibility. You have a set of automatic qualifiers and some at-large bids. That way at least one non-P5 gets a seat at the table and a chance to pull off what apparently everyone in the world thinks will be the biggest upset in the history of sports.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by bob

It's hilarious how after the CFP announcement everyone suddenly started making the argument that Notre Dame was a good team simply because of Cincy's win over them, all while Notre Dame fans have been saying they suck now.

I’ve been a ND fan all my life. They aren’t that good.

That is the least shocking thing I've read is that you are an ND fan and want to keep UC out.

Yet Notre Dame has played and beaten a better schedule than both Cincinnati and Michigan State. But their only loss was to Cincinnati.

Michigan State is somehow #3, but their marquee win was over an equally doubtable Michigan team. And their one comp win was by 5 on the same field that Cincinnati won on by 14. Against a backup QB, whereas UC actually played IU's original starter this year.

But I guess that doesn't matter either. Either rankings of teams they beat matter or they don't. Either the games matter or just the reputations.

By the eye test, this year it is probably Georgia and then everyone else. Maybe Alabama could make an argument for being a cut above. But everyone else is on about the same playing field. There is no objective reasoning for keeping Cincinnati out but including Michigan State. It's absurd the lengths they are willing to move the goalposts to get the desired result.