Get Ready For Some Football

[Arlo]

Even when the season's not all that great .... there are moments ....

[perdue3]

Here is issue with Day.  45-5 record might be impressive on the surface but what dose it look under water.  Most of the wins are against weak teams.  When he faces teams that are close to or equal talent he loses. Only one big game at 4 years as head coach was against Clemson in 2020.
He has massive talent players yet he never maximize that talent.  He just like John Cooper; too conservative, can’t make adjustments and routinely gets out coached, relaxed when they have the lead then panics when loosing it and team are indiscipline on the field. 
Day is a good coach but not head coach material.  Especially for a power house team like OSU.  He would be better off coaching Rutgers or Purdue where he could average 7-8 wins a year.

I do recall Harbaugh got a lot of flack for a while.  MU fans wanted him out.  Even I question how he was still head coach when buckeyes kept beating them. He stood his ground making his argument why he still head coach.  He brought back Michigan, which I am glad.  It brings the excrement in Big10.  I hope they keep that momentum in the playoff and win NC.  Georgia not that impressive this year neither is SEC.


Why USC and UCLA want joined the Big10.  It’s silly to me.  Yes, it does bring in more strong teams into the Big10 but they are better off in the PAC 10. 

The Big10 western division teams needs to do better.  Wisconsin and Iowa always a favor and threat to OSU, Mich, PSU and MSU.   But lately they have been weak.  Sometimes illions and Purdue have their years.  Then there is Nebraska.  The one only team in the far west that gets ignore; like they do not fit in.  Still dreaming of the Tom Osborn days.  Huge fan base,  lots of talent but just can not get the right coach for the job.  Maybe Urban Meyers should take that job and change that program around.

Big Ten is weak aside from 2 teams and an occasional Penn St and Wisconsin. 45-5 doesn't mean you fire the coach. I feel sorry for you that your team lost a game this season, how awful that must be. The coach did not give up 20 points in the 4th quarter. Michigan is just better, deal with it.

[oakranger]

Even when the season's not all that great .... there are moments ....

(Image removed from quote.)

He was out coach by a team with equal talent.  And past lost showed the same. 

And yes, they can fire him if he does not met the requirements as head coach under writing contract with the university.  Winning seasons or not.

[Brooke]

When he faces teams that are close to or equal talent he loses.

When you are ranked in the top 5, there aren't many teams of equal or higher talent.  The number of games there is a small sample and will have large variance.

I do recall Harbaugh got a lot of flack for a while.

Yep -- for the same sort of reasons you list for Day.  It was:  can't beat Ohio State, can't beat teams of higher ranking, can't beat good teams in away games, lose too often to Michigan State.

I think it's better to look at it statistically and practically.  I thought Harbaugh was doing a good job and trying appropriate adjustments to improve things each season.  Also, who was Michigan going to get who is better than top-10 (as measured by winning %) Harbaugh?

Many teams fire coaches to get someone better, or have a coach leave, and find out a harsh reality:  getting a top-10 coach is sort of a crap shoot.  Nebraska, Auburn, Miami, Florida State, Tennessee, USC, Michigan, to name some blue-blood programs, all know this the hard way.

I doubt that Ohio State is going to fire Day any time soon.  But if they do, they might find out what can happen if you fire a 45-5 coach in an attempt to get someone better.

Why USC and UCLA want joined the Big10.  It’s silly to me.  Yes, it does bring in more strong teams into the Big10 but they are better off in the PAC 10.

There is waaaaaaay more money and media exposure in the Big 10 than the Pac 12.  For example, the Big 10 just completed the biggest media deal in the history of college sports:  $7 billion over 7 years.  And they share it roughly equally among the schools in the Big 10.

The Big10 western division teams needs to do better.

The Big 10 will get reorganized when USC and UCLA join.

[Brooke]

Big Ten is weak aside from 2 teams and an occasional Penn St and Wisconsin.

Big 10 west particularly has been in chaos this year.  Wisconsin imploded.  Iowa's offense fell off a cliff, and the head coach isn't hugely motivated to change it.  Illinois, though, has made huge improvements.  In the Big 10 east, Michigan State imploded.

I'm not sure the best way to judge strength of a conference.

By number of teams in the top 10, currently:

SEC, 3
Big 10, 3
Pac 12, 2
Big 12, 1
ACC, 1

By median SP+:

conference, median SP+
Big 12, 12.5
Pac 12, 11.25
SEC, 11.15
Big 10, 8.2
ACC, 5.5

Big 10 is in a state of flux.  Currently #2 Michigan, #5 Ohio State, and #8 Penn State are good.  But as mentioned, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State imploded.  Wisconsin and Nebraska just hired new highly regarded coaches, so we'll see how they do.  Illinois made huge improvements this year.  #4 USC and #17 UCLA are joining the Big 10.  We'll see how it goes.

[Brooke]

I thought this one was pretty good:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1597801661464195072

[Spikes]

Really struggling to explain to myself the new top 4 here. They really think USC and TCU are better than the likes of Ohio State or Alabama? I leave Tennessee out due to the injury to Hooker. And I feel like even a mediocre (lol) Alabama team is much better than USC and possibly TCU. It really just ends up sucking for the tournament because whoever gets the 4 spot will get obliterated by Georgia. And frankly Michigan should blow out USC or TCU. I get that nobody wants to see the same four teams in year in and out, but this isn't like NCAAM BB where the point isn't the top 68 teams. This is supposed to be the best 4...the best of the best.

[Shuffler]

Really struggling to explain to myself the new top 4 here. They really think USC and TCU are better than the likes of Ohio State or Alabama? I leave Tennessee out due to the injury to Hooker. And I feel like even a mediocre (lol) Alabama team is much better than USC and possibly TCU. It really just ends up sucking for the tournament because whoever gets the 4 spot will get obliterated by Georgia. And frankly Michigan should blow out USC or TCU. I get that nobody wants to see the same four teams in year in and out, but this isn't like NCAAM BB where the point isn't the top 68 teams. This is supposed to be the best 4...the best of the best.

I'd hesitate to call anything this year. It has been a very strange year.

[Brooke]

The CFP committee seems primarily to rank just by how many losses a team has.

Then, as a second, lesser pass (or to rank when # of losses is the same), they tweak it based on personal judgement.

In 2024, it will go to 12 teams.  I think I'll like that better.

There sure are some big differences between rankings such as SP+, F+, FPI and the CFP.  Ohio State, Alabama, and Tennessee are ahead of TCU and USC in those.  And there are some even-bigger differences.  8-4 Texas, for example, is #20 in CFP.  But it's #6-#7 in the stat-based rankings.  Texas does have a lot of good players and probably can be good.  I only watched one game this year, and they were hoooooooorible.  But it was the Texas vs. TCU game, and TCU also looked horrible in that game.

There is so much game-to-game variability that it's hard to know other than playing a game and seeing how it goes.  And even then, if you ran 10 games, the average outcome could be way different than that one sample.

However it's done, though, I sure like watching college football.

[Spikes]

I agree - and it is that mentality that I think is bad for the CFP. Can we really say USC is better than Ohio State? Absolutely not.

I'm excited for 12 teams because it means better competition at the end of the year and it also gets rid of these dumb inclusions by way of allowing those 'fringe' teams that aren't actually fringe to go out and make a statement.

It seems like recently every year there's a cupcake that makes it (Cincy, Notre Dame x2, I remember a Washington year) and it just makes for a bad game.

[LNG15]

I agree - and it is that mentality that I think is bad for the CFP. Can we really say USC is better than Ohio State? Absolutely not.

I'm excited for 12 teams because it means better competition at the end of the year and it also gets rid of these dumb inclusions by way of allowing those 'fringe' teams that aren't actually fringe to go out and make a statement.

It seems like recently every year there's a cupcake that makes it (Cincy, Notre Dame x2, I remember a Washington year) and it just makes for a bad game.

For me being a Cincy fan, we have had some decent season, but the NCAA always threw us to the wolves. When Fickell was here, we had a great team, now that it is over I think UC will be mostly a once in a blue moon team.

[BoilerDown]

Flying in to Indy today (Friday) for the B1G Championship game. Expecting the worst, hoping for the best. I've seen Purdue upset top 5 teams in person... OSU many times, Iowa a couple of times recently, Michigan State last year.  The OSU wins were probably the highest quality of them all.  Never underestimate an unranked Purdue against a top 5 B1G team.

That said, we don't have a Rondale Moore or David Bell this year, i.e. a guy who's the best player on the field despite all the other team's talent, like we've had in past years.  Our QB is worse than David Blough was (who beat Ohio State in 2018), but at least the game will be indoors. Aiden O'Connell seems to get far worse in poor conditions, especially wind, so an indoor game will give him a chance. But we'll need basically an Appalachian State - like repeat from Michigan of taking us lightly while we play the game of our lives.

Pretty sure the Big Ten is changing how teams are selected to go to the B1G Championship game in a few years, so this will probably be Purdue's only visit to the game for a long while. That's why I'm suffering the expense to make this trip. It will get boring seeing Michigan and Ohio State play in back to back games nearly every year if things don't change. Do we really want that?

[Brooke]

Way to go, BoilerDown!

O'Connell is pretty good.  Chuck Sizzle is very good!  So is Crazy Legs.  And Paine Durham is an excellent tight end.

Don't underestimate a Boilermaker when football is on the line. 

Michigan will have to play well.

I'm a Wolverine.  But I'm happy to see Purdue get in there and very much looking forward to seeing the game.  Michigan and Purdue haven't played in a long time.

[Brooke]

Tonight is USC vs Utah, probably deciding whether USC or Ohio State gets into the playoffs.

And then follow-on effects on other bowl games.

A lot riding on the outcome.

[oakranger]

Tonight is USC vs Utah, probably deciding whether USC or Ohio State gets into the playoffs.

And then follow-on effects on other bowl games.

A lot riding on the outcome.

It will be a good game.  I got Utah, not because it will help OSU but because Utah is a good program with a growing fan base.