All Activity

I could not have said it better myself. Thank You.

Williams and the Williams family retreated when UW promised to sue to uphold the contract he signed, and after his agent dumped him. The Judge in the Duke case ruled that Duke had to put the QB in the portal, but has yet to rule on whether he will grant another preliminary injunction to allow him to sign with another team, or if he does sign, whether his NIL money is his or Duke's property. The excerpts from the contract he signed with Duke are clear that, in return for the consideration paid to him by Duke, he assigned his NIL rights to Duke for two seasons and agreed not to enter the portal in 2025 or 2026. He is, under the laws of North Carolina, an adult who entered willingly into a contract as so advised by his agents. Like Wisconsin and UW, I'm pleased to see Duke stepping up to enforce the deal the QB signed. Without any guardrails, what's to stop players from transferring in-season? The NCAA says a player can only play for one team in a given season, but when was the last time an NCAA rule was upheld in favor of a player's opportunity to make more money? Like Williams, after the requisite mea culpas, he'll be welcomed back. I'd love to be a fly on the wall the next time the Duke and Miami ADs meet up. Miami is working its way out of a Super Conference invite.

Joel is VERY high on Oregon next year. The returners on offense, the returners on defense, the portal additions (he believes Koi is better than Thieneman), and the evolution of Dan Lanning. It's a good listen. You can skip ahead to the Oregon section if you don't want to see the rest. https://youtu.be/6OwwniGMvGA?si=vvB6bzOvAN2fmqQg

These guys want to get to the NFL, not just ruin a school. If someone is forced to stay and take the millions, they will ball out the best they can to get the best deal they can at the next level. That´s what they do at the next level. They ball out the best they can before they turn free agent to get the best contract they can somewhere else. Might as well learn the tactic in college. (After all, you are a STUDENT- athlete.)

Decent, if not in depth article. Bachman quoting KC Keeler that people may now discover college football requires a CEO seems pretty far behind the times. Seems we’ve known that ever since the Sabin/Alabama era. What did seem to shed some light on Cignetti’s approach was her connecting of his detailed control of every phase to the smaller world of lower division coaching where hands on learning of all aspects of the game can still be developed.

The play I questioned was on 3rd down (and 5). You still get the field goal on 4th down to go up by 6 if you don't get the first down. The point is that you do everything you can to win the game on 3rd down instead of handing the ball off into a loaded box. Play action with the ball in Mendoza's hands to win the title vs handing the ball to Miami with plenty of time to steal your championship. The last Miami drive could have ended very differently for Indiana - don't give them that chance.

Absolutely. And the way the corner and saftey sandwiched the receiver, it would’ve required a dime. Pressure situations can make you try a little too hard? Dunno, something went wrong for him.

What happens if Duke wins? What happens if Duke wins and this QB is forced to stick around? Do you start a QB whom you just clubbed with a lawsuit and does that QB choose to perform or poison the entire locker room? What a mess. It will be interesting to see what happens at UW this year with a similar situation.

I wonder if the time out effected Beck? Only he will know

One suit from Wisconsin for Miami tampering with Xavier Lucas is not enough for Mario and Miami. Wisconsin - EX: A - Video of Miami in the champ game with the poached Xavier Lucas out for the first half and in for the 2nd half. Why not tick off a conference member? Why not tick off a conference standard-bearer in academics and basketball? BTW, playing behind the QB you are trying to steal, a QB who signed a two-season contract, Duke was this season's ACC football champ, and defeated ASU in the Sun Bowl, 42-39. Rouges then and rogues now.

It worked for UW up north...

This Wall Street Journal article appears to be locked but it is an unlocked article https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/darian-mensah-duke-lawsuit-transfer-portal-miami-694121fa?st=wFgwDS&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

I didn't realize how bad this year's portal has gone. I knew we lost critical 2 deep contributors, but only 2 of the top 25 incoming players are in the top 25 of what DL portalled in his time here and one of them is not even going to play next year. I really hope we've worked some better magic on our HS recruiting, because that is where the attrition backfill is going to have to come from. I REALLY hope we aren't rhyming with Clemson's fall: new coordinators not as good as old coordinators and insufficient amount of portal contributors. That would be a glass completely empty take, but still, it's a fine line between success and failure. Glass half full, maybe the lack of quality portal additions left us with enough cash to snag Seaton.

This article from the Wall Street Journal appears to be locked but it is an unlocked article https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/curt-cignetti-indiana-788283e8?st=jaKfDK&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

B-E-C-A-U-S-E he's B-E-C-K - 1 comeback PO win was enough. 😁 The TO Cig took before Fernando's run for a TD was also timely. Gave him time to talk things over with OC Mike Shanahan and run a 4th downplay drawn up for this game.

This is important. What if Texas Tech gets better too as they shore up the weaknesses on offense? What if Indiana reloads well enough from the portal? Who is next year's new money team like IU 2 years ago and TTU this last year? I don't care how good your team is set at the beginning of the year. It's not realistic to say that it's a deep run in the playoffs or bust. Every win should be enjoyed, and the summation of that joy for the entirety of the season should be the measure of success.

I thought about that too at the time. But it would have made it too easy to get a field goal and tie the game, especially with today's kickers in warm weather with not much wind. It would have been different if they were playing in a place like Green Bay. The loss of the offense's time out becomes huge if there is a sack. And once a team gets in the red zone, they have to keep throwing it or run out of time. But before that decision is made, it pays off to go for two early in the game so a situation like that does not become a tie. Of course if you don't make it, then you are playing 'catch up' to get that missed point back. I like taking the chance deep in their zone on 4th down earlier in the game. If you don't make it, most of the time they will punt deep and you get the ball back mid field or closer - then it is pretty easy to get that field goal back that you passed up.

It helped that Beck did not throw a very good pass. Not sure why? Hurried? Feet not set?

It just felt like Cig’s time-out was mainly to firm-up secondary assignments on what was an obvious go-for-it passing down for Miami. It was just too predictable, and Indiana’s zone coverage allowed the time for their deep saftey to move under coverage to either side for a break up or int.

"So, who's to say these other teams don't get significantly better. If they do, our Ducks may not get any farther in the playoffs than this year." Schedule, injuries, new coordinators, opponents uplifting themselves, young players making mistakes..... I think it is more of a crapshoot than we want to admit. It also takes some LUCK. Indiana scored winning TDs in two games with 1:28 left, and 0:36 left. As a result they went undefeated. The way they played against Alabama, Oregon, Miami they likely would have been champs anyway....assuming they qualified for the playoff. But, if those had been two conference losses would they have played in the B1G Championship? The Hoosiers created opportunities for themselves. An old saying, "luck is where preparation meets opportunities." Hoosiers also had preparation.

Since our CFP run is based on what I can afford, we’re headed for Las Vegas.

I say we will make it to the final and maybe get blown out there... 😀☹️

Apology Accepted? 🤬🤬🤬 On3LOOK: Big Ten responds to Paul Finebaum's apology after a....

I will go with Joel Klatt

I noticed the same thing during the game when Indiana called that timeout. Great move to get reorganized and spell your pass rushers. However, I did take issue with Cignetti on Indiana's previous drive to not put the ball in Mendoza's hands to get the first down (throwing). Whether Indiana fails throwing or running, they still kick the field goal and Miami gets the ball with 1:42 left. With that much time on the clock, I feel the timeout is low impact in college football with clock stopping on first downs. Indiana should have done everything possible to get that first down instead of the lazy handoff to burn Miami's last timeout. Willingly giving it back to Miami with 1:40+ remaining was a huge mistake in my opinion. Fortunately, it didn't cost them.