The net ypp, she burns.

If some of y’all don’t remember why I track net yards per play on a weekly basis, let me remind you.

As a general rule of thumb based on the last four seasons, you’d better create a net YPP of 2+ if you want a realistic shot at the CFP (the four-team version, that is).  And if you want to win, you’d better wind up north of 2.5.  It doesn’t matter how you get there — track Alabama’s numbers over those four years, for example — just that you do get there.

Now, I only track that metric for the SEC.  Fortunately, I know somebody who looks at D-1.  Here’s how that shapes up this week:

Funny how the top four on that list also happen to be the top four teams on the selection committee’s list.

2021 Mumme Poll, Week 12

With the Oregon and Cincinnati results, things appear to have snapped into shape with this week’s 289 Mumme Poll voters.  The average number of teams selected on a ballot was 6.7, the smallest number so far this season.  Only 45 teams received at least one vote, also the smallest amount of the year.  (Once again, that number doesn’t include Florida.)

Here’s our top 25:

And here’s what the selection committee, in its infinite wisdom, popped out last night:

The order may be a little different, but other than UTSA and Ole Miss, the top ten for both contain the same schools.  And we managed to accomplish that without death threats ($$) or awkward explanations from the committee chair.

We also managed it without having to spend an inordinate amount of time doing so.

97% in under five minutes.  There are commercial breaks on ESPN’s selection show that last that long.  There’s no reason approval voting couldn’t work in a credible way, at least that I can see.

The conference breakdown shows the gap between the SEC and Big Ten has widened again.

But that doesn’t appear to be due to a regional bias, as Georgia representation lessened a little this week, to 61.9%.

As for the bonus question, dressing/stuffing dominated, taking almost 70% of the vote.  (Sweet potato casserole narrowly beat out mac and cheese for second place, in case you’re wondering.)

Takeways from Week 12:

• What really snapped into place was a playoff field, with four teams appearing on more than 90% of the ballots cast.  Those four teams also happen to be the same top four on the selection committee’s list.
• Michigan and Oklahoma State are lurking, though, in the next two spots, although neither received votes on 75% of the ballots.
• Georgia again scored a 100% mark.

Workin’ his way back to you

Be still, my heart:  George Pickens is getting closer.

It appears as if George Pickens is inching his way closer to stepping onto the playing field for Georgia in 2021. He’s taking steps but based on Kirby Smart’s comments of late, they’re baby steps.

Pickens has been practicing with the team for several weeks now. He started working with the scout team prior to UGA’s game at Tennessee a couple of weeks ago. Now he’s taking on a little bit more according to his head coach.

“George has been practicing with us, doing more,” Smart said. “We’ve repped him with the threes and the twos some. Still waiting to get him cleared but we didn’t have him with the scouts. We had him working with the offense trying to kind of integrate him back into getting the calls and knowing the assignments but he was still black jersey. No contact today.”

I’d love to see him back on the field this week, not just as a slight troll of Georgia Tech, but because it would be an opportunity for him to shake off some rust before the SECCG.  Bottom line, though, I’m just glad he’s still engaged with the team.  Sure, a national championship run helps with that, but it would have been easy for him to have checked out in order to prep for the NFL draft.  That he’s stayed with it says a lot about George.

You cannot defeat Jimmy Sexton.

You cannot even hope to contain him.

James Franklin will be staying at Penn State, after all, and possibly for a long time to come.

… Beginning Jan. 1, Franklin will be scheduled to make $8.5 million annually, including a $500,000 retention bonus each Dec. 31, according to a term sheet released by the school. That amount includes $1 million in the form of loans to be used to pay the premiums on a life insurance policy. Pennsylvania open-records law does not require Penn State to make employment contracts public, but the school likely will be entitled to reimbursement of the loans from the insurance policy’s death benefit.

The deal’s guaranteed value is $80 million – all the money involved except the annual retention payments. That will give Franklin the second-largest guaranteed amount of any public-school sports coach, behind the $95 million that Texas A&M will be guaranteeing football coach Jimbo Fisher as of Jan. 1, according to information obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

What a coincidence, eh?

Franklin is 67-32 at Penn State — certainly not awful.  He’s even got a win over Ohio State along the way to go with a conference title.  He recruits well, too.  For that, though, to be worthy of a 10-year contract to go with a top-five salary tells you that the market for head coaches is changing again, largely (I suspect) driven by the anticipated money coming in from new TV deals for the Big Ten and the CFP.  And Jimmy Sexton’s shrewd enough to read which way the wind is blowing.

Jimbo.  Mel Tucker.  And now Franklin.  It’s the new normal, peeps.

Can’t wait to see what Kirby’s new deal looks like.  You know it’s coming.  After all, who’s his agent?

Rage against the (mean) machine (in red and black)

Now, this is more like it, Stingtalk.

“… my diminishing love for Waffle House” is actually a great touch.  Makes me almost feel sympathy for the guy, who you know is going to be doing a deep dive into the liquor cabinet before the first quarter is over.

Setting up the next play

This is a great catch by Brent Rollins.

The play before #UGA gave Jordan Davis the goal line carries.

Watch Stetson Bennett…quite sure he knew exactly what play they should run —and who for — once Zeus stopped short. pic.twitter.com/ZVnqL2uBca

— Brent Rollins (@BrentRollinsPhD) November 24, 2021

Gotta love it.

Not as hard as it looks

Hey, Florida, it’s easy!  Just go to the coach store and pick out one that looks good on ‘ya.

"That has to be the No. 1 priority: Someone who can recruit the state of Florida and be better than Kirby Smart at recruiting." — @aadelsonESPN on hiring the Gators next head coach.

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) November 23, 2021

Shit, Andrea, who would that be?  Saban and Smart have basically recruited to a draw over the past few years; nobody else has been in their class.  And I don’t think Nick’s moving to Gainesville any time soon.

Mike Bianchi finds religion.

That was then.

I tried to warn you doggone Dawgs after last year’s game, but you wouldn’t listen.

You only laughed at me and sent me nasty tweets and emails, saying I was a partisan, provincial Gator hack and a blind, biased Dan Mullen flack.

Before the most monumental Georgia-Florida game in years, let us take a moment to revisit what I wrote after Mullen’s Gators were manhandled 36-17 by coach Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs in Mullen’s inaugural Cocktail Party last year.

“Enjoy this, Georgia,” I wrote. “Savor this second consecutive victory over the Florida Gators. Relish your clear superiority over your rivals during Saturday’s 36-17 victory in the World’s Largest Outdoor Talent Discrepancy Party. Every Dog has its day. But your Dog days aren’t going to last as long as you once thought. In less than a season, new Gator coach Dan Mullen has at least put some chomp back in this rivalry after taking over a doomed, done-for, dysfunctional program that completely quit on former coach Jim McElwain during last year’s 42-7 loss to the Bulldogs.

“Cherish the 19-point victory, Georgia. Embrace it. Appreciate it. With Dan the Man in charge, you’re not going to be Dogging the Gators like this for very much longer.”

I hate to say I told you so, but here we are just one year later and Mullen already has his No. 6-ranked Gators rated higher and performing better than Smart’s No. 8-ranked Bulldogs. If the Gators win Saturday — and I acknowledge that’s a big, big if — Mullen will have proven in just two years at UF that he is a better coach than Smart.

This is now.

… It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that you can count the number of great college football coaches on one hand: Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day, Lincoln Riley and Kirby Smart. And guess what? Those coaches aren’t coming to UF.

… Mullen was such a bad recruiter when he was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at UF that Meyer wouldn’t even send him out on the road to recruit. Unfortunately for UF, Mullen’s recruiting skills didn’t improve much as the head coach, which is why the Gators’ are currently recruiting at UCF’s level.

There is more to being a head coach than drawing up a game plan, putting on the headsets and calling plays. The head coach is the driving influence for every element of the organization. Being an $8 million-a-year college head coach is a multi-faceted job that requires not just being a play-caller but a program-builder.

Welcome to the party, pal.

My Week 12 Mumme Poll ballot

Between its dominant win over a decent SMU team and Oregon’s drubbing at the hands of Utah, Cincinnati had a very good Saturday.  That means my ballot deciding process got considerably shorter.  Less than five minutes?  Hell, more like less than one minute:

• Cincinnati
• Ohio State
• Alabama
• Georgia

I am leaving the door open to consider Oklahoma State, if the Cowboys run the table.  And, of course if Michigan pulls off the upset Saturday…

Bo knows.

Mr. Nix goes full blown Alabama/SEC refs conspiracy theory:

Auburn QB Bo Nix threw some shade at SEC officiating in Alabama games on today's show.

See the full interview here: https://t.co/W7pUFq8vxC

Bo Nix's weekly appearance is presented by @CraneWorks1987. pic.twitter.com/9rlYdTFnVD

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) November 22, 2021

“Just few of those obviously controversial calls that were in that game raises some questions for sure—I guess, unless you’re an Alabama fan,” Nix said. “But that’s just part of the game. We’ve discussed it over and over and over. That’s not gonna change, no matter what happens.”

… Nix said that the questionable officiating is something that’s “always” gone on in Alabama games. The Tide has won nine of the past 13 matchups in the rivalry.

“I think you can watch the game, and anybody unbiased would think that something is different,” Nix said. “But it is what it is. It’s kind of how it’s always been, but that’s part of the game. And they have good players, you can’t take that away from them.”

That should make for some good discussion fodder on Finebaum.