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The 2016-2017 NCAA Football Season

happycadaver

happycadaver

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 1, 2012
191
61
Germany
You can't start early enough...

Have fun discussing and good luck to your team(s)!

I did start following college football only two years ago, but it is almost always fun to watch, if i have the time. There is some coverage in German cable TV available. For more you have to live in the US, i suppose.
 
Roller said:
Looks like Jalen Hurts is going to make a real run at getting the QB position. I know that neither he nor Barnett will have had any playing time by the start of next season, but it would be great to have someone talented play QB for two or three years.
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(con't from old thread)

I hope Nick Saban/Alabama coaching staff don't beat around the bush this time around and work hard to cement a starting QB early. Going into the Ole Miss game, I was extremely wary as to why they would start Bateman over Coker. Coker wasn't Coker yet but I felt that up to week 3, he was playing better football than Bateman.

Lane Kiffin has his work cut out for him and it's going to be interesting to see what the offense is going to look like. With Jalen Hurts, Kiffin could run a similar scheme when he had Blake Sims but that fizzled out in the playoffs or he can use a the same system he used with Coker - use a traditional QB and "baby" him like he did with Coker.
 
iLog.Genius said:
(con't from old thread)

I hope Nick Saban/Alabama coaching staff don't beat around the bush this time around and work hard to cement a starting QB early. Going into the Ole Miss game, I was extremely wary as to why they would start Bateman over Coker. Coker wasn't Coker yet but I felt that up to week 3, he was playing better football than Bateman.

Lane Kiffin has his work cut out for him and it's going to be interesting to see what the offense is going to look like. With Jalen Hurts, Kiffin could run a similar scheme when he had Blake Sims but that fizzled out in the playoffs or he can use a the same system he used with Coker - use a traditional QB and "baby" him like he did with Coker.
Click to expand...

It's possible, even likely, that the coaching staff tried to decide on a starter before the Ole Miss game, but couldn't. They just didn't have the confidence in Coker, though in retrospect they should have knowing how he developed.

As I said, I'd like to see Bama get into a rotation where their starting QB plays for two or three years. That way, the next candidates could get some playing time in the final year. f either Hurts or Barnett is up to it, they should be able to be the starter from the get-go despite not having game time. I don't think Bateman will be able to do it, and Saban has played guys without previous experience at other positions. It will be interesting, though.
 
While a small program, there are still some interesting goings on at the University of Illinois. AD Josh Whitman had an eventful first day on the job, firing newly signed Bill Cubit. Now multiple outlets reporting the school will hire Lovie Smith as their head football coach.
 
People have been keying off on Harbaugh about taking his team to Fla during spring break. Even the NCAA didn't like it but there's no rules against it. The funny thing is, Butch Jones of Tenn sounded off on it, and given the issues at his school, he shouldn't be focusing on another program - his has enough problems.
 
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Done deal. Unbelievable.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Apparently Lovie wants to end his coaching career there? No plans on going back to the NFL?
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That's what he says. Should be interesting to see what happens at Illinois, as he has put together quite a staff so far. His demeanor is about as excited as I have ever seen him.
 
AustinIllini said:
That's what he says. Should be interesting to see what happens at Illinois, as he has put together quite a staff so far. His demeanor is about as excited as I have ever seen him.
Click to expand...

Should be interesting to watch. Saban left the NFL became successful. More recently, Harbaugh went back to college and had immediate success. I would say the Big Ten East got a bit more interesting.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Should be interesting to watch. Saban left the NFL became successful. More recently, Harbaugh went back to college and had immediate success. I would say the Big Ten East got a bit more interesting.
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So what's actually crazy is Illinois is the Big Ten West, so they have taken a huge step forward. After Ferentz, there probably isn't a better coach in the Big Ten West
 
iLog.Genius said:
Apparently Lovie wants to end his coaching career there? No plans on going back to the NFL?
Click to expand...
I take those comments with a grain of salt, all coaches of a shelf life and I've not seen anything from Lovie that would indicate that he'll not wear out his welcome or some NFL team come knocking in a few years time, he may change his mind.
 
maflynn said:
I take those comments with a grain of salt, all coaches of a shelf life and I've not seen anything from Lovie that would indicate that he'll not wear out his welcome or some NFL team come knocking in a few years time, he may change his mind.
Click to expand...
We shall see. He's making pretty good money at Illinois and the AD has allotted $4 million per year to hire a coaching staff, which is third most in the B1G. They clearly are interested in winning.
 
AustinIllini said:
We shall see. He's making pretty good money at Illinois and the AD has allotted $4 million per year to hire a coaching staff, which is third most in the B1G. They clearly are interested in winning.
Click to expand...
No question but something about the allure of the pros seem to temp coaches. I'm not saying he'll succumb, but it does occur often enough that I take any coaches statement about wanting to end their career at xyz school with a grain of salt.
 
What an odd start for the SEC West: Mississippi State goes down to South Alabama and LSU loses to Wisconsin. And, if reporting on al.com is to be believed, Blake Barnett will start for Bama in about an hour.
 
Quite a bit of upsets, LSU is basically starting off right where they left off last year. I can't help but think that they'll have a long and frustrating season, if they can't find the endzone.

Josh Boutte's late hit on Wisconsin's D'Cota Dixon was completely over the line and while he got ejected, I think Les Miles needs to do something more, i.e., suspend him for next game to show that sort of behavior doesn't belong in the LSU program.

I enjoyed the Houston game, that was just fun to see them win.

The Texas A&M game, what a gutsy call by the Aggies to go for it on 4th and goal in OT.
 
I didn't think for a moment that Alabama was going to be upset by USC, but the first quarter was frustrating. Once they got going, though, it was clear that they'd win easily, and by the end of the fourth quarter I was ready for the game to end.

I know that many Tide fans are saying that Jalen Hurts won the starting QB position last night, but I'm not so sure. Blake Barnett did quite well after he came back in, and I think they'll both get playing time next week. Even if Hurts gets the nod from Saban, it'll be good to have a capable backup QB.

A few other observations:
  • I was surprised not to see Calvin Ridley and Bo Scarborough do more. Damien Harris seems to have established himself as the go-to RB.
  • The altercation between Ronnie Harrison and his teammates on the sideline was unusual. Even Saban had to step in. I'm sure that Harrison heard (and will hear) more about this off the field.
  • Saban was reportedly not happy with Kiffin about the last TD pass—he doesn't like to run up the score.
  • It's always fun to watch Saban's press conferences after games like this. He said that while he was happy for the team and proud of how they played, there is a lot of room for improvement.
  • Jabari Ruffin stomping on Minkah Fitzpatrick was horrible. I liked the way that the official announced that he disqualified himself from the game. I agree with @maflynn that players who act like this deserve more than an ejection.
Props to Auburn's defense for holding Clemson to 19 points last night. But they're going to have to do a lot more on offense if they're going to have a decent season.
 
Alabama needs to just stick with one quarterback and go from there. Look at Ohio State last year... .If they screw around and keep switching then they're going to drop a game and wind up on the outside looking in.

Speaking of which, Ohio State looks phenomenal. They are fast. Michigan looks good too. It's highly unlikely that one of those two don't end up in the CFP. I would not be surprised if there is talk about putting them both in.

Oklahoma is probably going to lose 3-4 games this year. Didn't really think they were that good anyway. Houston will lose one along the way too.

LSU loss was surprising, but not that surprising. Big Ten is on the up and up, SEC is trending down besides Alabama.

Vols are pretenders, as is TCU.

Miami might be back in the mix and Florida State/Ole Miss should be interesting, but I think Ole Miss is overrated.

Stanford is usually good. Not a strong showing though.
 
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