Nevada Dawg

Pre-season strength of schedules are set and have about as much relevance to what transpires as pre-season All-League and All America teams. Adjustments are made based on the most relevant criteria of all--what transpires as the season progresses between the lines on Saturdays. This metric, of course, includes computer analyses of the records of a team''s opponents and the strength of the opposition those teams have faced. I also don't believe that any conference should get more than 4 bids to a 12-team field. If there was ever a conference with more qualified teams than four, I would say to #5 and beyond that if you can't finish 4th in your own conference, what business have you in a limited seed playoff for the national championship. I actually feel somewhat uncomfortable for even the fourth place finisher being included.

Those of you who follow my posts know that I have been a proponent of the SEC going to a 9 game schedule. But I wanna puke when I hear Y'all arguing that the B1G teams have it tougher for playing 9 games. The B1G has a minimum of 10 (more like 12) teams that are mediocre at best. It is possible to go a month in that league and not face an opponent that even quickens the pulse. The best teams in the B1G are quite competitive nationally, but they'll suffer on the SOS metric because they play so many stiffs IN CONFERENCE! And it is lame, IMHO to berate ESPN's SOS calculations When the alternative raters pretty much concur with ESPN at the macro level. So this are my feelings about the 8 vs. ( conference game schedule. I think 9 games in the B1G is actually a weaker schedule, particularly for the good teams, than an 8-game SEC schedule. How many of you would wanted to play Georgia's schedule (or those of the other top four SEC schools this year) than the one you got to play. Precious few of you I'd imagine.

Hmmm! dropping a team so far that they were out of the playoff picture like the committee did for the team that dropped 9 spots the week before despite having the #1 SoS and the #3 resume. Gee,,that would be unheard of for a team than hadn't beaten a ranked opponent. I'd be crying my eyes out for those poor mistreated Hoosiers. For the record, my animosity toward the Buckeyes goes back so far and is so deep that I hope the Hoosiers win this game and 2-loss OSU drops from the playoff picture (or at least drops so far that they do not host a PO game at the 'Shoe). But, alas, I think the Bucks win pretty easily.

SoS, What's that? Oh, that. With this committee, nope will never happen.

A lot of truth in this post, particularly on Ole Miss and on Texas having a cake-y schedule. They haven't beaten anyone currently ranked I don't believe, and I think that they'd lose again to UGA if they played again and/or to Alabama if those two match up. Cignetti is always confident in public as far as I can tell. His team has been a good story, but I don't believe they will survive their first trip to the "Shoe". I sure hope they do however. Yes, indeed, there is a lot of football to be played before the CFP brackets get established. I hope that my dawgs are ranked at least 8th at the end and get a home game, against # 9 I presume. Win that one and they'd go against the lowest seeded conference champion. I could live with that pairing. I am not sure that the Dawgs have enough in the tank to win the natty this year, but I want them to progress as far as they can, of course. And if they can't make it to the final, I am behind OBD all the way!!

Loved watching the last 5 minutes of SNF tonight. Herbert was in command on the game winning drive and it is obvious that he and rookie Ladd McConkey have formed a special bond. I was excited when the Chargers drafted Ladd with the second pick of the second round because I suspected that Herbert and Ladd would be great for each other. Harbaugh foresaw that too and actually preferred Ladd to several of the receivers drafted in the first round. And Ladd was stoked to go play with Herbert, probably the ideal situation he could have found himself. So long live this QB-WR battery and Go Bolts!!

It turns out you hit all the nails on the head with this post SoGa Dawg. I had the same pre-game concerns that you did, and The O-line did come up big, the defense was once again menacing (helps to finally have Smael Mondon back), and Carson was Superb in all aspects of the game. A great win for the dawgs whom I understand scored 12 more points on the Vols defense than they had surrendered to anyone else all year.

Word out tonight in the Dawg community is that Nico plays. I say good. If Georgia is to win this game, I don't want to give Tennessee an excuse for losing or the damned CFP committee an excuse to devalue the Dawg win. If the CFP committee has demonstrated anything this year, it is that strength of schedule matters a whole lot less in its deliberation than simple number of losses. None of this wanted this at the beginning of the season, but the B1G has been the primary beneficiary of this trend, to date at least. Were this trend to persist, there would be little incentive for the SEC to go to an 9-game schedule in a conference that is far better balanced from top to bottom than the other three conferences. In fact, I, a proponent of the 9-game slate would now advise Greg Sankey against it given the "# of losses main criteria" of he CFP committee. I do have a plan for shaking things up a bit in the future that I believe would make college football more interesting in ways common to other sports, but it is too late for me to be spelling this plan out tonight. I'll let the smoke clear from the weekend first. Go Ducks, beat the Badgers!

I'm not so sure Finebaum is wrong in this case if there is a palatable way for USC to settle Riley's contract. For a top coach with the resources USC has, winning should be relatively easy. Southern Cali is appealing as are the chickas, the weather, and the night life in the LA basin. Yes the latter are distractions, but good coaches are mostly successful at mitigating distractions, at least in season. Riley has been an epic fail IMHO. And I understand his recruiting class is falling apart further compounding the problem. I've been known to be very wrong before, but to keep Riley around long-term seems to be an indication that the Trojans have almost decided to de-emphasize football.

I certainly did not realize John Robinson was ever Duck. As for the notable USC football coaches, Robinson was the one I liked best although I sometimes chuckled at John Mckay's sarcastic wit that often got under opponents' skin (particularly Notre Dame).

Yeah Finebaum is a jewel isn't he? But his critique of Georgia's play yesterday was close to spot on, and the Dawgs do have to win out to see the playoffs. It will be interesting to see where the Dawgs are ranked by the CFP Committee on Tuesday night. Given the strength of their schedule, I suspect it will be somewhat higher than the 11th or 12th they fell to in the media polls. But even so, rankings are meaningless this far from the end in any poll (although the Ducks deserve their ranking at this point), and the Dawgs do need to win out to see the postseason promised land.

Today is the worst I have seen my Dawgs play on offense since the 2019 season. People far more of "insiders" than I say there is a major disconnect between Carson Beck and the OC this season. But that is only part of the problem. Georgia's OL got pushed around today with several guys nicked up and other playing out of position. Receivers keep dropping passes, and today, running backs developed a propensity to fumble, Simply stated, today they suffered a good old-fashioned butt-whuppin, And things get no easier. Next week now #7 and soon to be #5 or 6 Tennessee comes to town followed the next week by by Georgia Tech--and we all saw what they pulled off today. I am presently feeling the despair of a bad loss and it is hard, in light of today's performance, to say that Georgia wins both of these and manages to slip into the playoffs. I guess I'll just keep rooting and hope for the best. Go Dawgs!!

I'm with you Mike on this being an awesome year for college football. For the record, this doesn't feel like a championship season for my Dawgs, even though if things break just right it could happen. I agree that the center of the DL isn't up to Georgia's recent standards. The receiving core is also somewhat substandard, and Beck has been victimized with a higher percentage of drops than any of the top QBs. Both of these problems are being addressed in spades in the coming recruiting class, but as will be true with the Ducks, Georgia faces a big restocking/rebuilding year in 2025. Of course, if and when my Dawgs bow out, I am behind the Ducks all the way. Depth of experience is my biggest concern over a long playoff run. But given continued good fortune on the injury front, I expect the Ducks to make a deep run in the playoffs. Roster depth is my biggest concern over a long playoff schedule, but good luck on the injury front will make the Ducks a tough "out" for anyone.

We'll see how "down" the SEC is at playoff time. One reason that SEC teams might not pass the eye test is that they play each other and rarely have the luxury of playing three mediocres in a row as can and does happen in the B1G. While the very best teams in the B1G are very good. I do believe that Penn State would have its hands full with this year's Vandy. I think they are pretty good, but the fact of the matter is that Indiana hasn't beaten anybody notable yet this year. But I do expect them to win in Ann Arbor tomorrow. One thing I also suspect is that no one in the B1G would have come out of the season unscathed had they had to play Georgia's 2024 football schedule (playing what home games Georgia has at their home and road games at Tuscaloosa, Austin, Tx, and Oxford Mississippi--a notoriously tough place for road teams over the years. Georgia still has tomorrow's game in Oxford and top-10 Tennessee the following week. Whew!

Oh c'mon now. Doesn't it ever get miserable at Autzen on cold rainy November nights? The only time I was ever inside Autzen was on a coldish,damp windy evening in November and the team handled it well. Far better than I as we sneaked in (with the assistance of an insecure gate) and were not really dressed to watch a football game. As someone mentioned, Nike and the coaching staff will have the equipment to insure that OBD are at no serious disadvantage due to weather. i am far more worried about handling a fired up Camp Randall fan base as it is sure to be with an opportunity to upset the #1 rated interlopers from the West Coast.

Interesting to speculate on this but shouldn't we pause on passing pronouncements until a little later in the season?? In our new marathon-type years, we are about ready to leave the field for halftime. There are other names from other conferences that might also warrant consideration as well when all is said and done. One that pops into my head is first-year coach Mike Elko of Texas A&M who has turned that dumpster fire completely around and may well be a major factor in the SEC season this year. I am not arguing for him here, but just saying that he could well deserve consideration as COY if the Aggies keep manhandling people like they did with LSU last weekend. The guy at BYU is having a pretty fair season as well. A lot of these speculations may fall by the wayside as the long season progresses.

Going undefeated is not clearly a guarantee of anything this year except a well-earned great playoff seeding. In a 12-team playoff the playoffs are the second season. Roster depth is super important to compensate for late injuries. In some ways, the team with the healthiest and deepest roster could become the betting favorite, regardless of regular season record. I am not so presumptuous as to tell Coach Lanning how to coach and probably don't even need to say this, but it might be wise to rest essential players whenever possible and to get reps for more Ducklings down the stretch to better position the team for the rigors of a potentially arduous playoff run.

Back to Day on the hot seat: Most on the Talkin Dawgs site think that Day will survive most scenarios this year. But (and this won't happen) Let OSU lose again to Michigan for the fourth straight year and you should expect the Mayflower Van Lines truck in front of the Day household by January 15. Not my opinion but a popular prediction from Dawg fans who seem to have as much or more fun poking fun at Cryin Day as Duck partisans do.

I've said several times that I'd not be surprised by an upset few of us foresee. My biggest candidate, Camp Randall and the Badgers in November. Madison is a tough place to play and a long way from home with possible inclement weather and a rapidly improving (I think) bunch of nasty tempered diggers. Plus, Luke Fickell's teams are quite capable of being a thorn in anyone's sides. That's the major reason OSU would not schedule in-state Cincinnati when Fickell coached there. Again, I am not predicting a loss, just saying I'd not be shocked if it comes to pass. Go Ducks!!!

Welcome to the world of elite recruiting in big-boy football. Georgia has had more players drafted over the past four years than anyone, and many of the backups ,failing to crack the two-deep at their position, decide to portal out. Replacing tremendous roster attrition every year is part of being an ultra successful coach these days. Unfortunately, several of the disgruntled portal exits are from players who feel they are not being developed properly when, in truth, they haven't given it enough time. A relative minority transfer and flourish, but many do not. And, of course, some players are advised to portal if the coaches don't see them making meaningful contributions after two years. But my major point here is that very meaningful roster turnover is the rule rather than the exception among the elites of college football in the NIL era. Get used to it

Cignetti is the better coach IMHO. His teams are far more fundamentally sound than Prime's. I really don't expect Prime to stay around college football for long--as his boys muster out. we'll see if the fire still burns. After all, he could easily make a living continuing to yuck it up with Saban on all the corny AFLAC commercials.

Just a quick postscript here on Indiana. I watched them carefully for most of the game against Nebraska. So much for Nebraska's vaunted defense: The Hoosiers shredded it. I was more than simply impressed with the Hoosiers defense. They played disciplined assignment football and they DID NOT MISS TACKLES. These guys are going to be tough on everybody. This was the only sample of Indiana football I have so far for this year but I am really impressed. The Buckeyes had better be ready to play serious football when the Hoosiers come to down, Think losing in Autzen is a sting--wait for the feeling you will experience if Indiana upsets you in your own house. It is not beyond the realm of possibility, and I will not be shocked should the Hoosiers find a way to sneak into the playoffs. Now the IU partisans may have to hope that coach Cignetti and his family love the Bloomington area (it is a really decent college town) as much as Lanning does Eugene when the bigger boys from the power conferences come calling, as they almost certainly will in the next few years.

Me too. I think that the Dawgs would BEAT PSU by 15--20 points on a neutral field.

Trust me, Suckeye excuses are a part of Big-10 lore dating back at least to the 60s when they finally started losing their share of games to he PAC in the Rose Bowl.

Well what did you expect re the Ducks. I just watched Oregon play, by far, the best game I have witnessed since I circled around to begin watching with my Duck buddy about 5-6 years ago. And it was all the better for whom they beat. The Ducks players need to stay away from he fawning press telling them how good they are (Saban's rat poison) and just keep grinding away every week. Even though they will be favored in every league game the rest of the way. they are only now to experience the rigors of cross-country travel, and the Purdue game should prove the easiest of those challenges. November trips to Camp Randall and the Big house should prove far more challenging. So keep on choppin wood my feathered friends and have yourself a season to remember!!