The art of clickbait

What makes for a good troll, the kind of Tweet or post that draws someone in, despite their better judgment?

My annual rankings of SEC QB discussed on today’s @thatSECpodcast

*** NOTE: These rankings are a projection of where the league’s QBs will rank by the end of the season, not where they rank in the preseason or based on last season’s stats pic.twitter.com/bwwKD8Khai

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) July 11, 2022

Yeah, that’s pretty much it — totally subjective standards (“where the league’s QBs will rank by season’s end”, with no mention of what the rankings will be based on, or who’s doing the rankings), Young sitting first to give the list some degree of faux credibility, all in the service of teasing people looking at this to check out his podcast.  Because that list is intended to irritate a bunch of different fan bases.  Nicely done.

Say goodbye to Hollywood.

“No one wants the land from under them to be pulled out,” a Big Ten source said. “So everyone has to be nimble. One day, you might be saying one thing, and you mean it from the bottom of your heart. And the next day you have to flip, based on economics, based on governance, based on something.”

Hey, remember how the Big Ten and the Pac-12 were ready to go to the mat to protect their sacred interest in the Rose Bowl?  I mean, it was a strong reason they gave for their principled opposition to Greg Sankey’s 12-team CFP proposal.  So, how’s that working out these days?

The uncertainty about the future of the Rose Bowl’s place in the postseason ecosystem likely made concerns about the impact on the game from USC and UCLA’s moves less pertinent. The thought being that if the playoff is going to expand as expected, the Rose Bowl was already going to be forced to reinvent itself in order to maintain a meaningful presence.

That is some Olympic-class rationalizing there.  Bless the bottom of their little hearts!

Stats dump, episode two

Brian Fremeau has posted his 15-Year Team Ratings for Georgia here, and while you’re probably going to need to dive into his glossary in order to track the meaning behind his statistical categories — although the main consideration is that FEI is a measure of offensive and defensive efficiency — it’s still pretty clear that last year’s team was a statistically dominant one.

If there’s any surprises there, it’s seeing how tough Georgia’s strength of schedule’s been from 2017 on, as well as how efficient those 2017 and 2018 offenses were.

Also, check out peak Bobo from 2012-4 in comparison to before 2012.  Hard to believe all those folks I heard cussing him in the stands missed that.

Stats dump, episode one

Josh is back at it again.

Dropped stats on the @DawgsCentral_'22 rosters and added @PFF_College data for each player. Filtered for 100+ Snaps for OL D & QB. 20 targets & 25 carries for skill players @USC_FB leads FBS w/ 32 players. 15!! of them transfers. Get the data herehttps://t.co/sc6CNp1f4k pic.twitter.com/Otw06sroFw

— DawgStats (@DawgStats) July 11, 2022

No question PFF’s grading is an acquired taste, but I still think it gives you an idea of (1) how loaded Georgia’s roster is and (2) how well Georgia develops players under Smart.

By the way, Southern Cal is going to be an interesting team to watch this year, isn’t it?

This time, they **really** mean it.

Jeez, how big a goober do you have to be to swallow this crap for the umpteenth time?

The preference of the SEC presidents is to not expand beyond 16 teams, multiple industry sources tell Saturday Down South.

“We’re positioned at 16 (teams) for a robust future,” an SEC athletic director told SDS. “The need just isn’t there.”

Uh hunh.  Right.

A move that could force the SEC to change its stance would be the Big Ten adding Notre Dame and moving to 20 teams by adding Pac-12 and/or ACC schools. If and until then, any thought of SEC expansion isn’t the preference.

The reason is twofold: value and the desire to keep college football intact.

I’m sorry.  The desire to do what?

“We talk about value all the time. Well, there’s great value in college football as a whole,” another SEC source said. “I don’t think any of us, in any conference, can ignore that. There’s too much empirical data that shows it.”

If the money’s there — great value, my ass — they’ll keep growing.  It’s what they did in 1992.  It’s what they did in 2012.  It’s what they just did last year!  And it’s what they’ll do when the next bag of cash gets dangled.  Those Clampetts can’t help themselves.