The Brooklyn Nets unquestionably had a dream offseason when they signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to long-term deals this summer.
This regular season, though? It’s been a struggle to say the least.
They already knew they weren’t going to get Kevin Durant back this season, but they didn’t expect for Kyrie Irving to be out with a shoulder injury for as long as he was.
To add fuel to the fire, the team hasn’t been quite as good when Irving has played. Their overall record is 18-25 this season. They’re 5-12 with their All-Star point guard in the starting lineup and 13-13 when he’s not. Spencer Dinwiddie, who was Irving’s backup, has played like an All-Star as a starter.
The whispers that the team might be better off without Irving have only grown louder. The Nets are ignoring them, though, and they’re leaning in on the Kyrie Irving experience instead. Dinwiddie, who has been starting even after Irving’s return, is going back to the bench.
“I’m told the Nets are moving guard Spencer Dinwiddie to the bench…”
Look, this makes sense from a practical standpoint. Irving is an All-Star. Dinwiddie has been a bench player for most of his career. They signed him to a four year deal — he’s there to stay. If they can’t play together at the same time, the Nets will choose Irving 10 out of 10 times. They probably should.
BUT…this Kyrie thing, man. It’s weird.
This is the third year in a row where his teams have not missed him when he was out.
Two years ago the Celtics went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals after he got hurt. Last year, they looked absolutely miserable playing with him and went 12-3 when he sat.
This year it’s the same story. The Nets have less talent on the floor when Kyrie is out … but they’ve been a .500 level basketball team when he doesn’t play. When he does, they look like a lottery team.
We don’t know how this story is going to end, but boy, does it sound familiar. The big difference here? The Nets have a 7-foot absolute bucket coming next season to look forward to.
Hopefully for Nets fans, that makes all of this worth it.
I’m still going to stand by what I wrote just three days ago: the Portland Trail Blazers are a mess — aside from Damian Lillard, of course — and the front office has to decide whether to hit the gas and attempt to make the playoffs in the West or make a deadline deal that will help them reload for 2020-21.
But there is one scenario I keep replaying in my head: with Jusuf Nurkic participating in his first full-contact practice on Wednesday since a horrific broken leg he suffered last March, can he help steer the Blazers to a playoff spot and, then, maybe some upsets in the postseason?
Nurkic left a gaping hole in the Blazers front-court — the hope was free-agent-to-be Hassan Whiteside could fill it, and he mostly has (15.5 ppg, 14.0 rpg, 3.0 bpg), while Zach Collins played just three games before undergoing shoulder surgery, leading the franchise to sign Carmelo Anthony.
"He went through practice…first time it was 5-on-5…he's been progressing to this point, i guess it's a milestone, but it's part of his progression…he played basketball." Blazers Terry Stotts on Jusuf Nurkic practicing today #RipCitypic.twitter.com/Wb8AfqiSd0
Lillard continues to be one of the most underrated superstars in the league, scoring 47 points Thursday night after that 61-point outburst, but in a losing effort to the Dallas Mavericks. When he and C.J. McCollum are healthy, they form one of the best backcourts in the NBA, and there are signs the bench has really good depth when Nurkic returns — you get the newly acquired Trevor Ariza (or does he start at small forward?), Rodney Hood and maybe Melo heads there when Nurkic comes back. That’s not bad!
I would also assume the Blazers trade Whiteside and his expiring contract. I don’t see a way Portland puts both him and Nurkic on the floor together, or that they’ll lose Whiteside’s contract for nothing. Whatever they get back could help as well.
That all sounds great … but I still think the Blazers have dug themselves into a humongous hole, one that Nurk might not be able get them out of: as of Friday morning, they’re 19-27, 2.5 games behind the San Antonio Spurs (who are surging) and right there with the upstart Memphis Grizzlies. The seven seed — currently the Oklahoma City Thunder — is a distant 7.5 games away. Nurkic could help them go on a run for that final seed. But it’s a tall task.
Still, if there’s any hope for the Blazers doing anything this season, it rests on the enormous shoulders of Nurkic when returns.
The No. 1 overall pick out of Duke will make his debut Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs at just the right time for the New Orleans Pelicans, a team that’s suddenly come together over the last month or so.
There are so many questions swirling about Williamson after his return from knee surgery, and so much speculation about what he’ll be able to do in the NBA.
I’ll add to it, with a prediction that’s probably not that nuts for those fans who watched him with the Blue Devils: he’s going to turn out to be something we’ve never seen before.
This is the Williamson who blew out his shoe while playing for Duke, likely because of the sheer force he put on his foot (and knee) while trying to pivot. It’s the Williamson who brings Shaquille O’Neal-like rim-shattering thunder when he dunks, who could prove critics wrong by hitting threes occasionally and make himself unguardable in the process. He’ll wow you with his underrated ball-handling skills for a man that size. And his otherworldly springiness will lead to surprise blocks and steals like this one:
Look at that speed! Look at that bounce!
And that SIZE! The Charles Barkley comparisons were somewhat apt, but Barkley didn’t seem this explosive above the rim. At 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, it’s shocking at how nimble and smooth he is. A reminder: there are two NBA players heavier than Williamson is, and they’re 7-foot-4 (Boban Marjanovic, 290 pounds) and 7-foot-5 (Tacko Fall, 311 pounds).
Yes, that’s led to all the concerns about his size and his knees, with the Pels saying his weight isn’t an issue, but now, New Orleans is helping him with his “kinetic chain” to take pressure off certain parts of his body. We’ve actually seen that before with Steph Curry and his ankles (that worked out well!), but you get the point. He’s the rarest of body types in the league.
Is he going to keep getting hacked to go to the line, where he might struggle (he hit 64 percent from the charity stripe in his one year with Duke)? Or is that a bad idea because he’s strong enough to fight through some arms near the rim to give himself and-ones forever?
You get the point.
Maybe Williamson’s weight is a problem, or his penchant to explode from the floor too much for his body to take. But on the night of his debut, everything is possible, even in the limited time he’ll be on the court. Be prepared to see something you’ve never seen before, and marvel.
Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.
Hoo boy. Nolan Arenado, the star third baseman who is a five-time All-Star, seven-time Gold Glover and who’s led the National League in dingers three times in his seven Major League seasons, is mad at the Colorado Rockies.
That would seem weird a year after he signed an eight-year contract extension worth $260 million with the franchise he’s called home for his entire career. But nope! It’s an understatement to say Arenado and the Rockies aren’t seeing eye-to-eye at the moment, so let’s break down the situation.
What’s going on here?
After two straight postseason appearances, the Rockies finished 71-91 in 2019. Suddenly, at MLB’s annual Winter Meetings, Arenado’s name came up a bunch in trade rumblings, perhaps because the third baseman sounded pretty disappointed in a September interview with The Athletic:
“These guys have a great opportunity to show what they have and go into spring training with the upper hand. They should take every game seriously,” Arenado said. “And I need to lead by example.
“But it sucks that that’s what it feels like,” he said. “It feels like a rebuild.”
What happened next?
There were reports that the Cardinals, Braves and other teams were interested, but nothing really came of that, perhaps because of that ginormous contract attached to his name.
So general manager Jeff Bridich told The Denver Post that “we have listened to teams regarding Nolan and really nothing has come of it” and “we are going to move forward pretty much as we expected, with Nolan in the purple and black and as our third baseman.”
“There’s a lot of disrespect from people there that I don’t want to be a part of. You can quote that.”
Whoa.
Yeah!
It seems like star players are occasionally discussed in trade rumors all the time. What’s so different here?
Something bigger, according to more from MLB.com:
In reaction to Bridich’s announcement, Arenado elaborated.
“You ask what I thought of Jeff’s quotes and I say I don’t care what people say around there,” Arenado said. “There is a lot of disrespect.”
Asked what was said that he found particularly disrespectful, Arenado said, “No. I won’t get into the details.”
Arenado clarified his statement later, adding, “I’m not mad at the trade rumors. There’s more to it.”
My take: maybe he’s mad that the Rockies didn’t do much in the offseason, which is bad news for a team with a rotation that struggled a lot last season.
What could be next?
Arenado could publicly demand a trade — assuming his disgruntled statements above aren’t the beginnings of that move — which could be trouble for Colorado. Or he could hammer this out with management and just play for the Rockies until after the 2021 season, when he has an opt-out clause that winter.
Damian Lillard continues to be his usual beastly self for the Portland Trail Blazers, especially after he scored 61 points (with 11-of-20 FROM THREE!!!) in an overtime win over the Golden State Warriors Monday night.
He made NBA history as the sixth player ever to have multiple 60-point games in his career, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor … WOW.
But it’s also true that Lillard is on a mess of a Blazers team that probably isn’t getting 60 points out of him every night … and they might need that the rest of the way.
The Blazers are two games out of the eighth spot in the West, behind the Spurs and Grizzlies, but save for a recent pair of wins this month over the Raptors and Rockets, they’re losing to contenders (the Mavericks, Thunder and Bucks) or bad teams (the Knicks and Timberwolves). They nearly lost to the woeful Dubs without a banged-up C.J. McCollum. And they’ve got a stretch coming up against a ton of playoff teams or also-rans like those very same Spurs and a Pelicans team that’s getting Zion Williamson back.
They own the biggest payroll in the NBA (even though Lillard deserved the supermax on paper, supermax contracts are the worst), which could lead to some trades at the deadline to get under the luxury tax — the deal over the weekend to rid themselves of Kent Bazemore in exchange for Trevor Ariza will help.
Portland has traded Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver and two second- round picks to Sacramento for Trevor Ariza, Wendell Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan, source tells ESPN.
But if they’re trying to make the playoffs, the front office has to make a choice. Do they think they can upset one of the elite West teams if they sneak in when Jusuf Nurkic comes back? I don’t think so. By then — the bruising forward could return in February — the Blazers could be in danger of completely missing the playoffs and whiffing on getting back assets for the expiring deal of Hassan Whiteside (over $27 million on his final year). The core of Lillard, Nurkic, McCollum, and Zach Collins — another key player who went down with injury earlier this year — could be good enough to make the playoffs next year.
The Blazers might need to punt on this season for financial reasons. It’s a waste of another year of Lillard’s incredible prime, but maybe it’s necessary to reload for next year when everyone’s healthy.
The Tar Heels have lost nine of their last 12 games.
If you’re wondering how long it’s been since the North Carolina men’s basketball team was this bad, the easy answer is that it’s been a while.
The Tar Heels look terrible this season, and that’s not by the standards of a blue-blood program and (almost) a perennial national championship contender. That’s by average college basketball standards. They’re having a historically bad season, and the injuries — particularly playing without star freshman guard Cole Anthony, who’s been out since December after undergoing an arthroscopic knee procedure for a partially torn meniscus — aren’t helping.
After being down by 20 points on the road against Pitt on Saturday, UNC ultimately lost to the Panthers, 66-52. The final score makes it seem closer than it was, with the Tar Heels shooting 31.7 percent from the field, going 10-for-21 from the free throw line and turning the ball over 16 times.
Although Williams’ took some responsibility after losing to Clemson, he also passed the buck to his players after the 96-83 loss to Georgia Tech, saying this squad is “probably the least gifted team I have ever coached.”
Their only ACC win was the season-opener against Notre Dame, and they’re in a tie with Wake Forest at the bottom of the conference standings. They could also miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
To add a little more context, here are five stats illustrating the bigger picture of UNC’s uncharacteristic struggles this season.
1. It’s UNC’s worst start in almost 20 years
This is what we meant by historically bad. Through a little more than half of the 2019-20 season, the Tar Heels are 8-9, marking this the program’s worst start since the 2001-02 season when they opened at 6-11, the Associate Press noted. That’s… not great.
Yeah. The team is 0-4 through its first games of the new year, losing to Georgia Tech, Clemson and Pitt twice. Two of them were by double digits, and against the Yellow Jackets, the Tar Heels were down, 47-27, at the half. In the early January 73-65 loss to Pitt, the Tar Heels blew a nine-point halftime lead and were massively outscored in the second half.
3. UNC has lost 9 of its last 12 games
The Tar Heels’ three wins in there were against Oregon (now ranked No. 8), UCLA and Yale. However, their losses range from now-No. 1 Gonzaga to Wofford, which is currently the fifth-best team in the Southern Conference.
4. UNC isn’t shooting among the top-300 teams
(Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)
Through the first 16 games of the season, UNC shot 40.5 percent from the field, putting it in a three-way tie for No. 322, along with Oklahoma State and Florida A&M. While the DI teams’ stats will be updated again when all of Saturday’s games end, it’s safe to stay that with the Tar Heels’ performance against Pitt, they’re not jumping into the top 300.
5. UNC is ranked 119th
Forget about the top-25 teams; out of 353 total teams, the NCAA had UNC ranked No. 119 going into Saturday, and with the loss to Pitt, we’re thinking the team stays put or drops a spot or two. Additionally, at the time of this post, the Tar Heels were ranked 89th in the KenPom ratings.
We watched the film to identify the most important elements of the NFC Championship matchup.
37-8.
If you aren’t familiar with those numbers, you’re probably not a Packers or 49ers fan. Those numbers have been thrown around a lot this week in the run-up to the NFC Championship Game. It was the score of the first matchup between these two teams, which San Francisco dominated from the opening play.
The 49ers defense was particularly dominant, holding Aaron Rodgers to a season-low 104 passing yards. Meanwhile, Jimmy Garropolo had a chill day, throwing only 20 passes but averaging over 12 yards per attempt. The 49ers’ ground game helped grind down the Packers defense and close out the easy victory.
Will it be so easy for the 49ers this time around or will Green Bay make it more competitive? Here are two strategic questions that will dictate how the NFC title game plays out…
When the 49ers have the ball: How will Green Bay hide Blake Martinez?
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Overall the 49ers had a good day running the football, but the Packers did manage to take away their base run concept: the outside zone. Green Bay did so with their 3-3 front with three down linemen flaked by two stand up edge players and a linebacker in the middle.
The outside linebackers would set a hard edge and force the running back to cut inside where the linemen have all of the cut back lanes clogged. Kyle Shanahan found other answers, though. He exploited the space between the edge player and the linemen with long traps and windback zone plays that created a crease for the running back.
Here’s the long trap play…
And the windback zone, which looks like the outside zone run play but with the fullback cutting back and the runner following his path…
Those plays kept the 49ers’ run game on track, but Shanahan’s play-action pass game is mostly built off of those outside zone looks. In theory, Packers defenders would be less inclined to bite on those fakes if the 49ers weren’t running a lot of outside zone during the game, but this game served as further proof that establishing the run isn’t a prerequisite for play-action success, as the 49ers created several big plays off of fakes meant to look like outside zone run plays.
Almost all of those plays were aimed at the middle of the field, where Packers LB Blake Martinez was victimized throughout the game. Shanahan will sometimes gameplan around one particular defensive player he sees as a weak link, and Martinez was clearly the mark in this game. Jimmy Garappolo attacked the middle of the field on almost every downfield pass.
via Next Gen Stats
Per Pro Football Focus, the 49ers targeted Martinez six times in coverage — that’s nearly a third of all of Garoppolo’s attempts! — and completed all six passes. In the rematch, the Packers MUST find a way to give Martinez some help.
In order to do that, they may have to watch some tape of Iowa State’s defense. It appears defensive coordinator Mike Pettine is already familiar as he used the Cyclone’s three-safety defense on one snap against the 49ers. Coverages typically fall into two categories: Single-high safety coverages and double-high safety coverages. Three-high coverages are all the rage in college now, and you can see the Packers using the strategy here…
The Packers are playing a standard Tampa-2 defense with the middle safety taking on the role traditionally played by the middle linebacker. Against the pass he’s responsible for the middle of the field but he also has to drop into the box if the quarterback hands off the ball. His deeper alignment allows him to confirm run or pass before fully committing to either play, which, in theory, would help him to avoid over-committing to play-action fakes.
Making a safety responsible for the middle would also give the Packers more coverage ability in that spot, where Martinez was helpless to stop the 49ers’ crossing routes. Pettine will obviously need more than one solution to the various problems Shanahan will present but any call leaving Martinez to fend for himself over the middle should be left out of the gameplan.
When the Packers have the ball: How will Matt LaFleur help Aaron Rodgers?
He, of course, played his favored Cover 3 zones, but Aaron Rodgers saw plenty of man coverage on third downs.
He also saw blitzes and quarters looks out of Saleh, which must have caught the Packers off guard because they didn’t really have any answers in the passing game. There were numerous instances of Rodgers thinking he had an open receiver but throwing right into the teeth of San Francisco’s coverage.
It didn’t help that Rodgers was under constant pressure and his receivers weren’t getting open. It was up to Rodgers to play hero ball and he wasn’t up to the task that night.
If the Packers are going to pull off the upset on Sunday, LaFleur needs to have a better plan in place. He needs more concepts aimed to beat the coverages Saleh used in the first matchup. Having answers for man coverage would be a good start. A concept like the one we saw last Sunday against the Seahawks may pop up again if the 49ers decide to play a lot of man coverage.
The Packers receivers start as if they are going to run intersecting routes which confuses the Seahawks corners. They don’t know if they want to switch responsibilities, and that hesitation gives Davante Adams a step, and that’s all he and Rodgers needed to find the end zone.
Green Bay is facing a much tougher defense this week, so a good scheme won’t be enough. LaFleur needs to be on his game, but Rodgers will also need to be special, as he was against the Seahawks. If he’s not hitting the kind of throws that he made look routine during his prime, we could be in for another blowout.
We watched the film to identify the most important elements of the AFC Championship matchup.
Chiefs-Titans may not have been the AFC matchup NFL fans outside of Tennessee were looking forward to, but it’s not a bad consolation prize. Vegas isn’t giving the Titans much of a chance to win, but we’ve already seen this team take down Kansas City this season.
In Week 10, Tennessee pulled off a 35-32 upset win over the Chiefs thanks to Derrick Henry’s 188-yard rushing performance. Ryan Tannehill, making his fourth start of the season, threw only 18 passes but turned in an efficient performance that included a clutch touchdown drive in the final minute. It was a total team effort for Tennessee’s offense, and they needed it with Patrick Mahomes dealing in his first game back from injury. With no support from his running game, the reigning MVP racked up 446 passing yards and three touchdowns. It wasn’t enough as Tannehill’s late TD throw to Adam Humphries sealed the game late.
We know how that game was won for the Titans, but how will things change in the rematch? Here are the two strategic questions that will decide the AFC title game…
When the Chiefs have the ball: Will the Titans attack Patrick Mahomes with pressure?
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees is probably a tired man. He’s spent the last few days trying to come up with a plan to defend quarterback who is impossible to defend. You would think having already coached against Mahomes this season would have given him a head start on prep for the AFC title game, but the first matchup likely gave him more questions than answers.
The Titans tried EVERYTHING to stop Mahomes, and none of it worked. They dropped back into standard zone coverages. He shredded them. They tried to play man coverage. He shredded it. They tried to show one look before the snap and rotate into another after. Yeah, he shredded that, too. In all, Mahomes added 20.8 Expected Points on 50 attempts. That’s a huge number and one the Titans can’t let him replicate if they are going to stand a chance in Sunday’s game. In order to prevent a repeat of the Week 10 game, Pees must find a way to get pressure on Mahomes.
This season, Pees has used simulated pressures — standard four-man rushes with a traditional pass rusher dropping into coverage and a linebacker or defensive back adding to the rush — to get after opposing quarterbacks. Well, those didn’t work against Mahomes the last time these teams played. The Chiefs offensive line did a good job of snuffing them out and providing its quarterback with time to find a void in the zone coverage.
The Titans had their most “success” — relatively speaking, of course — when they sent five or more rushers after Mahomes. Those calls, at the very least, forced the Chiefs QB to make throws from awkward platforms. Now, Mahomes, being the wizard that he is, was able to make it work.
Over and over again.
Mahomes finished the game with an EPA of 8.4 on pressured passing attempts. That was the second-highest total of his 2019 season, but I don’t know if it’s sustainable. Yes, Mahomes is capable of making accurate throws off of one foot, but he’s far more effective when he has his feet under him, obviously.
Pees has to bet that Mahomes will not be able to repeat his performance under pressure in the first game and not shy away from calling blitzes often. He really doesn’t have any other choice.
When the Titans have the ball: Will Kansas City take a page out of its rival’s playbook?
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
How did the Titans beat the Chiefs the first time around? The same way they’ve been beating teams ever since Ryan Tannehill took over as the starting quarterback: Force-feeding Derrick Henry and hitting teams over the top with play-action passes.
In that Week 10 matchup, Henry gashed the Chiefs on zone running plays…
And Tannehill was able to produce big plays after carrying out fakes off of that run action…
Going into Sunday’s game, the Chiefs are faced with the same challenge the Patriots were heading into Super Bowl 52 against the Rams: They have to slow down the running game while still being ready to defend play-action shots. So why not use a similar gameplan?
The Pats used this same strategy a couple weeks ago in their loss to Tennessee but waited far too long to go to the 6-1 front. We didn’t see it until the second half, but Henry had already done most of his damage by then. After the Pats made that switch, Henry was far less effective.
In the second half of that game, Henry had a negative EPA and his success rate dropped to 25%. The 6-1 front has really been the only scheme that has been able to slow down this Titans run game in the last two months.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has proven to be an open-minded coach. He’s not married to one defensive scheme, so this one-week strategic shift would not be out of the ordinary for him. We know the Titans are aiming to control the clock with the run game. Well, the Patriots have already given Spagnuolo a blueprint to stop them from doing so. Will he use it?
Jeopardy! betting strategy is as important as trivia skills.
Ken Jennings officially became the Jeopardy! GOAT on Tuesday night after winning the fourth match of the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament. It was a first-to-three format, and Jennings won the first and third matches in the episodes that aired last week, while James Holzhauer won only the second and Brad Rutter comfortably finished in third place each match.
But the way in which Jennings — who holds the record for most consecutive regular-season wins with 74 games — won might seem a little puzzling. He wagered nothing in Final Jeopardy, which was his best available option, and won.
While on Good Morning America on Wednesday after the last Jeopardy! GOAT episode aired, Jennings was asked about that strategy, which surprised a lot of people, including George Stephanopoulos.
So the GOAT explained:
“There’s a little bit of math that goes into wagering on Jeopardy! Generally what happens is the person in second should often make a very small wager. You’re counting on the person in first to make a big wager, so it doesn’t matter at that point.
If they get it wrong, they’re out. So it doesn’t matter what you wager. You want to risk as little as possible for that eventuality.”
After winning Game 1, Jennings entered Game 2’s Final Jeopardy round trailing Holzhauer, who bet big on a Daily Double and got it. Here were their scores going into that Final Jeopardy…
Ken Jennings: 23,000 James Holzhauer: 44,000 Brad Rutter: 1,400
Jennings said because he was in second place, he needed to assume Holzhauer in first would make a large wager. If Holzhauer went all in and got the question right, his Game 2 total would be 88,000 points. Combine that with his 34,181 from Game 1, and he’d finish with 122,181 points and would win the match.
With 23,000 in second, even if Jennings also went all in and had the correct answer, his 46,000 points combined with his 65,600 from Game 1 would give him 111,600, which wouldn’t be enough to beat Holzhauer (still assuming he went all in).
So, as he told GMA, Jennings doubling his total in Final Jeopardy wouldn’t matter if Holzhauer got the question right. And that meant his best option was to bet as few points as possible, banking on Holzhauer betting big, being wrong and losing enough to fall behind to second place.
And as it turned out, that’s exactly what happened.
The Final Jeopardy category was Shakespeare’s Tragedies, and the clue was:
He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy.
The correct response is: Who is Iago? (He’s also the antagonist in Othello.)
Jennings got it right with his zero-point wager, Holzhauer got it wrong after going all in, and that’s how Jennings became the official Jeopardy! GOAT.
Transfer QBs and Clemson’s playoff resume are among our biggest takeaways from the 2019-20 college football season.
Welcome to Before The Snap, For The Win’s college football show where we’ll break down the sport’s trending storylines, examine each week’s biggest matchups and track the College Football Playoff and Heisman Trophy races.
Sadly, this means the 2019-20 college football season is officially over. But we’re here to break down two major takeaways from this season.
First up, let’s look at Clemson. The 2018-19 national champions had their College Football Playoff resume called into question all season, largely because of the Tigers’ strength of schedule in a declining ACC, plus their slow start to the season (by their standards).
But judging by Clemson’s performance in the playoff this season, even with the loss to LSU in the title game, and its dominant victory over Alabama to win the national championship last year, it’s clear two things can be true. Clemson can simultaneously play in a terrible conference and be one of the best two or three teams in the country. Even though it didn’t work out this season, the Tigers deserved their shot at a second straight title.
Looking at the 2019 season overall, perhaps the biggest takeaway is this was clearly the year of the transfer quarterback.
Three of the four College Football Playoff teams were led by transfer quarterbacks, who were all also Heisman Trophy finalists: LSU’s Burrow, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts and Ohio State’s Justin Fields. There are plenty of players who flourish with the teams they commit to when they’re still in high school, but that’s not the case for everyone. There are a variety of reasons some might want to transfer, but the NCAA needs to make it easier for players to do so — especially when coaches freely and regularly change jobs.
Take Burrow, for example. He didn’t have the starting job at Ohio State a few years ago, and transferring to LSU, a program of the same caliber, changed his life. Had he not transferred, there’s a chance he would have remained on the Buckeyes’ bench throughout his college career, meaning he wouldn’t have won the Heiman and wouldn’t currently be the projected No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick.
Similarly, had Hurts not transferred from Alabama, he would have remained Tua Tagovailoa’s backup and would have only started late in the season following Tagovailoa’s season-ending injury. Hurts played that game during the 2018 season, and it worked out for him in the end. But he transferred to Oklahoma, a program where he started in a system that allowed him to excel even more.
If Fields had stayed with Georgia, he most likely would have remained on the bench behind Jake Fromm. Instead, he led Ohio State’s high-powered and dynamic offense, and after only finishing his sophomore season, his future in college football is looking good.
