College Football- Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 2014

[Mike]

Damn, the Tide hangs a double-nickel on Auburn !

Even if 'Bama loses next week to Mizzou, there is no way the committee locks them out of the playoff.

- Not really a great feat. The last six SEC teams we faced put 30+ on us. I read somewhere that Will Muschamp is looking for a job...

- On the other side of that coin, Alabama's vaunted defense gave up 630 yards and 44 pts at home. They lose to Mizzou (who lost to Indiana), and I don't see them getting in over 1 loss teams from other power conferences.

That said, Mizzou isn't going to beat them. They give up gobs of rushing yards to teams with a good ground game. The only chance they have is if Kiffin goes full retard and leans completely on the passing game. Sims is aching, and that Mizzou pass rush could make his life miserable.

[James Arryn]

And the band played on.

I can't decide if the Noles make easy look hard or hard look easy. Either way, I have never seen a team repeat the exact same script week in and week out like this. The fact that they keep doing it like this imo suggests it's about them, not their opposition. I truthfully might get uncomfortable if they didn't spot the other team a touchdown or 3 to start off the game.

[Ded As Ned]

UK's OC Neal Brown taking the head job at Troy. Guess the "Air Raid 2.0" never quite got off the ground... hopefully we'll get someone to replace him who can get the UK offense moving.

[Tyrion the Perfect]

- Not really a great feat. The last six SEC teams we faced put 30+ on us. I read somewhere that Will Muschamp is looking for a job...

- On the other side of that coin, Alabama's vaunted defense gave up 630 yards and 44 pts at home. They lose to Mizzou (who lost to Indiana), and I don't see them getting in over 1 loss teams from other power conferences.

That said, Mizzou isn't going to beat them. They give up gobs of rushing yards to teams with a good ground game. The only chance they have is if Kiffin goes full retard and leans completely on the passing game. Sims is aching, and that Mizzou pass rush could make his life miserable.

Well, I think you're right that 'Bama will beat Mizzou(they'll be a huge favorite).

I think my larger point is that I don't think that the committee is going to lock out a 2 loss SEC team from this playoff. This conference was a whisker away from winning it's 7th straight national title last year. I mean I know there is a lot of SEC hate out there, but they are still the gold standard in college football IMO. In fact l don't think there is a team in the country that wouldn't absorb AT LEAST two losses in the SEC West.

I doubt my theory will be tested however, Alabama should cruise this Saturday.

[Switchback the Second]

Sigh...

All I can say is that you couldn't draw up a better swan song for Muschamp. That first quarter alone was the perfect microcosm of his career as UF head coach. Defense absolutely dominating but offense settling for field goals, then a third pick of the quarter sets us up inside their 10 and our tight end promptly drops one right in his hands which bounces to them for a 94 yard pick six. That sums up these last 4 years brilliantly. The fact that it was the same kid who dropped the wide open TD that would have beat LSU was icing on the cake.

So he leaves as he lived, great defense making plays and forcing turnovers, awful offense stumbling all over themselves, settling for threes and committing their own turnovers, 2 missed field goals, the worst play calling you'd ever see on our last "drive", and a 5 point loss. It was meant to be....

I am going to miss Muschamp. I really like him and will be forever grateful for the discipline he instilled. It was much needed after the gangland Meyer left us with, and Champ wasn't taking any shit right up till the end, booting a kid off the sideline for a ridiculous cheap shot on Winston. Muschamp did almost everything right as a head coach, but just never could figure out the offense. And while I will miss him and the incredible defense he coaches, I am glad to never look at that offense again.

Here's to better times. We are the boys.

Go Gators!

[sperry]

So, Florida, Michigan and Nebraska are all open. Could definitely see some shakeup in the CFB world.

And I think Muschamp is a good coach, and will do well wherever he gets another chance. They could never find a quarterback, which obviously falls on the head coach, but it's also a very correctable issue.

Edit: I was just made aware of this important fact. The quarterback Ohio State is starting for the remainder of the season, Cardale Jones, is the very same Cardale Jones who tweeted:

"Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL, classes are pointless."

Quite possibly the greatest tweet in the history of twitter.

[lokisnow]

So Pellinis worst season was like 9 wins wasn't it? A 72% winning percentage? He's gotta be a top candidate for Florida.

Looks like Nebraska boosters are about to experience the joys and winning experienced by Michigan and Tennessee of late. Bye bye Nebraska sorry to see yourself willingly flushing yourselves down the toilet.

[Ken Stone]

So Pellinis worst season was like 9 wins wasn't it? A 72% winning percentage? He's gotta be a top candidate for Florida.

Looks like Nebraska boosters are about to experience the joys and winning experienced by Michigan and Tennessee of late. Bye bye Nebraska sorry to see yourself willingly flushing yourselves down the toilet.

It was a tough call but I'm okay with it. Yeah 9 wins seems good, but Nebraska played in arguably the weakest division of the power 5 schools. Sure there were 9 wins, but when we played any type of competition it was a blowout the other way. Lastly no real improvement year to year. It had turned into sort of a Groundhog's Day of winning the 9 easy games and then playing in a mediocre bowl. I get that the rest of the country believes that what Nebraska should be but that isn't what most Nebraskans think Nebraska should be.

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Scott Frost take over as HC, although I'm not sure we are going to see that happen with his lack of experience. The idea of Nebraska becoming the Oregon of the Plains is super cool. Could you imagine someone saying that 20 years ago?

[Rhom]

It was a tough call but I'm okay with it. Yeah 9 wins seems good, but Nebraska played in arguably the weakest division of the power 5 schools. Sure there were 9 wins, but when we played any type of competition it was a blowout the other way. Lastly no real improvement year to year. It had turned into sort of a Groundhog's Day of winning the 9 easy games and then playing in a mediocre bowl. I get that the rest of the country believes that what Nebraska should be but that isn't what most Nebraskans think Nebraska should be.

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Scott Frost take over as HC, although I'm not sure we are going to see that happen with his lack of experience. The idea of Nebraska becoming the Oregon of the Plains is super cool. Could you imagine someone saying that 20 years ago?

God... I'd take winning 9 "easy" games any day of the week. :crying:

[Ferrum Aeternum]

God... I'd take winning 9 "easy" games any day of the week. :crying:

It would have to get frustrating after a while though to come up short in seemingly every game against quality opposition.

(Totally wasn't chuckling at Dan Mullen as I typed that)

[Ken Stone]

God... I'd take winning 9 "easy" games any day of the week. :crying:

Join the B1G West Division!

[S John]

God... I'd take winning 9 "easy" games any day of the week. :crying:

9 wins is what got Bill Stewart fired at WVU when WVU was in the Big East.

In the context of WVU in the Big 12 it would be absurd for Holgorsen to get fired for going 9-3 three years in a row because the Big 12 is light years tougher than the 2004-2011 Big East. A lot of WVU fan supporters of the late Bill Stewart still like to trot that gem out from time to time as an example of a double-standard (Holgs winning 7,4,7 in three Big 12 years). But it isn't, really. The circumstances are not the same.

Conference or division affiliation really does make a difference and when WVU was in the Big East they really should have been winning or in the hunt for a conference title most years. I think the same could be said of Nebraska in the Big 10 West. They've got Wisconsin in there, but even splitting all games with Wisconsin would still have them in the hunt for the West division most years. Minnesota has had a great year, but that is a bit of an anomaly. Iowa and Northwestern can be solid sometimes, but you'd expect Nebraska to take the majority of those. They should be beating Illinois and Purdue most of the time too, so I'm seeing 5 games that should be division wins right there. Add in a couple of non. conf. games, two of which are usually patsy's at any school and getting to 7 wins for Nebraska should be almost automatic. If I were a Nebraska fan I'd be expecting to see them in the B1G championship game about half the time or even slightly more than half the time. They should at least be in the hunt for the division every single year.

Getting fired for winning nine games in any of the 5 major conferences is pretty harsh, no matter what division it is, but I can see how maybe they felt that they had peaked under Pellini.

[sperry]

Yeah, Nebraska, like Notre Dame, has a view of itself that is waaaaay out of touch with reality. With no access to fertile recruiting grounds, 9 win seasons are what you are going to have to be pleased with.

[Ken Stone]

Yeah, Nebraska, like Notre Dame, has a view of itself that is waaaaay out of touch with reality. With no access to fertile recruiting grounds, 9 win seasons are what you are going to have to be pleased with.

Recruiting is important but it ain't everything.

There are plenty of stories of schools that floundered and got turned around. Not one of those stores starts with "We were pleased with where we were at...".

[lokisnow]

Getting fired for winning nine games in any of the 5 major conferences is pretty harsh, no matter what division it is, but I can see how maybe they felt that they had peaked under Pellini.

The problem is thinking you've peaked. Flip the cognition, nine wins means you're in contention every year.

College football is 80 percent luck and 20 percent recruiting/coaching. 100 of the 120 head coaches cannot hack a 9 win season even when lucky and catching all the breaks, so you're already in the top 1/6 with a coach that can do that.

Odds are against you hiring another coach in the elite top sixth, usc Washington, texas, notredame, michigan, colorado, tennessee, Florida all national championship contending teams of nebraskas ilk in the last few years have been unable to make a hire equal to or better than pellini. That indicates Nebraska will also fail as they did.

Ohio state is the only team that has made a better hire in the last five years.

If you stick with pellini, then you just need to patiently wait and you'll eventually catch enough breaks to get all three of the other wins in the same year and go undefeated in the regular season. He also gives you the best chance of catching enough breaks to go 11-1 and still make it to the playoff.

[Kalbear]

Eh. The problem with Pellini is that he gave the impression of not cracking anything better and combined that with really shitty personal crap that made him hard to like.

[Ken Stone]

The problem is thinking you've peaked. Flip the cognition, nine wins means you're in contention every year.

College football is 80 percent luck and 20 percent recruiting/coaching. 100 of the 120 head coaches cannot hack a 9 win season even when lucky and catching all the breaks, so you're already in the top 1/6 with a coach that can do that.

Odds are against you hiring another coach in the elite top sixth, usc Washington, texas, notredame, michigan, colorado, tennessee, Florida all national championship contending teams of nebraskas ilk in the last few years have been unable to make a hire equal to or better than pellini. That indicates Nebraska will also fail as they did.

Ohio state is the only team that has made a better hire in the last five years.

If you stick with pellini, then you just need to patiently wait and you'll eventually catch enough breaks to get all three of the other wins in the same year and go undefeated in the regular season. He also gives you the best chance of catching enough breaks to go 11-1 and still make it to the playoff.

So winning football games comes down to mostly luck? Spoken like a true Mizzu fan! :-p

[S John]

The problem is thinking you've peaked. Flip the cognition, nine wins means you're in contention every year.

College football is 80 percent luck and 20 percent recruiting/coaching. 100 of the 120 head coaches cannot hack a 9 win season even when lucky and catching all the breaks, so you're already in the top 1/6 with a coach that can do that.

Odds are against you hiring another coach in the elite top sixth, usc Washington, texas, notredame, michigan, colorado, tennessee, Florida all national championship contending teams of nebraskas ilk in the last few years have been unable to make a hire equal to or better than pellini. That indicates Nebraska will also fail as they did.

Ohio state is the only team that has made a better hire in the last five years.

If you stick with pellini, then you just need to patiently wait and you'll eventually catch enough breaks to get all three of the other wins in the same year and go undefeated in the regular season. He also gives you the best chance of catching enough breaks to go 11-1 and still make it to the playoff.

Well, as a WVU fan I would certainly take 9-3 seasons now. Considering WVU usually schedules at least one pretty tough non-conference opponent followed by a 9 game conference slate, I would be ecstatic with winning 9 regularly. I'm just saying that if the perception of Nebraska fans is that the B1G West division is weak overall, and I think they have a point, then you would expect a team of Nebraska's pedigree to be rolling everybody except Wisconsin and regularly competing for the division and therefore, for a possible national playoff spot.

Anyway, here is what I think they are thinking:

As sperry has pointed out, Nebraska's problem for the foreseeable future is going to be recruiting. When they were in the Big 12 they could pull kids out of Texas and Oklahoma, and I'm sure they still do a bit, but they can no longer sell a kid on a yearly trip or two to the state of Texas if he leaves home to go to Nebraska because Nebraska is now playing midwestern, cold-weather schools. Nebraska will also eventually fade into the background in the consciousness of 17 year old high school kids from Texas because they are going to be watching college football from a Big 12 or SEC-centric mindset. Without Nebraska playing alongside those teams, they won't be on the radar as much in an area where they could potentially pull a lot of grade-A talent.

So there's really only one thing they can do to keep themselves relevant in the minds of recruits and that is win... and win a lot. They need to stay relevant nationally. Apparently they feel that 9-3 is not the level of national relevance that is required to keep casting a wide recruiting net. They have their need to keep reeling in big recruits by staying in the national picture combined with their relatively easy division line-up that gives them a good opportunity to do that but it has not gotten done.

[Ken Stone]

Well, as a WVU fan I would certainly take 9-3 seasons now. Considering WVU usually schedules at least one pretty tough non-conference opponent followed by a 9 game conference slate, I would be ecstatic with winning 9 regularly. I'm just saying that if the perception of Nebraska fans is that the B1G West division is weak overall, and I think they have a point, then you would expect a team of Nebraska's pedigree to be rolling everybody except Wisconsin and regularly competing for the division and therefore, for a possible national playoff spot.

Anyway, here is what I think they are thinking:

As sperry has pointed out, Nebraska's problem for the foreseeable future is going to be recruiting. When they were in the Big 12 they could pull kids out of Texas and Oklahoma, and I'm sure they still do a bit, but they can no longer sell a kid on a yearly trip or two to the state of Texas if he leaves home to go to Nebraska because Nebraska is now playing midwestern, cold-weather schools. Nebraska will also eventually fade into the background in the consciousness of 17 year old high school kids from Texas because they are going to be watching college football from a Big 12 or SEC-centric mindset. Without Nebraska playing alongside those teams, they won't be on the radar as much in an area where they could potentially pull a lot of grade-A talent.

So there's really only one thing they can do to keep themselves relevant in the minds of recruits and that is win... and win a lot. They need to stay relevant nationally. Apparently they feel that 9-3 is not the level of national relevance that is required to keep casting a wide recruiting net. They have their need to keep reeling in big recruits by staying in the national picture combined with their relatively easy division line-up that gives them a good opportunity to do that but it has not gotten done.

Also don't forget the power of nostalgia. Our National Championship hardware is only 20 years old. It's a life time ago to college kids today, but to the fans and supporters of the program that was like yesterday. It's been 20 years but fans still expect a certain level of competence on the football field. Pelini was supposed to be a defensive mastermind, yet Wisconsin this year set a single game rushing record.

The most important thing in Nebraska is the Consecutive Sellout Record. Dating back to 1962 every single Husker home football game has been sold out. That is 340 consecutive sellouts. No one else comes close. I think Notre Dame is second at 200 something. If fans stop believing that Nebraska can contend that sellout streak will come to an end. With it goes the pride of fandom. Do you know the joy of watching two highly ranked teams and noticing that there are empty seats in the stadium, and being able to scoff? Of course not! Because your team hasn't sold out every single game for 40 fucking years! You will never know that joy! No one will, except for us. If the AD sense that fan belief is erroding he has no choice but to fire the coach. At the very least you buy a few more years as people will be interested in seeing the new guy.

[S John]

The most important thing in Nebraska is the Consecutive Sellout Record. Dating back to 1962 every single Husker home football game has been sold out. That is 340 consecutive sellouts. No one else comes close. I think Notre Dame is second at 200 something. If fans stop believing that Nebraska can contend that sellout streak will come to an end. With it goes the pride of fandom. Do you know the joy of watching two highly ranked teams and noticing that there are empty seats in the stadium, and being able to scoff? Of course not! Because your team hasn't sold out every single game for 40 fucking years! You will never know that joy! No one will, except for us. If the AD sense that fan belief is erroding he has no choice but to fire the coach. At the very least you buy a few more years as people will be interested in seeing the new guy.

That is actually really impressive. Especially in a place where it gets pretty damn cold.