NCAA college football 2017-18: Official thread

HOLY HELL

And there’s your 1st round pick for the Browns right there.

Arrrgh! Manta's going to be (more) unbearable tomorrow! Crazy end game.

First half: Awful.

Second half: Great.

Also, we are on a insanely great run of championships recently. Like, in all the 4 major sports, over the last 3-4 years.

Hell of a year for sports fans in Georgia though. My sympathies.

Well that was awesome!

Hello darkness, my old friend.

*Edit* And hard enough to beat Bama, but having to beat the refs too, and yet we almost did.

Badferret wrote:

Hello darkness, my old friend.

*Edit* And hard enough to beat Bama, but having to beat the refs too, and yet we almost did.

Sorry, man. The refs did miss some Bama penalties that seemed obvious on replay.

Y'all dominated Bama's ass in the first half. Unreal. With the talent you have and the recruits you have coming in, you'll be back in the playoffs soon.

Now, I do have to say, Saban benching his QB in the national championship game was a gutsy move.

Also, Saban spanking Tua for screwing up centering the ball for the field goal by having Hurts do it was the most Saban thing ever.

People on TexAgs seem split over whether Hurts will transfer or change to RB. He's from Texas, btw.

We're hoping he goes RB... That's his only chance to get drafted.

Deserves an asterisk next to it.

'Bama, daaaaaaang.

I thought Saban had lost his mind changing QBs at halftime. Shows what I know, huh.

Grats, Manta. Helluva win for your team.

Congrats on a foreigner coming in overcoming barriers and succeeding. It’s the American dream. Hopefully this opens the eyes of certain people in this very conservative part of the country on the benefits of immigration. I’m hoping this leads AG Jeff Sessions, also from said state, to allow more people in from Hawaii.

IMAGE(http://2f13yq12csmv2yraq925m73i-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DJkrdhnUMAEPVM9.jpg)

Watched the wire cam replay of the sack and then the TD, and on the sack you can see he's looking for the same vertical throw that he made on the TD throw. (Different playcall though, and the RB that the screen was faked to sure was lazy at giving Tua a dumpoff option when the play broke down).

KC Star: AP poll voters who picked Central Florida as No. 1 team explain their decision

Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald was one of those four and he explained why in a piece for the paper.

“Alabama did not win its league or even its division,” McKewon wrote. “A small blue ribbon panel elected the Crimson Tide to make the College Football Playoff as a No. 4 seed. Am I, or any AP voter, bound to the panel's determination? I am not.

“So a voter is left deciding with a choice, in a sense. If I think UCF is one of the top four teams that won a conference title, then it’s not much of a leap — not a leap at all — to make them No. 1. After all, what’s the difference between Ohio State and Alabama, other than a playoff committee’s ranking? Not much.”

Ryan Aber of the Oklahoman also had Central Florida ranked first and wrote about his decision.

“Do I think UCF would go undefeated against the schedule that Georgia or Alabama or Oklahoma or Clemson played? No,” Aber wrote.

“Would I have voted UCF No. 1 had it played Ohio State or Wisconsin or any team other than Auburn in the bowl game? Frankly, no.

“But they played Auburn, beat them, and here we are.

“Georgia’s win over Auburn in the SEC Championship Game game me pause. It would’ve given me cover to vote Georgia No. 1 with its win. But in the end I felt that was a cop out.

“So UCF it is, even if I was put-off by much of their national championship celebrations before any national championships were declared.”

Ed Daigneault of the Republican-American tweeted about his decision after seeing Aber’s message on Twitter.

“Yes, I voted UCF No. 1 for the same reason,” Daigneault wrote. “Typically hate the transitive property but UCF deserves recognition.”

IMAGE(http://files.shandymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/04075138/ucf-championship-1200x806.jpeg)

*Legion* wrote:

Watched the wire cam replay of the sack and then the TD, and on the sack you can see he's looking for the same vertical throw that he made on the TD throw. (Different playcall though, and the RB that the screen was faked to sure was lazy at giving Tua a dumpoff option when the play broke down).

I think you might appreciate this.
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Related Reddit thread.

manta173 wrote:

Can I get a Roll Tide?!

Roll Tide!

Grumpicus wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Watched the wire cam replay of the sack and then the TD, and on the sack you can see he's looking for the same vertical throw that he made on the TD throw. (Different playcall though, and the RB that the screen was faked to sure was lazy at giving Tua a dumpoff option when the play broke down).

I think you might appreciate this.

Good post, though I disagree slightly with its characterization of the sack's playcall. The author wrote:

Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama QB) hesitates on the screen pass allowing Smith to read it and put himself in good position if the ball is thrown.

The screen was never intended to be anything but a fake. You can tell primarily by the protection, which is straight pass protection with nobody looking to run upfield to block, but also how quickly Tua pumps and then looks to the sideline throw. It's a cover 2 beater. The assumption is that the cornerback on that side is playing the flats zone, and would come up against an apparent screen, extending the gap between the corner and the safety (ie. Jon Gruden's "Turkey Hole"):

Instead, as the post correctly identifies, the coverage is 2-deep man-under, and so the corner is not in flats coverage but is man on the WR, so he doesn't give a sh*t about the screen fake.

The rest of the post is accurate though. The free safety sees the post/crossing route on the first play (an effective route against man coverage, so something for the deep safeties to be aware of when they're playing man-under) and does seem to be cheating inside in preparation of defending that route.

And he's absolutely right about the part where the middle linebacker is assigned to coverage on the tight end, and when the TE stays in protection, he waits a beat to see if the TE will peel off late, and when he doesn't, he makes a smart play to get depth and enter the passing lane, taking away the safety-splitting post pattern.

The sideline throw after the screen pump fake was the first read - cover 2 beater. The post middle was the second read, 2-deep man beater. The pass rush disrupted the play before the freshman QB could figure out a 3rd read.

So when do I get to start trash talking Louisville for the start of the next season? The wife and I are planning on going.

manta173 wrote:

So when do I get to start trash talking Louisville for the start of the next season? The wife and I are planning on going.

I'll allow it.

And maybe we can buy each other beers.

Wife is a much bigger basketball than football fan but maybe if I take her to Disney World before she'll go with me.

Stele wrote:
manta173 wrote:

So when do I get to start trash talking Louisville for the start of the next season? The wife and I are planning on going.

I'll allow it.

And maybe we can buy each other beers.

Wife is a much bigger basketball than football fan but maybe if I take her to Disney World before she'll go with me. ;)

We're staying at the Boardwalk...

Yay! Louisville DC Peter Sirmon resigned.

And has apparently been hired by Cal. Good luck with that, Carlbear. EDIT: LB coach. Maybe he can actually do that job.

We have former HC's at Offensive and Defensive Coordinator, so it makes sense for former DC's to turn into LB coaches.

I have no idea where to put this, but today's news has Michigan State appearing to be barreling headlong for Penn State/Baylor territory right now.

SC6/OTL/E:60's doing a special report on it right now.

Yeah, I think we're reaching the point where people start reasonably using the words "death penalty".

I also expect the NCAA to end up choosing a punishment that somehow manages to make literally no-one happy.

Prederick wrote:

Yeah, I think we're reaching the point where people start reasonably using the words "death penalty".

Silly Pred. You can't get the "death penalty" for sexually abusing students, only for giving them money.

Prederick wrote:

Yeah, I think we're reaching the point where people start reasonably using the words "death penalty".

When asked for comment, coach be like...

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/N7YvSwK.gif)

*Legion* wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Yeah, I think we're reaching the point where people start reasonably using the words "death penalty".

Silly Pred. You can't get the "death penalty" for sexually abusing students, only for giving them money.

As many pundits have pointed out, the NCAA has decided that actual crimes are the realm of law enforcement. I strongly disagree - crimes covered up on behalf of sports deserve a punishment in the realm of sports. Otherwise, the coverup was largely effective.

So, do we shut this down now and start next year's thread with (tomorrow's) Signing Day, or use NSD as the wrap for this thread?