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CFB Catch-All Thread -- 2024


LTtxfan

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I mean they won 10 games last year and went into College Station and got a win. Are they great, no. Should they be ranked today, yes. There's also playing down to your opponent. 

Edited by mdmost
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Several rivalry games in Week #3...

On the Line: The Group of 5 takes center stage Week #3

In a week with only two AP Top 25 matchups, the intrigue lies with the Group of 5 Top 15.

ZACH BARNETT          SEP 12, 2024

In case you've missed it, we here at FootballScoop (along with our partners at Athlon) launched the Group of 5 poll at the onset of the season. Response from coaches has been universally positive, and the play on the field has given us many reasons to celebrate the football played in those leagues. (Hello, Northern Illinois.)

The Week 3 slate, light on intrigue in the Power 4 -- one ranked matchup, and it's No. 24 BC at No. 6 Mizzou, GameDay at LSU-South Carolina(???) -- brings us plenty of games that will shape the race for the Group of 5 Playoff spot(s). All rankings from the FootballScoop Coaches Poll.

-- No. 4 UNLV at Kansas (7 p.m. ET Friday, ESPN): UNLV is third in the nation in rushing this young season, fresh off a 503-yard performance against Utah Tech. Kansas is 17th. This may be a game where both teams run for 200-plus.

-- No. 1 Memphis at Florida State (noon ET, ESPN): Hoo boy. The voters think Memphis is really good, but are they good enough to deliver a death blow to a Florida State team that's had two weeks to circle the wagons and author the best performance they're capable of -- whatever that may mean? 

-- Cincinnati at No. 13 Miami of Ohio (noon ET, ESPNU): In a rivalry that dates back to 1888, Cincinnati and Miami are both 60-60-7, so there will be absolutely no fear of the Big 12 Bearcats from the MAC RedHawks. And considering Cincinnati has beaten one FBS team in a calendar year, there shouldn't be.

-- ARV North Texas at Texas Tech (noon ET, FS1): Texas Tech is 129th against the pass and 117th against the run through two weeks. Granted, North Texas is 87th in yards per play against South Alabama and Stephen F. Austin, but... sheesh.

-- No. 5 Tulane at AP No. 15 Oklahoma (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Does last week's near-miss against AP No. 14 K-State inspire the Green Wave to finish the job against Oklahoma, or was that their best shot at knocking off an AP Top 25 Power 4 team this year?

-- No. 10 Toledo at Mississippi State (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU): Did you see that Mississippi State was out-rushed 359-30 last week? Beyond the obvious opportunity there, the Rockets should be getting a beat up Bulldogs squad licking its paws with Florida, then No. 2 Texas and No. 1 Georgia upcoming. 

So, there are seven opportunities for ranked Group of 5 teams to take down Power 4 opponents, including one in four successive ESPN windows -- Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday early and Saturday mid-day. 

The subplot to Texas A&M-Florida that no one wants to talk about (but I can't ignore). We have two choices here: to stick our heads in the sand, or to tell the truth. I choose the latter, which means that Texas A&M isn't going to Gainesville to simply beat the 2024 Florida outfit, they're going there to potentially take their quarterback.

Billy Napier's job status is one of the overarching story lines of the season, and he did no favors by authoring that 41-17 clunker to Miami in the opener. The other overarching storyline? The transformative impact (both good and bad) of transfer quarterbacks. Whatever Miami paid to keep Cam Ward out of the NFL draft was worth it, and then some. (See: Miami 41, Florida 17.) On the flip side, there's Notre Dame with Riley Leonard, Florida State with DJ Uiagaleilei, Auburn with Payton Thorne... and Florida with Graham Mertz.

That takes us to Saturday. Mertz will reportedly return to action after missing last Saturday's Samford game with a concussion, and he's expected to split time with DJ Lagway. Lagway, who was the No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2024. Lagway, who hails from Willis, Texas, an hour's drive from College Station. 

The jury is very much out on Conner Weigman, who posted a 200 QB rating against McNeese and a 55 against Notre Dame. 

There's a lot still to happen between now and the portal window opening at the end of the regular season. But the outcome of this game could go a long way toward setting the stage for early December. 

Additional Games: 

-- No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State (8 p.m. ET, Fox): It's the second straight week we've had a big game involving Big 12 teams that's not a Big 12 game, following Utah's 23-12 win over Baylor last week. 

-- No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin (noon ET, Fox): Alabama has been to Camp Randall once before, in 1928. Can the Crimson Tide clean up last week's issues in the secondary against [checks notes] a team that threw for 406 combined yards against Western Michigan and South Dakota?

-- No. 13 Oklahoma State at Tulsa (noon ET, ESPN2): The good: Oklahoma State was the first team since 2020 to allow 550 or more yards with a minus-200 yardage differential and still find a way to win last week against Arkansas. The bad: Oklahoma State allowed nearly 650 yards against Arkansas.

-- No. 16 LSU at South Carolina (noon ET, ABC): This game features three of the absolute freak athletes in the game today -- South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor (6'5", 235, faster than your wife falls asleep on the couch during Couples Movie Night), South Carolina edge Dylan Stewart, and LSU linebacker Harold Perkins. How good are the teams around them? Remains to be seen.

-- No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri (12:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network): Yep, it's the one AP ranked matchup of the day, and it features two 2-0 teams whose four wins have combined to win one game. Buffalo (a Mizzou opponent) defeated FCS Lafayette in Week 1, otherwise the three remaining opponents the Eagles and Tigers have beaten are winless.

-- No. 9 Oregon at Oregon State (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox)
-- Washington State vs. Washington at Seattle (3:30 p.m. ET, Peacock): Credit to these schools for finding ways to get these games played. Their colleagues in Oklahoma should take note. No offense to anyone involved, but I hope Oregon State and Washington State hammer their pompous in-state rivals. 

-- No. 18 Notre Dame at Purdue (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS): Purdue played Indiana State and then took a week off, so it's fair to say Ryan Walters' team has been prepping for this game for six weeks. For his sake, hopefully Marcus Freeman patched the holes that NIU exposed in Notre Dame's tape. 

-- West Virginia at Pitt (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2): Two games in, the returns on Kade Bell in Pittsburgh. The Panthers dropped 55 points on Kent State, then put 28 on Cincinnati -- a number Pitt only reached one time against Power 4 opponents last season. Let's see if they can get there again against WVU's 109th-ranked defense.

-- Appalachian State at East Carolina (4 p.m. ET, ESPNU): Last year, in proclaiming North Carolina was done playing App State, he encouraged NC State and East Carolina to take on the Mountaineers. Now the Pirates are doing just that. App State has won two straight in this series, including a 43-28 decision last year in Boone. 

-- No. 12 Utah at Utah State (4:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network): Utah makes its first trip to Logan since 2012, a 27-20 Aggies victory. 

-- No. 5 Ole Miss at Wake Forest (6:30 p.m. ET, The CW): The story of Ole Miss's season will be told in how the Rebels perform against LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia. But that won't stop Lane Kiffin from trying to whip the public into submission by dropping 50-plus as often as he can. 

-- Indiana at UCLA (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC): Ben Bolch of the LA Times had a great story on all the fans Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota are expected to bring to the Rose Bowl this fall, which begs the question: will UCLA get out supported in its own building by... Indiana? Probably not, but they very well get out-scored by a Hoosiers team that dropped 77 on Western Illinois. 

-- Colorado at Colorado State (7:30 p.m. ET, CBS): The rematch doesn't have near the juice of last year's Sunglasses Bowl, but it's still CSU's first home game with Colorado since 2015, and thus the biggest game in Canvas Stadium's history since its 2017 opening. 

-- Rice at Houston (8 p.m. ET, ESPN+): In the 46th Battle for the Bayou Bucket, Rice seeks its first back-to-back wins over their crosstown rivals since 2000-01.

-- San Diego State at Cal (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): In a week highlighted by Group of 5 teams taking on winnable Group of 4 opponents, what a perfectly fitting way to end with a future #Pac12AfterDark game. Or at least we hope. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:
  • Bama loses to Vandy
  • Wash up 14-0 on Michigan
  • Arky leads Tenn 3-0
  • Indiana undefeated
  • aggy "whoops" mizzu

Parody in cfb has arrived... and road games are tough. 

I find this no laughing matter. 

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3 hours ago, LTtxfan said:
  • Bama loses to Vandy
  • Wash up 14-0 on Michigan
  • Arky leads Tenn 3-0
  • Indiana undefeated
  • aggy "whoops" mizzu

Parody in cfb has arrived... and road games are tough. 

8 top 25 teams did not play.
7 top 25 teams lost…
and Miami is currently losing…
only 9 teams in the top 25 won

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Posted (edited)
On 9/7/2024 at 5:09 PM, Jshep34 said:

How in the heck is ND even ranked? They'll probably sneak to a 1 loss record then get stomped in cfp

All the losses today in the Top12 along with aggy big win over mizzu really helps ND in CFP rankings...

 

 

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48 minutes ago, Funk Doctor Spock said:

Tenn losing to Arky is hella funny. All that noise about Tenn and Nico are finally going to be dialed down. We're #1, baby! Where we should be. 

They didn't even look all that impressive in their win over OU. That game was more about Jackson Arnold melting down than anything Tennessee did.

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Pitt is now 5-0 with Cal coming to town this week. It was 1991 when Pitt was last 5-0 to start a season.

Paul Hackett was the head coach. On the staff were: Jon Gruden, Marvin Lewis, Skip Peete, Sal Sunseri and Mike McCarthy was a Grad Assistant.

Alex Van Pelt was the QB. Also on that team was Curtis Martin, Sean Gilbert, Keith Hamilton, Dave Moore, Jeff Christy, Anthony Dorsett, Jr., Tom Barndt, Ricardo McDonald, Steve Israel, Vernon Lewis, Rob Coons, Billy Davis, Dietrich Jells, Tom Tumulty, and Ruben Brown. All went to the NFL and some had very successful careers.

 

Also on that team was Doug Whaley, now one of the heads of the XFL.

In spectacular Pitt fashion, I like to say, Pitt Happens, the Panthers finished the season 6-5 with the only win coming against Rutgers surrounded by a horrible loss to Notre Dame, then Syracuse, then a Jeff Blake led ECU, then Boston College, then Penn State to close out the season. 

Hopefully we don't fuck up this season in the remaining weeks.

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Iowa's Leshon Williams, Kaleb Brown to enter transfer portal

Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer    Oct 7, 2024

Iowa running back Leshon Williams and wide receiver Kaleb Brown are leaving the program and entering the transfer portal, the school confirmed Monday.

Williams ranked sixth in the Big Ten in rushing yards in 2023 with 821 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Hawkeyes (3-2). He missed time in fall camp due to injury and did not play in the last two games after rushing for 21 yards on 11 carries in three games.

Kaleb Johnson has emerged as Iowa's top running back this season and ranks second in FBS in rushing with 771 yards and 10 touchdowns. The junior began the season with four consecutive 100-yard performances, including a career-high 206 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Minnesota.

Williams played in 33 games over his four seasons with the Hawkeyes and produced 1,496 yards from scrimmage and four scores. The fifth-year senior will have one more season of eligibility in 2025.

Iowa said Brown also will enter the transfer portal after he announced that he would redshirt and sit out the rest of the season. The former Ohio State transfer and top-100 recruit was the Hawkeyes' third-leading receiver in 2023 with 215 yards and a touchdown on 22 receptions but has played sparingly in three games this season, recording one catch for 18 yards.

 

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10 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Iowa's Leshon Williams, Kaleb Brown to enter transfer portal

Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer    Oct 7, 2024

Iowa running back Leshon Williams and wide receiver Kaleb Brown are leaving the program and entering the transfer portal, the school confirmed Monday.

Williams ranked sixth in the Big Ten in rushing yards in 2023 with 821 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Hawkeyes (3-2). He missed time in fall camp due to injury and did not play in the last two games after rushing for 21 yards on 11 carries in three games.

Kaleb Johnson has emerged as Iowa's top running back this season and ranks second in FBS in rushing with 771 yards and 10 touchdowns. The junior began the season with four consecutive 100-yard performances, including a career-high 206 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Minnesota.

Williams played in 33 games over his four seasons with the Hawkeyes and produced 1,496 yards from scrimmage and four scores. The fifth-year senior will have one more season of eligibility in 2025.

Iowa said Brown also will enter the transfer portal after he announced that he would redshirt and sit out the rest of the season. The former Ohio State transfer and top-100 recruit was the Hawkeyes' third-leading receiver in 2023 with 215 yards and a touchdown on 22 receptions but has played sparingly in three games this season, recording one catch for 18 yards.

 

Good news for Washington, I guess.

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Cal taps NASA specialist amid concerns over ACC travel

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff    Oct 10, 2024, 

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- Moving to the ACC has been a boost for Cal and Stanford from a number of different standpoints, providing both schools with a long-term home in a power conference after the Pac-12 fell apart in the summer of 2023.

But the change also has brought worries over travel during conference play, with nearly every road trip in January, February and March involving a multiple-game swing and several days away from home.

"I'm absolutely concerned about the travel," Cal coach Mark Madsen said Thursday at ACC Tipoff.

The Golden Bears, however, are taking steps to minimize the impact the long-distance travel will have on their student-athletes, Madsen said.

In the offseason, Golden Bears athletic director Jim Knowlton brought in a NASA specialist to give a presentation to the school's sports teams.

"He specialized in recovery across time zones. How the body can recover under duress. It was very informative," Madsen told ESPN. "We were there with all the head coaches. A lot of great information was shared. The bottom line is we'll come out during conference play, we'll come out either two days early or one day early, depending on the academic workload."

"We're not going to leave a single stone unturned," he added. "If it means one or two additional wins across 10 different teams, the preparation level, we're going to do it."

Madsen also said he spent time in the offseason thinking about how to incrementally improve the performance of the men's basketball program, from nutrition to how to help players visualize scouting reports. And among those potential improvements was drinking water while flying.

"Hydration on long flights. Can we get a little bit better? Yes," he said.

Stanford coach Kyle Smith has similar concerns as Madsen, although the travel problems Smith had during his time at Washington State the past five years prepared him and his staff for this season's trips.

"I imagine it's something you probably have to get used to," Smith said. "Our staff's ready because we were at Washington State and we were going commercial. So it was a bus ride, a flight into Seattle, then Seattle to, it might be another stop. So everything -- honestly, it'll be less time. Our time travel [was] more in Pullman. And it's chartered."

Smith is cognizant of how it could impact his players, though.

"Players, that's going to be different. The time zones. That's real," he said.

On Wednesday, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips spoke about the travel -- pointing out that the conference already had a preview of any potential issues with the league's fall sports.

"In the end, I really feel we've scheduled well. We've come up with travel partners for the first time, so when you go out to California, the teams that are on the East Coast, they'll play two games. When Cal, Stanford come in this direction, they'll play two games," Philips said. "I think it makes a lot of sense to do that. We've gotten an early kind of snippet view with our Olympic sports. I think it's worked out pretty well, but I'm sure it won't be perfect. I just know that because we've gone now outside of our footprint that we had for 71 years.

"So we'll adjust and make some changes as we go into the future, but so far so good."

The ACC isn't the only league dealing with new logistical concerns, with the Big Ten and the Big 12 both expanding out West. UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington all joined the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah all went to the Big 12.

Oregon coach Dana Altman said at Big Ten Media Day that he is talking with NFL and NBA teams who are helping him find ways to keep his team fresh when the Ducks have to make multiple trips to the East coast and Midwest during college basketball season.

"We've done a lot of calling around to the NBA, to all the West Coast teams in the NBA, and even some NFL teams and how they travel when they go east," Altman said. "Everybody talks about how tough it is to go east and west and all the numbers prove it out, the road records and so forth. So we've studied that."

He said those teams have given him tips, such as making sure players don't fall asleep on flights so they can adjust to their new time zones when they land.

"I'm going to have to do a better job of cutting back on some days of practice maybe, which is hard for an insecure coach to do because you want to go over everything one more time," Altman said.

UCLA's Mick Cronin said he's not as concerned as Altman. He said his players have been traveling the country since they were teenagers on the AAU circuit -- although he wants his team to have chartered flights that have lounge chairs so players can relax on their flights.

"I think it's all a little overrated," he said. "But [Altman] and I have talked about it, trying to get a certain type of charter flight. You've seen them in the NBA, with the lounge chairs. But is that really going to matter with victory? I think recruiting and toughness and shot-making matter more."

 

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Screenshot_20241016-214223_kindlephoto-7123904.png.7308baf2eb7c6e65accb180bb61f0968.png

The NCAA is closing the loophole used by Oregon to shave time off the game clock at the end of Saturday's win over Ohio State.

In a release Wednesday, the NCAA issued a new rules interpretation on how to handle a penalty for 12 players on the field in the final two minutes of either half. If the defense has 12 players actively participate in the down, the offense can choose, along with the 5-yard penalty, to have the game clock reset to the time that had been displayed at the snap.

No time change would be made if there were 12 players but one of them was attempting to leave the field and did not affect the play.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning said Monday that the No. 2 Ducks had intentionally used 12 men on defense against the Buckeyes to help run time off the clock as they closed out the final seconds of their 32-31 win.

"We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations and some situations don't come up very often in college football, but this was obviously something we had worked on," Lanning said. "You can see the result."

Just before the ball was snapped, Oregon defensive back Dontae Manning walked onto the field, giving the Ducks an extra defender. Ohio State failed to complete a pass against Oregon's 12-man defense, and the Ducks were flagged for an illegal substitution penalty, surrendering 5 yards but also taking four seconds off the clock. A scramble by Ohio State quarterback Will Howard on the next play ended the game.

Such a ploy will no longer work going forward, as NCAA football secretary-rules editor Steve Shaw said in a statement that they were looking to "take away any gain for the defense" from committing an intentional penalty.

"Football is a very dynamic game," Shaw said. "Occasionally there are specific situations where committing a penalty can give a team an advantage. A guiding principle of the NCAA Football Rules Committee is that there should be no benefit when a team commits a penalty." 

 

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