The Rest of College Football

[AlabamAlum]

Stan,

Hopefully, one day Michigan will make it to a championship game. I just hope I'm alive to see it. When was the last consensus M championship? 1948? Did y'all go to the White House? What was Truman like? Very cool. I'm kinda jealous. Anyone who could double nuke Japan is okay in my book.

[hack]

1997. We won it CLEAN. None of you will ever know what that feels like.

[AlabamAlum]

1997 was not consensus. It was a split, iirc. And lol at M being clean. Ahh, blind fans. Always good for a laugh.

[Wild Hoss]

1997. We won it CLEAN. None of you will ever know what that feels like.

::: puts on the brass knuckles:::

[froot loops]

Ha, you seem to be a tortured soul knowing you can't win clean AA.

[hack]

There are lies we tell ourselves, to preserve our pride and sanity. How the heart protects itself. And by ourselves I mean just AlabamaAlum.

[AlabamAlum]

Fan of Team A: "Yeah, we haven't won a (half) championship in 20 years but when we did it was clean!" But y'all cheated to win yours!"

Fan of Team B: "What years did you play for Team A or Team B?"

Team A: "uh, I didn't.

Team B: "Coach?"

Team A: "No."

Team B: "Member of an undercover group of investigators or have any evidence whatsoever?"

Team A: "No, but I did watch them on TV and I have been to NUMEROUS message boards!"

Team B: "Well, that's precious. Nice talk." :::pats you on the head:::: "Toodle off now. Adults are talking."

[hack]

::: puts on the brass knuckles:::

I heard that Scott Frost put on a pair before blowing John Cooper. Cooper's request.

[hack]

Fan of Team A: "Yeah, we haven't won a (half) championship in 20 years but when we did it was clean!" But y'all cheated to win yours!"

Fan of Team B: "What years did you play for Team A or Team B?"

Team A: "uh, I didn't.

Team B: "Coach?"

Team A: "No."

Team B: "Member of an undercover group of investigators or have any evidence whatsoever?"

Team A: "No, but I did watch them on TV and I have been to NUMEROUS message boards!"

Team B: "Well, that's precious. Nice talk." :::pats you on the head:::: "Toodle off now. Adults are talking."

Good god. Resorting to pronouns as argument? I thought you would have come back something more loquacious and obfucsatory. Entertaining, at least. If you are not going to entertain us...

[Wild Hoss]

I heard that Scott Frost put on a pair before blowing John Cooper. Cooper's request.

Cooper's dong would have been harder than beating Michigan.

[hack]

Not a chance in hell. You couldn't even beat Missouri on your own. But I'll trust you on the hardness of Cooper's dong. You're a Husker, so you'd have better access to information on that.

[CGVT]

I have to say that I think the college season was pretty entertaining. I liked the playoff, but feel that the only team that didn't belong was Ohio State, not because they got their asses kicked and were embarrassed, but because they didn't win their conference. Hell they didn't even win their division.

Penn State should have gone by virtue of their conference championship. Sending a team that didn't even get in the championship game smacks of the old days when the
Big Ten sent the "most representative" team to the Rose Bowl.

Make the regular season, and especially conference play mean something and only send champs (then expand to six teams)

[hack]

It sure does put our own team in perspective. Michigan still should have won the conference and made the playoff, but Alabama and Clemson are another story. I don't see how we would have competed.

[Jeff Buchanan]

One also has to consider the pressure it puts on your defense as well. Tough to manball your way out of a hole, and its a lot to ask your defense to never put you in one. Same defense that shut out your Buckeyes gave up like 43 to Pitt...that's just football in today's game. You gotta be prepared for it to happen.

Not sure manball is really worth it, as an overall approach anyway. Look at Clemson from last night; 31 first downs, almost 35 minutes of possession time...despite throwing 56 passes. That is clock-control.

Really, you have to give Bammy credit...if I'd known that Clemmy was going to have 511 yards, 35 points, 31 FDs and 35min of possession, I would expected an easy win.

It's certainly not a black and white, spread (finesse) v. power (manball) game anymore. There are just too many versions of each one at all levels of FB from HS to the NFL.

Ignoring the HS game for a moment, the college game places the most stringent limits on what kinds of offenses can be implemented and repped. Those are coming from the NCAA. NFL offenses go way past the CFB game in installing various wrinkles from a base set that is always going to be the go to identity for teams that actually have one.

I've always liked the Patriot's approach under Belichick to the game. With Tom Brady, they certainly have been successful running it. Is that a pro-style offense? Do they manball it down the field? In the traditional meaning of those two terms, not even close.

It is an adaptation of Walsh's WCO in style but it's fundamentally different in that the Patriots run, as I have read it to be described, a modified "Ron Erhardt-Ray Perkins" offensive system. This system is noted for its multiple formations and personnel groupings off a core number of base plays. Belichick is known for adapting his skill players to his offense on a season to season and game to game basis. He can throw for 400 yards and run for 25 or he sometimes can run more than he throws in terms of play count. But there still is a core identity. I think Seattle's offense with Wilson under Carroll is another good one to talk about in that light.

Right now, I don't think M or Alabama run anything close to those two offenses but I do think JH wants to. I can't speak to Saban's idea of a core offense or identity. What I am comfortable with is what I perceive is Harbaugh's direction for M's game on both sides of the ball. I think he's got exactly what he wants on defense in Brown; I think he lacks talent, probably most obviously at QB, on the offense - and make no doubt, it's his offense like the Patriots are Belichick's offense - to implement, a modern NFL approach that comes close to either the Patriots or the Seahawks. He also has to deal with the practice time limits of the NCAA.

I do think he is going to try to implement, as closely as possible a modern NFL offense at M - I would not call it manball. If you look at his recruits (and his misses) over the 2016/17 classes, he's not going towards a Clemson or osu offense. As I'd expect, he's going to chart his own course. Whether or not he is successful with that approach at an elite level, remains to be seen.

[CGVT]

It sure does put our own team in perspective. Michigan still should have won the conference and made the playoff, but Alabama and Clemson are another story. I don't see how we would have competed.

I was saying the same to a friend last night. That was a completely different level.

Penn State would have gotten their asses kicked too, maybe even worse than OSU, but they won their conference.