GatOrlando

The 24 team playoff is now preferred by most SEC coaches. Of course that is mostly due to it saving jobs with the new "unbearable" 9 game slate that is going to cost jobs. Because we know that just making the playoff is going to be seen as a success for most programs. It saved Venables and DeBoer. Despite neither having a real shot to win the whole thing. Tennessee is in the same boat. Bobby Hill is seen as a upper tier coach, while Phillip Fulmer was seen as losing it with that same result imo. The new shifting narrative is that the SEC getting more teams in, means it's a deeper conference. What have we become?

What in the heck are we doing? This looks like some kind of futuristic secret society building. I expect to see Superman crashing some sort of Brainiac inspired super Olympics event from this structure. It's like Walt Disney really is alive, and he teamed up with Rod Serling to create a Twilight Zone "World of Tomorrow". What I'm really saying is "Wow"! I don't know what I'm looking at, or why Oregon needs this along with all your other amazing facilities, but I'd sign up to play for the Ducks just to see what was in that structure, if I was a five star athlete. Florida is doing a 1.7 billion dollar renovation on "The Swamp" and the early renderings show some extra press boxes added. That's the "creativity" you get for almost two billion in Gainesville.

Fans in general, and especially on message boards (excluding this one and few others) are general knuckleheads. There's no accountability, and you generally get little kids, or grown ups with Beavis and Butthead brain activity on there. It's why I always recommend to anybody going to a big road game, that they hold judgement of said fanbase till you go to a tailgating, or local sports bar. You'll meet real people, and most of the time they are awesome. Don't do what I said if you ever go to Europe for a "futbol" match. Opposing fans have separate get togethers, and stadium entrances/exits for a reason.

In this day and age, Oregon is going to be a recruiting juggernaut regardless. I think Riley is a great offensive coordinator, but an okay CEO. If USC ever got a great CEO, that's when you should worry. I'd want Lincoln in LA for as long as possible as a Duck fan.

Besides being unapologetically blunt about his success, and conference pride. The man just said Indiana would help out little brother Notre Dame, by scheduling them in a two for one. Just like any B1G opponent would for any other G6 program. Well he got the last part wrong. No MAC, WAC, or Pac-12 school outside of Oregon State or Washington State, is getting any home games vs a B1G opponent. But I love the sentiment. We all love USC vs Notre Dame as a spectacle. But USC was right to take a hiatus. That game could knock USC out of a playoff spot, while Notre Dame will still be safely in with their new top 12 guarantee, and that's almost a given with them assured of ten wins a year against their soft schedule. Meanwhile USC could be facing Oregon, Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Notre Dame in the same year.

I think the Ohio State loss was based off a misconception of thinking the first game game plan was good enough to repeat. Most forget all the bounces and decisions needed to go the Ducks way in a very close one point home win. Will Howard missed a lot of open reads as he was only a few games in his Ohio State tenure. Dan Lanning should've watched the Tennessee coverages against Ohio State the week before. Why didn't they clean up those holes in the zone, or not have a safety playing roamer on man? The Indiana loss was actually quite the opposite imo. The first game was actually quite closer than the playoff..I think the coaches could've taken more from the first game, instead they switched up the defense too much. The disguised coverages actually confused Oregon more than Indiana. Indiana didn't have the freak athletes Ohio State did. You should've played them more aggressive like Iowa, Ohio State, and Miami did. On offense, you actually ran the ball pretty well in the first game. It seems like you put too much on Moore after you fell behind in the second matchup. Indiana was a very disciplined opponent that knew their gap control, and coverages. But you could've tired that smaller defensive line down if you had ran the ball more, and maintained longer earlier drives. Obviously there's way more reasons. There are way smarter people, with way more knowledge than a fan or television analyst, that are working under Lanning right now. They will still have mess ups because every other top program also has really intelligent people. So yeah those results will happen, and we'll question the coaching staff. But the true answer is because Indiana and Ohio State were really freaking good, as they ended up winning it all. There are about eight programs that have a legitimate chance to win a title every year. Oregon is one of those programs. I would take Lanning in a heartbeat as my head coach over anyone not named Cignetti, Day, or Smart.

I look at Oregon-Washington as natural rivals. You both are the only P4 members is the great Northwest. You both have a strong history in football, they have one claimed National Title, and a recent National Championship game appearance. Oregon has two National Title game appearances, a B1G Title, and won two playoff games last year. It remains to be seen what Fisch will do at Washington , but I think they deserved a top 25 ranking this preseason, after posting 8 wins last year. Williams is going to be a problem this year imo. Oregon vs Washington needs to be played on the same weekend as Michigan-Ohio State, Iowa-Nebraska, and UCLA-USC. There should be a tripleheader on Fox that weekend.

People have argued for years about "new blood" powers like Oregon being a true rival to "bluebloods" like USC or Ohio State. I'd argue that Oregon is one of the top two or three opponents on those programs schedule any year. Some also say that you can have only one real rival. But that's nonsense. Florida has four rivals that they used to have to play every year. Those being Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, and FSU. Miami is also a rival, but that game has never been played yearly. Miami also hates Florida way more than Florida hates Miami imo. We can't call them little brother like Oregon can to Oregon State though. It's just fun to get under their skin and remind them that they have us on their mind constantly. I cheer for anybody playing them,outside our other rivals of course,so yeah it's a rivalry. I'd ask my friends here if you think it's possible to have more than one rival, and if so, who are they? I'd guess it would be Washington, Oregon State, USC, and probably Ohio State as a new one, now that you are conference mates. Is Indiana a possible one, or will it take more years of them being a B1G heavyweight? USC has Notre Dame, UCLA, and Oregon imo. They might say Michigan and Ohio State as well. Just because they view themselves in the same class system, and all those past Rose Bowl matchups.

I'm just a fan, not one that knows much about the requisite qualities to judging how good a bunch 17-35 year olds will play together. But picking Ohio State and Oregon to finishing tops in the B1G? I could do that. Now point out the individual who picked Indiana to win the B1G, Heisman, and National Title within the first two years under Cignetti.

That might make him the smartest or luckiest guy in the game. Only Josh McDaniel can say he got a better deal with less to show. At least Chip was a great coach for a few years at Oregon. McDaniel failed, got fired, held up another franchise after they were willing to give him another shot, and lastly got fired once more. McDaniel was only a success when he had Tom Brady as a QB.

What is Chips legacy at this point? Innovator, championship coordinator,job hopper, failed NFL coach, MCRib salesman, Chip&Dale dancer?

How great must UCLA fans feel? This guy left as your head coach, and two years later, he's cosplaying as Bob the Builder meets Harold and the Purple Crayon at Northwestern. Will Northwestern replicate a Vanderbilt turnaround? Well they did fully finance the 380 million dollar stadium without public funding, so there's money there. UCLA might've had to eat some crap with that terrible DeShaun Foster debacle. " We're uh....... In LA...... USC and us......yeah.....". But word is Bob Chesney has brought in some great tackles in the transfer portal, and has Iamaleava looking crisp in the pocket. Maybe the move will work out for all after all.

I have been loving the deserved bashing of the SEC on here. From the denial about the B1G surpassing it by winning the last three titles, to complaining about playing nine conference game. The threats to separate because now the ACC and Big 12 agree on the the 24 team playoff, over the 16 team model. People crying that the SEC will get punished with more 9-3 teams being left out, despite Alabama getting the benefit of the doubt every year when the committee could've put in Ohio State, Florida State, and Notre Dame over them. How many times did an SEC champion get left out? Heck, how many times did an SEC team get in without even winning the conference? But, I am proud to say that the Florida coach isn't making any excuses. He said he would never make excuses, and that his expectation is to always win. He won't cry about a nine game conference schedule, because if you want to be the best, you are going to have to beat the best. So I love calling the SEC on it's bull crap. Since when did we get so soft in the south? That's not the mentality I grew up with. Spurrier would call out anybody, and go for the win. Urban Meyer openly said his squad deserved a crack at the perceived unbeatable 2006 Buckeyes. No running, no hidden messages. Tim Tebow openly apologized for losing one game in 2008, he vowed that nobody would play harder, and nobody did for the rest of that year. But for some reason, we are meant to think the SEC deserves at least a quarter of every playoff bracket because our depth is the best. How stupid is that? If our top three teams can't make it to the championship, why would our even worse teams fare? That will be the last time I use the term is, as I hate that collective word. I will never be an SEC.... SEC...goof. If Oregon plays Georgia, LSU, or Alabama in the playoffs, I'm hoping Oregon does what I diana did to Alabama, or Ohio State did to Tennessee. I'm sick of this denial of truths. The SEC won seven straight titles, and I didn't hear anybody trying to deny who was the best. The B1G began to invest more into their programs, they got better. Now that everyone can pay for players, it's obvious the power has shifted. The SEC can cry and deny the truth, or they can look for ways to improve. I don't really care either way. I just want the whining to stop. I want the excuses to end, and I want to see the best teams play each other. I want an SEC/B1G scheduling agreement. END OF RANT. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jon-sumrall-isn-t-complain-190436187.html

These media days are just a circus. From Pat Narduzzi trying to get Manny Diaz to do a wrestling promo on transfer tampering, and LSU of all people saying no conference mate should ever take from a fellow conference mate.... Yeah that happened. Didn't Kiffin try to pilfer Ole Miss during their playoff run?!!!! You had Kirby Smart calling Kiffin Adonis, which led podcaster RJ Young into grading how beautiful head coaches are..... Not in my bingo card🤣. Pete Golding said he would have no issues in moral ambiguity when it comes to player acquisition, because everyone is doing it. An obvious shout out to old Lane. That brought the silliloquoy of brilliance, that Kiffin responded with today.... Eli Drinkowitz complained about the nine game schedule. Will Stein said Kentucky was going to win, and win big because of himself. That's right, Will Stein pulled the old Ric Flair promo out. "To be the man...Woooooo!!!" Jon Sumrall spoke on how his situation was nothing like Lane Kiffins. Despite Kiffin insisting it was during the season. Sumrall plainly told Lane the leaving Tulane for an SEC school was not the same as leaving an SEC school for another SEC school. Imagine a B1G coach leaving for another B1G job and telling the Chesney, who left James Madison for UCLA, that it was the same situation. What do I gather from all this? A bunch of bluster, and press clippings. The SEC isn't going to breakaway from the NCAA, it's all for show. All the other sports would be dead if that happened, including men's basketball, which also makes a pretty nickel ( pennies are discontinued). Nick Saban is an Alabama spokesman, so of course he'll always be a spokesman for what they want to hear. In Chicago, we'll get to hear some more promos. Except this time it will be from the B1G side. If you enjoy this stuff, that's cool. I just wouldn't expect to learn much.

All sports require $$$$. Without football, and men's basketball to a smaller degree. You'll lose the money needed to keep all those scholarship sports. It's not hating on the other sports, but it's just basic economics. It's what WNBA players fail to realize when they think they are being cheated in pay, when in reality the NBA helps keep the WNBA afloat. There's no such thing as a free lunch kiddos. Sometime, someplace, someone is working to put together the ingredients for your sandwich. I miss the old conferences as well. But the Big East, and Pac 12 are gone as we know it. The Big East is now a great basketball league with small private schools, but with rich histories. The Pac 12 is a bunch of Mountain West, WAC, and the two programs from the old Pac 12 that nobody wanted. Memphis was willing to pay a hundred million dollars, and forgo any revenue shares to get into the Big 12. This was after the Pac 12 had tried to get Memphis, UNLV, and USF to join. So don't give me the whole Pac 12 is staying true to it's geographical footprint. Memphis and USF elected to stay in the American. If they hadn't, you'd have all these lower revenue earning schools in the west, having to travel to Memphis and Tampa. Is it any wonder that Memphis would rather pay through the nose to get into the lowest P4 conference, than join whatever the Pac 12 is? Anybody foolish enough to believe a member of the most powerful league would leave for a league that Memphis and USF turned down,should probably stop staring at the sun all day.

Would an ACC title equal Brady's seventh ring? 🤣

Duke won the ACC last year. How many playoff games have they won this decade? I think it's three, and they all came this past year by one team. The ACC is more likely to become the next league to crumble, rather than to win a National Title.

I heard Benedict Arnold saw George in the Colonial changing cabins and realized that he would never become a varsity athlete. So he switched sides.

Football fitness compared to soccer fitness is like comparing a sprinter to a marathon runner. One thing the USA, and Mexico have over every other country right now is the ability to play in the heat. I heard people asking why there are water breaks being used in this world cup, those questions stopped after many soccer stars had to stop practicing due to heat related issues. They haven't even been playing outdoors in Texas, Arizona, or Florida in the summertime. It's just now getting hot, they were complaining back in April-May in places like Virginia, Maryland and New York.

For the first time in seventy years the US has won it's first two games in the World Cup ,to make it to the knockout round. They actually won Group D and will play the third place team from another group on July 1st in Santa Clara. We saw the hockey team win the gold for the first time since 'The Miracle on Ice". Could we see an even more improbable victory on home turf this year? I don't follow European Futball ,or what we call Soccer, but it's been interesting to see them bring their unique sports culture here. It's been awesome seeing them experience our country. It's too bad FIFA didn't allow tailgating, it's what makes our sporting events really stand out. People can celebrate sports and not be jerks about it. Just like all the great folks on this board(unless you are a Beaver fan🤣) . But, maybe one day one will cross the line and have a civil discussion here, instead of a civil war of words elsewhere.

How about we start holding people accountable for their actions? Sorsby isn't a victim, he is an addict that broke the rules a hundred times over. He sued his old school when they told him he had to pay out the one million dollar NIL to take a five million dollar NIL at another program. I'm all for player rights, but with those rights come responsibilities.

I remember hearing some members of the golf team discussing the difference in athletic prowess between those down south, and those in the north. I wouldn't put it past ol Greg to really think that's a worthwhile argument. As far as ESPN covering niche events, well....

It's that oil money Jon. The whole athletic department is being funded to a point where it doesn't matter if it's Lubbock Texas, there's gonna be a championship for every sport. Makes you question what the going rate for a top softball athlete is these days. When is badminton going to be on an ESPN affiliate?