Shockingly, even though cfb playoff expansion has been tabled, this hasn’t:
Hey, it doesn’t hurt to get your ducks in a row for something years down the road, especially if, in the meantime, it helps games stay inside ESPN’s pesky broadcast windows without cutting commercial time. That’s a win-win for everybody! Thanks, kids.
Filed under ESPN Is The Devil, The NCAA
There hasn’t been much new news regarding New Orleans Isidore Newman Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Arch Manning over the past few weeks, but that doesn’t mean the tides aren’t turning.
The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) has a new favorite for the nation’s No. 1 recruit compared to just a few weeks ago.
Alabama is the new leader of the pack with a 30.1% chance of landing Manning while Georgia has slipped to second at 24.9%.
Texas is third in the group at 19.6% and Ole Miss rounds out the top four at 12.9%.
It was a huge fall for Georgia, which went from about 36% to just under 25% in three weeks. And while it allowed Alabama to take the top spot, Texas and Ole Miss were the biggest beneficiaries, each moving up more than 3% points.
RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college.
It factors in machine learning, expert predictions, social sentiment, visits, and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.
A Recruiting Prediction Machine? Look on On3’s Works, ye recruiting fanatics, and despair!
What makes this especially dumb is that the Manning family is notoriously closed mouthed about recruiting, so unless the RPM is able to read men’s souls, it’s just a lot of hooey. But it’s hooey that I’m sure will be lapped up by gullible folks.
Boring, I know, but I’ll wait ’til signing day for my recruiting news.
Filed under Recruiting
Er, uh… this isn’t the way I would have chosen to describe Mark Richt’s endorsement of Stacy Searels’ re-hiring:
Georgia’s hiring of Stacy Searels as offensive line coach Monday wasn’t earning a lot of praise on social media, but it earned a hearty two thumbs up from former Bulldogs coach Mark Richt.
Chip, not trying to tell you how to go about your business, but, hearty or otherwise, using “two thumbs up” in the context of former Richt assistants doesn’t conjure up happy thoughts from the Bulldog faithful.
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Stacy Searels returns to UGA:
When you’ve been around as long as he has, you’ve probably met everyone before.
Filed under Georgia Football
It looks like somebody started their own personal reserve fund.
University of Georgia police are investigating an alleged act of financial fraud committed within the athletic association’s development office earlier this year.
The police department opened an investigation on Feb. 1 in response to a complaint filed by Ford Williams, UGA’s executive associate director for major gifts. Police suspect an unknown individual committed identity theft and fraud by using counterfeit info to solicit money from UGA donors and directing it into personal accounts. The amount of money involved was not included in the report…
It is believed that the act was committed by someone employed in UGA’s development office, according to a person familiar with the situation.
An inside job! Probably figured B-M would just round up a few Magill Society folks to make up the shortfall.
Filed under Crime and Punishment, Georgia Football
Ah, well. The dream is over.
Four days after announcing Art Briles as Grambling State’s new offensive coordinator, the embattled former football coach at Baylor resigned.
A Grambling State spokesperson told the News-Star on Monday that Briles had resigned but offered no details.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of your coaching staff at Grambling State University,” Briles said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I feel that my continued presence will be a distraction to you and your team, which is the last thing that I want. I have the utmost respect the university, and the players.”
At least he respects somebody.
Grambling athletic director Trayvean Scott told ESPN Thursday that it took him 10 days of researching before supporting the decision to hire Briles.
“I think the guy just wants to coach and lead men,” Scott told ESPN when asked specifically about what made him comfortable about hiring Briles when many other schools and organizations weren’t. “We’re not talking about a perfect situation or devaluing things done in the past and how it has has affected people. He’s sympathetic and empathetic about what went on.”
He probably spent the entire ten days looking for a single statement from Briles expressing remorse for what happened under his watch at Baylor.
We can only hope that this whole experience hasn’t re-traumatized the victims. Well, except for Briles, who can go screw himself. Now, on to getting Scott and Jackson to explain coherently what they were thinking in the first place besides just win, baby.
Filed under General Idiocy, It's Not Easy Being A Mid-Major
Get The Picture 