Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
i think penn state finishes the season as an 8/9 win team. i still don't believe in the QB, and while the defense and the Oline have been better than expected, i don't expect it to hold up as injuries accumulate and their depth gets tested.
but if the games are supposed to matter, maybe the people who follow this #### more closely than anyone else should get their heads out of their asses once in a while.
302. Brian White
Posted: September 18, 2022 at 05:08 PM (#6096808)
-- beat an undefeated SEC blue blood on the road.
I understand where you're going with this and it's fine to complain about rankings, but this blurb is waaaaaaaaaaay overstating the quality of Auburn's football team. They're the Illinois of the SEC.
EDIT: actually Sagarin has Illinois ranked a fair bit above Auburn. So, think of Auburn as Illinois but a bit worse, and whose coach is 800% fired.
Also I just realized that I'm not up to date on the best predictive rankings for CFB, which is why I'm using Sagarin. Are there better ones out there?
I understand where you're going with this and it's fine to complain about rankings, but this blurb is waaaaaaaaaaay overstating the quality of Auburn's football team. They're the Illinois of the SEC.
EDIT: actually Sagarin has Illinois ranked a fair bit above Auburn. So, think of Auburn as Illinois but a bit worse, and whose coach is 800% fired.
Also I just realized that I'm not up to date on the best predictive rankings for CFB, which is why I'm using Sagarin. Are there better ones out there?
not sure, but i tend to use SRS (on cfb-ref) as a starting point.
illinois rates 9th in the country by that measure (james madison rates 13th)...so basically, this early in the season, it's just garbage in, garbase out.
305. Mike A
Posted: September 18, 2022 at 07:43 PM (#6096831)
-- start season 3-0
-- beat an undefeated SEC blue blood on the road.
-- two road wins over power 5 opponents
-- still get ranked behind 2-1 utah.
Yeah, all of this and FSU isn't even ranked!
306. Pirate Joe
Posted: September 18, 2022 at 08:24 PM (#6096835)
I understand where you're going with this and it's fine to complain about rankings, but this blurb is waaaaaaaaaaay overstating the quality of Auburn's football team. They're the Illinois of the SEC.
And the other P5 win is against a Purdue team that is so good that they lost to Syracuse yesterday, in a battle of two terrible teams trying desperately to hand the other team a win.
307. Brian C
Posted: September 18, 2022 at 10:30 PM (#6096844)
Speaking of 800% fired coaches, Herm out at Arizona State.
Fun fact: Eastern Michigan's Sword-of-Damocles win over ASU is the only win for the MAC over a P5 teams so far this year, and it gives the conference a 1-15 record in those games.
That win, plus Tulane's win over Kansas State yesterday, now puts CUSA (0-7) on the clock as the only FBS conference without a P5 win (at least if you still count the Pac-12 as a P5 conference, since both the MAC's only win and the MW's only win were against sad-ass Pac-12 teams). Anyway, they're running out of chances, only 5 games left:
FAU vs. Purdue, 9/24
Middle Tennessee vs. Miami, 9/24
Charlotte vs. South Carolina, 9/24
UAB vs. LSU, 11/19
WKU vs. Auburn, 11/19
FAU seems like they have the best shot, IMO, but Auburn will almost certainly be without a coach by then, as noted above. Although that will probably be an improvement for them, honestly.
ESPN, you cocksuckers, I'm watching Clemson-Wake Forest because I want to watch Clemson-Wake Forest. If I gave the slightest #### about Aaron Judge, I could find him.
Hot damn, Wake Forest did something I always want a team to do: starting quarterback has to miss a play, backup comes in for a single snap and instead of handing it off they have the backup throw it deep. And they drew a pass interference, though it was a pretty terrible throw.
Clemson feels like it's hanging by a thread. It has moved the ball, but so many of the drives have hinged on long conversions on third downs, often on contested catches.
Maryland, down 24-13 with 11 minutes left, goes for 4th-and-1 in its own territory, and Michigan plays a 10-yard cushion on the outside and gifts the first down on what could've been a game-ending play.
Question for the Florida Mafia: Are any of you old enough to remember when Florida and Tennessee would trade home games in consecutive years, then not see each other for six, and if so, how does that color your perception of this as a rivalry?
318. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 03:37 PM (#6097771)
One of my shameful Gator fans confessions is that I actually rather like "Rocky Top."
I thought we all secretly did? But for ####'s sake man, we're not allowed to actually say it out loud.
319. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 03:42 PM (#6097773)
#317 ... Sort of. I do clearly remember 1990 and it being the first time I remembered them playing Tennessee, and it was a big deal. And of course it ended terribly.
But I was still pretty young (12), and it immediately became an important annual rivalry, and that overwhelmed any memory of them not playing every year.
320. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 03:43 PM (#6097774)
I feel like it was a great decision to go run errands at noon, instead of watching Auburn/Mizzou.
321. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 03:45 PM (#6097775)
My local CBS affiliate is switching to the Portland State-Montana game in 15 minutes. Awkward.
322. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 03:49 PM (#6097777)
IF that 4th down call was a QB option, I think AR made the wrong decision - looked like the sweep was actually there for once.
Oh well. Not gonna complain about the decision to go for it.
Couple of Tennessee mistakes have kept this from being a 14-0 game.
328. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 04:26 PM (#6097785)
I would hardly know. I'm pre-empted! I can only get the game via the CBS Sports app on my phone, but the CBS Sports app - as usual - sucks complete ass and freezes up every few minutes.
I'm slightly peeved.
329. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 04:30 PM (#6097786)
Now THAT was some running by Keon Zipperer right there.
330. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 04:30 PM (#6097787)
Granting that the talent isn't to Florida standards, I can't say I've been terribly impressed with the defensive coaching so far.
335. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 04:45 PM (#6097792)
Richardson is a million times more accurate today than the last two weeks, AND more mobile with his legs, and actually looks like a plausible SEC quarterback again. So, that's good at least.
336. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 04:49 PM (#6097794)
Yeah. The passes aren't SUPER crisp, but they're where they more or less need to be. And he's finding open guys after the pocket collapses.
Seem to be falling into a weird pattern of throwing an incompletion on first down, following it up with a run for no gain or a loss on second down and then a difficult 3rd and 10+.
338. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 05:03 PM (#6097796)
Well, if you're gonna punt at midfield, that's the way to do it.
I expect that from a MAC school, even against someone like MTSU.
Oh... can I make fun of Josh Gattis getting upset because Michigan didn't want to make him head coach when it looked like Harbaugh was headed back to the NFL?
343. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 05:17 PM (#6097801)
Well ... I can't really say that the Gators are in good shape at half, but also none of us would have been hugely surprised if things had gone a lot worse. So, I guess we just see what happens.
344. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 05:18 PM (#6097802)
Not all of Napier's calls have worked out, but I agree with the aggressiveness. I'm pretty happy with how the first half went, even though they're down three.
345. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 05:27 PM (#6097804)
I'd feel better about being down 3 if the Gators got the ball to start the half. Giving up a TD at the end there really hurts - like, I know Tennessee has a good offense, but is letting them march 99 yards in less than 3 minutes at the end of the half really necessary.
But agreed, like the aggressiveness on offense. They're certainly not going to win this game by kicking field goals (although a FG on the first drive actually would have been kinda nice in retrospect).
346. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 05:32 PM (#6097805)
Just noticed that Kansas beat Duke today, which means that it's very possible that next week the Jayhawks will be ranked and the Gators won't. If I were Billy Napier, I think that would be my halftime speech to the team.
But that said, as I mentioned last week, I'm 100% on board with watching Kansas roll through the Big XII.
Meyer used to talk obsessively about the last five minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half. Well, that was as bad as you could play those two segments.
350. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 05:48 PM (#6097809)
I think that both the good and bad news about that Gators' defense is that they're not actually missing a ton of tackles, and haven't all year. Last year they were just atrocious tacklers, so it's progress. But also it's bad because it means that they're just getting beat clean, all the time, so it's not like they can just button some things up and be better.
I'm not sure how much of it is coaching and how much of it is just crappy players. They seem completely unable, as a group, to actually shed blocks. Like, once anyone gets blocked, they're just out of the play for good. But also a lot of guys obviously are getting caught out of position ... mental errors? Or a schematic problem?
I don't really know. They don't seem as undisciplined as in years past, but damn, they just can't stop anyone. They're just praying for the opposing offenses to make a mistake on every single drive.
This game is Florida stringing together epic-length drives with the help of fourth down miracles to score a touchdown, followed by Tennessee reaching the red zone in two plays on the ensuing possession.
Napier penalized for being a pace of play enthusiast. Unjust!
356. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 06:11 PM (#6097815)
If the rule is "your getback coach has to be larger than your head coach to be able to restrain him" then that is a hire that Billy Napier absolutely nailed.
357. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 06:17 PM (#6097816)
Ingenious penalty by Napier there: completely inconsequential if replay upheld the call, and if it had gone to the kickoff, then it would have just forced the Gators not to run it out, which they shouldn't ever be doing anyway.
ETA: Just want the record to show that I posted this before that abomination of a kick return.
358. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 06:18 PM (#6097817)
Yeah if Napier wants to scream his head off and cost his team six whole inches, well, okay.
Texas Tech at the Texas 28 with the game on the line. Should probably throw to Crabtree.
372. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 06:59 PM (#6097836)
A big problem for the Gators is that Heupel is not a complete tool. Previous Tennessee coaches would have already started turtling in this game when they went up 31-21 - maybe earlier - and let the Gators right back in this game. Heupel stays aggressive, though, makes things tough.
Gator offense is still playing, though. Tough 2pt play design to put two receivers in the same place.
373. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 07:01 PM (#6097837)
So, I don't think it matters. But what was the point of going for two there?
374. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 07:02 PM (#6097838)
I'm sure the stat people could tell us all about how Napier would be a total idiot for not going for two there. But I dunno.
Now watch Texas Tech turtle after forcing a fumble.
380. Brian C
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 07:14 PM (#6097844)
The worst part about this is how insufferable Tennessee fans get when they win once or twice a decade.
381. Mike A
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 07:21 PM (#6097846)
Rick Stockstill, former FSU quarterback from back in the days of disco, leads MTSU over Miami. Feels good.
382. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 07:22 PM (#6097847)
The biggest question of the day: what should I watch for the 7:00 game? The actual good game (TAMU/Arky) or the Sickos Committee Game of the Week (Iowa/Rutgers)?
Feels like Iowa-Rutgers gives you the best chance to see something you're still going to be talking about a decade from now. It might be a team somehow scoring exactly one point, but you'll remember the experience.
Well, at least they made UT sweat a bit at the end.
I do like bringing pressure on a Hail Mary. Rush two and drop 10 and you guarantee there's going to be a throw, and with Richardson's arm you know it's going into the endzone. Make the QB move and rush the play.
Though I am annoyed that Richardson gets another INT on his record, considering how good he was today.
When you have an iconic uniform look you've spent decades building equity in, why let Nike #### around with it? Ohio State in all black is dumb and bad. Florida State in all white is dumb and bad. And I refuse to believe "We promise to wear varied ugly uniforms" pulls in recruits, as many dumb and bad people put forth as justification.
392. Brian White
Posted: September 24, 2022 at 08:22 PM (#6097858)
Well that was quite the turn in the Arkansas/TAMU game.
EDIT: KJ Jefferson tries to jump over a pile, even though he's still a good four yards away from the end zone. Never has a good handle on the ball, fumbles, and TAMU recovers and after a lateral, runs it back.
Arkansas still leads 14-13, since TAMU botched the extra point. Still.
The Worldwide Leader in Substandard Coverage doesn't have a camera on the sideline for its game of the week, so the world will never know if Achane got his toe down.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
i think penn state finishes the season as an 8/9 win team. i still don't believe in the QB, and while the defense and the Oline have been better than expected, i don't expect it to hold up as injuries accumulate and their depth gets tested.
but if the games are supposed to matter, maybe the people who follow this #### more closely than anyone else should get their heads out of their asses once in a while.
I understand where you're going with this and it's fine to complain about rankings, but this blurb is waaaaaaaaaaay overstating the quality of Auburn's football team. They're the Illinois of the SEC.
EDIT: actually Sagarin has Illinois ranked a fair bit above Auburn. So, think of Auburn as Illinois but a bit worse, and whose coach is 800% fired.
Also I just realized that I'm not up to date on the best predictive rankings for CFB, which is why I'm using Sagarin. Are there better ones out there?
illinois rates 9th in the country by that measure (james madison rates 13th)...so basically, this early in the season, it's just garbage in, garbase out.
And the other P5 win is against a Purdue team that is so good that they lost to Syracuse yesterday, in a battle of two terrible teams trying desperately to hand the other team a win.
Fun fact: Eastern Michigan's Sword-of-Damocles win over ASU is the only win for the MAC over a P5 teams so far this year, and it gives the conference a 1-15 record in those games.
That win, plus Tulane's win over Kansas State yesterday, now puts CUSA (0-7) on the clock as the only FBS conference without a P5 win (at least if you still count the Pac-12 as a P5 conference, since both the MAC's only win and the MW's only win were against sad-ass Pac-12 teams). Anyway, they're running out of chances, only 5 games left:
FAU vs. Purdue, 9/24
Middle Tennessee vs. Miami, 9/24
Charlotte vs. South Carolina, 9/24
UAB vs. LSU, 11/19
WKU vs. Auburn, 11/19
FAU seems like they have the best shot, IMO, but Auburn will almost certainly be without a coach by then, as noted above. Although that will probably be an improvement for them, honestly.
But overall, I'd say it doesn't look good.
I thought we all secretly did? But for ####'s sake man, we're not allowed to actually say it out loud.
But I was still pretty young (12), and it immediately became an important annual rivalry, and that overwhelmed any memory of them not playing every year.
Oh well. Not gonna complain about the decision to go for it.
I'm slightly peeved.
Big respect to MTSU to withstand the frenzied Miami crowd.
I expect that from a MAC school, even against someone like MTSU.
Oh... can I make fun of Josh Gattis getting upset because Michigan didn't want to make him head coach when it looked like Harbaugh was headed back to the NFL?
But agreed, like the aggressiveness on offense. They're certainly not going to win this game by kicking field goals (although a FG on the first drive actually would have been kinda nice in retrospect).
But that said, as I mentioned last week, I'm 100% on board with watching Kansas roll through the Big XII.
I'm not sure how much of it is coaching and how much of it is just crappy players. They seem completely unable, as a group, to actually shed blocks. Like, once anyone gets blocked, they're just out of the play for good. But also a lot of guys obviously are getting caught out of position ... mental errors? Or a schematic problem?
I don't really know. They don't seem as undisciplined as in years past, but damn, they just can't stop anyone. They're just praying for the opposing offenses to make a mistake on every single drive.
ETA: Just want the record to show that I posted this before that abomination of a kick return.
Was AR out of the tackle box there? Sure seemed like grounding.
I dunno, the way that ball shot out of his hands, it sure seems like he was carrying it awfully loosely.
Either way ... I mean, you can't just fumble. A large man gets his large hand on the ball on every play.
Gator offense is still playing, though. Tough 2pt play design to put two receivers in the same place.
Let's see if Texas Tech can manage to not screw this up.
I do like bringing pressure on a Hail Mary. Rush two and drop 10 and you guarantee there's going to be a throw, and with Richardson's arm you know it's going into the endzone. Make the QB move and rush the play.
Though I am annoyed that Richardson gets another INT on his record, considering how good he was today.
Three touchdowns in under three minutes for Oregon.
EDIT: KJ Jefferson tries to jump over a pile, even though he's still a good four yards away from the end zone. Never has a good handle on the ball, fumbles, and TAMU recovers and after a lateral, runs it back.
Arkansas still leads 14-13, since TAMU botched the extra point. Still.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main