NCAA Football 2021 Thread

[brian]

If people still hating on Michigan after 15 years of essentially being a giant turd sandwich, take the W, my man.

[rass]

I’m not hating on Michigan. Or NLFC. I just don’t think a blue-blood program that’s in the top 10 almost every season until they under-perform finally not under-performing and making the playoff isn’t as surprising as a non-P5 team making the playoff.

[sancarlos]

Fans of Michigan teams feeling persecuted is an evergreen condition. I learned that when I regularly went to Ann Arbor for business.

[brian]

I’m not hating on Michigan. Or NLFC. I just don’t think a blue-blood program that’s in the top 10 almost every season until they under-perform finally not under-performing and making the playoff isn’t as surprising as a non-P5 team making the playoff.

I shouldn’t have worded it exactly that way but just saying that if the Michigan “brand” is still strong enough to elicit yawns about making the CFP after the last 15 years, take it as a compliment.

[rass]

Yes. Except I’m not yawning. Or even taking a thing away from what UM did this year!

[brian]

Yes. Except I’m not yawning. Or even taking a thing away from what UM did this year!

OK, but being surprised that a team — any team - going from unranked in the preseason to the CFP isn’t a stretch considering this is literally the first time it’s ever happened.

[brian]

Colorado State ends up going in-conference to hire Jay Norvell from Nevada. Great hire.

[sancarlos]

Colorado State ends up going in-conference to hire Jay Norvell from Nevada. Great hire.

I’m surprised they got him. Go, Rams!

[Shirley]

I remember coming to Swamp to talk about the great hire of Bronco Mendenhall by UVA six years ago. Still think it was a great hire, but he didn't really have the success that most people expected. He certainly strengthened the program that had been rotting, but he never seemed to get the team over the hump from solid to actually good. I feel like a big part of that was recruiting. He and his staff largely came from out west and they just never connected with in-state kids. It's crazy how few of the top-ten recruits from Virginia have actually gone to UVA in the past 5 years (like seriously, only a couple).

You probably saw that Bronco abruptly retired a few days ago. He'll coach the bowl game, but that's it.

It's a really weird thing. I think he's a genuinely good guy, and I believe him when he says he wasn't pushed out, but that he just felt it was time to take a break. Buuuuut, by doing so, by putting himself and his family first, he also effectively fired his entire staff without notice. I honestly don't think I could have done that. I would have felt way too guilty to tell all of these assistants, men who've served him for years, that they just lost their jobs. It's not even like a typical company layoff - nearly all of these guys will now have to scramble to find jobs and will have to move their families to god-knows-where.

It definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Bronco.

[Giff]

Doesn't that happen all the time?

[brian]

Doesn't that happen all the time?

I mean, if the choice was Bronco retire or Bronco get fired, all those guys are losing their job anyway.

[HaulCitgo]

Isn't about now when head coaches are looking for assistants? Doesn't seem like really bad timing. Ive always assumed that UVA has institutional buy in problems. Not sure you can win in football "the right way." At least not until you've established yourself at the top of the heap.

[Shirley]

Doesn't that happen all the time?

Coaches just quit instead of getting fired? I mean, it's certainly not unheard of, but it doesn't happen all the time. Bronco wasn't on the hot seat (although fans were rightfully unhappy with how this season ended with four straight losses).

And I think this is different than guys up and leaving for another job, because they usually take a lot of their coaches with them.

It just seems odd to me, particularly for a profession where they preach loyalty and honor all the damn time.

[DaveInSeattle]

It definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Bronco.

Maybe its my Mormon-raised cynicism coming through, but when I saw Bronco's statement where he talked about his wife and family supporting him all throughout his coach career and how it was time for him to be a husband and father, my first thought was that he caught got with his 'hand in the cookie jar' (to use a phrase), and he's quitting because she was going to dump him.

[DSafetyGuy]

If you have made it in coaching to the point where you are an assistant coach of a Power 5 team, you know that you are a vagabond. It's a job requirement.

[Nonlinear FC]

Fans of Michigan teams feeling persecuted is an evergreen condition. I learned that when I regularly went to Ann Arbor for business.

Since my post started this, I'm going to treat this like a shot at me. So, FUCK YOU!!!

Just kidding... That's absolutely a big part of what goes on up there. Like, tons of posts/tweets about the MSU game saying that every video/call review went MSU's way... I didn't even bother to check if that's true or not. And all the stuff about The Spot and how certain members of that crew had ties to OSU or just the state of Ohio or whatever.

I just don't get involved or engage with that stuff. It's tough enough being a fan of a team that has routinely shit the bed when it counts. Trying to find exterior excuses for those failures is natural, but it's also super-counterproductive to the culture of the program... Like, don't allow those games to be decided on such razor-thin margins where one "bad" call ruins your season.

Go out and win 42-27 and leave no fucking doubt... And follow it up with a 42-3 romp to put a ring on it.

I get where rass is coming from as a casual, neutral fan. I am the opposite of that, so I'll just go ahead and remain stunned that a team that was this wobbly (looking from the outside) managed to do something no other team has ever done... They had a 2 percent chance of winning the B1G behind such juggernauts as Indiana and Northwestern.

Hail.

[sancarlos]

fwiw, I wasn't taking a shot at either Nonlinear or Brian. It's just something I noticed, regularly traveling up there and interacting with friends/co-workers. "Us against the world. We get screwed all the time and nobody gives us our due respect." I even had a discussion about it with a swamper once.

[Nonlinear FC]

Yeah, no, totally get it.

[Nonlinear FC]

BTW, since it probably won't get reported on the national scene:

Much has been made about Harbaugh's contract. That he took a major pay cut with a bunch of incentives. Well, he obviously hit most (all?) of the marks that were laid out in the new contract. He is donating all of that back to pay for athletic department staff who all took pay cuts to keep their jobs due to COVID last year.

I know I'm not going to change anyone's opinion that doesn't like him by posting this, but a lot of the criticism of Harbaugh is built up by a narrative from talking heads, rather than really looking at the guy and examining what he's all about.

[govmentchedda]

BTW, since it probably won't get reported on the national scene:

Much has been made about Harbaugh's contract. That he took a major pay cut with a bunch of incentives. Well, he obviously hit most (all?) of the marks that were laid out in the new contract. He is donating all of that back to pay for athletic department staff who all took pay cuts to keep their jobs due to COVID last year.

I know I'm not going to change anyone's opinion that doesn't like him by posting this, but a lot of the criticism of Harbaugh is built up by a narrative from talking heads, rather than really looking at the guy and examining what he's all about.

Heard about this last week. Good on him. Kinda crazy for a non alum to be rooting for Harbaugh, but here we are.

ETA - not REALLY rooting for him in the semifinal though, I've got $$ on the SEC teams to win NC

[A_B]

Not to diminish the deed, which is nice, but I definitely heard about this the day or day after it happened.

[Nonlinear FC]

And to your guys' point, it's being mentioned in the stories I'm hearing today. (Named CotY by AP.)

[Brontoburglar]

the Jim Harbaugh "narrative" -- the one that was at least mainstream -- was all about his inability to beat Ohio State and not have "great" teams in his time at Michigan.

totally fair? maybe not. look at the run that Ohio State has been on and the way that CFB power has shifted south. but it was that far ahead of his eccentricities that drove any criticism. and, just like any other coach, the eccentricities are cool when the team is winning and less cool when the team isn't (relatively speaking) winning

[serrano]

My mom’s father was an Army tank commander in WW2 who lost his leg in France and went home with 2 Purple Hearts and married the Army nurse who treated him when he got back to the states. (Fun fact, she outranked him as most nurses did in relation to enlisted men.)

My dad’s father was a Navy mess cook on ships in the South Pacific and might have caught the clap on duty in WW2.

Every year I watch this and feel bad rooting for Army, but here’s where we are. This game really is one of the top 5 rivalries in American sports and I think it should get more love.

Go Army, Beat Navy.

[brian]

Check out the highlights/box score from Ferris St game Jared Bernhardt contributed in his first college football game. 96 yards passing 2 tds, 120 yards rushing on 12 attempts 4 tds. He left Maryland after finishing his lacrosse career as the equivalent of the Heisman winner.

His dad was a big football coach and he originally was planning on going to Navy as their option QB before picking lax.

Huh. Didn’t know any of that.

Won player of the year for the conference (while missing 2 games with an injury).

He’s got 4 rushing TDs in the first 20 minutes of the Div II semifinal.

[wlu_lax6]

Prime Time Neon Deion stole the #1 recruit from FSU to Jackson State. Travis Hunter

[HaulCitgo]

I have no clue whatsoever how HBCU hoops hasnt done that years ago. All you need is three kids and they would compete for a final four. Football is difficult. I wouldnt do that if I could play. Competition level is low, facilities/medical/training are not at the level and you need about 20-30 kids to compete. Not to mention lack of likeness money. But hoops. NC A&T, FAMU maybe a couple others definitely could win a national title. And id sooner spend a year or two at one of those campuses than a bunch of power 5 campuses.

[wlu_lax6]

I have no clue whatsoever how HBCU hoops hasnt done that years ago. All you need is three kids and they would compete for a final four. Football is difficult. I wouldnt do that if I could play. Competition level is low, facilities/medical/training are not at the level and you need about 20-30 kids to compete. Not to mention lack of likeness money. But hoops. NC A&T, FAMU maybe a couple others definitely could win a national title. And id sooner spend a year or two at one of those campuses than a bunch of power 5 campuses.

The new endorsement money could be interesting at an HBCU. Deion is connected and that has value.

I love the quote from sanders "If a kid is good enough for a Power 5 school, why isn't he good enough for us? I don't know where we started thinking HBCUs are beneath us as a people."

Also Ocho Cinco's post was
"It's not where you go it's what you do once you get there, a dog gone be a dog regardless of his surroundings, ya pedigree don't change based on location.

Others expect Deion to be coach of FSU next year and can take Hunter with him.

[wlu_lax6]

I have no clue whatsoever how HBCU hoops hasnt done that years ago. All you need is three kids and they would compete for a final four. Football is difficult. I wouldnt do that if I could play. Competition level is low, facilities/medical/training are not at the level and you need about 20-30 kids to compete. Not to mention lack of likeness money. But hoops. NC A&T, FAMU maybe a couple others definitely could win a national title. And id sooner spend a year or two at one of those campuses than a bunch of power 5 campuses.

Also hoops is still in AAU and sneaker $. HBCUs getting on TV will change that. Power conferences just dominate the airways.

[A_B]

Saw reports he is still getting over $500k in NIL. And he doesn't have to go to Tallhassee (This is a joke, people).

[govmentchedda]

Saw reports he is still getting over $500k in NIL. And he doesn't have to go to Tallhassee (This is a joke, people).

A good one.

[govmentchedda]

I can't get over how big of a deal this is.

[DSafetyGuy]

Saw reports he is still getting over $500k in NIL. And he doesn't have to go to Tallhassee (This is a joke, people).

Portnoy's Investment.

[A_B]

Saw reports he is still getting over $500k in NIL. And he doesn't have to go to Tallhassee (This is a joke, people).

Portnoy's Investment.

You see, the one I saw on that was from a fake account but a local radio show was talking about a big payday. Not sure what the truth is.

[A_B]

Saw reports he is still getting over $500k in NIL. And he doesn't have to go to Tallhassee (This is a joke, people).

A good one.

Is it? He's still going to Jackson, Mississippi.

[govmentchedda]

Saw reports he is still getting over $500k in NIL. And he doesn't have to go to Tallhassee (This is a joke, people).

A good one.

Is it? He's still going to Jackson, Mississippi.

A few yuks at FSU's expense is always welcome. To be completely honest, I did enjoy my 2 years there though.

[Nonlinear FC]

Just read that MiSU's Kenny Walker is joining Pitt's Pickett in sitting out the Peach Bowl.

I wrote up a long rant about bowl games on an earlier iteration of this board, but I fully support any NFL bound player sitting out any game that isn't involved in the CFP. Complete waste of time at this point. They long ago stripped the vast majority of these bowls from having any "meaning." I'm a little surprised these middling bowls don't use their substantial war chests to push for an expanded playoff. Hosting an early round game is about the only thing that will lend any credibility to these bowls/venues.

[wlu_lax6]

Ferris kicked the snot out of Valdosta. And the Bernhardt story is a good one. But even for a lacrosse guy, I found the focus on him really took away from the game. Ferris' running game was nearly unstoppable. It did not slow down when Ferris brought in QB 2 (who is also very good). I am sure Bernhardt will get to NFL camp in some role. But just talking about him nonstop was not necessary.

[Shirley]

The topic of players skipping bowl games reminds me of one of my biggest pet peeves with college football. So often now when I watch a game or read about a game, I see a comment about a coach or team being the first ever at the school with x-years in a row of 7, 8, 9, 10, etc. wins or so many bowl games. But they NEVER mention that until 15 years ago or so, there were only 11 regular season games for nearly all teams. If you played a bowl, you got to 12. And at some point further back, it was only 9 or 10 games. Also, there are WAY more bowls now and you only have to go 6-6 to get into one. It's damn near meaningless.

And that's all fine - more games is great - but at least mention it when you're trying to say that the current coach is the greatest ever, just because he gets 2-3 more cheap wins a year against cupcakes.

[Nonlinear FC]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... ources-say

Aggies are out of the Gator Bowl to COVID outbreak. Fucking sucks... Getting nervous about the Playoffs even happening.

And on that front, there will be no postponing either the semis or final. If your team can't post up, they forfeit.