Tag: Clemson Tigers

If Clemson beats LSU, the Colley Matrix will have Ohio State at No. 1

If Clemson beats LSU in Monday’s National Championship Game, then the Colley Matrix computer ranking will have Ohio State at No. 1.

In many ways, the Colley Matrix is my favorite of the major computer rankings out there. It’s not the results per se that make it wonderful, but it is–and I’ve been saying this for years–the best pure wins-and-losses strength of schedule rankings out there. I don’t use Colley for where it ranks the teams; but I will always cite its SOS numbers, because they’re the best.

There are two main reasons why I appreciate Colley more than any other ranking. The first is that his formula is public. On his website, Colley explains the rankings in both the pure math terms, as well as the logic behind them. That way, even if you’re not fully up on the precise numbers, anyone can really understand the basic concept behind how he gets his numbers.

More importantly, Colley only cares about wins and losses. Home, road, margin of victory, etc.–none of those things matter. It’s who you’ve played, and who they’ve played. Additionally, his matrix idea behind how to properly judge just how valuable an opponent is worth is as simple as it is innovative.

So, to repeat, Colley is the best system out there, in my opinion, for strength of schedule. As for the actual rankings–since the system ignores things like margin of victory and how well teams play, the results can get a little wonky sometimes. That’s okay; it’s still the best SOS system out there.

Which brings us to this year. According to Colley, the Ohio State Buckeyes have played the toughest schedule in the country this year. The only other teams with SOS numbers particularly close to Ohio State’s are South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Auburn. LSU has a pretty strong SOS. The Bayou Bengals sit at No. 14, and that will jump into the Top 10 after playing Clemson. Clemson’s SOS, however, sits outside the Top 50–and that’s after playing Ohio State. The number will improve further after playing LSU, but will still not be anywhere close to Ohio State’s.

Just how much harder is Ohio State’s schedule than Clemson’s? Well, the final rankings will have Ohio State ahead of Clemson, even if Clemson beats LSU. that doesn’t mean that Ohio State is better than Clemson this year or deserves a national championship; it does, however, speak to the fact that Ohio State’s schedule was significantly tougher than Clemson’s. Colley’s system prioritizes wins and losses over everything. The fact that Ohio State can stay ahead of Clemson with two fewer wins and one more loss tells you just how much higher Ohio State’s SOS is.

Some people may remember that Colley had UCF at No. 1 at the end of 2017. In fact, because Colley only cares about wins and losses–the system doesn’t value the National Championship Game more than any other game–it is the major computer that most often puts a team that didn’t win the NCG at No. 1. For example, its formula also had Clemson at No. 1 in 2015 and Notre Dame at No. 1 in 2012.

I’m not saying that the Buckeyes should declare themselves national champions this year, even though the NCAA would recognize such a claim (if Clemson wins the NCG). I am saying that it’s noteworthy how much harder Ohio State’s schedule was than Clemson’s this year, and these numbers back it up.

(As a complete tangent to end this post, it is a bit of a myth that Colley is the reason that UCF claimed the 2017 National Championship. UCF Athletic Director Danny White declared his team National Champions before that season’s National Championship Game was played. Had Georgia won the NCG that year, the Colley Matrix’s final rankings would have had Georgia at No. 1 and UCF at No. 2. It was only Alabama’s major second-half comeback that put UCF at No. 1 in the Colley Matrix, but the school didn’t care; it was declaring itself 2017 National Champions regardless. Had Georgia won, no NCAA-recognized selectors would have had UCF at No. 1; since Alabama won, there was exactly one–Colley–that agreed with UCF’s claim. But UCF was making that claim no matter what.)

Not a question of if, but when Las Vegas hosts College Football Playoff or Final Four

College football is bringing its national championship game to New Orleans on Monday for the fifth time, cementing its status as America’s preeminent venue for big sporting events. In the modern era, no city has hosted more Super Bowls, more …

College football is bringing its national championship game to New Orleans on Monday for the fifth time, cementing its status as America’s preeminent venue for big sporting events. In the modern era, no city has hosted more Super Bowls, more BCS/College Football Playoff title games or more Final Fours.

But as we enter the 2020s, America’s sports host of the future could be up for grabs because of Las Vegas, which suddenly has two major professional teams, more than $2 billion worth of new facilities and a strong desire to attract the same events that regularly come through New Orleans. The only question is, will the Final Four or the CFP championship game get there first?

“I’ll be in shock if they don’t come to Las Vegas,” said Jim Livengood, the longtime former athletics director at Arizona and UNLV, who has spent significant time in his retirement lobbying for big college sports events to come to Las Vegas. “It has to be the right event for the right site for the right time of year, and it doesn’t fit for every sport. But for five or six it works really well.”

Last May, the NCAA finally rescinded its policy that banned championship events from being played in states that offered sports gambling, which previously only applied to Nevada but was suddenly going to eliminate more than 10 states that immediately legalized it in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2018 decision.

Of course, the NCAA rule never made sense in the first place. Beyond college programs coming to play at UNLV and Nevada for decades, Las Vegas has hosted a bowl game since 1992, the Mountain West basketball tournament since 2000 and the Pac-12 tournament since 2013. Moreover, with online and offshore sports gambling becoming prevalent over the last decade, the stigma of college games being played in close proximity to casinos and sports books is no longer tethered to reality.

Still, it’ll be a big moment for college sports when the NCAA or the CFP eventually bring their championship events to Las Vegas. But when’s it going to happen, and once it does, will Sin City become as much a part of the regular rotation that hosts these things as New Orleans, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas and Indianapolis?

“We know that Las Vegas is an attractive destination for championships and we fully believe we are becoming the epicenter of sports,” UNLV athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois said. “In conjunction with our community partners, we’re being aggressive in trying to host championship events.”

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The biggest issue, at least in the near-term, is availability. Though the NCAA men’s basketball committee met and toured venues in Las Vegas last summer and has a delegation visiting again in the coming weeks, Final Four sites are booked through 2026, though Las Vegas could bid on NCAA tournament regional sites as early as 2023.

As an independent organization, the CFP is not bound by whatever decision the NCAA makes with respect to Las Vegas and the basketball tournament but only has two unawarded championship games in 2025 and 2026, which marks the end of the Playoff’s current 12-year contract with ESPN. The bidding process for those games is yet to begin, but Las Vegas has already indicated it will make a strong run at holding one of them in the new $1.8 billion Allegiant Stadium, which sits just across Interstate 15 from the South end of the Strip.

Bill Hancock, the CFP’s executive director, wrote in an email that he expects a number of cities to be interested hosting for 2026 and 2026 and noted that “it has been good for college football” that they’ve awarded the game around to 10 different places for the first 10 years of the event.

“It wouldn’t be right for me to speculate about any potential host,” Hancock said. “I don’t want to handicap the field, except to say it will be a fascinating race.”

Las Vegas should be a no-brainer for one of those two slots, though, and the CFP should be positioning itself to get there before the Super Bowl (2025 is the NFL’s next open slot) and the Final Four, as there could be significant cachet that comes along with being first.

But there are a couple potential complications.

Also see:

– When and where to watch LSU vs. Clemson National Championship game

The CFP is going to Miami in 2021, Indianapolis in 2022, the new Los Angeles stadium in 2023 and Houston in 2024. Would going back out to the Pacific time zone in 2025 be too soon after L.A.? Also, the Consumer Electronics Show, which brings 170,000 people to Vegas annually, often takes place in a similar window to the CFP championship game around that weekend after New Year’s. The CES has not posted dates for 2025 and 2026 yet, but that could be a potential complication to keep in mind.

If that hurdle could be worked out, though, Vegas could very well establish itself as the absolute best venue for the game period. As fans have discovered over the first six years of the CFP, it is not a bowl week type of event. Fans typically come in at some point the weekend before the Monday night game and leave the next day. Also, because the travel plans for the winning semifinal teams are made on somewhat short notice, availability of affordable flights and hotel rooms is paramount.

From that standpoint, places like Dallas and Atlanta work exceedingly well. For entertainment options and good weather, cities like New Orleans and Miami come to the front of the pack. But it’s hard to imagine anywhere combining ease of travel with logistics like Las Vegas.

“There’s so many similarities to New Orleans,” Livengood said. “Everything is so darn close. The stadium, there isn’t anything you can’t do just by walking to it. It checks every single box. And the big thing is Vegas wants it. Vegas has really stepped up in terms of realizing this can be a market for athletics.”

This weekend in New Orleans, tens of thousands of LSU and Clemson fans will be taking over the French Quarter prior to the national championship on Monday night, a tradition that dates back decades for college sports fans. Hopefully, it will continue for decades more.

But the momentum is there now for Vegas to provide the same kind of platform for the biggest events in the coming years. Hopefully it won’t take college athletics much longer to embrace it.

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Former Clemson QB Deshaun Watson not ‘worried about no LSU’ in CFP title game

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson isn’t worried about his Clemson Tigers taking on the LSU Tigers in the College Football Playoff title game.

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson said he is “riding with the real Tigers” in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Everyone outside the Bayou State knows Watson means Clemson, his alma mater, where he won a CFP title in 2016. Houston Astros infielder Alex Bregman, an LSU almunus, says that if Watson is indeed pulling for the real Tigers, then he’s pulling for LSU by default.

“I’m glad he’s rooting for LSU,” Bregman told Fox 26’s Mark Berman.

Watson had a little reply for the World Series champion on Wednesday in his weekly meeting with reporters.

“No, I don’t mess with LSU,” Watson said. “Them boys, they know where it’s at. They know where the real Death Valley is and the real Tigers is. So, we aren’t worried about no LSU.”

LSU is favored by -5.5 according to BetMGM. LSU will have an advantage playing in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

The Tigers of the SEC West have not won a national championship since 2007 with Matt Flynn under center. The expectation is Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow should out-duel Clemson’s reigning national champion quarterback, Trevor Lawrence.

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Could Ohio State football be preseason No. 1 next year?

Ohio State’s season may be over this year, but as we look ahead to 2020, it should receive consideration for a preseason No. 1 ranking.

Not that it matters much, but it’s still a sense of pride and fun to talk about what the landscape of college football will look like next season. And yeah, I know we still have the biggest of games to go for this — the 2019 college football season, but we’re still looking ahead to next year because Ohio State’s season is over after a salty Fiesta Bowl.

So, let’s talk about next season shall we? Ohio State has a ton of guys coming back on an offense that was a top five unit in many categories last season. Justin Fields will be a year better behind an offensive line returning three All-Big Ten performers. The wide-receiver room lost three key players for the second-straight year, but the guys that are still around like Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave will combine with arguably the best wide-receiver class to ever walk through the tunnel in Columbus.

Defensively, the line will be young, but talented and deep once again. Linebackers Tuf Borland, Pete Werner, Baron Browning and others remain in the second level to make the front seven awfully appealing. New guys in the back-end of the defense will have to emerge after three starters moved on to the NFL, but the return of Shaun Wade gives the Ohio State coaching staff a key piece to build around.

Needless to say, that’s a lot of talent that should result in a ton of optimism for what the Buckeyes can accomplish next year. So much so, it’s entirely possible that Ohio State can enter the season ranked No. 1 in one of the polls.

The Alabama and Clemson narrative will be there. They both have a ton of talent with a reload at places in need, but you can’t put together too many teams beyond those two that’ll always be put up there until proven differently on a consistent basis.

In fact ‘Bama has to go through a quarterback competition after Tua Tagovailoa declared for the NFL Draft. LSU loses Heisman winner Joe Burrow, Oklahoma also loses Jalen Hurts under center, and the rest of the usual suspects have more holes than what’s going to be visible on the banks of the Olentangy.

The one team that Ohio State will likely be compared to evenly is Clemson. The Tigers might have the slight edge with the return of Trevor Lawrence and a returning young squad across the board, but we’ve already seen the Buckeyes outplay the Tigers and wind up just a wee-bit short because of some bad breaks and missed opportunities.

In an upcoming year in which there is a lot of turnover at the most important position on the football field, both Ohio State and Clemson have Heisman type guys back under center. It’ll likely be between the Buckeyes and Tigers for that preseason numero uno ranking.

Clemson likely gets the nod because of where the program is, but it’ll be a close one, and OSU will undoubtedly get a look at No. 1 by many pollsters.

Notre Dame Fans: Who to Root for Between LSU and Clemson

Don’t you want to be the one to end Clemson’s streak?

Does it make sense for Notre Dame fans to be pulling for one of Clemson or LSU more than the other in next Monday night’s college football national championship?

Neither are anything near a traditional rival, although Notre Dame and LSU have matched up six times since 1997 with the Irish taking four of those matchups.

Meanwhile Notre Dame has played Clemson twice recently, one being a heart-breaking loss in a hurricane back in 2015 and the other being in the 2018 Cotton Bowl when the Tigers erupted in the second quarter to eliminate the Irish, 30-3.

We’ll look at why and why not to root for both teams in the final collegiate football game until August.

The Case for and Against No. 1 LSU:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

The gap between Oklahoma, top teams is not because of recruiting

There was a talent gap between Oklahoma and LSU. But just how wide is that gap? The gap, though, is not because of a lack of recruiting.

We all saw it.

LSU walked out on the field against Oklahoma in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and looked bigger. Looked faster. Looked stronger.

The Tigers romped the Sooners by epic proportions. Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow pitched a no-hitter against the Oklahoma defense. The Sooners made the LSU defense look like world beaters.

There was a talent gap between the two. But just how wide is that gap?

Here is what Lincoln Riley said about it the day after the game to a group of selected reporters.

“I don’t think the result of this game is going to change anything in recruiting. We know we’ve got to continue to get better personnel. Right now, we’ve got a lot of good personnel, but there’s still a handful of teams across the country, from top to bottom, that have better personnel than we do. That just is what it is. We’ve got good personnel. We’ve got a lot of good individual players, but we got to continue to build talent base across the whole team, and I think especially defensively.

“It’s kind of like the same process — I know you all are tired of me saying it — but the same process we went through offensively. We kind of got caught in a transitional year, certainly offensively, and scrounged it together and we were able to do some good things. We’re closing the gap. There’s no doubt we are. I think a lot of the things that need to happen are being done, it’s just there’s not always the immediate results we always want. That’s just part of building it.”

The gap he is referencing, isn’t really there for recruiting.

Oklahoma has been climbing in its recruited talent since Lincoln Riley got to Norman, Oklahoma in 2015. The Sooners have increased the amount of blue-chip recruits on its roster by 23.46 percent since the 2015 season. Oklahoma will be at 63.27 of its roster being four or five star recruits in the 2020 season as it stands today. The Sooners were at 39.81 percent in 2015.

Riley is right when it is in regard to three programs—Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. Those three are across the 70 percent threshold of its roster being blue-chip recruits, with the Crimson Tide being at an unimaginable 88.78 of its roster being four or five-star recruits for the 2020 season.

Riley isn’t right when it comes to the tier underneath those three. Oklahoma has more recruited talent the last four years than LSU, Florida, Penn State, Texas and many others. The Sooners even have more recruited talent than Clemson, who was won two of the last three national championships and vying for a third in four years in a week and a half.

The conversation here lies within the comparison with Clemson. The Tigers, albeit their location in the southeast, are churning out NFL talent at every position across the board while recruiting at the same level the last four-to-six years as Oklahoma. Dabo Swinney’s ability to develop his talent is the reason the gap between them and the Sooners exists.

When it comes down to it, Oklahoma brought in 18 defensive backs since the 2016 recruiting class. Twelve of those defensive backs were four-star recruits. Only five of the defensive backs signed from 2016-18 made major contributions in multiple years thus far (Parnell Motley, Tre Brown, Tre Norwood, Patrick Fields and Bookie Radley-Hiles). Three of those from the 16-18 classes have transferred. Four of those four-star defensive backs came from the 2019 recruiting class, and the other, Ty DeArman, is already set to transfer.

For one final time—the Mike Stoops era at Oklahoma set the Sooners back. As did having Kerry Cooks oversee the Oklahoma secondary.

The notion that the gap is solely based on recruiting is true in a small instance. The reality that Oklahoma’s development of players, specifically on the defensive side of the ball, is what set the Sooners back.

That’s the burden that Alex Grinch had to live with in 2019, and what he’ll have to change in 2020 and the years to come.

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Kirk Herbstreit “didn’t agree with” overturned fumble in Fiesta Bowl

Some believe Ohio State was cheated in the Fiesta Bowl, and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit agrees “the call” shouldn’t have been overturned.

The Ohio State football team lost 29-23 to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl Saturday night (as if we have to remind you). It was brutal, and there were two distinct and impactful moments the officials had a hand in that will forever live in the minds of Ohio State fans.

The first was the Shaun Wade targeting call, taking the team’s third-best cornerback out of the game permanently. That rule in general needs to be changed as Wade clearly wasn’t aiming to put a vicious hit on Trevor Lawrence.

Then, what I’ll just go ahead and dub “the call” happened. While many disagree with the decision to overturn the fumble and ensuing touchdown, the refs left their mark on the game yet again.

It was a brutal reality for Ohio State fans who thought the Buckeyes had wrestled the lead back in the team’s most important game of the season. However, the call was overturned, shocking the world — and maybe the entire Milky Way Galaxy too.

Let’s just say former Ohio State alum and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who keeps his opinions on the Buckeyes extremely fair and neutral, didn’t agree with the call.

Herbstreit, who “didn’t agree with (the call) at all,” knew that just one decision didn’t force the game Clemson’s way. After all, Ohio State’s dynamic offense did settle for three first-half field goals.

The Buckeyes were on the wrong end of those two calls, but they needed to be better. Herbstreit knew that, and Ohio State knows that. Needless to say, it doesn’t make anything better for die-hard Buckeye fans.

Ranking the top Georgia football wins of the decade: #9

UGA Wire ranks the top Georgia football wins of the decade: #9

In honor of the start of 2020 Wednesday, we decided to put together a list of the Top 10 Georgia football wins from the past decade.

We gave you number ten, a thrilling come-from-behind victory over rival Georgia Tech in Atlanta in 2013. Now, it’s time for number nine.

The 2014 Georgia-Clemson contest comes next on our list, continuing the Todd Gurley era trend we’ve got going on. Gurley returned a kickoff to the house in the first half to tie the score at 21 before the Bulldogs exploded offensively in the second half, defeating the defending Orange Bowl Champions 45-21.

Georgia would gain praise from around the nation, moving all the way into the Top 3 nationally, before falling to South Carolina in a hard-fought battle just one game later. However, this particular game had it all. From Gurley’s return to the birth of Sony Michel and Nick Chubb and much, much more.

Given the recent dominance of Clemson, it feels even better to still hold the bragging rights over the Tigers from up I-85.

Take a look at some of the highlights:

What a day in Athens!

Texans QB Deshaun Watson ‘riding with the real Tigers’ in LSU versus Clemson CFP title game

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is siding with his alma mater as Clemson takes on LSU in the CFP championship game.

The Clemson Tigers take on the LSU Tigers in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 13, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, and Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson knows who he is taking.

“I’m riding with the real tigers,” Watson told reporters Tuesday.

Why not? The former 2017 first-round pick led Clemson to its first CFP championship and first overall college football championship since 1981 with a thrilling 35-31 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2016 CFP title game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

“I’m riding with my Tigers and that’s what we’re going to do,” Watson said. “We’re going to be ready for that moment. We’ve been there multiple times. Those guys know that the opportunities don’t come every year and they got another opportunity to be back to back and go 15-0 again. So, those guys will be ready and it’ll be fun to watch.”

Clemson is the defending national champion with a 44-16 drubbing of the Tide in last year’s title game played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. While Clemson features a big game quarterback of their own in Trevor Lawrence, who has picked up the mantle Watson left behind, LSU has their own talented signal caller in Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow.

Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State was most physical game he’s been a part of

Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence spoke to the media two days after the Fiesta Bowl and gave Ohio State credit for a tough and physical game.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been in a big game or two, even at his young age. Just a sophomore, Lawrence has played the likes of Texas A&M, Florida State, Notre Dame, and of course Alabama. That’s not to mention rivalry games with South Carolina and a whole host of ACC teams over the past two seasons.

But Saturday against Ohio State was different according to Lawrence. While appearing with the media two days after the thrilling Fiesta Bowl Saturday, the Tigers’ quarterback said that playing the Buckeyes was the most physical game he’s been a part of to date.

“It’s a good feeling when you wake up and feel that way. A bunch of guys felt that way. Hats off to Ohio State, that game was so tough.”

That is especially notable when you think about all the athletes, physicality, and talent on Alabama’s team last year. Clemson took the Tide behind the woodshed for a national championship, but that doesn’t take away from the collection of bad intentions a Nick Saban led team has.

So, yeah — it was a bitter and disappointing loss Saturday night, but Ohio State players and fans should be proud that the team showed up and gave Clemson all it could handle and then some.