GatOrlando

Notre Dame is one of the best 12 teams, but so is Vanderbilt. Actually Vanderbilt is more worthy. But the difference is, Vanderbilt took it in stride. They had even attempted to schedule a thirteenth game to bolster their resume. Their coach said he was disappointed, but they were going to show out in their bowl. Notre Dame is like the spoiled kid that gets whatever they want, and think it's outrageous that things would ever not. I respect what they can do on the field, I'd rather see them playing Oregon, and Vanderbilt playing Ole Miss. But everybody signed off on this format. Notre Dame chooses to not be in a conference, they knew they had a three game schedule. They lost to a team that had a similar season. Now they are acting like spoiled brats. They had the right to complain about being left, but they've taken it too far. They attacked a conference that gave them full voting rights, a share of the ACC network revenue, and a lifeline in 2020 that got them into the playoff. They won't dare go after the SEC, they know that's a fight even they won't win. Alabama is the team that they should be railing against, but they dare not anger them. They might just find the SEC, and B1G questioning why Notre Dame has a seat at the table, and why they could take away revenue by making a playoff. Revenue they don't share with anybody. Keep pushing Notre Dame, keep trying your luck. You might come to find that even the luck of the Irish runs out eventually.

Faulkner is going to be a head coach very soon, but if we could keep him for a couple years, that would be great. The problem that Napier had , was that he didn't want anybody to challenge him. It's why he brought most of his Louisiana Tech coaches with him to Florida. I'm no fan of Stricklin, but Scott gave Billy the resources to hire who he wanted. Contrary to popular belief, Stricklin doesn't meddle either. Napier was allowed to hire whomever he wanted. Sumrall has already hired two proven P4 assistants. I personally wanted Jedd Fisch, but I like the fire of this dude we got. My only question is how well he's going to recruit, and use the portal. I hope the boosters who were willing to give Lane Kiffin the added NIL money, will give it to Sumrall. Plus, with Sumrall, you can see he has integrity. He didn't poach one Tulane player. He even finished his job there on signing day. He had a funny post on X. " Two jobs, two phones , two recruiting classes, and zero sleep". Fingers crossed, but the more I hear from Jon, the more I like. I'm excited to see if he closed the gap on Ole Miss, since Tulane last played in Oxford back in September. If he could keep it close, I think that would be a great sign to any guys thinking of entering the portal. But ultimately, I think Ole Miss is too much. Which means Ole Miss will have back to back rematches in the playoffs. First Tulane, and then you guys.

Charles has created a place where we can be friendly rivals. I can't say I want Georgia to win another championship, but I gotta say you guys looked really impressive on Saturday. If Kirby figures out his Alabama issue long term, it's going to be trouble for everyone else. Hopefully Sumrall can make the Florida vs Georgia game mean something again. You guys might face him if Tulane can pull off the shocker against Ole Miss. I would say your Bulldogs are the second scariest team in the field, heck the last part of the year, you looked as good as you have all year. You locked Simpson down. I'd love to see a Georgia vs Ohio State game, especially if it's anything like that 2022 classic.

I loved that game as well. It's one of the reasons Oregon is a team I cheer for when Florida is out of the title picture. Oregon ended that little winning streak in epic fashion. Famous Jameis, and big mouth bass Jimbo got shut down fast. It was the first ever playoff game in history.

A Tresell guy going to Michigan? He'd be radioactive in Columbus.

Reports are out that the 3 million dollar man, who is less than 11 months from winning a national championship, is now heading to his third stop in that time frame. Meanwhile, Iowa is ending it's 26th season with Kirk Ferentz as head coach, and Phil Parker as defensive coordinator.

There's something called the Blue Wall up in Ann Arbor. I don't know if it's real, but I heard from a Michigan State beat writer, that this group was prepping to get Moore out of there. Sounds too much like a James Bond plot to me. But the 'with cause' makes me wonder. As Charles said, kind of a bad time to be needing a coach. Unless this 'Blue Wall' had a plan.

That three year run seems to look dirtier, and dirtier. Biff Poggi is their interim coach.

Ah, I find as I get older, that my most cherished memories are often centered around firsts. My first trip to Disney, my first Gator game, my first car, my first date, first friend, kid, job, real achievement, Christmas, Halloween..etc.. You my friends, are about to experience something only four other teams have ever experienced. A home playoff game!! You've already experienced so much in the time period that I call the era of sadness as a Gator fan 2010-present. You've won the PAC Twelve, B1G, playoff game, Heisman winner, and two National Title berths. Now you get a home playoff game in December, and most likely a win that could propel you to your first National Title. I know that is getting ahead of myself, but I have a point. As a kid, I witnessed Florida beating FSU in the Sugar Bowl to win their first ever football National Title. It's a memory I cherish, and I got to see young Gator fans witness the same in 2006, and 2008. This past basketball season I got to see young Gator fans see their first ever men's basketball championship, and six years ago the first baseball title. Those things stick with you. I know being a fan can be hard when your team loses, you invest emotionally. But the payoff to a win is priceless. Forget coaching , or player salaries. Forget transfer portal, NIL, or losing assistants. This moment right now, it's special. Take it in, the sights, the sounds, the smells. Enjoy this right now, and don't worry about next year. We all are so busy worrying about the championship window, or how the future looks. We tend to forget that today, this time right now, is that window. It's what we all were looking forward to the years ago. Unfortunately we don't realize is today is yesterday's tomorrow, and it's going to be tomorrow's yesterday. We'll never get it back, and we'll always wish we enjoyed it more as it was happening.

Until I see another team hoist the trophy. My list of teams to avoid early would be... 1.) Ohio State 2.) Georgia 3.) Indiana 4.)Texas Tech Oregon happens to be on the side of the bracket with my three, and four. My reasoning is based off top end talent, championship experience, and ceiling to floor capability. If Ohio State, and Georgia are operating at optimum, with all those five stars. Watch out. We saw it last year with Ohio State. My fear with Indiana is what they have left. They put their everything into winning that game against the big bad monster that's been bullying them for the past thirty seven years. Just like Ohio State put everything into beating Michigan the prior week. There is a natural letdown that happens. I think Oregon felt that after beating Penn State. Now Oregon gets a warm up tbh against James Madison. A week later they will face a Texas Tech that bulldozed their way through the Big 12. Oregon will be the best team Tech sees all year. I don't think Tech is better than Indiana. Meanwhile, Ohio State, Georgia, and Texas A&M , Ole Miss, and Miami will be bludgeoning each other in the other half of the bracket. All have just as much, or more talent than Indiana, and Tech. Oregon gets a glorified bye, and then they get a rested, but rusty Tech. Indiana will get Alabama or Oklahoma, two of the least deserving playoff teams in the field. I think Indiana will wipe them out, and face Oregon in the semifinals, where I like Oregon as the more talented team. On the other side, I think it comes down to Ohio State, and Georgia. They will pound each other into submission. Whoever wins that game will have felt like it's been a twelve round Tyson clobbering. I like Oregon to have a much better chance to be the last team standing. It's going to be tough, but this year I think getting Ohio State, or Georgia, is far harder than James Madison, Tech, or Indiana.

It's like the NCAA tournament in basketball. You have 68 teams, or whatever the number is now. Yet on selection Sunday, you have people moaning and complaining. The playoff could go to 24, 36, or 64 in football, and you'd still get complaining. There would be complaints about who got home games, who got the hardest path, or why you had too many rematches. It's true that you could give a person a hundred million dollars, and they'd complain about it being taxed.

To copy the esteemed AD of Notre Dame.''I've strained the future relationship of my fellow SEC fan bases.''

I'd just take the bowls, and use them to determine a G6 champion. That champion could get elevated for a season to a P4 conference, if they win the conference, promote them. It would never work in reality, but it'd be fun to see.

I voted for Notre Dame, but if I was being honest, I should've voted SEC. I just can't, that would include me by affiliation😂.

I'm just over the excuse making of what is meant to be the toughest league in football. Alabama didn't get punished for a third loss. We all know that there will be about ten SEC ranked teams to start the year. Losing one to them won't hurt, winning will help. You get praised for the wins, and excuses for losing to a now much higher ranked opponent.

•Notre Dame opted out of a bowl, they took their ball and went home. Join a conference, or try not to lose to the only good opponents you play. •SEC. You got five teams in, heck you got a three loss , non conference champion that got dominated in Atlanta. Yet you want Georgia to be number two, and you are crying because Texas, and Vanderbilt got left out. You got almost half the field!! On top of that, the winning coach of the SEC title game used his press çonference to complain about nine conference games, and how it's going to destroy the league . Again, you always get the benefit of the doubt!!! Why does my team have to be associated with this loser mentality? It makes us look soft. •USC can't handle the fact that Oregon is a better program right now. Despite the on field results. You need to realize Oregon isn't going anywhere. You tried to leave them behind, you tried to block their move to the B1G. Why? It helps save you some travel every year. • Oregon State/ Washington State, you have no relevancy. You are still crying about Oregon, and Washington leaving you behind. Facts are, you got left behind years ago. You just didn't care , because you could always say you were a Pac Ten/Twelve member. Meanwhile, programs with less , did more. Programs like TCU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Utah, and BYU. How come they were able to become attractive to join the Big Twelve, but you weren't?

Is admission requirements still something? I've always heard that the head coach at Notre Dame has a tough job, because he needs to find five star players with five star study habits. A rule that some......um... Miami....umm... probably don't follow. That place is a private institution, one that has people named Reginald, Archibald, Thelonias, and last names that have words like the third, attached to them. I imagine it's likely the same at USC. Also a private place of higher education, but I might be wrong. After all, I went to a public University with a terrible football team, and even worse academic admissions record for said football team. ( Said football team may have some history that I'm biased against. My comments may not be entirely true, as I grew up disliking said team. My comments are not to be taken too seriously, you can't sue me or anyone around me for my emotional takes. Plus your law program is second rate to the program I support. Remember I am an alumnus 🥸. That is all)

That SEC game was non competitive. The B1G wasn't, it was hard hitting, and it went down to the wire. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't Ohio State play their tenth B1G game last night? How about Indiana? Didn't Ohio State have to play "The Game" last week? Didn't they beat The Texas on opening week? Didn't both squads have injuries, yet didn't rest 13 of their players like Alabama did? I don't recall hearing Curt Cignetti complaining. Al I heard was celebrating. I didn't hear Ryan Day making excuses about playing Michigan, and Indiana back to back weeks. Ole Miss is going to go a full month plus before their last competitive game. After playing Citadel, getting a bye, and beating the mighty five win Mississippi State, a team Billy Napier could beat while already knowing he was going to be canned the next day. The SEC have been smelling it's own farts for too long, they've convinced themselves that whatever comes out of them isn't crap. It's unfiltered genius. It isn't.

Florida State , and Ohio State thought about doing that two years ago. They might as well, most of the starters opted out, and they were playing in the Orange and Cotton Bowl respectively .Michigan had several opt outs last year against Alabama, and eventual number one pick Cam Ward sat out the second half of a bowl game, right after he set a personal record. The team blew the lead, and the game in the second half. Bowl games are meaningless to brand names, even as they are sponsored by brand names. Dukes Mayo, Cheezit, and Pop Tart ,are now actual bowl games. It isn't the Rose Bowl presented by____, it's just____ Bowl.

I was hoping BYU would've gotten in. Their best win was against Utah. They lost twice, both to Tech. If it wasn't by blowout on Saturday, I think they would've gotten more consideration. I'm still confused as to if the committee punished BYU for something they said they wouldn't punish them for. Alabama kept thirteen guys out for rest, so they must've had an inkling that they were safe regardless. The only thing I can think of is that Alabama beat Georgia on the road already. BYU never beat Tech, and their Utah win wasn't as good as Alabama beating Georgia, and Vanderbilt. It's not about who you lost to. It's about who you beat. As long as you don't have three losses heading in CCG Saturday.

•Well, Oregon is hosting James Madison in a playoff game. Indiana is the one seed, after beating Ohio State for the first time in my lifetime, and Vanderbilt has a legitimate gripe about being left out of the CFP. All things we predicted eh? •Okay, we have two rematches in round one, and a potential rematch most of my OBD friends would relish. Ole Miss trounced Tulane in September, and is hosting them again. Oklahoma handled Alabama for the second straight year, and is now hosting them again. If Oregon and Indiana keep winning, we'll get a rematch that I know most Duck fans crave. • SEC fan bases, and coaches, most notably Kirby Smart last night, have criticized Greg Sankey for going to a nine game conference slate. Causing most to think a sixteen team format is going to be pressed this off-season. • Notre Dame got passed up by Miami for the last CFP at large slate. Most aren't mad about the Hurricanes passing them up, considering the week one game result, in which Miami beat Notre Dame. But there is confusion as to how the teams swapped positions without either playing. Some say the committee didn't want the ACC to have zero teams after five loss Duke beat Virginia in the ACC title game. But that shouldn't happen, if Miami was better than Notre Dame, they should've been ahead of them. Their ranking shouldn't be dependent on a game that their merit has no effect on. It's dumb. Notre Dame would've been better if Virginia won, but Miami is better because Duke won? After all, past the required five conference champions. The field should be filled with the best seven at large teams. • There is going to be an expansion imo. BYU, and Notre Dame are going to demand it. They both have a lot of money. We all know what matters to college football. Texas and Vanderbilt are going to cry to Sankey. Sankey is going to cry to the committee, and despite getting five teams in, the SEC is going to yell about James Madison getting in over Texas, and Vanderbilt. Especially with all the crying about a nine game conference slate. I think Greg should go with the Petiti play in model.

Two G6 champions!!! It's time to show Chesney a preview of what's waiting for him. Add a score, just in case Billy boy is watching his future team please. Indiana earned the one seed. Ohio State rightfully got the two seed. Georgia and Tech , both dominated their opponents. Not shocked that Georgia got more credit for their win. Notre Dame got left out, and Alabama got left in. But Miami jumped in over Notre Dame and BYU. I guess opening week games matter after all. Projecting ahead, Danny Kanell just forecasted that Oregon will win it all. For what that's worth.