2024 Off-Season Thread

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

This should be a short offseason with winter workouts starting in just a few weeks. 

[Rockethorn1978 6059]

[gmr548 16316]

This is the first season in a long time where I wasn’t honestly ready for an eight month break from Texas football by the end of it.

Going to be a very long offseason I’m sure but already looking forward to 2024.

[Sgt Hulk 13537]

[MirrOlure 14478]

[Sleepygrad 1028]

[Deej 76218]

At least Kurt Bowels is already in mid-season form.

Quote

Texas football is surging right now and is trending as a future powerhouse in college football with the Longhorns coming off a 12-2 season, Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff appearance. But does that mean Texas is back?

No, it doesn't. Texas isn't back. 

https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/college/longhorns/football/2024/01/04/texas-football-back-longhorns-future-cfp-sugar-bowl-analysis-2024-sec-washington-huskies-penix/72109561007/

[Foosters 17638]

18 minutes ago, Deej said:

At least Kurt Bowels is already in mid-season form.

https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/college/longhorns/football/2024/01/04/texas-football-back-longhorns-future-cfp-sugar-bowl-analysis-2024-sec-washington-huskies-penix/72109561007/

THIS is what passes for insight? He gets paid to do this? Ignoring, for a moment, the ultimate conclusion - that Texas is not back - what in the fuck is this? The below is the entire "article." Its like 5 random stats connected by a player's quote and then some random musings at the end where I can only assume KB got distracted by a squirrel outside his window as he garbled  his "journalism" into a Dictaphone.

Quote

Texas football is surging right now and is trending as a future powerhouse in college football with the Longhorns coming off a 12-2 season, Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff appearance. But does that mean Texas is back?

No, it doesn't. Texas isn't back. It’s too soon to suggest that.

The program won’t be truly back until head coach Steve Sarkisian shows he can sustain this level of success. The players do believe it, and that’s where it starts.

”We felt magical, the whole time that we felt like it was already written," departing receiver Jordan Whittington said. "No matter what happened, I didn't know it was going to come down to the last, like, 10 seconds ... but we didn't waver one time.”

Take the Sugar Bowl loss with perspective

The Longhorns were really good and borderline great this season, and it’s a heckuva lot of progress for a program that hadn’t won a conference title in 14 years. Remember, they came within 15 seconds of beating Oklahoma and had a chance to knock off Washington on the final play of the game. And didn’t really play all that well in either one.

OU didn’t have a turnover, Washington only muffed a punt on Monday night and Texas had three turnovers in those games. In the 12 wins, Texas was a plus-6.

Texas also faced precious few great quarterbacks other than OU's Dillon Gabriel and Washington's Michael Penix Jr., who combined to put up 71 points on a defense that gave up an average of only 17 points a game.

For those of you who are mad that Sarkisian got outcoached, quarterback Quinn Ewers got outplayed and Texas was sloppy and out-disciplined, also remember that Washington is not good, but damn good. ESPN’s Greg McElroy said the Huskies have at least seven NFL draft picks in the first two rounds this spring, including Penix and his top three receivers, an edge rusher and an offensive lineman.

I worry for Washington in Monday's game that Michigan’s smothering defense is so much better top to bottom than Texas’, that the Wolverines’ Blake Corum may run all day against the Huskies and that Washington may be without injured tailback Dillon Johnson

 

[Tex Long 4291]

Quote

But does that mean Texas is back?

Not necessarily. But it does mean Kert is still a dick-biting dipshit.

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

Bobby said he heard the following regarding OL for the spring

Hayden Conner is going to slide out to tackle and battle with Cam/Baker at the tackle spot. -- This leads me to believe he might just be the jack of all trades backup in case of injury.

Hutson/Neto will battle for LG position.

He cites the reason for this is because in the SEC they're essentially going to need people movers and not shadow blockers like Conner at guard considering the increased DL talent we'll go against.

 

[Armybrat 40559]

18 hours ago, Tex Long said:

Not necessarily. But it does mean Kert is still a dick-biting dipshit.

Kurt is certainly sustaining his level of yellow “journalism”.

[LTtxfan 48727]

19 hours ago, Deej said:

At least Kurt Bowels is already in mid-season form.

https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/college/longhorns/football/2024/01/04/texas-football-back-longhorns-future-cfp-sugar-bowl-analysis-2024-sec-washington-huskies-penix/72109561007/

 

YEAH... FUCK ME

[LTtxfan 48727]

On 1/4/2024 at 8:22 AM, BurntOrange&White said:

This should be a short offseason with winter workouts starting in just a few weeks. 

Yeah team is back on January 16th, and workouts start January 20th. 

Aren't winter workouts the off-season too? 🤔

[troph 24028]

Did spring camp change ? New schedule etc?

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

20 hours ago, Deej said:

At least Kurt Bowels is already in mid-season form.

https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/college/longhorns/football/2024/01/04/texas-football-back-longhorns-future-cfp-sugar-bowl-analysis-2024-sec-washington-huskies-penix/72109561007/

They really are in midseason form. Holy shit....

 

 

 

[Deej 76218]

1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

They really are in midseason form. Holy shit....

 

 

 

Yeah, Golden was on Jeff Ward's show yesterday pushing this. 

[Duane Moore 5236]

24 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

They really are in midseason form. Holy shit....

 

 

 

A dying industry does what it must to generate interest

[NoName 16241]

some dude wrote and posted a 165 page case study on the Texas offense.

this is not me, i just saw it linked elsewhere.
 

Quote

 

My decision to study the Longhorns offense was primarily due to Coach
Sarkisian's success wherever he has been. He is a master of sequential
playcalling, uses multiple personnel groupings, and has always had great
drive openers alongside his efficient opening scripts. An anonymous big
12 defensive analyst was recently quoted saying, “He has little-to-no
tendencies... If he has one, he breaks it the next week. His in-game
adjustments are elite. We played a stack man concept to a route we
thought was coming and he had a counter that we had never seen that
was something off an And1 mix tape. He’s patient in his play calling as
he leans on the run game and perimeter pass game and is very calculated
when he takes shots.” As somebody who loves to study the science of
playcalling, there may not be a better study than Coach Sarkisian.

This offense had playmakers everywhere, including three potential first-
round pass catchers, a star running back who went down mid-season due

to injury, and a quarterback some folks have mocked in the late 1st or
early 2nd round. But rather than relying on 'out-talenting' teams, this
offense relied on many great concepts. This shouldn’t be a surprise
considering Sark’s NFL stint as well as his recent star-studded offenses
at Alabama operating in a similar manner as well. I wouldn’t say their
offense was incredibly vast or complex schematically, but they executed
a multitude of concepts very well and had great change-ups off their
commonly used concepts.

This group was an incredibly fun study. There were many points of this
offense that are worth touching on. Tempo played a role at times,
FIB/FISL formations played a significant role in some games, but a
unique point that showed up on a game-by-game basis was the way they

got into specific formations and structures. Very rarely do offenses come
out in traditional 12-personnel structures while having an 11-personnel
group on the field. Through a myriad of motions and shifts, Texas was
able to get in and out of specific structures in order to manipulate the
defense while presenting abnormal personnel groupings on the field.

Texas dealt with a number of injuries to star players throughout the
season, yet the offense never wavered. The ‘next man up’ mentality was
proven to be effective time and time again by the Longhorns. One of my
favorite ways to judge how good a team is throughout a season is by
looking at point differential (and I don’t mean at the end of the game)
and how well their backups play. In many games, Texas had
commanding leads early, and the games never got close. This included
many instances when Texas played their backups for long stretches.
Even with backups in, they never took their foot off the gas; in fact, in
some games, they won the final quarter with their backups in the game.
To me, that shows a team that is dominant throughout all stages of a
game. Texas averaged 38 points per game against ranked teams
throughout the regular season, which was the highest mark in the entire
country. Although they beat up on some smaller schools, they also
dominated against bigger, more reputable schools.

Through great playcalling and execution, this offense was able to put up
numbers that ranked them amongst the best in the country. Texas
produced 475.9 Yards per Game (9th), 36.2 Points per Game (13th),
0.492 Points per Play, and 6.5 Yards per Play.

This offense would be described as an 11&12 personnel zone
run/counter team that heavily relies on equating numbers in the run
game with RPOs. Their offensive weapons are all great with the ball in
their hands and they made it a point to manufacture touches and shots to
their playmakers via screens, double moves, and even some wildcat
formations. Having two soon-to-be NFL receivers on the outside forced
defenses into many 2-hi looks which allowed the Longhorns offense to
equate numbers in the box without having a transcendent athlete at the
quarterback position.

 

it has the bud davis playcalling review:

and a bunch of other things in it. not sure where else it probably "fits" but thought this would work

 this guy did some really interesting, nerdy work - he includes info around why a play worked or didn't work in his opinion and plays are drawn out well.

i'm going to drop in the info on throwback screens specifically as an example of what's in the file.

 

 

 

Texas Longhorns Full Offensive Study.pdf

Edited January 5 by NoName

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

Freshmen participation:

[Tex-19 2868]

I don't love having a literal book on our offense floating around out there. Wish he'd write one on some of our opponents 

[TornACL 7654]

Bohls has been stealing paychecks for years, but now he isn't even trying to hide it.

[troph 24028]

11 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

I don't love having a literal book on our offense floating around out there. Wish he'd write one on some of our opponents 

there's nothing there other P5 teams didn't figure out themselves.

[troph 24028]

16 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Freshmen participation:

Hill, Baxter, Cook, Muhammad, and Williams (Wisner maybe as well) are all going to make major leaps forward as sophomores imo. damn impressive as true freshmen.

[nbmishoid 904]

Yes, Wisner looked good to very good each time we saw him, those few times.

[Mother mopar 3275]

Yes, Wisner looked good to very good each time we saw him, those few times.

He was on ST quite a bit and made a few tackles, that I saw.

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

Just now, Mother mopar said:

56 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

Yes, Wisner looked good to very good each time we saw him, those few times.

He was on ST quite a bit and made a few tackles, that I saw.

He had a couple of huge hits on returners. I feel like he could take over that Keilan punt coverage/RB role

[Tex-19 2868]

22 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

He had a couple of huge hits on returners. I feel like he could take over that Keilan punt coverage/RB role

Yeah and maybe KO return too.

[LTtxfan 48727]

6 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

They really are in midseason form. Holy shit

 

 

4 hours ago, TornACL said:

Bohls has been stealing paychecks for years, but now he isn't even trying to hide it.

 

 

[LTtxfan 48727]

The 2024 season offers a huge youth movement of quality playing time for the last 3 recruiting classes (2022, 2023, and maybe even the 2024 Class.)

Besides Quinn, Banks and possibly Majors, wonder who will be the Upperclassmen team leaders in 2024 especially on defense?    

(During the 2022 season, RoJo, Bijan, and Coburn were important leaders. For 2023 JWhitt, JFord, T'Sweat, JTSanders and likely Xavier all set the bar during the off-season.)

 

[LTtxfan 48727]

Here is a leader returning for 2024 Season 🤘

[MirrOlure 14478]

So….returning 3 year starter 5th year Center…that’s considered pretty good right?

[gmr548 16316]

So….returning 3 year starter 5th year Center…that’s considered pretty good right?

Surly will continue to do its best to manifest a replacement. After three years this will be the offseason Flood benches Majors!

[Biff Tannen 45212]

On 1/5/2024 at 11:42 AM, NoName said:

some dude wrote and posted a 165 page case study on the Texas offense.

this is not me, i just saw it linked elsewhere.
 

it has the bud davis playcalling review:

and a bunch of other things in it. not sure where else it probably "fits" but thought this would work

 this guy did some really interesting, nerdy work - he includes info around why a play worked or didn't work in his opinion and plays are drawn out well.

i'm going to drop in the info on throwback screens specifically as an example of what's in the file.

 

 

 

Texas Longhorns Full Offensive Study.pdf 6.86 MB · 1 download

Good gravy. If this guy isn’t getting paid for this, he needs to find something better to do with his life. 

[troph 24028]

This is shaping up nicely, majors and Collins back, portal gets with golden and the DB plus Moore on the Edge. If we can pull a DL, and another WR I’m liking our chances at a top 8 playoff spot, could get a buy, and experience this year could put us in serious contention for the title. 

[Thiefery 4940]

On 1/5/2024 at 11:42 AM, NoName said:

some dude wrote and posted a 165 page case study on the Texas offense.

this is not me, i just saw it linked elsewhere.
 

it has the bud davis playcalling review:

and a bunch of other things in it. not sure where else it probably "fits" but thought this would work

 this guy did some really interesting, nerdy work - he includes info around why a play worked or didn't work in his opinion and plays are drawn out well.

i'm going to drop in the info on throwback screens specifically as an example of what's in the file.

 

 

 

Texas Longhorns Full Offensive Study.pdf 6.86 MB · 1 download

at the end on why it didn't work vs ou..

 

ou first big game of the season was the RRS.. they were game planning for that game all off season then into fall camp. They didn't have a big game prior to October to be planning for..just us.

[Tex Long 4291]

12 minutes ago, troph said:

This is shaping up nicely, majors and Collins back, portal gets with golden and the DB plus Moore on the Edge. If we can pull a DL, and another WR I’m liking our chances at a top 8 playoff spot, could get a buy, and experience this year could put us in serious contention for the title. 

Bye. Top 4 get a bye.

Fucking stupid. Make it 16 and have an honest playoff with all playing same number of games.

[troph 24028]

8 minutes ago, Tex Long said:

Bye. Top 4 get a bye.

Fucking stupid. Make it 16 and have an honest playoff with all playing same number of games.

Doh. Haven’t finished my first cup coffee and I sometimes spell incorrectly with words like that when I’m not at 100%. Their, there, they’re is another one. 
 

but to be clear, I’m saying it’s setting up nicely to be in contention for top 8 spot meaning home game round 1 or even better a top 4 spot and a first round bye. 

Edited January 7 by troph

[troph 24028]

I guess it’s top 4 conference champions for first round bye if I’m not mistaken. In any event we have a decent schedule for a berth in the SEC championship 

[Hank Chinaski 6308]

2 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Good gravy. If this guy isn’t getting paid for this, he needs to find something better to do with his life. 

It could be his job application…

[Texasrocks 2119]

2 hours ago, Thiefery said:

ou first big game of the season was the RRS.. they were game planning for that game all off season then into fall camp. They didn't have a big game prior to October to be planning for..just us.

They have Tennessee and Auburn before us next year. Not exactly a gauntlet, but enough to keep them honest. At least more than Tulsa and Cincy. I'm looking forward to not being everyone's biggest game in the SEC. Texas will always be a priority for OU, but I doubt MSU and Kentucky are planning their seasons around Texas the way Tech, Baylor, and TCU have.

[gmr548 16316]

Deleted, misread quoted/spoilered post, am dumb

[thunderlounge 7642]

2 hours ago, troph said:

I guess it’s top 4 conference champions for first round bye if I’m not mistaken. In any event we have a decent schedule for a berth in the SEC championship 

Recall how the CFP did the Top 4 for this year? Same thing, but it will be 12 spots vice 4.

5 of those spots will be the Top 5 ranked conference champs, and is where shit gets really tricky. (Note: the CFP Board or whatever is expected to make the change from 6 conf champ auto bids, plus 6 at-large, to 5 champ + 7 at-large at a meeting today/tomorrow as the PAC's dead.)

This is where it gets tricky. The Top-5 champs might get an auto bid, but are definitely not guaranteed to be the Top 5 ranked. You'll get SEC/B1G/b12/acc, obviously, plus the highest ranked G5 champ. Any of those could technically end up as a much lower seed. Mostly it's going to be the G5 champ, but at some point an upset in the b12/acc championship game could lead to much lower ranked champ.

Are we having fun yet?

They'll figure out the auto-bids, then the at-large. Then rank them for the playoffs. The top 4 may not all be conference champions. If they were doing 12 this past season, FSU would have definitely not been in the top 4. Which means that at least 1 of the top 4 would be an at-large, as the G5 champ was also not going to be top 4.

That's a lot to say it goes by where the rankings fall, and not "champ" status.

Top 4 teams get a bye week for Round 1, and are the "home team" in R2.

- Round 1 will be hosted on campus, with 5-8 hosting 9-12. (12 @ 5, 11 @ 6, etc)

- Round 2 will be 4 of 6 NY6 bowls (Quarter Finals)

- Round 3 will be the remaining 2 NY6 bowls (Semi-Finals)

- Round 4 will be at a rotating site (Championship)

 

This is also what a lot have been discussing in terms of travel. A 9-12 seed making a run would be traveling 4 weeks in a row. Making it difficult on their fans, thus ticket sales. Having R1 on campus helps attendance. Many have made the argument that R2 should also be on campus, and I would also say R3 should be as well.

Where that problem comes to a head is with... the bowls. They aren't going to want their match-up to start with the #13 team in the country, when previously it was Top 5 or so. It's worked for the 4-team CFP because it was pretty close to business as usual with top match-ups. I'm not sure how that is overcome, but if attendance (and interest) really does become a problem for rounds 2 and maybe 3, then there may be a hand forced and something happens. Nobody wants to see a big game poorly attended, it makes TV look like shit.

 

[Vertigo 20208]

17 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

Recall how the CFP did the Top 4 for this year? Same thing, but it will be 12 spots vice 4.

5 of those spots will be the Top 5 ranked conference champs, and is where shit gets really tricky. (Note: the CFP Board or whatever is expected to make the change from 6 conf champ auto bids, plus 6 at-large, to 5 champ + 7 at-large at a meeting today/tomorrow as the PAC's dead.)

This is where it gets tricky. The Top-5 champs might get an auto bid, but are definitely not guaranteed to be the Top 5 ranked. You'll get SEC/B1G/b12/acc, obviously, plus the highest ranked G5 champ. Any of those could technically end up as a much lower seed. Mostly it's going to be the G5 champ, but at some point an upset in the b12/acc championship game could lead to much lower ranked champ.

Are we having fun yet?

They'll figure out the auto-bids, then the at-large. Then rank them for the playoffs. The top 4 may not all be conference champions. If they were doing 12 this past season, FSU would have definitely not been in the top 4. Which means that at least 1 of the top 4 would be an at-large, as the G5 champ was also not going to be top 4.

That's a lot to say it goes by where the rankings fall, and not "champ" status.

Top 4 teams get a bye week for Round 1, and are the "home team" in R2.

- Round 1 will be hosted on campus, with 5-8 hosting 9-12. (12 @ 5, 11 @ 6, etc)

- Round 2 will be 4 of 6 NY6 bowls (Quarter Finals)

- Round 3 will be the remaining 2 NY6 bowls (Semi-Finals)

- Round 4 will be at a rotating site (Championship)

 

This is also what a lot have been discussing in terms of travel. A 9-12 seed making a run would be traveling 4 weeks in a row. Making it difficult on their fans, thus ticket sales. Having R1 on campus helps attendance. Many have made the argument that R2 should also be on campus, and I would also say R3 should be as well.

Where that problem comes to a head is with... the bowls. They aren't going to want their match-up to start with the #13 team in the country, when previously it was Top 5 or so. It's worked for the 4-team CFP because it was pretty close to business as usual with top match-ups. I'm not sure how that is overcome, but if attendance (and interest) really does become a problem for rounds 2 and maybe 3, then there may be a hand forced and something happens. Nobody wants to see a big game poorly attended, it makes TV look like shit.

 

Fuck the bowls

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

19 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

Recall how the CFP did the Top 4 for this year? Same thing, but it will be 12 spots vice 4.

5 of those spots will be the Top 5 ranked conference champs, and is where shit gets really tricky. (Note: the CFP Board or whatever is expected to make the change from 6 conf champ auto bids, plus 6 at-large, to 5 champ + 7 at-large at a meeting today/tomorrow as the PAC's dead.)

This is where it gets tricky. The Top-5 champs might get an auto bid, but are definitely not guaranteed to be the Top 5 ranked. You'll get SEC/B1G/b12/acc, obviously, plus the highest ranked G5 champ. Any of those could technically end up as a much lower seed. Mostly it's going to be the G5 champ, but at some point an upset in the b12/acc championship game could lead to much lower ranked champ.

Are we having fun yet?

They'll figure out the auto-bids, then the at-large. Then rank them for the playoffs. The top 4 may not all be conference champions. If they were doing 12 this past season, FSU would have definitely not been in the top 4. Which means that at least 1 of the top 4 would be an at-large, as the G5 champ was also not going to be top 4.

That's a lot to say it goes by where the rankings fall, and not "champ" status.

Top 4 teams get a bye week for Round 1, and are the "home team" in R2.

- Round 1 will be hosted on campus, with 5-8 hosting 9-12. (12 @ 5, 11 @ 6, etc)

- Round 2 will be 4 of 6 NY6 bowls (Quarter Finals)

- Round 3 will be the remaining 2 NY6 bowls (Semi-Finals)

- Round 4 will be at a rotating site (Championship)

 

This is also what a lot have been discussing in terms of travel. A 9-12 seed making a run would be traveling 4 weeks in a row. Making it difficult on their fans, thus ticket sales. Having R1 on campus helps attendance. Many have made the argument that R2 should also be on campus, and I would also say R3 should be as well.

Where that problem comes to a head is with... the bowls. They aren't going to want their match-up to start with the #13 team in the country, when previously it was Top 5 or so. It's worked for the 4-team CFP because it was pretty close to business as usual with top match-ups. I'm not sure how that is overcome, but if attendance (and interest) really does become a problem for rounds 2 and maybe 3, then there may be a hand forced and something happens. Nobody wants to see a big game poorly attended, it makes TV look like shit.

 

I bet they take matchups into account when doing the final rankings and it won't be a ranking like years past. I see it being more ranked similar to how march madness is done once you get to the 5-12 seeding. 

[thunderlounge 7642]

3 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Fuck the bowls

 

Agreed. Not completely go away, but they should be separated from the CFP, with R1-3 on campus. To be perfectly honest, I can see this happening as bowl contracts come up for renewal.

 

1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I bet they take matchups into account when doing the final rankings and it won't be a ranking like years past. I see it being more ranked similar to how march madness is done once you get to the 5-12 seeding. 

 

Pretty much. I mean someone ranked 5th most of the season in the poll isn't going to end up 12th without some really, really wild shit, but there will be more shuffling than before. That's to be expected, and I think everybody is ok with that. Might suck once in a while, but should be equitable over time. But the top 4 won't be a gimme either. In general, with few exceptions, your SEC/b1g champs are definitely going to be getting a bye. Where it gets dicey is with b12/acc champs, and they may find out they're not getting a bye every time. Especially as the gap slowly widens over time between the SEC/big and the b12/acc. Take something similar to this year into account. FSU would be in, but definitely not top 4. We would have still been there, but from here on out, whomever is the b12 champ is going to have an issue with perception. That will only increase (albeit slightly) year over year as talent flows even harder to the P2.

[BurntOrange&White 38889]

2 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

 

Agreed. Not completely go away, but they should be separated from the CFP, with R1-3 on campus. To be perfectly honest, I can see this happening as bowl contracts come up for renewal.

 

 

Pretty much. I mean someone ranked 5th most of the season in the poll isn't going to end up 12th without some really, really wild shit, but there will be more shuffling than before. That's to be expected, and I think everybody is ok with that. Might suck once in a while, but should be equitable over time. But the top 4 won't be a gimme either. In general, with few exceptions, your SEC/b1g champs are definitely going to be getting a bye. Where it gets dicey is with b12/acc champs, and they may find out they're not getting a bye every time. Especially as the gap slowly widens over time between the SEC/big and the b12/acc. Take something similar to this year into account. FSU would be in, but definitely not top 4. We would have still been there, but from here on out, whomever is the b12 champ is going to have an issue with perception. That will only increase (albeit slightly) year over year as talent flows even harder to the P2.

IMO they should have just went to 8 or 16 teams. No reason to have byes in college football.

[thunderlounge 7642]

Just now, BurntOrange&White said:

IMO they should have just went to 8 or 16 teams. No reason to have byes in college football.

 

I'm alright with the bye being there. Now maybe not top 4, but top 2 wouldn't be terrible. IMO having 4 is a bit much, but you're either going 10 or 18 at that point. Having 4 and 12 spots total is a decent compromise for now. It's not perfect, but it's improvement over what we have and to get there sometimes takes baby steps.

I think the byes serve a purpose though, and that's to keep the conference championships from being opt-out snoozefests. There's too much money being paid for those for them to go away, at least right now. Having that carrot dangling out in front, in the form of a bye, helps fix that. They're heading towards an NFL type setup for the playoffs, but it's going to take a lot of steps to get there. At some point it will be the end of rankings and polls, and every team eligible at the start of the season will know what their path to the playoffs will be, and what they need to do/have happen as each week is checked off. But they can't quite do that now, and will need more baby steps to happen in a lot of places to get there. See: realignment

 

[Tex-19 2868]

What's the latest on Quinn's decision? He still highly likely to come back? Haven't seen any updates recently, a little surprised he hasn't announced anything yet

[Tex Long 4291]

47 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

IMO they should have just went to 8 or 16 teams. No reason to have byes in college football.

Damn straight.

Tell you what: reverse the byes and let 9-12 sit out and wait for the round of 1-8, and see who-all starts screeching and moaning (and not in a Good Way).

[Elmer_Fudd 22022]

5 hours ago, troph said:

If we can pull a DL, and another WR I’m liking our chances at a top 8 playoff spot, could get a buy, and experience this year could put us in serious contention for the title. 

We currently have a stud DT from the portal on campus and a portal WR.