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College Football Week 5

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by exmediahack, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Seems like Dooley's teams could spring a big upset more often, though. I don't get that feeling with Richt.
     
  2. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    Yep, I think a lot folks still haven't quite freed themselves from that pre-2014 mindset back when it actually mattered who was 1 and 2 in October.

    I believe about every team in at least the Top 15 or so now controls their path to the national championship, win the rest of your games and you're almost certainly gonna get a playoff invite. So we can stop fretting so much about who's ahead of who in the Top 1o.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2015
  3. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Curious thought and I'd agree with it. It's like Georgia is risk-averse and content with a B+ program out of fear that messing with it could drop it to a C- for a few years like Tennessee went to under Fulmer's final years of erosion.

    This is where Texas is, as well. Once they lost to Iowa State five years ago in Austin, you knew bad days (and years) were ahead, regardless of the coach.

    For flip side, I'd argue that letting a coach stay around too long (Tennessee/Fulmer, Texas/Brown, Penn State/Paterno) leads to fundamental issues long after the long-time coach has been run off.
     
  4. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Richt is still recruiting really well, though, which none of those guys were at the end.
     
  5. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Unless you are one of the very few truly elite programs you are taking a big gamble getting rid of a guy who consistently wins. Georgia fans probably think it is one of those programs, but that could be a big mistake.
     
  6. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Doesn't every conference have a Georgia? It's like it's in the DNA of some programs. They'll almost always be pretty good and will get some hype as a national championship contender, will win a conference championship and sneak into the national title picture every now and then, but will ultimately trip over their own feet somewhere along the line and self-destruct.
    It's like there's a cottage industry for these teams to lose a big game, rebound against the league's second tier, and finish the season ranked somewhere around No. 8 or 9 while everyone talks about how dangerous they are and they deserve a shot at the national title -- while completely ignoring they played their way out of that discussion in the first place.

    In the SEC, that program is Georgia. Their annual loss to Tennessee, Florida or South Carolina is like the leaves changing.
    The ACC has Clemson. The Pac-12 has Arizona State (the Clemson of the West). In the Big Ten it's probably Michigan State or Wisconsin. For the Big 12 I'd go with Oklahoma State.
    Almost all of them (Georgia tends to finish with a little better record) get talked up early in the year and end up somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2015
  7. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    None of those programs has the built-in recruiting advantage Georgia has, though.
     
  8. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    You're pretty spot on with this. Clemson, Arizona State (why aren't they better each year?), Michigan State (I'd put them at a high level than Wisconsin -- Bucky has benefited from being in the awful West) and Oklahoma State.
     
  9. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Gundy had been really good, but historically Oklahoma State is a pretty bad program.
     
  10. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    Or to be more accurate, before T Boone Pickens Oklahoma State was a bad program. I believe Pickens getting closely involved in the program was the true demarcation where OSU transformed from a bad program to a good one. Much the same as what happened with Phil Knight at Oregon.

    Not sure how much credit Gundy deserves, there's a lot of "right time right place" luck to help explain his success.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2015
  11. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    It has for certain segments of the fan base. I'm not sure they're the majority, but they are constantly loud. I think they're wasting their breath after reading the USA Today piece this week, which led me to conclude that Richt will be in Athens as long as he wants to be in Athens.

    He's a nice man, but the difference between Georgia and the other elite programs is that he and the administration continue to insist that there are bigger things than football. Along those lines, I heard a fan say in 2010, "I want a coach that's going to hell."
     
  12. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Before the conference shuffle, Texas A&M probably came closest to fitting that mold in the SWC/Big 12. I can't really think of a team from the Big 8.
     
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