2021 College Football Thread

[Pariah]

Phil Knight Is Reportedly Interested In Prominent Coach

 

The real question: Would Lane Kiffin consider leaving the $EC for Oregon? The Ducks (via Nike) can probably throw Brian Kelly-level money at him. And he'd certainly have an easier path to a national championship there than going through Alabama and Auburn every year.

[Pariah]

From the CBSSports.com article College football winners, losers of 2021 season:

 

Quote

WINNER

The state of Utah: Perhaps the most overlooked story from this season was the incredible rise of football in Utah. Both No. 11 Utah and Utah State won their respective conference championships, and the Aggies' turnaround was so dramatic that first-year coach Blake Anderson should get Coach of the Year consideration. No. 13 BYU blew through its schedule, winning all four [sic] of its games against Pac-12 opponents. The three teams in the state of Utah combined to win 30 games. For comparison, the seven FBS teams in the state of Florida combined for 34 wins. Utah might have one of the best collection of coaches out of any state. 

 

Incidentally, the three aforementioned coaches--BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham and Utah State’s Blake Anderson--are all among the 13 national college football Coach of the Year semifinalists. 

[Pariah]

Army/Navy was a really, really good game.

[unclevlad]

Interesting...

 

The #2 recruit...not at his position, but overall in his class...decommitted from Florida State to commit to Jackson State.  he's a cornerback;  the fact that Deion's the HC there can't be ignored.  Nor the fact that Jackson State went 11-1 and is playing in a bowl.

 

One has to wonder just how much NIL is playing a role.  My gut feeling is...the fact that Deion is the coach raises the visibility of the program, so if NIL *is* a factor, it may not be generally repeatable.  But hey, who knows?  Perhaps we'll see some more of the top HS players drifting away from the Power 5.

[Iuz the Evil]

Yeah, I don’t think that’ll be a trend. Texas just put that nonprofit in place to pay their O Line $50k (plus I read somewhere another $100k matching from non University affiliated sources) per year. That’s going to test NIL in a big big way.

 

 If it stands, maybe a big if, is going to just make it very unlikely to see that kind of thing in my opinion. I cannot fathom attending college with $50-$150k per year with my living expenses covered and no tuition. That’s a crazy draw.

[unclevlad]

2 hours ago, Iuz the Evil said:

Yeah, I don’t think that’ll be a trend. Texas just put that nonprofit in place to pay their O Line $50k (plus I read somewhere another $100k matching from non University affiliated sources) per year. That’s going to test NIL in a big big way.

 

 If it stands, maybe a big if, is going to just make it very unlikely to see that kind of thing in my opinion. I cannot fathom attending college with $50-$150k per year with my living expenses covered and no tuition. That’s a crazy draw.

 

Ehhh...we'll have to see.  It might be perfectly legal, it might not.  It's not like there's any kind of standard pay scale for social media.

 

I do think it'll draw *some* players, tho.  We're talking 3-5 per school like, say, App State or North Dakota State (MULTIPLE FCS titles, very well known, 11 players on opening day rosters in 2020), versus...who knows how many at Bama, OSU, Michigan, or Texas?  But not a flood.  Still, it *might* help the Gang of Five push its way into the playoffs more often, and may well accelerate the push to playoff expansion.  

 

Flip side, of course, is Texas won't be unique with this by any stretch, and the gap between the TOP schools and the second-tier schools will grow.  The gap between the second-tier schools and the lower ones...that's where we might see some things.  What we do know tho...and have known...NIL will bring major changes.

[Iuz the Evil]

53 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

 

Ehhh...we'll have to see.  It might be perfectly legal, it might not.  It's not like there's any kind of standard pay scale for social media.

 

I do think it'll draw *some* players, tho.  We're talking 3-5 per school like, say, App State or North Dakota State (MULTIPLE FCS titles, very well known, 11 players on opening day rosters in 2020), versus...who knows how many at Bama, OSU, Michigan, or Texas?  But not a flood.  Still, it *might* help the Gang of Five push its way into the playoffs more often, and may well accelerate the push to playoff expansion.  

 

Flip side, of course, is Texas won't be unique with this by any stretch, and the gap between the TOP schools and the second-tier schools will grow.  The gap between the second-tier schools and the lower ones...that's where we might see some things.  What we do know tho...and have known...NIL will bring major changes.

Yeah that’s pretty much exactly what I think. The historic “blue bloods” who have big money donors and television contracts are going to get a new tool to leverage their position. I am not personally a fan of this, as I miss the faux commitment to traditional matchups, but it seems inevitable at this point. 
 

There’s maybe 10-12 schools that can just go crazy with this, I think. They’ll be largely the same ones that occur to everyone. There may be some consolation of changes: Nebraska for example likely won’t get a big bump from this. But overall it’ll just solidify the long standing trends.

 

 No idea what it’ll do to the other tiers but that’ll be interesting. I agree with that too, need to wait and see.

 

https://www.on3.com/news/smu-alumni-contribute-over-1-million-annually-nil-pony-up-program-paul-loyd-texas/?fbclid=IwAR34AzcGrXa_rnsue-Nwifot0L02RWt-oWpSryLgo97fqflOuwj8VwvZbuo

 

Check out SMU though. It’s going to get pretty strange I think.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Gators gained a coach, but lost a QB. Emory Jones, a fan favorite here, who just had a record breaking game, is entering the transfer portal. 

 

I never really paid attention to college ball before. Seems rather tumultuous and dramatic. 

[unclevlad]

1 hour ago, Logan.1179 said:

Gators gained a coach, but lost a QB. Emory Jones, a fan favorite here, who just had a record breaking game, is entering the transfer portal. 

 

I never really paid attention to college ball before. Seems rather tumultuous and dramatic. 

 

The level of churn spiked.  Every current player gained an additional year of eligibility, and transfers were made MUCH easier.  Considerable player movement.  Those relaxed rules are still in place.  And the NIL decision, which'll add to that, was earlier this year.

[unclevlad]

Ummmm....yeah.  The players are bouncing around like it's a 100-flipper pinball machine.

 

There are over 1000 players in the portal.  I think that's just FBS, and there's only 130 schools.  So that's 8 per team.

 

Here's a breakdown.  Just let the page load then look at the scroll bar.

https://www.on3.com/news/the-2021-22-college-football-transfer-portal-tracker/

 

 

[Pariah]

Middle Tennessee State and Toledo are tied at zero halfway through the first quarter of the Bahamas Bowl.

 

Bowl season is officially upon us.

[unclevlad]

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

Middle Tennessee State and Toledo are tied at zero halfway through the first quarter of the Bahamas Bowl.

 

Bowl season is officially upon us.

 

To quote Charlie Brown....

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

But hey, if I hadda go to a meaningless bowl like this, this'd be one of my first choices.  Mid December in Toledo...or the Bahamas?   EASY choice.  Plus, it's over plenty early enough to not disrupt my holiday season overall.  Tomorrow's one of the.......less favorable ones.  The New Mexico Bowl.  Weather will at least be fairly clear, but rather cool...45 for the forecast high.  And...it's Albuquerque.  Not exactly on my list of tourist destinations...at all.  

 

 

[Grailknight]

Apparently, this year you want to go to the Fiesta or Alamo Bowl. Swag from Fiesta is a PS5 and the Alamo is a $490 Mastercard gift card plus some other stuff. There are a couple others, but these are the best.

 

https://brobible.com/sports/article/college-football-bowl-gift-swag-list/

[unclevlad]

The Outback Bowl is only giving $25 Outback gift cards?  To FOOTBALL PLAYERS?

 

The gift suites are at least Pick Your Own, but yeah, the gift cards would be the most flexible.  The PS5 is a good choice, *but* how many players have one already?  

 

My favorite nickname's playing right now.  The Coastal Carolina Chaunticleers.

 

 

 

 

[Pariah]

The aforementioned Coastal Carolina Chanticleers just won their first bowl game in school history. Northern Illinois thought they had one more play from inside the five with two seconds left, but the receiver apparently came down in bounds. In any case, well done Coastal.

 

We have an FCS heavyweight bout in progress right now, with #3 James Madison at #2 North Dakota State. These two teams have won 9 of the last 10 FCS championships (in fairness, the Bison have eight of those). NDSU is up 10-0 early in the second. The winner advances to the FCS championship game on January 8th against either Montana State or South Dakota State.

[unclevlad]

Prior to the title game, FCS games are played at the home field of the higher seed.

Good thing NDSU has a dome.  It's quarter to 11 in Fargo right now, and the temperature outside is a balmy 13 degrees, with 1-3 inches of snow expected before sunrise.  

 

Good game, tho.  I've liked catching these games for a while now.

[Pariah]

I had to look it up, but University of North Dakota and University of South Dakota both have indoor football stadiums as well. Oddly enough, South Dakota State does not.

 

In terms of similar weather, Montana and Montana State both have outdoor stadiums as well. It's well below freezing in Bozeman this afternoon for the other FCS semifinal.

[unclevlad]

Fill in the blank.....

 

 

UAB  __________________

[Pariah]

... executed their game plan better than BYU and consequently won the game. A disappointing day for BYU fans, to be sure. But the fact that they were playing on opening weekend is a little disappointing to begin with. Maybe BYU wasn't as motivated, I don't know.

 

Tyler Allgeier, however, became the first running back in school history to run for 1600 yards in a season. That's not nothing. I think he's probably a second day pick in next year's draft, unless he decides to stay in Provo for one more year. Honestly, I don't see why he would.

 

I am happy to see that Montana State won their game today. I have an aunt who taught there for a while, and both Lady P and I have family history in southwestern Montana. Do I think they can beat North Dakota State? I don't know, honestly. But up until today, nobody could beat South Dakota State, so who knows?

[Pariah]

I think I've identified the problem.

 

With the exception of the inexplicable Nike rebranding between 1999 and 2004 (e.g., the infamous bibs and the Gary Crowton era), BYU has worn white helmets since the late sixties. At the beginning of this year, they introduced two new helmets, one in royal blue and one in navy blue.

 

In all three of BYU's losses this year - homecoming versus Boise State, at Baylor, and yesterday's bowl game against UAB - the Cougars wore the navy blue helmets.

 

Clearly those dark blue helmets have got to go.

 

(Helpful article on BYU's uniform history here.)

[Pariah]

Good for him!

 

Tyler Linderbaum, Iowa offensive lineman, donates $30K from NIL money to local children's hospital

[Pariah]

We've got an aesthetically dreadful game in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl today: Kent State in yellow/yellow/yellow, against Wyoming in white/brown/yellow, all playing on Boise's (in)famous blue turf. Woof.

[unclevlad]

I actually like Wyoming's color combo.

 

That said....not so much on the smurf turf.

[Pariah]

We have our first bowl casualty of 2021-21:

 

Texas A&M pulls out of Gator Bowl vs. Wake Forest due to COVID-19 issues within Aggies program

[Grailknight]

44 minutes ago, Pariah said:

We have our first bowl casualty of 2021-21:

 

Texas A&M pulls out of Gator Bowl vs. Wake Forest due to COVID-19 issues within Aggies program

 

This sucks for my team but if they can contain it before classes resume it may stay out of the main student population. All the male(unmarried) scholarships athletes share a common dorm that is central to campus but has a large lawn on all sides. If they can keep the cafeteria staff safe it could be handled quickly.