The Rest of College Football

[whodean]

source at Alabama said there's "a chance" Braxton Miller comes to Alabama.

[iam416]

Lol

[Ghengis Jon]

There's a short blurb in the paper with no details about OSU (Okie State, not osu). The football team has just been put on one year's probation for violating their own drug policies and the all female Orange Pride group has been suspended for 'recruiting violations'. Doing lines and recruits? Can't wait for the details...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Related to the largely discredited SI story that came out 2 or 3 years ago

[Hannibal]

It wasn't discredited. It's just "unproven".

[Dr. Strangelove]

It wasn't discredited. It's just "unproven".

One of its chief contributors was a guy named Thayer Evans, who is essentially a University of Oklahoma version of Paul Finebaum or Skip Bayless

[Hannibal]

One of its chief contributors was a guy named Thayer Evans, who is essentially a University of Oklahoma version of Paul Finebaum or Skip Bayless

Interesting. Where's the "discredited" part come in?

[froot loops]

There's a few deadspin articles on it. Huffington Post also did it. Some of the stuff they printed in the magazine article from one of the athletes were not in SI's transcripts of the interview of the athlete. They completely fabricated a graduation rate, it went by no known methodology of calculating graduation rates and even included a player who had died. SI didn't contact Oklahoma State for rebuttals. Most of their sources were from players that left the program in less than ideal circumstances and SI didn't disclose that, people who followed RichRod's practice-gate can sympathize with that.

It was a hit piece, they found some minor violations and that is what OSU was penalized for, but those violations were rather tame compared the size of that series of articles.

[Hannibal]

The graduation rate was one minor piece of the entire article, and the calculation method sounds like splitting hairs to me. The rest of it -- the $100 handshakes, the questionable hostess practices, the systemic cover-up of failed drug tests -- has that been "disproven", or has it just not been proven because the NCAA has no power to subpeona documents and if they did, nobody would be stupid enough to leave a paper trail anyways?

It's nothing like the RichRod practicegate fiasco. That article was intellectually dishonest because 99.9% of what was reported wasn't even a violation, but rather an exploitation of gray areas that are universal around college football. I could care less that the sources were disgruntled players. What the disgruntled players said about how many hours they practiced or worked out per week were true. But most of what they complained about was perfectly legal, with the exception being the whopping 15 minutes per day of stretching that we failed to count as a Countable Activity. And that's ultimately what we got punished on. The Oklahoma State article, on the other hand, accused the program of obvious violations, with the only exception being the gray area of the hostess behavior and whether the hostesses were pressured by the coaches into having sex with the players.

And why would happy players complain about an illegal system that they benefit from? Anyone who does this burns some massive bridges. The only person who can be a whistleblower in college football is somebody with nothing left to lose. i.e. a disgruntled player. People often do honest things with impure motives. The motive of a whistleblower should always be considered as part of the equation, but dismissing them outright because they have an axe to grind is intellectually lazy.

[iam416]

Way too early top 25 from genius of Mark Schlabach: http://espn.go.com/college-football/...o-early-top-25

In three seasons, Urban Meyer has built Ohio State into the country's hottest program, going 38-3 overall, 24-0 in Big Ten regular-season games and winning the inaugural College Football Playoff. The scariest part: Meyer might only be getting warmed up. With multiple star quarterbacks, the country's best tailback and a menacing defensive line, the Buckeyes are the team to beat in 2015.

And the way too early B10 power rankings: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/...power-rankings

7. Michigan Wolverines: Jim Harbaugh is a demanding coach -- and maybe a "bit insane" -- but he's also the right person to lead this team. It's just difficult to envision a scenario where the Wolverines don't improve upon last season. Offensive turnovers should no longer be the norm, and this defense has plenty to build off of.

I reckon that's how M will be viewed by most heading into the season -- middle of the pack B10. Obviously, JH will be ripped to shreds by media if he fails to win 10 or more games.

[Jeff Buchanan]

In my Maze and Blue mind, I can't see a whole lot of separation, talent wise, between M, Neb, Wisky and the Gophers. I think you can quibble by position, for example, but overall, not a lot of difference.

Which coaching staff, right now, would you rate as being more likely to develop the talent on their respective rosters and prepare for/manage games?

[iam416]

Wisconsin's hole is at OL. I like Wisky's ability to build and develop and OL better anyone in the B10 outside of Columbus. I think they're properly #3.

Minnesota lost its two best offensive weapons in Cobb and Williams. They were a gritty team last season that probably punched a win or two above their weight. They were plainly better than M, though. I like Kill's staff.

Nebraska is a bit of a mystery to me. Ordinarily I'd like Armstrong coming back. But he's meh to me. And I don't know what to make of Reilly.

Penn State has nearly every important player back. Offensively, that means nothing as they were poop. Defensively, that's good even though they lost Hull.

If I had to rate the teams right now, it's OSU >> MSU >> Wisconsin > Goofers > PSU, M, UNL >> Others.

As for which coaching staff I prefer, well, the dictates of HARBAUGH!!!! say that M has the best coaching staff ever assembled in this history of this universe or any other and in any alternate dimension. However, to date M fan expectations of HARBAUGH!!!! have proven too high. He didn't come in and save the recruiting class as many actually predicted. He hasn't immediately lured in the high profile 5* QB as many predicted. 5* recruits aren't lining up for a chance to just touch the legend. So, it's possible the expectations of M fans may be a bit too high.

A more cautious approach would suggest he's very good. He took Stanford from 1 to 4 to 5 to 8 to 12. Ok. I mean, the first 4 years are hardly earth-shattering. If Andrew Luck plays for M this season, then I could see a huge jump. He walked into a Niners team oozing talent on defense yet rendered dysfunctional by a god-awful HC. He did a nice job making the offense functional.

Of the teams we're talking about, I would still take M's staff over PSU and the Goofers in a close call. I'm wait and see on Chryst, though I think he'll do really well in Madison. And I just don't know about Reilly.

[Hannibal]

I'll be very disappointed if we end up 7th. At the very least, we should be better than tht Goofers. They are essentially a poor man's version of what I expect us to be this year.

I don't know what to make of Penn State. I thought that they lost more than just one key guy off of the defense.

[iam416]

Well, you don't play Wisky or UNL, so those two are sort of irrelevant. Odds are someone in the West will have a better conference record than M, though.

M does play the Goofer in a REMATCH!!!!! game. You could settle accounts there.

3rd in the B10 East is probably what your goal should be. That would put you ahead of Penn State and probably 4th or 5th overall depending on how much of a clusterfuck the West is.

[Jeff Buchanan]

........ 3rd in the B10 East is probably what your goal should be. That would put you ahead of Penn State and probably 4th or 5th overall depending on how much of a clusterfuck the West is.

That sums it up pretty well as does you comment on the Kill staff v. the Harbaugh staff.

I'd change the words "what your goal should be" above to what your position should be.

........ and, IMO, HARBAUGH!!! can game change that outcome with wins over Sparty and the bucks in AA.

These are the kinds of game changing circumstances that Harbaugh should be able to bring to the 2015 CFB table.

Your analysis of his Stanford record should be given some weight in determining the probability of 11-2. Add this to the bell curve analysis of all first year coaches and doing something like going 11-2 and beating both Sparty and osu is a low probability outcome.

But, I like Harbaugh's chances to do that IVO urbz' remarkable 12-0 in his first year. It can be done.