Brian is the only one of that group who can talk about the playoffs/postseason without making my brain melt. Those takes from Craig and Seth were….yikes

Every other major sport that tries to crown a “champion”, including literally every other level of American football, does so with a multi-team, multi-round tournament. Yes, sometimes this means early round games are rote blowouts. Sometimes it means a team that isn’t the “best” gets hot and wins the tournament. In every other sport and level of football this is considered part of the excitement. This should not be so hard. 

Definitely surprised in the way which McNamara has conducted himself. Thought he was a leader of men and knew better than to break the locker room code with media members. 

I'm basically done talking about Cade and All after this final post about them, but feel that JJ's full talents were not appreciated until he got his long-range throwing zeroed-in for the Ohio game. Some people forget that he was shut down for the spring to rest his shoulder and probably into the early summer. Had he been healthy all along, he would have hit some of those deep shots starting with the Maryland game. Our offense would have been even more potent, and the advantage of JJ over Cade would have been even more obvious.

JJ's the best QB prospect we have had since Ryan Mallett under Lloyd. These days, you don't force those guys into waiting two years to start. They go elsewhere. This was the only call JH could make if he wanted to beat a team with a fast D like UGA. The great news is he's back for 2023 along with The Don.

As for Cade, he could learn a thing or two from Jake Rudock. Jake didn't bash Kirk F when he was given the right to transfer to UM w/o sitting out a year (B1G rules back then usually allowed for an intra-conf transfer to be stopped or at least forced to sit a year). Jake was a two year starter and had pretty decent stats when he was benched in favor of Beathard. He came here, did his job very well (especially 2nd half of 2015 season + bowl). He was admitted to UM Med School late last year (he may be in his 1st year now). If Jake were introduced at an Iowa game, I'm sure he would get cheers. Certainly, if he were introduced at a UM game too.

Cade's going to find that the Iowa fan base is a very onery bunch. They used to be very satisfied with 8 wins and a bowl game, as long as one of those wins was vs. ISU. These past two years, the frustration has been building to the point that "fire Brian" chants erupt after 3 and outs. Petras was getting booed for errant throws. Cade is probably going to be facing high expectations. If he loses at ISU (and his passing is part of the reason they lost), he's going to find boo birds quickly. He doesn't have the talent around him. He's a steady player but I'm not sure he will be able to win games by himself and a bunch of 2 and 3 star guys not named Charlie Jones (former Iowa guy). 

As for Erick, hope he makes a full recovery as a person but I don't see him coming back anywhere near the player he was. Blocking was one of his strengths but how realistic is it to come back from surgery? I just hope he can get on with life and tie his shoes and lift his child without having to take ibuprofin every 8 hours. 

I have also been an advocate for a wacky postseason format that Seth mentioned. In fact, I would propose we go back to the old bowl system, like pre-BCS.  The regular season and bowls are totally unique to college football and I think the 4-team playoffs and worse - a 12 team playoff - effectively kills both of things. 

My wacky idea: go to the old bowl system BUT with a little twist. So put Big Ten vs Pac Ten in the Rose Bowl every year and then rotate the conference matchups/at larges in the other bowls. Play out the bowls on and around NYD but if there are two undefeateds (or a legitimate dispute for #1), just play an extra national championship bowl the following week. So, Michigan and Nebraska would've faced off in the Bonus Bowl in '97.  And this would ensure there are no split national champions and hopefully and more importantly no 2-loss national champions. In this day and age, a 2-loss champ should never happen. Ideally, undefeated non-champions would also not happen under this system. 

And I like to think that this would give undefeated teams ('94 Penn State, '04 Auburn, some of those Boise State/UCF teams) a chance to play for the title. I also like to think it would clear up the early-BCS, computer-generated controversies by giving the snubbed teams a chance to prove it on the field.  

Feel like it's really important to note that Erick All was on the sideline of every game and very supportive of the players and coaches. (He was going nuts trying to get the defense off of the field after the Upshaw picture.) It sounds like his gripes are solely with the medical office. Cade was definitely on the sideline for PSU and likely others, but his situation is much more complicated, I'd say, and understandably so.

I'm so with Seth on the Cade/All thing. I'll always root for them because of what they did for us last year. It would take a lot to change my mind.

I'm also not as eager to jump on the "JJ happened" train as far as McCarthy being a superstar. I think he's good; I could also see it going either way with this being his ceiling or him making the jump to a level above him.

As for the playoffs, bring back the BCS!

I had never thought about it, but cases like Alls' are pretty complicated medical ethics--how to respect patient autonomy (taking on risk playing) versus the unique role as "in loco parentis"...of a grown man with his own child. 

If All had a spine tumor removed at age 13 and fusion, would UMich have made him medically ineligible out of high school? Still complicated but takes the "against medical advice/maybe can no longer consider themselves his primary physicians" out of the picture.

Harbaugh began using a phrase this year which really has stuck with me - "better, no bitter". He has used it repeatedly talking about specific individuals and groups as well (eg - the walk on's). Related to these two guys? Maybe, maybe not. Not sure if it is a total coincidence though...

For as long as I can remember, I have been saying essentially what Seth is saying: a playoff should really be a playoff - i.e. when the top team is actually in doubt: whether that is two, three, or however how many (if at all).

But if you are going to do so, then make that one, game (or three, or four) AFTER the bowl games. Nearly everyone slagged the proliferation of bowl games, but for most players, they were a reward and chance to end the season on a positive note. For fans they gave us a chance to see something we don't see enough of in the regular season: a relatively even matched inter-sectional game.

And BTW it is not necessary to play them one week later, like the pros, 10 days - two weeks allows players to heal, prepare (and do school), fans to make arrangements (in mid-January, what is a slower than usual travel season). 

Really wish we would just keep the playoff at four. If expansion was unavoidable, I would have really hoped it was only to 6 and try that for a while.

12 is beyond overkill and hurts the regular season.