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I've lived in quite a few…

I've lived in quite a few big cities. Couldn't agree more with what you are saying. It's the one big city where the big city problems were acceptable to me because of the endless upside in many categories.

I totally get the attraction.

Really going to miss Jim…

Really going to miss Jim running things. It was always interesting. Truly think Michigan had a top 5 football coach walking the planet. Not many college programs can make that case.  Plus all the great moments as a player.

I don't know him personally, but I have a feel for the thinking and dilemmas that went into this decision at this stage of his life. It is likely the one in his career where he feels a sense of loss amid the obvious business-driven nature of it.

 

 

Those early 80's Fouts teams…

Those early 80's Fouts teams under Don Coryell were crazy fun to watch. The 81 playoff against the Dolphins at the Orange Bowl was NFL atmosphere and drama at its finest as well. 

One thing we've seen is the…

One thing we've seen is the guy is playing chess with three simultaneous boards while most coaches are playing a strong game of checkers in terms of process. culture, identity building and systems. The way he pivoted off the situation that was stuck in an arguable free fall against OSU and reset things starting in 2021 is proof positive.

And that's another superpower he honed: nimbleness of approach. He changed the building and the way he interacted with the players making it a fun place to come to work. Completely different from the first 2/3 of his time at Michigan.

So yes absolutely he'll win one with Herbert. At least one. 

And yes absolutely he'll get my enthusiastic support. He is a Michigan legend: player and coach. 

I spend a lot of time…

I spend a lot of time watching old nfl games on youtube with calls from guys like Madden and Bob Trumpy doing color.

My big issue with Herbstreet is he's constantly observing what the momentum is doing. It's pointless blather. Guys like Madden never wasted a moment insulting the audience with feelings ball stuff like that. 

 Observations like that are either a guess or fully obvious.

Herbstreet knows the game. And I also think he's spread too thin and is probably too tired to dial in like he could. 

PASADENA | The Hat

 

This…

PASADENA | The Hat

 

This place is terrific. Gravy Fries are a must.

The Mccaskeys are both on…

The Mccaskeys are both on the cheap side and on the way too sensitive about public image conscious side.  

It was George Halas who hired Ditka. The type of guy who appealed to a guy like Halas. He was too much for his heirs. The loud personality and quirky ways are traits they have avoided with every hire since they fired Ditka three decades ago.

It works at Michigan because Jim can fully be Jim. 

If that situation is there in the NFL and there is a quarterback who can win big, maybe he goes.

 

Barring a mass exodus of…

Barring a mass exodus of players who opt out, Georgia should do quite well. They opened at a 2 touchdownish favorite.

Which is roughly how Vegas saw Florida St. in a playoff match up against any likely opponent. 

Florida State isn't currently a very good team. 

By Saturday night around 11:30 the world had the reality on them, post three hours struggling to beat a weak team. 

Deserving on record/season. Not even close to one of the four best teams.

Great to have a playoff where there isn't the usual team or two who is in over its head.

Florida State looked pretty…

Florida State looked pretty awful last night against probably the worst team participating in a conference championship game.

I read someone on this thread try to make the argument that they "beat the #16 team by two scores", and I had enough.

Did anyone watch that game? Did anyone see a team who could hang with any of the top 6 or 7 teams (including Oregon) who went into the weekend as a threat to be in the playoff?  If so, I'll have you reach out to the Vegas sharpies who do this 18 hours a day, 7 days a week and set the odds professionally at the sports books. 

Because none of them were buying Florida State as a threat to beat any of those teams. 

Florida State DID have a chance to show what their quarterback is lamenting they DIDN'T. And last night's slop offense and near upset to a team that lost to Pitt is what they gave us. 

I do feel bad for them to a point but it's message board excess saying they didn't have opportunities to change their fate over weekend. They absolutely did. And they proved they weren't viable to win it all. 

 

 

Vegas doesn't agree with the…

Vegas doesn't agree with the people on here who are saying FSU is one of the best four. Not even close in fact. 

They'd be underdogs by a touchdown plus against any team in the top 8.

Deserving works fine as an argument.

Saying they are one of the best four currently is taking it way too far.  

Last night: They had a team who lost to Pitt on National TV with the world watching. And instead of putting a beat down on them (knowing they needed to put a beat down on them), they needed a lousy decision in the red zone by Louisville's QB to sneak out of Dodge. 

I think they got a raw deal too. But they were forewarned by the simple logic of their situation. And they didn't deliver.

Bama on the other hand won a virtual play-in game against the best program in the sport the last three seasons. 

Georgia would beat Louisville by whatever score they choose to beat them by. Let's be real.

And doing it a second time…

And doing it a second time as a 10 point underdog. Agreed.

Would feel bad for FSU. 

Would feel bad for FSU. 

But also point out, they knew this was possible as the season was closing. Last night with a chance for important style points, they needed a bad quarterback decision by Louisville to hold on. The Louisville that lost to Pitt. 

Knowing they needed something convincing on the big stage, they gave the world drama against a decent to middling team. 

After watching last night,…

After watching last night, Florida State has no business in there if the criteria is four best teams. And that's been the stated criteria by people running it over the years. 

They've been winning. 

And Tim Tebow also won games as a starting NFL quarterback too. Quite a few at one point actually. 

But both are hopeless against quality competition on the big stage.

1. Washington v. 4 Alabama. Sugar Bowl

2. Michigan v. 3. Texas. Rose Bowl

I'll bet you never saw a…

I'll bet you never saw a skull session like the one had among Arkansas boosters and their AD trying to figure out some way to keep him on a decade ago.

It probably put the Manhattan Project to shame in terms of collective mental effort.

Let's not kid ourselves, the issue was never about what he was doing being wrong or unethical. But about the awful appearance aspect of keeping him on. 

Now he's on the fast track to the throne they definitely want him to regain.

I legit thought Moore had at…

I legit thought Moore had at least as good or a better day than 3b. 

Two big head scratchers stood out with Day. Sitting on the clock with a time out in hand, over 30 seconds left in the first half. Content with a very long field goal try. When his O had good momentum. Could have gotten closer or taken a crack at the end zone witn those receivers. 

And then 2nd half, first drive after their first touchdown drive where they owned the LOS pretty soundly: went pitch to the short side on first down. Slow developing play that basically blew up their drive and condemned it to a three and out. 

Man you keep running quick hitting stuff the way their line was blocking on the previous drive. 

Overthinking it. 

I can't say enough great…

I can't say enough great things about the quality of the work being done by a lot of posters on this great resource. Been my top tab favorite for 14 seasons for a reason.

And this post is yet another example.

I enjoy being informed about the situation.

And I also think many folks on here are taking this way too seriously. 

It's exactly the reason ESPN has been so dramatic in how they are writing these articles. To get you worried and to give talking points to morons in opposing fan bases.

The national guys who know the sport think it's all a total joke and a way for a pointless and toothless organization to needle Harbaugh for his quirky renegade style and open support of sharing the riches with the players. And they also say that whatever it is, it hasn't given Michigan any advantage they don't already have without it.

Many of you all are falling into the trap being set by jealous opposing fans. 

Whatever it is when the dust settles, it's worth a good chuckle as we enjoy a potentially historic team and season. 

Harbaugh is hands down one of the most ethical people existing in a profession loaded with phonies and bad actors. 

And this is from a fan who holds Michigan's adherence to the rules in high esteem.

I don't think this is anything, nor has the potential to be anything but sports radio talking point for Valenti and his ilk. 

But it's a free country and you all are free to take it how you want. 

Living in narratives and worrying about them, is a bad way to go when your team is winning like this one is. You're missing out on the total fun of this team and season. For no good reason. 

Due process like the hearing…

Due process like the hearing he blew off last week?

It's looking like processes are not his thing. Which is common when the facts are a problem for someone. 

My first game in 7 years…

My first game in 7 years. The Wisconsin game, 14-7 win in Jim's second year.

Seemed like there was a lot more action during the tv timeouts. Way better than the empty field I felt like I was staring at too often last time. 

The energy in the place was great I thought.

I was happy watching on TV, but after yesterday I am back on wanting to go at least once a year. Gotta be mid September to mid October with the solid weather. But I loved it yesterday. And will be excited to go again. 

It's super informative reading the details brought up by the people who attend more.

I want to say also I like the DJ because it's clear the students like the music.  I think them being super into the game makes the atmosphere. 

The wise approach would be…

The wise approach would be to keep the Schembechler connection to the program in the past tense.

That was the fundamental problem here.

Izzo is unquestionably a…

Izzo is unquestionably a Hall of Fame Coach. And arguably a top 5 All Time Coach. But he's getting to be more and more like Foreigner or Night Ranger rolling through the summer County Fair circuit on the rented bus. 

Living large off the greatest hits from a generation past. Still great hits and MSU fans will sing a long at the top of their lungs. But the recent stuff is the best time to make a bathroom or beer run.

Look at some of the programs they've bowed out to going back to that summer when he took a few weeks trying to angle for the Cavalier's job before "The Decision".

He's still a top game coach but MSU is not the top 5 program they were from 2000 to 2010. Now when they make a tournament run it's a supernova. Rather than expected.  Big difference.

And getting out of the first weekend passes for "a run".

 

1990 in April was messing…

1990 in April was messing around with my radio in Bay City curious how many out-of-town sports markets I could grab on AM.

Happened to grab WMAQ 670 out of Chicago during a White Sox game. I was a big Fisk fan so I let the game play out. Crazy come from behind win, last at bat. I want to say they had 30 or so last at bat wins that year. Almost a third of their total wins.

I remember thinking, "that took some guts and want to do that in crappy weather with a few hundred people in the stands".

The team never disappointed. Great effort, precise preparation, fundamentally diligent at all times, charismatic under-the-radar young talent and team leadership from great veterans who obviously got a bounce in their step from the ride and the youth.

Became a nightly thing down to the final out in October in Boston. Right on MIGHTY Oakland's tail for the entirety.

Moving the antennae around and once I got a sort of clear sound, hoping for a win before something took the sound away. Every night.

Went to see them play Detroit at the old place in July. Come from behind 9th inning win of course. Comiskey was bare basics. But that's what made it great. Smell baseball in the walls. 

Win the division or go home in those days.  And Oakland was one of the dominant teams of the last 4 decades.

And it was go home.

They ended up winning the division in 93. But by then they were just like every other team. Older players, big payroll.

Fun, unforgettable fan experience for a team I never followed much until odd circumstances brought us together. 

Thank you for posting. Great documentary brought back a lot of terrific memories of a unique team and park.

Born in the mid-70s, grew up in the 80s. Awesome time to grow up.

 

 

All that out of the park…

All that out of the park stuff is very debatable. I'll give it to you he is scoring big in the (recently fully outed by their own testimony) fantasy reality of RWM. 

In the larger scheme, outside of an increasingly very radical State, we're talking about a guy with the charisma of a tree stump. He'll need the party's front-runner to either pass away or get tossed in prison to even secure the nomination. That's a political and numeric reality. 

He's Harvard educated and made the pretty sudden pivot into crazy grievance attack politics in the last couple years. 

I doubt he believes most of what he says or does. But he's shooting his one and only shot. No one can take that fact from him.

 

 

Deon is very shrewd. They…

Deon is very shrewd. They come no smarter and he clearly has a great vibe with young recruits.

He wasn't going to jump at the first major program that offered him. But Colorado fit the larger plan for him to eventually hit the big time at a football power school. It's a major conference program with a great entry point after so many years of losing. And a yearly conference schedule that is about to get a lot easier in a couple years. 

I think he knows his limitations on the tactical side. He had no desire to spend much time learning technique and tactics as an assistant. Thought he was above the brutally long work hours without the spotlight.

At JSU, he picked a place he could roll up wins fast. And he definitely did do a lot of good for HBC football in the process.

No doubt he jumps from Colorado as quick as he can find success for them. If he doesn't win there in a couple years, he's stuck there or somewhere lower. Because the book will be written on his coaching abilities and ceiling. 

And at that point if it stalls out in Boulder, he'll find a new career path. And he'll take a pound of flesh off the sport blaming everyone around him and the system for the failure.

Big passion. Big ego. 

 

 

What are you even talking…

What are you even talking about? He dragged an injured leg around for most of the Utah game. He played awful as a result.  They couldn't talk him into coming out.

He's enormously popular on that team and in the Los Angeles community. 

If you don't like his style choices and flash, that's fine. Not liking his skill set is fine too.

But the guy is a proven warrior and a leader.

Yup. They are hardwareless…

Yup. They are hardwareless AND the game they stake everything on was a total butt kicking. At home. 

It's a program with more questions than definite answers at this point as well. Each year Day takes it down his path winning nothing, equals a longer period to dig out when they cut bait. 

You win or you lose big meaningful games. Bright line. Nobody but loser programs care about style points in a loss. 

At halftime Jim mentioned…

At halftime Jim mentioned specifically the spotting TCU points on the interception return and I think he was concurrently referring to the goal line fumble.

14 points. 

My observation echos something I've read from a few posters: Michigan had a standard Purdue, Illinois, Maryland approach to this game offensively. Holding back the counter moves to the opponent's first-half defense. Maybe because of Georgia or maybe because it's how the team is accustomed to playing. 

Not saying it was the right way to go but I think it was the reality. The early trick plays were on character. Even if they weren't great calls at the time.

Not convinced the coaches didn't know TCU would flood gaps aggressively with small guys. I am convinced they wanted to run basic for the first half and see how far that could get them. Then adjust at half.  But then they fell too far behind with the blown possessions that were between 14 and 21 points given back.

TCU was always going to score in this game. Even without the big play on the zero blitz, a total of about 30 if you take away the instant give away points on the picks.

Offense to offense each half. 14-6 TCU in half one. 39-23 Michigan in half 2. Mid-30s for the game was probably the upper end of what people expected. Which would have been a comfortable Michigan win. 

And the Big Ten stunk this year offensively so there is that as far as preparation goes. 

Definite missed opportunity for Michigan football particularly seeing how vulnerable Georgia looked in the night cap. 

 

I have never understood the…

I have never understood the high stature of Herbstreit. They often throw the guy on a private jet to fly across country to do that Saturday night game after doing Gameday. Like the world would come to an end if he did one or the other and that's it on a weekend. 

I don't need a guy to tell me "it seems like x team" has the momentum. That's the basic format of his commentary throughout the game. 

It's always worth…

It's always worth remembering that the reason the prior systems were scrapped was they didn't hold the interest of the largest amount of possible fans. 

It's about creating urgency in as many games for as many teams as possible. People weren't buying the bowls any more for the most part. Save a couple of the big name bowls. 

Same reason you see baseball and football expand their playoffs in the pros. Baseball was suffering badly for years with all but 5 or 6 teams playing meaningless games for the last month of the season. 

Even the seemingly most…

Even the seemingly most reasonable members of that fan base don't really believe that. Reminding them is lost time typing it or saying it

I think the legal rights of…

I think the legal rights of the player could have been impacted by doing that. There are issues of fact. Then also privacy issues. Are maybe the reasons why they didn't.

 

It would have been smoother now if it were known in October. Because of the time lag. Or it would be the same but now you'd have everyone speculating making Smith's life unnecessarily complicated for two months.

 

Maybe one of our Mgo Lawyers could comment on this on one of the threads. 

 

 

I've been really happy with…

I've been really happy with Jim's handling of off the field issues dealing with punishment, classroom performance, and requiring positive engagement in the community.

 

It's a big part of college football that stuff be run correctly promoting the best interest of the players as people.

 

I trust whatever he decides to do in this case. He's earned it.

 

He has not embarrassed Michigan on these matters yet. We're all adults with a basic understanding of right and wrong that shouldn't be influenced by our team loyalties. He hasn't violated right and wrong with how he's handled this in my view.

 

Outside opinions shouldn't matter. 

Clay started every game but…

Clay started every game but the last 3 (when he was injured). He was the team's leading rusher at the point of the injury.

He was in the final 3 for the Doak Walker Award after the season. He was on the preseason Doak Walker, Maxwell, and Camp award watch lists.

He led the Big Ten in rushing and rushing touchdowns in 2009. 

Those other two guys were also very good and had very good seasons. But Clay was number 1 on their depth chart and started ahead of them except for the games he was out with injury. At the end of the season, he led the team in carries despite missing all or most of those three games. 

It's a fan base with strong…

It's a fan base with strong and fairly recent memories of something that was so dominant and so heavy on style, that it's literally impossible to satisfy them.

 

Not just win (and they can't even muster just winning anymore),but crush opposition and do it with an urban and local flair.

 

And do that for a decade.

 

You know Crisobal walked in and wanted to be real clear from the jump that those days are gone never to return. But they have hard enough time getting people to travel way out to that stadium in the northern suburbs for games. He has to dangle the remote possibility of an 80s reincarnation to keep interest high.

Football fans fall easy and…

Football fans fall easy and hard for all that rah rah and machismo schtick from coaches. 

 

Success in the NFL especially has zero to do with that. We've had all personality types you can speak of in the last 4 decades running that team. Including Marinelli who was the original Campbell.

 

If you have players (top quarterback a must) and nowadays an offensive innovator coaching them, you can win it all.

 

The other stuff is window dressing. 

People are entitled to…

People are entitled to different tastes of course. I really liked Jim and Dan. They were passionate about the team and the school.

These new guys will be as well.

Should do a great job from what I've heard of them on the radio in the past. 

Schembechler was one of the…

Schembechler was one of the most powerful public employees in the state for nearly 2 decades. 

It's fantasy to think he wasn't aware. Plus there is evidence he was told. He had absolute power to apply a unique level of pressure to end Anderson's association with the University.

Obviously it was easier to not do anything but simply maintain the status quo. And that's what he did.

Bacon and others are only parceling out any attempt at a defense here because he's a coaching legend in the biggest sport at the school. And they have a mythology built up about the man. And I feel them on that.

But they wouldn't bother and in fact would be drawing the obvious conclusion if it were say Mark Dantonio.

 

 

 

A lot of people forget they…

A lot of people forget they were irrelevant the entire decade of the 90s.

They struck gold on Stoops. And he was just turning 40 at the time. But say they didn't hit a 10/10 on him. They might still be flailing around like Nebraska.

They don't have intrinsic advantages in state. Now they are heading to a schedule where they'll trade in games with Kansas and TCU for LSU and  Bama.

Venables is a lit bit of an odd ball to boot. 

He could do well. Or he could be a career super assistant miscast as a head man. 

Lincoln Riley is no dummy. This was a lateral and vertical move. 

 

The ship sailed at OSU. 

The ship sailed at OSU. 

That, the world knows. 

I don't think it's accurate to say that it's sailed at every school who participates in Power 5.  

OSU's core values which were widely recognized in the 70s and for a while in the 80s, were tossed to the curb as their trade for whatever it is now. 

In the end you had a coach who was bat crazy to the degree he'd take an empty car to the border rather than gas up in Michigan. And other looney tune stories of devotion. His career ended in disgrace for slugging an opposing player on national television. 

But he was solid on the academic mission of his players and his duty to enforce that. 

That's all gone now at Ohio State. So yeah, it is full flown semi-pro there.

The more time that passes,…

The more time that passes, the less I care about talking smack to other fan bases. I mean I didn't play in these games. And we all know how hard the young people work who achieve the wins or suffer the losses. 

It seems weak and disrespectful to them to engage in meanness. Plus it says a lot of poor things about me that I would cut into someone else's present enjoyment when their team is winning. 

And I'll tell you a secret to really stir up fans from our two biggest current rivals: ignore them and keep the discussions analytical and neutral..

OSU fans who are the type to jump on message boards are STARVED for attention and relevance the results of these games give them.  Even the so called "reasonable" fans who post things that are on their face neutral. They all have weak psyches that only can be bolstered by attention. They need the rush of causing some level of hurt on Michigan fans while Michigan fans are trying to enjoy their team's success. 

Also proof of my point is MSU fans. They vanish every year they lose the game or lose a basketball game to Michigan. You can't find them and if you do, they aren't pumping up each other up with "go green" or really even talking sports. 

It's why it always seems like there is no upside to winning against them. Only downside.

Heck this year, it wasn't even necessary to beat them to reach the heights of the sport.  You win, you are expected to because you have the better recruits, facilities, blah blah blah. You lose, you get a whole year of how Tucker owns Michigan and how they are heading towards being an elite program. Nothing fun about it. Just a big waste of time lobbing baseless insults and empty hyperbole back and forth. 

Michigan fans as a general rule are a lot more hyper focused on what their own team is doing and also HOW their teams are doing it. Which is why you have them often complaining about aspects of the program even after a win. They are more likely to view things according to their own impossibly high standards. 

That's a good way to be because it means you aren't getting into these lame back and forths with often uninformed rival fans. See some of the posts from them in this thread. Even posts trying to come off as reasonable are designed to play the "we'll see if you can sustain it next year" card. They can't handle the reality of the loss. One loss. After all the success they've had. Yet one loss sends them scurrying to rival message boards. Immaturity I don't see even in the young players I coach in little league baseball. 

If ever there were two fan bases loaded with weak-minded fans it's MSU and particularly OSU. 

OSU is winning at a 900 clip the last 15 years, won 11 more games this year, and played in Pasadena. Yet the sad excuse machine has been non-stop pumping out the reasons for getting beat down a few weeks ago. Imagine the lives of these people if they had to endure the crap sandwich of the losing the last 20 years in that game Michigan have been doing. I doubt they could function in society. 

These rival fans add nothing to the discussion in nearly every case. Notice that if you start to have an intelligent discussion with MSU fans on how far both programs are from competing with Georgia or Alabama (there are obvious talent gaps to make up), it won't take long until you hear about how Tucker owns Harbaugh. They have no interest in nuance or enjoying the sport. It's all only a vehicle to take out their personal hatred of Michigan people. They stake their program's self worth and their own fan loyalty on one game result. 

Especially now. When it's obvious one coach had his team simply dust itself off and keep improving. The other let his team's season cave in after throwing the kitchen sink at a game it was fortunate in many ways to win. 

Ignore these fans. Can't urge it enough. They are weak and needy. Wanting validation from something they contributed nothing toward: sports results of their favorite team. 

This really explains the big…

This really explains the big picture.  

Fair time to remind everybody about the Harbaugh hot seat feature story from a week or so after the Iowa game. 

At that point there was quite a bit of support on here for the facts of how Harbaugh and the University view Michigan football and the level of person/player/student they want on the team. And also support for the importance of the duty Harbaugh believes the program owes players to push them academically.

These are things that are lip service if even mentioned at all but a few of the big programs. They are real things with Michigan football. And they probably will always be. And this reality will limit the interest of many players who don't want to deal with much more than prepping for the pros. 

It's a real thing. I love that about Michigan and how Harbaugh does things. It's college football. And it has to be about developing young people. Not just rooting for a uniform.

But I accept the cost on the talent accumulation side.

 

 

 

Lot of people making the…

Lot of people making the point how this year was a restart and fresh beginning of something larger taking place with Michigan football. That's true and exciting. 

Last night was instructive for the program on areas of focus going forward. 

It was invaluable. 

Georgia has dynamite physical talent and was very well prepared. It didn't accumulate that talent overnight. 

When you start beating up Ohio State, winning conference championships, and going to the playoff, the world opens up as far as your odds of getting more of those players. 

Florida's Governor actively…

Florida's Governor actively attacks mitigation measures. He obviously doesn't care how many people die or how the health care system is burdened. 

His goal is keep up his "freedom" brand to appeal to dumb dumbs so he can win the Republican nomination for President. He'll BS his way around the facts and do basically everything but actively encourage the best and proven spread mitigation strategies. 

It's bad faith leadership at it's worst.

That's scary enough. But even scarier is he's probably got himself a winning strategy because millions like the message he is pushing. 

As for Michigan football:

The thing is at this point is playing sports comes down to vaccinated people and people who are not. Michigan's players on top of what matters with mitigation.  We all know this lessens the danger to them. 

And the reality is Florida is going to run this bowl game and fan attendance the same as most other states, be it a red state or blue one. 

The story now and until this finally ends is a simple one: Unvaccinated people are getting way sicker, dying way more often and keeping these variants mutating and pumping dangerously to other unvaccinated people. And this failure to mitigate puts everyone in peril because of how it impacts medical care access. 

Scared, sick people will always continue to seek out doctor care. So the less seriously sick people we have, the less burden on the system.  

 

 

 

 

My mom has cancer and had a…

My mom has cancer and had a leg cut that wasn't healing appropriately with her compromised immune system. It was a few days ago. Going to the ER in her condition was absolutely out of the question because it was so overloaded.  Luckily she's improved with the help of the internet and aggressive home care by non-medical professional relatives. 

Too many people still getting too sick from this. When that happens, they obviously go to the hospital. And you can't blame them. And many of them could have prevented the severity by getting vaccinated. 

The wide proliferation of the vaccine and booster would have curtailed this problem where positives among vaccinated people wouldn't matter much. 

It's like there is a portion of society that looks at a serious problem and is totally in denial. Just wants to plow forward business as usual when it's compromising the health care system. 

 

Guys also want to dive right…

Guys also want to dive right in to their draft-centered training too. Having to wait 4 or 5 weeks to play in a game where they could lose their career, makes the choice to not play even easier. 

When the very first big name guy or did this and the response in the college football world was basically neutral rather than condemning, that was the last chance to head this practice off. 

It's generally accepted now. 

I always thought these flush with cash bowl committees should consider taking out policies to cover players in case of catastrophic injury.

If they really cared about the quality of the games. Which I don't think they do.

Great because without Herbie…

Great because without Herbie, the viewer would never be able to figure out the team which seems to have the momentum at the moment.

Basically the bread and butter of his analysis.

Have always found it weird they fly him all over the place to make sure he is doing the game they think is the biggest that week. 

He does a good job but not anything that much better than any number of color guys who do college football for ESPN/ABC.

 

He'll get them righted. And…

He'll get them righted. And when that happens expect ground to get broken on a stadium either on campus or in the city.

The Orange Bowl and the Miami energy was their 12th man for years. 

The Stadium in Miami Gardens has failed that program.  

We all saw the documentaries. When that program was right, the Dolphins took a back seat to the college guys back in the 80s and 90s.  They are Miami's team. 

That whole dynamic is also key to their recruiting. 

They'll be back. Especially with two relative light weights installed at Florida and FSU. 

They have their "Free State…

They have their "Free State of Florida" schtick/stage presentation from their Governor who is making moves foremost based on higher office aspirations. He actively attacks any and all local safety measures  to limit spread. Be it businesses, schools. 

Bad guy regardless of the little R or D or whatever next to his name on the evening news. 

Hope it all ends safely for the team and everyone involved.

 

 

 

I was the biggest Harbaugh…

I was the biggest Harbaugh supporter ever.  Been following him since San Diego. By the end of last season, I had zero return fire for the criticism.

Basically it was ignore the covid year and at least he keeps making changes. So he doesn't have a fragile ego. Plus he took the pay cut.

Not strong arguments of hope.

My biggest beef was 6 seasons and no identity. Then I sensed this wasn't the case in the Washington game. Basically sure it wasn't the case in the Wisconsin game.  The way the guys competed and the intelligence of the game planning was Stanford 2009.

There will be some ups and downs in the sport, but at least be something players and future players identify with. Something opponents get nervous about. And make sure that's the core of what you do.

With this team, you see the edge the head coach had in his best years on full display. That's what we wanted all along.

Very happy for him and the other coaches and the players. 

And I don't blame the fans who turned on him. I think the things they were saying were fair even if I didn't agree with a lot of it. 

We shouldn't be surprised if…

We shouldn't be surprised if this game is close from start to finish. Iowa, MSU. Two programs who have been terrific in recent history turning games against opponents with more talent into sloppy slogs.  Leaving it up to a play or two late in the game.

 

The earlier signing day is a…

The earlier signing day is a big factor in forcing these moves by schools and coaches at this point on the calendar. It also encourages reaching out to coaches during their season by other schools.

It's not a great time for changes. The urgency is a lot higher to do it now rather than wait a few weeks.