2021 College Football Discussion and Pick'em Thread

[Ancestral Republican]

The Crimson Tide hasn’t lost to an unranked team since falling to Auburn 17-10 on Nov. 24, 2007.

Almost 14 f***ing years.

That was Saban’s first year. The consistency that he and he alone has been able to maintain in this sport is nothing short of miraculous.

There are no miracles. That's a lot of boosters paying players to go there.

Obviously, but Alabama isn't the only team with money or boosters. Texas has the most booster money of any college system by far and they've been mediocre for a decade.

Calling it now Bama's at #2 tomorrow. They're not gonna put Iowa above them after the sh**tshow vs. State where they woulda lost if Cliff/Lambert/Mustipher played the whole game. Cincy deserves to be above them but AP has nowhere near the cajones to do so.

Pedo State deserves to be unranked.

Serious question: how long should that be treated as the end-all-be-all definer of the Penn State football program? That scandal was 10 years ago. 15 years? 50?

Well, they were never punished for it, with their paltry sanctions being reversed for no particular reason, so I think they should be defined by it for the rest of their garbage program's existence.

Seriously, dozens of boys got raped for decades under the watchful eye of Joe Paterno and they were rewarded with a Rose Bowl bid the next season. 80% of their idiot fans want the Joe Pa statue back. Suggesting they should be allowed to move on from that morally is revolting.

Paterno's been dead for 10 years, Curley/Sandusky/Spanier are all in jail, and MacQueary has resigned with his settlement in disgrace. If I remember correctly, the issues in the reduction of sanctions were A) the Commonwealth wanted the charity funds to remain in-state, and B) as twisted as it sounds, Penn State technically hadn't broken any NCAA rules. It was a criminal matter.

State didn't make the Rose Bowl the season after Paterno, they were banned from participating in bowl games for 4 seasons (later revised down to 2) and had their scholarships cut. Should they have gotten death penalty? Probably, but no need to misrepresent the discipline when its lenience is evident as it was.

Will any charitable contributions compensate for the human suffering endured? No. Does their cult of fans throughout the commonwealth still fend for JoePa's innocence? Too many. Are they still my squad? They've been since Henne/Manningham broke my 7 year-old heart, it's them till the grave.



Now, as for this season, Franklin's recruiting seems to have finally paid off on the defensive side of the ball. Brisker's been awesome and so has Ebiketie through the transfer window. The issues as shown today are in the running game and OL. Dotson is a nice talent however Iowa did a great job of taking him out of the game. With 3 games remaining vs the top-15 this season could end anywhere from playoffs to NY6 to mid-tier bowl game. Who knows? Lot of chaos this year.

Lol, sure buddy. "What we did was just awful and ruined many lives and yeah we didn't get punished but you know what imma stay a fan 'cause that pick six against Ohio State sure was sweet." Also, fun fact: Franklin himself was involved in covering up a rape while he was at Vanderbilt. No wonder he was such a perfect fit at Pedo State.

[Ancestral Republican]

Upset alert: Purdue leads #2 Iowa 24-7 with 12 minutes left.  (Coincidentally, Georgia leads Kentucky by the same score at the end of the 3rd quarter, having just blocked a FG attempt.)

LOL, hopefully this causes Pedo State to drop as well.

[Ancestral Republican]

Ed Orgeron out at LSU at the end of the season.

Looking at who LSU might consider to replace Orgeron, I'm thinking Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops, Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal, Cincinnati Head Coach Luke Fickell or Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson.

Bad list. Here are some more realistic options:

• Former Arkansas & Ole Miss HC Houston Nutt
• Liberty HC Hugh Freeze
• Missouri State HC Bobby Petrino
• Jacksonville Jaguars HC Urban Meyer
• U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

All experienced head coaches with records of success in the SEC. LSU would be foolish not to choose from among these options.

Les Miles is available.

[Ancestral Republican]

Wazzu is screwed. They drove the only two decent coaches willing to coach and win there out of town. With Oregon State very much on the rise, get ready for a lot of 5th and 6th place finishes in the North next decade. Only saved by Cal's completely mysterious inability to string consecutive successful seasons together.

The news not discussed here is that the American Conference appears to have screwed itself even more than we already thought it to be while putting C-USA in a marginally better position with some addition by subtraction.

Rolovich deserved it. He can go coach at Bob Jones University or some other place where conspiracy theories are part of the curriculum.

[Ancestral Republican]

Graham Harrell is conceptually interesting: he runs an offense that's been proven to work at Washington State and he's the guy I thought they would try to get when Leach left. The USC job being open might complicate things, but I'm not sure how serious a contender he is. Alex Grinch was at Wazzu recently, but he might be too big for that job now (although Rolovich's salary would double Grinch's current salary). My guess is that Dickert will be given a real opportunity to win the job, but given that the Cougars have ripped off three straight wins against teams that should be better than them, there's a good chance that regression means that it ends up looking like the team collapsed on his watch.

No way Harrell is a serious candidate for USC. If there’s one thing you can count on it is that an AD will try to avoid the mistake of their predecessor. Clay Helton was an unknown; a coordinator who did well enough as interim to get the big job. With Helton failing USC will go out of their way to avoid hiring another in-program coordinator to avoid looking like they’re doing the same thing. I expect them to try for some big popular name. 

For what it's worth multiple major sports journos seem to think it will be Franklin. Hopefully it throws Pedo State in disarray.

Wazzu is screwed. They drove the only two decent coaches willing to coach and win there out of town. With Oregon State very much on the rise, get ready for a lot of 5th and 6th place finishes in the North next decade. Only saved by Cal's completely mysterious inability to string consecutive successful seasons together.

The news not discussed here is that the American Conference appears to have screwed itself even more than we already thought it to be while putting C-USA in a marginally better position with some addition by subtraction.

Rolovich deserved it. He can go coach at Bob Jones University or some other place where conspiracy theories are part of the curriculum.

I wouldn’t count on it. Other programs, especially the administrations, won’t see this as “standing on principals” or “owning the libs” or whatever. They’ll see a wild card who refuses to follow rules or explain himself. A PR nightmare.

I don't even know if Bob Jones University has a football program but that's the type of school that would be an exception to your rule.

[Ancestral Republican]

This weekend against Pitt, Clemson is the underdog for the first time since their 2014 matchup at Florida State.

[Ancestral Republican]

Since I'm watching zero football these days

Not like you're missing much this week — the early slate in particular is one of the worst I can remember. I might end up watching Northwestern football.

Keep an eye on Oklahoma-Kansas.

[Ancestral Republican]

The Army Welfare Knights are hanging around right now. It just goes to show that WF isn't as good as their record indicates and they shouldn't be considered frontrunners for the ACC.

[Ancestral Republican]

Real upset alert: #7 Pedos tied with Illinois 10-10 with 8 minutes left in 4Q.

[Ancestral Republican]

Kansas just got jobbed by the refs.  The runner's forward progress was clearly stopped on that 4th down play.

Elsewhere, Wake Forest leads Army 56-49 with 8 minutes left.

The refs also missed crucial holdings and blocks in the back on Oklahoma's first two touchdowns. The Big 12 obviously needs Oklahoma to win to keep the conference relevant this season.

[Ancestral Republican]

Lloyd Austin needs to be sacked tomorrow. This country should not be giving up 9 TDs on our own soil.

If it's any consolation to you, the Dipsh**tmen are about to tie it up against Cincinnati.

[Ancestral Republican]

Lloyd Austin needs to be sacked tomorrow. This country should not be giving up 9 TDs on our own soil.

If it's any consolation to you, the Dipsh**tmen are about to tie it up against Cincinnati.

...Or not. Why are you so negative about every team? Is there anyone you actually like?

I really only hate Pedo State, the "service" academies, Alabama, the Faux Irish, and any team that's consistently overrated (like Oklahoma.) Oh, and ❌ichigan.

[Ancestral Republican]

So Wake Forest ended up winning 70-56. 136 points scored. I'm still looking for the stats; it looks like its the highest scoring division 1 game in years. RIP the people who took the under of 52 points.

May I offer you a good deal on a calculator?

So Wake Forest ended up winning 70-56. 136 points scored. I'm still looking for the stats; it looks like its the highest scoring division 1 game in years. RIP the people who took the under of 52 points.

70+56 is 126, not 136; still impressive, but that puts it four behind a truly incredible Wazzu-UCLA game from 2019 — Wazzu was up 49-17 at one point but ended up losing 67-63 (130 total).

I didn’t go to law school to have to do math.

5th OT for Penn State Illinois.

6th. And they still haven’t hit the over. Maybe not going to be a Penn State year.

7th. Someone save us from this game.

ESPN's gamecast is broken.

[Ancestral Republican]

Lol, poor old Pedos, they'll lose their coach soon and most of their vaunted recruiting class will decommit

[Ancestral Republican]

The ACC might also get knocked out of the playoff, with conference powerhouse PITT down early to plucky upstart Clemson

The ACC might also get knocked out of the playoff, with conference powerhouse PITT down early to plucky upstart Clemson

just Wake Forest left

Womp womp

[Ancestral Republican]

The taunting rule is revolting and should be shot into the sun.

At least Iowa State still won, unlike a certain green NFL team last week!

https://sports.yahoo.com/officials-nullify-iowa-state-td-with-horrible-taunting-penalty-214452551.html

[Ancestral Republican]

Tennessee is making it a lot more interesting than I expected.

Alabama is supremely overrated.

[Ancestral Republican]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChrisVannini/status/1453895883804786690
I’m surprised any conference would consider Liberty with the sexual assault scandal hanging over them.

Because Conference USA is truly desperate. UConn football? I give the conference one more year tops.

[Ancestral Republican]

Pitt falls to Miami in probably one of the worst officiated games of the entire season, capped off by a safety in the end zone that was ruled to not be one.

[Ancestral Republican]

Pitt should seriously leave the ACC after that travesty of a game.

[Ancestral Republican]

Pitt, Michigan, Florida, Florida State. Every team I rooted for today lost in a painful manner. I suffer.

F**k (and I cannot emphasize this enough) the University of Miami. Now all I can do is hope my Scarlet and Gray boys give the Pedos a well-deserved thrashing.

[Ancestral Republican]

Pedo State always plays the Buckeyes close, but we got the job done. Onto LOLbraska.

[Ancestral Republican]

How ironic that they lowered Cincy despite raising the Faux Irish, their best win. Typical ridiculous Committee crap.

Oh well, at least a certain cult from Central PA isn't on the list.

[Ancestral Republican]

Down goes Wake. The committee must be delighted.

Well I can't imagine the committee could penalize them too badly for a non-conference loss. They're still undefeated in ACC play

Of course they will; they'll put them in a place where a one loss Wake could not possibly reach the playoff. In the end, the Playoff exists to make money and Wake has no viewership footprint. Same reason they won't allow Cincinnati in if they can possibly avoid it.

Wake is really not a very good team. Even before today they would have been a pretty questionable pick.

[Ancestral Republican]

Down goes Wake. The committee must be delighted.

Well I can't imagine the committee could penalize them too badly for a non-conference loss. They're still undefeated in ACC play

Of course they will; they'll put them in a place where a one loss Wake could not possibly reach the playoff. In the end, the Playoff exists to make money and Wake has no viewership footprint. Same reason they won't allow Cincinnati in if they can possibly avoid it.

Wake is really not a very good team. Even before today they would have been a pretty questionable pick.

What does that matter? No team (outside of Alabama and only for Saban and recruiting reasons) can viably compete with Georgia on a neutral field this year. Better to see a new team lose by 20 than Ohio State back again to lose by 17.

But they aren't really charged with creating a competition with underrepresented fanbases to make it interesting. It's supposed to be the four best teams in football. Fwiw, I don't think Georgia is indestructible, but they're certainly favored. You will want to keep teams like tOSU, Oregon, Bama, and throws up TTUN around because they can make it competitive. I do agree Cincy should be on that list of teams, though.