PDB26

A tough one to lose; even a field goal there might have been enough for Penn to hold on. Credit to both teams for their play, and congrats to Carroll.

I guess I'll call it. Carroll in a bit of a wild one, 41-30.

For what it’s worth, I recently heard that Lafleur wasn’t happy with the way that story was retold when reported.

I’ll never diminish what Brian Kelly accomplished at ND. He fought hard against the administration and is due credit for dragging ND into becoming a modern program. His were the first consistently competent and competitive teams at ND that I didn’t have just fuzzy memories of. His teams also regularly failed to rise to the occasion when it mattered most, and often met subpar competition head on even though they often prevailed. “Winning is hard,” was the refrain. Maybe he isn’t a poor leader, or maybe he wasn’t 25 years and as many millions of dollars ago when he was trying to get out of Allendale. Make no mistake, he is out at LSU because he is not a good enough leader to take that program to where they expect to be. Notre Dame wanted to win, LSU expects to win, and BK could never get his players to follow him. The guy is on a golf course or at the lake as much as he is in the football facility. He’s a do what I say leader.

The root is that he’s a poor leader whose style works to narrow his team’s margin for success because he can’t be bothered to develop relationships with people. He’s more committed to grinding his golf swing than he is to grinding on the recruiting trail—regardless of what some video evidence might suggest. So, he’s a ball busting bad leader who doesn’t recruit or develop relationships who took a job with some of the highest institutional expectations in a league where the margins at the top have been flattened to the point that Vandy is flirting with success. The margins weren’t as tight at ND, and they never had success against the top flight teams. SC was basically a non factor for his entire run there.

Penn State is out of their minds delusional to cut Franklin loose. LSU, I think not.

Of all the dubious scheduling practices, this one is the worst.

Just the HSE school corporation representative.

1. Brownsburg - 42% 2. Westfield - 32% 3. Center Grove - 25% 4. Warren Central - .2% 5. Carroll - .2% 6. Decatur Central - .2% 7. HSE - .2% 8. Penn - .2%

For a while there CP’s most effective play on offense was to get Penn into punt or field goal formation. That’s the type of thing that couldn’t fly under the radar against a competitive schedule.

That’s what four consecutive botched snaps on special teams will do for you.

Of course. Just assuming only the winner of the ACC makes the field. I’m guessing the Big 12 is a one-team league given the number of games the top three in that league still have against each other.

The worst application of the transitive game is when A and B both beat C. Good news is A and B will play each other as long as they don’t step on any rakes down the stretch.

Irish are the last team in by these rankings.

There have been strikes and gutters for sure, but I give Freeman the benefit of the doubt for the losses in year one. Outside of that, the glaring one is NIU, which was inexcusable. He seems to be doing a good job.

I see an upcoming stream on the Pennant’s YouTube channel, so it looks like it will be. Best way to follow the Kingsmen from afar. The kid who does the play by play is elite; he blows the doors off the guys who have been doing the radio show for years now.

Interestingly, LSU's athletic department actually sent $7.5 MM per year to the University from 2012-2019 before Woodward became the AD.

In the case of the BK buyout, it’s been reported that one donor will provide the majority of the funds. BK still has a duty to mitigate LSU’s damages (the buyout), which could significantly reduce LSU’s contractual obligation.

For context, it appears that LSU’s athletic department does not receive state funding through the university’s general fund.

I guess it will just depend on how important the LSU money is to him. As you said, he’s set for life, but I’ll be interested to see what they end up settling on if he doesn’t want to have to find a new job.

Man, I don’t know if anyone will ever win at UCLA. That said, given the local amenities, I would imagine he’d be very interested in the job if LSU doesn’t pony up a solid lump to get him to go away forever. I think it’s safe to say that he fought and won a lot of political battles that allowed ND to come back to true, consistent relevance. The program, facilities, and mindset came a long way during his 11 years, and his sudden departure helped to spur more changes that make ND a good job again. He was rarely likable, but mostly competent in a way that ND’s coaches had failed to be basically in my life time. I think he’s taken a big professional hit that’s probably going to keep him from landing a job at Florida or anywhere in the SEC. He’s been found out, by everyone else, as a guy who won’t grind. Penn State basically fired the same guy this year, so there’s no way there.

He can’t.

LSU has to be the favorite, and then I’d have Florida. Outside of the likelihood of an easier path to 10-2 each year, I don’t think the Penn State job is going to be that attractive to someone getting looks from LSU and Florida.

I thought BK was a guy who would thrive in the NIL/rev share world, but maybe it’s more important than ever to have a coach that will get guys to run through a wall for him. Never got the sense that he loved the game as much as he loved what it afforded him. He’s the anti-Harbaugh. He’s 64 now. I thought I heard he’s negotiating with LSU on the buyout, which makes me wonder if he wants to play golf and will accept a lesser guaranteed amount in exchange for LSU releasing him from his obligation to get another job. I think he’d do well at any Big Ten school that has expectations between an 8-4 floor and 10-2 ceiling. MSU feels like a sure-thing BK project, but, like I said above, I’m not sure his heart is in it. If he did coach there they’d have to hold his feet to the fire a little bit on recruiting otherwise he’s gonna be on the golf course or at Diamond Lake.

Again, now that I'm thinking about this more, I'm not so sure another Miami loss would have negative consequences for Notre Dame, and the Irish might even benefit from Miami stumbling. Miami already has a loss as a double-digit favorite. I expect they will be double-digit favorites in their remaining games. If they lose again and Notre Dame wins out impressively, it would not be shocking to see the Irish ahead of the Hurricanes. The committee will say something like ND lost by a total of four points in weeks 1 and 2 to teams that were playing well. They're looking strong on a ten game winning streak, while Miami, even though they looked great early in the season, got ambushed by double-digit dog Louisville at home and lost to another double-digit dog in the last five weeks of the season so they're trending in the wrong direction. This is not difficult to imagine, especially if you already imagine Miami losing another game. I think ND is more likely to be sunk by one of Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, or Texas finding a way to climb back into this thing than they are by what happens with Miami. Anyway, lots of ball left to be played and losses late in the season have always been more damaging than losses suffered in the beginning.