Octopus Overlords

Ditch 'em all, then. If anyone is using that OSU-Missouri game to provide any insight into the relative merit of either team, then they don't know what they are doing.

ImLawBoy wrote:Ditch 'em all, then. If anyone is using that OSU-Missouri game to provide any insight into the relative merit of either team, then they don't know what they are doing.

Sure they do, generating artificial arguments in the absence of any games.

Well, this just amplifies my questioning of Missouri at 11. If voters really are basing their votes on a bowl game vs. OSU's unmotivated JV team, that kind of backs my feeling that they're overrated.

Wilner has them at 15 with this analysis:

15. Missouri (AP: 11): The No. 15 team in the country is merely the fifth-best team in the SEC. Or could the Tigers, who won 11 games last season and return quarterback Brady Cook, climb onto the top tier of the nation’s toughest conference? The level of success depends on the speed with which the retooled defense coalesces. Fortunately for coach Eli Drinkwitz, the September schedule is pillowy soft. Toughest games: at Texas A&M, at Alabama, vs. Oklahoma

ImLawBoy wrote: Mon Aug 12, 2024 2:51 pm Any voter using prior year's non-playoff bowl results to influence their preseason vote in the year 2024 should have their voting privileges revoked immediately.

I completely agree with this. Even before there was a playoff, putting much stock in any of the bowl results (with the possible exception of the tippy top tier bowls and even then you needed to evaluate the relative strength/motivation of the loser compared to the winner) as any kind of predictor for next season's success is ridiculous. The apathy from players for (non-playoff) bowl games now with a 12 team playoff will be even greater going forward.

We're into week 0 finally with 4 games this coming Saturday!

Time to find the best live TV streaming deal that has the SEC Network. This is starting to become an annual ritual which I am not very fond of.

Carpet_pissr wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2024 9:03 am Time to find the best live TV streaming deal that has the SEC Network. This is starting to become an annual ritual which I am not very fond of.

Yeah, I was thinking this morning that I need to figure out how the hell to watch Utah games. I know a few of them will be on ESPN+, which is a service I would have zero interest in otherwise. But I guess I'll have to bite the bullet this year and pick it up for a couple months.

I honestly need to drop cable and just pay for some streaming and a football sub. The only time I watch cable is for football and random live political events (which I could find live online).

I really, really loathe how agents and NIL are going to make sure that College Football ends up with all the Pro Sports crap...

With practices well underway, Gundy said, players have been informed that any such talk needs to be put on hold for the next several months.

“The business side of what we do now is, we have to have those conversations with them," Gundy said. "'Tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money. It's non-negotiable now, you know — start again in December.'

I wonder what percentage of college athletes receive anything from NIL? Not just lunch money but enough to make them shop around for a better deal every season?

What a great opening game - College Football is back!

Pyperkub wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 3:41 pm What a great opening game - College Football is back!

Excellent. There are select very few college teams that I have always rooted to lose every single game they play. FSU is one of them. Miami and USC would be the others.

There’s a few recent additions based on more current coaches or horrid situations. Penn State’s program should have been burned to the fucking ground and it will forever piss me off they got a wrist-slap. I absolutely cannot stand Dabo, Gundy, Deion, or Day, so while I will actively root against all of them now, I don’t particularly dislike their teams. I can shift those to neutral if/when those coaches leave.

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 10:57 pm

Pyperkub wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 3:41 pm What a great opening game - College Football is back!

Excellent. There are select very few college teams that I have always rooted to lose every single game they play. FSU is one of them. Miami and USC would be the others.

There’s a few recent additions based on more current coaches or horrid situations. Penn State’s program should have been burned to the fucking ground and it will forever piss me off they got a wrist-slap. I absolutely cannot stand Dabo, Gundy, Deion, or Day, so while I will actively root against all of them now, I don’t particularly dislike their teams. I can shift those to neutral if/when those coaches leave.

You are my spirit animal. And I'm also a very petty UF grad so yeah, I'm laughing.

WYBaugh wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2024 9:57 am
You are my spirit animal. And I'm also a very petty UF grad so yeah, I'm laughing.

I’ll admit that Florida was borderline on that list for a while. Utah fans were initially pretty salty about Urban heading there, but it turned out to be the best move for all involved.

The home/home series with FL the last couple years was fun. Hoping they do it again sometime.

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 10:57 pm

Pyperkub wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 3:41 pm What a great opening game - College Football is back!

Excellent. There are select very few college teams that I have always rooted to lose every single game they play. FSU is one of them. Miami and USC would be the others.

There’s a few recent additions based on more current coaches or horrid situations. Penn State’s program should have been burned to the fucking ground and it will forever piss me off they got a wrist-slap. I absolutely cannot stand Dabo, Gundy, Deion, or Day, so while I will actively root against all of them now, I don’t particularly dislike their teams. I can shift those to neutral if/when those coaches leave.

FWIW your Dabo hate is not misplaced. I know enough people that have had interactions with him that confirm he’s a douchebag, often pretending to be otherwise (or trying to).

Early predictions before I start reading about teams and the new season:

SEC Winner: Texas (or maybe Georgia)
National Champion: Ohio State (or maybe Georgia)

That is all.

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 10:57 pm

Pyperkub wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2024 3:41 pm What a great opening game - College Football is back!

Excellent. There are select very few college teams that I have always rooted to lose every single game they play. FSU is one of them. Miami and USC would be the others.

There’s a few recent additions based on more current coaches or horrid situations. Penn State’s program should have been burned to the fucking ground and it will forever piss me off they got a wrist-slap. I absolutely cannot stand Dabo, Gundy, Deion, or Day, so while I will actively root against all of them now, I don’t particularly dislike their teams. I can shift those to neutral if/when those coaches leave.

FSu was worth rooting for when Bowden was there. He was a character, and those wide right games against the evil empire were pretty great. Since they booted him tho? Yeah, no issues rooting against them.

They looked fantastic on their first drive, doing whatever they wanted and rushing for 58 yards on 7 carries.

Then GT tightened the defense and they only got 40 yards rushing on 24 carries (and sacks weren't really a part of that) the rest of the game. DJU wasn't great and missed his big throws, as usual, but he was decent considering how awful the running game was, and had one great drive where he was great converting the 3rd/4th and longs when the running game did nothing in the game tying drive. FSU's running game being AWFUL was the story of this game, and even if GT is pretty good, that does not bode well for FSU achieving much this year at all.

FSU has their work cut out for them if they want to even contend for a shot at the ACC Championship. They looked like a 6-6 type of team over the weekend.

Of course, ACC darkhorse SMU also played this weekend, at the unanimous pick for last in the Mountain West, Nevada, and should have lost. Nevada had them, just couldn't quite hold on late.

So my usual optimistic UCLA take:

We have a few unknowns, and just about all of the prognosticators are assuming the worst for all of them.

1. Can Foster/Bieniemy/Malloe do as good as or better than Kelly/Lynn? Most seem to think UCLA was only those coaches and Latu and that we'll be worse off without them. TBD if they are right, but as soon as Garbers came in against alleged playoff contender Boise St last year, we destroyed them, without Lynn or Latu.

2. Can the defense replace the TFL production? Losing Latu/the Murphys/Shaw is tough, but we did get most of them through the transfer portal, and nobody else was really on the Murphys. We do return 3 guys who played a lot last year, and got some more edge transfers who could fit right in

3. Can the OL be good enough with 7 starters returning on offense? We're not relying on any freshmen - we have experienced players all over the OL, but will they be any good? Especially v some of the best DLs in the country (LSU/Ore/PSU/Iowa). One other huge factor - a lot of our OL issues last year were on the True Frosh who started early. Dante Moore was sacked 25 times last year (in addition to his penchant for pick-6's which cost us a couple of games). Garbers was sacked only 11 times, and was fantastic at moving around in the pocket, and also knowing when to run.

I really do think that we'll be closer to 8 wins than 2, but if, as some of the talking heads say, we lose at home to Indiana, 2 wins is a possibility. We have a lot more talent than 2 wins, but Coach Foster is an unknown, and as much as I like Eric Bieniemy as OC, he didn't get an NFL head coaching job, and wasn't all that great at Washington last year.

However, I think we'll smoke both Hawai'i and Indiana, and maybe get at least one of those next 3 games (at LSU, Oregon, at Penn St), and if we don't have any awful injuries (Garbers/Toia/Medrano/Femi are probably the big 4 who need to stay healthy), will be getting better every week.

Regardless, what we see in the early Hawai'i and Indiana games will answer most of these questions. If we can't control both games, we'll likely be failing at all 3 of the keys above for most of the season, and could see a huge implosion with a lot of transfers out.

But if we do control both of those games and don't lose key players to injury? Things will be very interesting, and a lot of the prognosticators who are picking us for the basement because they aren't paying attention and think we were just Chip Kelly and D'Anton Lynn (and Latu) will be looking a little foolish.

Utah is picked by most pundits to win the B12 and get a spot in the playoffs. I think that's certainly a possibility, but it all hinges on Cam Rising. If he stays healthy and picks up where he left off before the injury, Utah will be right in the mix. If he doesn't, then all bets are off as his backup is a true freshman (Zach Wilson's younger brother).

We've got a ton of returning talent with maybe the best WR and TE corps Utah has ever seen. A healthy Brant Kuithe will go a long way towards getting Rising back up to speed. RB is a bit of a concern as there's several good dudes but no feature back has stepped up yet. My guess is that we see lots of "three headed monster" rushing attack with Bernard/Glover/Mitchell. The defense should continue to be elite, with the only big concern being depth at CB. Special teams look to be solid.

This is probably the best chance Utah will have in the next several years to break through to the playoffs. We'll have some tough games in the new B12, with a week 4 trip to Stillwater and a late season roadie to UCF making me nervous. However, we miss several of the other top teams (K State, Kansas) and despite what they may say, B12 teams haven't seen anything like the insanity of Rice-Eccles for a night game.

Should be a fun year.

After all the noise about the P12 dying because no one could see the games on P12 network, this is a hilarious turn of events.

As much as I've hated this offseason and my interest in college football has waned significantly, I'll admit it was nice to be back in the stadium last night. Tough to tell much against a JV squad for an opener, but 250 and 5 TD's in the first half is a good sign for Cam Rising's return. Really great to see Kuithe on the receiving end of three of those as well.

Utah's ridiculous injury bug continues though, as we lost our highly-touted transfer CB for the year (blown knee) on the third play of the game last night. Had another d-lineman who is likely also out for the year as well. Those are just brutal losses in what amounts to a warm-up game.

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 10:38 am As much as I've hated this offseason and my interest in college football has waned significantly, I'll admit it was nice to be back in the stadium last night. Tough to tell much against a JV squad for an opener, but 250 and 5 TD's in the first half is a good sign for Cam Rising's return. Really great to see Kuithe on the receiving end of three of those as well.

Utah's ridiculous injury bug continues though, as we lost our highly-touted transfer CB for the year (blown knee) on the third play of the game last night. Had another d-lineman who is likely also out for the year as well. Those are just brutal losses in what amounts to a warm-up game.

Yeah, saw that first half stat line for Rising and figured you were pretty happy!

I love Lee Corso, but watching him on Gameday is getting really sad to watch.

Please just let the guy go retire.

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:55 am I love Lee Corso, but watching him on Gameday is getting really sad to watch.

Please just let the guy go retire.

What makes you think he wants to retire?

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:55 am I love Lee Corso, but watching him on Gameday is getting really sad to watch.

Please just let the guy go retire.

He's back?!?! He should have Seinfelded it 2 years ago. I guess now we need to call Nancy Pelosi for a come to Jesus talk/intervention.

Didn't watch today, but I was fine with him being there last year.

I see him more like the mascot for all of college football, and generally enjoy him being there, especially after the stroke he had.

Pyperkub wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 5:34 pm Didn't watch today, but I was fine with him being there last year.

I see him more like the mascot for all of college football, and generally enjoy him being there, especially after the stroke he had.

Based on what I saw today, he’s gone noticeably downhill. Difficult to understand and really struggles to articulate a coherent thought. He's done a lot for the game and I just want him to go out with some dignity,

In other news, things are going well in Gainesville after that drubbing.

Fresno State gave Michigan a game. Sadly that final TD made it look like it wasn’t close.

Texas will blow them out next week.

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 9:10 pm

Pyperkub wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 5:34 pm Didn't watch today, but I was fine with him being there last year.

I see him more like the mascot for all of college football, and generally enjoy him being there, especially after the stroke he had.

Based on what I saw today, he’s gone noticeably downhill. Difficult to understand and really struggles to articulate a coherent thought. He's done a lot for the game and I just want him to go out with some dignity,

In other news, things are going well in Gainesville after that drubbing.

That happened but it was not from yesterday. It was a year ago and was meant for LSU. He posted a huge apology tweet in response.

BUT I am onboard with the message. Napier and Strickland have got to go.

WYBaugh wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2024 12:48 pm
That happened but it was not from yesterday. It was a year ago and was meant for LSU. He posted a huge apology tweet in response.

BUT I am onboard with the message. Napier and Strickland have got to go.

Good to know, thx.

I look forward to the 1 guy 1 cup video...not to watch, but just to see if he actually does it.

FSU is exhibit A through Z why pre-season rankings are stupid and need to die.

Skinypupy wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:18 pm FSU is exhibit A through Z why pre-season rankings are stupid and need to die.

Will never happen because...humans. It's too enticing and juicy and contentious for the people who peddle them, and the consumers of that info who always must know "who's best right NOW?!?" will always feed the former. Doesn't matter how ridiculously and consistently wrong they are, the supply/demand is too strong in this particular idiocy for that to matter.

Try to imagine a world where the season starts and someone says "Hey, I wonder if this team is any good compared to this other team", and the reply was "We don't know, they aren't allowed to speculate before the season starts."

Scuzz wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:00 pm Fresno State gave Michigan a game. Sadly that final TD made it look like it wasn’t close.

Texas will blow them out next week.

We've got them exactly where we want them. They won't even see it coming!

I think the game against Fresno State went about as expected. Michigan was awkward on offense but impressive on defense. The concern, of course, is that the offensive issues were more than just first game jitters. With so much new on offense I think most people expected a significant step back, but the offense doesn't need to be great for a good season with this defense. I think if the Texas game is a blowout it's likely because the offense can't sustain anything and the defense gets worn down. It would be a good game for Edwards to find his big game form and break a couple of long TDs, combined with more possession type of running game from Mullings. I'm not going to expect much out of the passing game.

ImLawBoy wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 10:49 am

Scuzz wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:00 pm Fresno State gave Michigan a game. Sadly that final TD made it look like it wasn’t close.

Texas will blow them out next week.

We've got them exactly where we want them. They won't even see it coming!

I think the game against Fresno State went about as expected. Michigan was awkward on offense but impressive on defense. The concern, of course, is that the offensive issues were more than just first game jitters. With so much new on offense I think most people expected a significant step back, but the offense doesn't need to be great for a good season with this defense. I think if the Texas game is a blowout it's likely because the offense can't sustain anything and the defense gets worn down. It would be a good game for Edwards to find his big game form and break a couple of long TDs, combined with more possession type of running game from Mullings. I'm not going to expect much out of the passing game.

Also could be a texas blowout if Michigan offense turns the ball over and Texas doesn't. But I expect it will be tight. Most of Fresno's drives were of the 3 or 4 and out variety, looking at the box (I couldn't even watch the UCLA game live, it was my MIL's birthday, and we took her out for dinner, so I had to be on radio silence too, as all my alum friends were blowing up my phone...)

Pyperkub wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 11:16 am I couldn't even watch the UCLA game live, it was my MIL's birthday, and we took her out for dinner, so I had to be on radio silence too, as all my alum friends were blowing up my phone...)

Sounds like that might have been a good thing.

Hawaiian Death Turf almost claimed another victim.

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 11:46 am

Pyperkub wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 11:16 am I couldn't even watch the UCLA game live, it was my MIL's birthday, and we took her out for dinner, so I had to be on radio silence too, as all my alum friends were blowing up my phone...)

Sounds like that might have been a good thing.

Hawaiian Death Turf almost claimed another victim.

It was definitely frustrating, but when I re-watched it, a lot of our problems were either 1st game jitters with a new system and having both of our starting tackles out for most of the game - Garbers threw 2 of his 3 interceptions in game 1 last year as well - it seems like he gets too jacked up when starting the season and our top tackle missed the entire game, but the other tackle was a minor injury replacement, and he missed a lot of blocks, esp in the running game.

I'm still not sold on Bieniemy and Foster coaching the running game as well as Chip Kelly, but the disaster that our running game was in that game was in part because we were missing 40% of our starting OL, including our best OL. Word is that they will both be fine. the other factors were that we didn't commit to the running game at all early, and on a couple of plays, Garbers and Harden weren't smooth on their exchanges, so they need to do more reps. This is a huge concern going forward, as it also contributed to multiple issues in the redzone last year and Saturday, but it 'looks' like it can be fixed with some decent coaching, practice and better playcalling (early on, we were calling about 4 passes to 1 run, hard to get any good running game going with that imbalance.

On the other hand, even tho Garbers was making his game 1 mistakes, the passing game looked like it will be REALLY good - we have a lot of good receiving options all over the field, and Garbers can/will get it to them (13/19 in the second half).

Also, the worries about the defense falling apart without D'Anton Lynn and Latu look very unfounded - 5 sacks and 11 TFL's in that game, and Hawai'i scored 10 of their 13 points off of 'turnovers' (their only TD was on a busted coverage, after we got a 3 and out, but then only had 9 guys on the field for the punt, and Hawai'i took advantage), and Hawai'i got a FG off of an absolutely stupid interception at the end of the half. The Defense was a bit shaky early as they played WAY too soft in coverage for the 1st couple of series, but as soon as we tightened up the coverage, it was stellar. We'll see if that holds up as the schedule gets tougher, but it looked great Saturday.

All in all, it wasn't what we wanted, but our rookie HC and new staff got a win on the road (and after spotting them a 10-0 lead, Hawai'i only had about 100 yards of offense in the 2nd half, while we had 259 yards in the 2nd half). I think we'll be ok, but the competition is ramping up in a hurry after a bye.

We're 1 of only 16 teams with a true road win in 100 games over the long weekend.

I'm still cautiously optimistic. We really need to beat Indiana at home, or we could end up really bad this year, but I still think we have a good shot at 6-7 wins against a brutal schedule - the talent is there and if the coaches are good enough (still TBD - we'll know if they can fix stuff by the Indiana game, IMHO), we can still beat a lot of teams.

If we lose to Indiana, it could start rolling downhill in a hurry tho, and could be catastrophic if the 3 massive games after that are all losses which start piling up even in the games we should be able to win after those 3 and we could be a 2-3 win team at best (as all the prognosticators think).

ImLawBoy wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 10:49 am

Scuzz wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:00 pm Fresno State gave Michigan a game. Sadly that final TD made it look like it wasn’t close.

Texas will blow them out next week.

We've got them exactly where we want them. They won't even see it coming!

I think the game against Fresno State went about as expected. Michigan was awkward on offense but impressive on defense. The concern, of course, is that the offensive issues were more than just first game jitters. With so much new on offense I think most people expected a significant step back, but the offense doesn't need to be great for a good season with this defense. I think if the Texas game is a blowout it's likely because the offense can't sustain anything and the defense gets worn down. It would be a good game for Edwards to find his big game form and break a couple of long TDs, combined with more possession type of running game from Mullings. I'm not going to expect much out of the passing game.

The Fresno offense played pretty much the way I thought they would. The running game has trouble against good teams and the QB gets happy feet under pressure.

It was the Fresno defense that surprised me. I don’t know if Michigan was just playing around or if they simply couldn’t move the ball. Good quality teams have always been able to run the ball against Fresno, and that really didn’t happen until late in the game.