Coach Harmon Career [NCAA Football 14]

[Jeremy7679]

In-state rival Vanderbilt wins on a last second field goal. James Franklin has built quite the power over in Nashville, winning the SEC and now bringing our season to a disappointing end. With the score tied at 35, we failed a convert a 4th down late in the game and the Commodores drove and hit the game winning field goal as time expires.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Jeremy7679]

Another championship season for the Memphis Tigers. The third consecutive 12-win season, another top ten finish, and a 4th straight AAC conference title. Unfortunately, it ended with a third consecutive bowl loss.

Paxton Lynch had another epic season and won his third Davey O'Brien Award. He spent the year throwing to Biletnikoff Award winner Brandon Holloway, who also put up monster numbers. And while both of these guys will be departing, the future is bright for the Memphis program after they hauled in the #1 ranked recruiting class this season.

Unfortunately, Memphis will be replacing their offensive coordinator. Coach Harmon has decided to move on to take the same position with Florida State. The Seminoles had a pretty good year themselves, going 12-2 and losing in the National Championship Game.

[Jeremy7679]

This year's college playoff made things interesting, as both of the top two seeds were eliminated in the semifinal. After surviving the Big 12 season undefeated, Kansas State was beaten 35-31 by UCLA. Florida State's loss to Clemson during the season actually worked out, as it helped them avoid Georgia Tech in the ACC championship. Instead, they met the Yellow Jackets in the semifinal and slipped by 23-17.

The Bruins just barely got in after having lost the Pac-12 championship game to Oregon. The committee gave them a spot, however, and they made the most of it. They controlled the National Championship Game most of the way, evern leading 28-6 early in the 4th quarter and holding on for the victory.

The playoff system is coming under fire, with both finalists having failed to win their conference championship.

In big Conference realignment news, Memphis' emergence onto the national scene has earned them a spot in the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12 really worked to entice Notre Dame to join as well, but instead were forced to settle on BYU. This will give the league 12 teams and a conference championship game.

The American Conference will now look to replace Memphis, with Marshall (Conference USA) and Louisiana (Sun Belt) emerging as the early leaders.

[Jeremy7679]

And so my work begins with the Seminoles. Jameis Winston graduated, and my only returning scholarship quarterbacks are John Franklin III (RS-JR) and Lee Thomas (RS-FR). Franklin obviously has a higher overall, but Thomas is a better fit my system. Thomas is a pocket passer while Franklin is a scrambler and I hate it when my quarterback takes off running before going through all the reads. In my experience, scramblers just get the offense in trouble more than they help move the chains. I might start off by splitting time between the two and see how it goes.

The most productive running back coming back is Ryan Green (RS-SR). Green had 674 yards and 7 TDs on 105 carries. Green will pair with RS-JR David Graves. Graves only had 20 carries last year, but did gain 107 yards.

At Receiver, Levonte Whitfield and Sean Jackson will be the best two receivers I've had. Senior Whitfield has top notch speed and acceleration. The senior had 704 yards and 10 touchdowns on 44 receptions last year. Junior Jackson also has great speed and acceleration but was only the #4 receiver on last years team so he only had 207 yards receiving. Junior Chris Irvin will fill in the third receiver slot, while the fourth is open to competition, including the two incoming freshmen.

FSU's second leading receiver in 2016 was Tight End Randy Brown, who will be a junior this season. While not a burner by any stretch, his ability to make catches and break tackles means we will have to use him this season. I do have options in my system that include implementing a Tight End, but certainly not in the traditional sense. In 2014 at Memphis, my TE Alan Cross finished 4th in the Mackey voting and he was nowhere near as good a player as Brown. Last year Brown finished 6th in the Mackey voting so we'll see if we can't get him higher on that list.

FSU will actually also have a decent offensive line, something I haven't been able to work with. We only lose one starter on the line, and we have a replacement ready to go. Obviously my competition will be much stiffer than in the AAC, but this offense will move the ball and score points.

[Jeremy7679]

What a game to kick of the 2017 season. Both offenses moved the ball well but we had it last, and hit a 32 yard field goal to win the game. Redshirt freshman QB Lee Thomas completed 35 of 43 passes with 3 TDS, but he did have an interception that allowed Alabama to get back into the game. Backs Ryan Green and David Graves combined for over 130 yards rushing, and speedy WR Levine Whitfield caught 9 balls for 106 yards and a score.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Jeremy7679]

Dominant performance in a huge game. Georgia Tech came in ranked #7 but they struggled to run the ball early and fell behind, which is a terrible situation for their triple option offense. FSU quarterback Lee Thomas was near perfect, completing 30 of 34 for 404 yards and 2 TDS. Thomas even had 10 yards on scrambles, rare for this offense.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Jeremy7679]

This was more of a defensive victory as the offense had trouble getting the balk across midfield. Only four trips to the red zone and QB Thomas fumbled on drive. The D held VTech to 88 yards rushing, which is surprising because the front 7 is the weakness of the team. The safeties aren’t great either, but we do have a couple of corners that can shut down receivers. We did enough on offense to get an important conference win.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Jeremy7679]

Nice win for the team considering that both the #1 QB and #1 WR were both injured for the game early. QB Lee Thomas went down on the first drive and WR Levonte Whitfield suffered an abdominal strain in the 2nd quarter. Backup QB John Franklin stepped in admirably, completing 29 of 39 for 336 yards and 5 TDs and added 35 yards rushing and a score on 5 carries. Franklin may have created a competition for the starting job going forward. Franklins mobility loosened up a Wake Forest defense that was intent on stopping the run after Thomas went down.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports