NCAA Football 2021

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 7:53 am

Pretty bad weekend for the ACC. Zero quality wins. Plenty of losses - inlcuding every ranked ACC team losing. I doubt FSU will beat Notre Dame. If Louisville beats Ole Miss that would definitely be the best quality win of the weekend. I think Clemson, UNC, and Miami will probably be OK but not a good start. The best quality win for the ACC this weekend at this point is Syracuse beating Ohio. Ouch. Way to live up to your reputation ACC!

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 2:45 pm

Virginia Tech had a quality win…

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 2:51 pm

Tapatalk emojis don't come through on the board. We have no idea what emoji2357 is.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:47 pm

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 2:45 pm Virginia Tech had a quality win…

Fair point! Poor emoji! If VPI's upset is indicative of a big improvement then that would be a big turnaround. But, I was really talking about wins aginst non-conference teams.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:36 pm

Skinypupy wrote:That’s a great win by UCLA, the P12 South is going to be a really tough division this year.

Which is probably good, since the North looks like a complete joke. Washington loses at home to…Montana (WTF??). Oregon barely squeaks by Fresno (sorry, Scuzz). Stanford gets taken to the woodshed by K State. Oregon St gets whipped by Purdue. Cal is losing and Wazzu is tight with MWC teams into the 4th as I write this.

What an absolute dumpster fire.

EDIT: Cal and Wazzu both lost, to Nevada and Utah State, respectively. That's 5 out of the 6 North teams going down today. Oof.

Pac - 12 South is 6-1, North is 1-5.

Fun game at the Rose Bowl, but I think I'm going to have to get a covid test this week. The pregame sports bar in Pasadena was way too crowded with all the LSU fans in town Very fun to hang and have college football back, but mask discipline was just impossible to maintain.

V formation at the end!

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 9:33 pm

Hard to believe a coach who won a National Championship 2 seasons ago can be on the hot seat... but Orgeron pretty much is. CFB is crazy and beautiful.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 10:08 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:36 pm Pac - 12 South is 6-1, North is 1-5.

I'm glad the Wildcats could help out with keeping the numbers reasonable. But I am wondering which teams played the 7th game.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 10:09 pm

JCC wrote:Hard to believe a coach who won a National Championship 2 seasons ago can be on the hot seat... but Orgeron pretty much is. CFB is crazy and beautiful.

Shouldn't be based on this game. The deck was completely stacked against LSU:

UCLA at home, with a game under its belt
LSU with 2 new coordinators installing systems, while trying to prepare for some very exotic packages, and UCLA returning just about everyone
Hurricane Ida, and moving to Houston to practice

Yes, the jury is still out on Ed O. at LSU, but this game was much more about UCLA than LSU.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 10:10 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:
Pyperkub wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:36 pm Pac - 12 South is 6-1, North is 1-5.
I'm glad the Wildcats could help out with keeping the numbers reasonable. But I am wondering which teams played the 7th game.

Overall. UCLA had the week 0 game VS. Hawaii last week.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Sep 05, 2021 11:15 pm

Ah, thank you.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:52 pm

I am happy to see UCLA actually win a big game. It would be nice to see USC and UCLA play meaningful games this year, with UCLA winning in the end of course.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:44 am

It was nice to see Michigan handle its business properly against a MAC team (Western Michigan). Unfortunately, our best receiver (and offensive captain) went down with a season ending leg injury returning a punt.

Next week is what some are calling a "no win" game. Hosting Washington, who just crapped the bed as a ranked team against an FCS team (hey, I know how that feels), a win no longer means much and a loss gets a transitive FCS loss. I'll just take a win any way we can get it.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:57 am

I think that Washington is actually a pretty good team, who happened to get caught completely overlooking a better-than-your-average-FCS-team in Montana in their preparation to play Michigan.

I fully expect that to be a close game next week.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:58 am

Yeah, I’ve felt the pain of losing to unranked, minor conference teams more than once.

I really think a big part of it (at least for my team) is that we are so hardened and coached and trained for playing against Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Florida etc week in and week out, and SIZED appropriately to at least be able to compete with those kinds of teams.

Suddenly you are faced with say an FCS team that on average weighs less than 30-70 lbs per man, who runs the option or triple option every play just to survive, it really messes with players’ heads and instincts.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:32 pm

The Vols will find out this weekend against Pitt where we are. Not particularly impressed this past weekend and really underwhelmed with Joe Milton. You Michigan guys know what I'm talking about

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LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:07 pm

IU.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:54 pm

No wonder they lost.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:03 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:52 pm I am happy to see UCLA actually win a big game. It would be nice to see USC and UCLA play meaningful games this year, with UCLA winning in the end of course.

Not just win, but win in convincing fashion with execution and talent. This was a *much* different win than the Josh Rosen Comeback over Texas A&M for example.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:06 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:07 pm

IU.

All it needs in an "L" at the end.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:09 pm

Todd McShay @McShay13 · 48m
I am going to take some time away to focus on my health and my family. Thank you ESPN for being so supportive and for all the well wishes - I can’t wait to be back on the sidelines soon.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Tue Sep 07, 2021 5:17 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:09 pm

Todd McShay @McShay13 · 48m
I am going to take some time away to focus on my health and my family. Thank you ESPN for being so supportive and for all the well wishes - I can’t wait to be back on the sidelines soon.

I hope he is okay but it sounds like something is going on with him.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:13 pm

It's "rivalry week" here in Utah, with the Utah/BYU game coming up on Saturday night (8:15 start...ugh).

I would love nothing more than to see this countdown continue after Utah wins their 10th straight. Especially since we're taking a 2-year break from the game, since Utah scheduled a home/home with Florida in 23-24.

I think Utah has more talent across the board, but we'll need to play lots better than we did last week. BYU will be fired up playing at home and with the pending B12 inclusion, and will definitely have something to prove. My guess is that it will be a closer-than-I'd-like game (almost always is) with Utah coming out on top.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 2:14 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:36 pm
Skinypupy wrote:That’s a great win by UCLA, the P12 South is going to be a really tough division this year.

Which is probably good, since the North looks like a complete joke. Washington loses at home to…Montana (WTF??). Oregon barely squeaks by Fresno (sorry, Scuzz). Stanford gets taken to the woodshed by K State. Oregon St gets whipped by Purdue. Cal is losing and Wazzu is tight with MWC teams into the 4th as I write this.

What an absolute dumpster fire.

EDIT: Cal and Wazzu both lost, to Nevada and Utah State, respectively. That's 5 out of the 6 North teams going down today. Oof.
Pac - 12 South is 6-1, North is 1-5.

Fun game at the Rose Bowl, but I think I'm going to have to get a covid test this week. The pregame sports bar in Pasadena was way too crowded with all the LSU fans in town Very fun to hang and have college football back, but mask discipline was just impossible to maintain.

V formation at the end!

FWIW, Covid test taken Tuesday (~71 hours after hitting the superspreader bar) came back negative. Sure, maybe a bit early (but our rapid covid test site on campus/at work closed 40 minutes later, and I'm working from home the rest of this week, so it was my best option), but good news. Fully vaxxed, BTW.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:37 pm

Good start by the Vols but they should be up 14-0 of Milton can complete a long ball. 3 overthrown already.

Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:00 pm

Man, Ohio State got spanked by Oregon. When I saw OSU was favored by 14, I thought that was way too much.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:03 pm

Was not expecting Oregon to win that, but glad they did. The P12 desperately needed a quality win.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:10 pm

Losing by 7 is not getting spanked. However, a very fun, surprising upset for the Ducks. And yes, definitely a big deal for the Pac 12.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:02 pm

One reason I prefer college football over the NFL (at least the regular season) is that college football means something. Almost every game. Oregon and UCLA winning their games against OSU and LSU have greater meaning than if the Saints knock off the Packers tomorrow or had the Cowboys beat Tampa Bay.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:26 pm

Yes, college football has the best regular season by far and it's really the only sport I continue to watch. Its post season needs work. Expanding the playoff will make it even better. If only they would get rid of all the stupid post season exhibition games. (Of course they never will because $$$.)

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 1:50 am

One huge step forward for the P12 today (Oregon), and three big steps back (Utah, Washington, and USC).

Kudos to BYU, they were the far better team tonight. Utah got completely outplayed and outcoached, something I did not expect at all. We looked like we expected to simply walk in there and win without any effort, and got trounced.

Definitely adjusting expectations for this year, as I really thought we might be a dark horse P12 contender. Our o-line is a complete sieve, our vaunted d-line struggles to get any pressure, and Charlie Brewer hasn’t exactly impressed in his first couple games. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see Texas transfer Cam Rising before the end of this month.

Oh well…I guess 10 in a row over BYU was too much to ask for.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 11:56 am

Missed this bit of weirdness last night. A USC player got ejected for targeting 6 seconds into the game last night.

The kicker.

Lassr · Post by **Lassr** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:07 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 11:56 am Missed this bit of weirdness last night. A USC player got ejected for targeting 6 seconds into the game last night.

The kicker.

And I saw three other hits in games yesterday far worse than that and they were not even called or reviewed. I absolutely still hate the ejection part of the rule.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:12 pm

Skinypupy wrote:One huge step forward for the P12 today (Oregon), and three big steps back (Utah, Washington, and USC).

Kudos to BYU, they were the far better team tonight. Utah got completely outplayed and outcoached, something I did not expect at all. We looked like we expected to simply walk in there and win without any effort, and got trounced.

Definitely adjusting expectations for this year, as I really thought we might be a dark horse P12 contender. Our o-line is a complete sieve, our vaunted d-line struggles to get any pressure, and Charlie Brewer hasn’t exactly impressed in his first couple games. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see Texas transfer Cam Rising before the end of this month.

Oh well…I guess 10 in a row over BYU was too much to ask for.

Eh, Stanford took a huge step forward

.

USC? Not a team that should be playing the air raid with the OL talent they get. Nor giving up 35 on defense to Stanford (other pick six).

Oregon was insanely impressive. Zero turnovers and zero sacks allowed on the road in the horseshoe.

UW's offense is a train wreck.

Colorado went toe to toe with A&M. Poor playcalling left their defense out to dry tho. Nate Landman looks like pac - 12 defensive player of the year material again after that horrible injury at the end of last year.

This Bruin is a bit concerned with a Fresno St team that played Oregon on the road better than tOSU did at home (but, first game kinks and maybe a bit of look ahead).

Utah looked like they didn't know they were playing a rival on the road at night. Whoops.

ASU at BYU next week should tell us a lot.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:15 pm

I am looking forward to the UCLA game this week.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 9:58 am

JCC wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:26 pm Yes, college football has the best regular season by far and it's really the only sport I continue to watch. Its post season needs work. Expanding the playoff will make it even better. If only they would get rid of all the stupid post season exhibition games. (Of course they never will because $$$.)

But the more you expand the playoffs, the less the regular season will matter. OSU is on the outside looking in for a playoff bid at this point, although it's still quite possible they get one. If it were a 16 team field, though? They'd still be solidly in the field. It's why there's no perfect solution here - better postseason means worse regular season and vice versa.

So let's talk the Michigan offensive gameplan vs. Washington. There's quite a bit of griping from the Michigan fanbase (what else is new?) despite the big win because Michigan ran 56 times for 343 yards and passed 15 times for 44 yards. This is probably not a sustainable long term offensive strategy, and it might have been a good idea to put the ball in the air a few more times if for no other reason than to give the offense some live game passing reps. I suspect that this isn't the long term strategy, but that the staff realized that the Washington secondary was really good so they decided to run the ball until Washington showed they could stop the run. They never did, so Michigan kept running the damn ball.

I have to admit, as a football fan who was raised on Walter Payton's Bears and started attending Michigan while Bo was still head coach, that game was borderline erotic to me.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:21 am

ImLawBoy wrote:
JCC wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:26 pm Yes, college football has the best regular season by far and it's really the only sport I continue to watch. Its post season needs work. Expanding the playoff will make it even better. If only they would get rid of all the stupid post season exhibition games. (Of course they never will because $$$.)
But the more you expand the playoffs, the less the regular season will matter. OSU is on the outside looking in for a playoff bid at this point, although it's still quite possible they get one. If it were a 16 team field, though? They'd still be solidly in the field. It's why there's no perfect solution here - better postseason means worse regular season and vice versa.

So let's talk the Michigan offensive gameplan vs. Washington. There's quite a bit of griping from the Michigan fanbase (what else is new?) despite the big win because Michigan ran 56 times for 343 yards and passed 15 times for 44 yards. This is probably not a sustainable long term offensive strategy, and it might have been a good idea to put the ball in the air a few more times if for no other reason than to give the offense some live game passing reps. I suspect that this isn't the long term strategy, but that the staff realized that the Washington secondary was really good so they decided to run the ball until Washington showed they could stop the run. They never did, so Michigan kept running the damn ball.

I have to admit, as a football fan who was raised on Walter Payton's Bears and started attending Michigan while Bo was still head coach, that game was borderline erotic to me.

As a Bruin who saw us beat LSU throwing the ball only 16 times, I'm a big believer in the idea that you will win a LOT of games this way (limiting turnovers and pounding the rock). Of course, we did get almost 300 yards passing on those 16 attempts... 44 yards is a sign of needing to work on pass protection to avoid checkdown-itis, depending on the film, of course.

Edit - and if you look at the Oregon win over tOSU this weekend, they had zero turnovers and zero sacks allowed. Huge coaching/execution win there.

While Oregon mostly dominated that game, it was still close enough that a bad turnover or two, or a sack here/there could well have gotten tOSU the win but Oregon wasn't having any of that.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:11 pm

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 9:58 am
JCC wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:26 pm Yes, college football has the best regular season by far and it's really the only sport I continue to watch. Its post season needs work. Expanding the playoff will make it even better. If only they would get rid of all the stupid post season exhibition games. (Of course they never will because $$$.)
But the more you expand the playoffs, the less the regular season will matter. OSU is on the outside looking in for a playoff bid at this point, although it's still quite possible they get one. If it were a 16 team field, though? They'd still be solidly in the field. It's why there's no perfect solution here - better postseason means worse regular season and vice versa.

So let's talk the Michigan offensive gameplan vs. Washington. There's quite a bit of griping from the Michigan fanbase (what else is new?) despite the big win because Michigan ran 56 times for 343 yards and passed 15 times for 44 yards. This is probably not a sustainable long term offensive strategy, and it might have been a good idea to put the ball in the air a few more times if for no other reason than to give the offense some live game passing reps. I suspect that this isn't the long term strategy, but that the staff realized that the Washington secondary was really good so they decided to run the ball until Washington showed they could stop the run. They never did, so Michigan kept running the damn ball.

I have to admit, as a football fan who was raised on Walter Payton's Bears and started attending Michigan while Bo was still head coach, that game was borderline erotic to me.

I think the playoffs work only if the various conference champions are guaranteed a place in them. Sure you may end up with a 2-3 loss team some years but I also think you have to make winning your conference mean something. I don't want to see 5 SEC teams get in based on some poll metric. And 8 teams is plenty.

And it is always nice for any team to have a dominant running game, but eventually you will need to be able to pass the ball.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:22 pm

Clay Helton Fired at USC.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:26 pm

Urban in 3...2...1...

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:31 pm

Oregon did this much better than Baker Mayfield!

LOL! Next level trolling.