College Football Archives - Page 2 of 8 - The Confluence at Jollybengali.net

Creating A De-Facto Bowl Game

Sep 162014

I’ll preface this post by saying that I realize that college football scheduling is easier said than done. Teams have to balance conference and non-conference schedules with all sorts of logistical, recruiting and monetary concerns. However.

I’m wondering if major teams, at least in the north, ever try to schedule more attractive games late in the season. And by attractive, I mean geographically attractive. Let’s say, a game at Tulane or SDSU or Hawai’i. Or even FIU in late November, as opposed to early season. It doesn’t seem like northern teams do that at all.

Especially, if you’re a team that is/was probation, like Ohio State. In 2012, when the Buckeyes were on a bowl ban, their non-conference schedule consisted of Miami-Ohio, UCF, Cal and UAB. As I said, I know there’s a huge monetary concern here, especially with the big dawg programs. Iif folks like to moan about the kids missing out on a bowl game, then why not create a de-facto bowl game. Take a look at the map below.

Why Your CFB Team Sucks – Pitt Panthers

College Football, Football Comments Off

Sep 132014

Inspired by Drew Magary’s NFL preview series, Why Your Team Sucks on Deadspin, I decided to do a little of the same on the college side. This is the second in the series. Click here to learn why WVU sucks.

Some people are fans of the Pitt Panthers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Pitt Panthers or don’t really give a shit about them. This preview is for those in the latter group.

Your Team: University of Pittsburgh Panthers

Your 2013-2014 record: 7-6 with a bowl win over Bowling Green. The Pitt-est of Pitt records.

Paul Chryst's Pitt showed some growth this season

Pitt’s Paul Chryst

Your Coach: Paul “Neat” Chryst, an affable young gentleman who was initially passed over for Todd Graham and then Mike Haywood, the Ray Rice of college coaches. At least Pitt had the sense to can Haywood the minute he gave them an opportunity. Talk about a case of buyer’s remorse.

Chryst is a “neat” guy, as in he says “neat” a lot. A grown man who says, “neat”. Can’t you just hear the awww’s coming. This is a guy who’s so nice and affable that you’re alternately rooting for him to win because you believe he’d do it the ‘right way’ and fearing some news story will drop showing him kicking a 5-year old birthday boy’s new puppy while drinking too much Scotch “neat”.

Your Quarterback: Redshirt sophomore Chad Voytik, who provides the greatest proof ever of both the vulnerability and stupidity of 17 year old boys, as well as their immediate ability to redeem themselves. Voytik was a Todd Graham recruit. He bought that fucking used-car sleazebag salesman’s pitch. He committed 4-5 years of his life to studying under the tutelage of a man who makes Lane Kiffin look like a priest. BUT! He stuck with Pitt after Graham absconded. Three years later, he’s ready to man the helm at Pitt. Teenagers, sheesh.

What’s New that Sucks: Pitt returns a defensive line minus Aaron Donald who only managed to be named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, a unanimous All-American and win Lombardi Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award and the Outland Trophy. Donald even blocked a kick! Minus Aaron Donald, Pitt’s defensive line had 4.5 sacks and no forced fumbles. All season.

Penn State are still Penn State

College Football, Football, The Bigger Picture Comments Off

Sep 102014

In an article for SI regarding the NCAA’s decision to lift Penn State’s bowl ban and scholarship restrictions, Zac Ellis writes:

The problem was that the bowl ban and scholarship reductions didn’t affect anyone responsible for Sandusky’s actions. Those sanctions didn’t punish the likes of former Penn State president Graham Spanier, late football coach Joe Paterno, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, whose actions — or lack thereof — were at the heart of the scandal. What the NCAA’s decision did was take opportunities away from prospective scholarship athletes at Penn State. These are players who had nothing to do with Sandusky or the school’s administration. The NCAA forced the next Penn State regime — in this case, Bill O’Brien and his new coaching staff — into an extremely difficult situation of recruiting fewer kids into a program that couldn’t go bowling for four seasons.

Ellis is correct that the penalties levied against Penn State didn’t punish Spanier, Paterno, Curley or Schultz and did punish Penn State’s football program and future players. But punishing rule breakers (in this case the institution of Penn State football) often does have collateral and deleterious downstream effects.

Those who would point out that the NCAA had no juris-my-dicktion in this case have a point. But they’re also, in effect, saying that the football program should not have been punished at all. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the football culture at Penn State became so big and so important that it led to the actions which caused the scandal, which led otherwise good men to look the other way while heinous acts were committed. Penn State is a fine academic institution but football should never be as big as it is there; that’s called lack of institutional control. It had to be taken down a peg.

And the folks who have bought into the myth of “Success with Honor”, who worship(ped) at the altar of Joe Paterno and all he wrought have stood screaming into the wind while the rest of us watched, disappointed and horrified. They still think of Penn State as Shangri-La. This level of fidelity, emulated at other prominent football-centric schools around the country, is sad but not unique. If the folks at Michigan or Texas or Alabama think that it couldn’t happen at their institutions, they’re wrong, so wrong. Not because they’re inferior people (we’re all Fallen) but because they are simply people.

Perhaps I’m just screaming into the wind. While it’s possible (hopeful) that the core workings of the Penn State administration have changed, I have seen nothing in the intervening years to dissuade me from believing that Penn State football isn’t still the biggest, baddest cat in town. Folks who were once just a bit chastened are now dancing in the streets, believing that their institution is fully redeemed or that the NCAA’s jealous vendetta against poor, innocent State has ended. I guess a few more years of sanctions wouldn’t have changed the culture at Penn State, any more so than sanctions have changed Ohio State, Alabama or USC in preceding years. So let the kids go bowling. #Dominate.

Why Your CFB Team Sucks – West Virginia

College Football, Football Comments Off

Sep 082014

Inspired by Drew Magary’s NFL preview series, Why Your Team Sucks on Deadspin, I decided to do a little of the same on the college side. This is the first in the series. Some people are fans of the West Virginia Mountaineers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of WVU or don’t really give a shit about them. This preview is for those in the latter group.

Your Team: West Virginia University Mountaineers

Your 2013-2014 Record: 4-8. They became the first Big XII team to lose to both Kansas & Iowa State in the same season.

Your Coach: Dana Holgorsen. Raving drunken lunatic. Offensive mastermind. Who got shut out by Maryland last year. Maryland! Three seasons ago, WVU hung 70 points on Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Two seasons ago, WVU got thumped by Syracuse in their bowl game. Last year, they didn’t make one.

Your QB: Senior Clint Trickett. If ever there was a guy born to be a West Virginia Mountaineer, it’s Clint Trickett. The name just evokes images of beards and missing teeth and ‘coon skin caps, don’t it. Perhaps he can double as the Mountaineer’s musket-wielding mascot as well. Trickett won a whirlwind of a QB battle against three other combatants despite having offseason shoulder surgery and not taking snaps during fall drills. Now that’s talent.

What’s New That Sucks: Rushel Shell is now active. The former all-world recruit from who ignominiously left Pitt because he couldn’t take a little bit of criticism from the world’s ‘neatest’ coach, Paul Chryst, then was rejected by the lads at UCLA, and landed at, of all places, West by gawd Virginia. Look, I try really hard not to root against college kids because they’re still kids and especially not against local kids but seriously.

Pitt, PSU & WVU College Football Predictions

College Football, Football Comments Off

Aug 222014

… Or I’m Actually Going to to Predict the Results of Kids Playing College Sports?!

Aye, ’tis folly of the highest order to deign to predict the outcomes of college sports, especially the footballs. But that’s what makes it so fun. I did my best not to let my prejudices for (Pitt) or against (EVERYONE ELSE!!) affect my predictions too much. You be the judge but please remember that you suck. And I will block you on Twitter if I haven’t eaten yet and you’re annoying me. Just let me get something to eat first before you word-vomit all over me after a tough loss.

First up, let’s do Pitt…

I tried. I honestly tried to be realistic in the third column below. But historically realistic would also include at least one “HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” loss and one “SERIOUSLY, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM, WE RULE!!” win. But I want to believe that Paul Chryst is building something so I excluded the stupid loss. And no, I don’t think that beating Virginia Tech is a huge, off-the-wall win. They’re a fine program but one with which Pitt has traditionally been competitive (including last year in Blacksburg).

Date	Opponent	Location	Optimistic	Pessimistic	Middle
8/30/14	vs Delaware	Pittsburgh, PA	W	W	W
9/5/14	at BC *	Chestnut Hill, MA	W	L	W
9/13/14	at FIU	Miami, FL	W	W	W
9/20/14	vs Iowa	Pittsburgh, PA	W	L	L
9/27/14	vs Akron	Pittsburgh, PA	W	W	W
10/4/14	at UVA *	Charlottesville, VA	W	W	W
10/16/14	vs VT *	Pittsburgh, PA	W	L	W
10/25/14	vs GT *	Pittsburgh, PA	W	L	L
11/1/14	vs Duke *	Pittsburgh, PA	W	L	W
11/15/14	at UNC *	Chapel Hill, NC	L	L	L
11/22/14	vs Syr *	Pittsburgh, PA	W	W	W
11/29/14	at Miami *	Miami, FL	L	L	L
			10-2 (6-2 ACC)	5-7 (2-6 ACC)	8-4 (5-3 ACC)

Next up, the State Penn:

Lies, Damn Lies and My School’s Recruits Rule!

College Football, Football Comments Off

Feb 072014

Or… Happy NLI Day!

College football fans are undoubtedly still basking in the glow of National Letter of Intent Day. Wherein they celebrate recruiting classes sure to lift them to the promised land.

People get bent out of shape over recruits, recruiting wars, verbal commitments, recruiting rankings; both pro and con. My belief is that they matter only insofar as there must be a great developmental and game-day coach behind them. It doesn’t matter that Charlie Weis pulled in Top-10 classes at Notre Dame; he just isn’t a good head coach. But put those same classes in the hands of Nick Saban or Urban Meyer and the team will excel to a much greater degree with those same kids.

On the flip side, statistics mean nothing to the individual. That’s why it’s not hard at all to point to players who weren’t highly-ranked who went on to great college success. Antonio Bryant was a 1-star recruit out of high school. Pitt offered him at the last minute and his only other offer was from Louisville. He won the Biletnikoff Award at Pitt and might have won two if not for an injury in his last season.

Antonio Bryant, Biletnikoff Award Winner & 1-star recruit

The Folly of Playoffs

Baseball, Basketball, College Basketball, College Football, Football, Futbol/Soccer, Hockey, Pro-Basketball, Pro-Football, The Bigger Picture Comments Off

Jan 242014

I’m not a huge fan of playoffs (unless my team does well in them). They’re a vastly imperfect method of determining a champion. They usually only determine the team that is playing the best, that is the hottest at that end point of the season. A balanced, season-long race should be the only way that a Champion is determined.

This is the way it’s done in world Soccer (ie, Association Football). Each team plays every other team twice throughout the season. Winner gets 3 points. Loser gets 0 points. Tie gets 1 point for each team. Add up each team’s points and you have a winner. Home-and-home. No such thing as Strength of Schedule. A true league champion.

There are separate Cup Championships (elimination tournaments or playoffs, if you will) that run concurrently through the season. When an FC Barcelona fan talks about the club’s 22 titles, that number doesn’t include Cup Championships.

This is my definition of a true champion. I realize it will always be impossible to determine a true champion in the NFL, College Football and College Basketball. (As well as the other college sports). There are too many teams within each league to play a round robin schedule or even one-to-one.

But the NBA, NHL and MLB could have true champions. Eliminate conferences and divisions, which are remnants of the days when travel costs weighed more heavily on teams. Have each team play the same number of games against their brethren. Everyone’s travel costs will be the same if you play each other the same number of times. 3 points for an win (or shootout win in the NHL), 0 points for a loss.

The NHL, NBA and MLB each have 30 teams. Hockey and Basketball would play a home-and-home (2 games/opponent), which gets them to 58 games. MLB would play double home-and-home (4 games/opponent), which gets them to 116 games. That’s a not-insignificant decrease in inventory so add in simultaneous elimination tournaments (Cup Championships) and you should be able to replenish the inventory sufficiently.

I know, I know. I’m tilting at windmills. Americans can’t stomach regular season champions. We crave the supposed-certainty of a playoff. We would rather be provided with certainty, with absolute rules rather than any teeny-weeny sign of ambiguity. Bollocks to that.

Penn State Football Goes Outside of the Family, Hires James Franklin

College Football, Football Comments Off

Jan 132014

Penn State football head coach James Franklin

So yeah, Penn State may just have knocked it out of the park. They went out and got a phenomenal recruiter with ties to PA and the northeast and an excellent game coach. Who will eventually leave them for the NFL. (Don’t think it’ll happen? He called it his Dream Job. Yeah, he’ll leave someday soon for his next dream job).

From what I read, Penn State wanted Miami Hurricanes head coach Al Golden. They may or may not have gone after (former) Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak. Both alums. Then they turned to a non-alum, James Franklin, once-upon-a-time the head-coach-in-waiting at Maryland (wow, don’t they fell dumb right now) and author of back-to-back 9-win seasons at Vanderbilt. Seriously, Vanderbilt. The only ones doing a better job than Franklin did at Vanderbilt at similar academic institutions are David Shaw at Stanford and David Cutcliffe at Duke.

The drawback to the Franklin hiring is the specter of the sexual assault cases pending against a number of his former players. Most accounts say that he didn’t know and then booted those players pretty quickly from the Vanderbilt football team. It’s doubtful to me that this will have much of an effect on Franklin’s tenure at Penn State unless he’s somehow called to testify in their criminal cases.

Still, let the kool-aid drinking begin for Penn Staters. Enjoy it while you have him. Just don’t think he’ll stay for 20 years. Or even 10 years. No one does.

My 2014 Pitt and College Sports WishList

Basketball, College Basketball, College Football, Football, The Bigger Picture Comments Off

Jan 022014

I consider myself as a lucky sports fan. At least I’m not a Cleveland sports fan. I can find hope without looking too hard. BUT! C’mon, everyone wants some of their teams to do better. So here’s my wishlist for college sports in 2014.

Pitt football

Better recruiting on Defense. I expect that Paul Chryst and his staff will continue to build the offensive lines and reel in quality offensive recruits. That’s evidenced by getting 4-star RB Chris James as well as offensive linemen Mike Grimm and Alex Bookser. But I just don’t see those studs coming in on defense. Matt House took some pretty harsh criticism for the defense this year. Some of it was deserved, some not. But Pitt’s whiffed on some local kids who would have helped out a lot on defense. And that comes down to House’s and the defensive staff’s ability to recruit. He has to get better there. No amount of coaching ’em up will help if there aren’t capable players behind the schemes and instruction.
Paul Chryst’s growth as a coach. Chryst needs to become a better game day coach. Some of that is getting his guys in and up to speed. Some of it is just better in-game adjustments. There are times where you see what his offense is capable of. Games vs Duke and ND. The near comeback against UNC. The bowl game vs Bowling Green. I like Chryst and believe he can become a great long-term coach but he has continue to grow as a coach.
Tyler Boyd contending for the Biletnikoff Award. He had a monster season and with the emergence of Manasseh Garner and return of JP Holtz, I expect that Boyd will continue to put up big numbers. (Especially if he’s left in to return punts or kickoffs).
8-4 regular season record. Simple and easy. Winning more will improve recruiting, improve the morale of fans and draw more people to Heinz Field. It will show tangible proof of the growth/regeneration of the program. Avoid pulling a Pitt more than once next season and 8 wins is doable. Navy should have been a win. Same with Georgia Tech. That there would have given Pitt an 8-4 regular season record.

Pitt basketball

A strong ACC season. The ACC is not as strong as the Big East once was. It isn’t. Not this year at least. It ain’t no picnic either but Pitt’s been down this road before. I expect that Pitt, warts and all, should be in the top half of the conference. Outside of Duke, UNC and Syracuse, whom should Pitt fear? NC State, UVA, ND, UMD – good teams, yes. But not other-worldly programs. Fourth place is there for the taking. Continue reading »

Bill O’Brien To Usher Penn State into the Club of Ordinary Programs

College Football, Football Comments Off

Dec 302013

So it looks increasingly likely that Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien will be flying the coup. I’m honestly surprised it’s happening so soon. Not necessarily because I thought he’d see out the sanctions period. But because I didn’t think he’d become a serious candidate after only two years. Don’t get me wrong, he’s done yeoman’s work for PSU. I just didn’t think NFL teams would come calling so soon.

Even if O’Brien doesn’t jump ship this offseason, it’s a strong bet that he’ll leave very soon thereafter.

If I was PSU looking for his successor, I would stay clear of 49ers Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman and (former) Tampa Buccaneers Head Coach Greg Schiano, two names which garnered interest in their last coaching search. I’d even stay away former Pennstater and current (for now) Tennessee Titans Head Coach Mike Munchak. These are NFL guys. That’s where they want to be; at the supposed pinnacle of football coaching. (Personally, I don’t think that coaching, as opposed to playing, in the NFL is the peak of the profession though let’s leave that for another day).

Penn State Head Coach Bill O’Brien

Older Entries Newer Entries