Irishman

Clicked on the link this morning. Nice to see that it updates each day.

The portal is open, so what better way to start the off season topic with the initial entries. You can click on the current school logo to the right to see all the entries from that program. Who is next to strike it rich? Who will bust. IU relied on it pretty heavily, but so did Florida State. https://247sports.com/college/football/recruiting/season/2025-football/transferportal/

Agreed....either way though, 16 or 8, no conversation about Alabama getting in takes place. Sticking to 8 just might help the Bowl games......maybe?

The State of the State 🤣

The conference commissioners set this system in place to benefit themselves. They set up the automatic bids for the top 4 seeds. Arizona State finishes the season ranked 12th, but they get one of the byes. Two things happen after this. The playoff expands to 16 teams. That would eliminate 99.99999999999% of what has been discussed this entire weekend. No byes and the top seeds all get a home game, and no need for locking in automatic bids for the top 4 seeds.

Clemson wins. This will mix things up quite a bit. My original thought that Alabama would not be knocked out may be wrong. A 3 loss team likely getting a bye though? Or does Arizona State move ahead of Clemson in the rankings? That is a flaw in the system as it stands. I will be curious to see what changes next season. Chatting with a brother during the late games, I think the 5,6,7, & 8 seeds have a bit of an advantage over the other 8 teams; they get to play at home....not just near the school, but an actual home game.

Love seeing stories like this. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14vkrygsYM/

Thanks for clarifying that.......I should have deleted the first part of my quote and leave just the part about it becoming a semi pro thing in it.

Saw that coming

Here is what I don't get though. The non conference games were scheduled years ago. The only B1G game set prior to the latest conference additions from out West was the Purdue game. Going in, whoever was responsible in the Conference offices for creating the latest schedule really did not seem to consider where some teams were competitively. Not that certain teams can be avoided. But 3 of the worst teams in the conference last season, IU, Northwestern, and Michigan State had to play both Ohio State and Michigan this season. I doubt anyone projected Michigan's season to play out the way it did, but it was frustrating to see when that came out.

One of the most frustrating games this season. Never got much pressure on Goff, and when Hafley called a blitz, it often seemed to be easy to pick up. The run defense was solid, but stupid mistakes and penalties handed Detroit too many chances. What really pissed me off is how coverage in goal line defense so easily gave up inside leverage for wide open TD throws, especially knowing there is no help inside or underneath because the LB’s were blitzing. The tougher throw is to the outside, and they never forced that. It seemed like they overplayed receivers to the outside. A reversal of the other losses this season where the defense played well enough to win but the offense had made the mistakes.

Not being too familiar with the history of NWI, how much of the success/decline is connected to the steel mills/industry? Are there other industries that thrived in that area that are now declining as well?

Oh I get that....and even said in my post that I was not a fan of them being in. But Nowlin just posted the most likely reason why they are in.

Interesting list of names. https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/purdue/2024/12/03/purdue-football-coaching-candidates-hot-board-rumors-buzz-jeff-monken-tyson-helton-chuck-martin/76738373007/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1KdRKH7PYD6qgZCgLGmmlw7kkVPRVqmUthGG8wb3IFvg22wp8iSw5rwkA_aem_HXcM7vBvHFL2jqffndiScQ

Yep....and I don't see a scenario that knocks them out of it either.

Current seeding. Not a fan of Alabama being back in. And as I mentioned before, Georgia and Texas could meet 3 times this season. Based on this, it could be twice in a 3 game span.

This week's recap.

hmmmm

Your bias is showing. One could also say that for years prior to the success factor, public schools with disadvantaged populations were being penalized by having to face private schools on a regular basis, in many cases yearly, who do not have a disadvantaged population, giving them an inherent advantage. By the way, public schools are impacted by the success factor as well.

I can see the ripple effect now; just like when the Packers fired Lindy Infante. They hired Forrest Gregg away from the Bengals. The Bengals then turn to then IU coach Sam Wyche. So the Bears fire Eberflus, and then hire Freeman, and then Notre Dame turns to Cignetti for their next hire.

Happened at the end of the UNC NC State game as well.

I don't like seeing it either, but unfortunately, if you look at the top 12 at this point, I firmly believe IU was going to be left out going into today. Sucks that this had to happen to build their case to be in.

I cannot remember seeing a snow game in Bloomington. This has been a complete game in all aspects by the Hoosiers. Solid response to a tough loss. It might be beneficial at this point that they are not playing in the conference championship.

Irish DB's really struggled playing man to man. Offense was inconsistent. Far from a clean game, but they have 3 weeks to fix things, and get healthy.

Let's go Terps!!!! 🙂