NCAA Football 2017 season

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:46 am

Pyperkub wrote:
McNutt wrote:LSU lost to Troy this year. I'd say that was the biggest upset, but since LSU beat Syracuse I guess this game takes the title.
LSU lost at home. Big difference.

Yeah.. the Clemson game was super strange. Watching it on TV, it looked like an Arena League game. I can see how the team was out of sorts. With a back up QB and kicker, they lost by 3.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Oct 14, 2017 10:18 am

Pyperkub wrote:Falk has three picks and Cal is up two Td's on wazzu

Let the annual P12 cannibalization begin.

This is a typical Mike Leach team. Enough talent and a good enough scheme to beat anyone on any given weekend, but guaranteed to drop at least one (if not more) complete head scratcher. I thought they might be in trouble when I heard they only have two home games left.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:09 am

WHY. THE FUCK. DO YOU GO FOR TWO????

And if you are going to go for two, how about you look for the P12's leading receiver WIDE FUCKING OPEN in the end zone instead of trying to take on three defenders by yourself???

So pissed right now.

EDIT: OK, I've calmed down now. And I actually get the decision, given how the defense played the second half. Still, that was a really frustrating way to lose.

The last two weeks (Stanford and now USC) were right there for the taking, and we simply couldn't finish. Our kicker - who hadn't missed all season up until last week - has now missed two kicks that are the difference in the last two games. Williams misses wide open receivers. We come *this* damn close, but don't get it done. I can't help but wonder what happens if Huntley is in either of those games.

Oh well, them's the breaks. We're obviously not going to win the P12 South now, but there's still a very chance for a good record and bowl game. Colorado looks shaky, UCLA looks bad, Oregon's not the same without Herbert, and ASU is...wait...ASU is up on Washington 13-0 going into the 4th?

Hell, I give up trying to figure this damn conference out.

EDIT: How open was Carrington on that 2 point conversion? Oh, just this open.

Lassr · Post by **Lassr** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 9:16 am

a lot of rat poison was given out this week, so many upsets. Glad Bama got the message.

Yeah, sorry skinypupy, I was pulling for Utah, he ducked his head to run too early on that 2pt conv...

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:58 am

I saw the 2 point attempt in real time and thought it was a gutsy call - win the game on the spot. And it would have worked with a little better execution.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:22 pm

Jaymann wrote:I saw the 2 point attempt in real time and thought it was a gutsy call - win the game on the spot. And it would have worked with a little better execution.

Yeah, given the way USC was carving up the Utah defense late, I thought it was the right call(well, a good call with a better chance to win). It's just too bad Huntley got injured this year.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:28 pm

As to ucla, the talent is there to beat anyone in the country, but the defense has been dreadful and extremely undisciplined. We get zero turnovers, and routinely make mistakes in assignment defense up front in the running game, not to mention the endless stream of stupid penalties. At the least, our DC is gone and maybe Mora. I still think Rosen will be the top pick in the draft, which says a lot about how we've wasted his time here.

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:01 pm

I pretty much can't believe that the Gamecocks are 5-2, with 2 games we'll be favored in to come.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:03 pm

PLW wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:01 pm I pretty much can't believe that the Gamecocks are 5-2, with 2 games we'll be favored in to come.

Still miffed we gave that Texas A&M game away, though.

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:12 pm

Sure.. but they were favored by like 14 points.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:43 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:09 am WHY. THE FUCK. DO YOU GO FOR TWO????

And if you are going to go for two, how about you look for the P12's leading receiver WIDE FUCKING OPEN in the end zone instead of trying to take on three defenders by yourself???

So pissed right now.

EDIT: OK, I've calmed down now. And I actually get the decision, given how the defense played the second half. Still, that was a really frustrating way to lose.

The last two weeks (Stanford and now USC) were right there for the taking, and we simply couldn't finish. Our kicker - who hadn't missed all season up until last week - has now missed two kicks that are the difference in the last two games. Williams misses wide open receivers. We come *this* damn close, but don't get it done. I can't help but wonder what happens if Huntley is in either of those games.

Oh well, them's the breaks. We're obviously not going to win the P12 South now, but there's still a very chance for a good record and bowl game. Colorado looks shaky, UCLA looks bad, Oregon's not the same without Herbert, and ASU is...wait...ASU is up on Washington 13-0 going into the 4th?

Hell, I give up trying to figure this damn conference out.

EDIT: How open was Carrington on that 2 point conversion? Oh, just this open.

From Wilner:

Whittingham went for two points and the likely win with 42 seconds left in the Coliseum instead of an extra point that would have forced overtime.

His explanation: “We played about 80 snaps on defense and had major problems stopping them. Darnold was on fire and I thought that was the percentage play. If I had to do it again, I’d do the same thing.”

It was absolutely the right call, regardless of how it turned out.

I agree with Whittingham and Wilner, but again, it didn't play out.

Side note: some of my Alumni buddies want us to make a run at Whittingham in anticipation of us firing Mora. IMHO, he's a solid coach, but the inability to coach/recruit/keep healthy a top notch QB has killed them, and left him with a rather ugly mark on his resume - the only Pac-12 South team to not have won the South, and arguably the team which has most underperformed its talent in the Pac-12 other than us (8 NFL draft picks last year, and as many NFL players as any Pac-12 team other than SC and UCLA - which says a lot about how we've underperformed).

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:26 am

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:43 pm Side note: some of my Alumni buddies want us to make a run at Whittingham in anticipation of us firing Mora. IMHO, he's a solid coach, but the inability to coach/recruit/keep healthy a top notch QB has killed them, and left him with a rather ugly mark on his resume - the only Pac-12 South team to not have won the South, and arguably the team which has most underperformed its talent in the Pac-12 other than us (8 NFL draft picks last year, and as many NFL players as any Pac-12 team other than SC and UCLA - which says a lot about how we've underperformed).

I guess I would have a different take. Whit has done a remarkable job of developing - and probably overachieving, tbh - with mostly 2* and 3* athletes. I can't help but wonder what sort of success he would have if he was starting with a full roster of 4* and 5* players like the USC's and UCLA's of the world do. That's starting to improve now, so I guess we'll see if he's truly worth his salt.

The criticism about how has handled the offense is certainly warranted. If I had one big gripe it would be that he doesn't do a good job of reaching outside his established coaching circle to find talented coaches. My hope is that we're seeing that change with the Troy Taylor hire.

Also keep in mind that while Utah is the only team that hasn't won the P12 South, they're also the only team that wasn't already a P5 team coming in. In order to even get a seat at the table, Utah had to take a significantly lower revenue share for the first 4 years, so it took a few years to even get on an equal resource footing.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:35 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:26 am
Pyperkub wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:43 pm Side note: some of my Alumni buddies want us to make a run at Whittingham in anticipation of us firing Mora. IMHO, he's a solid coach, but the inability to coach/recruit/keep healthy a top notch QB has killed them, and left him with a rather ugly mark on his resume - the only Pac-12 South team to not have won the South, and arguably the team which has most underperformed its talent in the Pac-12 other than us (8 NFL draft picks last year, and as many NFL players as any Pac-12 team other than SC and UCLA - which says a lot about how we've underperformed).
I guess I would have a different take. Whit has done a remarkable job of developing - and probably overachieving, tbh - with mostly 2* and 3* athletes. I can't help but wonder what sort of success he would have if he was starting with a full roster of 4* and 5* players like the USC's and UCLA's of the world do. That's starting to improve now, so I guess we'll see if he's truly worth his salt.

The criticism about how has handled the offense is certainly warranted. If I had one big gripe it would be that he doesn't do a good job of reaching outside his established coaching circle to find talented coaches. My hope is that we're seeing that change with the Troy Taylor hire.

Also keep in mind that while Utah is the only team that hasn't won the P12 South, they're also the only team that wasn't already a P5 team coming in. In order to even get a seat at the table, Utah had to take a significantly lower revenue share for the first 4 years, so it took a few years to even get on an equal resource footing.

I don't see him leaving voluntarily however. As to the resources - I don't think that's effected the talent level/product on the field much, though probably the coaching hires (we've seen that at UCLA as well, as Neuheisel was pretty much begging for money to hire better coaches and didn't get it). On the Talent front however, Utah has definitely had superior talent to Colorado, for example, and I'd argue more than ASU/UofA as well.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:02 am

So Alabama had their 3rd string in again with 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter versus Tennessee. So surreal. The gulf that separates these two programs is staggering. Same thing happened vs Arkansas.

There's going to be a bunch of head coach openings and not enough top flight names to fill them.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:11 pm

msduncan wrote:So Alabama had their 3rd string in again with 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter versus Tennessee. So surreal. The gulf that separates these two programs is staggering. Same thing happened vs Arkansas.

There's going to be a bunch of head coach openings and not enough top flight names to fill them.

I'm thinking Chip Kelly ends up at Tennessee. Only other place I see him is Texas A&M, but Sumlin appears much safer now, and the SEC East is weaker than the West. If Sumlin were to self destruct however, then I think Kelly goes to A&M over Tennessee given his recruiting ties to the state.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:58 pm

Not a lot of top flight coaches around but Tennessee may be the top program looking when it's all said and done. They're not what they use to be but they can offer a nice salary. I'd love to see Mike Leach in the SEC, he would stir things up and they need someone like him since Spurrier retired. If the Nebraska job opens it will almost certainly go to Scott Frost.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Oct 23, 2017 3:37 pm

DOS=HIGH wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:58 pm Not a lot of top flight coaches around but Tennessee may be the top program looking when it's all said and done. They're not what they use to be but they can offer a nice salary. I'd love to see Mike Leach in the SEC, he would stir things up and they need someone like him since Spurrier retired. If the Nebraska job opens it will almost certainly go to Scott Frost.

Leach to the SEC may be possible:

Now that Bill Moos is climbing the ladder from Washington State University to Nebraska, here’s a question for Cougar Nation: How much is a good football team worth?

Under Moos, the answer was: Everything. Whatever it takes. Max out the credit card and apply for another. It’s football, baby.

The Cougars have gotten a lot better on the field. No doubt about it. But the area in which they’ve truly excelled has been overspending. On that field, they’re national champions. USA Today tracks the spending of every athletic department in the country, and its data shows that in 2015-16, only one college among the largest 100 in the country ran a bigger proportional deficit than WSU’s 22 percent, and that was Cal...

...Leach didn’t put it that way, exactly. What he said was Moos had “a vision and understanding of staying state-of-the-art with everything from facilities to processes and things that exist in athletics. None of this back-seat stuff. If you’re competing, you’re competing.”

In the back seat, you might think twice about overspending your $59 million budget by $13 million, as Wazzu athletics has done regularly in recent years. You might think: Hey, we’ve got to tackle that spending problem.

In the front seat, you call that an investment. You just close your eyes, sign the checks and wait for the payoff.

But what is purchased and what is sold when universities commit their institutional lives with such gusto to big-time sports? When institutional priorities become so warped that the first idea to bail out a free-spending sports department is to raise fees on students?

One thing which probably wouldn't come with Leach however, is the Islander/Samoan pipeline which is the key to Wazzu's DL, and the Cougs' defense whenever they have one. I'd expect Leach's defenses to regress if he goes anywhere else (except Utah, which also has that pipeline).

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:22 pm

Wow, I'm glad I turned on the Penn State - Ohio State game just to see how badly OSU would get beaten. What a comeback!

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:48 pm

Y'know, i expected Utah's offense to struggle this year. You don't lose 5 offensive linemen and a RB to the NFL, bring in a new OC, start a true sophomore QB and expect to have a ton of success.

I never in a million years expected the defense to regress this much. It's the worst Utah defense I've seen in the last 10 years. Granted, we lost a ton of NFL talent on that side of the ball too, but this is just pathetic. Oregon just scored 41 points on 69 yards passing.

I'm fully expecting this team to finish the year on an 8-game losing streak. Looking ahead, I simply don't know who they beat in the final 4 games.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:17 pm

Florida has decided to move on from the McElwain experiment.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:43 pm

Skinypupy wrote:Florida has decided to move on from the McElwain experiment.

Not the guy most had as first to be fired in the SEC. From the outside, a very strange move to cap a very strange year of off the field self destruction in the gator football program.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:44 pm

Pretty amazing. Yes, Florida has sucked this year, but McElwain is the first coach to make the SEC championship game in each of his first two seasons. Unless there's other stuff going on (yes, I know about the alleged death threats that may not be true), this is the greatest example of a hat-have-you-done-for-me-lately that I can remember. Hell, half his team are still players he didn't recruit.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Sun Oct 29, 2017 7:45 pm

I went to my first U.S. College football game yesterday in Seattle. University of Washington Huskies vs. UCLA Bruins. The game was a lot of fun and so was the tailgating. 21 of us make a road trip down from Vancouver. I don't really follow college football but for one week I was a fan. Go Dawgs!

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:58 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2017 4:17 pm Florida has decided to move on from the McElwain experiment.

In times like this, it's important to have (NSFW) hobbies you can fall back on.

Spoiler:

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:17 am

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:36 am

Don't blame me. Blame McElwain. Or, really, the shark. He was asking for it.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:41 am

What exactly did I see there?

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:49 am

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:41 am What exactly did I see there?

Definitely not Jim McElwain fornicating with a shark.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:47 pm

This Utah/UCLA game is practically unwatchable. Both of these teams are just...bad.

Edit: Utah pulled it together in the second half to get a much needed win. It was a strange game, I've never seen that many injuries in a single game before. In addition to the two nasty looking non-contact blown knees (one for each team), both of Utah's starting safeties and best receiver went down, UCLA lost their QB, WR, and a couple defenders. There was a stretch where they had to stop after three consecutive plays due to what looked to be major injuries. Ucla has been absolutely decimated with injury...likely the only reason Mora doesn't get fired.

Interested to see if something actually clicked for Utah offensively, or if UCLA is just that bad. Probably a little of both, as both Huntley (QB) and Moss (RB) looked really good tonight.

Lassr · Post by **Lassr** » Sun Nov 05, 2017 3:14 pm

Ugh, Bama lost two more LBs for the year last night. that is 4 total so far and the few remaining are dinged up. This most likely will cost them a win along the way. And the new offensive coordinator, Daboll, still not impressing me. Scoring on sheer talent it seems and not well executed plays especially against tougher defenses.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sun Nov 05, 2017 8:57 pm

Wonder if Jim Mora of UCLA will make the entire season.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:07 pm

So Fresno State played like crap and still barely beat BYU. That is easily the worst BYU team I have ever seen. What is it....injuries, coaching, recruiting?

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:31 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 1:07 pm That is easily the worst BYU team I have ever seen. What is it....injuries, coaching, recruiting?

All of the above, I think.

I like Sitake, but have never been quite sure how he got that job. He was a good DC at Utah, but everyone knew that was Whit's defense. He was a complete disaster as DC at Oregon State (lots of which is not his fault), then was thrown into a head coaching role. I'm guessing they didn't have many other options.

So now you have a second-year head coach, a first time OC (who made the jump directly from High School), a distinct lack of talent across the board, and a ton of injuries. That's just a recipe for disaster, no matter how you look at it. I fully expected BYU to be mediocre this year, but had no idea they would be this bad.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:03 pm

Undefeated Wisconsin getting no respect. If they run the table do they make the final 4?

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:10 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:03 pm Undefeated Wisconsin getting no respect. If they run the table do they make the final 4?

I think they would be first in if Alabama or Georgia blew the other out in the SEC CG, but if they play a close well played game I would bet they both make it. ND gets in if they win out as does Clemson.

The only ranked team Wisconsin will play will be in the Big10 CG, against a probable 2 loss team.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:12 pm

Lorini wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2017 8:57 pm Wonder if Jim Mora of UCLA will make the entire season.

His buyout is too much to fire him.

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:24 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:10 pm I think they would be first in if Alabama or Georgia blew the other out in the SEC CG, but if they play a close well played game I would bet they both make it. ND gets in if they win out as does Clemson.

What about a 1-loss Oklahoma/TCU?

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:07 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:12 pm
Lorini wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2017 8:57 pm Wonder if Jim Mora of UCLA will make the entire season.
His buyout is too much to fire him.

Not necessarily, depending on the donors and under armor.

However, the injuries are real, and have really impacted the season. Funny thing is, if you look at UCLA's defense at home (especially if you drop the 1st half against A&M), it ain't bad:

6 points to A&M in the 2nd half
21 to Hawaii
23 to Colorado
14 to Oregon

Defense has also been much better in the first half of road games - which indicates a large part is depth/conditioning, with a touch of mental toughness under stress. It's arguable that we should have been up 2TD's on Stanford at half (instead of down 7, which really changed the 2nd half when we got trucked), and probably even more @Utah if Rosen had played.

I think it's possible that Mora stays if he wins his last 2 home games and is competitive against SC, but a new DC and a new LB coach (and maybe DL) are definitely in the cards.

Note that Mora has never won all of his home games in a season however.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:14 pm

PLW wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:24 pm
Scuzz wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:10 pm I think they would be first in if Alabama or Georgia blew the other out in the SEC CG, but if they play a close well played game I would bet they both make it. ND gets in if they win out as does Clemson.

What about a 1-loss Oklahoma/TCU?

Both Alabama and Georgia have road trips @ Auburn coming up. Auburn gets at least one of them, IMHO, if not both.

Wisconsin may make it, but a 1-loss Clemson/TCU/Oklahoma/UW/ND will pass them.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:51 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:10 pm
Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:03 pm Undefeated Wisconsin getting no respect. If they run the table do they make the final 4?
I think they would be first in if Alabama or Georgia blew the other out in the SEC CG, but if they play a close well played game I would bet they both make it. ND gets in if they win out as does Clemson.

The only ranked team Wisconsin will play will be in the Big10 CG, against a probable 2 loss team.

I don't disagree with the rest of what you say, but unless Michigan loses to Maryland next weekend, Michigan will be ranked when they play Wisconsin in two weeks.