Tag: Pac 12

Notre Dame football: Kelly already politicking vs. Big Ten, Pac-12

Right after Notre Dame’s win over Boston College Brian Kelly was quick to start the politicking against the Big Ten and Pac 12.

Notre Dame moved to 8-0 on Saturday with their 45-31 win over Boston College, the third time Brian Kelly has had a team start a season with eight straight victories in his now 11 years with the Irish.

After the game Kelly began the politicking that’ll come into play for Notre Dame to make the College Football Playoff if they don’t finish the regular season unbeaten.

“We’ve already played a Big Ten schedule,” Kelly said after the game. “We’ve completed eight games, and that’s clearly more than the Pac-12 will play and it takes a lot. Our team was tired tonight and you could see that they were, especially on defense, because it requires a lot of mental energy.

Certainly, the physicality of playing a lot of games, that takes its toll, because we’re testing. We tested four times this week, the training room and we played a double overtime game and those kids, they probably didn’t get to bed till four o’clock in the morning.”

If you’re unaware this is how college football works.  If Notre Dame wins out this regular season they’re easily a College Football Playoff team, but as much as we’d all like them to be even with a loss at any point, you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be plenty of debate nationally about whether or not the Irish belong.

Better to get ahead of it and start making your case now then to be playing from behind later, even if the Pac-12 champion will only have played seven games and Ohio State very possibly will have only played eight.

That all said, just keep winning, baby.

 

One-loss Notre Dame hardly a CFP lock

If Notre Dame runs the regular season table but loses the ACC Championship to Clemson, would the Irish make the College Football Playoff?

If No. 2 Notre Dame is to run the table the remainder of this regular season and earn entry into the ACC Championship Game, likely in what would be a rematch with Clemson, would they be a certainty for the College Football Playoff?

I was scanning different bowl projections and just about everyone of them has Notre Dame making the College Football Playoff with the only controversy really being if they’d be ranked second, third or fourth in them.

And then I looked at Pete Fiutak’s Bowl Projections over at College Football News.

“Who does my guy Pete have Notre Dame playing in the Rose or Sugar Bowl,” I said to myself when I clicked his link specific to the College Football Playoff and immediately started looking for what date his piece was posted.

Fiutak has Clemson taking on Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and Alabama battling Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl as those two games serve as the pair of national semi-finals this coming New Years Day.

So where’s Notre Dame?

Pete has them playing Florida in the Orange Bowl in what goes without saying to Notre Dame fans, would be an incredible disappointment at this point.

So I quickly texted Pete and simply said:  “Orange Bowl…really!?!?”

Pete points out to me a few things to look out for that make sense as much as Notre Dame followers would despise happening:

  • Notre Dame’s three remaining road games against Boston College, North Carolina and Wake Forest are all far from cake-walks.
  • What if Notre Dame gets trucked by Clemson in the ACC Championship Game?
  • And what if Ohio State goes unbeaten like most expect them to do, and if Florida knocks off an unbeaten Alabama team in the SEC Championship?

Put all of those together and you’re looking at a nightmare scenario for Notre Dame in terms of the College Football Playoff, certainly.

But if Notre Dame is to take care of business in their final four regular season games and simply not get embarrassed in the ACC Championship Game, I don’t see another team in the country having as good of win as Notre Dame will have had over Clemson (assuming Alabama wins the SEC Championship).

And to me that is deserving of the reward of making the College Football Playoff.

If there is anything to take away from this though, it’s that as great as things seem right now the certainly is no certainty to any of it yet.

Updated list of this weekend’s cancelled/postponed college football games

The full list of the now 14 games that have been canceled or postponed in college football this weekend.

It seems like each time you refresh your Twitter feed this week there is more bad news for college football as yet another game is being cancelled or postponed.

That was the case for me as I just hit refresh as I sat down after lunch and the news of Utah and UCLA getting called-off showed up.

Add it to the ever-growing list as COVID-19 has hit college football hard this week and teams and conferences understandably proceed with the season under plenty of caution.

Here is a list of all the college football games that have been either cancelled or postponed for this weekend:

No. 1 Alabama at LSU
No. 3 Ohio State at Maryland
No. 5 Texas A&M at Tennessee
No. 12 Georgia at Missouri
No. 15 Coastal Carolina at Troy
No. 24 Auburn at Mississippi State
North Texas at UAB
Rice at Louisiana Tech
Memphis at Navy
Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech
Air Force at Wyoming
California at Arizona State
UL Monroe at Arkansas State
Utah at UCLA

14 games in total are off for this weekend as college football continues to play through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Longhorns Football: Is Urban Meyer on a collision course at Texas?

With the struggles continuing for the Texas Longhorns and Tom Herman, is Urban Meyer a realistic possibility in Austin?

The Texas Longhorns lost two-straight games heading into the bye. They lost by a combined 10 points but losses nonetheless. The unfortunate part is not having another game to prepare for this past week. Much the reason why the focus this week for good reason has been the job status of Tom Herman. Horns247 even discussed a potential replacement for Herman, no one other than his former boss. The question on their minds is can Urban Meyer win at Texas?

During his time as the athletic director at Texas, Chris Del Conte has made two major hires for the athletics department. CDC hired Mike White to take over the softball program. Connie Clark was the only coach in the history of the Longhorns softball program. Clark won 873 games dating back to 1997. Del Conte hired Mike White away from Oregon, in his first season, he led them to 41 wins and a NCAA Super Regional appearance.

White led the Ducks to back to back Women’s College World Series appearances. While he didn’t win the championship in either year, he was a proven coach. In 2020, the softball team was 24-3 and defeated the top two teams in the country before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. White has them going in the right direction.

In another personnel move, Del Conte decided to move on from women’s basketball coach Karen Aston. Instead he brought in Vic Schaefer from Mississippi State. Schaefer led his team to back-to-back NCAA runner-up finishes and an Elite Eight run. Another coach who has shown proven success, but has yet to reach the pinnacle.

It seems relatively clear that Chris Del Conte wants to create a winning culture at Texas and he is doing it with bringing in coaches who have won. Both hires have shown they know how to get to championship games. So now all eyes turn to the football team. If Herman is indeed gone at season’s end, does CDC turn to Meyer?

Does Urban Meyer meet the immediate criteria? Absolutely. He led the Utah Utes to an unbeaten season with Alex Smith at quarterback. Meyer was 22-2 at Utah with that unbeaten season in 2004 that ended with a Fiesta Bowl victory. He left for Florida and won two National Championships. He was 65-16 in six seasons at Florida. Seven years in his last stop at Ohio State. Again he won a National Championship. His final record was 83-9 record before stepping away in 2018.

Overall Meyer has won everywhere he has been with a final record of 187-32. For reference, since Mack Brown the Longhorns have lost 38 games dating back to 2014. Meyer has led his team to 10 conference championships since 2005, while Texas has won just two in that same timeframe. None of which for Texas has come since 2009.

Outside of winning football games, recruiting is another major avenue to consider. Until the 2020 class, Tom Herman has had a top 10 class. Looking at the last five years, the Longhorns average class has been 10.4 in that span. Prior to Herman, the Longhorns two classes finished as the No. 11 (2015) and No. 26 (2016) classes. The Buckeyes finished 5.4 according to a five-year study using recruiting rankings.

While recruiting hasn’t been an issue under Herman, there has been no development. Something that Meyer has harped on when doing the Big Noon Kickoff show on Fox Sports. The Longhorns have yet to have a first round pick since 2015 when Malcom Brown was selected No. 32 overall. That is one of the metrics that Meyer used when talking about a lack of development. The other schools in the top of the recruiting rankings produce plenty of NFL talent and have success on the field.

It is hard to fathom that having Meyer as the head coach wouldn’t swing recruiting into the Longhorns favor. Not in regards to just rankings, but also in the state of Texas. Winning recruiting in the state would help the school immensely. Texas has seen their talent in-state leave for Oklahoma, Ohio State, Alabama, etc. It would be a way to win in-state. During his time at Utah, Meyer was able to win without top tier talent as his recruiting classes were never higher than 60th.

According to a Rival’s article on Urban Meyer, he averaged a recruiting ranking of 3.66. Which means that he signs an average class of fourth or better each year. Meyer also singed a top three class nine times and 35 five-star prospects. Put him in Texas which is a major pipeline for talent and that likely continues.

The big question surrounding Urban has everything to do with off the field issues. He stepped away for health concerns more than once. While that needs to be taken into consideration, as a coach he gets results on the field. When it comes to top coaches available at this point, Meyer is the big fish. He was linked to the Dallas Cowboys job before they hired Mike McCarthy.

That gives the inclination that he in fact does want to come back to coaching. With Chris Ash already on the staff, he would likely remain as Meyer has spoke glowingly about him at every opportunity. Whether or not Meyer gets an opportunity to interview for the job, he seems to fit what Del Conte wants at head coach.

There is still time for Tom Herman to quiet these rumors but he needs to make a run at the Big 12 Championship. That likely means winning six-straight games and that starts with Baylor on Oct. 24 hopefully.

Former Notre Dame linebacker finds new home

Jordan Genmark Heath has found his next stop for after he earns his degree at Notre Dame this November.

As the 2020 football season started it was thought that Notre Dame linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath would be in the running for a starting spot but that did not end up being the case by the end of fall camp.

As a result, Genmark Heath decided that he wouldn’t play at Notre Dame this fall and instead finish his degree this November before finishing his collegiate football career elsewhere.

We now know where that elsewhere is and Genmark Heath will again be wearing blue and gold.

Just a different shade of blue.

Genmark Heath recorded 41 tackles in three seasons at Notre Dame with one of those being for a loss.

All the best at UCLA and in future endevours to the San Diego product.

Does Florida loss mean SEC dream of two CFP teams is dead?

If you’re an SEC fan and want two teams in the playoff you better start rooting for chaos everywhere else. 

When No. 4 Florida failed to hold on to their lead at Texas A&M today the Gators suffered their first defeat of the season alth bough it wasn’t a massive upset by any means, it certainly has an affect on what the College Football Playoff is shaping up to look like.

Although it isn’t as simple as “_______’s path to the playoff just got a lot easier” it certainly got a help this afternoon.

What we learned is that the defense that failed to impress in Florida’s first two games against Ole Miss and South Carolina was a disaster, specifically as the game went on in College Station.

But Florida is still plenty talented, especially on offense to be able to win the SEC East.

What it means is that if the SEC East Champion ends the regular season with a loss, that it’s going to be incredibly difficult to see the league get two teams in the College Football Playoff.

Take this into account:

Regardless of how Tennessee/Georgia ends, one will have one loss.  Both will still have Alabama on their schedules this fall which to me, appears to be the best team in the nation.

Florida also now having a loss and despite avoiding Alabama in the regular season, would still likely have to go through the Tide in the SEC Championship Game.

The SEC West being down in terms of having a second real force doesn’t allow for an epic Alabama/LSU showdown like a year ago.

What today’s loss likely does, assuming things go according to plan (which is almost never the case in college football as a whole), is very likely eliminates the SEC from getting two teams in the CFP.

That is again, assuming Alabama doesn’t lose to either Georgia or Tennessee in the regular season, something we’ll know the answer to in each of the next two weeks.

If you’re an SEC fan and want two teams in the playoff you better start rooting for chaos everywhere else.  The Big 12 being a bust so far helps but there is a long row to hoe to get back on track for two.

And that is great news for literally everyone that’s a fan of a school not from the SEC.

COVID-19 still running rampant in College Football

A team from the Big XII and a coach from a different team in the conference has made adjustments due to positive COVID-19 cases.

If you didn’t think that there would be issues with COVID-19 during the college football season, you’ve been in a cave for the last 8 months. Obviously the Irish have had their issues, but they’re not alone. Just today, Baylor of the Big XII has suspended all of their football activities.

This was the second time Baylor has had to shut it down. They weren’t the only ones to announce a COVID-19 related issue, Kansas’ head coach Les Miles tested positive.

While it was “good timing” for Miles with Kansas on a bye week, it’s still obviously a big issue. Mike Norvell, who will be across the sidelines this weekend from the Irish, was the first major coach to catch the virus.

The SEC’s commissioner Greg Sankey, for the second week in a row, warned teams of fines and bans if they didn’t follow the leagues protocols. Multiple coaches in the SEC haven’t been wearing their masks at appropriate times.

Go check out any major networks website and look at the headlines. Five of ESPN’s 6 top stories in college football are COVID-19 related.

More than 20 games have been impacted by COVID-19, either cancelling or postponing. With no vaccine coming in the near future, what can you expect going forward? There will be additional games to feel the wrath of the global pandemic. It’s just the reality of the situation.

Hell, the Big Ten and Pac-12 flip flopped their fall season decisions and now could they be questioning their return? I bet Big Ten commish Kevin Warren is.

Brian Kelly has been through it firsthand and it has been difficult. Seeing other teams go through similar situations really gives you perspective of the situation. Unfortunately this is what teams will have to battle throughout this season. Don’t be surprised to continue to see more coaches quarantined and programs suspending football related activities.

College Football Playoff Committee rejects proposal for playoff expansion

The College Football Playoff Committee has rejected the Pac-12 proposal for playoff expansion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(This story was originally published on Longhorns Wire.)

The idea of a College Football Playoff expansion has been a hot topic of discussion in the last several years. Under the current model, only four teams get a shot at the National Champion each year. There are two semifinal games with the winners meeting 10 days later to decide a champion. In the current climate with conferences playing a different number of games, some starting later than others it would be perfect situation to test the waters.

However, Heather Dinich of ESPN is reporting that the committee squashed the idea. At least this year. In her report, one Power Five commissioner pitched the idea of an eight-team playoff.

“They decided that doing that now would be such a significant change, and come with so many challenges, especially given the timing with the season already underway, that they concluded that the best outcome would be to make no changes in the format,” Hancock told ESPN. “They will continue to discuss the future, which is just good, responsible business practice, although I must say that dealing with COVID has become everyone’s focus now.”

While it is a valid point that it might be a bit late in the game this year for expansion, it should have already been on the docket for discussion. As it sits right now, most projections have Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Florida as the playoff teams for this season. The Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences aren’t starting their season until late October.

Due to the fact that there are little to no nonconference games, the ability to pick which teams will make it is a difficult one. Expansion would only help those teams who were just on the outside. Maybe a team like Central Florida who has run the table before but not received a fair shake due to the Power Five schools at the top.

As Stanford head coach David Shaw stated, it is going to happen at some point. So maybe there is hope for next season but for now it will move forward with just four teams in 2020.

College Football Playoff to remain 4 teams

Even in these strange times during this odd season we aren’t going to see expansion to the College Football Playoff.

Despite a plea from the Pac-12 the College Football Playoff won’t be expanding beyond four teams for the 2020 season.

That news came out Wednesday afternoon after Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott suggested the move for this season.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports was among the first to report the news and in his piece released on Wednesday, gave the following information:

CFP sources told CBS Sports that Scott merely “mentioned” expansion in terms of asking, “Is this something we should consider?” during a call with the committee. The discussion among the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was not contentious.

Well at least everyone is getting along and not getting contentious so that part is good.

I’m usually the most anti-expansion person when it comes to postseasons in sports.  Whether it’s the NCAA Tournament, the Major League Baseball or NFL playoffs, I don’t like the idea of more teams having a shot at a title.

Except in this case.

How are we supposed to judge the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, SEC, and Big 12 against each other if they don’t play anyone from the other Power Five conferences?

I know the Big 12 has looked awful against the powerhouse Sun Belt but are we supposed to just say if Texas goes unbeaten that they don’t deserve a shot because the conference schedule they played wasn’t strong?

Or are we going to say that Ohio State, the team seen as the best in the nation before the year doesn’t get a shot after a possible unbeaten regular season?

I’m usually against expanding playoffs but in this case we have no real way to fairly do this.  In this strange season I’m against the decision to stay at just four teams getting in.

A problem we can save for another time is if we think these CFP games are actually going to be played on the dates their currently set to play on.

Former star Notre Dame commit gives pledge to USC

Notre Dame received bad news late last week when Philip Riley, Jr. announced he was no longer committed. That news only got worse on Monday.

Notre Dame received tough news last week in regards to their future when defensive back in the 2021 recruiting class, Philip Riley, Jr. announced that he was no longer committed to the Fighting Irish.

If that news could manage to get worse, it certainly found it’s way how on Monday when Riley announced he’s now committed to USC.

Riley is graded a four-star prospect by all of the major recruiting outlets and gives the Trojans a boost in their already solid class.

Riley becomes the 19th commitment in the 2021 class for USC.  Rivals currently ranks the USC class as the fifth best in the nation while 247Sports puts them eighth.