College Football In Season Thread

Yeah, I didn't really get that one either. I think maybe recruits can see that sanctions don't really impact their likelihood to go pro -- which I think is their primary concern -- and I think also it was probably pretty easy for Miami to point at other teams that have been recently slapped down by the NCAA and say "See, they're not really hurting, are they?"

Other neat recruiting news:

Arkansas had zero signees from the ESPN 150; CUSA had three. This is after they finished fifth in the polls this year . . .
Auburn's last three five star verbals: TJ Yeldon, Brent Calloway and Cyrus Kouandjio (I know y'all are mostly OOC, so just so you know, the joke is that all three now play at Alabama . . )
Georgia adding one five star commit bumped them from 8th to 3rd in the conference recruiting rankings . . .
Alabama was the only team to finish in the top ten in this past season's football rankings and yesterday's recruiting rankings . . .

So yea, what actually determines the rankings for these HS athletes? Why isn't Florida State playing like Ball So Hard U when they get top 5 recruiting classes every single year?

ummmm........ said:

Arkansas had zero signees from the ESPN 150; CUSA had three. This is after they finished fifth in the polls this year . . .

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Fwiw, this team that finished fifth, I dont think any of the starters were in the 'top 150' nationally of high school talent, and yet, Bobby P got 'em to 5th place nationally.

Point being if you have a coach that can take recruits that werent predicted to be at the very top and still refine them into a top 25 team..........then i'm not sure I see the problem?

Wright and Childs were not top 150 talent?

The whole recruiting rankings thing seems a bit circular to me. By the time the services put star values on recruits, it's already common knowledge which players are being pursued by which schools, with some schools already having a full or near-full classes before the sites release their initial rankings. Then, of course, the sites periodically alter the rankings throughout the year based on 'reevaluation'.

Basically, I trust the coaches' evaluations a lot more than the recruiting services, but I'm not sure how much that matters since so much of what the recruiting services do seems to be based on the coaches' evaluations.

Which finally brings me back to Arkansas. They didn't get any of the really sought after kids, even after finishing 5th in the country and playing a brand of football on offense that would seem to appeal to a lot of these offensive stars to be. It just seems odd . . .

EDIT: OTOH, it is true that a lot of kids already had solid verbals somewhere by the time Arkansas finished fifth, but it's not like they just suddenly came out of nowhere this year . . .

Another fun fact: Bryant-Denny's official capacity is listed as 101,821, which equals 13 if you add up the digits. There is speculation that they'll start reporting 101,822 next year . . .

The Big Ten comes up with a four team playoff plan. I've lost track now -- is it only the Pac-12 holding out . . ?

Slive's take on the postseason. As for me, I'd love to see 1 and 2 hosting 4 and 3, but only allowing conference champions into the top four defeats the whole purpose, unless you're going to start reorganizing conferences with an eye towards parity.

Nice article on the 7-5 bowl requirement. MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher is particularly lucid . . .

So, spring practices are in full swing, Petrino's suspended, USC gets a new QB recruit, and we're less than three weeks from the BCS meetings with four new proposals outlined and just absolutely nothing at all from you people? Y'all really just tune completely out in the offseason don't you . . ?

We're flakey
but in all seriousness a playoff system will come about at some point probably in the from of a 4 team playoff (call it whatever acronym you want) not because i think thats good but because of how many games are you going to ask college kids, non-profesional (or so the lie goes) kids to play. Im wondering how they will work in the historic bowls like the Rose, Sugar, etc.

ummmm........ said:

So, spring practices are in full swing, Petrino's suspended, USC gets a new QB recruit, and we're less than three weeks from the BCS meetings with four new proposals outlined and just absolutely nothing at all from you people? Y'all really just tune completely out in the offseason don't you . . ?

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Meh, I've got baseball and the Sharks made the playoffs. Come back when the baseball season is over and the NFL season is winding down. Then we'll talk.

Once the playoffs start that will be a little distracting. But baseball? Not so much . . .

Baseball is a sport for when America had more patience.

Arkansas fires Petrino. This is about as surprising as the sun rise.

Meh. It's a little surprising. No way they do it without the clause that lets them avoid the buyout. Business decision

Doesn't Arkansas have some monied boosters? I figure they would have found a way to get rid of him even with a buyout. The liability risk with a guy like that is too high.

It's hypothetical so there's no way to know, but I think they would have kept him. But to answer your question, yes, they could have still fired him even with the buyout. I just don't think they would have . . .

I'm merely surprised he lasted 4 years. He seems to be the ultimate child coach.

But good at scoring points . . .

ummmm........ said:

But good at scoring points . . .

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For another few years, can we please continue the illusion that college football isn't the minor league for the NFL?

As long as we all understand it's an illusion, sure . . .