Washington Waddler

Hey, added it all up: substance abuse, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury and at age 74 still going strong enough to put it all to bed in, “The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time” AI got it right. Who could possibly be a better fit?

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.

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.

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.

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

I’m excited! Will be interesting to see who steps up to replace the offensive production of the Luschar sisters and Paige Sinicki. Kaylynn Jones looks to be a good bet to take over the lead-off spot, while replacing Dezianna Patmon’s power could be by committee.

As always, great comments JJ, appreciate your insights. However, to limit the meaning of ‘lightening in a bottle’ to lucking-out is to limit the expression itself. The phrase is generally described to refer to achieving rare or unlikely success, often in a way that feels fortunate or extraordinary, and not easy to replicate. Luck certainly enters into that. As DM pointed out, he by-enlarge escaped the injury bug and portal losses as a result of a senior laden roster. However, the expression emphasizes not only being ‘fortunate’, but also ‘achieving’ as well. Whatever fell in his lap he not only didn’t take for granted, but knew how to take advantage of. While you can’t predict outcome, you can affect it by the choices you make, and that’s where we’re in agreement that his coaching experience and savvy played a huge part in helping to keep his stars aligned; ie, he couldn’t have predicted the “misfit” mentality his team would eventually acquire, but once they did, he knew how to take advantage of it. One item I would disagree with is Mendoza’s recruitment being the product of luck. While all coaches attempt to recruit players who love the game, and instill in them that the sum is greater than its parts (Sabin’s wisdom imparted to ALL the semi-finalist HC’s?), Cig appears to be a ‘recruit whisperer’ on another level from his peers. Once he set his sights on him, I’m not sure Mendoza ever had a chance of going anywhere else. In short, lightening in a bottle does involve luck, but then becomes making that luck work for you. It’s both fortune and achievement.

While there’s no doubt Cignetti caught lightening in a bottle, and that the stars aligned in all those ways they must for a 200 to 1 shot to win, we can still learn from some things he did. While you can’t duplicate the ways in which his team came together, his portal focus on unrecognized, but developing players has certainly opened the eyes of recruiters, and the desire to understand how he managed to assemble that many from beneath the radar, but with the same drive to prove themselves. It may well be a talent Cignetti has that no one else does, but that shouldn’t stop us from studying and trying to incorporate what he does into our system.

Add my congrats to you HD and the whole Hoosier family for a well-deserved championship that proves nothing is impossible, and for bringing a smile back to the face of college football.

Finally, a Mario time out. I was beginning to worry about the boy

Looking at the length of some of Miami player’s pants, think they’ll end up in speedos before too long

Was this his plan all along?

The patients are now running the asylum, and have created their own formula: 1) get recruited and sign letter of intent, but remember who also wanted you. 2) wait. 3) enter transfer portal. 4) sign with one of those who also wanted you (or someone else) for a boat load of NIL $$. And who can blame them? They’ve just flipped the script, and taken advantage of the greed that now has college football by the short hairs.

With the way the transfer portal has altered how players calculate their opportunities, it’s not just those going who see no playing time for themselves, but those now more than willing to go who see a big NIL pay day. Rather than just tumbling the SEC, we may instead be looking at a domino effect that will put us all in the same boat.

Signing a letter of intent by some highly recruited players seems to have morphed into a staging option to gain NIL leverage in the transfer portal if they fail to see the immediate playing opportunity they expect in the coming year - none and done. Don’t see this emerging reality changing any time soon with congress still arguing over the antitrust issues at the heart of NCAA/university control vs student rights.

I’m not sure any of these expanded play-off options would work towards the highest quality end product without serious thought given to reducing the number of regular season games. This isn’t basketball; it’s football, and the majority of those that would be playing are not pro material in either talent or physical resiliency. Injuries are always a major unknown, which is why we never mention them until they happen. But, we know what a factor they can be, and that just ratchets-up with the intensity of play-off mode. Yes, injuries are part of the game; and yes, ‘next man up’ is an equally intriguing and exciting part of that. I’m just not convinced the majority of college teams are built to take the beating of some of these proposals without something giving way if the number of over all games weren’t limited.

Nothing wrong with questioning so long as you follow-up your criticism with ideas on how to make it better.

Good news. I just prefer developing with in the system as opposed to changing partners after every season. Can be messy, but the benefits are numerous. Now we need to rebuild, and return the OL to Joe Moore status so Dante can continue to develop.

Got to be, unless your bay area or LA sensibilities delude you into being tempted by a time-share offer in Corvallis or Pullman.

As a fan, I get caught up in the naive “everything is coming up roses” positivity that excites the recruiting phase of our team’s development. I want nothing more than for these young men coming out of high school to follow their Duck dream and achieve their goals. For me, the hard part of today’s college football is accepting that it’s become nothing more than a business — NFL Jr. I must admit, my enthusiasm and excitement are tainted by the fact that the student athlete as once known no longer exists. Nevertheless, just as fans of the Steelers or Browns remain so inspite of players being nothing more than commodities, I remain a Duck. I like you only if you’re useful to the team. From the naive point of view, this reality can almost feel like a broken promise: “you said you really wanted me, and now you don’t?” But I’m equally sure today’s promising high schools athletes understand this, and are coached to accept it as part of growing up: there’s only so many spots at the table. I’m literally old school. I miss the humane, college student-growth aspect that once shared this table with the athlete. As a fan, I don’t pretend to the conceit of being a savvy and harden NFLish insider who knows how the game is played. I neither need nor want that vanity in my life. I just want the best for these young men.

They just changed that in the past two years. Use to be the last word in that chant started with an ‘L’ instead of an ‘H’

Dante’s natural ability is unquestioned, but the longer his lack of development lingers, the more his coach-ability comes into question.

Hard to over come his built-in advantage. His team culture is built on developed, no name portal players who see an atmosphere that fits hand in glove - a comfort zone for “the misfits” who can then bond together to show the world what it really takes to play football. And, it ain’t stars.

Absolutely true. The problem is, we’re all getting a bit tired of saying that.

That’s the difference between a low budget, blue collar program like Indiana whose coach(es) has a keen eye, and depends upon under-valued portal talent looking for a chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage, and high budget programs wallowing in entitled high schoolers that require time to mature into ‘no stars’ before coaches can often really see who wants to play.