Penn State seems on the way to challenging Ohio State and Michigan. They won the Big 10 last year and have a great recruiting class going this year.
The Hat reportedly wants the job at Ole Miss. I think that would be a mistake for him to take that job now. :?
Yeah that seems like it's going to be a mess for awhile. I can't see the upside to Miles with that job.
Ole Miss ? Is Phil Fulmer available? BTW: Hot coach PJ Fleck is going to be the subject of a ESPNU Documentary ..Being PJ Fleck - In to the Fire. http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2017/07/espn-chronicles-minnesota-head-football-coach-p-j-fleck-heading-first-season/ Some guys to watch as up and comers, obviously PJ Fleck. A couple of others are Mike Sanford at Western Kentucky, David Beatty at Kansas, Jeff Brohm at Purdue, and maybe not an up and comer but a rehab, Lane Kiffin at FAU. I keep forgetting about Butch Davis coaching at Fla International. I wonder if he has any desire left for coaching or is this really about making some money to help with retirement account or helping his son Drew (GA on the staff) to get his coaching career started.
It would appear that Tom Herman is having a great year recruiting in Texas and keeping the local talent at home. He has kept two top targets for the Buckeyes at home in Austin.
Yeah Herman is getting out there and really working on recruiting. He's a high energy guy and that's what it takes, plus I think he learned a lot from Urban Meyer on how recruiting is 24/7 365 days a year. Of course he has to follow it up with results on the field, Strong left him a solid squad, not a Nat'l Champ squad but one that if he and his staff do their jobs they should be in contention for the B12 title this year with OU. If he does that recruiting will start to look like Mack's great years. Texas still has a lot to offer, kids like Austin, they like the social scene, we have excellent facilities and we are (for those interested) a very good public university. A lot to sell. This years HS Sr's were just starting elementary school when Texas won the Nat'l Championship, they are more likely to only remember the last days of Mack's tenure and the Charlie Strong fiasco, but their parents remember how great Texas football can be.
Just an observation on recruiting. The 2 kings of that right now are Saban and Meyer. From what I read online regarding what it takes, those guys completely understand the level of commitment it takes, that you can't have slackers on the staff and it starts earlier than ever. At ND Kelly has had ok success with recruiting, it's not like the success that Lou had in his earlier years where he reeled in a ton of highly rated players. Even Charlie Weis had a class where we were #2 behind Saban. But then Kelly has not demanded the level of commitment from his staff that Meyer and Saban has, he's tolerated 2 DCoord who hated recruiting and according to all the ND guru's barely tried or didn't try at all...is anybody surprised that our defense has been terrible, it's been more than bad scheme, it's not enough players. Kelly himself is middle of the pack when it comes to effort according to what I read. Tom Herman learned from Urban what it takes and he's out there doing what Urban does, I expect he'll have an excellent class this year and if he shows he can coach then next year I would expect that he'll have a class that challenges Saban and Meyer.
A couple of items... A QB who had big time offers chose Princeton over ASU, Oregon State, Tenn and Utah. He's an ESPN 300 QB. Unprecedented. Maybe he noted how much money Ryan Fitzpatrick has made in the NFL even though he played at Harvard. Nick Saban has had Alabama at #1 in the Polls for 58 weeks during his 9 year tenure in Tuscaloosa. Unprecedented. Jim Harbaugh liked Rome so much he wants to take his team back to Europe next year and this time to Paris.
I like Saban's thoughts on bowls and scheduling. He said he'd like to see Power 5 teams only play Power 5 teams, pretty radical as there are definitely some Group of 5 teams that are annually better than many of the Power 5 teams. He also wanted to eliminate the 6 wins to get a bowl, said it would improve the scheduling I guess his theory is that teams schedule so that they feel they have 6 games in the bag with several guaranteed wins playing teams like the Citadel and Coastal Carolina or Fla A&M. He was talking about ranking teams somewhat like they do for the NCAA tourney. I'm not sure how that would be different than the committee's rankings though. He also is for a 10 game SEC schedule and adding 2 non-conf foes that have to be Power 5.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2715652-ranking-the-best-defensive-lines-for-2017-college-football-season Defenses to watch in 2017...The Wolfpack surprised me..
Ohio State, Clemson, FSU, Alabama....no surprises there... NC State not really a surprise, they were a top 25 defense last year and almost all those guys are back esp the Front 7. A lot of people are saying that NC State could be a dark horse team, the defense and they have an excellent veteran QB and an excellent RB. Miami seems a little ahead of schedule. Richt had a lot of good defenses at UGA, thought it might take a little longer esp since Manny is your DCoord and his time at Texas makes me doubt him. But clearly recruiting is going very well for your Canes, Canes are back but under Richt they won't be the same old Miami!
Lol, good gosh I hope under Richt it won't be the same old Miami, it's been a brutal 15 years as a fan... 8) Defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski is the difference here, this guy should be coaching in the NFL, he sends enough players in that direction. As for Manny, he's had success and failures, the jury is still out if he can get it done in S. Florida. My personal thoughts are any idea of us being a dark horse are a year away, our defense will be Championship quality but QB and lack of depth on the offensive line will be our Achilles heal. If only QB Brad Kaaya would have stayed on for his senior year we may have competed for the dance... As for NC State we don't play them this season but you guys do in October..
Ohio State is looking like they could have an historic recruiting haul if things continue to trend the way they are right now. Urban rising to the challenge from Harbaugh.
We certainly have the talent, now they just have to produce on the field. 30 days until Indiana at Bloomington. GO Bucks!
Today, Aug 1st, is the first day that official offers can go out to the Sr's of the 2018 class. Of course those are showing up on Social Media. The letters are pretty cool looking and I could see the kid or the parents saving them and displaying them with any other ribbons and trophies that have won/received over their short athletic careers. http://www.espn.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/on-the-trail/insider/post/_/id/80813/prospects-show-off-official-offers-across-social-media
Was listening to XM Sports and they were talking about the B10 and who would win, most thought it was either Ohio State or Penn State, Wisconsin the favorite to win the West but not as good as either OSU or PSU. One thing came up that is pretty surprising. Urban is 61-6 in his 5 years at Ohio State, but has only won 1 B10 Championship. Funny how things work out, last year it was an upset loss at Penn State that kept them out of the Championship game. The time they won the B10 champ they won the Nat'l Championship.
Meyer has had very similar success at Ohio State as he did at Florida: UF 65-15 2 SEC Championships and 2 NCs 5-1 Bowl record OSU 61-6 1 B10 Championship and 1 NC 3-1 Bowl record Wouldn't surprise me if another B10 and NC were on the near horizon for Urban.
Lot of interesting stories on the Athlon site. A lot of "anonymous" quotes from coaches about their opponents. One article on why Ohio State won't make the playoffs. One article on anonymous comments from Notre Dames opposing teams coaching staff. Good site. https://athlonsports.com/college-football
Man, kickoff can't get here fast enough... I haven't had the time to go to the ND boards. Are they ready to hire Stoops, yet?