k9cane
Senior
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2011
- Messages
- 10,134
Some thoughts on Week 1, now that it's over....
- The big story is Michigan's 'victory' over W. Michigan. The circumstances surrounding it have been talked about ad nauseam. I really have nothing more to add in that regard. This was the 'Ann Arbor ***** Job'. What is interesting to me is this was Michigan better off losing? Hear me out, yeah, that would be a terrible loss and the worst way for the Whittingham to begin his run in Ann Arbor. I get all that.
But losing would have given him a license to bench Bryce Underwood. This was never his guy. It's clear he's not developing. He may never develop. Whittingham never made 'the Louisiana Purchase'.
The question is, if Whit wanted to make that move, would he have to clear this with the big money boosters who control the NIL purse strings? It may seem a bit far-fetched but that is today's college football, isn't? This is every bit the business decision, as it is pure football
Then there is this: has this whole saga changed the marketplace for blue-chip high school QB's? The reality is that most really aren't ready to be a day 1 starter (at least a good one). But if you're paying a lot of money upfront, well, can you afford to sit him out a season or two and let them develop? And will the Dave Portnoy's of the world understand if you do sit them out for their own good, as they write big checks expecting some sort of return on their investment?
Maybe just going to the portal to get a proven entity is the way to go. I know some may hate that, but that's the current system in play, and if you go by which teams are making runs in the playoffs, the data supports this.
Back to Meat-chicken, can't lie, as they face a fierce OU defense this upcoming week, I can't wait to see this Wolverine offense -- and how the crowd at 'the Big House' will react after a few three-and-outs. There are a bunch of Michigan podcasters who owe Eric Weddle a public apology.
- Last year Deoin Sanders took a ton of heat (justifiably) for his late game management in last years opener vs GaTech. Well, this year it was Brent Key who goofed late as he completely misplayed the last minute of the game on Friday night by getting waaaay too conservative.
Regardless, on this night Colorado was the tougher, more physical team. They deserved to win that game at Bobby Dodd. But they need a LOT more out of Juju Lewis moving forward.
- Bama, Texas, USC, Ohio St and UGA all did what they were supposed to do( they did 'the Chris Rock'). Not really much to say as they all scored blowout wins. Keelon Russell is a really good athlete with a live arm, but he seems to take a lot of unnecessary shots. USC continues to work in young players, who are producing early on vs a favorable schedule.
- Oregon gutted one out vs Boise St. But this game was in Autzen and this isn't a vintage Bronco team. Keep this in mind, Oregon in recent years have gotten off to slow starts and still put together big regular seasons. Again, it's very early, but they simply didn't look like the number one team in the country, as som had them rated. From what I've seen, I think USC is a very live dog against the Ducks on Sept 26
- UCLA-Cal is a game I attended live. Great start to the Bob Chesney era. The guys he brought from JMU, Sahir West and Wayne "I dub the' Knight made big plays down the stretch. But this team will only go as far as Nico Iameleava. At times he played well. At 21-10, UCLA creates a turnover deep in Cal territory near the end of the first half. They are about to stick a dagger in. But on first down and about 90 seconds left, he tosses an inexplicable INT. Just an awful decision and play. Cal goes onto score a TD. Just like that, ball game was on.
Then later in the game, with a lead, Nico runs for a first, and then instead of securing the ball, fumbles. He recovered it. But his ball security was awful. I want a higher football IQ from my quarterbacks. But the Bruins were resilient and pulled away. They might be 4-0 going into Oregon on October 10
As for JKS, to see him live you could see the arm talent this southpaw has. He throws as good a back-shoulder pass as anyone. But the issue with him is that because there's so much pressure on him to carry things on his shoulder, he JKS will force throws. His INT's on consecutive drives in the 4th quarter swung the game back to the Bruins.
- I generally hate non-campus games but Lambeau Field worked for Notre Dame-Wisconsin. The Badgers were tough early but couldn't overcome themselves and didn't faded down the stretch vs the Irish. This offense for ND, as expected, just isn't the same without Love and Price in the backfield. And I'm not sure they scare anyone outside to make up for it. Colton Joseph will be effective for Wisconsin, but I'm not convinced he'll save Fickell's job
- Ol Miss vs L'Ville was the best game of the weekend. It ended up being a second half shootout. Trinidad Chambliss is probably going to be a Heisman Trophy finalist. On the flipside, Lincoln Keinholz was awful early, then very good late. While they fell 41-38, that offense with speedsters like Isaac Brown, McCoy and Richardson will be tough to stop in the ACC.
As for the Rebels, they need to be much sounder on defense before they face LSU on the 19th.
- Was this Saturday night the Waterloo for Dabo Swinney? It's one thing to lose, but they got absolutely demolished 51-10 by the LSU Tigers. All good things must come to an end, and now Clemson faces that possibility with a guy who is their greatest coach. In the meantime, do they see what they have with Tait Reynolds at quarterback? Beyond that, Im not sure that Oline can be fixed.
Meanwhile, the LSU offense was good -- but again, Sam Leavitt plays a VERY physical game which is always a double-edged sword- but that defense keyed by Jordan Ross, DJ '5' Pickett and transfers TJ Dottery and Princewell U was to me the real story. That unit will keep them in every game. Right now, the Tigers make a strong case for being the best team in the land.
- Washington looked mediocre. They beat Wazzu 24-10, but it was underwhelming. I know some have them as a playoff darkhorse, but on this day I didn't see it. The difference in this Apple Cup was Demond Williams. By this way, this game should always be played in late November, not early September.
- There was a power outage at Doak Campbell that delayed the Noles game vs SMU by over 90 minutes. How apropos. But in what was a sloppy game, SMU had to ovecome two things -- Florida St and themselves to get out of there with a 27-24 win.
SMU really should've won this game by a few possessions. They had over 600 yards of offense, while FSU had just over 320. But key redzone turnovers (four overall) from SMU had the Noles in this to the end. But the play-calling, which was very run-centric, had the natives restless in Tallahassee. Either you trust Ashton Daniels as your QB, or you dont. Duece Robinson was a non-factor for long stretches on Monday night
As for the Mustangs, they get things cleaned up and this will be a prolific offense led by Kevin Jennings. This is a well-constructed offense designed by Rhett Lashlee with some solid weapons in Kendrick Raphael, Dramecko Green, Randy Pittman and Yannick Smith.
- The big story is Michigan's 'victory' over W. Michigan. The circumstances surrounding it have been talked about ad nauseam. I really have nothing more to add in that regard. This was the 'Ann Arbor ***** Job'. What is interesting to me is this was Michigan better off losing? Hear me out, yeah, that would be a terrible loss and the worst way for the Whittingham to begin his run in Ann Arbor. I get all that.
But losing would have given him a license to bench Bryce Underwood. This was never his guy. It's clear he's not developing. He may never develop. Whittingham never made 'the Louisiana Purchase'.
The question is, if Whit wanted to make that move, would he have to clear this with the big money boosters who control the NIL purse strings? It may seem a bit far-fetched but that is today's college football, isn't? This is every bit the business decision, as it is pure football
Then there is this: has this whole saga changed the marketplace for blue-chip high school QB's? The reality is that most really aren't ready to be a day 1 starter (at least a good one). But if you're paying a lot of money upfront, well, can you afford to sit him out a season or two and let them develop? And will the Dave Portnoy's of the world understand if you do sit them out for their own good, as they write big checks expecting some sort of return on their investment?
Maybe just going to the portal to get a proven entity is the way to go. I know some may hate that, but that's the current system in play, and if you go by which teams are making runs in the playoffs, the data supports this.
Back to Meat-chicken, can't lie, as they face a fierce OU defense this upcoming week, I can't wait to see this Wolverine offense -- and how the crowd at 'the Big House' will react after a few three-and-outs. There are a bunch of Michigan podcasters who owe Eric Weddle a public apology.
- Last year Deoin Sanders took a ton of heat (justifiably) for his late game management in last years opener vs GaTech. Well, this year it was Brent Key who goofed late as he completely misplayed the last minute of the game on Friday night by getting waaaay too conservative.
Regardless, on this night Colorado was the tougher, more physical team. They deserved to win that game at Bobby Dodd. But they need a LOT more out of Juju Lewis moving forward.
- Bama, Texas, USC, Ohio St and UGA all did what they were supposed to do( they did 'the Chris Rock'). Not really much to say as they all scored blowout wins. Keelon Russell is a really good athlete with a live arm, but he seems to take a lot of unnecessary shots. USC continues to work in young players, who are producing early on vs a favorable schedule.
- Oregon gutted one out vs Boise St. But this game was in Autzen and this isn't a vintage Bronco team. Keep this in mind, Oregon in recent years have gotten off to slow starts and still put together big regular seasons. Again, it's very early, but they simply didn't look like the number one team in the country, as som had them rated. From what I've seen, I think USC is a very live dog against the Ducks on Sept 26
- UCLA-Cal is a game I attended live. Great start to the Bob Chesney era. The guys he brought from JMU, Sahir West and Wayne "I dub the' Knight made big plays down the stretch. But this team will only go as far as Nico Iameleava. At times he played well. At 21-10, UCLA creates a turnover deep in Cal territory near the end of the first half. They are about to stick a dagger in. But on first down and about 90 seconds left, he tosses an inexplicable INT. Just an awful decision and play. Cal goes onto score a TD. Just like that, ball game was on.
Then later in the game, with a lead, Nico runs for a first, and then instead of securing the ball, fumbles. He recovered it. But his ball security was awful. I want a higher football IQ from my quarterbacks. But the Bruins were resilient and pulled away. They might be 4-0 going into Oregon on October 10
As for JKS, to see him live you could see the arm talent this southpaw has. He throws as good a back-shoulder pass as anyone. But the issue with him is that because there's so much pressure on him to carry things on his shoulder, he JKS will force throws. His INT's on consecutive drives in the 4th quarter swung the game back to the Bruins.
- I generally hate non-campus games but Lambeau Field worked for Notre Dame-Wisconsin. The Badgers were tough early but couldn't overcome themselves and didn't faded down the stretch vs the Irish. This offense for ND, as expected, just isn't the same without Love and Price in the backfield. And I'm not sure they scare anyone outside to make up for it. Colton Joseph will be effective for Wisconsin, but I'm not convinced he'll save Fickell's job
- Ol Miss vs L'Ville was the best game of the weekend. It ended up being a second half shootout. Trinidad Chambliss is probably going to be a Heisman Trophy finalist. On the flipside, Lincoln Keinholz was awful early, then very good late. While they fell 41-38, that offense with speedsters like Isaac Brown, McCoy and Richardson will be tough to stop in the ACC.
As for the Rebels, they need to be much sounder on defense before they face LSU on the 19th.
- Was this Saturday night the Waterloo for Dabo Swinney? It's one thing to lose, but they got absolutely demolished 51-10 by the LSU Tigers. All good things must come to an end, and now Clemson faces that possibility with a guy who is their greatest coach. In the meantime, do they see what they have with Tait Reynolds at quarterback? Beyond that, Im not sure that Oline can be fixed.
Meanwhile, the LSU offense was good -- but again, Sam Leavitt plays a VERY physical game which is always a double-edged sword- but that defense keyed by Jordan Ross, DJ '5' Pickett and transfers TJ Dottery and Princewell U was to me the real story. That unit will keep them in every game. Right now, the Tigers make a strong case for being the best team in the land.
- Washington looked mediocre. They beat Wazzu 24-10, but it was underwhelming. I know some have them as a playoff darkhorse, but on this day I didn't see it. The difference in this Apple Cup was Demond Williams. By this way, this game should always be played in late November, not early September.
- There was a power outage at Doak Campbell that delayed the Noles game vs SMU by over 90 minutes. How apropos. But in what was a sloppy game, SMU had to ovecome two things -- Florida St and themselves to get out of there with a 27-24 win.
SMU really should've won this game by a few possessions. They had over 600 yards of offense, while FSU had just over 320. But key redzone turnovers (four overall) from SMU had the Noles in this to the end. But the play-calling, which was very run-centric, had the natives restless in Tallahassee. Either you trust Ashton Daniels as your QB, or you dont. Duece Robinson was a non-factor for long stretches on Monday night
As for the Mustangs, they get things cleaned up and this will be a prolific offense led by Kevin Jennings. This is a well-constructed offense designed by Rhett Lashlee with some solid weapons in Kendrick Raphael, Dramecko Green, Randy Pittman and Yannick Smith.