Tag: heather dinich

Paul Finebaum: ‘They (Notre Dame) need to join a conference’

Could a true conference affiliation be in the future for the Irish?

The SEC’s “champion” Paul Finebaum has spoken up for Notre Dame. Well, sort of. The ESPN personality joined Mike Greenberg and Heather Dinich to discuss the College Football Playoff proposal to expand the field from it’s current 4 team format to include twelve.

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Finebaum was critical of the Irish “literally stolen championships because they are Notre Dame,” but that wasn’t the point, it was about the potential CFP chaos that could be on the horizon if the proposal is passed.

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As we found out, under the proposed new format, the Irish wouldn’t be able to qualify for a first-round bye due to not being able to be crowned a conference champion. According to Finebaum, this could force Notre Dame to join a conference, like they did this past season.

It’s time Jack Swarbrick and those who run Notre Dame need to get with the program The ‘program’ is that they need to join a conference… I think it’s better for Notre Dame to be in a conference because there are too many obstacles. – Finebaum

If the CFP does actually make the move to 12 teams, it does make for an interesting conversation for the Irish. Is it worth not getting a chance to have a bye? Does having a home game in the first-round and not having to play an extra game outweigh not even qualifying for a top-4 seed?

It’s something to ponder if this does get passed but would it be worth it for the Irish to join a conference? That’s the real question.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich pegs Florida as SEC’s second-best team

A day after the completion of the first slate of 2020 SEC ESPN broke down the College Football Playoff takeaways from the weekend of action.

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One day after the completion of the first slate of 2020 Southeastern Conference games, ESPN’s Heather Dinich broke down her College Football Playoff takeaways from the weekend of action.

Touching on several topics, including whether the Oklahoma Sooners are done and what the outlook is for the Pacific-12 Conference, Dinich took some time to recognize the Florida Gators’ impressive showing against the Ole Miss Rebels, saying Dan Mullen’s program looks like the league’s second-best team, trailing only the Alabama Crimson Tide.

“With the exception of Alabama, the SEC looked different in its debut, but that was to be expected with four head coaching changes and several new starting quarterbacks,” Dinich began.

“LSU, the defending national champion, returned only five starters and the Tigers looked the part in a home loss to Mississippi State. The question is whether Georgia and LSU are just working out some kinks or … it’s an Alabama-Florida SEC championship.

“Expectations were certainly higher for Florida this year (the media picked the Gators to win the SEC East), but it was only by 10 more first-place votes than Georgia. The Gators looked more than capable of widening that gap Saturday.

“Florida’s offense found its stride in a 51-35 win at Ole Miss, racking up 642 total yards, a school record against an SEC opponent. Quarterback Kyle Trask finished with 416 passing yards and six passing touchdowns, and the Rebels had no answer for the connection between Trask and tight end Kyle Pitts.

“Meanwhile, Georgia needed a quarterback change to rally to beat Arkansas 37-10. The final score doesn’t tell the whole story, as Arkansas held a 7-5 halftime lead. Starting quarterback D’Wan Mathis was benched in the second quarter in favor of Stetson Bennett. The Bulldogs had 11 first-half penalties and were just 1-for-12 on third down in the first half.

“Before Georgia thinks about the CFP, it needs to look like a contender in the SEC East. So far, Florida looks like the team to beat.”

Moving up two spots to No. 3 in the Associated Press Poll, the Gators will battle Will Muschamp’s South Carolina Gamecocks (0-1) in their home-opener on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Dropping one spot to No. 4, Kirby Smart’s Georgia team will host the No. 7 Auburn Tigers (1-0) at 7:30 p.m., also on ESPN.

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How Notre Dame Coaches will adjust while dealing with COVID-19 precautions

As the country continues to battle with COVID-19, the Irish coaching staff will make adjustments to their coaching habits this year.

This upcoming season is setting up to be odd, like last night’s report from Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel that the ACC might add the Irish as their Plus 1 in the 2020 season. Another odd aspect will be how coaches handle the social distancing during practices and games. ESPN’s Heather Dinich got an inside look at how Brian Kelly and his coaching staff will handle trying to properly distance themselves from the players.

Dinich reports that “the coaches will be wearing a fitted, clear, plastic face mask so the players will be able to see their facial expressions… and the coordinators and coach Brian Kelly will wear microphones to help cast their voices.” This will not be what the players are used to but for this season and potentially going forward it is a warranted change.

Another change will be how the team sets up their positional group meetings. Dinich reports that the Irish intend on still having their meetings in person, but “the offensive linemen will have to use the full team meeting room instead of their usual, smaller space, and a room that was once divided with a partition for the defensive line and linebackers is now wide open for an entire position group. What was once a recruiting lounge is now a defensive back meeting room.” As the Notre Dame Football program tries to adhere to CDC rules, this once again makes sense. The safety of the players and coaches is at the top of the Irish’s concerns, as it very well should be.

What about on-field activities? We all know that football is played is a vacuum, most players have to be in close proximity to each other, but the Irish have a plan. Kelly told Dinich that “we have to practice football. We’re going to be smart, and we’re going to do the thing necessary as coaches, but the players have to be able to be prepared to play the game when the game is ready to be played. When I look at the schedule that I put together, there are some tweaks relative to how we’re teaching, but when it comes to the fundamentals of the game, they will be taught in the same fashion that I’ve taught them for 30 years.” It’s hard to argue Kelly’s logic on teaching the team fundamentals, hitting blocking sleds and tackling dummies goes only so far.

As long as the program continues to be smart and safe regarding COVID-19, the football team will continue to be one of the very few that have yet to have any positive tests. On Wednesday Michigan State shut down their voluntary workouts due to a coach testing positive, while many other schools across the country have had to do the same. So far, the Irish have done fantastic with their players doing the right things on and off the field in preparation for a wild 2020 season.

Swarbrick to ESPN: Delay Season, Shorten Schedules

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick has once again spoken out about how he feels the 2020 college football season should look like.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick met with ESPN yesterday and has some very interesting comments as to what the college football season should entail in the 2020 season. Swarbrick’s thoughts make plenty of sense as he told Heather Dinich that he doesn’t “anticipate a 12-game schedule. I’d like to start a little later. The value of starting later is you really get to see how your university has done.”

By pushing back the season, which in essence has already been done by the Big Ten and PAC-12 due to canceling non-conference games, it gives school a better chance to get a grasp on their return of students and how to deal with COVID-19. The rest of the Power 5 conferences have yet to make their decisions regarding non-conference scheduling but buying time as the country deals with a national pandemic is a smart move. We all want to see college football this fall, and this could help the situation.

The other impactful statement made by Swarbrick was the fact that he would like to see “somewhere between 8 and 10 (games), but whatever is right for the health and safety of the players.” If his earlier comments are heard and used, pushing back the season makes an 8-game schedule more realistic. The Big Ten initially has leaned towards a 10-game conference only season, but a final decision hasn’t been made. Going back to Swarbrick’s idea of having a delayed season, 8 games is a good number.

Swarbrick brought some very good ideas to light and hopefully they don’t fall on deaf ears to the NCAA. Having an 8-game season is better than nothing but it would make the Irish most likely join the ACC for a season. With 6 of their currently scheduled games against ACC competition, the move makes sense, but that is still up in the air. We will find out what the 2020 college football season will look like by the end of the month and hopefully it all works out and a season is played.

Paul Finebaum: ‘Optimism is not going to get the season started on time’

The SEC Network host doesn’t believe that a college football season is a certainty this fall.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron was extremely confident the other day when talking about whether or not college football season will be played this fall.

“My gut feeling is we’re going to play. Whether we start Sept 5 or a little after that; in-conference, out of conference, that doesn’t bother me,” Orgeron said on ESPN’s Marty and McGee. “I do know this: I believe we’re going to play. I’m almost certain we’re going to play.”

Consider Paul Finebaum someone who isn’t on the same page as Orgeron.

“I love his optimism but…and he is the embodiment of a head football coach, optimism is not going to get the season started on time,” Finebaum said on Monday. “The numbers are. We all know what’s going on. I don’t know what will change from today to next week. It’s unlikely the spikes are going to stop. Unfortunately they are facing a delay in the college football season.”

The next couple of weeks will be extremely important when it comes to the SEC deciding whether a season will take place or not. One option besides a regular season is to have a conference-only schedule like the Big Ten and Pac-12 have decided to do this fall.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich is also uncertain if football will happen.

“To be clear, the decision makers start with the coronavirus and then go to the SEC medical advisory panel,” Dinich said. “But one source told me they expect to make a decision next week, as in by July 31st as to whether or not the season can start on time. If it can’t, they might push it back to September 19th or to October 3rd. If you get into October to start the season, the SEC might say okay we’re going to a conference only schedule. But equally important, they could go conference only plus one to preserve those (cross conference rivalries). As much as Coach O wants to play, it’s really not quite in his hands at this point.”

College Football Playoff Director Bill Hancock still “planning on a CFP”

ESPN’s Heather Dinich discussed the state of college football Monday and he confirmed they are “planning on a CFP.” And “on time.”

More and more people are starting to weigh in on the prospects of football this fall. Ever since every major league and college sport was either suspended or canceled entirely, the focus has moved to what happens from there.

Next up is the possibility of college and NFL football suffering the same fate. And frankly, with the state of where we are with the tragic novel coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where we don’t have some sort of disruption to football on the gridiron this fall.

The latest person to weigh in on the matter is College Football Playoff Director Bill Hancock. He spoke with ESPN’s Heather Dinich Monday and confirmed right off the bat that things are proceeding ahead as scheduled.

“We’re planning on a CFP,” Hancock told Dinich. “That’s what our staff is doing as we speak. Planning for it on time.”

He was also asked what would happen if a college football season didn’t happen.

“It’s too soon to speculate,” said Hancock. “It’s only April. It’s just too soon. It’s premature. The decision about whether to have a season and a CFP won’t be made by the coaches and commissioners. It will be made by the medical people. We have to be prepared, and we will be prepared, to have a CFP.”

Trying to get everything in order to start the college football season on time though is quite the undertaking. You have several states, universities, students, venues and other stakeholders that have to have time to get things in order so that things aren’t rushed. Most specifically, things have to be done in such a way that the student-athletes are put in harm’s way when it comes to the time needed for conditioning.

Hancock echoed those sentiments.

“There’s a long ramp-up time for this,” he said. “Could it be shorter? Sure. What is it? I don’t know. Would it be the same? No, it wouldn’t be the same. I can promise you the Super Bowl people are knee deep into Tampa prep right now. Knee deep. We all do the same thing. We’re all very deliberate about our planning. Could we do it without that ramp-up time? Yes.”

Everyone is anxious to get answers on where things are headed, but things just aren’t to the point where anyone knows yet. We all want our lives back, and we all want to live for the passions that excite us the most. That includes college football, but there’s just no way of knowing and predicting what this virus is going to do.

For now, be patient, stay safe, and continue to be there for each other.

 

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