Skip to main content

158 replies

College Football 2018

S scbeermanMember

We are will have a  full schedule of college football in two weeks.   Hopefully the focus will be on the field, but as always, the controversy off of the field is what generates passionate discussion.

As always, Alabama will be the hunted. It looks as Tua (not versed on his last name yet) will be the starter replacing Jalen Hurts (and his feelings). Clemson is loaded, and they now have a big time frosh QB in Trevor Lawrence, but he may not start now. Georgia has a lot of offense to replace, but they have player upon player. To me, those are the top three teams. We will always get some surprise teams. The Big 10 has Ohio St, Penn St and Wisconsin. Oklahoma, and maybe another superstar coach in Lincoln Riley, is always in the mix. Washington has emerged as the best of the Pac 12, but USC and UCLA may be emerging. It's time to play ball.

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

flwinoflwinoMember
greendrazi posted:

SCBeerman,
Thanks for the 2018 CFB thread - it should be another fun year.

#6 Washington vs #9 Auburn is the only Top10 pairing for opening weekend and I hope AU makes a good showing to start the season.

There’s also #14 Michigan vs #12 ND and it’s one of those games in which I can’t decide who I want to see lose more. 

You must be an alum of MSU like me

greendrazigreendraziMember
flwino posted:
greendrazi posted:

SCBeerman,
Thanks for the 2018 CFB thread - it should be another fun year.

#6 Washington vs #9 Auburn is the only Top10 pairing for opening weekend and I hope AU makes a good showing to start the season.

There’s also #14 Michigan vs #12 ND and it’s one of those games in which I can’t decide who I want to see lose more. 

You must be an alum of MSU like me

heh - nope. Auburn.

In previous years, or I should say coaches, I would be pulling for Michigan (but not by much) in this game.

S scbeermanMember

Weekend Summary (so far)

College football is back and I am happy. It was back to deciding which games to watch, usually three at a time until one gets compelling.

We start with game of the day, a top ten matchup in the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta between Auburn and Washington. This was Auburn's third consecutive game in the new venue and they were looking for their first win here. Well, they got it 21-16 in a great game. Both teams are well coached, fun to watch, have good QBs and are legit. Auburn started strong, watched the Huskies storm back but used a physical game to finish. They ran it in the red zone for the winning TD and then mercilessly rushed Jake Browning on the final drive to seal the win. Washington should not be penalized for playing essentially a road game against a quality opponent.

Quoting Wedding Crashers "Crabcakes and football, that's what Maryland does", and apparently you can add beating Texas to the list. Including a lengthy rain delay, the Terps raced out to an early lead, lost it but scored late to win 34-29. Maryland has barely beat many power 5 teams twice, but Texas is their sweetspot. Longhorn fans now wonder if Tom Herman is who they thought they had or is he another Charlie Strong. TBD.

The rest of the weekend saw the normal amount of routs against lesser opponents. Yes, App St took Penn St to OT but lost 45-38. Notre Dame beat Michigan 24-17 and the khaki man may be feeling some heat and looking for an NFL job. The top 3 teams all have QB issues, the good kind, but Alabama may have settled theirs. The worst kept secret in preseason was that Tua Tagovailoa would start over Jalen Hurts, and he did playing better. The Tide demolished Louisville 51-14, and well, looks like they always do. Clemson is playing senior Kelly Bryant for now but heralded recruit, and the new Thor of CFB, Trevor Lawrence will take over soon. You can pencil the Tigers in the playoff now. Georgia is starting Jake Fromm, and he is a solid QB, but the other big time recruit Justin Fields will play. It also looks as though Oklahoma and Ohio St will score points easily.

Finally, I actually had a good time watching a Gator game. Yes they played a bad team in Charleston Southern, but you could tell things were different. Felipe Franks threw 5 TDS in the 1st half (his career total before was 9 and I only recall one of them), but he actually looked like a QB. They only had 3 penalties for 20 yards. The team played good special teams and the overall atmosphere was fun. While you cannot judge any team until they play good competition, the Gators are better.  

   

greendrazigreendraziMember
winetrooper posted:

Michigan faithful are indeed going to turn on Mr. Khaki in short order.  No patience left and UM is beginning to remind me of the Lions.  Wash, rinse, repeat and hope you don’t crap yourself again with the next coach.  Ugh.

Do you mean that bringing the genius Jim "sharkgate" McElwain onboard hasn’t fixed Mr. Khaki’s struggling offensive?

flwinoflwinoMember
winetrooper posted:

Michigan faithful are indeed going to turn on Mr. Khaki in short order.  No patience left and UM is beginning to remind me of the Lions.  Wash, rinse, repeat and hope you don’t crap yourself again with the next coach.  Ugh.

My favorite team is the ones that plays UM or ND.

Good by Mr. Khaki

 

W winedrmikeMember

Luckily I get the Big 10 network on my TV.  I was totally rooting for App State, but Penn State pulled it out in OT.  Franklin and players totally played it down after game by stating how great a team App. State is, but no escaping the fact that they nearly lost that game. 

Just paid my son's tuition bill for the fall semester at Bama.  Wonder how much of his tuition bill goes towards paying Saban's new contract.

J jburman82Member
wineart 2 posted:

Only week one, but a few teams looked totally unprepared to start the season. 

Michigan, Miami, FSU, Washington and Texas just to name a few. Again, just week one, but Clemson may have an easy path toward the playoffs this year. Very easy. 

This is what gets me. I know its the first week and its a brand new scheme and Willie had the kids fired up and playing hard(a big problem last year) but you cant have the tag line of your offense be "lethal simplicity" and use any of those excuses. Bud Foster took apart the Gulf Coast offense. Totally outcoached Willie. Not challenging Murray being marked down at the 1 was such a huge mistake and that Wildcat third down call after Akers 85 run to the 5 was just soooooooooo high school. Willie needs to step up his game 

S scbeermanMember

Clemson has the easiest path to the playoff and this weekend confirmed it. Yes, Va Tech and Bud Foster could make it interesting, but Clemson has too much talent for them. No one else in the ACC is remotely close.

Mark Richt is always going to be Mark Richt, good records but will not win a title. Miami is not even close to playing at a high level. LSU may be better than we think, but I do not think so.

As for FSU, the questions for Taggert are there. They were unprepared (Va Tech knew what was coming), soft and maybe out of shape  (Va Tech much more physical) and the coaches looked overwhelmed. Given today's climate of instant gratification, Taggert is probably hearing it already.

J jburman82Member

Clemson is going to walk into the playoffs. Especially when they quit screwing around and just start Lawrence.

Miami was grossly overrated last season. They wont have the same turnover luck they had last year and the talent isnt there. 

I thought Barnett and the defense made great adjustments. They were put in impossible spots all night and kept coming up big.

OC Walt Bell and Willie have some stuff to figure out. How in the holy hell do you gain 80 yds in the second half when you had an 85 yd run???? Only dumb people are calling for a coaching change now but his honeymoon phase may be over after 1 game. Thats how bad it was. I was thinking 9-3 or 8-4 this year. Now 7-5 is looking like the high end. 

vinolevinoleMember

FSU flirted all night with a loss to FCS team Sanford (both Bowden and Fisher played QB there).  They hadn't beat a Power 5 team since 1939, and FSU had never lost to an FCS team. Seemed like the right time to happen as our in state rival saw a 31 year streak go down, but they managed to hang on.

The Turnover Bag made its first appearance last night, and it looked to me like something you would see on the E! channel rather than ESPN. With all the problems with the OL, I think they should give out garnet and gold Lego blocks to lineman for every successful block they make (would only need to bring a few to each game). The players could put them together on a table and interlock them and the crowd could chant "Build that Wall!".  It would be awesome!

S scbeermanMember

Weekend Summary

Well, it had to happen sometime, but Kentucky beat Florida for the first time since 1986, and they deserved it. The Cats pushed the Gators around with stunning ease to win 27-16. Florida does not possess talent in either line plus Felipe Franks, although better, is an average SEC QB at best. I would be happy with a 6-6 record this season. Dan Mullen has more work to do than he anticipated (maybe he knows). A couple of other high profile hires had tough games, Chip Kelly losing to OU 49-21 (the Sooners look like a playoff team) and Scott Frost losing to Colorado.

Game of the day was in raucous Kyle Field as Texas A&M gave Clemson everything they wanted before losing 28-26. The Aggies moved the ball easily against Clemson's vaunted DL as their receivers bailed out QB Kellen Mond many times. Clemson QB Kelly Bryant, maybe not the most talented on the roster, showed his cool experience and is a gamer. Jimbo Fisher may be able to win in College Station, and Clemson should breeze into the ACC final against Va Tech.

The Georgia Bulldogs rolled into hot Williams-Brice Stadium (for those of you who have never been to Columbia in the summer it is the most miserable place there is) to face a confident SC squad. The Gamecocks thought they had a shot here, but Georgia is just too good. The Dawgs have athletes (just like Bama), they are physical (just like Bama), they run the ball with multiple backs (just like Bama) and can beat you any way you want (just like Bama). You get the picture as Georgia destroyed the Cocks 41-17.  

 Stanford used a stingy defense and Bryce Love to beat USC 17-3. The Cardinal could be a serious contender if their defense continues to play well. The rest of the power teams were not challenged.

Two games in it is real simple, I like the four playoff teams from last year, Bama and Georgia as 1 and 1A along with Clemson and Oklahoma. Teams that could spoil this party are Auburn, Stanford, and the Big 10 champ. Washington and LSU maybe.

 

 

 

 

S scbeermanMember

Weekend Summary

Hurricane evacuation edition. Went to Atlanta, saw two Braves games, going to see the Panthers play the Falcons, golf, good food and everything is fine at home.

BYU, Kansas, Temple, Troy, South Florida, Missouri and Akron - that is the list of powers beating Big 10 teams yesterday. That is brutal. Kansas, the yearly butt of every college football joke, blasted Rutgers. Akron had not won a game against a Big 10 team in 100 years. The Pac 12 South was not much better as Texas stung USC, joining SD State, Nevada and Fresno State as winners against Pac 12 teams.

Harping on the new coaches, Troy beat Scott Frost's Nebraska 24-19, Fresno beat UCLA and Syracuse routed FSU. Frost and Kelly were the top 2 in Florida's search list last winter, and Taggart was mentioned. There is only one win in that group this season. While I think Frost will  somewhat get it together in Lincoln,  the Garth Brooks song "Unanswered Prayers" comes to mind. And yes, Dan Mullen has a long ways to fix the Gators despite a better game yesterday.

As for games involving the good teams, BYU went into Madison and withstood a late FG attempt by the Badgers to upset Wisconsin 24-21. LSU, on the road, started strong, saw Auburn get a lead and then scored 9 4th quarter points for the 22-21 win (FG at the buzzer). Coach O and his Bayou Bengals are the surprise team of the year thus far. Ohio State rallied to beat TCU 40-28 in Jerry World using defense as the vehicle.

People, Alabama has a legit QB and they are flat out scary on offense. I think I heard they are the first SEC team to score 50 points in their first three games.  Tua is easily Nick Saban's best QB and maybe Bama's best since get this, Joe Namath. Georgia is almost as good. The next three are Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma.

 

 

W winedrmikeMember

Great summary as usual, and great way to take advantage of your "evacuation".

Big dichotomy this year- there's Bama, Georgia, OSU and Oklahoma, and then there's everyone else.  Clemson looked rather pedestrian so far this year and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a big upset in their future, despite having a relative cakewalk to the CFP.  I think Notre Dame and Penn State are overrated- I can't see either getting to the playoff. 

And what happened to FSU? I guess Jimbo took all of his mojo to TAMU with him.  To quote one of the signs at ESPN's Gameday- " the power of Jimbo compels you."

Next

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×