Nevada Dawg

He was a 3-star recruit and so had some talent. My guess is that OSU did not offer chase a scholarship and Michigan did,. If so, the offer of a scholarship would prove to be immensely significant for the troll value of the commitment alone on hated rival Ohio State.

I 100% agree with Charles's premise and was essentially sayin this last year before the PAC-12 collapsed. Anybody who has followed my posts may remember that I argued the B1G and its predecessor has, for the past quarter century, been the most overrated conference of them all for both of them all for both football and basketball. Think about how shockingly few men's title the conference has won in the past 25 years in either sport, and don't count the PAC-12 successes in this total because THEY WERE NOT IN THE LEAGUE BACK THEN!! IMHO, there is no question that the addition of the four Pacific schools represents a massive upgrade for the B1G. But at the moment I still think it is clearly overrated. Get rid of about 8 of the weak sisters and you have something--addition by subtraction.

Hearty congrats to OBD and all my Duck buddies for a great win tonite. After my Dawgs fought back to win a game that, once again, no one(except Pat MacAfee) on Gameday gave them much chance of winning, and the Ducks gut out a tough win as well, I, with the aid of a couple small glasses of sippin bourbon, am feeling quite mellow this fine evening. As for who can beat whom, I hear a lot of postgame hubris trying to make cross-game comparisons that may like comparing apples and oranges. That said, In the weeks to come, we will all get to sit back and settle all these arguments according to the only criteria that matter: WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THE LINES!! And I'll guarantee you that whomever survives the grinder to come over the next month will be one of the most deserving National Champions ever.

Truth be what I think it might be, despite their warts, I think the Dawgs have the far more battle-tested resume and the better team for facing a big game. Of course, I've been wrong before. It may all depend on which Bulldawg team shows up tomorrow afternoon in Atlanta. Truth be known, the only team the Dawgs have had trouble with in the Benz is (for them) the dreaded Crimson Tide.

I'll take one of the 7,700 simulations thank you!

Get used to reasonably sizable portal losses in the future. In fact, many such losses will be encouraged by the coaching staff after determining that the likelihood of those players ever being meaningful two-deep contributors is slim (or none). But it is true that some players, infatuated with their high-school star rankings, do become disgruntled and feel that they have been overlooked. Georgia has lost a couple dozen such players over the past four years, including a current 10-game starter in the defensive backfield who got beat out in week 10-11 and subsequently quit on his team to enter the portal in championship week. I'm told that when first meeting with his incoming high school recruits, Kirby tells them that he cares not how many "stars" they were granted as prep players. He says here you are all 0-Stars and you will have to grind to even get onto the field as freshmen. Some embrace the grind; others never do and are usually gone by the end of year two. Knowing Lanning's pedigree, I suspect he embraces a similar viewpoint and that he is shedding few tears over his portal losses.

You wonder where he would find an acceptable home. Reports from the Oklahoma partisans I know is that he left Norman because he wanted no part of the SEC. Of course the Trojans throwing in a lengthy big-money contract had a lot to do with it. The offense-happy character of the PAC-12 had to be attractive as well. But he soon learned that even out West it is hard to win with a crappy defense.

As for ND, I thought the comparisons involving the Trojans were compelling at pointing to how overrated ND is. I don't know if it is possible, but I'd love to see a first round matchup of ND and Indiana. The passion in the Hoosier state would almost have to be off the scale. I've always said to anyone who would listen that ND looked so good on defense because they hadn't played anyone. I think that Boise State might run them out of the stadium wherever that game took place. I think that the Ducks handle the Lions on Championship Saturday, but this is really the first Power Team OBD has faced away from the friendly confines of Autzen and the game could end up being uncomfortably close. But even if the Ducks get punched in the mouth early, I'm confident that they will prevail if they shake off he early adversity and just keep grinding.

Having lived in Ohio for three and a half years and watching the OSU fan base, I know how impatient and intolerant they can be. So the demands to fire Day are to be expected, In fact, I predicted in an earlier post after the loss to Oregon that Day's seat was warming and would be red hot if he somehow managed to lose to Michigan a fourth time. It is all now playing out, and at a bad time I might add, for Ohio State players who will soon start prepping as a lower seed for the playoffs.

You know I watched Notre Dame play and win today and thought that I may have badly underestimated them in my above quote. Then it dawned on me whom they were playing. ND is definitely in he playoffs, deserves to be, and I predict may even win a game. Win two and I'd be shocked.

It really doesn't really matter where either ND or Miami are ranked. Neither will be around long when the playoffs kick off next month.

Let me state up front that I'm behind the Ducks 110% in the upcoming B1G Championship Game. But I won't be surprised if OSU wins this game. In fact, I predicted such a reversal earlier in the year. Here's why. Oregon has not played a truly good team away from Autzen this year and it is not crystal clear how they will handle adversity away from home. I'm certainly not expecting them to fold, only that we can't know for certain how they will respond to a situation they are yet to face this year. Sorry to be a bit of a cautionary Cus at this time of rejoicing among festive OBD fans, but just thought I should point out something that is very uncertain as far as I am concerned. And even were the Ducks to lose, they'd still be the number 5 seed, a position that many analysts say is just about as good as having a bye in the format we will be playing under for this and next season until adjustments are made. Imagine some poor 12 seed having to play in a wild playoff atmosphere at Autzen!

I'm not getting into this. I'll just say this: y'all are quite proud of the home atmosphere Duck fans can put on in Autzen. And you should be because it creates a great home field advantage. But Autzen is especially notable in that regard. I've been to B1G games at the Shoe, the Big House, and Happy Valley over the years and the only one that came close to Autzen for home atmosphere was Penn State during a White Out. Having said that, the reason that that SEC road games are a pain is that the vast majority of home SEC crowds can flat out make playing there a colossal pain for the visitors. Even Mississippi State with those damn cow bells can be a real problem if State is playing well and the visitor is a ranked team. I've never been to Auburn where Jordan-Hare was not rocking for the War Eagles, and South Carolina always has a rabid and lively crowd. I could go on about each locale, but suffice to say there aren't many tea and crumpet fan bases in the SEC. So while the SEC may indeed have to play on a B1G home field in the first round of this year's playoff, I doubt that they will be the least bit intimidated by the opponent's home atmosphere. That is just standard fare for them in the regular season.

Trust me guys, Indiana will not miss out on the playoffs at the expense of having to include Alabama. I see no path for the Tide to sniff the promised land this year. I've thought all year that this was the most erratic Georgia team of the past five years, but Alabama is far more extreme in this regard than the Dawgs. I have been very critical of Indiana's SOS and still am, but they can't help that the B1G has a bunch of really mediocre teams, and they played well enough at the 'Shoe to convince me that they are a lock for the playoffs with a win over Purdue, hardly a formidable challenge. My opinion on critics of the SEC playing 8 league games is that you might want to see whom SEC teams are playing OOC before labeling these opponents "cupcakes". Two of Georgia's cupcakes this year are Clemson (still in the playoff picture) and Georgia Tech, whom you may remember hung a long overdue loss on Miami. Come play an SEC schedule and see how you fare before throwing barbs. I posted just such a suggestion a couple days ago on the forum here for cross-fertilization between the SEC and B1G that I'd really like to see actually happen (but won't). Too bad IMHO.

As for a 4-loss A&M, not even these CFP numbskulls would do that much overlooking.

I agree with you on seeing how teams from different conferences match up and have a suggestion (that will never happen unfortunately)that would generate a lot of interest. Suppose say the B1G and SEC agreed to a five-year or so experiment where five randomly selected SEC and BIG teams switched conferences each year, with Georgia, say playing a B1G schedule and Oregon playing an SEC schedule. Home games would be played at home and road games on the road in the new conference. This would generate the kind of interest that was a huge hit when interleague play came to the major leagues in Baseball and should be a treat for fans who would get to see their teams play 4-5 teams from anther top conference. And we'd have a lot better data over a 5-year period on how the two leagues match up. Thoughts anyone?

What a weekend in the SEC. My head hurts thinking about all of this. I'll add one more complication in the form of a supposition, What if UGA loses to rival Georgia Tech on Friday night? They are still going to the SEC championship game, win or lose, I believe. and should they win there (nothing is a shoo-in this year) you'll not only have a 3-loss team in the playoffs but one who earns a bye and plays in the Sugar Bowl. Now who could have ever imagined such a scenario even two weeks ago. "Not I" said the little red hen! Charles, you might care to post a new prediction thread seeing who can come closest to predicting the CFP Committee rankings for teams 1-12 that will come out on Tuesday evening. Should be most interesting.

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!