Don wasn't Joe running #1 at qB at OSU before some injury set him back, then he looked at the qB room and decided if he wanted to be the starter when he came back from injury he needed to move on?
Let me add, that I have not always liked Nick Saban even going back to his days as a DB Coach for the Houston Oilers, certainly didn't like him at Mich State or LSU and when he went to Alabama it didn't help. But I have to say that over the last 5 or 6 years I've developed a grudging admiration for him. He's proven to be a great coach who knows what to do with great talent. He's outworked his competitors or maybe the word is he's outsmarted them. Hard work alone can't account for all his success, it's also planning, leadership, understanding how to leverage your advantages, etc. I used to criticize him for "roster" management but I don't anymore, he just does it better than other coaches. He's also had more Analysts than any other program, it's legal, ethical, etc. A lot of those guys are rehab jobs, guys who were fired and by taking them on and giving them jobs it has kept them in the game and a bunch of the end up getting back on the field coaching, Sark is of course his biggest rehab job, but Kiffin was pretty down when he took him on as well. So Nick Satan as he was known in Houston is good in my book.
When we talk about academics I recall 2 outstanding examples, Brent Fullwood and Chad Johnson. Both of these players spent a fall semester at their universities and dropped out of school the day after their bowl games. They had attended a total of ZERO classes. That would never happen at ND and I know for a fact it wouldn't happen at OSU since my daughter who teaches there has told me that on the occasions that a football player has been in her class she is often contacted by someone in the football program to make sure that the player is attending class and keeping up with his work. (she teaches economics and it's not on the normal track for players but there are some brave souls.)
And then what is going on with Florida? We were rolling until LSU then ended with three losses in a row, one being a very close outing with Bama. I like Mullen and hope this is not the case. First and 10: Will Dan Mullen be coaching Florida in 2021? It’s far from certain …
That is strange, while I do think Mullen is a bit of an odd ball it seems, but you can't deny his success on the field. The end of season losses are just a a blip. The loss to LSU probably can be put off on the trap game, they didn't have to win and LSU was a motivated team that was starting to get right. They played A&M pretty tough. The loss to Alabama was close, and very exciting game. Fla really showed up that day. The rout by OU was on all the players who quit on the team, while OU had pretty much the whole squad healthy and ready to rock!
I think an unexpected outcome of the playoffs has been that for teams that had a shot at making the final four and didn't, have a very hard time getting up for their bowl game and if they are playing a team with something to prove, it makes it very easy to get embarrassed.
kp and Terry, agree with both you. Also I am willing to give a pass to all coaches for this COVID season. Here's hoping we are back to normal next year. Gator fans want our DC Grantham gone. Hard to find anyone who supports him.
A lot being made of the 4 top receivers being out for Florida vs. Oklahoma and it showed much more so than I even thought it would with Trask unable to connect, throwing picks and the stand in receivers dropping otherwise catchable balls. A lot of the poor play could be attributed to Trask not having much practice time with this second group as the large extent of the opt outs wasn't known till after they returned from Christmas and the timing just wasn't there after so little practice time. Otherwise what hasn't been mentioned much is that UF's leading tackler Ventrell Miller also opted out along with their top cover corner Marco "shoe throwin" Wilson and a stalwart on the DL against the run Kyree Campbell. Any lesser bowl and I believe the Gators would have opted out as a team as some others did that were missing so many key players due to opt outs and or Covid. I hope with spring and fall practice that this new group of players can develop and win some games in the SEC but you have to wonder if Mullen sees a very tough road ahead as against a top quality OU they were woefully short of doing so. This season was still fun to watch for a Gator fan..... we beat our rivals ( Ga. Tn.).... and gave who I think will be the national champion the best game that they will have had all season leading up to the NC game which I think will be very competitive. Kyle Pitts was an amazing player to watch and so was Trask when they played together... with the full complement of Toney, Grimes et al. to help spread it around. It might be awhile before Florida again has players like these on offense.
From an article on Gatorsports this morning: "And with Jacob Copeland — the team’s leading receiver in yards per catch — testing positive for COVID-19, Trask was down four pass catchers who combined for 174 catches for 2,778 yards and 34 touchdowns. “It obviously was a little more challenging,” Trask said of playing without that production. “You think about it, you've got a whole offseason to get timing down with that group of guys. And since we had so many opt-outs, we only had about two or three days of practice to get the timing down with the next guys up. “That's not making excuses or anything, but that's just the amount of work that goes into this. You don't just flip a switch and you end up in the end zone. It takes a lot of work to get there.”
It's pretty clear that the team that played Alabama to the end was not the team that showed up in the Cotton Bowl. While OU was at full strength and on the rise getting better every week, Heribie said that following OU during the season and where they were at the end of the season, they were a team you didn't want to play. Also after losing to the SEC in their previous playoff appearances the OU team/staff had and axe to grind/motivation. If you notice they didn't take their foot off the gas till the time ran out.
I agree with all of that Terry...... and I do think OU could have been a worthy playoff opponent for a change this year but kinda hard to be definite about that opinion based on a beat down of a severely undermanned Florida team.
Best guess at final ranking. 1. Alabama ..if they beat Ohio State of course. 2. Ohio State 3. Clemson 4. Oklahoma...I really feel ND deserves this spot, but OU off the rout of depleted SEC Fla will get the nod. 5. ND...I also won't be shocked if ND falls to #7. 6. A&M ...some might say they deserve to be #4 or #5, but the win over depleted UNC took them till the late 4th qtr to secure, while the Irish at UNC were on cruise control by then and played a full strength UNC, while the ND OL was down 2 starters. 7. UGA ...close game vs Cincinnati, but I won't be shocked if voters give them more credit. 8. Iowa State 9. Cincinnati 10. Northwestern.
Good news for Alabama, Jaylan Waddle might be able to play vs Ohio State on Monday. Me personally this guy is an incredible talent but not having played in a game in months I do wonder if he'll be the same player that he was before the injury. How much practice time has he gotten with the starters?
Vegas has Devonta Smith as the favorite tonight to win the Heisman. He's a great player and well deserving if he wins.
Sorry Terry, but no Effing way OU is ahead of A&M. Funny thing about depleted UNC, no one talks about A&M playing that game without 3 starters on defense who were out with injury, one of them being our best corner. Whatever...
I'll one up you on that, we played them with a Center who was a backup G/T and who'd never taken a snap as a Center in college! And a backup guard who had very few snaps in his career!! But I see your point! I still think OU is going to jump because they are OU and people love Lincoln Riley.