JabbaNoBargain

Let’s hope! I actually didn’t realize Arch was NFL eligible, so that’s interesting on a few levels to me.

Given who we have coming back, this class seems like a pretty ideal mix between portal and HS. I won’t mention in great detail, but suffice it to say, Beavis ended up with the #7 class in their new conference. Ouch. Pretty rough finishing behind CSU and Utah State who both also just hired a new staff.

This round is another victory for the B1G imo. The SEC (and ACC) just injected a whole bunch of losses into the mix by going to 9 game conference schedules in 2026 without an ironclad SOS formula being part of the mix. Everything else is pretty much status quo. To date, I see little evidence that SOS is directly impactful in an objective way. It seems like the SOS logic remains the same…SEC teams will be on the bubble at 9 wins, all others at 10 wins. Number of losses will directly impact the weekly polls, which in turn seems to ultimately influence the playoff committee imo. Number of wins is still king.

Thanks for clarifying Will 😆

While the injuries are indeed a problem, this wasn’t a serious team at full strength. OBD would have been lucky to get to 16 wins at full strength imo.

Declaring “big winners” of the future schedule is a bit tricky. We certainly don’t have a very common 3 or 4 week stretch without a home game is nice. Start sliding around where the bye could have taken place and I’m not sure it makes that big of a difference. We play 4 then 8. Is that significantly worse than 5 then 7? 6 and 6? 7 and 5? What is the ideal bye week? Really hard to say.

Thought provoking thread. One thing I’d add, when comparing what is a successful season in football with the hoops tournament is that it is incredibly relative to what program you are talking about. Teams that are regularly top-2 seeds in March Madness probably don’t consider surviving the opening week a successful season…I wouldn’t know because our current hoops program feels good when it makes the round of 32 😜

Yes indeed, in 2026 (and beyond) with where we are as a program, it’s playoff or bust every year. That’s the equivalent of making a major bowl. Within that framework, I think it is a relative scale. In 2025 I think getting a playoff win was the bar, so going 2-1 in the tourney was definitely a success given the expectations. 2026 on the other hand, given what we have on the roster at the moment, anything short of a competitive championship game appearance would probably not be a success. At the very least a final 4 appearance where we are competitive. Getting boat raced in the semis would be an unsuccessful season next year imo.

Football is historically cyclical and the Saban cycle is over. It was a long run and will be fascinating to watch it unfold…good trend so far.

That’s football in 2026. Neither of these QBs are guaranteed to even start at Bowling Green or New Mexico, or even backup at a good P4.

We really don’t need a radical change imo, we just went 11-1 and made the final-4. This year we needed a better pass rush and to not be starting our 5th string HB (he was in the portal no less) in the semi-final. I don’t think Indiana won because of a slogan.

A+ season with an F- on the final…what does that equal? What percentage of the grade is the final exam? Is there a curve? My expectation going in was a 10-2 regular season with a home playoff win for a final record of 11-3. We certainly exceeded that, and unless we’re preseason top-4, we really should consider making the final-4 a great season. That being said, what a flop to end it on. I have no doubt we were severely impacted by injuries, the portal, and our coordinators having at least one foot out the door. The first priority above any playoff expansion should be fixing the calendar…but it will not be. Anyways, exceeding lofty expectations, but still having a dud to end gets a B+ in my book. I would give an A- if it had been competitive.

After seeing Miami last night, pretty clear our pass rush was the biggest weakness this season imo. Mendoza with time = game over. Might have done it this year with more rush…I don’t know if it was scheme or an altered scheme reflecting personnel issues.

Reasonable fans on the net? Heresy! That’s what makes this site great, they are out there. I actually have friends that are ND and USC alums and we have rational conversations all the time…it is possible. Welcome, and go Hoosiers!

Beavis had a lot of really solid players taken by P4 teams in the portal and yet they went 2-10 with their ridiculous schedule. So my first guess for one appearance was terrible coaching.