The 2018-2019 NCAA Football Season

[maflynn]

The start of the 2018 season is right around the corner and already we have a lot of drama occurring in the NCAA

Maryland:
Sad news about a player dying, and for Durkin the coach it started unraveling pretty quickly. Based on the fact that the president accepted responsibility and was extremely harsh with the coaching staff and trainers, its hard to think he'll keep his job.
Sources: Maryland OL Jordan McNair showed signs of extreme exhaustion
The inside story of a toxic culture at Maryland football
Maryland accepts responsibility in death of Jordan McNair, parts with Rick Court

Ohio State:
Ohio State puts Urban Meyer on administrative leave
Its hard to imagine him keeping his job in today's environment, especially when news broke, that not only his coaches advices Courtney Smith not to press domestic assault charges on her husband, but also Meyer's wife.

Michigan:
I think the honeymoon is over with Jim Harbaugh and Michigan and he needs produce.

Preseason rankings (which mean absolutely nothing)

 

[mscriv]

Go Vols! Oh wait, I really don't care, but for the sake of my family of origin... Go Vols!

 

[ucfgrad93]

I won't be watching college football. Can't support a system that effectively tells half of the teams that play, "you have no chance to make the playoffs."

 

[maflynn]

I won't be watching college football. Can't support a system that effectively tells half of the teams that play, "you have no chance to make the playoffs."

I can respect that, but for me, I feel college football is a better product then the NFL. I truly do enjoy watching the game, and tbh, it doesn't bother me about the playoffs. I will say what they have now in place is a lot better then before.

 

[rhett7660]

I can respect that, but for me, I feel college football is a better product then the NFL. I truly do enjoy watching the game, and tbh, it doesn't bother me about the playoffs. I will say what they have now in place is a lot better then before.

Agreed, and one never knows a ranked team may ending up losing a game or two.

 

[maflynn]

ALA is getting thin in the LB position
Alabama OLB Christopher Allen 'probably' out for season with knee injury

 

[maflynn]

Looks like Ohio State board of trustees will be meeting tomorrow, though it appears they may not announce a decision on Meyer's future. I suspect they're dragging this on, so that this controversy loses steam and they can bring him back. They'll slap his wrist in some way, the lawyers will write him an apology that he'll read at a news conference which gives an appearance of heartfelt remorse and empathy but they'll not do anything.

 

[Silencio]

Hopefully Bryce Love wins the Heisman this time. Stanford has had so many runners-up over the past decade.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Looks like Ohio State board of trustees will be meeting tomorrow, though it appears they may not announce a decision on Meyer's future. I suspect they're dragging this on, so that this controversy loses steam and they can bring him back. They'll slap his wrist in some way, the lawyers will write him an apology that he'll read at a news conference which gives an appearance of heartfelt remorse and empathy but they'll not do anything.

Has it been proven that Meyer knew about the abuse? Seems like you are convinced that he did.

 

[maflynn]

Has it been proven that Meyer knew about the abuse? Seems like you are convinced that he did.

Yes, its been reported that his wife tried to convince the victim to not to press charges.

Link

Courtney gave an interview to college football reporter Brett McMurphy, in which she says that Meyer, his wife Shelley, and many other people involved in the Ohio State football program knew about the 2015 incidents. Courtney even provided screen shots of text message exchanges between her and Shelley, in which Shelley offers her sympathies for the abuse Courtney was suffering. From McMurphy’s report:

Report: Texts Show Urban Meyer Knew of Domestic Violence Allegations Against Assistant in 2015

Shelley said she was going to have to tell Urban,” she told Stadium. "I said: ‘That’s fine, you should tell Urban. We can't have someone like this coaching young men."

 

[ucfgrad93]

Yes, its been reported that his wife tried to convince the victim to not to press charges.

Link


Report: Texts Show Urban Meyer Knew of Domestic Violence Allegations Against Assistant in 2015

I haven't been following this very closely. Thanks for the new info.

 

[smallcoffee]

Glad Urban was cleared - this was ridiculous.

 

[maflynn]

Ohio State valued winning over ethics


Looks like Meyer wanted to cover up any prior conversations.

Links

Investigators also found that upon learning about accusations made by Courtney Smith in an Aug. 1 report from college football reporter Brett McMurphy, Meyer and a fellow football staffer discussed how to adjust the settings on Meyer's phone so that text messages more than a year old would be deleted

In all honesty, I'm finding it hard to wrap my brain around this. Meyer confirms he received the text directing him to be forthright, but chose to plead ignorance on the 2015 incident when he was aware of it. How is this not deliberately lying?

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith explicitly told Meyer to acknowledge what he knew about the 2015 incident in a text message before Meyer spoke to reporters. Meyer acknowledged receiving that message, according to the investigators' report.

"While those denials were plainly not accurate, Coach Meyer did not, in our view, deliberately lie,

 

[smallcoffee]

Ohio State valued winning over ethics


Looks like Meyer wanted to cover up any prior conversations.

Links


In all honesty, I'm finding it hard to wrap my brain around this. Meyer confirms he received the text directing him to be forthright, but chose to plead ignorance on the 2015 incident when he was aware of it. How is this not deliberately lying?

No they don’t. They’ve fired plenty of coaches. They spent a lot of money to have pretty competent and trustworthy people to look over this case and the word on the street is that most of those people recommended Urban not be suspended at all and be reinstated immediately.

People are just grasping at straws now because they want to believe that somehow the police, judges, the university, lawyers, and who knows how many other people want to cover something up.

State law in Ohio gives police the discretion to press domestic violence charges even if the person who was assaulted does not want to because of the well-known fact that people who are assaulted tend to not want to press charges for fear of retaliation or many other reasons. If you strongly believe there’s a problem here the first thing you should do is figure this piece out before making this all about the football program, which is just a convenient scapegoat.

-edit-

Not to mention they were already investigating this before McMurphy tried to break the story, and of course they don’t want some reporter getting ahold of text messages and misrepresenting the context of the conversation like when McMuprhy claimed to “have proof” of domestic violence because of an oddly specific text message where Smith says “I know!!!.

 

[maflynn]

No they don’t. They’ve fired plenty of coaches. They spent a lot of money to have pretty competent and trustworthy people to look over this case and the word on the street is that most of those people recommended Urban not be suspended at all and be reinstated immediately.

If it was anyone else, other then Urban Meyer, he would have been fired, pure and simple. The evidence of his prior knowledge is not in dispute. The fact that he was told to be forthright prior to the news conference is not in dispute. His failure to tell the truth is a matter of public record since he stood there and feigned ignorance.

He, his wife, his other coaches exhibited a pattern of protecting this coach has he beat his gf/wife.

I'm not against Meyer for the sake of being against him or Ohio State, quite the opposite, I was a fan of him when he was at Florida and Ohio State, but this is just too much imo.

 

[smallcoffee]

If it was anyone else, other then Urban Meyer, he would have been fired, pure and simple. The evidence of his prior knowledge is not in dispute. The fact that he was told to be forthright prior to the news conference is not in dispute. His failure to tell the truth is a matter of public record since he stood there and feigned ignorance.

He, his wife, his other coaches exhibited a pattern of protecting this coach has he beat his gf/wife.

I'm not against Meyer for the sake of being against him or Ohio State, quite the opposite, I was a fan of him when he was at Florida and Ohio State, but this is just too much imo.

Yes of course if it was somebody else they would have fired them because they aren’t worth the headache (although they also don’t have to pay $38 million to most people) - this is commonplace in human society. People who are more highly valued are given the benefit of the doubt and/or given more chances, etc.

The long and short of this is that Meyer gave Smith way too many chances - a University has to act above and beyond the police force, judges, or the government or risk reputational damage, and Zach and Courtney Smith turned out to be lunatics.

 

[Gutwrench]

The Gophers are 17.5 favorite with a true freshman qb. That might be worth putting some money on.

 

[vipergts2207]

I think Urban’s scummy and a moron for not firing Smith sooner. That said, as a Buckeye alum, I’m glad we can get back to talking about actual football soon.

 

[maflynn]

While football starts tomorrow, it seems to be an unofficial start. Only a handful of games, and all tomorrow night. Next Thursday and Saturday seems to be when we see the season get moving. Bummers, I was looking forward to spending quality time with my chair and TV tomorrow

 

[smallcoffee]

While football starts tomorrow, it seems to be an unofficial start. Only a handful of games, and all tomorrow night. Next Thursday and Saturday seems to be when we see the season get moving. Bummers, I was looking forward to spending quality time with my chair and TV tomorrow
View attachment 777608

Drooling at the thought of college football on Saturday with the prime time teams playing. It feels like it’s been so long...

 

[jeremysteele]

My 'Cuse are gonna win it all!

Yeah right...

It'll never happen...

I hope they win one game...

When does basketball start?

 

[Cave Man]

Ohio State valued winning over ethics

No, they value money over everything else. It's the NCAA Way.

 

[smallcoffee]

No, they value money over everything else. It's the NCAA Way.

Urban Meyer doesn’t really change this calculus. The long and short is that the committee didn’t uncover any attempt to hide what happened. In fact, the Title IX office was the first to find out! The situation was screwed up and Urban missed red flags but the old adage is “the cover up is worse than the crime” and there was no evidence of a cover up so everybody was punished and we move on. Speaking of Title IX - you can think both it and the NCAA for ensuring sports aren’t only done for-profit. That’s why we have a lot of women’s sports, mind you.

 

[Cave Man]

Urban Meyer doesn’t really change this calculus.

Of course he does. He's the second or third best college football coach out there behind Sabin and maybe Bob Stoops. So, the replacement pool is pretty small (although Stoops is available).

The long and short is that the committee didn’t uncover any attempt to hide what happened. In fact, the Title IX office was the first to find out! The situation was screwed up and Urban missed red flags but the old adage is “the cover up is worse than the crime” and there was no evidence of a cover up so everybody was punished and we move on.

The "committee" ignored the fact that he did things to hide the trail of evidence. That Meyer did this shows intent to deceive.

Speaking of Title IX - you can think both it and the NCAA for ensuring sports aren’t only done for-profit. That’s why we have a lot of women’s sports, mind you.

They are principally about profit. That's why all but 3 bowl games are on pay TV.

 

[smallcoffee]

Of course he does. He's the second or third best college football coach out there behind Sabin and maybe Bob Stoops. So, the replacement pool is pretty small (although Stoops is available).

Sorry I don’t think he does. He’s the second or third best (depending on if you count Dabo) but OSU is bigger than Meyer and always will be. They have a history of firing coaches national championship or not.

The "committee" ignored the fact that he did things to hide the trail of evidence. That Meyer did this shows intent to deceive.

Did he? What did he do to cover this up? The police knew, Gene Smith knew, OSU’s Title IX office knew, other coaches knew (including Tom Herman going to strip clubs with Zach Smith). He definitely shouldn’t have given him a long leash but I don’t think he covered anything up.

They are principally about profit. That's why all but 3 bowl games are on pay TV.

Not true. Most college sports don’t make money, and many are subsidized by basketball or football programs. The programs that do make money give that money back to the university. It’s conpletely false to claim they are about profit when they can’t generate a profit.