Scuzz
1626
No surprise at Colorado but I am surprised by Wisconsin.
Brett Bielema returned to Camp Randall to cost Paul Chryst his job. Bielema has himself a pretty good team at Illinois.
Logical, but unexpected consequence of the Transfer portal window and NCAA eligibility:
JMU fan here – my daughter is a senior there, and I was just at last week’s home game versus Texas State which they won 40-13. This is JMU’s first year in the Sun Belt Conference, and they’re already 4-0 despite this inaugural season against (theoretically) tougher competition than their previous conference (FCS). Tomorrow they’ll be featured on national TV (NFL network) vs Arkansas State.
And no matter how well they play, as a first year entrant in a conference, JMU is not eligible for post-season this year or next, which I believe means no shot at a conference championship and no bowl bids. But they knew that going in. It’s just a shame given how well they’ve played.
Duuuuukes!
I watched this game. It was a train wreck for sickos. Colorado State may very well be the worst football team in CFB. They were riding the longest losing streak in the nation. And Nevada couldn’t do anything against them. But, yeah, dude wasn’t even in the neighborhood of a 1st down. I imagine it was some kind of sympathy first down or something.
Texas is putting a smackdown on Oklahoma. The Shutdown Fullcast jokingly wondered if Brent Veneables could get canned… and suddenly it’s not such a joke.
42-0 Texas at the start of the 4th. Yeesh.
Scuzz
1634
That should buy Sarkisian some time, not that he was under fire. But that is a big game for Texas.
I thought about this a few weeks ago when Scott Frost was fired but wanted to wait a few more weeks to see if this was sustainable but, unless the score bug is wrong, Tennessee is still an undefeated top-ten team with former UCF coach Josh Heupel. Heupel took over for Frost after the latter left for Nebraska and was perceived as a much worse coach by fans and media—understandably as he did a worse job every year at UCF—than Frost, who went undefeated in his last year at UCF and was considered a can’t miss hire for Nebraska. Yet, Heupel has the Vawls looking competitive in his second year with more wins through this point in the season than Frost had in his entire second year at Nebraska (or in any one season for that matter). Obviously, these are different jobs given at different times, but it probably wouldn’t be a hot take to suggest it’s easier to be good at Nebraska than at Tennessee—it might be easier to be great at Tennessee, though I doubt that ever becomes a pressing question for Tennessee (realistically) in the near-term.
Point being coach hiring hinges on so many variables and contingencies that I am no longer interested in expert analyses of good or bad coaching hires. There have been so many ‘can’t miss’ or ‘solid’ hires recently that haven’t panned out I’ve lost count (see also Lake at Washington, Fuentes at Virginia Tech, Mendenhall ay Virginia, maybe add Cristobal at Miami to the list soon). Contrast to Illinois (similar to Tennessee with Heupel, presumably) getting clowned for their latest coaching hire (Bielema)—I might have been one of those doing the clowning, but then I liked Lovie’s whole vibe, and vibes are all I can hope for with Illini football—which is going well so far.
It seems as if unless someone has obvious red flags, it’s a roll of the dice if they work out or not. There is no logic or discernable patterns here.
Scuzz
1636
It may be that when you have a short term sample the player talent, coaching schemes and schedule work together,
I think Frost was given lots of time with Nebraska.
Oh he definitely was. And obviously his qualities as a motivational leader on the field were somewhat lacking as the interim coach Joseph has inherited Frost’s team and turned them from the kind of team that narrowly loses games to the kind of team that narrowly wins games. All with the same players and schemes. Well mostly, they are re-tooling the defense a lot right now.
The point is that a good coach has to be able to provide, either personally or through good assistant hires, a lot of things. The head coach is ultimately responsible for providing good recruiting, good practicing and discipline, good schemes on offense and defense, good leadership and motivation, good game management and playcalling on both sides of the ball, etc etc. Sometimes a head coach who has gone hot for a few years in a row looks like a great hire but is maybe weak in a few of those areas. They had a lot of success but some of it was through luck or the right combination of coaching staff to shore up those weaknesses. Moving programs and building a new staff sometimes exposes those weakness.
The really good long-term head coaches are the ones who have a system to address all of those things and know how to cover all the bases through good staff hires and good organization. But I really feel for ADs interviewing up and coming young coaches to try and figure out if someone really is a good all around coach or just had a few lucky years.
Wow. Texas Tech tried a surprise onside kick early in the game and it would have worked… except the OSU player signaled fair catch when it starting coming at him, which meant that he had to be given the chance to recover the ball safely.
UCLA coming through at the Rose Bowl!
Scuzz
1640
Texas A&M has one play to beat Alabama from the 3 yard line and they throw a pass that even if the receiver catches it they would be short. Stupid.
LockerK
1642
Bama may be voted #1 but they aren’t the #1 team in the country.
Scuzz
1643
They were playing with a backup QB. If Young is playing they crush T A&M.
LockerK
1644
If Ewers was playing they get crushed by Texas.
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