closetojumping

I’ve always viewed myself as more of the Will Goodloe of Surly. You’re sort of the Jake Hammer of this board.

After reading our collective posts, I think a “big back” thread would be fun on the football board. Lot of room to work with and they always pop up with new personalities each season.

Soft isn’t accurate. Overrated is accurate if he insists on staying at S. If the dude moves to LB and embraces it, he’s potentially the best LB recruit in the country. Now that MLB is off the table, he’s worth a shot. And yes, the tears of our enemies mostly make it worth it as well. For that alone, I’m hoping Texas lands him.

Normally, there's a "pick your playoff champion" thread this time of year by someone. I've written a few and find them fun to see where people are landing with their outlook for the season. The guesser two years ago closest to the pin was @Wulaw Horn, getting 3 out of 4. I got 1 out of 4 - whoops. Last year was closer for just about everyone, with a few getting 3 out of 4. This year, things are different. There will be 12 teams making the playoff, with the highest ranked 4 conference champions getting 1st round byes. The 5th highest ranked conference champion gets the 12th seed (or better if they're ranked higher). So, you pretty much have to pick the P4 conference title game champions. This is where a 9-4/10-3 can automatically get in and throw some things for a loop with a bubble 11 seed getting bumped by an unexpected 11-2/12-1 title game loser. Here are my picks and various thoughts for anyone interested. I'm not going into seeding because that's on a whole 'nother level, dawg. I've picked the conference title games and winners, followed by the other 7 P4 bids and then the G5 Ms. Congeniality prize winner. Big 10 Title Game - Penn State versus Oregon - Oregon wins. SEC Title Game - Texas versus Ole Miss - Texas wins. Big 12 Title Game - Utah versus Oklahoma State - Utah wins. ACC Title Game - Virginia Tech versus Miami - Virginia Tech wins. That's your top 4 seeds. Following that, I like: -Bama, Georgia and Ole Miss from the SEC -Penn State, Ohio State from the Big 10 -Miami from the ACC -Notre Dame -Memphis from the AAC That's 12 teams for 12 spaces. No 2nd team for the Big 12 and no 4th team for the Big 10. Fuck Liberty and their bullshit even if they go 12-0. For my championship game, I'm taking Texas versus Oregon because I am a homer and then taking Texas over Oregon because I am also a homer and will believe that Dan Lanning can win a game against a comparably talented opponent after the 1st time I see it. I had a long write-up about competing teams that I pondered breaking down into conference threads but that made me feel like it was too much and that it might look like I'm all hopped on speed or something, which I am not. I decided to just spoiler my thoughts on various contenders and hope that others addicted to this shit would read up and offer their own takes. Hook'em and thanks for any others bringing their own opinions to the table. Here are links to prior season thoughts:

I’ll see you there.

The Buffalo kicker? I don’t really remember that story either. I know the Arkansas guy isn’t my kind of guy, but the accusations from the woman online were proven to be false or at least highly suspect. That’s about all I remember.

To me, this is a domino falling. If Elko believed that he had what he needs to match or overcome the no-name baseball guy, he’d have told that to Wilfong.

This makes sense. Deion was likely hoping to leverage some expertise with regard to managing dissident journalists lining up to poke holes in his regime.

Something to consider regarding Williams, and I don't know how much public play this gets or doesn't because I don't watch most of the streams or read the gurus outside of OTF. The dad is a county? judge down that way. He gets a whole lot of cachet if his boy makes a big move to Texas or ATM. Less so if he leaves the state. It's not nothing. The big reason no one is being assertive about this recruitment is due to NIL and its relevance versus other recruiting and school parameters. NIL will play a role here, but how much of one isn't clear. The other part of the NIL equation is simply the unknown. Does Marucci step up with something crazy? Can Texas football NIL hold a candle to it? LSU doesn't have the horses on the FB side, but will they get the baseball assist? From the ATM end, does the football NIL break the bank to overcome the concern around the noob in the baseball HC role? None of the gurus for any of these schools can read those tea leaves yet. Nevermind Oregon showing up with something so fucking silly that it makes everything else moot. No way that happens, right? Right? All of this for a guy who isn't a safety, doesn't want to be a linebacker, and is way more toolsy than functional on a diamond.

Weird. I likely have an aversion to revering big white dudes toting the rock. Isn't there a Toby something or other as well, now that you mention it? This should the quote on the cornerstone of the physical Surly office building where @immamac plots his infernal schemes.

There was a whole thread on that guy and his issues. The accuser ended up being full of shit on a bunch of the stuff, even if the player looks like a despicable version of a frat bro himself. I can't remember the thread title or whatever, but it's worth the scan if you're interested. It's not anything close to the Duke Lacrosse scandal, but it is a lot closer to that than Baylor.

Yes, that's okay. I was replying to the idea of anything specific to a player's output being added to their helmet for folks to scan regarding just them. When you made the Ohio State sticker reference, I inferred that the QR codes would serve a similar purposes when added (a kudos for performance).

The interior DL they wanted most went to Oregon. Regarding Williams, OU paid a price above rubies and Texas saw replacement value as much less expensive. I guess we'll see which program was right in that regard when comparing Lole and Norton's numbers to DW's. But if you're going to whine about shit, get the facts around the whines correct. The UH DT was the number 1 target. Your OL silliness isn't worth the keystrokes.

If that’s what you want to call him. It’s not what we called him back in the day. That fatass was busted on more than one occasion basically hogging most of the weed in the greater BCS region.

I think it's because he ran with reckless abandon and zero regard for his own body or those trying to stop him. How much running do you think he actually did? Outside of a few plays against Tech, the guy was basically a whole lot of behind the LOS sound and fury, gaining nothing.

Jerome Bettis, Rodney Culver (RIP), Japorkie Lane, Jabong Doobs. Count me out on this notion in today's CFB, but the nostalgia is great.

Whether the tech can go there or not, there would be real issues associated to specific player performance-related compensation. That's one of the few no-no's that the NCAA still has a leg to stand on with enforcement.

My view on this game hasn't changed much since looking at things immediately after the season. Of course, both teams lost a lot, but then they both did some good things with the portal to offset some or all of that. I've felt since the beginning much like the sentiments you guys are espousing - this will be a closely fought game that Texas should win. My logic in "Texas should win" is simply grounded in the basics - Texas returns its excellent QB and most of the OL, along with the same HC/DC/OC. When you have those things together, your team should win a bunch of ballgames. That combo also helps negate significant opposing homefield advantage. Conversely, Michigan has literally none of that coming back. They're talented, they have Harbaugh DNA, they'll have home filed advantage. A loss to Michigan in that environment will not be embarrassing, barring a blowout, but I am fine with the expectations and the line. We're going to learn more than people think we probably will from watching Michigan play Fresno State in their opener. Fresno has the HC issue with Tedford leaving abruptly due to health concerns, but he'd done a good job with the roster and culture. They're a decent G5 team even without him. More importantly, Michigan is replacing 18 starters. They can like what they see in practice and still need to run through a good deal of their snaps with their first team rotations on both sides of the ball, even if they're blowing FSU out. They can't just hide who they are in that game with Texas looming and if they try that, they're idiots. I wouldn't want guys in key roles getting their first true live fire against a top 5 team at noon in week two of the season.

I will be surprised if Texas doesn't blow CSU out, but I also will not be surprised if we get pretty irritated watching Horton and Co. put up some numbers and a few drives working the intermediate passing area and slant lanes. I'm interested in seeing if that shit has been mopped up at all coming into this season.

There's a pretty dramatic shift in the weather for most of Texas happening today/tomorrow, bringing in cooler temps and much high ongoing likelihood of rain. I wouldn't bet the farm on an 85 degree kickoff, but low 90's is expected to be about as bad as it gets around then.

For all of the fanboys of Savion Red, their prayers have been dutifully answered by Twelve Win Theven. This guy basically has his numbers but with more reps and he’s apparently not a burgeoning fat ass with anger issues.

Some of us aren’t hobos subsisting off of a fucking nurse’s salary. I want to be effectively delivered to the gate without so much as having to utter a hello to the various henryjames’ and immamacs plebeians on the way there. I generally work my plans backward from the gate and choose the snobbiest, cleanest, most elitist options I can rationalize.

Sarkisian closes well and a lot of recruitments will not be settled until closer to December, even currently committed players. That’s not unusual for the big boys, of which we are one. The days of Mack stocking up in the spring and hanging on don’t work these days. Texas is going to finish with another top 4-7 class and doesn’t usually sign the same amount as other programs due to culture and effective usage of the portal. It may look odd now, but it’s no different than the prior periods under Sarkisian. If it helps, none of us paying attention planned on landing the last few guys where the Texas hat was metaphorically on the table. I expect Texas to land Brooks and Ffrench soon. The tea leaves say Texas for Williams as well, and that would be a surprise compared to what anyone thought 6 weeks ago. Those 3 are high 4 stars or 5 stars and will further drive the class into the top 10.

ChiTownDoc just quoted what I wrote yesterday on this recruitment. Few pages back now but you can read it just above and that isn’t just from what I’ve seen but someone nationally respected as well. Correct, but saying it now, the day of the commitment, doesn’t do much for the board. Nothing’s changed though. Bedenbaugh is going to have to prove his worth on Fasusi. He’s done it before, of course.

@Rimbo has a unique talent in terms of being able to actually make people cringe when they run into his posts. I don't think he can control this power and it has gotten him in trouble over the years, but it's some sort of forum superpower nonetheless. It's kind of uncanny.