gmr548

Not defending the wider grid situation but morning is a peak energy use time in the winter. Coldest part of the day, more energy used in heating.

The DL hire is done and it's someone in the NFL perry Bobby. There's no reason to delay and honestly they need the hire in place ASAP for recruiting. If it was Okam he'd be announced and working already. Rod Wright is an NFL guy and still coaching with the Texans winning yesterday.

To add to what other posters have already said on this, Golden missed multiple games in both 2022 and 2023. It's likely injuries open up some time for others. And I'm not sure they roll with an obviously limited Golden, Cook, or Bond over what's behind them in the same way they have with Worthy the past couple years.

The NFL is paying their GM and entire roster too. And NFL coaches get an actual offseason. A little different.

Wow that's even more than Urban Meyer stole.

To add to @SydneyCarton's point - really an Ohio State player has the localized NIL value he is talking about for a UT player in Austin across the whole state. LeBron James is the only athlete in Ohio's history to be categorically bigger than Ohio State stars - and he's a a fucking Ohio State fan, a vocal one.

Nebraska is an awful job only worth considering because they will pay well and being a fired coach coasting on a buyout is great. In terms of MSA size all three of the big Ohio cities are essentially the same size at a little over 2MM. Cleveland has been the biggest historically but has also been shrinking. As it stands now Cincinnati is the largest, but Columbus will soon pass (as in the next couple years) as it is growing much faster. Yes, if you go CSA and lump Akron-Canton in with Cleveland, NE Ohio is still by far the biggest market/economic region in the state. It's also culturally distinct from the rest of the state to a small degree (both my parents are form Ohio so I've had the misfortune of spending quite a bit of time there). But really it doesn't matter because Ohio State's market/recruiting backyard is the entire state. Everyone from Ohio is an Ohio State fan. My uncle played D1 football at a smaller school in Ohio and still wears OSU gear on Saturdays. That's really their advantage. Georgia or Michigan are probably the closest comps in terms of having a large, talent-rich, football obsessed state on lockdown like that but neither has their state locked up quite as much as Ohio State does their home turf and Michigan doesn't produce as much talent as Ohio. You could add Penn State but interest in HS/college football wanes in Philly. LSU is close too - Louisiana is small but produces a freakish amount of talent. That's about it. Ohio State is in rare air for that factor alone.

Glad he is coming back and I think he made the right decision for his individual future as well. Improve the finer points of his game and he will be a first round pick next year. Side tangent - Man the clumsy forcing of the phrase "with that being said" into these announcements will never not make me laugh.

The thing is, the landscape has shifted pretty dramatically from what it looked like for most of that period. Bama is not going to be a top tier job in the era of NIL. As I list them out it's clear sing the top 10-15 description was a stretch; it's solidly top ten, but I think the following are a cut above: Georgia, USC, Texas, Michigan, Ohio State. And Alabama moving forward probably falls into that Tier 1B group - albeit at the upper end - with Oregon, Oklahoma, ND, LSU, Penn State, etc.

Is Jimbo Fisher not living the dream right now?

Even accepting your premise for sake of argument, said waffling has been between Texas and Oregon. Perhaps you may have heard of a possible shakeup on the Oregon staff as well?

Alabama's a great job but more like a top 10-15 job than a top 5 job. For Sark specifically, he just bought a ton of good will here and stringing together some 9+ win seasons with a couple CFP berths over the next five years will keep his seat from getting seriously hot. At Alabama that would get him fired as the guy after Saban. Assuming Texas is willing to commit to a hefty raise, I really do not see the upside of the Alabama job in his shoes. Maybe that's just burnt orange tinted glasses. I think the first call should to be Freddie Roach, Alabama's DL coach since 2020. He may turn you down as an Alabama alum but you have to make the call. Maybe it's Lanning at Bama and he wants to bring Tosh Lupoi and Tony Tuioti (who also has a tangential connection to Sark through working under Justin Wilcox at Cal for a couple years), at which point Texas is a really attractive landing spot for Roach. Beyond that, obviously Tosh Lupoi is a potential candidate if he ends up looking for a job in the wake of the Saban retirement. I could see also see Tuioti being a candidate if Lanning goes to Bama and does retain Roach. Sark likes his west coast guys, and he also has a couple years of NFL experience and was Harbaugh's player personnel guy at Michigan for a year. That said, I think Okam or Wright would be serviceable at a minimum and it is always cool to have an alum on staff. Just not sure they are more than fall back candidates.

I don't know why half of the lists floating out there leave off Mike Norvell but I imagine he is a top candidate. Sark will get a call but I think he'd simply use it to get a fat bag out of Texas. DeBoer is really good but I wonder if Alabama will want a guy that's never worked at a blue blood in any capacity. Lanning and Lane hanging around too. Agree on Dabo, Alabama can't want a guy so entrenched in the past. Maybe Ryan Day wants a change of scenery. @Wulaw Horn's Alabraska theory just got sped up, that's for sure. I'm only surprised he's retiring at this moment because they were bringing back their starting QB next year and looked to be very well positioned for another run. Having talked so much about how much he enjoyed this team I am surprised he walked away from another year with Milroe. Have seen this multiple times (probably same rumor circulating). Very odd if true. Hope all is well with his family.

I'm mostly used to Kansas being competitive now but seeing them land a HS all star game participant is weird.

You don't need eight weeks for this. You could get it in over a four day weekend like two rounds of the NCAA tournament by playing double headers.

I wasn't going to lose a ton of sleep if he left but having a veteran presence in the room with a coaching transition will no doubt be a positive.

My brother in Christ, if you are going to dedicate this lengthy of a callout at least read my posts. Earlier I said Texas's absolute floor is 8-4 and that I expect them to be better. You can do the math on whether I'd take your 8.5 win under bet there. I've been pumping sunshine across this board since the Sugar Bowl and subsequent teeth gnashing because I've honest to God come around and think this team has a legit championship window open for the next few years. Real doomsday stuff! I was responding to a post that mentioned Kentucky specifically as one of the biggest tossups on the schedule. I don't agree with that at all because you're right, neither they nor Florida are going to be particularly good, but they stand out to me as the most likely options for an out of nowhere loss. That doesn't mean I think it's likely. Someone out there is the world's tallest dwarf, that doesn't make them tall.

I definitely would not concede the Michigan game either but also I'm not going to sit here and chalk up a trip the the Big House as a W and move on. Depends on what both team's rosters look like after portal and draft dust settles, and what Harbaugh does, but right now it's more or less a tossup to me. Georgia is probably the only game I look at and think "Yeah, probably a L." Kentucky and Florida both scream trap game with where they are on the schedule. I'm not particularly worried about either team in a vacuum but given where they fall a slip up would not surprise me. Glad both are at home.

I'd rather be Oregon with a bye but I'd take that spot and bracket 10/10 if offered before the season.

Yeah I think that's reasonable. Undefeated against Texas's schedule is just not a realistic expectation. Split Michigan and Georgia, win every game you're favored in? Maybe not particularly likely, but I could see it.

I saw at least some really smart, subtle bumps on key plays from Michigan DBs last night that were indicative of great coaching. I can't remember exactly when it was but the one that stands out the most to me was on a third down Washington had going into the end zone. The Washington receiver crossed the Michigan saftey's face\; a Texas safety and most college safeties are done at that point. But the Michigan DB subtly bumped the receiver in the route. There was no grab, no shove, and the ball hadn't been thrown yet. Just knocked him off the line and disrupted timing a little bit. Right up to the line of what's allowed but not crossing it. The throw was slightly off and the reaction was that Penix missed. He didn't, the route just got disrupted by that much. I was just thinking about how I literally cannot imagine a Texas DB making that play. Michigan definitely got away with more physical play in the secondary than is typically allowed but they also do things like that.

How is life stuck in the early 2010's?

They are absolutely loading up in the portal. They must feel like next year is the year to make a run.

I mean I've been sunshine pumping for next year but 12-2 is not the floor lol #2 is a ranking that initially makes you recoil because of the losses Texas is taking with Sweat-Murphy-Ford on defense and with all of its pass catchers on offense. Then you look at what has already been done in the portal, retaining Alfred Collins, recruiting, etc. and see it is probably survivable. And then you look at what other top programs are losing and all of a sudden you're back around to Texas being right there. But yeah - floor? Easy enough to see Texas lose at Michigan and lose to Georgia. We avoided a signature Sark head scratcher this year, not a guarantee that happens again. While Texas should be favored, OU is pretty much always a tossup and any of the four November games jump out as a plausible place for a wtf loss. To me I think the floor is 8-4. I think they'll be better than that but it's within the realm of possibility.

The irony lol