ESPN - CFB Final Four and early top 25 weaknesses
Didn't see either of these posted.
ESPN put out a couple College Football stories this morning involving Michigan. Only posting this because there's nothing else going on right now amiright?
First is weaknesses for every way-too-early top 25. Michigan's bit:
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18900650/the-biggest-we…
14. Michigan
Experience, plain and simple. The Wolverines sent 14 players to the NFL combine and have only five returning starters. Only one is back on defense. Luckily, there's plenty of young talent and a great coaching staff, and Ohio State made the playoff last year with a similar lack of seasoning. But the lack of proven veterans will be a concern until proven otherwise. -- Bennett
They also did a hypothetical 64 team tournament for football, with Michigan hypothetically losing to eventual hypothetical champion Alabama. There is more about how they hypothetically got to that hypothetical position.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18910642/alabama-crimso…
Final Four
(1) Florida State 30, (3) USC 27: There has never been any doubt about Deondre Francois' toughness. In the opener of the two historic Final Four football games, the redshirt sophomore takes his biggest step yet as a quarterback -- and on his biggest stage -- by throwing two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to rally the unbeaten Seminoles to the national championship game.
(1) Alabama 21, (5) Michigan 16: Who didn't want to see this matchup? Nick Saban vs. Jim Harbaugh. While the two coaching giants don't come to blows over satellite camps during their pregame chat, their two teams trade blows on the field in a punishing struggle that comes down to the Crimson Tide holding the Wolverines on fourth-and-1 just inside the Alabama 20-yard line. Harbaugh is furious afterward about what he says was the kind of "SEC-tilted spot that Paul Finebaum would have made."
I want to ride the "we'll regress due to inexperience" train, but I can't help but feel like the official start of Harbaugh's recruits is going to be something special. Maybe it's optimism (although I've never been accused of that before) but I can't help but think that these young guys are about to take off.
Of all the problems that a football team could have, inexperience is one of the best ones. Still a problem, and worse in football than basketball, imo, but I can think of many, many worse problems to have.
Hey, you're welcome
/The Rock voice from Moana
Seriously, it's my pleasure, but thank you very much for the support.
so the final four write-up is basically the writer going for laughs, and clicks...
THe only real compelling reason to have a 64-team tournament for NCAA football is that football season could last - oh - another month or so if you played once in your bracket per weekend or whatever. Of course, woe is the group of 16 that gets the Midwest bracket in January, and pray it does not open in cities in or near the Great Lakes, especially the draws from the South.
Hey, where is staee??? I expected to see them ranked somewhere between 3-9.
Alabama and Florida State will play each other on September 2nd.
And in the Final Four, the seeds are 1, 1, 3, and 5? LOLWUT?
March 15th, 2017 at 10:22 PM ^
I would be thrilled to lose to Bama by only 5 next year with our youth.
/Ducks
March 15th, 2017 at 10:58 PM ^
Spring Football started! Can't wait. Going to be fun to see all the young receivers, and who will lead the way at running back.
Could do without the "Bench Speight, Brandon Peters is the next savior" BS posts - but it is a small price to pay for the excitement of the spring season upon us. Winning days are ahead.
Go Blue!!!
20 years after 1997, why not us? We were ranked similarly that preseason, I'm into good omens.
Not to shit on your parade, but i already demonstrated in another thread how hyserically off last year's preseason (and especially pre-spring) predictions were to the final product - less than 60% accuracy on teams in final top 20 playoff ranking and even a few non bowl teams included.
We don't need ESPN which is laying off pundits left and right to tell us UM football is on the upswing again. But an actual season has to be played and thank god for that. To me this is just clickbait
Thank you. The rest of us were completely unaware that this article was purely clickbait.