Mike West

I believe AQs are necessary. But THREE instead of four. I also believe the play in games should be used instead of expanding the field to 14 or 16. That in essence expands the field beyond 12. We will know in three weeks who is really slated to be considered playoff worthy. I'll definitely say this: there is no way on this planet that there are NINE SEC teams worthy of top 20 status. That is absolute nonsense. Florida, LSU, South Carolina and Auburn have been used as justification for bolstering a pretty average set of teams. The madness needs to end.

I would add Solar that Moore needs more looks outside the pocket (for the third time this week-am I a broken record?). The middle of the crisis play call that bought Moore time resulted in a TD against Indiana. The OT pass that Moore threw was a designed bootleg. Moore has such a strong arm and is an effective enough runner screams for using that as an option at least a third of our calls. It was also mentioned by David Marsh that Davison is a better blocker than Whittington. I believe more two back sets, and better use of the RBs in pass blocking schemes is necessary. I happen to believe the OTs are being set up for failure. They are not quick enough to handle DEs that line up more than two yards away from them. They require assistance. The interior Lineman also seem to stand up too quickly at times, which creates havoc inside (hence my call for two back sets). I would also use Jet Motion far more often. Especially for WR Moore and Sadiq. Then run designs for the TE inside as you suggested Solar. As I have mentioned countless times, it is not the gameplan that matters, it is the ability to draw plays up on the spot based on what the defense is doing to counter your game plan. Hence, my call for knowing every damn play known to mankind. "Gentleman, this is a football". That is what that quote means to me. Football isn't simply what you can do at the LOS. That always blows up in your face eventually when you face teams of your caliber or better. It's what you do to respond to diminish their advantage. You must be prepared for poor play and getting manhandled as much as you prepare for your opponent. One of the greatest skills Kirby Smart displays is his ability to neutralize multiple score leads. I believe it is because he junks his gameplan and starts looking at what is actually going on in the game. Whenever I do root against Georgia (usually it against Tennessee or Ohio State), I am never comfortable with two score leads, because I KNOW WHAT IS COMING NEXT. Georgia slowly climbs out of the hole, because they no longer focus on what they wanted to do-they focus on finding out what will work. That is Dan Lanning's next step in his evolution as a coach. I saw sprinkles of it last week. He took the win. But before he decided to minimize the play calling, he dialed up throws downfield. THEN he had Stein change formations. If I see Moore getting out of the pocket more (pun intended), then I believe Lanning is starting to look for every solution possible. But I am seeing that idea percolating in his head.

It would be difficult to stomach Indiana taking the crown this year. It just doesn't make sense to me. First of all, I don't think they're really in the great team category. But this year, no team really is. Every contender has flaws. Every single one. But to watch Indiana get more hype than OBD usually does infuriates me. Indiana or Bama, I'd have to swallow hard to root for the Hoosiers, but I already believe Bama is top three if not the best. I don't want to see an SEC team win a title for 15 more years, so Hoosier Daddy? is my moniker if they get there. Sorry GatOrlando and Nevada Dog, I like both teams, but I am so sick of eSECpn hyping the conference to the degree even the eye test is being overlooked. The SEC is still Bama and Georgia until proven otherwise, and NO I DO NOT BELIEVE A&M is going to win a Natty. Great article Darren...as usual

If Brock Thomas replaced Moore in the playoffs, I would turn the TV off. I would prefer Smith Jr face the wolves and risk his confidence before I would give the reigns to Thomas. That clearly means I have no issues with either Moga or Novo. Brock Thomas has done a fine job. The play that should have been intercepted was-in my opinion a late throw. Dakorian Moore was open two seconds earlier. No disrespect to Thomas, but I doubt his arm strength downfield. More than our scholarship QBs. Thomas may be padding his highlight reel for a portal transfer. Penn State lost Bo Pribula (what an irony, Allar and Pribula get injured back to back weeks) because everyone got to see what he had to offer. He was forced to make that decision because of the Portal rules. Penn State would be in much better shape (definitely would have defeated Iowa) had Pribula been allowed a reasonable decision process. I believe that is in play at present. Novo and Moga can start for several conference foes. No reason to give them impetus to recruit them in my opinion. If I were Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue Minnesota (who I believe may be losing their good QB), I would be chasing both Novo and Moga right now. Both would be an upgrade for those programs.

Really like your point of view GAT! In my eyes, Franklin should wait until the dust settles. He is under rated. Reputation be damned. That guy should wait to see if Vandy's coach gets scooped up and go back to Nashville. Va Tech is another "fit" I see for him. A program like that won't be unreasonable in their expectations. College Football is looking more like a landscape of parity. Franklin will revive a program from the ashes (Va Tech), or maintain a middling program as a threat elite programs will have to take seriously (Vandy). The dust is going to settle pretty unbalanced at Natty seeking programs like PSU, UF, LSU, Auburn and Florida State. They are going to be competing to keep their talent and convince the younglings they are worthy enough to develop them. There probably are some hidden gems in the coaching field at present. Some fan bases are not going to be happy with the choices they receive since they all have a title and expect one "yesterday". If the P2 get their act together and provide a better football environment than what has emerged the past two years, College Football has a wonderful future ahead of itself. If... I never imagined how wonderful and exciting the football world has been the past 15 months. NIL has shattered monopolies, and despite the sour taste of spoiled 17-22 year olds looking for unearned bucks, it has been a joy to watch the drama unfold these past two seasons.

Forget about what I said for a moment. There are some very, very valid concerns about OBD. We look horrible. To the degree that a Big Ten Podcaster questions whether OBD are as good as Iowa. As you always find a way to explain Jon, other teams are deadly in their own manner. I also agree it is ridiculous that Iowa and the Fuskies aren't ranked. How in the world is Vanderbilt a top ten team? That is utterly ridiculous. I say that because Bama pretty much exposed them as an ordinary team in the SEC. Very ordinary. They, like USC, UW and Michigan, Iowa and even Nebraska are benefitting from a pretty ordinary schedule (much like Missouri, A&M, Oklahoma and Tennessee). It is, or it should be obvious the contenders in the P2 are Georgia, Bama and A&M, Ole Miss, OBD, Ohio State and Indiana. And the records aren't the reason. There are moments when USC, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa and those dreaded Fuskies have looked the part. The difference between that second group and the first is 1. talent and 2. they have demonstrated they can overcome poor play and win games they are supposed to win. No matter the circumstances or conditions. As I mentioned earlier, there isn't a fan base in group 1 that is claiming their team is going to win the Natty. That definitely includes Ohio State (they haven't played one elite team, nor have they faced anyone with enough talent-especially Texas-that has really exposed their flaws). All of the above programs will have to face the gauntlet of each other. Nobody looks like they are going to run away from the pack. Especially Ohio State. Idc what people are saying, Ohio State has not faced an A&M, Georgia, Bama or Indiana on offense. We will know what Ohio State is in December. We already have an idea of what the rest of the elite field looks like. And we know we haven't seen the best from any of them. OBD are quietly in the discussion, because lord knows, when the Ducks are humming, they are extremely scary. As in Ohio State will have problems if OBD unleashes the offense we saw in August. So the question is who does this team want to be? Not who are they? At least in my mind. Because it is time to commit. It is time to survey the landscape and determine how are we going to attack the playoff field. None of the teams on the rest of the schedule have the capacity to handle OBD if we decide to ATTACK THE PLAYOFF FIELD IN OUR STRATEGIES. In my mind, the rest of the season is about attacking them. On offense and defense. Without exposing the entire strategy, while putting away-early-the teams left on deck in the regular season. Those analysts that we hired to scout the field-regular season and playoff caliber teams-are the main focus at this point. DL needs to determine his path forward that handles the present, while attacking the 2nd season. We cannot prepare for the playoffs after the regular season ends. That work begins now. It doesn't have to look playoff form at present, but it better by the time the playoffs begin. So ugly wins and losses really don't matter. They're history. They sure better not be indicative of our future however.

You didn't come across whiney at all. You said what I've been thinking and been unable to articulate. I believe you have said better than most of us so far. For me, they are concerns, but they are correctable. Moore is effective both in the pocket and out of it. I believe he needs more reps outside the pocket-whether that be a moving pocket, max protection that gets him out of the pocket, or simple roll outs. Another aspect I see is missed assignments. The coaching staff is bent on running the ball, and I've seen far too many missed assignments (and I am not talking about getting beat at the point of attack, I am talking straight up not being where one is supposed to be when they are supposed to be there). This is happening in both run blocking and pass protection. What I really appreciated about this game is I saw adjustments much sooner than usual. FishDuck pointed out the formation changes in order to unleash the running game. Lanning also decided to just get the victory-no style points needed. He read the flow of the game and simply put pads on pads instead of just continuing what they wanted to do. Lupoi did the same. They recognized strengths and just went with them. There is nothing wrong with struggling in a game. And in my opinion, the struggle against Indiana was more lethargy than their ability. They didn't dominate us. People said the same thing about Auburn in the Natty. Remember, Cam Newton limped off the field. OBD were the more physical team, and the refs stole a sack/fumble/TD from us. Indiana is a marvel right now because they are boat racing the bums. They didn't boat race us. They didn't boat race Iowa. They are going to have to do more to win in the playoffs because they are NOT that physical. Long story short. This is experimentation time. This is a time to throw things on the wall-and I mean find out everything QB Moore can do and WHY. We have two blazing fast guys that can outrun every good corner and safety in the country, and we need to get them the ball downfield. We want to spring explosive running plays. Well, that requires setting a defense up to spring them. Bill Walsh used to script the first 15 plays on offense. That was in order to decipher what his opponents were planning to do and uncover what in his game plan would work. I believe we saw some aspects of that last night. I am hoping we don't fear what happens, rather we observe it and hope OBD handle it putting their best effort and brains into being successful.

If we keep doing what we're doing, you're correct. They cracked the code. It's not that difficult. Somebody's grandson was predicting plays tonight. The TD pass Dante threw against Indiana was schemed to handle what Indiana and Wisconsin pulled on us. It actually happened in the Penn State game too. You know, the clinching TD in OT? That is what needs to be more of the offense, when necessary. So, in my ultra hack opinion, we start getting Moore out of the pocket more often, or we get beat in the playoffs.

He's not a running QB. I wrote a couple of articles about him for my sister's paper. He is already better than he was in high school. If Stein can design a specific run package for him, he'll be deadly (or whomever at this point because Stein-for all my complaints is also getting better by the week-and he may be gone in Smith's era). I believe Jr. is going to be better than his dad was.

They're beating blocks because they know what we like to do, and they're aggressively attacking the point if attack. We're in a conference of very good coaches. They know DL and his staff pride themselves on physicality. How do you beat physicality? You go all in. It is no mistake that teams are trying to take away our running game. They've also schemed ways to bring pressure. Our staff wants to impose its brand. Teams are going to attack it with everything they have. What's the best response? Stop exclusively attacking teams the same way. That is exactly why constraint/sequential plays matter. I wrote a couple of articles about it. Check them out here. and here

I'm not worried about this team at all. As much as Indiana controlled things, they got help twice to score their go ahead TD (gifted extra yardage on a 3rd down conversion and a no call pass inteference for their TD). To play as horribly this week tells me this is a young team that can focus, but not consistently enough to feel they can challenge for a title. They are about to embark on their 4th 2k plus trip of the year, and they're 3-0 so far. I wasn't impressed with Iowa or Indiana to be frank, and Penn State pretty much demonstrated Iowa has trouble handling physical teams as well (so does Indian whether you want to believe that at this point). Ohio State has looked good, but they have yet to face a real offense. I believe every fan base of elite programs are gnashing their teeth right now because nobody has a clear-cut dominant team. NOBODY. We are truly in the age of parity. I mean, cmon. Vanderbilt is a so called top ten team (really? Does anyone in this forum fear Vanderbilt?). It's October. Titles aren't won in October. Besides. I called for two score margins of victory. That is my standard. It sticks. Especially for a team that is exactly where we expected them to be: 6-1. They are ahead of themselves as far as I am concerned because I really didn't expect the defense to hold Penn State to 17 points in 4 quarters (and those that are saying Penn State is a shell of itself, well that shell almost beat Iowa, but for their lack of having their NFL bound QB. An Iowa team that held "superpower" Indiana to 20-and they would have won had they had their QB). The defense will play well enough for the offense to get their butts in gear and start throwing the ball downfield. We have seen a glimpse of what could be. I personally believe Stein is holding back on the offense given some of its troubles. I personally would open the flood gates, part the damn Red Sea and try to destroy every defense I see. But that is just me. I personally don't believe a team is going to win the title unless they score 40 plus. ON A DEFENSE LIKE OHIO STATE'S. So, in my view, you better be dialing up every damn fade, post, corner and wheel route known to mankind because you need to take down every secondary in football. There will be no explosive running plays against the elite teams. Your QB is going to have to drop 16 gigaton nuclear bombs. And you better have the best air force known to mankind. That's my opinion and I am sticking to it. A QB is going to win the damn title, with or without good protection. We have that of QB. We need to feed him missiles (bunker busters) and atomics. Everything else is wasting time.

I predict that the score will be 0-0 after one quarter... Travel is effecting this young team. Not on game day, but the week after. At least in conference play. The team looks like they're in slow motion. Uncharacteristic mistakes as well. OBD are sleep walking

Exactly! Play in games...the playoffs before the playoffs. Imagine if Illinois played South Carolina on CCG Week. Indiana vs Bama. That solves the "who is the best conference" issue. And what a ratings bonanza that would be. Settle the issue on the field. No more 75 SEC teams in the Top 25 claiming they have the best conference (like this year when it is clear Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, Florida, Texas and Vandy are fillers for bolstering and padding reputations instead of being legit conference title contenders). The SEC is still Georgia and Bama. A&M seems to be a phantom menace more than a legit threat(no defense as far as I'm concerned, and they won't score 39 on a legit defense- again my opinion). To answer the question of OBD being capable and prepared: that depends on their performance these final five games. In my eyes, a title caliber team obliterated all five remaining in their way. As in 14-17 point margins of victory each game. Or better. All but Wisconsin have the ability to be troublemakers. Like a Louisville. Kicking some troublemaker behind is an indication of how serious you are about the playoffs. And last everyone is concerned Indiana was a bellwether: are they really? SOS isn't factoring in scheduling itself. Nearly every team OBD face is getting favorable conditions. Including Indiana. Their first road game was buffered with a bye week. OBD had been back East twice. Before their bye. No excuses necessary. But those facts stand out. The way OBD schedule plays out, if they obliterate the remaining portion of the schedule, it is because they are truly title material because nearly every team got a gift from scheduling. And get this: odds makers favor OBD in Bloomington if they played Indiana this weekend. What I'm saying is the Indiana loss was an anomaly. And I also happen to believe Indiana would face the same result OBD did in the Rose Bowl should we face them again. Indiana is a B+ team. OBD is at least that if not more. That's what the rest of the season will reveal. If I'm correct about what I've seen so far, OBD are going to pile drive the rest of this schedule. We shall see if that is the case.

At the beginning of the year, I posted in YouTube that people were sleeping on Bama. Got boat raced in the comments after they lost to FSU. I also think it's Bama and Ohio State. It's tough to put recruit these two. And Ohio State is the new one. Since 2000 that have all but dominated the B1G. OBD are in the conversation. I'm happy as long as that remains the situation. It takes some luck for a program like ours to win a title. So far, we've had four years of bad luck since Rich Brooks catapulted is into the scene. Would be nice if Ohio State lost two WRs, their MLB, or get in after the playoffs expand to win one ( not to mention a nice blowout to sneak in the year we started the new playoff for at). That's the kind of luck we need.

From what I saw, it was directed at OBD. They're last TD was pass interference. The WR pushed off. They also didn't earn that First Down at the 22 on that third down play. They should have been forced to go for it on 4th and 1. I was not pleased with the refs. It's like a conspiracy to prevent us becoming a blue blood. Something else though... ESPN noted we traveled back east twice before playing Indiana. Not sure that contributed, but OBD didn't look themselves against Indiana. I want pleased with the performance, but the two late INTs and said ref calls above decided the outcome. One thing I really appreciate about Lanning is we won't see many lethargic performances. You can tell he wants some more of Indiana. Not to mention Ohio State. There plenty to work on, but I'm hoping to see some major intensity against every team in the vicinity of our talent level. I have only seen that it Seattle. I want to see OBD play any elite team with that kind of intensity. I think OBD can stick with any of them if they play clean and hard.

If Franklin goes to an SEC team, he can win a title. I doubt Florida picks him up. Sorry GAT, but your fan base is too deluded to give him a chance. But he would recruit very well ther and pick up a QB, which outside of three, he really didn't have. Penn State just sold themselves to mediocre status in my opinion. We'll see who they hire, but I'm not holding my breath. They just joined Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa as "has been" contenders. Franklin at Arkansas is intriguing. But I think they pick up Bobby Petrino. Franklin can turn Va Tech into an ACC contender for sure. I'd wait a year if I were him. Pick up that $50M and take a hard look at what really works for him. Not to mention, another SEC team like Kentucky may be in store for him. That's the kind of team he can build into a respectable nemesis.

I believe experience -or lack thereof - was in play. Cignetti and his crew adjusted immediately to almost everything. DL and crew don't know how to do that yet. I honestly believe the staff needs to go completely out of character from here out. They need to just junk what they like to do. Both sides of the ball. Just line up and play some basic football. They're predictable. And if I can see it, you bet every elite coach, including high school coaches, can see it. I also thought the players were stiff, and out of sorts. I'm not quite sure what kind of team we're looking at yet. They're good, and can be great, but they don't know how to deal with their flaws in a way that produces success. That's where it is at now. Turning weaknesses into strengths. Speed, agility, vision and playmaking. Keeping players out of the tendencies that get them best. Teaching them how to be where they should be, and in Dante Moore's case, setting his feet and learning how to slide in the pocket to buy time. It's a great opportunity. Shedding assumptions and playing to what the game gives you and what you do with your natural abilities that produce consistent, executable results. This team ,not any-including Ohio State - are going to Georgia circa 2022/2022 people. It's the little things that produce the most maximum results that is going twin the title this year.

I think Davidson (the RB) was the better option. A nice soft arc to the end zone is a TD. He DID look right at Bryant, and wasn't looking at the "out and up"- but both were there It appears Moore was rattled and didn't settle down. A few of his sacks were "not thinking it through" moments in my opinion. This is where coaching and development will be tested. Moore panicked instead of trusting himself and his ability to make plays that were there. I do NOT agree with the play calling however. But I'm not sure Stein knew what I to do given his QB was out of character. I still want to see simple routes like a down and out when the QB is struggling. Stein did go up top on the fade route twice. I want to see that six, maybe seven times with sequential options underneath those routes. I'm looking for 45 points ON EVERYBODY. Which means looking for the jugular early and often. I want Stein to be much more aggressive. Loved his run play calling for the most part. Now we need to make teams respect our deep game for real. I need to see that Ohio State strategy in Eugene from now on.

Repeat post.

Well that's kind of ironic that Pat pointed out that stat. Let's look at the ratio when we play elite teams... That number is pretty significant then isn't it.? And that's what really matters doesn't it? We're a little above the expectation level of an Iowa, Wisconsin or Nebraska. Holding mediocre teams to six trips in the Red Zone isn't much to brag about in my opinion. We've had this discussion already. What are OBD doing against elite teams on defense? Northwestern isn't going the playoffs are they? Neither is Penn this year. So the question is: is Pat misleading us? The question in my mind is what are OBD against the teams that will matter when its win or go home? Our defense needs to stop elite teams from scoring 14-17. That's when we're talking about Blue Blood material. Isn't that the standard actually?

Mario Cristobal is coaching better right now. I've looked at all their games. He is adjusting, despite having had a physical advantage in every game this year. He kept Florida bottled in a close game till they wore them down. He jumped on FSU early, and coasted properly to the win. We are not as physical as Miami, and at least 4 SEC teams. But we're as good. COACHING is going to be the difference. We haven't learned enough from the Rose Bowl. The Force is strong with us, but are not Jedis yet.

Can't watch the game so I need some eyes... Is Lupoi running the Mint, or what I would go with(the 3-4 which takes away most of what IU does). Are we blitzing (we shouldn't unless it's a corner blot in the short side of the field)? Is Stein going deep (he should every series)? Are we attacking the middle of the LOS (that is where their strength is, but we can handle them inside)? This game is about taking it to them... especially on offense. If Moore doesn't have time, max Protect or roll him.out. On defense, take away the out routes and slangs with the OLBs. That will also allow #9 to handle the edge and cover those routes I mentioned. My hack opinion of course.

Cmon GatOrlando. You know EXACTLY what I am going to say. Looking at the damn QB instead of taking his options away. Cost Georgia a Natty against Tua. Last week, Indiana's first TD was because the safety was looking at the QB instead of taking away the TD pass in the area he was responsible for. My Beloved Bryce Boettcher is guilty of this countless times. Though he does break up plenty of passes, his INTs always come from taking the option away, then turning around to a pass directly aimed at him. OBD have given up numerous third down conversions for that very reason. I can't emphasize enough how much I hate the fact coaches teach that tactic. It is the most egregious act in football. Rant done.

They can vacate that year all they want. USC is the 2004 title holder. Point blank. They were more than dominant from 03 to 05. They didn't take away Auburn's 2010 title despite everyone knowing AU bought Cam Newton. So I'll be damned if anyone outside of this forum wants to say USC wasn't titleholders in 2004. Mythical or not though, USC and UW were dominant the years they were deemed champs. I don't like the hate for our PAC8 brothers. They were more successful then, now they're not. I was happy the PAC12 was obliterated. I didn't feel the need to justify regional support for teams that didn't support college football like "they should have". But I support the four that joined the B1G. They earned those titles. They market their teams appropriately. That is what one does when one wins. We will do the same if(when?)we win ours. And I certainly see hundreds of thousands of Duck fans will be just as arrogant as the blue blood fans we hate. We may never get the respect we deserve. But it will be fun when we defeat more blue bloods. Because all they will have to say after we defeat them is we aren't a blue blood. Then we can say: well what justifies you as a blue blood now that you lost to us?

Well the Devil is in the details. One thing I absolutely like is that would obliterate a Super League. I'm no longer a fan of the Second P2, but millions of people are, and they matter to the future of college football if it will thrive as an institution like it thrives now. I absolutely love the idea of "play in" games for the college playoff. But only if the field is twelve teams. The second P2 won't see much in a boost in ratings, but they'll get much needed money. We're way past the late 1800s. CFB has been an money making business institution since the 70s. The kids were massively exploited, and now they're not. While I despise knowing 17 year olds are getting paid millions because they might be good, now any kid that can garnish a huge social media following can and should get paid. And average players are getting paid for the time they invest in the sport. That just. Not fair, but actually a just act on the part of the universities. Us "mummies" remember an era when integrity was an actual institution itself. Now greed, as Michael Douglas so eloquently explained, is good. The idea that the B1G is looking at preserving itself as an institution isn't horrible, it is pragmatic. Clearly the SEC is trying to scheme everyone else. So I see nothing wrong with the B1G mapping out a future for itself. We'll have to scour the details to determine if they pulled off a wise move. If course it's no surprise seeing Ohio State and Michigan trying to rule things. Methinks OBD need to win this conference five years straight so they recognize a new sheriff is in town. I've changed mind about going undefeated all year and winning the conference again. Ohio State and Michigan need a tremendous dose of humble pie. Sorry for the rant, but I'm getting tired of being ignored when it's clear "new money" is here to stay. The Rockefellers and Vanderbilts are getting rocked by new blood. We're taking the mantle damn it, and there's nothing they can do about it. Now if we can get a couple of Natty's...