2017 College Football Season thread

[tarcone]

I wasnt too impressed with Allen this season against Iowa.

[Logan]

How much of the Allen hype is because a few key people went on and identified him as this potential can't miss prospect, who someone ended up as the big fish in the small pond of Wyoming football, it's such a great story, etc...and the same people and those who hopped on the train afterwards are just being too stubborn to realize they were wrong?

[bronconick]

I just assume now that the Browns will take him.

[dawgfan]

I guess I'll revive this threat since we don't have a dedicated recruiting thread for the upcoming season.

Washington is on a real roll right now. Not only did they sign a very good group of 19 in December, they have since landed 2 more studs and are in line for 1 more tomorrow, plus they officially announced the transfer of Jacob Eason.

Some of the high-profile battles they've won include beating Alabama for LB Ale Kaho, beating Notre Dame for DB Kyler Gordon and now beating USC for DB Julius Irvin and DT Tuli Letuligasenoa. They are in a battle with Texas A&M to land DE Jeremiah Martin.

Even if they don't get Martin - and not counting Eason who will be a RS-Jr when he becomes eligible for the 2019 season - this is the best recruiting class at Washington since 1991 and marks the first time since then I can remember the Huskies legitimately beating out so many blue-blood programs for top prospects.

[tarcone]

Minnesota's new helmet has an oar on it. LOL

https://hyprrelite.com/

[Butter]

They knew what they were getting when they hired Fleck.

That guy spends way too much time on uniform design, I'd bet.

[MrBug708]

Nicole Auerbach
✔
@NicoleAuerbach

The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a significant change the kickoff play — any successful fair catch between the 25-yard line and the receiving team’s own goal line will be considered a touchback.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Nicole Auerbach
✔
@NicoleAuerbach

The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a significant change the kickoff play — any successful fair catch between the 25-yard line and the receiving team’s own goal line will be considered a touchback.

Kind of odd

[BishopMVP]

What? Why? was my initial reaction, since I thought they meant punts. I guess I can see it on kickoffs with closer tees and better kickers being able to pin teams deep more often.

[Logan]

Being a Rutgers guy, when I saw that proposed change I had the same reaction as Andy Staples:

https://www.si.com/college-football/...ge-nfl-combine

The problem is the committee’s half measure makes the game more boring while not making it much safer. A much more effective solution was proposed by a coach seven years ago. It’s the full measure as opposed to the committee’s half measure. Not only would it make the game safer, it also would make it more interesting. Who is this prescient coach? You’re not going to like the answer, Tennessee fans.

It’s Greg Schiano.

When the Ohio State defensive coordinator was the head coach at Rutgers, he began thinking about ways to eliminate the kickoff after Scarlet Knights defensive tackle Eric LeGrand was paralyzed making a tackle on a kickoff against Army in 2010. In 2011, Schiano presented his idea.

• Instead of kicking off, teams would punt from the 35. (When Schiano proposed his rule, kickoffs were from the 30. They’re now kicked from the 35, so we’ll adjust his number.) This would keep tacklers from slamming into blockers with a 30-yard head of steam. On punts, blockers shadow tacklers from the line of scrimmage to the point of the return. The collisions happen at a much lower speed.

• Instead of the onside kick—probably the most dangerous play in football—teams could run one offensive play from the 35. To keep the ball, they’d be required to gain 15 yards. (That figure could be adjusted to match the historic success rate of onside kicks.) If they didn’t make the required yardage, the opposing team would get the ball at the spot of the tackle.

These measures would do far more to reach the goal the committee is trying to achieve here. If the proposed rule passes, it will eliminate a lot of high-speed collisions involving return men and tacklers, but it will do little to eliminate the ones between blockers and would-be tacklers. The TV cameras rarely show this, but on kickoffs that go into the end zone now, the first wall of blockers still slams into the oncoming group of tacklers. They have to do this, because at that point, they have no way of knowing whether the ball has gone into the end zone. If the new rule is adopted, these collisions would still take place because the blockers and tacklers won’t know if the return man has fair caught the ball.

...

The rule is being changed to eliminate sky kicks, but the coaches who employ the sky kick will merely switch to the squib kick. That may produce some wild bounces and some very interesting field position fluctuations, but it won’t really reduce the number of high-speed collisions. Meanwhile, touchbacks will increase, but high-speed collisions between blockers and tacklers on those plays will continue unabated.

Switching to a scrimmage punt in that situation would actually be safer. The return rate on punts already is at the level committee members are seeking. If 42.4% of kickoffs went for touchbacks last year, that means more than 57% were returned. (A small fraction went out of bounds and were neither returned nor downed for a touchback.) This rule change likely will bring that number below 50%. It might even get it below 40%. But teams only returned 26.9% of punts last season. That’s the kind of result the committee seeks.

And even though fewer punts get returned, the probability of the most exciting play—a return man taking it to the house—is higher on a punt than a kickoff. From 2012 to ’17, about seven of every 1,000 punts in the FBS were returned for touchdowns. For kickoffs, the number is closer to six out of every 1,000.

Still, the best part of the Schiano plan is the elimination of onside kicks. No matter how much a kicker practices the onside kick, the shape of the ball and the non-uniformity of the playing surface will combine to produce some strange bounces. That play, no matter how thoroughly drilled, often gets decided by luck. Why not make it a test of actual football skill by pitting the offense against the defense? That would make end-of-game scenarios even more exciting, and it would eliminate the most dangerous play in football.

[JonInMiddleGA]

We already knew Schiano was an idiot. Further evidence wasn't really required.

[albionmoonlight]

The simplified version of that I heard was to just make it 4th and 15 from the 35. Then the team could punt or go for it or fake punt or whatever.

Seems pretty sensible. Kickoffs are boring. I fast forward through them anyway when the game is Tivo'd. If they are more dangerous than other plays, getting rid of them seems like low hanging fruit.

[cuervo72]

A blocked punt to open a game would be pretty wild.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We already knew Schiano was an idiot. Further evidence wasn't really required.

As was said, the proposed change is the next natural step to banning kickoffs entirely and just starting possession at the 25. It's very close to actually happening.

Seems the "football guy" crowd would be more interested in actual football plays occurring on the field instead of, literally, nothing.

So given the choice between only the "Schiano plan" and auto-start from the 25, you'd take the latter based on the above? What are you scared of?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Logan

So given the choice between only the "Schiano plan" and auto-start from the 25, you'd take the latter based on the above? What are you scared of?

Neither, honestly.

They're both fucking asinine afaic.

edit to add: either play the game or don't. At this point, it might be a relief if it just went away entirely instead of the bastardization that's apparently continuing.

[JPhillips]

It's been all downhill since the forward pass.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Neither, honestly.

They're both fucking asinine afaic.

edit to add: either play the game or don't. At this point, it might be a relief if it just went away entirely instead of the bastardization that's apparently continuing.

Can you humor me and tell me what exactly you find so offensive about kickoffs being changed from a generally unathletic guy kicking from a tee, to a generally unathletic guy drop kicking the ball?

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

It's been all downhill since the forward pass.

And also those idiotic changes to scoring. I mean, the inflation in value of touchdowns from 2 to 4 was bad enough, but 6? And reducing field goals from 5 to 4 to 3?

[tarcone]

It's funny you say play or don't, Jon. because that is exactly what is happening. I heard that the number of HS players in the B1G footprint has decreased. So I imagine you are getting what you wish for. More are not. Football will be almost dead in our lifetime, as we know it.
I still see the 7 on 7 model as what will happen.

I like those rule changes. Why not protect the players. Or make them play rugby in HS, then play football. At least then they will learn how to tackle properly.

[MrBug708]

Todd McNair loses his appeal against the NCAA for his role in the Reggie Bush saga

[Thomkal]

We need more Bowls right? Looks like Myrtle Beach (and Chicago) are "near locks" to get two of the three coming in 2020. No clue where they would play here given the demand on traffic/hotels, etc they would need for that:


Report: Myrtle Beach could host a bowl game in 2020 - WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

We need more Bowls right? Looks like Myrtle Beach (and Chicago) are "near locks" to get two of the three coming in 2020. No clue where they would play here given the demand on traffic/hotels, etc they would need for that:


Report: Myrtle Beach could host a bowl game in 2020 - WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

So you have CCU's stadium or the Pelicans' stadium? Am I missing something?

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Butter

So you have CCU's stadium or the Pelicans' stadium? Am I missing something?

Yeah not sure if either would be big enough for a bowl game. I'm guessing it will be CCU's as they just expanded to get into the Sun Belt.

[tarcone]

I bet the Chicago bowl is played in Wrigley.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Yeah not sure if either would be big enough for a bowl game. I'm guessing it will be CCU's as they just expanded to get into the Sun Belt.

Boca Raton has a bowl game. I don't think Myrtle Beach should have any issues.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Boca Raton has a bowl game. I don't think Myrtle Beach should have any issues.

Its stadium size. CCU currently seats ~ 9,000.
There is a "pro" soccer stadium that seats 6,500.


If I was a betting man, given Coach Moog's penchant for fund raising - I a betting this bowl is an underhanded way to let Horry County spend some of their vast tourism dollars on CCU's stadium expansion which has fallen short of fund raising goals.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Its stadium size. CCU currently seats ~ 9,000.
There is a "pro" soccer stadium that seats 6,500.


If I was a betting man, given Coach Moog's penchant for fund raising - I a betting this bowl is an underhanded way to let Horry County spend some of their vast tourism dollars on CCU's stadium expansion which has fallen short of fund raising goals.

Actually CCU's stadium currently sits 15,000 per Sun Belt rules, with expansion possibilities to 20,000. It also sits (as in right on) one of the major
highways in town, which means traffic is going to be pretty horrible. I'm just glad I live to the south of all of it, so won't have to deal with it


And yeah should this go through, Coastal will start seeing a lot of fund raising campaigns

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Prediction: Riley is gone within three seasons.

Feel free to come back to this thread and point at me if I'm wrong.

Going through some old posts and I stumbled across this.

[sterlingice]

Well, he is gone... to the SEC.

I still don't know how long he's going to hold down that job. Same with Ryan Day. It just seems odd to hand over a power to a random assistant. But, hey, it's a good job if you can keep it.

SI

[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Well, he is gone... to the SEC.

I still don't know how long he's going to hold down that job. Same with Ryan Day. It just seems odd to hand over a power to a random assistant. But, hey, it's a good job if you can keep it.

SI

I've seen some Ohio State fans refer to Day as Larry Coker 2.0. I think they're insane. Day will find a competent DC after the season ends and Ohio State will be absolutely loaded with talent next year.

[JPhillips]

Day's a good coach with excellent recruiting.