Tag: Pete Thamel

Report: Thursday’s SEC coaches call became contentious

Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel reported that at least 5 SEC coaches have shown frustration with the league about new schedule. Details here

According to Yahoo Sports college football reporter Pete Thamel, at least five SEC coaches are frustrated with how the SEC chose the two additional opponents added to each team’s conference-only schedule released last week.

So much so, that in a call between the SEC and coaches on Thursday, sources stated the conversation became contentious.

The SEC’s revised 2020 schedule included two additional SEC opponents  added to each team’s schedule and some programs seemed to benefit more than others.

For example, Georgia added Arkansas and Mississippi State from the West, while Missouri added LSU and Alabama.

Missouri, new coach and all, will have to face two of the top-five programs in the country on top of eight more league games.

The rest of the schedules – besides maybe Arkansas who added Georgia and Florida from the East – are mostly balanced, so It will be interesting to see if reports of contention between the league and its coaches escalate or if things are stifled right before play starts in September.

 

SEC coaches express frustration over lack of transparency, per sources

The beef seemingly stems from the selection process for the 2 non-divisional teams assigned to each school to fill out the 10-game schedule.

All is not well in the land of the Southeastern Conference as the league continues to sort out how it will handle playing its football schedule amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic.

National college football reporter Pete Thamel for Yahoo! Sports tweeted the following on Friday afternoon.

“Sources: The SEC coaches call on Thursday became contentious. At least five SEC coaches expressed frustration over the lack of transparency regarding the inability to produce a “formula” for how the two additional league opponents were chosen.”

The beef, it seems, stems from the selection process for the two non-divisional teams assigned to each school to fill out the 10-game schedule. Apparently, based on what Thamel reported on Twitter, the protocol — or lack thereof — led to a situation where the picks were made arbitrarily, rather than using a “formula” that would evenly distribute the teams.

So far, it appears that the SEC is on track to conduct its conference-only season but nothing has been set in stone just yet. The news of in-fighting within the conference certainly puts an added wrinkle to the uncertainty surrounding Florida’s, the SEC’s and the nation’s college football season this fall.

Answering five major questions facing Florida Gators fans

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Report: Big Ten presidents meeting Saturday, fall sports cancelation still on the table

All options are on the table, including cancellation, according to Yahoo!’s Pete Thamel.

Big Ten football this fall is not a full go.

According to Yahoo!’s Pete Thamel, the presidents of Big Ten universities are meeting today to discuss how to proceed with fall sports during the COVID-19 pandemic, with all options on the table.

As Thamel says, momentum is gaining for canceling the fall football season. Earlier Saturday the presidents of the Mid American Conference voted unanimously to cancel fall sports with the plan to move them all to the spring.

While this news is less than comforting to those wanting football this fall, a full cancelation doesn’t seem imminent according to the AP’s Ralph Russo and ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.

So while a decision to scrap the Big Ten season today seems unlikely, there is clearly still concern about playing football this fall at the highest levels of the Big Ten’s 14 members.

The conference has also announced that football practices will not stay on their traditional timeline of a two-day ramp up period to full padded practices. Right now football will be practiced in helmets and shorts for the foreseeable future.

Many Big Ten teams, including Michigan State, began fall camp on Friday. Rutgers is still in a two-week quarantine due to a large COVID-19 outbreak on their team. Northwestern was just cleared to resume workouts after a positive test in their ranks was determined to be a false positive.

We will have more on this story was it develops.

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25 Bold and Downright Insane Predictions for the Auburn, SEC Football Season

The 2020 college football season is already going to be weird so let’s predict some bold and insane things that could happen.

It is already going to be a weird season of college football, so let’s just go ahead and get crazy. Mascot-on-mascot violence? Sure. Coaches losing their minds? Absolutely. Gary Danielson not mentioning Alabama during a SEC on CBS broadcast? Well, we aren’t at that point yet, but I say we celebrate the upcoming season with a look at some things that could possibly but hardly likely to come true in 2020.

MORE: What Auburn’s SEC only 2020 football schedule could look like

Yes, it is that time again for some wackiness so let’s go ahead and list 25 bold and, some would say, downright insane predictions for both the Auburn and SEC football season. Ready? Ready.

  1. Bo Nix will release his much awaited debut rap album titled “Nix’in and Fix’in It.” He will forget to thank his five offensive lineman for their contributions to the album, especially the song “Blocking is Only For The Strong,” resulting in Nix being sacked a record 25 times against LSU.
  2. Also mad about not being included on Nix’s album, Seth Williams will start tipping passes into the air or, as they sometimes call it, the “Georgia secondary method.”
  3. Gus Malzahn will refuse to come out of his dressing room after accidentally being told that his beloved Dubble Bubble gum has been replaced with a cheaper knockoff.
  4. Auburn’s running backs will have no leg strength after doing nothing but leg lifts for six hours after new offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. insults “those puny calves that look like a baby.” Also, in this scenario, Bicknell talks like Hans and Franz from the old Saturday Night Live skit. Look it up, kids.
  5. In a moment of whimsy, Nick Saban will go for the lighter blonde hair coloring instead of the darker version … errr, not that he colors his hair or anything. All natural. 
  6. Struggling to put away Kentucky in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Malzahn will employ the secret Jared Harper package at quarterback with the actual Harper taking the snaps. The Wildcats will immediately melt down as the Tigers win by 28.
  7. Anthony Schwartz, feeling unchallenged in track, will challenge a live cheetah to a 100-yard dash. Sensing a predator in the area, the eagles will circle the stadium and attack the cheetah at precisely the same time, resulting in the worst massacre on the field since Brodie Croyle visited in 2006.
  8. Sensing the job security that usually comes with winning a national title, Ed Orgeron will decide to coach via Zoom from a remote island that will be undisclosed. It will turn out that he is actually just bathing in Mike the Tiger’s habitat. 
  9. Following the first victory of the season, Chad Morris will be seen hyperventilating beneath the stadium, overwhelmed by the accomplishment of winning a SEC game.
  10. The season ticket holders in Section 13 will sign a petition asking for the name of the section to be changed as 13 is an unlucky number. Auburn officials will perform the ultimate troll by renaming it Section 2020.
  11. In a moment of hysteria, Associate Athletic Director/Communications Kirk Sampson will announce that he and only he will be answering the media’s questions following games. He will then spend 15 minutes rambling about deep dish pizza. 
  12. Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin, forgetting that the Egg Bowl was to be played the next day, have to hire a private charter plane to get back to Mississippi from Key West where they were last seen closing down Flying Monkeys.
  13. Anders Carlson will mock Alabama by kicking field goals barefooted and blindfolded while drinking a cup of hot tea.
  14. Charles Barkley will show up in President Jay Gogue’s box and accidentally call him Dr. Leath. In a moment of irony, it will be Barkley that is thrown out a plate glass window.
  15. Texas A&M’s “12th Man” will be down to nine after three fall ill from a case of preseason hype. The only cure is a mixture of disappointing losses and telling Texas that its song sounds like hell.
  16. Dan Mullen will suddenly retire and take the job he was born to have: a salesman at a Mercedes dealership in South Florida. He WILL sell you on the platinum package, just a deal between you and him.
  17. Patrick Nix will break the record for most shots of a dad in the crowd, formerly held by Archie Manning.
  18. Tired of Auburn settling for a field goal after reaching the red zone, The Voice of the Auburn Tigers Andy Burcham will release a tirade that includes such dirty words as “shucks” and “dang.” 
  19. Listening to Gary Danielson call a game for the first time, Tua Tagovailoa will think, “Man, that man needs to shut up about me.”
  20. Smoke Monday will return an interception for a touchdown and then disappear into a literal cloud of smoke, landing him the starring role in the sequel to The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.
  21. Georgia will once again fail to win its first national title since 1980. This is neither bold or insane.
  22. Will Muschamp will finally snap for good, interrupting a game by punting the ball into the stands, sacking his own quarterback and escaping the scene via one of the cabooses parked outside the stadium. 
  23. Big Kat Bryant will be forced to change his name after Carole Baskin mistakes him for competition and orders a hit on him. Not that she would ever do that. (Wink! Wink!) Wow. Tiger King feels so long ago.
  24. The 2010 National Championship team will be welcomed back at halftime of the LSU game. Pete Thamel will immediately write that the ceremony is an insult to the game of football, nay, the entire world.
  25. Auburn fans will take a loss in measure, seeing that it is only a game and won’t flood message boards and radio call-in shows with “Gus needs to be fired and now!” rants and will definitely not spread rumors about Bob Stoops hiring a realtor in the area because a friend who knows a friend’s brother’s cousin heard it over drinks at The Hound. Nope. That won’t happen at all.

Is Notre Dame the ACC’s Plus One as Yahoo Sports’ Thamel Suggests?

The newest report from Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel suggests that the Irish could join the ACC for the 2020 season.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 making their decisions to play a conference-only schedule for the 2020 season, the logical choice for the Irish is to join the ACC. With six games already scheduled against ACC competition and a relationship outside of football, Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel’s report makes it seem like the most likely scenario.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick told ESPN’s Heather Dinich that he would like to see the season delayed. It looks like that could very well be the case as Thamel is reporting the ACC is debating a later start date. Swarbrick also wanted a shorter season, one that has 8-10 games, the other portion of Thamel’s report of what could be in store for Notre Dame Football in 2020.

If this is the case, then the schedule would take off the SEC’s Arkansas along with the MAC’s Western Michigan. That would leave Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Duke, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Louisville to face off against the Irish this year. Miami has said they would welcome a match-up with the Irish, in what is building up to be one of the oddest college football seasons possibly ever.

We are all awaiting an announcement of what might happen this year as more conferences make their intentions known, the Irish would hate to be left out of a season. Joining the ACC for the 2020 campaign makes the most sense, and it looks like that is going to be a reality, for hopefully just this year.

Yahoo!: “Only medical miracle can save college football”

College football playing at all this fall is feeling less likely by the day. Pete Thamel of Yahoo detailed why earlier on Monday.

If you’ve noticed on this site I have paused the countdown on “days remaining until Notre Dame football returns” posts.  The reason for that is because of advice a neighbor offered me at the start of this pandemic we’re all living through.

That neighbor enlightened me over coffee on the driveway one Sunday morning to the Stockdale Paradox, something I previously knew nothing about.

Since we’ve seen the recent outbreaks of COVID-19 in the southeast, Texas, California and plenty of other places nationally I’ve been trying to really limit my excitement for the chance of college football going off this fall, just to avoid the potential disappointment.

Pete Thamel’s column on Yahoo today only poured more water on my withering flame of hope for college football in 2020.  It’s well-worth reading in full but he puts pen to paper on things I’ve fairly certain we’ve all been thinking for quite some time.

Some highlights:

  • With the MLS struggling in a supposed bubble, MLB officials botching the testing portion of its return and an increasing amount of pessimism about the prospect of an NFL season, only a medical miracle can save college football this fall.
  • Here’s the cruel truth about how college football leaders approached football this fall: The entirety of their plan to return was based on hope. Hope that the COVID-19 would go away. Hope that college campuses wouldn’t be a petri dish for the virus. Hope that they could figure out a way to play a contact sport in a time of mandatory social distancing. Hope for a vaccine to keep players healthy and seats full.
  • “Ultimately, no one is playing football in the fall,” said a high-ranking college official. “It’s just a matter of how it unfolds. As soon one of the ‘autonomy five’ or Power Five conferences makes a decision, that’s going to end it.”

There is plenty more in there and that’s why its worth reading in full but obviously a pretty picture is not being painted right now, not that it comes as a surprise to anyone who has opened a newspaper or turned on the news in the last couple weeks.

I’ll stay wishful that something changes and that miracle comes, giving us a lot more than just college football this fall, but I’m certainly not optimistic.

 

 

Report: NCAA to allow voluntary football, basketball workouts

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, the NCAA voted Wednesday to allow athletes back on campus. Dates and details here

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, the NCAA voted Wednesday to allow athletes back on campus starting June 1 for voluntary football and basketball workouts.

Thamel wrote:

“An NCAA vote Wednesday cleared the return of student-athletes to campus in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball on June 1 through June 30, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports.”

The decision ends the COVID-19 lock-down on athletic activities on campuses through May 31 and is, though just a small step towards normalcy, great news for sports fans and athletes around the country.

Sources reportedly told Yahoo Sports that the Division 1 council will vote on other sports besides football and basketball as soon as possible.

As far as testing procedures, it will be up to the individual school’s and state’s procedures and guidelines, according to Yahoo Sports’ sources.

“It will be up to the schools and political decision-makers to develop protocols on the tests, which cost approximately $100 each,” Thamel added. ““No one wants to get into that,” said a source. “They want to leave it to your own campus and state.””

The 2020 college football season is set to begin August 29 and Georgia football is scheduled to start its season in Atlanta versus Virginia on Sept. 7. What that will look like remains to be known. Last week, NCAA President Mark Emmert said:

“All of the commissioners and every president that I’ve talked to is in clear agreement: If you don’t have students on campus, you don’t have student-athletes on campus. That doesn’t mean [the school] has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. … If a school doesn’t reopen, then they’re not going to be playing sports. It’s really that simple.”

If the season does go on, most likely there will be a very limited number of people involved and judging by Emmert’s comments and the NBA’s reported plan of resuming their season without fans, we could also see a start to the football season without people in attendance.

Urban Meyer’s son Nate walks on to Cincinnati football program

Luke Fickell told Pete Thamel that Urban Meyer’s son Nate has joined the Cincinnati program as a walk-on and wants to pursue coaching.

Like father like son — sort of. Urban Meyer’s son Nate, who was already a scholarship athlete with the Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team, has reportedly switched sports and joined the football program as a walk-on. Bearcats’s head coach Luke Fickell told Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports that he wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a coach.

He has also switched his major from business to psychology, which is the same major Urban had. Many have pointed to that background as a key in his ability to motivate players and teams throughout his career.

From Thamel:

He’s switching sports to better prepare himself for his goal of becoming a college football coach, as he’s hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Nate Meyer will be a junior in the fall and has already begun taking part in Zoom calls with the Bearcats wide receivers. Fickell said that special teams likely looms as his best chance to contribute.

Nate Meyer is looking forward to the experience to help him on his coaching path.

“Dad, I made a decision. I changed my major to psychology like you were and I want to be a football coach,” Urban Meyer said with a laugh by phone on Wednesday. “I thought, ‘Oh boy.’”

Nate Meyer said his father has been supportive and excited about the move. His mother, Shelley, was a bit more hesitant. Nate Meyer also joins his brother-in-law, Ohio State quarterback coach Corey Dennis, in the family profession. “Oh, God,” Nate Meyer said, recalling his mother’s reaction. “There’s another one going on this path.”

Nate could often be seen on the sidelines with his father before, during, and after football games Urban was coaching at Ohio State. He’s grown up with the game being a part of the family, and there’s obviously a dream there he wants to try and pursue. We say good on you Nate.

We’ll have to keep an eye on how this all transpires down at Cincinnati and beyond. If he’s gotten anything from his dad as far as competitiveness and drive, look out football world.

Notre Dame’s Swarbrick on College Football in 2020

Swarbrick also goes on to say the next “mile marker” to have an idea as to when students may return to campus will come when a decision is made on if those taking summer classes will actually be on campus or if they’ll all be done online.

Notre Dame athletic director is quoted Wednesday night in Pete Thamel’s most recent piece about whether or not there will be college football in 2020.  The Yahoo! Sports reporter gets quotes from other administrators but states the most important thing that needs to happen before we can even begin to think there will be college football as we know it this fall:

But for those looking for hints of hope for college football’s return, they should start with the clearance for students to return to campus.

Thamel and Yahoo! reached out to a dozen different administrators nationwide, Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick being one of them.

Swarbrick points out the mixed messages of telling students to stay home and athletes to come to campus if the conditions don’t abate.

“It’d be very hard to do,” Swarbrick said. “There’s a liability. Some of the dynamics of the game being what they are. The nature of it is such that there’s significant risks.”

Swarbrick also goes on to say the next “mile marker” to have an idea as to when students may return to campus will come when a decision is made on if those taking summer classes will actually be on campus or if they’ll all be done online.  For what it’s worth, earlier this week Ohio State announced they were moving all of their in-person summer classes to only being online.

Swarbrick is also quoted at the end of the piece with the following:

“Nothing quite matches the unique issues that are created by the activity being integrated into an academic institution,” Swarbrick said. “There’s nothing like it in other sports.”

The whole piece is worth reading if you’ve got a few minutes to spare (again, link is posted in the first paragraph here).  Until we start to see students showing up on campuses around the nation we aren’t going to see players suiting up.  It’s kind of common sense but makes a lot more sense the more you think about it.

Former Brian Kelly Player is Notre Dame’s New DB Coach

Mike Mickens played under Kelly at Cincinnati and was a seventh round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys after suffering a knee injury his senior year.

The long wait for Notre Dame football is over as the search to find Todd Lyght’s replacement as Defensive Backs Coach appears to have ended.

According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports, Lyght’s replacement comes in the form of a former Brian Kelly player.

Mike Mickens played under Kelly at Cincinnati and was a seventh round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys after suffering a knee injury his senior year.

He has spent time coaching defensive backs at at Idaho and Indiana State before getting the corner back coaching job at Bowling Green from 2013-17.

He was then hired by Luke Fickell at Cincinnati where he spent the last two seasons.