College Game Day and Big Noon Kickoff Open Thread

Submitted by M-Dog on October 14th, 2023 at 8:59 AM

College Game Day at Seattle for Oregon - Washington.

Big Noon Kickoff at South Bend for USC - Notre Dame.

 

1VaBlue1

October 14th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^

Just saw Sanders' after game comments - where he threw his team under the bus.  Disgusting.  I'm not a Sanders hater, but even if the comments are true you can't say it like that.  His team is immature and lacking fundamental behaviors that winners display.  They flat out fell apart in the 2nd half last night (this morning, actually).  And that is all on COACHING.

Look in the mirror, Coach Prime, because you're not quite ready for prime time yourself...

LB

October 14th, 2023 at 9:41 AM ^

I think I've said before that I was enjoying watching him. Yeah, that's gone. Over and above what he did, this is his hand-picked crew. The players he chased off should thank their deities of choice that they are not there. 

I saw an article about Locksley recently. It included the snippet below. That's a coach.

https://www.insidetheblackandgold.net/everything-mike-locksley-said-heading-into-illinois/

On whether negativity/nitpicking was validated by mental errors in Ohio St. game

“No, it doesn’t because we coached those things and now it’s a matter of continuing to coach. I always say there’s nothing worse when a coach says I told him 100 times. I said, well, what makes 100 the magic number? How about tell him 101 times, right? 

bighouseinmate

October 14th, 2023 at 9:59 AM ^

That collapse falls squarely on his shoulders, and his shoulders alone, not his players. Yeah, Stanford started making plays in the second half they probably haven’t made in any game this year, but to go from domination in the first half to playing so poorly in the second that you allow that comeback is on him. Not his players. Not his coaches. Him. He could have adjusted their attitude for the second half to the right tone, the right mental state, in order to clean up all of their mistakes from the first half. To play better in the second half. To be sharper and end the game early in the third quarter.
 

Instead, his team played even worse, accumulating 17 total flags(9 more in the second half), allowing even more space and breathing room for Stanford’s wrs and qb to make plays. He could have shifted the offenses gears in the second half just a bit to run more time off the clock, shortening the game to where even if Stanford went on an unprecedented roll of making incredible plays there just wouldn’t be enough time left at the end. 
 

It’s on him, and if he doesn’t learn from this mistake in coaching, his teams may continue to be exciting but ultimately won’t be near good enough to win consistently.

Ernis

October 14th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^

Kind of yes but no.

" He could have adjusted their attitude for the second half to the right tone, the right mental state, in order to clean up all of their mistakes from the first half. "

This is not realistic. This isn't what happens in reality. Where it falls on Sanders' shoulders is in the week to week, day to day preparation. That's where you build not only skills but emotional resilience for your team. Human beings aren't bleeps and bloops in Madden where you push a button and they do the thing. It ain't like that. So no. But yes, sort of.

Maizinator

October 14th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^

I've never seen a team look as inept as Stanford did in the first half and come back like that.  It was like a gust of wind hit Colorado's house of cards and they just completely collapsed.

We talk about Michigan culture.  It gives you some tools to deal with adversity.  Colorado simply imploded.

M-Dog

October 14th, 2023 at 9:25 AM ^

I support the companies that support college football.

Dr. Pepper is at the top of that list. That is a great Dr. Pepper commercial about college football conference realignment.  That's commitment.  That's not a commercial you can use anywhere else but a college football broadcast.  It would not make sense to 90% of the country.  They are not just mailing it in.

When I am at a fast food restaurant like Taco Bell that has self-serve Dr. Pepper, I deliberately pour some extra down the drain just to increase their sales.

Ernis

October 14th, 2023 at 11:03 AM ^

The man in the red hat, the one who steps out from the sidelines and wields absolute control over the game, is the enemy of the people. The companies that advertise support college football in the sense that the man in the red hat is college football. This idea that the monetization and commodification of every aspect of a thing supports it, that there is no value to a thing outside of its contribution to private equity gains, is an idea I can't really wrap my head around, though it is extremely popular--even sacrosanct in the US. Yet it seems like a grotesque perversion to me, something a parasite would convince its host of in order to continue bleeding it dry. But that's just my e-pinion.

chrisball96

October 14th, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^

As we play Indiana today I can’t imagine how it must grind on Hoosier fans to have to see all this hype about Penix when they had him all that time and he just could not stay healthy. 

chrisball96

October 14th, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^

That’s a shame, looks like Mullings is out today. Would have a been a good game to see him mow some people over in the wet and cold conditions. Maybe Edwards gets more rushes today then let’s see.