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College football Week 16 thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Cosmo, Dec 14, 2020.

  1. HappyCurmudgeon

    HappyCurmudgeon Well-Known Member

    Looks like Army will replace Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl and play West Virginia.
     
  2. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Makes no sense. None.

    Agree with Freelance that not playing means (hopefully) not exposing any of the future Cadets to COVID. But ... it still boggles the mind that the bowls were gladly taking two- and three-win teams and left nine-win Army at the fort.

    A hunch here is that enough programs will have to cancel their bowl appearances that Army can get a decent bowl out of this ... not just something to play, but something more befitting their won-loss record this season.

    EDIT: Army takes Vols' Liberty Bowl spot, will face WVU

    Army to Memphis in Liberty Bowl to face West Virginia. Mountaineers, meet Assignment Football.

    Between this and sending Cincinnati to Atlanta to play what will essentially be a road game against Georgia, the hierarchy of college football continues to fail. But since they go to extremes to protect one another, it's all good, eh?
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2020
  3. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I don't want anyone seriously harmed of course, but I wouldn't mind seeing a NY6 game impacted by COVID - and bring on the Blazers from U-A-B!
     
  4. Neutral Corner

    Neutral Corner Well-Known Member

    Heh. We'd get crushed and pocket the money, and not for the first time.
     
  5. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    My wife once had a dream that raccoon shot me in the forehead. I don’t know what she had been plotting ...
     
  6. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Jeff Monken strikes me as the kind of coach who, when he finally does get a P5 job, and it doesn't work out, will set fire to the administration on the way out.
     
  8. tapintoamerica

    tapintoamerica Well-Known Member

    I don't think anybody who runs a triple-option offense is getting a big-time gig any time soon. Paul Johnson lasted for a long time at Ga Tech, but we're now seeing part of why he did hang on so long: the fear of how long the teardown and reconstruction would take.
    Coaches at Navy and Air Force have also had strong records over the past decade, but neither has had much traction for P5 positions.
     
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Bill Parcells went 3-8 at Air Force.
    And Ken Hatfield had good runs at Clemson and Arkansaa after leaving the Springs.
     
  10. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    How is it that all three service academies came to run the triple option?
    They're all different administrations and have had multiple coaching changes over the years, yet that offense has remained a constant at all three.

    I get that it's an offense that suits less-talented programs, but it's weird that none of them ever tried to change it up during a coaching change or modernize it with some spread option elements. Why is that?
     
  11. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    One is I think the size and speed part of their players, the other is that it tends to maximize time of possession allowing the defense, which has the same size and speed disadvantages of their opponents, to stay on the sidelines which gives that style of offense the best chance to win. All the service acadamies were 30 plus on TOP this year, Army was only behind a couple of teams.
     
    2muchcoffeeman likes this.
  12. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I guess I just find it weird that there might be five or six FBS teams that run the triple option, and the service academies are three of them -- and have been for as long as I can remember, and don't seem to have any plans or desire to change. These are all, presumably, separate institutions with differing philosophies (at least when it comes to football). Army is the oddball here, since they've had a number of coaching changes and opportunities to switch offenses but never did it.
    Did they all reach the same conclusion that that offense would be the most effective for the kinds of players they can recruit? Is it a coordinated effort on some level, for some weird military reason? Was there a study somewhere in the Pentagon that found the triple option creates better soldiers? Did Nixon or Reagan say that they should run the triple option and it became tradition? Were there ever any coaches that tried to go away from it? It's just a curious oddity to me.
    So I guess the better question would be, is it just a coincidence, a shared philosophy, or a coordinated plan that all three academies run the option?
     
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