I picked this up off the Athletic...posting it so AJ will have a good day! Ari: Penn State only giving three at Nebraska on Nov. 7 feels like free money, and let me explain. If you look at Nebraska’s schedule, there is a chance the Huskers, in year 3 of the Scott Frost era, could start 7-0 if — and that’s if — they can beat Cincinnati and Purdue. If that happens, Husker hysteria is going to be outrageous, but guess what game No. 8 is? A road game at Ohio State. Game No. 9 is the contest against Penn State. Nebraska may be on its way toward competing in the Big Ten West, but I still think it’s going to take a few more years before it’s battling with the best of the Big Ten East. I expect Nebraska to get blown out on the road by Ohio State, then return home and lose handily to Penn State. The Nittany Lions minus-3 against Nebraska is up there with the best plays I’ve seen in this unpredictable world of offseason lines made strictly for our entertainment/to get people in the doors.
Doc, Am I supposed to be excited that we might be bowl eligible for the first time in 3 years before the OSU & Punk State blowouts?...is that how I read that?
1922 football: Husker brawn beats Notre Dame finesse | March 19, 2020 Heres a good read Doc!....Jiffer, you heard this on the radio right?
Good news for Don, his Buckeyes are doing great in recruiting and have picked up 4 great prospects since the NCAA shutdown recruiting except for phone. From an article on the Athletic Ohio State, whose class currently ranks No. 1 in the 247Sports Composite rankings, has 14 commitments, with nine of those from consensus top-100 players nationally. For comparison purposes, the rest of the Big Ten combined has two top-100 players, and both are committed to Michigan – five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy of La Grange Park (Ill.) Nazareth Academy and four-star offensive tackle Giovanni El-Hadi of Sterling Heights (Mich.) Adlai Stevenson. Those are Michigan’s only two commitments The talent gap between Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten has been wide for a long time. It’s getting wider.
These guys are lurking in the shallows waiting to strike: Florida 2021 Football Commits I really think that in the next 1-3 years Florida will be back at or near the top of the SEC and be a CFB playoff contender.
Key to UF getting back is just like it is for everybody, recruiting. You have a great coach and give him talent equal to UGA and Alabama and you are in the game. One other thought I have is that this season the players across the NCAA are going to be the worst conditioned and prepared that they have been in years. Before the pandemic the players would be on campus with access to trainers, nutrition and top of the line facilities. Now that they are at home, they don't have access to trainers, moms cooking, and gyms are closed all over the country. While some of them might have some weights at home it will pale in comparison to what they have access to back at campus. They can get outside and run sure, but overall their fitness is going to decline. Players recovering from injuries won't have access to the training/rehab that they would have received on campus and might not recover as quickly or as well. It will be interesting to see the impact this has on the season. Maybe if things get back to semi-normal this summer they can catch up.
Agreed Terry you need the talent to compete at the elite level and UF is #1 in the SEC.... #3 in the nation in recruiting so far for 2021 in the link you provided.
Our outlook at running back improved drastically over the weekend with Sermon, a grad transfer from Oklahoma committing to the Buckeyes! Master Teague appears to be doing well after surgery, but his time frame to return is still questionable.
Saban and Alabama were gearing up for a virtual Spring Practice till the SEC shut it down. I don't even know what a Virtual Spring Practice would be like and of what value it might be. In other news Texas is going to really be hurt by the lack of a Spring Practice (as will others who have new HC and bringing new systems). But Herman delayed the start so that the new Coordinators and staff would have more time to get their systems together and then teach them to the players. So now the new coordinators will have lost that time they needed to install their new systems. Things like this make me think the NCAA is going to do something to replace the lost Spring Practices.
From a Houston Chronicle article on Texas ... Cancellation of spring football might hurt Texas more than most
Terry, as I have mentioned before, I really wonder if any of us will be privileged to see college football this fall?
To Don's point, Brian Kelly was one with Scott Van Pelt yesterday. Said the players will need a min of a month of conditioning before they can start fall camp. Said July 1 was the target, if you want to start fall camp in August. The 4 weeks is a min, said trainers/S&C/Medical probably would like 6 weeks. Certainly puts into question whether or not fall camp can start in early August and if it can't then early season games likely will be lost. He didn't say it but I wonder if we are looking at a 9 or 10 game season at best
Way too many obstacles to over come, but you makes some very valid observations Terry. Lets hope for the best.
Don if they some how decide to play, but not start on time, it will be a scheduling nightmare I would think. Just looking at the ND schedule. Lets say, that the start of the season is only pushed back 2 weeks. What would they do with those 2 games? Add them on to the end of the season? Push every game back 2 weeks so that say our game Oct 3rd at Lambeau (Wisconsin) is now Oct 17th at Lambeau. Season ending game at USC is Dec 12th instead of Nov 28th? Add the two games to the end of the season so that instead of finishing with USC on Nov 28th we'd have Navy on Dec 5th and Arkansas on Dec 12th. It won't be easy no matter what the NCAA decides to do. I'm still thinking that cancellation of some games is most likely and remaining games to be played as scheduled.
Been working in the yard all afternoon, we have two games scheduled early with two teams, Bowling Green and Buffalo. Teams are guaranteed one million each. If those two game are trashed, we will save some money.
I think within a month we have a better idea where we are headed as far as sports. I heard tonight that the US now has the most cases of Covid-19 than any other country. However our death rate is lower. I suspect we know more of our cases than other countries. Scary times.
I've been thinking (overthinking) the whole football season. Even if they get the players back on campus by July 1st to start a month of conditioning, bringing a group of 100 + players together in a sport where social distancing is not possible is in itself going to be a challenge. I would think that the players would have to be tested before, and any player testing positive for the virus will need to be isolated and not participating in drills. What are the chances that these players will all return to campus virus free? We know people can have it and not exhibit symptoms or very mild symptoms. I would think it's going to be impossible for teams to return to campus at 100% strength. There are going to be players who test positive, probably already are but they don't know it because getting a test isn't easy yet and you have to meet criteria for testing (unless you are an NBA player). I'm thinking more and more it is going to be impossible to start the season unless they find a treatment regimen that is effective for dealing with the virus. Players that test get the treatment and then can rejoin their teammates. I can see golf restarting by the fall, just not football.
Agreed, there are ways to handle most of the non-revenue sports (tennis, golf, baseball), but basketball and football are going to be difficult if any kind of risk of transmission exists for too much longer.