This is just a shotgun firing of some CFB related stuff that's interested me lately as I've caught up on the preseason magazines and been following various news updates from places of interest.
Texas Experience Depth
I alluded to this somewhere previously, but Texas is looking more and more likely to start 18 upperclassmen out of the 22 possible starting positions. The last time we came anywhere close to that? 2009. I thought maybe 2014, but when you look back, Strong, for better or worse, cleaned house heading into the first year and we lost like 12 returners in the offseason. Mack Brown and Tom Herman both chose not to do that when they took the Texas job. Brown learned his lesson at North Carolina when over 20 guys were removed from the team during his first 18 months, and he subsequently went 1-10 in his first and second years and barely held on to his job. He also admits to sobbing in his car in the parking lot after a game during this run, which is nice.
You know who's going through a housecleaning of sorts right now? Ol'Jimbo at ATM. If my count is right, they've lost at least 5 returners (Harvey, Martin, Bussey, Marchiol, someone else I can't think of right now, maybe one of the Anderson twins, it could be more than 5 for sure) since last season and they have a big class on the hook right now with limited seniors set to finish up and open spots. May he wind up in similar circumstances to Chuckles and FUPM.
Speaking of Experience, or Lack Thereof
According to Phil Steele, do you know who returns more experience than anyone else in CFB this season? Fucking Kansas. Sort of the old "I've got good news and bad news" joke with "First, the good news is, you're returning a shit ton of your players with on-field experience. The bad news is, you're returning a shit ton of your players with on-field experience."
Georgia Southern is #2, but more relevant on the national scene is Wisconsin at #3 and Florida at #4.
Wisconsin is a weird program. They may be the greatest irrelevant program in the last 20 years of our sport. They're almost always very good. They've been to the Rose Bowl on multiple occasions since the mid-90's. They were 12-0 last year before losing a close one in the Big 10 title game. Yet no one took them seriously as a playoff contender, really at all, and no one ever does. This year, they bring back almost everyone, they have a standout running back and OL, and a manageable schedule. They play BYU in the non-con, which looked tougher when scheduled than it does now, and then they have to go to Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, and Penn State. I guess it is unlikely that they go unscathed through that, but I view them as a strong darkhorse for the playoffs.
And what about Florida? Meh. They're less talented than they should be. Mullen is an excellent coach. I assume they'll be a bowl team, but I'm not sure all of that experience is very formidable.
Flipping the experience concept and looking in the other direction, Steele has LSU at #129, TCU at #120, and Okie State at #119 in terms of on-field experience returning. That output for LSU reflects their returning players with experience before two returning starters were suspended for major offenses in the past few weeks. LB Tyler Taylor is the alleged getaway driver in a pawn store robbery and is charged with numerous felonies. See ya. Edward Ingram, the starting RG, is suspended indefinitely for unspecified reasons, but the LSU mods on their boards haven't sounded optimistic. The monster that ate Chasen Hinds, all 360 pounds of him, is now sliding in from tackle and backing up the guard positions for depth. This is a guy in need of a redshirt and a body reshaping, and this is the kind of trouble with development that a program in chaos gets itself into. LSU opens on Labor Day Sunday in Arlington against Miami, and then plays at Auburn 13 days later.
Regarding TCU, this is the year for Texas to turn things back around against Fat Patty. We play them during a tough stretch, but I'm tired of excuses, and tired of blowouts at the hands of those sweaty fuckers. Last year's game finished with a loss at 24-7, but anyone who watched every game knows that Texas was its least competitive all year against TCU. It might as well have been 100-7. The game never felt within reach.
Okie State is in possession of a dubious piece of scoreboard on Texas as well. The longest active winning streak at DKR is held by Okie State at 4 in a row. We have experienced a winning streak at home of that length once in the last 8 years. Embarrassing.
Speaking of Winning Streaks
Without cheating, do you know who has the longest winning streak in D-1?
I assume a lot of folks would wind up remembering pseudo-national champion Central Florida. They're now coached by loudmouth shittalking okie, Josh Heupel. So I am cheering for them to head back into the primordial college football sludge that is the lower tier of the AAC.
But here's one for you - which P5 team has the longest active winning streak heading into this season?
Apparently it's Northwestern, which is fun, at 8 in a row. They open CFB this year on Thursday, 8/30, against Purdue in a conference game that should actually be fun to watch.
Anyway, I realize that for some, more than 280 characters is kind of big deal for them to read, but I figure there's got to be a few people on here who've been thinking about stuff like this and might have some thoughts as well.