Tag: Pat Forde

SI columnist Pat Forde criticizes Mullen over ‘pack The Swamp’ comments

Sports Illustrated columnist Pat Forde criticizes Florida’s Mullen over ‘pack The Swamp’ comments after the loss to Texas A&M last weekend.

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Dan Mullen’s comments after Saturday’s loss to Texas A&M, in which he said that he would like to see Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at full capacity, have certainly garnered some national attention.

Sports Illustrated columnist Pat Forde took Mullen to task Monday for his postgame rant.

SECOND QUARTER: TRANSLATING THE LANGUAGE OF A SORE LOSER

When Dan Mullen (11) started his postgame press conference following Florida’s upset loss to Texas A&M, he said the strangest things. He started talking about attendance—and not in response to a question. He went there on his own, traipsing down a well-worn path in college sports—the Sore Loser Trail.

Let’s look at what Mullen said, and then translate what he meant.

What he said: “It was a great day of football, great atmosphere out there. Crowd was certainly a factor in the game, I will certainly say that. I know our governor [Rick DeSantis] passed that rule, so certainly hopefully our university administration decides to let us pack The Swamp for LSU next week. One-hundred percent, because that crowd was a major factor in the game, so I certainly hope our university administration follows our governor, that we’re allowed to pack The Swamp, that we have 90,000 in The Swamp to have the home-field advantage that Texas A&M had today.”

What he meant: I am supremely ticked off that we lost, and I’m going to deflect the reason why we lost. Ask me about the game, I’ll talk about the A&M crowd. And because we have suffered the most horrific of all misfortunes here in 2020—LOSING A FOOTBALL GAME—it is 100% reasonable to try to browbeat our university into tossing aside all of its virus protocols to help us avoid this calamitous event happening again. Public health guidelines only matter until they cost us in the SEC East race. If I say the word “certainly” four times, you know I’m serious.

But Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wanted to make sure. So he followed up on Mullen’s “Pack The Swamp” comment, and the coach doubled down.

What Mullen said: “I absolutely want to see 90,000 in The Swamp. The section behind our bench, I didn’t see an empty seat. It was packed. The entire student section must have been 50,000 people behind our bench going crazy. Hopefully that creates a home-field advantage for us next week because now we passed a law in our state that we can do that. I want to see our students out there cheering us on, giving us that advantage.”

What Mullen meant: Texas A&M announced a crowd of less than 25,000 and they’re lying through their teeth. They’re breaking whatever public gathering rules are in place around here, and it’s no fair. Because, again, it contributed to us LOSING A FOOTBALL GAME. Yeah, we gave up 41 points, but I’m going to attribute this loss to crowd noise at a place with a capacity of nearly 103,000. And when I say I didn’t see an empty seat, I’m exaggerating like crazy because everyone watching on TV could see empty seats. But I’m trying to use our governor as leverage to create our own superspreader event in hopes that it maybe lures LSU into a couple of false-start penalties next week.

Fortunately for fans of public health, Mullen’s “Pack The Swamp” movement died a quick death. Athletic director Scott Stricklin (12) said the school will continue to follow its campus health guidelines. School president Kent Fuchs (13) also weighed in on the subject Sunday. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey (14), who sent out a memo last week raising the possibility of monetary fines for schools that don’t comply with in-game health protocols, assuredly was not in love with Mullen’s comments, either. And the state’s NFL franchises have completely ignored DeSantis’s ridiculous declaration that they could fill their stadiums.

Florida has recorded 693 COVID-19 deaths in the last week, according to The New York Times, the most of any state in America. Maybe this isn’t the right time to “pack The Swamp.”

All that said: Mullen’s veiled assertion that Texas A&M is putting more fans in Kyle Field (15) than it’s letting on is an interesting one. Some people have wondered the same thing about Georgia and Sanford Stadium (16), although in both cases the speculation seems to be based on little more than guesstimates based on video and photographs.

But it is a clear sign of these strange times that a sport that has perennially been known for actively inflating attendance figures might now be deflating them.

That heat has only ramped up since Florida’s game against LSU, which was previously scheduled to occur in Gainesville this weekend, was postponed to Oct. 12 after an outbreak of COVID-19 on Florida’s team that left 21 players with positive cases.

Mullen’s comments were likely little more than frustration following a loss in which his team’s defense struggled mightily, but they brought poor optics on the program, especially given the way events have unfolded in the last several days.

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BREAKING: Notre Dame President Jenkins Tests Positive for COVID-19

The ongoing pandemic now is affecting the top of the most prominent institution in South Bend, Indiana.

The ongoing pandemic now is affecting the top of the most prominent institution in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame’s President, the Rev. John Jenkins, has tested positive for COVID-19. Without going too much into Jenkins’ recent activities, this tweet and accompanying email sums it all up:

A day ahead of this news, Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated wrote about how Notre Dame has not done well leading the way with the virus. Forde particularly signaled out Jenkins and Brian Kelly. It’s almost as if he could see this coming only a short time out.

We have kept tabs on Notre Dame news related to COVID-19 from the moment it first affected the university. During the current school year, several unpleasant experiences have been reported by infected students. Now, we have the perfect metaphor for what’s been going on there.

We should be far past the point of knowing this virus is not going away anytime soon. It can’t be said enough:  Wash your hands, social distance, don’t touch your face, and above all, wear a mask. We have more than enough evidence to show what can happen if you don’t. It’s time to follow the science.

Notre Dame Football: Irish high in SI’s ‘Still Standing 16’

Sports Illustrated has adjusted their preseason rankings to a ‘Still Standing 16’, Just how high did Notre Dame end up? Find out here…

As the college football world adjusts to almost half the teams in FBS not playing this fall, we continue to adjust rankings nation-wide.

Earlier this week the Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY announced that they were changing the way they went about business, making only coaches of teams playing this fall eligible to vote.

Earlier today we discussed a USA TODAY writer who went and ranked all 76 FBS teams that are playing football this fall, and how he had Notre Dame fifth.

Now Sports Illustrated has changed things up, going away from the traditional ranking of 25 teams and instead coming up with their own “Still Standing 16“.

In those rankings Notre Dame checked in at number six, as Pat Forde said the following about the 2020 Fighting Irish:

The Fighting Irish won at least 10 games for the third straight season in 2019, for only the second time in school history. While that’s partly an accounting trick (they played fewer games during the olden days), it’s also a testament to what coach Brian Kelly has constructed in his decade at South Bend. Notre Dame might not be winning national titles, but the program is consistently relevant. 

Continuing the current run could hinge on a new crop of skill-position talent. Among the returnees no running back had 50 carries last season, and no receiver caught a dozen passes. The Irish have intriguing freshman options (TE Michael Mayer, WR Jordan Johnson, RB Chris Tyree), but those players are coming in behind schedule. At least senior QB Ian Book will be operating behind a very good, very experienced line.

Third-year coordinator Clark Lea is a coaching star in the making, having produced the school’s two best scoring defenses since 2012. He’s retooling a bit, but senior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (80 tackles, 5 1/2 sacks, four passes broken up) is a high-impact centerpiece. —P.F

In their rankings, Sports Illustrated included three Notre Dame opponents in their 16 with Clemson first, North Carolina 14th and Florida State 15th, the highest we’ve seen the Seminoles.

For the entire rankings and quick write-ups on all 16 teams, you can check out the Sports Illustrated link here.

College football’s 2020 bleakness continues to grow

The bleakness surrounding college football taking place in 2020 is swelling at an incredible rate this Saturday afternoon.

I hate having to type this as the news and reports that have come out in the last 24 hours paint a very somber picture for the chances of college football actually being played this fall.

NCAA President Mark Emmert gave a grim outlook on college football Friday night.

On Saturday morning the MAC announced they were cancelling all fall sports, including football for the fall.

And now we’ve got countless different college football and athletic reporters passing information along from their unique sources just how bleak the season starting in just a month appears to be.

This from Brett McMurphy of Stadium, who has broken several big-time college football stories before:

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated has heard similar things as McMurphy:

Ross Dellinger of Sports Illustrated has followed up with his sources in regards to the information Forde provided and he’s hearing more of the same:

I could put tweets up here all day but I’m not sure that would do anybody any good.

College football seems to be hanging by it’s last strand of having even the most remote of chances of being played this fall.

By no means are any of these reports official yet, but it’s certainly starting to feel like a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ they are.

Forde: Trump’s Poor COVID-19 Response Has Put 2020 Season in Jeopardy

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated has blamed President Donald Trump’s handling of COVID-19 for the 2020 college football season at risk.

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated has blamed President Donald Trump’s handling of COVID-19 for the 2020 college football season at risk. In a column published Thursday, Forde laid out how Trump has approached everything related to the pandemic since it began. The result is no packed stadiums at best and no season at all at worst. That’s not good for a President who has major support in areas where college football reigns supreme.

This column came out shortly after the NCAA released its latest report on resocialization of collegiate sport. A graphic in that report highlighted how far off the U.S. is from the downward trajectory that was projected when the NCAA began conversations about restarting sports at the end of April. That same graphic showed how much Europe, Canada and Japan have flattened the curve by comparison.

College athletics across the board are being forced to decide whether to let their student-athletes assume the risk if they want or to save those student-athletes from themselves. Fall sports, one of which happens to be responsible for the revenue that trickles down everywhere else, could not have been put in a more precarious situation. Many fingers, including that of Forde, are being pointed at Trump, while others blame Americans who have refused to sacrifice enough or anything in the name of keeping all of their personal freedoms. Whoever is responsible, what we’re seeing now is the result of four months of gross mismanagement all over the country.

What Revamped 2020 Season Could Mean for Notre Dame’s Independence

With all the talk about college football teams only playing conference games for a shortened 2020, Notre Dame is back at the forefront.

With all the talk about college football teams only playing conference games for a shortened 2020, Notre Dame is back at the forefront. The Irish and their fans take a lot of pride in the program’s independence, and if you asked most people who align themselves with the program, they wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, why would they ever admit that Michigan was right to deny them admission into the Big Ten?

But as Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated points out, the COVID-19 pandemic will create new issues and reignite old ones, namely whether the Irish should bite the bullet and join a conference. Although Notre Dame is not the only independent Football Bowl Subdivision program, it’s the only one regularly discussed as a College Football Playoff contender. To other fans, it’s not fair that their team has to devote most of its schedule to the same opponents every year while the Irish can play whoever they want and still get a seat at the head table if the committee deems them worthy.

The best solution for the Irish would be for the FBS to adopt the “conference-only, plus-one” model that athletic director Jack Swarbrick has talked about. That would almost certainly ensure that Notre Dame plays the same number of games as everyone else. Besides, everyone and their grandmother knows any game involving the Irish means greater exposure for their opponents.

Forde breaks down the Irish’s current 2020 schedule and what every game’s fate could be. Navy and the six ACC opponents should be safe, as should the Shamrock Series game with Wisconsin and the one involving Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference. Arkansas also is scheduled to play in South Bend, but would an SEC team want to play its only nonconference game on the road? Meanwhile, the Pac-12 has discussed its teams only playing within the conference, which could spell trouble for the annual games against Stanford and USC.

Whatever happens, Notre Dame’s football independence might be more contentious than ever. But even the most ardent Irish haters have to admit that without them, the overall college football brand would suffer greatly. Plus, it’s unlikely the university will have wanted to give away scholarships for nothing, even if it decided to honor them without the reason these particular students came to South Bend. The only thing to do is set up an abbreviated schedule in way that gives independent programs the same number of games as everyone else.

It’s really simple:  If there’s no Notre Dame, there’s no college football. Period.

Notre Dame’s Highest “Top Early Top 25” Ranking We’ve Seen

The Irish also come in one spot behind Florida who is fresh-off an Orange Bowl victory and 11-2 season.

We tend to react when national college voices weigh in on Notre Dame gets mentioned, whether it’s good or bad.

This week you’ve seen us post a few different “Too Early Top 25” rankings that various college football writers have offered.  We reacted to one by considering firing it into the sun while the other we dissected, we pretty much fell in line with.

Now we have one that has ranked Notre Dame higher than any we’ve seen this week.

From Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde:

9. Notre Dame

There are two attractive but difficult additions to the schedule: Clemson at home and Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Those are in addition to games at USC and Pittsburgh. But with Ian Book and most of the offensive line returning, Brian Kelly has some building blocks. There are a lot of good players to replace on defense. The recruiting consistency of the Fighting Irish will come into play there.

Notre Dame coming in at nine placed them a spot ahead of national champion LSU which may come as a shock to some.  The Irish also come in one spot behind Florida who is fresh-off an Orange Bowl victory and 11-2 season.

Three 2020 Notre Dame opponents show up on the list with Clemson being top-rated in the nation and Wisconsin checking in at 13 and USC at 16.  Simple logic leads you to understand why the November 7 showdown with Clemson could very easily be the biggest game at Notre Dame Stadium since The Game of the Century versus Florida State in 1993.