In terms of winning and moving on to the final which team would Bama least like to play in the semi-final.... Georgia or Oklahoma? And Kp none of that blase.... we play 'em as we see 'em smugness in your answer. Georgia has really taken the Tide to task two games in a row.
I thought for sure that kid would have transferred to Auburn. He must be afraid of incoming 5 star QB Bo Nix... who will likely be the starter at Auburn before the year is over next year.
Well, interesting concept to ask a question then specify what the answer can or can't be! The answer is the same though. I don't prefer either one over the other. Playing Georgia is tough because of their talent level on both sides of the ball. Their defense is solid and their running game is very good and Fromm has been hitting on all cylinders. Obviously, they match up against Alabama very well. Oklahoma on the other hand is like playing those old teams from Hawaii. Their game plan is to score on every possession and hope you stumble more than they do. One dropped pass, or turnover, or missed assignment and you are behind by 14 pts. So, all of that means, whoever shows up...we play them! :lol:
Yeah I'll bet he thought, nah already lost one job to a hot shot 5* freshman, not going to chance that happening again!
Reading between the lines Kp you're pretty happy it's OU and you don't have to face those very pesky Bulldogs again. I see Bama scoring at absolute will vs. OU..... ..and stopping them at times.... just enough to hold the Sooners to thirty-something points. So Bama scores 50 plus ( sky's the limit ) and OU scores 37. ... Next! P.S. I'm glad that Florida avoided playing OU in the New Year's Six because while the Gators could move the ball and score some points on the Sooners there's no way the UF offense keeps up with the OU offense.
Reading the Tiger rags about the upcoming ND-Clemson matchup, they don't seem all too concerned about it. Their 2 biggest concers are our defensive front 7, which they referred to as the best they've seen all year. Clemson struggled with the other good front 7s and they categorize ND as having an elite front 7. Their fear is that we bottle Etienne and force their freshman QB to make tough decisions while pressing him. This has been our M.O. all year long, so I assume that's a fair concern to have. The other concern they have is with our OL. They seem rather confident they can win the LOS against us, however, they have noted that ND has recruited very well along the offensive line and that if ND can establish the run, it will give Book the time to throw. They don't seem to believe that Book can beat us all by himself. IMHO, this is a mistake because quite often this year, we've used Book to open things up for the run game. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of respect for Book and they do a lot of finger pointing to the 1st half of the USC game. That's some selective data picking, but okay. Barring injury, or our kids doing something stupid to get in trouble, the closer this game gets, the more excited I am about it.
The ND win against Michigan and the Clemson win over A&M seem to point to the possibility of a very good game.
How about this comparison: ND 36 Syracuse 3 Clemson 27 Syracuse 23 Think the Irish should have no trouble with the kittys..... :wink:
That's the problem with comparative scores, you can pick that Syracuse game or you can pick the Pitt game. In the Pitt game the Irish had to come from behind late to win just like Clemson did in the Syracuse game, but Clemson solidly beat Pitt in the ACC Championship game. Pat Narduzzi (Pitt Coach) when asked for a comparison said Clemson was clearly the better team. We have a better team than we did in 2015 when we went to Clemson and lost a close game to that Deshaun Watson team that was really good. So Clemson is really good this year, and I think they should be favored but I don't fear that we'll get a beat down like Alabama did in 2012. I think we can win, we will have to play very well though.
Of course we are deep into awards season already, with the Heisman coming up this weekend. All season it's been Tua's to lose, while I still think he'll win it there has been a lot of growing support for Kyler Murray. Might be closer than people thought it would be a month ago. Haskins will finish a distant 3rd. Award I didn't know existed. Polynesian Player of the Year! I think Tua's is definitely a lock for this one! On Thursday, the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame announced its five finalists for the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year, which is given annually to the most outstanding college football player of Polynesian ancestry that epitomizes great ability and integrity. Finalists DE AJ Epenesa (Iowa) DB Alohi Gilman (Notre Dame) OL Dru Samia (Oklahoma) QB Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama) WR John Ursua (Hawaii)
Did anyone catch Traquill's "People either love Notre Dame, or they hate Notre Dame" comment? I laughed.
Haskins confirmed that he will not ditch his team in the bowl no matter what. Sounds like he is at least considering leaving for the NFL though. He is projected to be a 1st round pick
Recruiting is coming up on the Dec 19th signing day, when the majority of players will sign their LOI's. Alabama strengthened it's grip on the #1 slot by flipping two highly ranked defensive player. One of them was the #1 safety and a top 10 national player from Michigan in Daxton Hill and then stole one of Jimbo's top recruits in Jeffrey Carter from the Houston area who is the #4 CB and a top 50 national player. The top 10 currently on the 247 Composite 1. Alabama 2. A&M 3. UGA ...they will likely pass A&M in the final rankings 4. LSU ...Eddie O is killing it. 5. Clemson 6. Texas 7. Oregon 8. OU 9. Ohio State 10. Notre Dame. Michigan had been in the top 10 but losing that 1 kid dropped them to #11. Last year so many signed early that it made the Feb date sort of an after thought. I expect more of the same this year. Although there are still quite a few of the top rated players who want to wait and make announcements at the Jan All-Star games or on ESPN.
AP All American team is out. Not surprising that the Tide leads the pack. AP All-America team: Tide leads with 4 of 10 CFP players
@Don Ballard I see that McShay has Haskins going in the 1st round to the NY Giants. Haskins hasn't said whether he will be back at Ohio State for 2019 has he? What's the feeling around Columbus, that he'll be back or be gone to the NFL? If he goes do you think Tate Martell will automatically be the next guy in at QB or are there some other guys on the squad who will give him some competition? I think you have a QB from Lake Travis Texas on the roster who was pretty good in HS.
Baldwin really has not had much of a chance to show his stuff due to injuries in HS. He is a fierce competitor so he could enter the fray if Martel does not work out.