NCAA Football 2021

[Pyperkub]

Damn

That's a tough one. It really came down to the fourth down play. I think Kuithe makes it on a healthy ankle.

Great game tho! Glad you made it!

[Jaymann]

Damn

Sorry bro. Hope you at least bet Utah plus the points.

[Scuzz]

Hell of a game.

[Skinypupy]

Tough loss, but worth every penny of the experience.

I had literally never heard of that backup QB, crazy that he came in and drove for the last TD.

Weird for Utah’s D to be the fail point, that’s uncharacteristic. Our depleted backfield just couldn’t keep up with tOSUs receivers.

[Pyperkub]

Tough loss, but worth every penny of the experience.

I had literally never heard of that backup QB, crazy that he came in and drove for the last TD.

Weird for Utah’s D to be the fail point, that’s uncharacteristic. Our depleted backfield just couldn’t keep up with tOSUs receivers.

Great to hear that you had a great experience. Hold on to those memories and get some gear!

Safe travels home! Congrats on a fantastic season.

[JCC]

I feel bad for Utah honestly. It was kind of a no-win situation for them. If they had won, then it was against a depleted OSU team (24 players short) who considers the Rose Bowl a consolation award for a disappointing season. I didn't watch as I no longer give a shit about these end of season exhibition games, but it sound like it was a thriller. Congrats to the Utes for a landmark season.

[Skinypupy]

I feel bad for Utah honestly. It was kind of a no-win situation for them. If they had won, then it was against a depleted OSU team (24 players short) who considers the Rose Bowl a consolation award for a disappointing season. I didn't watch as I no longer give a shit about these end of season exhibition games, but it sound like it was a thriller. Congrats to the Utes for a landmark season.

Part of the reason we were so thin in the defensive backfield is because of Aaron Lowe’s murder. He would have been starting yesterday covering Smith-Njigba, who he played against in HS.

Although we came up just short, this was still one of my favorite seasons and favorite Utah teams. I never expected that to happen this year.

[JCC]

Absolutely, a banner year for Utah.

My alma mater (NC State) had their best football season since probably the Phillip Rivers Gator Bowl team. Too bad our Bowl was canceled.

[ImLawBoy]

Was it just me, or did Jim Harbough sound not like himself tonight.... it was weird - not sure how to describe it, he seemed just sorta mellow and weird.

Keep in mind that Harbaugh is a certified weirdo. You never know how he'll act during a press conference.

I think the playoff games showed the difference raw talent and a month to prepare makes. Alabama and Georgia are just on a different level of talent from Michigan and Cincinnati (and Michigan is on a different level from Cincinnati, FWIW). I didn't watch the first game, but I obviously watched the second and it seemed clear to me that on offense Georgia just schemed ways to get their elite athletes one-on-one against Michigan's not-quite-as-elite athletes and then let them do their thing. Ohio State is on the same talent tier as Alabama and Georgia, but with less time to prepare against Michigan it seems that they weren't able to take advantage of the talent gap this year.

The goal for Michigan, obviously, is to take advantage of this season in recruiting and get the talent level up to that top tier. It's going to be a lot harder for Cincinnati to do that, particularly if Fickell ends up moving on to a bigger program.

[Scuzz]

I don't think Fickel is moving, at least not until after next year now.

But yea, good coaching combined with good talent and time usually makes for a very good team. But does that mean Kelly is not a good coach as he got wacked twice that I can remember in the playoffs and ND gets very good talent.

[ImLawBoy]

I don't think Fickel is moving, at least not until after next year now.

I think it depends on the NFL coaching carousel and whether any big jobs come open as a result. I have no idea if there are any legs to the rumors, but Ryan Day has been floated as a replacement for Matt Nagy with the Bears for while now. Fickell would be a natural to return to OSU in that case. If Urban Meyer hasn't scared off the rest of the NFL against college coaches, there could be some movement with a fair number of NFL jobs expected to come open. (Although with the notable exceptions of Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll, college to NFL coaching hasn't been much of a success.)

But yea, good coaching combined with good talent and time usually makes for a very good team. But does that mean Kelly is not a good coach as he got wacked twice that I can remember in the playoffs and ND gets very good talent.

ND is in the second tier (with teams like Michigan, Penn State, etc.), but there's an elite level where Alabama, Georgia, OSU, Clemson, and maybe LSU and Oklahoma live in recruiting. If he can keep up that level of recruiting at LSU, we'll see if Kelly can break through.

[Carpet_pissr]

So apparently my team is getting the 2nd string quarterback (and he's bringing a tight end with him) from Oklahoma. Hope he works out, because we have suffered from lack of a decent QB for years. So many years.

Starting to think the transfer portal might be great for programs like ours where we aren't close to top tier, so recruiting is tough without big(gish) names like Steve Spurrier and Lou Holtz running things. Especially via the traditional method when you are going up against Clemson in your own state.

Any Oklahomers here want to sing Spencer Rattler's praises, or curse him to the darkness? I've personally never heard of the guy, but good things are said about him, of course.

[ImLawBoy]

FWIW, Rattler was, I think, the odds on Heisman favorite going into last season. Obviously that didn't work out so great for him as he transferred as the "backup" . . . .

[ImLawBoy]

But yea, good coaching combined with good talent and time usually makes for a very good team. But does that mean Kelly is not a good coach as he got wacked twice that I can remember in the playoffs and ND gets very good talent.

ND is in the second tier (with teams like Michigan, Penn State, etc.), but there's an elite level where Alabama, Georgia, OSU, Clemson, and maybe LSU and Oklahoma live in recruiting. If he can keep up that level of recruiting at LSU, we'll see if Kelly can break through.

After posting this I stumbled across this site, which assesses the talent levels for teams in 2021 using recruiting rankings for all players currently on the roster when they were recruited. As I suspected, the top 3 by a significant margin are Alabama (1,001.89 points), Georgia (1,001.79), and OSU (985.89). Clemson comes in 4th (933.77) followed by LSU (903.53), OU (891.09) and Florida (!) (890.5). For reference, ND is at 12th (853.74), Michigan 15th (832.60), PSU 16th (820.72), and Cincinnati is 54th (626.54).

[Pyperkub]

I don't think Fickel is moving, at least not until after next year now.

I think it depends on the NFL coaching carousel and whether any big jobs come open as a result. I have no idea if there are any legs to the rumors, but Ryan Day has been floated as a replacement for Matt Nagy with the Bears for while now. Fickell would be a natural to return to OSU in that case. If Urban Meyer hasn't scared off the rest of the NFL against college coaches, there could be some movement with a fair number of NFL jobs expected to come open. (Although with the notable exceptions of Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll, college to NFL coaching hasn't been much of a success.)

But yea, good coaching combined with good talent and time usually makes for a very good team. But does that mean Kelly is not a good coach as he got wacked twice that I can remember in the playoffs and ND gets very good talent.

ND is in the second tier (with teams like Michigan, Penn State, etc.), but there's an elite level where Alabama, Georgia, OSU, Clemson, and maybe LSU and Oklahoma live in recruiting. If he can keep up that level of recruiting at LSU, we'll see if Kelly can break through.

Michigan lives above Oklahoma over the past 5 years (Texas, as expected, is the huge underachiever, though Auburn/Fla/Fla St are high on the list):

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... ive-years/

• Team Conference Five-Year Average 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
  Alabama SEC 2.4 1 1 7 1 2
  Georgia SEC 2.8 7 3 1 2 1
  Ohio State Big Ten 5.4 4 2 2 14 5
  LSU SEC 6.8 3 7 15 5 4
  Clemson ACC 9 10 16 6 10 3
  Auburn SEC 9.6 9 9 12 11 7
  Texas Big 12 10.4 11 26 3 3 9
  Michigan Big Ten 10.6 5 5 21 8 14
  Florida SEC 10.8 13 10 14 9 8
  Oklahoma Big 12 11 21 8 9 6 11
  Texas A&M SEC 11.6 19 12 17 4 6
  Florida State ACC 11.6 2 6 11 17 22
  Penn State Big Ten 13.6 20 15 5 13 15
  Notre Dame Independent 13.6 15 11 10 15 17
  Tennessee SEC 14.6 14 17 20 12 10
  Oregon Pac-12 16.4 28 19 16 7 12

[ImLawBoy]

Interesting that there's such a gap in analysis. At a glance, I'd say that the CBS ranking is looking purely at the recruiting class ranking, while the 24/7 ranking is looking at current roster (taking into account transfers, medical DQs, etc.). That probably would suggest that OU has done a good job in the transfer portal and/or Michigan has a bit of attrition problem.

[Pyperkub]

Interesting that there's such a gap in analysis. At a glance, I'd say that the CBS ranking is looking purely at the recruiting class ranking, while the 24/7 ranking is looking at current roster (taking into account transfers, medical DQs, etc.). That probably would suggest that OU has done a good job in the transfer portal and/or Michigan has a bit of attrition problem.

Yeah, CBS is definitely only looking at class rankings. It's one reason why UCLA is improving beyond the recruiting rankings - Chip Kelly has done a pretty darned good job hitting the transfer portal too (and with NIL and the Los Angeles market, I expect that to go up for the LA schools). UCLA recently hired UW's Assistant HC/DC as DL coach, and he was also a top recruiter for them apparently. Defensive transfers for UCLA are already popping apparently.

Also, OU's new starting QB Caleb Williams just said he's entering the transfer portal (just like Rattler did), but open to returning. Could easily see him at 'SC next year (UCLA already got Dillon Gabriel, and it appears as if DTR is leaning towards staying).

And PS - thanks for Zach Charbonnet Michigan! It was a vintage year!

[Pyperkub]

Regarding talent - I think if the cfp expands, you'll see the talent spread out more. The opportunity to compete for a championship now is really limited to just a few schools, and leading to a rich get richer system. If the playoff expands, I think you'll see some of that talent spread around a bit more (and, even tho they are moving to the SEC, I'm expecting that OU may end up following Nebraska to the scrap heap... that kind of depends on if Texas ever gets its act together again tho).

[Skinypupy]

Well, this has been…interesting.

Woke up to 6” of snow this morning. Roads were a disaster, took nearly 7 hours to get from SLC to Vegas. About 20 minutes south of Vegas, we notice a horrible squealing from the car. Uh oh.

Got to a car repair place 5 minutes before they closed. Said it was an issue with some belt or another. Couldn’t do anything to fix it until Monday. Called a dozen other places, same story (not surprising for 4:00 on New Years Eve.

Called some rental car places, no luck. Found a flight that left the Vegas airport an hour later. Rushed it to the airport (belt in the car squealing all the way), sprinted to the Southwest counter…only to find out the Kayak ticket Mrs Skinypupy bought on her phone didn’t go through. Crap. The wonderful ticket lady said she could get us into Burbank, so we booked that instead. My brother (who is already in Cali from Nashville) will pick us up at the airport at 9:00 tonight.

Spent far too many Delta points to get us back to Vegas on Sunday morning, and will still need to figure out what the hell to do about getting the car home. Guess we’ll deal with that later.

So we’re out another $600 for the flight, but - assuming no more issues - we’ll get there for the game. Fingers crossed.

This better be worth it…

So, I quick capper on the travel adventure. About 8:00 Saturday night (as we're having dinner after the game), I got a notice that Delta cancelled our return flight to Vegas Sunday morning. So we ended up booking yet another last minute Southwest flight to get back from Burbank to Vegas yesterday. Took the car to six different repair shops and called another 4 yesterday afternoon, but no one could look at it until this morning. The last shop we tried did let us drop it off and run the diagnostic codes, and let us know they'd start working on it first thing when their tech got in at 7:00 this morning. So we found a hotel for the night and waited for a call this morning. After a $700 repair bill, we left Vegas with a working vehicle around 1:00 today and just got home about 1/2-hour ago.

It feels like we've been gone for 3 weeks (it's been 4 days) and the trip has cost me at least $2,500 more than I expected.

Still worth it.

[Carpet_pissr]

Well, this has been…interesting.

Woke up to 6” of snow this morning. Roads were a disaster, took nearly 7 hours to get from SLC to Vegas. About 20 minutes south of Vegas, we notice a horrible squealing from the car. Uh oh.

Got to a car repair place 5 minutes before they closed. Said it was an issue with some belt or another. Couldn’t do anything to fix it until Monday. Called a dozen other places, same story (not surprising for 4:00 on New Years Eve.

Called some rental car places, no luck. Found a flight that left the Vegas airport an hour later. Rushed it to the airport (belt in the car squealing all the way), sprinted to the Southwest counter…only to find out the Kayak ticket Mrs Skinypupy bought on her phone didn’t go through. Crap. The wonderful ticket lady said she could get us into Burbank, so we booked that instead. My brother (who is already in Cali from Nashville) will pick us up at the airport at 9:00 tonight.

Spent far too many Delta points to get us back to Vegas on Sunday morning, and will still need to figure out what the hell to do about getting the car home. Guess we’ll deal with that later.

So we’re out another $600 for the flight, but - assuming no more issues - we’ll get there for the game. Fingers crossed.

This better be worth it…

So, I quick capper on the travel adventure. About 8:00 Saturday night (as we're having dinner after the game), I got a notice that Delta cancelled our return flight to Vegas Sunday morning. So we ended up booking yet another last minute Southwest flight to get back from Burbank to Vegas yesterday. Took the car to six different repair shops and called another 4 yesterday afternoon, but no one could look at it until this morning. The last shop we tried did let us drop it off and run the diagnostic codes, and let us know they'd start working on it first thing when their tech got in at 7:00 this morning. So we found a hotel for the night and waited for a call this morning. After a $700 repair bill, we left Vegas with a working vehicle around 1:00 today and just got home about 1/2-hour ago.

It feels like we've been gone for 3 weeks (it's been 4 days) and the trip has cost me at least $2,500 more than I expected.

Still worth it.

On the one hand, that sounds horrible, but on the other, you know this will end up being one of those stories that will be told for years, right?

Also, I do think you got SUPER lucky that whatever was wrong with your car didn't require a parts order that could have delayed you another day or three!

[Isgrimnur]

[Carpet_pissr]

LURV

You, sir, win the internet this week. Brilliant movie. Brilliant quote, delivered perfectly by an amazing comedic actor.

[Isgrimnur]

[Pyperkub]

Well, this has been…interesting.

Woke up to 6” of snow this morning. Roads were a disaster, took nearly 7 hours to get from SLC to Vegas. About 20 minutes south of Vegas, we notice a horrible squealing from the car. Uh oh.

Got to a car repair place 5 minutes before they closed. Said it was an issue with some belt or another. Couldn’t do anything to fix it until Monday. Called a dozen other places, same story (not surprising for 4:00 on New Years Eve.

Called some rental car places, no luck. Found a flight that left the Vegas airport an hour later. Rushed it to the airport (belt in the car squealing all the way), sprinted to the Southwest counter…only to find out the Kayak ticket Mrs Skinypupy bought on her phone didn’t go through. Crap. The wonderful ticket lady said she could get us into Burbank, so we booked that instead. My brother (who is already in Cali from Nashville) will pick us up at the airport at 9:00 tonight.

Spent far too many Delta points to get us back to Vegas on Sunday morning, and will still need to figure out what the hell to do about getting the car home. Guess we’ll deal with that later.

So we’re out another $600 for the flight, but - assuming no more issues - we’ll get there for the game. Fingers crossed.

This better be worth it…

So, I quick capper on the travel adventure. About 8:00 Saturday night (as we're having dinner after the game), I got a notice that Delta cancelled our return flight to Vegas Sunday morning. So we ended up booking yet another last minute Southwest flight to get back from Burbank to Vegas yesterday. Took the car to six different repair shops and called another 4 yesterday afternoon, but no one could look at it until this morning. The last shop we tried did let us drop it off and run the diagnostic codes, and let us know they'd start working on it first thing when their tech got in at 7:00 this morning. So we found a hotel for the night and waited for a call this morning. After a $700 repair bill, we left Vegas with a working vehicle around 1:00 today and just got home about 1/2-hour ago.

It feels like we've been gone for 3 weeks (it's been 4 days) and the trip has cost me at least $2,500 more than I expected.

Still worth it.

Document the entire thing for the twins and give them a scrapbook for Christmas the next time Utah makes the Rose Bowl! It for their kids someday....

I'm so glad you had a great time regardless. I would have felt guilty for pushing you to go all of these years once you got a chance if that weren't the case.

But, it's one of those experiences not to be missed, IMHO.

[ImLawBoy]

And PS - thanks for Zach Charbonnet Michigan! It was a vintage year!

You're quite welcome! I think that transfer was a win-win-win and is a good example of how positive the transfer portal can be. Charbonnet wasn't going to see the field much if he stayed at Michigan, but he's obviously a talented kid who deserves a shot to play. Michigan got to free up a scholarship without losing any net productivity (win), UCLA got to add a very talented running back (win), and Charbonnet gets the opportunity to play and maybe showcase his talent to the NFL (win).

[Skinypupy]

Also, OU's new starting QB Caleb Williams just said he's entering the transfer portal (just like Rattler did), but open to returning. Could easily see him at 'SC next year (UCLA already got Dillon Gabriel, and it appears as if DTR is leaning towards staying).

If you’re Oklahoma, taking Williams back after he essentially bails on the team seems like it would be a huge gamble.

I get why he’s doing it in the NIL age (why wouldn’t he want to get paid somewhere?), but the morale hit to have the de facto team leader being so squirrelly about whether or not he wants to even be there seems like the perfect recipe for a locker room disaster.

[Pyperkub]

Also, OU's new starting QB Caleb Williams just said he's entering the transfer portal (just like Rattler did), but open to returning. Could easily see him at 'SC next year (UCLA already got Dillon Gabriel, and it appears as if DTR is leaning towards staying).

If you’re Oklahoma, taking Williams back after he essentially bails on the team seems like it would be a huge gamble.

I get why he’s doing it in the NIL age (why wouldn’t he want to get paid somewhere?), but the morale hit to have the de facto team leader being so squirrelly about whether or not he wants to even be there seems like the perfect recipe for a locker room disaster.

Rattler was doing pretty well in the NIL age at OU FWIW - multiple cars and cash, etc. A lot of schools/players are still working this out while the ones who always wanted to pay players (and did...) jumped in to the deep end.

As to Williams, I don't see it as that squirrelly, all the coaches who recruited him left, and they replaced one of the top offensive coaches in the game with a top defensive coach. Sure, maybe he could have waited a bit longer, but maybe he had a meeting with the new coach and bounced hard off of him or his system or his staff. I can even see the new coach going the Urban Meyer route (my way or the highway!) and getting a highway answer, if only to see how sold the new coach is on keeping him by re-recruiting him.

[Skinypupy]

Good lord.

Alabama has lost 18 games.

In the past 14 years.

[Lassr]

Much respect to LSU for at least showing up and playing the game last night with only 38 players and no QB on the roster. It was what it was and not a good game to watch but the players that were there gave it their all.

[Carpet_pissr]

Also, OU's new starting QB Caleb Williams just said he's entering the transfer portal (just like Rattler did), but open to returning. Could easily see him at 'SC next year (UCLA already got Dillon Gabriel, and it appears as if DTR is leaning towards staying).

If you’re Oklahoma, taking Williams back after he essentially bails on the team seems like it would be a huge gamble.

I get why he’s doing it in the NIL age (why wouldn’t he want to get paid somewhere?), but the morale hit to have the de facto team leader being so squirrelly about whether or not he wants to even be there seems like the perfect recipe for a locker room disaster.

Rattler was doing pretty well in the NIL age at OU FWIW - multiple cars and cash, etc. A lot of schools/players are still working this out while the ones who always wanted to pay players (and did...) jumped in to the deep end.

Do they have to report "receipts" now under the new system? Is there some place you can look up their loot by player or team maybe?

[Pyperkub]

Also, OU's new starting QB Caleb Williams just said he's entering the transfer portal (just like Rattler did), but open to returning. Could easily see him at 'SC next year (UCLA already got Dillon Gabriel, and it appears as if DTR is leaning towards staying).

If you’re Oklahoma, taking Williams back after he essentially bails on the team seems like it would be a huge gamble.

I get why he’s doing it in the NIL age (why wouldn’t he want to get paid somewhere?), but the morale hit to have the de facto team leader being so squirrelly about whether or not he wants to even be there seems like the perfect recipe for a locker room disaster.

Rattler was doing pretty well in the NIL age at OU FWIW - multiple cars and cash, etc. A lot of schools/players are still working this out while the ones who always wanted to pay players (and did...) jumped in to the deep end.

Do they have to report "receipts" now under the new system? Is there some place you can look up their loot by player or team maybe?

Not really, but they do have to report it to the IRS, and many states have their own laws governing it. It's still the wild wild west effectively.

This company tracks (publicly) by conference currently, and has paid options to assist athletes with specific reporting requirements, etc.

This article has some details on Rattler's deals (of course, the main item is the car dealership sponsor - long a source of pre-NIL booster corruption):

After throwing a career-high five touchdowns in a in a 76-0 beatdown of Western Carolina last week, Rattler was given two brand new vehicles — a 2021 Dodge Ram TRX and a 2021 Dodge Charger Scat Pack — from Fowler Automotive Group, who are based out of Norman, Oklahoma...

...The two vehicles from Fowler Automotive aren’t Rattler’s only NIH cash-in. He’s also developed his own logo, opened an online shop and signed a deal with Raising Cane’s. He also sends out customized videos via Cameo.

But the 20-year-old Rattler isn’t keeping everything for himself. He is using his NIL deals and income to help “underserved communities.”

I've seen quite a few articles about the NIL players giving back as well.

[Skinypupy]

Caleb Williams now has a $1MM offer to transfer to...Eastern Michigan?

When Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams announced his decision to enter the college football transfer portal, few, if any, speculated that Eastern Michigan would be his next stop. But there are now a million reasons why the dream of Williams taking snaps in Ypsilanti could become a reality.

On Wednesday, EMU alum Charlie Batch took to Twitter to let Williams know that a one-year, one million dollar NIL deal awaits him, should he opt to take snaps for the Eagles.

Sure, why not.

[LordMortis]

Eagles? Eagles!?! We're not Eagles. We're EMUs at best. I'm fairly certain that's what the student body voted for. Of course I'm still mad they did zero improvements except a golf course we couldn't use and yet my tuition kept going up to pay for all the toys the next kids would get, while I get fined because I can't find a paid for parking spot but I still have to get my ass to class.

Eagles. <pfppffft>

/signed, graduate from the school for the socially misfit where we accept everyone (and we don't charge UofM rates)

(Also we made it to the sweet sixteen when I was there)

[Pyperkub]

Caleb Williams now has a $1MM offer to transfer to...Eastern Michigan?

When Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams announced his decision to enter the college football transfer portal, few, if any, speculated that Eastern Michigan would be his next stop. But there are now a million reasons why the dream of Williams taking snaps in Ypsilanti could become a reality.

On Wednesday, EMU alum Charlie Batch took to Twitter to let Williams know that a one-year, one million dollar NIL deal awaits him, should he opt to take snaps for the Eagles.

Sure, why not.

I both love this (Eastern Michigan) and hate this (buying players).

[Isgrimnur]

and yet my tuition kept going up to pay for all the toys the next kids would get, while I get fined because I can't find a paid for parking spot but I still have to get my ass to class.

[LordMortis]

Did they open it up to all of the students at least? The golf course was was built for VIPs related to the College of Business... Not like I was itching to golf or anything.

[Isgrimnur]

That one is. Then there's The Rawls Course at Texas Tech with

[Pyperkub]

and yet my tuition kept going up to pay for all the toys the next kids would get, while I get fined because I can't find a paid for parking spot but I still have to get my ass to class.

I would think that needs more trees/shade. Nice Mandalay Bay style river tho!

I always loved studying at UCLA's Sunset Canyon Rec Center - it's even better now (Google Earth link) Looks like more development ongoing as well.

[Isgrimnur]

NBC

The Jaguars’ interest in former Texans head coach Bill O’Brien is great enough that they’ll be bringing him in for an interview.
...
O’Brien was 52-48 in the regular stadium and 2-4 in four trips to the postseason while coaching the Texans. He was fired early in the 2020 season and joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama this year.

[Scuzz]

NBC

The Jaguars’ interest in former Texans head coach Bill O’Brien is great enough that they’ll be bringing him in for an interview.
...
O’Brien was 52-48 in the regular stadium and 2-4 in four trips to the postseason while coaching the Texans. He was fired early in the 2020 season and joined Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama this year.

He is probably a good coach as long as he doesn't have GM powers like he did at Texas. That is what killed him.