Last week I recanted a conversation with an old boss about why Notre Dame should join the Big Ten. You may have read that article and presumed that I do indeed look forward to a day where the Big Ten has 14 or 16 teams and one of them being Notre Dame. You would be wrong. I wrote it more as a Plan B point, if 16 be the number and the number being neither 15 nor 17, I'd demand that Notre Dame be included to give the 16 team "super conference" some legitimacy.
Plan A is that we do not expand and really neither does anyone else. Yesterday, Mike Slive commissioner of the SEC said: "We remain optimistic that Texas A&M will be a member of the SEC and have started to look at schedules for 2012-13 involving 13 teams'. " He then went on to say that the SEC has no immediate plans to go beyond 13 teams, but that it's "impossible" to never say never. Also, this just in, Mike Slive is a liar. They might stop at 14, but I'm pretty sure that Slive's limit on Schnitzengruben is higher than 13.
I think within the next week, we'll see this decided one way or the other. Currently, Oklahoma is in the catbird's seat for a couple reasons. 1.) Baylor has offered to rescind their lawsuit against A&M should Oklahoma agree to stay in the Big 12 er, 10, er 9. This would ensure A&M's exit. 2.) Oklahoma could leave for the Pac 10, er, 12, er 14 with Oklahoma State and then the Big 12 disintegrates overnight. Oklahoma will want to get this settled because in a week, somehow they may end up out of the catbird's seat, so better to decide on their terms than wait and have to decide on someone else's.
I find it interesting that the conference that cannot hold itself together is going to be the group that decides College Football's potentially dystopian future. I've joked with my college roommate for years that the Big 12 was a farce, there's Tejas, Oklahoma and previously Nebraska then 9 nobodies. It's only become apparent in the last couple years how that was truth posing as farce.
There's really no question that there are some corollaries to pre World War I Europe here. Everyone's in bed with everyone else and everyone is so twitchy that there's going to be a problem that there is a problem because everyone is so twitchy. Could these mega conferences be avoided? Sure. Will they be? Probably not. There's too much money on the table for some of the schools involved.
Is Jim Delaney, the Big Ten commissioner responsible for starting all this mess by creating the Velveeta and Rotel network, padding everyone's pockets by 10-20 mill a year and encouraging other conferences to do the same? Well. That's a question for another day.
For now, we play Notre Dame Saturday. The rest of the week will be more of a rivalry week focus. We hate the Dame, do we not?
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Slow and Steady Wins The Race
One of the hardest things about being the guy who roots Michigan State football is managing expectations. Not in the corporate sense, "How do we provide the minimal amount of effort to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction?" "By managing expectations sir, please don't hit me again." I don't expect to beat our rivals every year, I didn't for a long time expect to go to a bowl, let alone every year.
Managing expectations is easy when you suck, as we have at times in the past.What should we expect this week?You should expect to lose, we are 2005 Michigan State and Ohio State is 2005 Ohio State. Managing expectations is easy when you're Oklahoma who I'd offer as the most successful program of the last 15 years. Although something tells me there is an art to keeping a fan base from eating it's own tail when you're Bob Stoops, I know there is for Tom Izzo.
After watching us destroy an FAU team that I don't think could beat half the teams in FCS, it feels like a good time to issue the warning of cautious optimism. MSU played amazingly on Saturday and I think they will continue to improve throughout the season. They are young at LB and a couple critical positions on the Offensive Line. However, I'm concerned as always that the new mantra of our fanbase will be that we can and should win the Big Ten this year again. Allow me to be crystal clear on this, I think we can, but it is not going to be easy or without some heart stoppage.
This year we do not have the 2010 schedule that was so soft you could lay your head down and grab a nap. This year we have a schedule designed by Satan himself, Jim Delaney or at least one of his lackeys. This year our October schedule is murderous, we play at Ohio State on the 1st, Michigan at home on the 15th, Wisconsin at home on the 22nd and Nebraska at Nebraska on the 29th. My expectation is that we go 2-2 during this stretch, 1-3 would be a bit disappointing, but I could see it. 3-1 would be pretty awesome and I could see it. 0-4 and 4-0 seem impossible.
While October is obviously going to be a gauntlet, November could be a sneaky gauntlet. November will be like when you show up to help someone move out of an apartment and after you move the apartment they're like "Oh hey man, see I got this storage unit and we just gotta go pick up a few things, you got time for that right?" October is moving the apartment, November will be moving the storage unit, November will be easier because half the stuff is already in boxes. Iowa and Northwestern are both away, Iowa seems to have us figured out at Kinnick the last time we won there half our players weren't born. Northwestern until 3-4 years ago seemed to have our number too. Indiana and Purdue are both home and cakewalky type games.
So while our boys looked like a top 10 team on Saturday even given their competition I saw nothing that changed my prediction of 9-3. If we had beat them 2 million to -8, I'd still be thinking 9-3. But to me, that would be a very excellent record.
Five years ago, the realistic position of the program was:
- Make a bowl once every three or four years.
- Beat one of your rivals(ND, UM, PSU) every year or two.
- Recruit all two-star guys with 4-6 higher rated recruits.
Now, the realistic position of the program is:
- Make a bowl every year
- Beat one or two of your rivals every year. Last year we beat all three.
- Recruit all three-star guys or higher with 2-4 two star recruits. *
That is an enormous change from five years ago. Honestly, think to yourself, in your heart what is the chance this team does not make a bowl game? For me, there are no numbers that low. My seven year old self would say minus infinity. Is that XFinity? Take that Comcast, ZING! Do you think that we would lose to Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State this year? I think we should at a minimum beat one of them. For the recruiting, well we have no two star dudes, and only 4 spots left. So, we can already check that one off.
*- Just like every other institution, Rivals has participated in grade inflation in the past 10 years. So this is not as strong an accomplishment as it seems, but it's certainly an improvement.
Worst case scenario, instead of being the overacheiving team that runs into a buzzsaw named Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford or the Alabama HGH Hormone Machines, we can be the underachievers who had issues and knock the snot out of the lower tier bowl opponent they play. Wouldn't winning a bowl game be as big an accomplishment as anything else this year.
So friends of the MSU football program, your expectations should not be to repeat 2010, but they certainly should be higher than they were in 2006. I still think 9-3(5-3) in the Big Ten would be progress toward the larger goal, which is building a team that consistently competes for Big Ten titles. We got lucky last year, but we are on our way to being good rather than lucky. Some days it's better to be lucky than good, most days I'd rather be good than lucky. That's where we're headed and this year will be a chance to see how far we've come.
Managing expectations is easy when you suck, as we have at times in the past.What should we expect this week?You should expect to lose, we are 2005 Michigan State and Ohio State is 2005 Ohio State. Managing expectations is easy when you're Oklahoma who I'd offer as the most successful program of the last 15 years. Although something tells me there is an art to keeping a fan base from eating it's own tail when you're Bob Stoops, I know there is for Tom Izzo.
After watching us destroy an FAU team that I don't think could beat half the teams in FCS, it feels like a good time to issue the warning of cautious optimism. MSU played amazingly on Saturday and I think they will continue to improve throughout the season. They are young at LB and a couple critical positions on the Offensive Line. However, I'm concerned as always that the new mantra of our fanbase will be that we can and should win the Big Ten this year again. Allow me to be crystal clear on this, I think we can, but it is not going to be easy or without some heart stoppage.
This year we do not have the 2010 schedule that was so soft you could lay your head down and grab a nap. This year we have a schedule designed by Satan himself, Jim Delaney or at least one of his lackeys. This year our October schedule is murderous, we play at Ohio State on the 1st, Michigan at home on the 15th, Wisconsin at home on the 22nd and Nebraska at Nebraska on the 29th. My expectation is that we go 2-2 during this stretch, 1-3 would be a bit disappointing, but I could see it. 3-1 would be pretty awesome and I could see it. 0-4 and 4-0 seem impossible.
While October is obviously going to be a gauntlet, November could be a sneaky gauntlet. November will be like when you show up to help someone move out of an apartment and after you move the apartment they're like "Oh hey man, see I got this storage unit and we just gotta go pick up a few things, you got time for that right?" October is moving the apartment, November will be moving the storage unit, November will be easier because half the stuff is already in boxes. Iowa and Northwestern are both away, Iowa seems to have us figured out at Kinnick the last time we won there half our players weren't born. Northwestern until 3-4 years ago seemed to have our number too. Indiana and Purdue are both home and cakewalky type games.
So while our boys looked like a top 10 team on Saturday even given their competition I saw nothing that changed my prediction of 9-3. If we had beat them 2 million to -8, I'd still be thinking 9-3. But to me, that would be a very excellent record.
Five years ago, the realistic position of the program was:
- Make a bowl once every three or four years.
- Beat one of your rivals(ND, UM, PSU) every year or two.
- Recruit all two-star guys with 4-6 higher rated recruits.
Now, the realistic position of the program is:
- Make a bowl every year
- Beat one or two of your rivals every year. Last year we beat all three.
- Recruit all three-star guys or higher with 2-4 two star recruits. *
That is an enormous change from five years ago. Honestly, think to yourself, in your heart what is the chance this team does not make a bowl game? For me, there are no numbers that low. My seven year old self would say minus infinity. Is that XFinity? Take that Comcast, ZING! Do you think that we would lose to Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State this year? I think we should at a minimum beat one of them. For the recruiting, well we have no two star dudes, and only 4 spots left. So, we can already check that one off.
*- Just like every other institution, Rivals has participated in grade inflation in the past 10 years. So this is not as strong an accomplishment as it seems, but it's certainly an improvement.
Worst case scenario, instead of being the overacheiving team that runs into a buzzsaw named Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford or the Alabama HGH Hormone Machines, we can be the underachievers who had issues and knock the snot out of the lower tier bowl opponent they play. Wouldn't winning a bowl game be as big an accomplishment as anything else this year.
So friends of the MSU football program, your expectations should not be to repeat 2010, but they certainly should be higher than they were in 2006. I still think 9-3(5-3) in the Big Ten would be progress toward the larger goal, which is building a team that consistently competes for Big Ten titles. We got lucky last year, but we are on our way to being good rather than lucky. Some days it's better to be lucky than good, most days I'd rather be good than lucky. That's where we're headed and this year will be a chance to see how far we've come.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The Devil's Five Key Things: FAU Revisited
MSU Smash Rating: 8. 10 points for the fact this is as badly as a team can be beaten, minus 2 for the fact that if FAU wins a game this year I'll be very surprised. How about our defense? They gave up 48 total offensive yards including only 26 passing yards for their lowest total since the 1984 Cherry Bowl. This was simply put as whoopy as whoopy whoopiness gets. The team looked to be playing on par with their mid-season 2010 selves right now.
I'd say this team is bound for another New Year's day bowl except that's true of half the Big 10 now, so I don't know if it's really all that special. Even the damn backup kicker was kicking field goals.
1.)Left tackle by committee, what could go wrong?
Against FAU nothing went wrong at Left Tackle or anywhere else for that matter. I didn't notice France's play, I also do not recall him receiving any penalties so I'm left to assume he played well. That said I was juggling kids most of the game and couldn't really zero in on dudes as well as I liked. There was a respite near the beginning of the second half where both kids wanted to be in the concourse so I did get to watch some reps of Fonoti at tackle. He looked late to his blocks and during the one run play that went his way he was not able to block his guy out of the picture.
France is obviously not Bryan Bulaga or Jake Long, but if he goes down that side of the line definitely gets weaker.
2.)FAU's Superior Pass Defense
"Last week FAU picked off John Brantley and the Florida Gator Swamp Folk three times. Without watching the game, it's hard to know if this came from superior defensive scheme or the installation of Jabba the Charlie's new offense. Maybe both? Regardless, three picks is plenty-pickin'-good on a team like Florida."
How in the blue hell did Florida throw three picks on these guys? I think there's a good chance that the installation of Jabba the Charlie's offense has something to do with it. There was simply put, nothing to their pass defense yesterday, Cousins was outstanding, Maxwell was 6 of 9 for 63 yards including probably the most impressive incompletion I've seen in a long time with his 50 yard SCRAMBLEBOMB to B.J. Cunningham which he of course caught too, just two yards out of bounds. *
Maybe our passing game is that much better than Florida's. Maybe FAU had a bad day in pass defense. Maybe both. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Charlie was doing more with less in Gainesville. That said, our Quarterback's are for real.
Peter Badovinac did get to play significant minutes in the fourth quarter. I had suspected third string duties would fall to Nichol in a temporary situation or Cook if a long term situation arose, I still think that's true, but good to see Badovinac get some minutes yesterday.
* I dropped my cell phone this morning and BJ Cunningham ran into my house and caught it before it hit the ground. He's really amazing.
3.)Can I get an Amen? I mean a sack.
Well yesterday we got three sacks. 2.5 of them were credited to Defensive Lineman. Yesterday I felt like we definitely opened the defensive playbook a bit more, probably to get the guys ready for Notre Dame. There was definitely more blitzing, less vanilla coverages. So the front four had a bit more help than in the first game, but I don't think we've seen the bulk of their fancy playbook.
I felt like our D-Line played a lot more like the unit we kept expecting to see coming into the season. Gholston is starting to develop the mental ability to compliment his freakish physical gifts. Worthy is starting to nail his snap count timing again. All in all the unit looked much improved.
4.)How will our linebackers do in TE pass coverage?
Well amazing. We gave up one first down. So I'm pretty sure everyone was amazing in pass coverage all the time. Watching Notre Dame last night, I'm not sure we have to worry about TE passes like we did last year when they had Kyle Rudolph. Denicos Allen played a more complete game yesterday in my opinion. I think the linebackers are coming along nicely.
5.)Nick Hill: The Next Great Kick Returner?
Well, the crappy thing about shutting someone out is that you only get to return one kick. Nick Hill brought his back for 31 yards and looked great doing it. More data is required.
However, he did get to play some fourth quarter "run right and don't go out of bounds for the love of all that is holy" time. He rushed 14 times for 56 yards in spite of the fact the entire stadium knew he was going to be running right behind our third string line. I watched him run up the backs of his blockers a couple times, it's just a patience thing. He's gonna be fine.
The Good
- Everything.
- Seriously Everything.
- Arthur Ray saw more than a ceremonial snap, he played left guard in the fourth quarter. IMO, this makes him the third string left guard behind Foreman and John Deyo.
- Taiwan Jones looks like a man among children in his mop-up duty. When things start clicking for him look out.
- Not excited for Maxwell's debut as the starter to be against Boise State next year, but they lose Kellen Moore too.
- B.J. Cunningham got the school record for receptions yesterday laying down.
- We gave up one first down, that's...
- This team looks ready for Notre Dame, who will run the same 3-4 type defense next week. I think FAU could be like Notre Dame light. They're like ND without the talent, neither team has the drive to win.
The Bad
- Conroy missed another field goal yesterday off the goalpost. This makes him 2/4 on the season. I know that the first one was a Marino hold issue, but the second one looked to be all him. I don't think this is BAD, I didn't really expect Conroy to go 14 of 15 on the season again, but if there is some kind of kicking fail later this season, the seed of suspicion was planted back here. Probably nothing to worry about too much though.
The Uncertain
- Lawrence Thomas I believe was a healthy scratch yesterday. As a recruit who had a single offer redeemable at any school in the United States I have to suspect that he was hoping to see the field this year. I think if he didn't make it in yesterday, he'll probably get redshirted this year.
Update: Our friend LVS over at The Only Colors pointed out that Thomas was injured for all but the first couple days of fall camp and thus missed the installation of the defense. I had envisioned Thomas maybe seeing the field this year in a Greg Jones circa 2007 type way even with the injury. "What do we do?" "Kill the Quarterback!" "Why do we do it Greg Jones?" "Because quarterbacks need murderin'!". However, missing the defensive install was probably enough to warrant a redshirt.
- In fact, Taiwan Jones is the only 2011 recruit to play to date. I really hope that is a sign of strength in our depth chart and not a commentary on our recruiting class. With the defensive line and secondary due to lose some serious type star power last year I was hoping particularly on D-Line to see someone be good enough to warrant some consideration for the field this year.
- It seemed like our defense played a LOT more aggressively yesterday, I just hope not so much so they're overconfident for next week. ND's season is on the line and they're going to play us tough. Plus, you know, I'm sure Brian Kelly is still really excited about...
The Certain
- Best wishes for Jerry Kill. May you continue on the epoch-long quest to make Minnesota great soon.
- Both Michigan and Notre Dame have some serious holes in their game, but like all rivalry games, I'll celebrate the win after it happens and not take them for granted.
- I have jury duty tomorrow, so no Monday post. Have a good Monday.
Final Predicted Score: MSU 38 FAU 7.
Final Actual Score: MSU 44 FAU 0.
I'd say this team is bound for another New Year's day bowl except that's true of half the Big 10 now, so I don't know if it's really all that special. Even the damn backup kicker was kicking field goals.
1.)Left tackle by committee, what could go wrong?
Against FAU nothing went wrong at Left Tackle or anywhere else for that matter. I didn't notice France's play, I also do not recall him receiving any penalties so I'm left to assume he played well. That said I was juggling kids most of the game and couldn't really zero in on dudes as well as I liked. There was a respite near the beginning of the second half where both kids wanted to be in the concourse so I did get to watch some reps of Fonoti at tackle. He looked late to his blocks and during the one run play that went his way he was not able to block his guy out of the picture.
France is obviously not Bryan Bulaga or Jake Long, but if he goes down that side of the line definitely gets weaker.
2.)FAU's Superior Pass Defense
"Last week FAU picked off John Brantley and the Florida Gator Swamp Folk three times. Without watching the game, it's hard to know if this came from superior defensive scheme or the installation of Jabba the Charlie's new offense. Maybe both? Regardless, three picks is plenty-pickin'-good on a team like Florida."
How in the blue hell did Florida throw three picks on these guys? I think there's a good chance that the installation of Jabba the Charlie's offense has something to do with it. There was simply put, nothing to their pass defense yesterday, Cousins was outstanding, Maxwell was 6 of 9 for 63 yards including probably the most impressive incompletion I've seen in a long time with his 50 yard SCRAMBLEBOMB to B.J. Cunningham which he of course caught too, just two yards out of bounds. *
Maybe our passing game is that much better than Florida's. Maybe FAU had a bad day in pass defense. Maybe both. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Charlie was doing more with less in Gainesville. That said, our Quarterback's are for real.
Peter Badovinac did get to play significant minutes in the fourth quarter. I had suspected third string duties would fall to Nichol in a temporary situation or Cook if a long term situation arose, I still think that's true, but good to see Badovinac get some minutes yesterday.
* I dropped my cell phone this morning and BJ Cunningham ran into my house and caught it before it hit the ground. He's really amazing.
3.)Can I get an Amen? I mean a sack.
Well yesterday we got three sacks. 2.5 of them were credited to Defensive Lineman. Yesterday I felt like we definitely opened the defensive playbook a bit more, probably to get the guys ready for Notre Dame. There was definitely more blitzing, less vanilla coverages. So the front four had a bit more help than in the first game, but I don't think we've seen the bulk of their fancy playbook.
I felt like our D-Line played a lot more like the unit we kept expecting to see coming into the season. Gholston is starting to develop the mental ability to compliment his freakish physical gifts. Worthy is starting to nail his snap count timing again. All in all the unit looked much improved.
4.)How will our linebackers do in TE pass coverage?
Well amazing. We gave up one first down. So I'm pretty sure everyone was amazing in pass coverage all the time. Watching Notre Dame last night, I'm not sure we have to worry about TE passes like we did last year when they had Kyle Rudolph. Denicos Allen played a more complete game yesterday in my opinion. I think the linebackers are coming along nicely.
5.)Nick Hill: The Next Great Kick Returner?
Well, the crappy thing about shutting someone out is that you only get to return one kick. Nick Hill brought his back for 31 yards and looked great doing it. More data is required.
However, he did get to play some fourth quarter "run right and don't go out of bounds for the love of all that is holy" time. He rushed 14 times for 56 yards in spite of the fact the entire stadium knew he was going to be running right behind our third string line. I watched him run up the backs of his blockers a couple times, it's just a patience thing. He's gonna be fine.
The Good
- Everything.
- Seriously Everything.
- Arthur Ray saw more than a ceremonial snap, he played left guard in the fourth quarter. IMO, this makes him the third string left guard behind Foreman and John Deyo.
- Taiwan Jones looks like a man among children in his mop-up duty. When things start clicking for him look out.
- Not excited for Maxwell's debut as the starter to be against Boise State next year, but they lose Kellen Moore too.
- B.J. Cunningham got the school record for receptions yesterday laying down.
- We gave up one first down, that's...
- This team looks ready for Notre Dame, who will run the same 3-4 type defense next week. I think FAU could be like Notre Dame light. They're like ND without the talent, neither team has the drive to win.
The Bad
- Conroy missed another field goal yesterday off the goalpost. This makes him 2/4 on the season. I know that the first one was a Marino hold issue, but the second one looked to be all him. I don't think this is BAD, I didn't really expect Conroy to go 14 of 15 on the season again, but if there is some kind of kicking fail later this season, the seed of suspicion was planted back here. Probably nothing to worry about too much though.
The Uncertain
- Lawrence Thomas I believe was a healthy scratch yesterday. As a recruit who had a single offer redeemable at any school in the United States I have to suspect that he was hoping to see the field this year. I think if he didn't make it in yesterday, he'll probably get redshirted this year.
Update: Our friend LVS over at The Only Colors pointed out that Thomas was injured for all but the first couple days of fall camp and thus missed the installation of the defense. I had envisioned Thomas maybe seeing the field this year in a Greg Jones circa 2007 type way even with the injury. "What do we do?" "Kill the Quarterback!" "Why do we do it Greg Jones?" "Because quarterbacks need murderin'!". However, missing the defensive install was probably enough to warrant a redshirt.
- In fact, Taiwan Jones is the only 2011 recruit to play to date. I really hope that is a sign of strength in our depth chart and not a commentary on our recruiting class. With the defensive line and secondary due to lose some serious type star power last year I was hoping particularly on D-Line to see someone be good enough to warrant some consideration for the field this year.
- It seemed like our defense played a LOT more aggressively yesterday, I just hope not so much so they're overconfident for next week. ND's season is on the line and they're going to play us tough. Plus, you know, I'm sure Brian Kelly is still really excited about...
The Certain
- Best wishes for Jerry Kill. May you continue on the epoch-long quest to make Minnesota great soon.
- Both Michigan and Notre Dame have some serious holes in their game, but like all rivalry games, I'll celebrate the win after it happens and not take them for granted.
- I have jury duty tomorrow, so no Monday post. Have a good Monday.
Final Predicted Score: MSU 38 FAU 7.
Final Actual Score: MSU 44 FAU 0.
Friday, September 9, 2011
FAU: Friday Afternoon YouTube
MSU Monsoon Band Entrance
MSU - FAU 2010(Ford Field)
Here's a video posted by an FAU fan of the 17-0 loss in the 2008 monsoon. If my team finished 4-8 last year I might make video cutups of losses too.
That's enough for this week, there's a bit* more fodder for next week's youtube reels.
* - Lots, like really a whole hell of a lot. Also, the quality and heartbreakingness for Notre Dame is more significant.
MSU - FAU 2010(Ford Field)
Here's a video posted by an FAU fan of the 17-0 loss in the 2008 monsoon. If my team finished 4-8 last year I might make video cutups of losses too.
That's enough for this week, there's a bit* more fodder for next week's youtube reels.
* - Lots, like really a whole hell of a lot. Also, the quality and heartbreakingness for Notre Dame is more significant.
Florida Atlantic: The Devil's Five Key Things
We're taking the five key things series started last week and weaving it in with the Devil's Advocate series we did last year. In short, Bullets with Banter. Co-Authoring this segment will be my partner in crime Ty from the Lions in Winter. Check out his blogified Ndamukong madness here.
1.)Left tackle by committee, what could go wrong?
So as I'm sure you've heard by now, or maybe not, Jared McGaha has been bumped as the starter from Left Tackle to second string Right Tackle. Again, if last week I came across down on Jared McGaha it's nothing personal and he's about the only survivor of a whole hell of a lot of Offensive Tackle attrition.
I have to think that the gap between France and Fonoti is at this point more than a little bit. France is two inches taller, twenty pounds heavier and has a whole spring and pre-season of football at the Left Tackle position. It's my understanding Fonoti exclusively played Right Tackle until a couple of weeks ago. While France's experience at the position is not sufficient to give him an experience advantage, experience and a little bit better physical stature might be enough.
This position doesn't need to be perfect by Notre Dame, but improved would settle my mind a bit.
Ty: this may be apocryphal, but remember reading someplace on the Internet* that when Dantonio recruited McGaha, he told him of the famous Archimedes quote, "Give me a place to stand . . . and I can move the Earth." McGaha, so I read, was so impressed by the saying he made it his personal motto. Unfortunately, there's an important bit in the middle there about having a lever of sufficient length and rigidity, and, well, McGaha's clearly fell short. Or limp.
I was impressed by France's tools at the spring practice, though to my eyes he struggled with things like stunts and zone blocking, stuff you'd expect a newbie LT to struggle with. Physically, when asked to mash France can mash. But, as you say, benching a starting LT due to a poor performance against your supposed tomato can cannot be a good thing.
* The Googles, they do nothing.
2.)FAU's Superior Pass Defense
Last week FAU picked off John Brantley and the Florida Gator Swamp Folk three times. Without watching the game, it's hard to know if this came from superior defensive scheme or the installation of Jabba the Charlie's new offense. Maybe both? Regardless, three picks is plenty-pickin'-good on a team like Florida.
This game will provide a great tune-up for Cousins going into the Notre Dame game next week. FAU runs a 3-4 designed to stop or slow the pass just like ND. If FAU can generate some pressure expect their pass D to be the one thing FAU can do that will make us have to work for this a bit. The other facets of their team look pretty anemic.
Ty: Any time a college team runs a 3-4 I get suspicious. A true two-gap nose tackle, by physical definition, must be a grown-assed man. Either they've found a truly precocious manchild, or they're planning on stopping the run at the second level. With FAU's talent, it must be the latter, and that's good news for the Spartans.
Ideally, the ball won't have to come out of Captain Kirk's hands, and even if it does I'd hope experienced targets like Cunningham and Martin can get open enough for any crafty zone stuff not to matter. Failing that, just play jumpball to Dion Sims; he'll be a man amongst boys in their back seven.
3.)Can I get an Amen? I mean a sack.
Well, last week we got no sacks on YSU. They are a quick release, spread type offense and that's not the kind of offense that lends itself to lots of sackin'. FAU however runs a more pro-style look. I suspect you'll see some sacks get home this week. With luck not so many that our fans then start thinking that we sack ND's quarterback 83 plays out of 85 and anything else is equal to failure of a sort that is unparalleled since Nero.
That said, if the pass rush doesn't hit home this week it's not time to worry about the defense yet, but it may be time to start the undocking procedure for the USS "Our Front Four Will Generate All The Pressure We Need Without Any Assistance From Their Linebacking Friends".
Like this
Not this
Ty: With the size and speed MSU has up front, there'll be no excuse if they can't bring down FAU's quarterback(s) at least a couple of times. If Narduzzi has to dial up the blitz to generate heat, it could be a very long October—and some very large, very fast defensive linemen will have to take very long, very hard looks in the mirror . . . or maybe at Dantonio's celebratory pile of broken cinder blocks.
4.)How will our linebackers do in TE pass coverage?
FAU throws to their tight ends. A lot. Well, relatively speaking a lot insofaras they actually complete passes. Last week two tight ends finished in the top 3 receiving for FAU. Since Denicos Allen and Chris Norman appear to have outright won their LB positions this should be a good chance for them to tune up on the pass coverage.
This is an area where we will continue to miss Eric Gordon. Gordon was an excellent pass-covering linebacker and I think I'd like to see if these guys can develop into that.
Ty: Let's take the optimistic view here, and re-title it: How hard can our safeties hit their tight ends shortly after they catch the ball? I don't expect FAU to be a legitimate threat across the middle. Still, as you say, these should be very good practice reps for young Allen . . . Jake Stoneburner looms.
5.)Nick Hill: The Next Great Kick Returner?
Nick Hill has been promoted to the number one kick returner as a way to make sure he gets on the field. I think he has the stuffin's to be a permanent replacement at this position.
Ty: I like the cut of Nick Hill's jib. I don't know if he'll ever be a feature tailback but I know that kind of quick-twitch running can be absolutely lethal at this level. Get him on the field, I say, however you have to do it.
Final Score: MSU 38 FAU 7.
1.)Left tackle by committee, what could go wrong?
So as I'm sure you've heard by now, or maybe not, Jared McGaha has been bumped as the starter from Left Tackle to second string Right Tackle. Again, if last week I came across down on Jared McGaha it's nothing personal and he's about the only survivor of a whole hell of a lot of Offensive Tackle attrition.
I have to think that the gap between France and Fonoti is at this point more than a little bit. France is two inches taller, twenty pounds heavier and has a whole spring and pre-season of football at the Left Tackle position. It's my understanding Fonoti exclusively played Right Tackle until a couple of weeks ago. While France's experience at the position is not sufficient to give him an experience advantage, experience and a little bit better physical stature might be enough.
This position doesn't need to be perfect by Notre Dame, but improved would settle my mind a bit.
Ty: this may be apocryphal, but remember reading someplace on the Internet* that when Dantonio recruited McGaha, he told him of the famous Archimedes quote, "Give me a place to stand . . . and I can move the Earth." McGaha, so I read, was so impressed by the saying he made it his personal motto. Unfortunately, there's an important bit in the middle there about having a lever of sufficient length and rigidity, and, well, McGaha's clearly fell short. Or limp.
I was impressed by France's tools at the spring practice, though to my eyes he struggled with things like stunts and zone blocking, stuff you'd expect a newbie LT to struggle with. Physically, when asked to mash France can mash. But, as you say, benching a starting LT due to a poor performance against your supposed tomato can cannot be a good thing.
* The Googles, they do nothing.
2.)FAU's Superior Pass Defense
Last week FAU picked off John Brantley and the Florida Gator Swamp Folk three times. Without watching the game, it's hard to know if this came from superior defensive scheme or the installation of Jabba the Charlie's new offense. Maybe both? Regardless, three picks is plenty-pickin'-good on a team like Florida.
This game will provide a great tune-up for Cousins going into the Notre Dame game next week. FAU runs a 3-4 designed to stop or slow the pass just like ND. If FAU can generate some pressure expect their pass D to be the one thing FAU can do that will make us have to work for this a bit. The other facets of their team look pretty anemic.
Ty: Any time a college team runs a 3-4 I get suspicious. A true two-gap nose tackle, by physical definition, must be a grown-assed man. Either they've found a truly precocious manchild, or they're planning on stopping the run at the second level. With FAU's talent, it must be the latter, and that's good news for the Spartans.
Ideally, the ball won't have to come out of Captain Kirk's hands, and even if it does I'd hope experienced targets like Cunningham and Martin can get open enough for any crafty zone stuff not to matter. Failing that, just play jumpball to Dion Sims; he'll be a man amongst boys in their back seven.
3.)Can I get an Amen? I mean a sack.
Well, last week we got no sacks on YSU. They are a quick release, spread type offense and that's not the kind of offense that lends itself to lots of sackin'. FAU however runs a more pro-style look. I suspect you'll see some sacks get home this week. With luck not so many that our fans then start thinking that we sack ND's quarterback 83 plays out of 85 and anything else is equal to failure of a sort that is unparalleled since Nero.
That said, if the pass rush doesn't hit home this week it's not time to worry about the defense yet, but it may be time to start the undocking procedure for the USS "Our Front Four Will Generate All The Pressure We Need Without Any Assistance From Their Linebacking Friends".
Like this
Not this
Ty: With the size and speed MSU has up front, there'll be no excuse if they can't bring down FAU's quarterback(s) at least a couple of times. If Narduzzi has to dial up the blitz to generate heat, it could be a very long October—and some very large, very fast defensive linemen will have to take very long, very hard looks in the mirror . . . or maybe at Dantonio's celebratory pile of broken cinder blocks.
4.)How will our linebackers do in TE pass coverage?
FAU throws to their tight ends. A lot. Well, relatively speaking a lot insofaras they actually complete passes. Last week two tight ends finished in the top 3 receiving for FAU. Since Denicos Allen and Chris Norman appear to have outright won their LB positions this should be a good chance for them to tune up on the pass coverage.
This is an area where we will continue to miss Eric Gordon. Gordon was an excellent pass-covering linebacker and I think I'd like to see if these guys can develop into that.
Ty: Let's take the optimistic view here, and re-title it: How hard can our safeties hit their tight ends shortly after they catch the ball? I don't expect FAU to be a legitimate threat across the middle. Still, as you say, these should be very good practice reps for young Allen . . . Jake Stoneburner looms.
5.)Nick Hill: The Next Great Kick Returner?
Nick Hill has been promoted to the number one kick returner as a way to make sure he gets on the field. I think he has the stuffin's to be a permanent replacement at this position.
Ty: I like the cut of Nick Hill's jib. I don't know if he'll ever be a feature tailback but I know that kind of quick-twitch running can be absolutely lethal at this level. Get him on the field, I say, however you have to do it.
Final Score: MSU 38 FAU 7.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Next! The Florida Atlantic Owls
This summer my daughter was invited to be a flower girl at a wedding in Key West. Not having any idea what kind of place Key West was and being an avid admirer of it's fine pies we agreed and set out on our vacation. One of the last Keys before Key West is I believe Big Pine Key. When you drive through Big Pine Key, there are signs everywhere indicating the island is a deer refuge and if you hit a deer you will be executed by the Florida Highway Patrol. Being from Michigan this struck me as particularly odd that you would be concerned about making sure you don't hit deer. Here in Michigan, we cancel school on Opening Day to make sure we get as many as possible.
You want a deer, I can get you a deer by three o'clock today.
So whenWilford Brimley Howard Schnellenberger was participating in the discussions to start the Florida Atlantic football program I find myself wondering why he decided to go with Owls. It would be like picking the FAU Bambi Herd instead of something a little more obviously indigenous to Florida like Spiders(they beat Duke), Gators, Hurricanes, Heat. I guess most of the apt descriptions of Florida were taken, Swamp Folk was left, but they got sued by the makers of the Waterboy before they even got under way.
This weekend marks the third and I believe final scheduled meeting between MSU and FAU. The first meeting was a 17-0 monsoon in 2008 where Javon Ringer slogged through about 7 inches of rain. Last season we beat them 30-17 in a closer than expected contest that reminded me a little too much of the Youngstown State game. It was a home game for them in technicality only, played at Ford Field because the construction of the FAU stadium ran behind schedule. This year they're coming up I believe to conclude our 2 for 1 with them.
This is Schnellenberger's final season with FAU and then he'll be retiring to some warmer, sunnier part of the world? His accomplishments with FAU deserve respect, taking FAU from no football program at all in 2000 to a 1-AA school in 2001-2005 and a Sun Belt Conference member(Florida's equivalent of the MAC) from 2006-present. Since joining the Sun Belt, they've been invited to two bowl games and won both.
All of that said, last year on the Mad Dog show I recall him saying something to the effect of: "Well, we're going to come up there, play our best football, get our paycheck and go home." I'm sure he said it more eloquently than that, but I remember the mention of getting a paycheck coming up. He knows his place and because of that he's been able to drive FAU from nothing to something, and after this year he's going to turn that something over to someone else to become a bigger something. That's very cool.
Obligatory Wilford Brimley/Howard Schnellenburger Photo Drop
The Quick and Skinny
2011 Record: 0-1
2010 Record: 4-8
Base Defense: 3-4
Base Offense: Multiple look(Pro Style)
Storyline: Well FAU went into the Swamp and they were swamped by the Gators. They lost 41-3 while Chris Rainey scored 3 different times in running, receiving and returning a blocked punt for a touchdown. FAU managed 137 yards of offense and managed a field goal after getting the ball on Florida's 38 after an interception.
According to Athlon, you know who's a worse 1-A team than FAU. No one. Athlon has them ranked dead last. Schnellenburger had a hospital trip on the way to the Swamp so maybe the team was just taken out of it's game, but the prognostications preseason + abhorrently poor play against Florida lead me to believe this should pretty much be the game I was thinking for YSU.
Position Breakdowns:
Quarterback
Graham Wilbert: I'd think this name was fake it's so silly. Prior to last week his career stats were 1/5 for 41 yards and a pick. After last week's 14/26 yards showing for 107 yards and no picks.
David Kooi is another FAU quarterback and could see the field should Graham Wilbert struggle too mightily.
Running Back
Alfred Morris is the team's starting running back and rushed 14 times for 16 yards. Again, not exactly Emmitt Smith. Damian Fortner played last Saturday and averaged 1.9 per carry. Without watching the game I'm wondering if Florida keyed to stop the run and make the new kid throw a lot.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Remember the dudes that popped off for 174 of FAU's 215 receiving yards last year. Lester Jean and their TE Housler, they're both gone and pretty much so is everyone else. Honestly they might have Reggie Wayne and Calvin Johnson at Wide Receiver, you still have to have someone to get the ball to them. It does seem like FAU likes to throw to their TEs a lot so hopefully our linebackers will get some practice in pass coverage.
Offensive Line
Their OL averages like 280 lbs and that's less than 3/4ths of our Defensive Line. You cannot play power football against our defense with an offensive line weighing 280 lbs. It just doesn't work. They do have 3 seniors on the line and two juniors, but it seems like the skill position talent isn't there. Even if they have the ability, you can't block for people who can't make the needed moves.
Cause it's getting a bit dry right now
Defensive Line
Well as stated before FAU runs a 3-4. One of their three goes 245 lbs, which is about 50 lbs lighter than you'd like to see a DE in a 3-4. Their nose tackle Jarvis Givens figures to be the strength of this DL. The defense surrendered 197 yards rushing to Florida last week. A three man front should work out nicely for our OL still trying to find it's feet at the Tackle positions.
Linebacker
The LB corps is lead by Yourhighness Morgan. Really. That's his name. Those recruitniks reading might remember he picked FAU over MSU. So despite that amazing name, he has shown himself to choose poorly. Perhaps he is not a fan of winning, in which case he has picked the correct school. Of the four linebackers there are no seniors, two juniors and two sophmores. The decision to go to a 3-4 was so that the linebackers could spend more time in pass coverage, if we're testing the TEs against these guys I'd expect to see us have to work at it a bit. Toney Moore one of their ILBs had a pick last week in garbage time.
Secondary
They're short and light. 5'10 and 170 is the average across the secondary. Nichol and Cunningham outweigh their average secondary player by 50 lbs. If we decide to run the football on these guys it should be a cakewalk. They did get two picks last week against starting QB Brantley though, so we shouldn't write these guys off in the passing game. Still it shouldn't be enough to really make us sweat this one.
Overall Assessment: This team looks like it's built to stop a spread and a Sun Belt Spread at that. While it's a terrific accomplishment to have built this program from scratch, I think it might be better for our Floridian Feathered Friends that Mr. Brimley hand this program off after this year. This team appears to be terrible on offense and keyed on defense to be worst at the thing we do best. Couple that with an improved effort by our team and I expect to see this game be the whuppin' we thought YSU would be. We'll dig into that tomorrow more in 5 Key Things.
Remember to eat your damn oatmeal.
You want a deer, I can get you a deer by three o'clock today.
So when
This weekend marks the third and I believe final scheduled meeting between MSU and FAU. The first meeting was a 17-0 monsoon in 2008 where Javon Ringer slogged through about 7 inches of rain. Last season we beat them 30-17 in a closer than expected contest that reminded me a little too much of the Youngstown State game. It was a home game for them in technicality only, played at Ford Field because the construction of the FAU stadium ran behind schedule. This year they're coming up I believe to conclude our 2 for 1 with them.
This is Schnellenberger's final season with FAU and then he'll be retiring to some warmer, sunnier part of the world? His accomplishments with FAU deserve respect, taking FAU from no football program at all in 2000 to a 1-AA school in 2001-2005 and a Sun Belt Conference member(Florida's equivalent of the MAC) from 2006-present. Since joining the Sun Belt, they've been invited to two bowl games and won both.
All of that said, last year on the Mad Dog show I recall him saying something to the effect of: "Well, we're going to come up there, play our best football, get our paycheck and go home." I'm sure he said it more eloquently than that, but I remember the mention of getting a paycheck coming up. He knows his place and because of that he's been able to drive FAU from nothing to something, and after this year he's going to turn that something over to someone else to become a bigger something. That's very cool.
Obligatory Wilford Brimley/Howard Schnellenburger Photo Drop
The Quick and Skinny
2011 Record: 0-1
2010 Record: 4-8
Base Defense: 3-4
Base Offense: Multiple look(Pro Style)
Storyline: Well FAU went into the Swamp and they were swamped by the Gators. They lost 41-3 while Chris Rainey scored 3 different times in running, receiving and returning a blocked punt for a touchdown. FAU managed 137 yards of offense and managed a field goal after getting the ball on Florida's 38 after an interception.
According to Athlon, you know who's a worse 1-A team than FAU. No one. Athlon has them ranked dead last. Schnellenburger had a hospital trip on the way to the Swamp so maybe the team was just taken out of it's game, but the prognostications preseason + abhorrently poor play against Florida lead me to believe this should pretty much be the game I was thinking for YSU.
Position Breakdowns:
Quarterback
Graham Wilbert: I'd think this name was fake it's so silly. Prior to last week his career stats were 1/5 for 41 yards and a pick. After last week's 14/26 yards showing for 107 yards and no picks.
David Kooi is another FAU quarterback and could see the field should Graham Wilbert struggle too mightily.
Running Back
Alfred Morris is the team's starting running back and rushed 14 times for 16 yards. Again, not exactly Emmitt Smith. Damian Fortner played last Saturday and averaged 1.9 per carry. Without watching the game I'm wondering if Florida keyed to stop the run and make the new kid throw a lot.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Remember the dudes that popped off for 174 of FAU's 215 receiving yards last year. Lester Jean and their TE Housler, they're both gone and pretty much so is everyone else. Honestly they might have Reggie Wayne and Calvin Johnson at Wide Receiver, you still have to have someone to get the ball to them. It does seem like FAU likes to throw to their TEs a lot so hopefully our linebackers will get some practice in pass coverage.
Offensive Line
Their OL averages like 280 lbs and that's less than 3/4ths of our Defensive Line. You cannot play power football against our defense with an offensive line weighing 280 lbs. It just doesn't work. They do have 3 seniors on the line and two juniors, but it seems like the skill position talent isn't there. Even if they have the ability, you can't block for people who can't make the needed moves.
Cause it's getting a bit dry right now
Defensive Line
Well as stated before FAU runs a 3-4. One of their three goes 245 lbs, which is about 50 lbs lighter than you'd like to see a DE in a 3-4. Their nose tackle Jarvis Givens figures to be the strength of this DL. The defense surrendered 197 yards rushing to Florida last week. A three man front should work out nicely for our OL still trying to find it's feet at the Tackle positions.
Linebacker
The LB corps is lead by Yourhighness Morgan. Really. That's his name. Those recruitniks reading might remember he picked FAU over MSU. So despite that amazing name, he has shown himself to choose poorly. Perhaps he is not a fan of winning, in which case he has picked the correct school. Of the four linebackers there are no seniors, two juniors and two sophmores. The decision to go to a 3-4 was so that the linebackers could spend more time in pass coverage, if we're testing the TEs against these guys I'd expect to see us have to work at it a bit. Toney Moore one of their ILBs had a pick last week in garbage time.
Secondary
They're short and light. 5'10 and 170 is the average across the secondary. Nichol and Cunningham outweigh their average secondary player by 50 lbs. If we decide to run the football on these guys it should be a cakewalk. They did get two picks last week against starting QB Brantley though, so we shouldn't write these guys off in the passing game. Still it shouldn't be enough to really make us sweat this one.
Overall Assessment: This team looks like it's built to stop a spread and a Sun Belt Spread at that. While it's a terrific accomplishment to have built this program from scratch, I think it might be better for our Floridian Feathered Friends that Mr. Brimley hand this program off after this year. This team appears to be terrible on offense and keyed on defense to be worst at the thing we do best. Couple that with an improved effort by our team and I expect to see this game be the whuppin' we thought YSU would be. We'll dig into that tomorrow more in 5 Key Things.
Remember to eat your damn oatmeal.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
This Isn't Football It's a GD Arms Race
While in college and briefly after, I worked at a Domino's Pizza as a driver/assistant manager. It amuses me to no end these days that I was VERY marginally under Dave Brandon's employ for about 2 years of my life. At any rate, the local shop was owned by a guy we used to call Teammates. He earned this name because he would constantly say things like "Who's got that phone, team?!?" or "Alright Teammates, let's sell some breadsticks!". He was a huge Notre Dame fan and stuck to his guns about how Notre Dame was a wild horse that would never be tamed into joining the Big Ten. Still, ever the small businessman, he'd never let something like independence stand in the way of making a buck. The following is how I suspect a conversation between me and him about conference realignment would work.
Me: So did you hear that Texas A&M is set to join the SEC?
Teammates: No, but that is excellent work, teammate! With the SEC at 13 teams they will jump to at least 14 teams and maybe even 16!
Me: So how would you feel about a Big Ten with Notre Dame in it?
Teammates: Oh, that would be TERRIBLE and it will never happen, Charlie Weis wouldn't allow it.
Me: *raises eyebrow* I don't think Charlie Weis gets to make that... nevermind. Well see the thing is that if Notre Dame doesn't join now they do run the risk of being frozen out for good this time. They aren't exactly mowing down the top 10 teams of the country and having their fifth string center make the All-American team anymore. If the Big Ten, SEC, Pac-10 and ACC go to 16 teams and the Dame gets frozen out it could get even harder for ND to make a BCS game.
Teammates: Why did Texas A&M leave the Big 12? Wouldn't it have been easier if they had just stayed in the Big 12?
Me: Well, ESPN in a move that isn't even sort of a conflict of interest paid Texas 300 million dollars over 15 years to start the Longwhorn network. But that functionally kills any interest in a Big 12 network(Editors Note: Was there any to begin with?) So A&M decided to head where the money was better and no one takes their footb...
Teammates: WHO'S GOT THAT PHONE TEAM!
Me: No one takes their football more seriously than the SEC is what I was going to say.
Teammates: So A&M went after more money for their family! That's a great thing! Upsell those breadsticks! Nothing but profit!
Me: The last re-alignment was this spring with Nebraska joining the Big 10 and Colorado and Utah to the Pac-10. The Colorado thing made sense since I always thought they were in the Pac 10 anyway, Utah was a reach IMO. Nebraska was a good compromise for the Big 10, it's not going full-bore to 16 teams and added a quality opponent in football and every sport but basketball. Ownership of a basketball is illegal and punishable by death in Nebraska.
Teammates: Do NOT give anyone the Wednesday Special! Give them the F6 Special, that's full price for everything, tell them you're giving them the F6 Special and they will think they're getting a deal!!!!! hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
Me: For Big Ten expansion to make sense as a fan, they absolutely have to bring in Notre Dame. ND already plays 3 Big Ten teams this year and typically plays 3-4 Big Ten teams. You guys should get in now, the one undeniably good thing about 4 16 team super conferences is that those teams will play a minimum of 9 conference games, I could even see it getting bumped to 10. No one is going to want to play an independent ND when/if it means losing a valuable tune-up game.
Teammates: But they have a TV contract! That would mean the loss of many millions of dollars. Where's the incentive? Where's the profit?
Me: The Notre Dame TV contract for football is worth about 9 million dollars a year. The TV share for being a Big Ten school is approximately 22 million a year. The obvious exclusion being that if ND makes a BCS game they get to keep all 17 million bucks instead of splitting it amongst the conference members. That's happened 3 times since the BCS started in 98-99. That works out to 51 million over 13 seasons or 3.9 mill a year. If football is averaging bringing in 12.9 Mill a year I don't think that ND basketball and other various sports are bringing in 9 million bucks a year, so we can offer you more money!
Teammates: MOAR MONEY! I LOVE MOAR MONEY! MONEY MAKES MY HEART SING IN A WAY THAT ONLY PROZAC AND BLOW CAN! What else are you asking for?
Me: Well obviously you'd have to join the Big Ten and we're gonna have to invite some other teams, one more at least, probably three so we have two divisions of eight. Missouri is a likely candidate, they tried to get into the Big Ten a few months ago during conference re-alignment, we might ask Oklahoma, but they aren't a part of the American Association of Universities. Nebraska was but couldn't hold it's corn liquor. Rutgers and Pitt are two other schools that fit the bill academically and are decent enough football schools, although Greg Schiano, how do you feel now about deciding to be the lifetime HC of Rutgers after that 11-1 season?
Teammates:That's a lot more schools and a lot more competition! What if people find out Notre Dame isn't an independent superpower anymore?!?!?!? What if Notre Dame says no this time? Also, having a cell phone will allow you to take as many as one more delivery runs per hour!
Me: This is 2011, who doesn't have a cell phone? Also, if ND says no this time and the move is definitely to 16 team super conferences then they are a bunch of ignorant dicks and deserve to get left out in the cold. Finally, if the Big Ten fails to land ND or another Big Fish, I think the Big Ten should really just stay at 12 teams even if it means being the only "Big Boy" with 12 teams. A four team addition of Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers and Missouri just doesn't sound that appealing to me. In any given year two of those four schools might not win the MAC. No ND == Big Ten Expansion Fail.
Teammates: How dare you call Charlie Weis an ignorant dick?!?!?
Me: He..uh..
Teammates:Who's got that phone team?!?!??!
Me: I'll get that phone teammates!
Me: So did you hear that Texas A&M is set to join the SEC?
Teammates: No, but that is excellent work, teammate! With the SEC at 13 teams they will jump to at least 14 teams and maybe even 16!
Me: So how would you feel about a Big Ten with Notre Dame in it?
Teammates: Oh, that would be TERRIBLE and it will never happen, Charlie Weis wouldn't allow it.
Me: *raises eyebrow* I don't think Charlie Weis gets to make that... nevermind. Well see the thing is that if Notre Dame doesn't join now they do run the risk of being frozen out for good this time. They aren't exactly mowing down the top 10 teams of the country and having their fifth string center make the All-American team anymore. If the Big Ten, SEC, Pac-10 and ACC go to 16 teams and the Dame gets frozen out it could get even harder for ND to make a BCS game.
Teammates: Why did Texas A&M leave the Big 12? Wouldn't it have been easier if they had just stayed in the Big 12?
Me: Well, ESPN in a move that isn't even sort of a conflict of interest paid Texas 300 million dollars over 15 years to start the Longwhorn network. But that functionally kills any interest in a Big 12 network(Editors Note: Was there any to begin with?) So A&M decided to head where the money was better and no one takes their footb...
Teammates: WHO'S GOT THAT PHONE TEAM!
Me: No one takes their football more seriously than the SEC is what I was going to say.
Teammates: So A&M went after more money for their family! That's a great thing! Upsell those breadsticks! Nothing but profit!
Me: The last re-alignment was this spring with Nebraska joining the Big 10 and Colorado and Utah to the Pac-10. The Colorado thing made sense since I always thought they were in the Pac 10 anyway, Utah was a reach IMO. Nebraska was a good compromise for the Big 10, it's not going full-bore to 16 teams and added a quality opponent in football and every sport but basketball. Ownership of a basketball is illegal and punishable by death in Nebraska.
Teammates: Do NOT give anyone the Wednesday Special! Give them the F6 Special, that's full price for everything, tell them you're giving them the F6 Special and they will think they're getting a deal!!!!! hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
Me: For Big Ten expansion to make sense as a fan, they absolutely have to bring in Notre Dame. ND already plays 3 Big Ten teams this year and typically plays 3-4 Big Ten teams. You guys should get in now, the one undeniably good thing about 4 16 team super conferences is that those teams will play a minimum of 9 conference games, I could even see it getting bumped to 10. No one is going to want to play an independent ND when/if it means losing a valuable tune-up game.
Teammates: But they have a TV contract! That would mean the loss of many millions of dollars. Where's the incentive? Where's the profit?
Me: The Notre Dame TV contract for football is worth about 9 million dollars a year. The TV share for being a Big Ten school is approximately 22 million a year. The obvious exclusion being that if ND makes a BCS game they get to keep all 17 million bucks instead of splitting it amongst the conference members. That's happened 3 times since the BCS started in 98-99. That works out to 51 million over 13 seasons or 3.9 mill a year. If football is averaging bringing in 12.9 Mill a year I don't think that ND basketball and other various sports are bringing in 9 million bucks a year, so we can offer you more money!
Teammates: MOAR MONEY! I LOVE MOAR MONEY! MONEY MAKES MY HEART SING IN A WAY THAT ONLY PROZAC AND BLOW CAN! What else are you asking for?
Me: Well obviously you'd have to join the Big Ten and we're gonna have to invite some other teams, one more at least, probably three so we have two divisions of eight. Missouri is a likely candidate, they tried to get into the Big Ten a few months ago during conference re-alignment, we might ask Oklahoma, but they aren't a part of the American Association of Universities. Nebraska was but couldn't hold it's corn liquor. Rutgers and Pitt are two other schools that fit the bill academically and are decent enough football schools, although Greg Schiano, how do you feel now about deciding to be the lifetime HC of Rutgers after that 11-1 season?
Teammates:That's a lot more schools and a lot more competition! What if people find out Notre Dame isn't an independent superpower anymore?!?!?!? What if Notre Dame says no this time? Also, having a cell phone will allow you to take as many as one more delivery runs per hour!
Me: This is 2011, who doesn't have a cell phone? Also, if ND says no this time and the move is definitely to 16 team super conferences then they are a bunch of ignorant dicks and deserve to get left out in the cold. Finally, if the Big Ten fails to land ND or another Big Fish, I think the Big Ten should really just stay at 12 teams even if it means being the only "Big Boy" with 12 teams. A four team addition of Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers and Missouri just doesn't sound that appealing to me. In any given year two of those four schools might not win the MAC. No ND == Big Ten Expansion Fail.
Teammates: How dare you call Charlie Weis an ignorant dick?!?!?
Me: He..uh..
Teammates:Who's got that phone team?!?!??!
Me: I'll get that phone teammates!
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