Tag: Adam Rittenberg

College Football Playoff: ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg has Texas in after Week 1

Another ESPN personality has predicted Texas to make the playoffs. Adam Rittenberg has the Longhorns as the No. 3 team in the country.

One day after Kirk Herbstreit predicted Texas would make the College Football Playoff on College Gameday, another ESPN personality has done the same thing.

After Week 1 of the college football season was completed on Saturday, ESPN had all of their writers select their four playoff teams. Adam Rittenberg has the Longhorns as the only Big 12 representative and the No. 3 team in the country.

Clemson, Florida, and Alabama are the other three playoff teams, with Texas facing off against Dan Mullen’s team out of the SEC. While the winner of the matchup between the Longhorns and Gators was not shown, Rittenberg did say Clemson is his national champion.

The Gators are projected to be one of the top teams in the SEC East, with a top defense and the return of starting quarterback Kyle Trask.

Florida and Texas have met three times in their respective histories but not since before World War II. The Longhorns lead the series 2-0-1, winning in 1939 and 1940 while tying in 1924.

Texas being apart of the final four would only be the second Big 12 team to ever appear. Oklahoma has made the playoff four different times, including the past three years.

UTEP will pose as Texas’ first game in the journey towards the College Football playoff. The Miners opened their season against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, winning 24-14.

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State poise themselves as the biggest threats this season. Both the Sooners and Cowboys are expected to have dynamic offenses, thanks to quarterbacks Spencer Rattler and Spencer Sanders.

First, Texas must make their way through the Big 12 and win their first conference championship since 2009. If Tom Herman can pull it off, the Longhorns will be pushing for its first national championship since 2005.

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Ohio State, Nebraska, Iowa only three schools that did not vote to postpone Big Ten football season

Per ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, Ohio State, Iowa, and Nebraska were the only schools that voted against postponing the Big Ten football season.

According to a report from Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, only three schools voted against postponing the fall football season in the Big Ten. Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren said all along that the vote was overwhelming in favor of shelving the season, and that appears to be the case based on sources that spoke to Rittenberg. It all comes from a brief filed in court in response to the Nebraska players’ lawsuit against the league.

The only three schools that voted to move forward with the season were Ohio State, Nebraska, and Iowa reportedly. In case you were living under an epic-sized boulder, that should come as no surprise to anyone that has followed the drama and intrigue closely.

Rittenberg goes on to assert that the brief filed “targets ‘three incorrect and unsupportable assertions’ in the players’ lawsuit, mostly around the vote (it happened) and threshold for approval (60% according to bylaws, league got 78.6%). Also pushes back on claim that one study fueled postponement.”

Of course, the Big Ten will have to produce proof that all of this occurred if the case goes forward.

While this is all fine and good if it’s true, many will still ask why some of this information was not shared at the onset of the decision. If so much went into such an impactful and ground-shaking decision, why the lack of transparency?

Despite better communication and a solid, transparent process, there still would have been many calling for Big Ten football this fall. However, some of the criticism over how a decision was arrived at, and the perceived lack of leadership surrounding the communication could have been somewhat avoided.

Now I guess we’ll wait to see what happens next. We’ll have updates as more information becomes available, but as you know, court cases can bog down to almost a standstill. In other words, it could be a lot like watching a Michigan safety try to track down an Ohio State ball-carrier.

 

ESPN ranks top 25 CFB hires of past 25 years: As expected, no Georgia or Kirby Smart

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg released his top 25 CFB hires of the last 25 years and Georgia football coach Kirby Smart was left off the list. 

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg recently released his list of the top 25 college football hires of the last 25 years and Georgia football’s hiring of head coach Kirby Smart did not make the cut.

That’s to be expected, though. 25 years is a long time. And though Kirby Smart’s already a top-five coach in college football, he has not quite accomplished enough to crack that top-25.

Before Georgia fans get all riled up about this, I should point out that the most recent hiring on this list is Penn State’s landing of Bill O’Brien in 2012, and that’s dead last at No. 25. The second most recent is Urban Meyer to Ohio State, which happened in 2011 (that’s No. 5). In addition to Kirby Smart not making it, neither did Ed Orgeron at LSU or Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma.

Just like many in the football coaching landscape, Smart started as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Georgia, before moving on to Valdosta State, Florida State and LSU. Smart then spent some more time back at UGA, until moving on to the Miami Dolphins of the NFL and more notably, spent eight years in Tuscaloosa before taking the head coaching job at Georgia in 2016.

In his top 25 hires, Rittenberg said that tenure was a major factor as well as obviously the success at the program, but also what kind of situation the coach walked into. Although Smart has taken Georgia to new heights in terms of recruiting, facilities and overall success, he didn’t exactly walk into a dumpster fire in Athens. The Bulldogs had a 75% win percentage (40-13) in Mark Richt’s last four years at Georgia.

I think it’s a popular opinion that, with more time, Smart will be considered one of the top hirings in college football history. With the way he recruits, it’s just a matter of time before Georgia brings a National Championship home to Athens. You’d be hard pressed to find a college program and fan base that are dreaming of a title more than DawgNation.

SEC hirings on the list:

  • No. 1 – Nick Saban (twice, Bama / LSU)
  • No. 6 – Urban Meyer (twice, Florida / Ohio St.)
  • No. 19 – Gary Pinkel (Missouri)
  • No. 21 – James Franklin (Vanderbilt)
  • No. 23 – Steve Spurrier (South Carolina)

ESPN ranks Ohio State the second-best offense for next three years

While the 2020 season is still unknown, Ohio State is destined to have one of the best offenses for the foreseeable future according to ESPN.

While the 2020 season is still up in the air, Ohio State is destined to have one of the best offenses for the foreseeable future. ESPN has already projected the Buckeye offense to be the best in the country.

After a dominant team failed to make the CFP Championship this past season, Ryan Day and Justin Fields will be back in 2020 for another chance at the ultimate prize. And the team is loaded again.

Fields is the only one of the top six in Heisman voting to return this season, despite Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence getting the majority of the love on the preseason hype train.

Combine his excellence with a bevy of top-end wide-receivers (new and old), and a veteran offensive line, and this team is set up to have one of the best offenses in 2020.

However, the outlook for the next three years is good as well, as ESPN is now looking further out. The worldwide leader i sports projected Ohio State (subscription required) to have the second-best offense over the next three seasons behind only the Clemson Tigers.

According to how these rankings were calculated, ESPN says the following:

“These rankings cover the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons, and consider current rosters, future recruiting, potential NFL departures, non-senior depth and unit trajectory. Coaching is also a factor, especially for those who have proven they can lose great players but maintain production.”

All that being said, here’s what Adam Rittenberg says about the Buckeye program’s weapons the next three season:

Next … Rittenberg’s comments on Ohio State’s offense

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