Tag: Mark Schlabach

ESPN bearish on Notre Dame’s way-too-early 2021 ranking

The sports media giant projects what the top 25 will look like entering the 2021 season, and it is not that high on Notre Dame’s ranking.

While we haven’t even had much time to process the finalization of the 2020 college football season, ESPN is already looking ahead to the 2021 campaign. Although ESPN has Notre Dame ranked inside its top 25, unlike many other outlets, it is not giving Brian Kelly’s squad much love at all, ranking the Irish 15th.

As Mark Schlabach ranked the top teams heading into next year, the Irish are behind 2021 foes North Carolina (Oct. 30 in South Bend), USC (Oct. 23 in South Bend) and Cincinnati (Oct. 2 in South Bend). Another opponent on next year’s schedule, Wisconsin (Sept. 25 in Chicago), checks in two spots below the Irish.

Schlabach’s rationale behind Notre Dame’s ranking revolves around a quarterback battle after quarterback Ian Book will move on. “Notre Dame has good pieces on offense to build around, including tailbacks Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree and wide receivers Braden Lenzy and Jordan Johnson.”

ESPN notes four of the five starting offensive lineman will be gone; center Jarrett Patterson appears to be the lone holdover. Giving almost no love to the defense, Schlabach says new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman “will have to rebuild the defensive line and find more depth in the secondary.”

To me, this ranking is a bit low. Yes, the Irish lose plenty of talent, including Book and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but the talent is certain there waiting in the wings. Having a more regular spring schedule, along with a spring game, will surely help the younger players get more comfortable, especially on defense.

Notre Dame at worst, is still a top-10 team entering the 2021 season. Schlabach got this one wrong.

ESPN’s updated CPF projections from Week 6 don’t look good for the Gators

UF lost its inside edge on the CFP as well as its third-straight New Year’s Six bowl game with the loss to Texas A&M but still has a chance.

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Florida’s College Football Playoff chances took a major hit with Saturday’s 41-38 loss to Texas A&M. Its chances of making the final four dropped precipitously following the defeat from 14 percent to just four percent.

In ESPN’s updated bowl projections from Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura, neither have the Gators in their playoff field anymore. Both agree on the semifinal matchups of Alabama and Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and Clemson and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, with Clemson and Alabama facing once again in the national title game.

Schlabach still sees Florida landing in a New Year’s Six Bowl, and he has it projected to face Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, which the Gators won last season against Virginia.

Bonagura, however, has the Aggies in the New Year’s Six field instead of UF. He predicts the Gators just outside of the NY6, taking on Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Should Florida win out, it would likely still find itself in a playoff spot. But if that doesn’t happen, it may be hard to secure a spot in a New Year’s Six Bowl during this wild season.

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Texas Football: ESPN and CBS drop predictions ahead of 2020 opener

With the season approaching the Texas Longhorns are preparing for the opener. CBS Sports and ESPN drop their Longhorns related predictions.

Saturday night in Austin at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium can’t get here fast enough. However, the impending kickoff isn’t stoping national media outlets like CBS Sports and ESPN from dropping their picks for the College Football Playoffs. First we will look at ESPN’s storylines for the upcoming Big 12 college football season. Mark Schlabach drops his picks from awards, to top games and biggest upsets.

Texas to finish 2nd

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Schlabach kicked off his storylines for the Big 12 with the order of finish. No surprises at the top with Oklahoma picked to win the conference for the sixth-year in a row. The top three seem to be well in line with what most of other outlets have put out.

  1. Oklahoma
  2. Texas
  3. Oklahoma State
  4. Texas Christian
  5. Iowa State

Texas set to finish second which means a Big 12 Championship appearance. It would be the last opportunity for senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger to take home the Big 12 crown much like the two best Longhorns passers before him. Schlabach continued with individual storylines for the conference.

Defensive Player of the Year: Joseph Ossai

Defensive Freshman of the Year: Alfred Collins

Coach on the hot seat: Tom Herman

Game of the Year: Texas vs Oklahoma (Oct. 10)

Upset of the Year: Texas vs Kansas State (Dec. 5)

In his three predictions, Longhorns are picked to upset the Sooners in the Cotton Bowl.

Sooners have won four of the past six games in the Red River Rivalry (along with a 12-point victory over Texas in the 2018 Big 12 championship game), but the contests in Dallas have been exceptionally close. Each of the past six were decided by a touchdown or less. This year’s matchup at the Cotton Bowl will come down to the wire again, so I’ll go with the more experienced quarterback in Longhorns senior Sam Ehlinger, who has already started four times against the Sooners. UT won’t go 2-0 against Oklahoma this season, however, as Spencer Rattler and OU’s improved defense will avenge the loss in the Big 12 title game to punch a ticket to the CFP for the fourth straight season. – Schlabach on the Red River Rivalry

Next we look to the College Football Playoff prediction from CBS Sports.

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We may see Roses or Oranges in Florida Gators’ 2020 football postseason

Writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach both take a stab at their bowl projections in an article published on Sunday mentioning the Gators.

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None of the three remaining Power Five conferences have yet to play a single football game this fall, but that does not stop ESPN from offering its prognostications on the Football Bowl Subdivision postseason as college football’s Week 1 winds down to a close.

Writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach both take a stab at their bowl projections in an article published on Sunday, with the former giving the nod to the Florida Gators for a College Football Playoff appearance, while the latter sees a New Year’s Six matchup at the end of the season.

Bonagura picked Florida as his opponent against the Clemson Tigers in the Rose Bowl, though he predicts a loss as he selected Clemson facing off against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the National Championship Game. His colleague Schlabach, on the other hand, sees the Georgia Bulldogs taking the field opposite of the Tigers, though he also agreed that the championship matchup would feature the Tigers versus ‘Bama.

In regards to the Gators, Schlabach sees oranges again come postseason time, foreseeing a tangle with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Miami for Florida’s second-straight appearance in the Orange Bowl — against an itinerant ACC foe this time around. Not surprisingly, Bonagura picked Georgia as Notre Dame’s opponent in this bowl game as the two appear to disagree on who will take the SEC title.

Florida begins its fall football season on Saturday, Sept. 26, against the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., with kickoff scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.

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ESPN’s Mark Schlabach calls pass interference call against Miami in 2003 Fiesta Bowl one of the worst in history

Mark Schlabach called the pass interference call against Miami in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl as one of the worst in college football history.

In case you haven’t heard, ESPN will be replaying the 2003 BCS national championship Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Miami tonight at 8PM Eastern. It has set off some memorable reflections and debate across media circles, and even we have taken the bait.

You can read five memories of that game we reminisced about, or you can either agree or disagree with three of our writers ranking running back Maurice Clarett as the best Ohio State football player to ever wear jersey No. 13.

But first things first, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Bill Connelly got into a debate about the penalty that was called on Miami’s Glenn Sharpe at the end of the first overtime in that game. One that kept the game alive and set the stage for Ohio State to spring the upset. Depending on what team your allegiances lie with, you probably view it as a great call, or one that triggers you even to this day. It’s one of the most polarizing calls in college football history, and it has sparked a lot of attention over the last 17 years.

So it was with Schlabach. When asked about where that penalty ranked in the history of college football calls, he said it could be the worst penalty flags thrown ever, and that you could even make a case for it being the worst ever.

Next … Schlabach’s response

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