2023 Miscellaneous College News

[yourout]

If this were a 12 team playoff would Alabama still be a number four seed?

[yourout]

3 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

This is just sad.

 

PJ will make sure they all get rings if they win.

And he will want a raise.

 

On edit..A finger sized piston ring might be appropriate.

[nate82]

9 minutes ago, yourout said:

If this were a 12 team playoff would Alabama still be a number four seed?

Yes and No.  Adding more teams allows you to move teams up that you wouldn't if you are looking at less teams.  There is an argument to be made that Alabama isn't a top 4 team and would be maybe 5th or 6th with Georgia or FSU taking the #4 or #5 spot.

I think FSU is the 4th best team but I wouldn't put them in a top 4 in a 4 team playoff structure.  I would put Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Ohio State over them.  With a top 12 team playoff the difference between 4-9 isn't as critical as all get in.  In a 12 team field I think it goes 1. Michigan 2. Washington 3. FSU 4. Texas 5. Alabama 6. Georgia 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Missouri 10. Oklahoma 11. Mississippi 12. Penn State. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Alabama beat the 12-0 #1 team reigning champ in football. Their only loss was Texas, a CFP team.

I get the nation hates Alabama, but that undoubtably makes them worthy of a spot. Really, if anything, I think FSU deserves Texas’ spot, not Alabama’s spot. But then people would cry over Alabama over Texas because of a H2H result from September.

I don’t think an undefeated record really should be some autobid if a 1-loss team has a good resume and said loss is a really strong team. Someone was bound to get a bit hosed in this situation.

Would be nice if the team and conference that gets hosed is the SEC one time...particularly after what has proven to be a down year for that conference based on the limited out of conference games they actually allow their best programs to schedule - especially when it's not a reach for 5 teams from other power conferences to be worthy of a CFP spot.  I still think OSU is better than several of the teams that got in this year, too - but understand why they werent going to make it based on the other teams' resumes still playing on championship saturday.  

FSU had two non-home game wins against SEC schools, one while playing without their starting qb.  Finishing undefeated should absolutely be a deciding factor that makes Alabama’s resume this season not quite good enough to jump the Noles - especially after it took a miracle play the week prior to avoid them sitting with 2 losses before playing UGA.  Had that happened, I guarantee you if Bama beat the bulldogs it would've been UGA in that #4 spot instead of FSU despite them having several key guys injured or shells of themselves, too.  That's what stinks about the current format.  It's not a 4 team playoff when 1-2 spots are SEC autobids every season no matter what the rest of the country does.

[MrTPlush]

37 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Would be nice if the team and conference that gets hosed is the SEC one time...particularly after what has proven to be a down year for that conference based on the limited out of conference games they actually allow their best programs to schedule - especially when it's not a reach for 5 teams from other power conferences to be worthy of a CFP spot.  I still think OSU is better than several of the teams that got in this year, too - but understand why they werent going to make it based on the other teams' resumes still playing on championship saturday.  

FSU had two non-home game wins against SEC schools, one while playing without their starting qb.  Finishing undefeated should absolutely be a deciding factor that makes Alabama’s resume this season not quite good enough to jump the Noles - especially after it took a miracle play the week prior to avoid them sitting with 2 losses before playing UGA.  Had that happened, I guarantee you if Bama beat the bulldogs it would've been UGA in that #4 spot instead of FSU despite them having several key guys injured or shells of themselves, too.  That's what stinks about the current format.  It's not a 4 team playoff when 1-2 spots are SEC autobids every season no matter what the rest of the country does.

It’s annoying the SEC pretty much gets an autobid…but the conference is always regarded as the best by a wide mile and they always have an undefeated team or one with one loss. More often than not that #4 is pretty subjective on who ‘deserves it’. 
 

Many against expanded playoffs argue championship week is already that. Well…Alabama beat #1. That seems pretty worthy of making it. How do you not have that team in there?

I mean honestly, I would have preferred Alabama in there and FSU over Texas. Actually I think I would even make an argument FSU over Washington. 
 

Clearly football is a Power 4 and the ACC isn’t very respected.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

Clearly football is a Power 4 and the ACC isn’t very respected.

Other than Clemson and FSU that conference is just a bunch of nobodies.  The ACC is basically the Big Ten West there really isn't a powerhouse in that conference and you have two maybe teams in FSU and Clemson if everything goes right for them.  Clemson and FSU are basically Wisconsin and Iowa.  Maybe a bit better but not really. 

Miami tries to be a good program but they have been good then awful then ok then awful then awful and then maybe good again.  Such an inconsistent program that is in a prime spot to be a really good program. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, yourout said:

PJ will make sure they all get rings if they win.

And he will want a raise.

 

On edit..A finger sized piston ring might be appropriate.

Now that the B10 is just one whole league (no more B10 West) & he might be sensing more attrition than addition due to the portal, I think he's going to regret that his 32 wins from 2019-22 didn't lead to him getting a different gig. I think the day is coming when his schtick wears too thin (it already has with some up there).

Or maybe they keep him around, due to the expense of changing the brand from all the oar & boat nonsense. At least that would have some comic relief value.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 hours ago, yourout said:

 A finger sized piston ring might be appropriate.

If they lose, he's already working on a "playing past Christmas even though we lost eight games" design.

[Fear The Chorizo]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

Other than Clemson and FSU that conference is just a bunch of nobodies.  The ACC is basically the Big Ten West there really isn't a powerhouse in that conference and you have two maybe teams in FSU and Clemson if everything goes right for them.  Clemson and FSU are basically Wisconsin and Iowa.  Maybe a bit better but not really. 

Miami tries to be a good program but they have been good then awful then ok then awful then awful and then maybe good again.  Such an inconsistent program that is in a prime spot to be a really good program. 

Other than Mich, OSU, and Penn state, the big ten is a bunch of nobodies.

 

Other than UGA and Bama, the SEC is pretty much a bunch of nobodies, too.

 

FSU and Clemson have both won national titles in the last 10 years - they are far, far better than Iowa and Wisconsin in terms of football programs no matter what conference they play in.  I agree with what reps from FSU and the ACC conference have stated, that leaving an undefeated power 5 conference champion out of the CFP when there isn't 5 of them in a given year should not happen, no matter what.

[LouisEly]

15 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Alabama beat the 12-0 #1 team reigning champ in football.

But that "#1" team was widely regarded as having a weak schedule and beat nobody outside of their conference of any significance.  That "#1" team's best non-conference win was against a 6-6 ACC team and won 31-23, hardly in dominant fashion.

Again, rewind one week and would anyone have voted Alabama in after watching the game against Auburn?

[MrTPlush]

40 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

But that "#1" team was widely regarded as having a weak schedule and beat nobody outside of their conference of any significance.  That "#1" team's best non-conference win was against a 6-6 ACC team and won 31-23, hardly in dominant fashion.

Again, rewind one week and would anyone have voted Alabama in after watching the game against Auburn?

FSU barely beat Boston College and needed OT to beat Clemson. They also only beat U of Miami by one TD. 

So it isn't like FSU steamrolled opponents all year either. Did FSU really look like a playoff team narrowly beating a losing record Florida team? Heck, is a 16-6 win over Louisville really all that impressive in itself? They barely put up 200 total yards their last two games.

Maybe they pulled a rabbit out of the March Madness hat and decided FSU without their starting QB wasn't worthy of that #4 spot. If so, they probably did us a favor. Their QB threw for a horrid 55 yards in their win against Louisville. When only four teams qualify, we should probably confirm all four teams have a QB. 

 

[Samurai Bucky]

22 hours ago, LouisEly said:

I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face that FSUs win over Louisville yesterday was less impressive than Alabama's hail Mary win over 6-6 Auburn two weekends ago or Alabama's 17-3 win over 6-6 AAC powerhouse South Florida.

... and that there was a possible PI on the last play, too.

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/auburn/2023/11/25/isaiah-bond-game-winning-touchdown-auburn-alabama-iron-bowl-push-off-pass-interference/71707314007/

[Fear The Chorizo]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

FSU barely beat Boston College and needed OT to beat Clemson. They also only beat U of Miami by one TD. 

So it isn't like FSU steamrolled opponents all year either. Did FSU really look like a playoff team narrowly beating a losing record Florida team? Heck, is a 16-6 win over Louisville really all that impressive in itself? They barely put up 200 total yards their last two games.

Maybe they pulled a rabbit out of the March Madness hat and decided FSU without their starting QB wasn't worthy of that #4 spot. If so, they probably did us a favor. Their QB threw for a horrid 55 yards in their win against Louisville. When only four teams qualify, we should probably confirm all four teams have a QB. 

 

That was FSU's 3rd string qb last weekend...their primary backup to Travis, the guy who won in the Swamp, will be their starter in the bowl game.

As far as other teams making the playoff with backup quarterbacks, OSU, Bama, and Clemson all were selected as CFP participants with backup quarterbacks and some of those teams werent even undefeated, so that argument has no merit IMO.  Back in the BCS era, we were subjected to an all-SEC title game with Bama facing LSU for a second time in a game where neither program had an offense worth a darn, but they talked about those great SEC defenses being the reason they both deserved a spot.  FSU's defense is legit and has proven as much even more so after Travis got injured.

Look at it this way - had Alabama lost to Auburn a couple weeks ago and likely taken themselves out of the CFP conversation regardless of the SEC championship game outcome, and then UGA scratched out a win against them despite losing Bowers and their starting quarterback to injuries that would keep them out of the CFP rounds, would UGA have still gotten one of the four spots or would they have been leapfrogged by multiple teams and left out of the mix despite an undefeated record?

The ACC went 6-4 against the SEC this season, btw.

[HarryDoyle]

Fran McCaffrey strikes again.

[yourout]

1 hour ago, HarryDoyle said:

Fran McCaffrey strikes again.

Wonder if he has just about worn out his welcome in Iowa City.

[AKCheesehead]

Darn it. That means he’ll probably be really trying to behave at the Kohl center. Which is a little bit of a bummer because I’m going to that one. I always hope for a Frantrom incident when I watch an Iowa game. 

[RedStickBrew]

He seems reasonable

[Jim French Stepstool]

Guys like Fran & Juwan Howard are worth the price of admission. I think of Howards' behavior in the handshake line after the Wisconsin loss, then I noticed him at the end of their game with Iowa the other day. One of the Hawkeye players is standing in front of him, and he reaches out & gives him the quick shoulder massage for a couple of seconds, a friendly "hey, hang in there. good effort" gesture. Of course, this is with Michigan having put the game away. Quite a different person when NOT facing a loss. The guys' a colossal failure as a leader of young men. I have no idea if the rumors of him stepping down are true because Michigan, but it would be a good idea.

Say what you will about Bob Knight & his many faults but I would take him in a second to coach a kid of mine if my other choices were these two clowns.

 

[stoutdude04]

Maybe this was mentioned previously(maybe I heard it here), but wasnt Bob Knight supposed to coach Wisconsin? But then it got leaked early or something. That would have been interesting.

[Samurai Bucky]

2 hours ago, stoutdude04 said:

Maybe this was mentioned previously(maybe I heard it here), but wasnt Bob Knight supposed to coach Wisconsin? But then it got leaked early or something. That would have been interesting.

Yes, he was.  He was still at West Point and didn't want the coaching change to be leaked.  Wisconsin was well ahead of their time leaking information.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/uw/2023/11/02/bob-knight-was-approved-as-uw-basketball-coach-in-1968-but-walked-away/71421063007/

[Jim French Stepstool]

I remember a headline in the front page of one of the Milwaukee newspapers announcing his hiring. The way Knight told it, that threw him for a loop & he asked Bo Schembechler for advice. Schembechler had earlier looked into the FB job at UW. He recommended Knight walk away. So it's plausible Bob Knight & Bo Schembechler could've been in the positions occupied by John Powless & John Coatta. Sigh.

It's rather surprising Knight stayed at Army as long as he did (three more years IIRC).

[LouisEly]

8 hours ago, stoutdude04 said:

Maybe this was mentioned previously(maybe I heard it here), but wasnt Bob Knight supposed to coach Wisconsin? But then it got leaked early or something. That would have been interesting.

In case you can't access the other article without subscribing:

---

https://badgerextra.com/sports/basketball/men/bob-knight-wisconsin-mens-basketball/article_9e093838-7e79-11ee-b478-a39dab70dd16.html

[HarryDoyle]

Former North Carolina star Eric Montross dead at age 52 after a long battle with cancer.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

Former North Carolina star Eric Montross dead at age 52 after a long battle with cancer.

Also former UW basketball player Walt McGrory, who was battling bone cancer. He passed away on Saturday.

I can't find a DOB but I'd say he had to be 23 or 24. As tragic as things like these are, I guess it allows us all to put into perspective the mundane problems in our lives that we always tend to blow out of proportion.

RIP to both.

[stoutdude04]

2 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Also former UW basketball player Walt McGrory, who was battling bone cancer. He passed away on Saturday.

I can't find a DOB but I'd say he had to be 23 or 24. As tragic as things like these are, I guess it allows us all to put into perspective the mundane problems in our lives that we always tend to blow out of proportion.

RIP to both.

Ugh - so sad.  Whenever I hear of people so young it just really gives me pause about my own life.  Sad day for Badger fans and UNC fans alike.