Saturday College Football Open Thread
[guest post by JVW]
* I’m starting to think that I’ll never again see Michigan beat Ohio State in my lifetime.
* Georgia looked good again beating Georgia Tech, except for the discipline issues. The SEC title game ought to be a doozy.
* How cool is that that Minnesota and Wisconsin, the most-played rivalry in major college football, have played 128 times and the series is perfectly knotted up at 60-60 with eight ties?
* I want to see climate change “activists” try that sit-in stuff at the Alabama-Auburn game. Or LSU-Texas A&M for that matter.
* For fun, let’s envision this scenario: Ohio State, Clemson, and LSU win-out and reach the college football playoffs. Alabama loses to Auburn. Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State. Next weekend, Georgia loses to LSU in the SEC title game. Minnesota loses to Ohio State in the Big Ten title game. Baylor loses to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. Utah loses to Oregon in the Pac 12 title game. Who then becomes the fourth team in the playoffs? A two-loss conference champ like Oregon or Oklahoma? A two-loss runner-up like Georgia or Minnesota? Or a two-loss wild-card like Alabama? How about a one-loss minor conference champion like Boise State or Memphis? Wouldn’t it be fun to see the NCAA in the position of having to make that choice?
Enjoy watching, if that’s how you plan to spend your afternoon.
– JVW
My favorite post-Thanksgiving tradition? Turkey carcass soup.
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/30/2019 @ 1:12 pmAuburn vs. Alabama is the best of the bunch in terms of quality of play.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/30/2019 @ 1:16 pmHere’s another scenario that the NCAA might have to contend with. Let’s say that Alabama beats Auburn today. They don’t play in next week’s SEC title game, so their regular season will be complete at 11-1. Now, let’s say that Utah beats Colorado this week and then Oregon in the Pac 12 title game, and both Oklahoma and Baylor win this weekend and then meet in the Big 12 title game with identical 11-1 records.
Now who’s the fourth team in your playoff scenario, assuming that Ohio State, Clemson, and LSU all win out? Do you go with 11-1 Alabama who lost only to LSU, or do you go with a 12-1 conference champion like Utah or Baylor/Oklahoma?
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/30/2019 @ 1:23 pmButterfingers by the gophers receivers is not helping.
mg (8cbc69) — 11/30/2019 @ 2:30 pmThis Alabama-Auburn game is, as per usual, crazy.
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/30/2019 @ 3:15 pmAlabama currently reviewing requirement students only be able to count to ten.
harkin (337580) — 11/30/2019 @ 4:37 pmBama lost. Hopefully no 2nd SEC in the top 4 a week from now (only shot is if UGA beats LSU in the CCG).
urbanleftbehind (2b9094) — 11/30/2019 @ 4:53 pmThe University of Kentucky Wildcats beat the University of Louisville Cardinals 45-13, rushing for 517 yards, the most any team has hung on an FBS opponent this year. Having lost their top two quarterbacks, UK has installed its top wide receiver at QB, and he rarely throws, but since Lynn Bowden has taken over as QB, UK has the fifth highest rushing average in the nation, behind only Georgia Southern and the three military academies, all of which employ the triple option offense. UK employed running plays 85% of the time since the change, and today attempted only two passes, completing one for four yards.
The Dana from Kentucky (13dd7c) — 11/30/2019 @ 5:21 pmMy own hope was tOSU and Clemson winning out and UGA topping LSU in OT in the SEC title game, leaving the committee with the problem of trying to justify putting in Alabama over LSU or any of the others for the fourth spot. Even with the loss to Auburn I wouldn’t count Alabama out – I have a suspicion there’s a secret clause in the ESPN contract that the NCAA has to put Alabama in the title game.
Jerryskids (702a61) — 11/30/2019 @ 5:36 pmThey’d give it to Alabama. They will always give it to Bama.
Heck, Utah or Baylor win out, they still might give it to Alabama claiming they had the “tougher schedule and better losses.”
NJRob (a37ae1) — 11/30/2019 @ 6:04 pmSigh.
Dave (fcd131) — 11/30/2019 @ 6:07 pmDon’t really watch much college football, unless a team from Texas is playing for a championship. But, hey, go Horned Frogs!
TCU has a really good football program that has produced several championship players in the NFL: Sammy Baugh (QB Washington) and Bob Lilly (DT Dallas), both in the Hall of Fame, and Larry Brown (CB Dallas), Super Bowl MVP.
Gary Patterson is a really good coach. He gets the most out of his players. At 160-57, he has a 73% win rate.
Given the current mess with the Cowboys–that loss to Buffalo, on Thanksgiving, was more embarrassing than the loss to New England the week before, only exceeded by the loss to the Neywe York Jets (the Jets? J-E-T-S!)–Jason Garrett hopefully won’t be back next year. He never was coaching material to begin with. But who to replace him with?
If I were Jerry Jones, I wouldn’t be looking at Meyer or Sabin. I’d be making a serious offer to Patterson. But I doubt he would accept the offer.
Gawain's Ghost (a89947) — 11/30/2019 @ 6:33 pmHere’s another scenario to wonder about: If Wisconsin beats Ohio State in next week’s Big Ten championship game, does that knock the Buckeyes at 12-1 out of the playoff? Does that win put the 11-2 Badgers in the playoff, even though they lost to Ohio State by 31 points last month? Could there actually be a scenario where the Big Ten doesn’t get any teams in the playoffs and it ends up being LSU, Clemson, Utah, and Oklahoma?
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/30/2019 @ 7:06 pmTCU has a really good football program that has produced several championship players in the NFL: Sammy Baugh (QB Washington) and Bob Lilly (DT Dallas), both in the Hall of Fame, and Larry Brown (CB Dallas), Super Bowl MVP.
And how about LaDainian Tomlinson?
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/30/2019 @ 7:09 pmtOSU and LSU are in no matter what, probably, Clemson will beat a slightly above average Virginia (Cincinnati, Memphis, Boise, would all win the ACC central mountain coastal plains division), so they’re in. Georgia’s in if they win, but they’ve got new injuries, suspensions forthcoming, so it’s not going to happen…but in that case, Ohio State finishes 4th, LSU losing would put them at 3, so it’s Clemson, Georgia, LSU, tOSU, Utah, Baylor/Oklahoma winner, Wiscy, Bama, PSU, Baylor/Oklahoma loser. Probably.
But I think it’s chalk for the top 3, 4th is Utah if they win, if they lose…uh…the winner of Baylor/Oklahoma, I guess. #1 Ohio State or LSU crushes either, Utah has a good defense so it’s closer, but they just don’t measure up, realistically. I have no idea if Clemson is good or great, probably great, but their best win is Texas A&M, maybe Virginia next week, who knows in the 2/3 game. I can only see it being close, or Clemson gets avalanched.
I just want to see LSU/tOSU, the whole Joe Burrow as a tOSU alum story line in the title game would be great. These two teams are as dominating as any since maybe USC or Miami in the scandal era.
Burrow wins the Heisman, but how many tOSU players make it to NYC? Hurts finishes 2nd, then two of Fields/Young/Dobbins. But Chase Young is the most outstanding football player though. Michigan double/triple teamed him today, which kept under control, but everyone else fed, just destroyed Michigan in the 2nd half.
Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c) — 11/30/2019 @ 8:56 pmDown with The!
Dave (1bb933) — 12/1/2019 @ 5:09 am#13 how often does one team lose by 31, then come back and win the 2nd game? Miracles do occur, but not very often.
rcocean (1a839e) — 12/1/2019 @ 8:12 amThey need to go to a 8-team playoff. Invite the champions of the SEC, Pac-12, Big 10, ACC, Big 12 and three wild cards from the independents and other conferences.
rcocean (1a839e) — 12/1/2019 @ 8:18 amThey should go back to having the Big Ten and Pac Ten champions play in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The winner of The Grand Daddy of ‘Em All is the national champion.
If y’all wanna have a playoff or popularity poll to determine who’s #3, you’re welcome to it.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/1/2019 @ 10:27 amMinnesota and Wisconsin, the most-played rivalry in major college football?
Exsqueeze me, but The Rivalry (it’s actually a title of a page on Wikipedia) has been played 156 times, with only one year being “missed” since the beginning of The Rivalry in 1884. In many years in the early 1900s, the teams played twice per season, as there were no other “nearby” teams to the Lehigh Valley to play.
Plus, the schools involved actually make the players go to class.
drewski1013 (16454f) — 12/1/2019 @ 11:44 am19 – that’s the only way the 12-PAC can have a national champion the way they’ve been playing lately. The top-ranked conference team in the final rankings is averaging about 7th place over the past five years.
harkin (337580) — 12/1/2019 @ 11:45 am20 – As a gopher alum I wish they would have dropped classes instead of passes.
mg (8cbc69) — 12/1/2019 @ 12:27 pmIf climate activists blocked the entrances to the Auburn-Alabama game, you’d see a rare moment of fan unity as the two sides would get together and pummel the activists. Same goes for any PETA group messing with the ribs in the tailgating area
steveg (354706) — 12/1/2019 @ 2:34 pmButterfly effect
mg (8cbc69) — 12/1/2019 @ 2:43 pm