LSAClassOf2000

September 30th, 2015 at 6:23 PM ^

Good news/bad news
Good news: The eyes of the college football world were on UVa tonight.
Bad news: The eyes of the college football world were on UVa tonight. - Virginia commenter

I had to laugh at this, only because this is the game I turned on when I got back from a company dinner on Friday night and about an hour later, I had to turn it off because I was beginning to feel awful for Cavaliers fans. Judging from the commentary on Twitter (and I thank my fellow MGoBloggers for being obsessive students of football like me), a lot of people switched to the Stanford / Oregon State game for that same reason. It just became too awful to watch even with no dog in the fight.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130560

wahooverine

September 30th, 2015 at 6:58 PM ^

Serious question since this is an OT post.   Who should UVA hire?  London's done after this year.  Craig Littlepage needs to hit it out of the park like he did with Tony Bennett for bball.  There is no reason UVA should be so bad.  Every other sport at UVA is good or dominant - Virginia won the Capital Cup by a landslide last year despite football going 2-10 (Nattys in three sports).  It's has tradition:  playing football since 1888, founding member of ACC, the "Oldest Rivalry in the South" with UNC, a modern era of being pretty good and occasinally great under George Welsh (18 years), and puts a weird amount of players in the NFL given it's on-field performance.  It has a gorgeous stadium, campus and elite overall facilities.  It's in fertile recruiting ground near DC/NOVA, Richmond and Hampton Roads with only one major in-state rival in VT (who is declining).  Bottomline it's an attractive job, or should be with all it's built in advantages.   Any thoughts on who's the right fit and who could succeed there?  Don't you dare say Mack Brown.

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bacon

September 30th, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

They should follow in Michigan's footsteps and look for an alum who played professionally in the league, has been a championship level coach in the pros and who might be willing to give that up to come back to coach in college because he loves his alma mater. Clearly only one choice for them. Rick Carlisle.

Joined: 01/04/2009

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Mpfnfu Ford

September 30th, 2015 at 9:48 PM ^

Yeah, it was not just greedy, but stupid as hell. There's a lot of schools that could sustain a network all by themselves due to their fanbase. Michigan could, no doubt. Ohio State could. USC proooooooooobably could. Alabama definitely could. In a different era, Tennessee could. Texas is special in the way all blue blood college athletic programs are special, but it's not completely unique either.

The difference between Texas and those other schools is that the people running those other schools had the sense to know that starting their own national TV channel would irrevocably screw up their conference, and that nobody will pay money to see intersquad scrimmages or to watch their program play the Rices of the world long term. It's more profitable long term to be in a stable, healthy conference. 

It already cost them 4 of their most valuable tv draws, and it cost them a lifeline out of the conference once they should have realized they had made a mistake. It'll ultimately cost the conference Oklahoma, who is going to eventually leave when it gets a chance. All for a little extra money.

Joined: 05/19/2012

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Mpfnfu Ford

September 30th, 2015 at 7:39 PM ^

That the EDSBS gang subtweeted on the Fullcast was an all time monument to idiocy. I didn't think he could top his, "Hey, Shawn Watson MADE Bridgewater" column he's probably destroyed by now, but he managed.

Joined: 05/19/2012

MGoPoints: 6469

bigmc6000

September 30th, 2015 at 8:07 PM ^

In UT's defense I went back and looked at every penalty called in that game. Not only did they get all the ticky tack stuff that OSU (NTOSU) didn't there were two or three calls on HUGE plays that were literally impossible. It's like Spartan Bob did to them three times what he did to us.



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Sopwith

September 30th, 2015 at 8:21 PM ^

but if you're talking about "literally impossible" as that defensive holding against a running play, that's a real call. It gets called in the NFL a few times a year, usually to a 3-4 team that uses a nose tackle to grab one of the double-teaming lineman and prevent him from releasing onto the linebackers. The Steelers' Casey Hampton used to get called for this about once a year.

It's rarely applied and arguably a stupid rule but it exists and looks to have been technically correct in that game as the nose tackle did exactly what I described to keep the OL from getting to the second level block, though in a game with that many calls going against Texas they probably should have swallowed the flag.

Joined: 06/29/2010

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Danwillhor

September 30th, 2015 at 9:22 PM ^

shouldn't but I think they will fire Strong. I'd be a mistake. Also, I don't support the crazy shit said but the calls that went against them were some BS. Mix the Neb Alamo Bowl and Sparty Bob Longest Second together and it's close. It's their bad for messing up the punt but it should have never gotten that far. That officiating was a true injustice. I was watching and I have no dog in that fight but found myself becoming mad FOR Texas.

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