Your 5.22.19 Playpen

I would describe the final Game of Thrones episode as disappointing, rather than a total disaster, mainly because I found the writing lazy, probably due to the rushed arc of the final season, crammed as it was into six shows.  There were plenty of narrative gaps that left me shaking my head.

While, as I said, it wasn’t a disaster, it did feel lacking, enough that I felt a need afterwards to revisit the finale to another show to remind myself that there are folks out in TV Land who know how to get things right.

That’s just about perfect.

And it’s the lead in to this week’s Playpen topic:  give us your list of great television finales.

See you in the comments.

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“Otherwise… you wouldn’t be doing this.”

Okay, where is Greg McGarity and what did y’all do to him?

“The tables have turned,” McGarity said. “At one point in time, we might have taken our fans for granted to a certain degree. What puts us in the best position to be successful? I think these young men who play the sport are competitors, too. The dynamics have changed.”

“… we might have taken our fans for granted to a certain degree”?  I’m not sure gobsmacked is an adequate description of my reaction when I read that quote, but it’ll have to do for now.

Next thing you know, Greg will announce a major renovation project at Sanford Stadium that doesn’t involve recruits or the folks in the fancy suites.  Be still, my heart.

Oh, by the way, read the rest of the piece.  Greg Sankey may claim he’s fine with a four-team college football playoff, but McGarity and Smart are firmly convinced it’s going to eight.

Today, in meow, Part Three

Hey, everybody!  An anonymous SEC coach has figured out Kirby’s Kryptonite!

“After Texas beat the hell out of Georgia in the bowl game, Kirby Smart had to take a big look in the mirror,” one anonymous SEC coach told Lindy’s. “He hangs his hat on defense and Texas shredded his defense. Oklahoma did the same thing two years ago. That gives people an idea how to move the football on Georgia’s defense. Texas ran it right up their butt. Oklahoma beat them on the perimeter. And you can’t say Georgia ain’t got players.”

(Texas averaged 3.63 yards per rushing attempt against Georgia.  But I digress, I guess.)

So, just run the ball up the middle, or take it outside.  It’s really that easy.  I look forward to Vanderbilt emulating Oklahoma’s success in the season opener, now that the secret is out there for all to see.

And, peeps, don’t think Kirby isn’t feeling the pressure… from us.

“Georgia can’t backslide,” said another anonymous opposing coach in the conference. “Those fans think they’re going to win the national championship every year.”

I’m really beginning to wonder how sharp you have to be to coach in the SEC.

Today, in meow, Part Two

Let’s turn our attention north, to Knoxville, where I’m just gonna leave you with this astute observation:

“Jeremy lucked out getting rid of Tyson Helton and hiring Jim Chaney,” the coach said. “I think he’s the best, most proven offensive coordinator in the league. I think Jim is outstanding. If Jeremy will leave him alone, Jim will be fine.”

Today, in meow, Part One

Well, we’ve reached the special time in preseason when the college mags start coming out, and that includes Lindy’s, which means it’s time for those catty quotes from rival coaches who, for obvious reasons, choose to remain nameless.  (Although I continue to maintain these articles have lost a little off their fastballs since Tommy Tuberville left the SEC.  Ah, good times.)

I don’t buy Lindy’s, but, thankfully, the good folks at 247Sports do and they’ve helpfully shared a few pickings that I’ll share with you in turn.

Let’s start with Alabama, and this amazing quote about its star quarterback.

“I think Tua needs to humble himself,” the anonymous coach said. “I think he did some bad things in the bowl game that cost the team because he put himself ahead of the team. He needs to understand Alabama won national championships by playing great defense and special teams and not beating itself. In the national championship game, the quarterback play was atrocious, and some would say the play-calling, too.”

Tagovailoa finished last season with a 199.44 passer rating.  That was 28 points better than Jake Fromm, who finished second in the SEC.  There isn’t a team in the conference that wouldn’t take Tua and start him (okay, maybe the Dawgs wouldn’t, but not because Fromm is a clearly better option).  He didn’t play atrociously in the national championship game, he just didn’t play as well as he did in the semi-final game against Oklahoma.  (He did play atrociously against Georgia.)  He also played hurt down the stretch because his team needed him.

And that’s the real point here.  For all this bullshit about great defense and special teams, Alabama’s best unit according to S&P+, was its offense.  How anybody thinks Alabama wins because of stellar special teams play is beyond me, but last season, its usually stout defense leaked like a sieve in the last three games, as evidenced by giving up 5.75 ypp against Georgia, 6.83 ypp against Oklahoma and 7.65 against Clemson — its three worst showings of the season.

So, unless “humbling himself” meant playing on all three teams, it’s hard to blame the blowout on Tua’s big head.  And I suspect Nick Saban is more than happy to risk the 2019 season on Tua’s attitude.

Sense of entitlement

It’s kind of amazing to listen to guys making millions of dollars a year managing a football program whine about managing a football program.

… Last spring, the Buckeyes touted four quarterbacks recruited and developed in-house: Matthew Baldwin, Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins and Tate Martell. All have since left the program.

Haskins put in a one-and-done year as the starter, parlaying his breakout campaign into a first-round slot in the recent NFL draft. Burrow transferred to LSU last May, quickly becoming the Tigers’ starter. Martell left this offseason for Miami (Fla.) and entered the fray for the Hurricanes’ starting job. This month, Baldwin announced he would be transferring to TCU.

“You think he has three years left and he comes for one, throws 50 touchdown passes and is a first-round draft pick,” Day said of Haskins, “he left things uneasy and almost a mess. So we had to kind of figure all that out in short order.”

“(H)e left things uneasy and almost a mess.”  The selfish little bastard!  Why, I bet if the Ohio State coaches had known up front Haskins was going to leave after his third year, they would have… what, exactly?  Told Tate Martell to stick around?

“You never know, you feel really good about your quarterback position and then you look up one day and everybody’s gone,” said SMU coach Sonny Dykes. “It’s almost like you recruit a good quarterback every year and you expect somebody to leave every other year.”

Damn, it must suck to be a head coach these days.  I mean, having to do your job and all…