TFW a bowl game’s beneath you

This what a CFP-or-bust approach to your season gets you.

Nick Saban tells Back on the Record w/Bob Costas, which airs on HBO tonight at 11 pm ET. "Bowl games are not something players want to play in. … Now players opt out of that if it's not part of the playoff. Therefore, I'm for expanding the playoffs"

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 9, 2022

LOL.

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Don’t stop believin’.

Dial this clip up to the 2-minute mark and listen to an interesting conversation between Pete Thamel, Bill Connelly and Rece Davis about Stetson Bennett.

The “Would Stetson Start At…” game is fun, but Rece’s take on advising recruits to go where they’re loved is… well, I’d say a backhanded compliment to Kirby Smart.  Bennett clearly came in not being that guy and stayed that way until he was.  Rece’s point was that at a lot of places, if you’re not a guy the coaches love, you never really get that chance.  What do y’all think?

State of our (dis)union

Bill Connelly thinks he knows me.

Two things become more certain about the college football calendar every year:

1. We’ll get ourselves all worked up all offseason, yelling about the dire state of college football and the latest conference realignment saga (or College Football Playoff expansion — or both). We will hem and haw about the future of the game and how everything’s falling apart.

2. The games will start, and we’ll fall in love all over again.

Okay, maybe he does.

First thoughts on Samford

Honestly, I don’t have all that much.  The spread is ginormous.  I mean, if Georgia beat Oregon by 46, why wouldn’t it be?  Kirby is being asked about whether there will be some recognition of the national championship tomorrow.  (“I have no idea,” Smart said, incredulously. “It hasn’t crossed my mind, and nobody has approached me with it. I haven’t even thought about it.”) The weather is going to suck, somewhat.

Did I mention that huge point spread?

The Dawgs last played Samford in 2017.  I believe I characterized the result as “… a dull, dominating win over an outmatched FCS team.”  As I recall, Georgia got a little sloppy in the second quarter, resulting in a Smart ass chewing at halftime.  I’m expecting much the same ending tomorrow, minus (hopefully) said ass chewing.  Fromm only attempted 13 passes, although he had a good day.  It will be interesting to compare Monken’s approach to the game tomorrow with Chaney’s ’17 game plan.

It sounds like we’re gonna be treated to a steady stream of rain during the game, so I hope that doesn’t mean Kirbs decides to revisit the game strategy for the 2019 Kentucky game (talk about your dull, dominating wins).

Anyway, expect to see lots of players.  Here’s hoping the Dawgs avoid the injury bullet.

Real men of genius

Remember, it’s not just expanding the CFP to twelve teams that’s going to dilute the impact of the regular season, it’s the compromises the suits will make along the way.

For decades now, college football’s biggest rivalry games have kicked off on what has been coined Rivalry Week. For many, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend has been built around such matchups.

A side of turkey with the Egg Bowl. A dollop of cranberry sauce to go alongside The Game. Mashed potatoes and FSU-Florida.

In the new world of college football, maybe that’s in for a change.

The calendar took center stage on Thursday as leaders began exploring details of an expansion to the College Football Playoff, and that includes the possibility of moving the entire schedule up a week…

In this concept, the official start of the season (Week 1) would move up to Week 0, thus shifting up the calendar by a week and expanding a tight December window in which to play the 11 playoff games. In this scenario, Rivalry Week would move into the third week of November and conference title games would kick off on Thanksgiving Week.

I feel like I’m watching an experiment in real time to see how quickly these people can eviscerate regional interest in the sport.  You almost have to respect their relentless nihilism.  Anything for a buck, I suppose.

“Things did not go the way we wanted them to go.”

A tale of two openers…

Here’s whom Tech faces this Saturday:

While Western Carolina shares the Southern Conference with The Citadel, which upset Tech in Collins’ first season, the Catamounts have never beaten an FBS team and have lost their past five games against FBS competition by 40 points or more.

Doubt they’ll win, but they’ve got a good chance of breaking that point spread streak.

Stingy bastids

Mighty fine, this:

I imagine they’ll add a couple more to that this season.