Was he surprised by Haener’s decision to transfer from the program after losing the competition for the starting job to Jacob Eason?
“Timing is a little bit awkward,” Petersen said. “I think that was a bit surprising.”
What did Haener say to him, and how did he respond?
After Petersen told him Thursday afternoon that he was going with Eason, Haener informed coaches Saturday morning that he had decided to transfer. In an interview aired Monday afternoon with KJR-950 AM, Haener said there is a “very high possibility” that he will end up at Fresno State and that he will announce his decision in the next 24 hours.
The Huskies will have to adjust their game plan a bit. Petersen said previously that Haener would play some against Eastern Washington “because he deserves it.” Without him, redshirt freshman Jacob Sirmon is listed as Eason’s backup, and it doesn’t sound as if Petersen plans to play Sirmon in similar fashion, saying Sirmon “made nice strides, but it’s a little different” than giving Haener playing time.
A pointed message for the receivers
Is this the deepest group of receivers Petersen has had at Washington?
It’s no secret the Huskies are waiting for their first big-time playmaker to emerge at receiver since John Ross and Dante Pettis, but still atop the depth chart sit seniors Aaron Fuller, Andre Baccellia and Chico McClatcher.
Only one player younger than a junior — third-year sophomore Terrell Bynum — is listed on the two-deep. So perhaps Petersen is expecting one of his veteran players to take the next step to which he refers. Or perhaps we’ll see a younger player not currently listed — Austin Osborne? Trey Lowe? Puka Nacua? — make his way up the depth.
The new depth chart is here! The new depth chart is here!
• Petersen didn’t offer a clear update on Jones’ availability in the wake of the wrist injury he sustained at the beginning of spring practices. Jones did catch a few passes during the five practices open to media, but the injury clearly remains a factor.
• Bronson, he’s had quite the year, earning a scholarship at the end of spring practices and now earning a spot atop the depth chart on the d-line. I’d imagine Potoa’e still will play quite a bit, as will redshirt freshman Tuli Letuligasenoa, who is listed as the backup at the other d-line spot. And I’d imagine you’ll see some of redshirt freshman Taki Taimani, too.
• Third-year sophomore Henry Bainivalu, one of only three reserve o-linemen with game experience, isn’t listed as the backup right tackle — and isn’t on the depth chart at all. Instead, redshirt freshman Victor Curne is the backup right tackle, redshirt freshman Matteo Mele the backup at center and right guard and senior Henry Roberts the backup left tackle. In every camp practice open to media, Bainivalu was at right tackle with the No. 2 unit, with Mele and Roberts flipping between left tackle and center and Curne at right guard. Asked about Bainivalu’s progress in general, Petersen was vague: “He’s making progress, he really has. … We’ll just see how this thing continues to evolve.”
• True freshman Asa Turner is listed as the backup to Elijah Molden, presumably at nickel. I had fourth-year junior Isaiah Gilchrist pegged for that backup spot, but Turner, a four-star recruit from the San Diego area, is an intriguing option at nickel in coordinator Jimmy Lake’s system. Former UW cornerback Jordan Miller said it’s the hardest position to learn on the whole defense. Here’s how Lake described the nickel’s responsibilities last fall: “Those guys are taking on offensive linemen, they’re taking on fullbacks, they’re taking on stock blocks, right at the line of scrimmage, right now. But then you have to be fast enough to chase down all these wide screens. So it takes a special person that has all those talents that can do that.” It’s fitting that Lake might try Turner here. Notre Dame wanted Turner as a linebacker and UW wanted him as a safety. Nickel requires a bit of both skill sets.
• Another true freshman, cornerback Trent McDuffie, made the depth chart as a backup. This was easier to see coming, since McDuffie — a four-star recruit who was a national top-150 prospect from the L.A. area — took nearly every 11-on-11 rep with the No. 2 defense in practices open to media. McDuffie was the highest-rated of UW’s defensive back signees.
• As expected, true freshman Cam Williams is listed as a starting safety. Lake put him with the No. 1 defense during 11-on-11 periods in early spring, and he’s been there ever since. Petersen said Monday that “we’ve been extremely excited about Cam Williams since spring ball, just in terms of his attention to detail and picking it up.” Williams, a three-star prospect from Bakersfield, Calif., is listed ahead of junior Brandon McKinney, who has legitimate playing experience, so this is clearly a reflection of Lake’s belief in Williams’ potential.
• Sophomore Peyton Henry did indeed win the starting kicker job, but Petersen said true freshman Tim Horn will handle kickoff duties, meaning he is unlikely to redshirt.
• So that’s Williams, Turner, McDuffie and Horn as true freshmen listed on the two-deep. Which of the 2019 signees will play more than the four games allowed per NCAA redshirt rules? “We’re thinking about a couple of those DBs, a linebacker or two,” Petersen said. “We talked about Puka (Nacua). Tim Horn. We’ll just kind of have to see how these things evolve, to tell you the truth. We’re planning on playing a handful of these guys, but we’ll just kind of see how it goes down the road. We might end up playing more with injuries and all those things, and maybe it’s not a bunch the first game but a bunch more the fourth game. It’s kind of a work in progress with all those things.”
Pete bristled pretty hard responding to this question. Also at Softy for asking about changes in the offense for comments Pete made after the Rose Bowl "You've asked me that question 3 times..." Thumbs up, good watch.
Fuck off peterman. It’s softys and other shitty hacks jobs to ask questions when you’re not doing your job.
Having a serviceable offense is part of your fucking job.
- More beer and wine available in the stadium, with Corona being a new sponsor with a bar in the 100 section. Still no timeline on when alcohol can be purchased at regular concessions, but they're working on moving towards it. Baseball and Softball had it last year, Basketball will have it this year. Working on getting it with Football, but they are trying to figure out how that can work with traditional tailgating. Once concessions is selling alcohol, leaving the stadium at halftime will no longer be allowed.
- The Husky Chant will be moving back to a North/South orientation.
- More stats will be poasted on the big screen throughout the game.
- Zero chance that she approves a 9am kickoff next year against Michigan. She said it's too big of a game to give up home field advantage and the experience for the fans of having a great non-conference opponent in your home stadium.
- Other PAC-12 schools may want 9am games for exposure, but she wants Husky fans to have a great experience and the team to have home field advantage. Playing an East Coast team who travels to UW at a time that is more in line with their usual game times and their fans can watch it at home at the typical tie, is not a home field advantage.
- TV exposure is great, but taking care of UW's fans and the fan experience is the most important thing to the Athletic Department right now. Until they are contractually obligated to play at 9am, UW will not be a part of it.
- The AD is working really hard to understand how to get Husky Stadium rocking the way it did in the past. How to get the fans to show up. How to get them to stay. How to get them to be loud on every play.
- 2022/2023 is still being worked on for non-conference schedule. They had a lot of options they were trying to lock down but haven't come to fruition. By the end of the football season, they should have a series locked up for 2022/2023 as well as 2026/2027.
- Is not a fan of the constant transfer environment if you don't win a job in college football right now. However, if someone is going to transfer, she expects them to follow the rules of the PAC-12 and the NCAA in regards to sitting out a year.
- It is not the football program or head coach who denies a waiver, but it's the Athletic Department. Believes it's ridiculous that Petersen is being criticized for not approving a waiver, as it is not his decision alone and he is "the most principled man in college football".
A question from Andy Staple's mailbag from the Athletic:
Andy, it seems college football is getting more and more stratified by the year. What team(s) are best positioned to break the stranglehold the top five or six programs seem to have on the sport, be it this year or in the near future?
The caste system seems to be the aspect of college football that frustrates the most people. Though it has always existed, it feels as if the group at the top has gotten considerably smaller in the past 10 years.
Probably because it has. Since Alabama won its first national title of the Nick Saban era, only four other programs (Auburn, Florida State, Ohio State, Clemson) have won national titles. That’s five different programs winning national titles in 10 seasons. In the previous 10 seasons, eight different programs (Florida State, Oklahoma, Miami, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Texas, Florida) won the BCS title, and the national title matchup never felt preordained at the start of the season.
Now it feels as if only two programs (Alabama and Clemson) have a chance to win because they’ve played for three of the past four national titles — and met in a semifinal the year they didn’t play for all the Tostitos. The root cause of this is Saban’s dominance at Alabama. It is the only constant the past 10 years. But even if Saban remains at Alabama for another 10 years, a change in the membership at the top is coming because some other coaches (most notably Clemson’s Dabo Swinney) have made it so Alabama doesn’t get every player Saban wants.
The membership of the club to which David refers — we probably should call it something sexy like The Club — is currently this group: Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma. These teams either make the College Football Playoff or just miss it. They feel like the only teams with a chance right now.
The newest member of The Club is Georgia, which ascended to another recruiting plane when Kirby Smart was hired to replace Mark Richt following the 2015 season. What makes this interesting is that the closer Georgia gets to Alabama and Clemson — two programs the Bulldogs recruit against for nearly every player — the easier it makes it for teams outside the club to join it. There are a finite number of recruits each year who can help a team build a national title contender, and every one who goes to Georgia is one who didn’t go to Alabama or Clemson. You watched this phenomenon play out for Clemson during the national title game. The Tigers signed receiver Justyn Ross and Alabama didn’t. Put Ross in crimson and that game goes from a blowout Clemson win to a nail-biter. Now imagine if Ross had gone to Auburn. It would have changed everyone’s 2018. The more that happens — and the more teams that siphon off a top recruit here and there — the closer everyone can get to those teams at the top.
Georgia’s roster upgrade has brought the Bulldogs closer to Alabama in the SEC, but it also has brought Auburn and LSU closer to the Tide because when those players go to Georgia, they aren’t going to Alabama. Auburn and LSU each recruit at a high level, and if Alabama drops even a few notches in talent then games that weren’t in doubt suddenly get tighter.
Meanwhile, if Mario Cristobal at Oregon can use the roster-building techniques he learned at Alabama to build lines of scrimmage that look like the ones at Alabama, Clemson and Georgia and combine them with the skill position players the Ducks have always been able to get, he could have a team capable of breaking into the club by taking advantage of a conference where only two schools (Utah and Washington) seem to grasp the importance of dominance at the line of scrimmage. And if that happens, Chris Petersen at Washington will have to upgrade his roster. Of course, who knows what might happen if USC ever finds someone who realizes the Trojans have a prohibitive recruiting advantage on the West Coast and can lock down all the best big bodies to keep them away from Oregon, Utah and Washington?
In the Big Ten, Penn State has recruited at a level that could get the Nittany Lions into the club. They’ve already won a Big Ten title under James Franklin, and they now have a talent base much closer to Ohio State’s — which is the gold standard in that league. Perhaps a change at the top in Columbus allows Penn State to slip into the group. Or maybe this is the year Michigan finally breaks through.
In the Big 12, Texas finally has a roster capable of competing for a Big 12 title. Is that good enough to compete for the Playoff? We’ll see. But the Longhorns are considerably deeper on the offensive line, and they’ve finally found a quarterback (Sam Ehlinger) who can raise the level of play of everyone around him.
That’s not a huge list of potential new members to The Club, but even one or two could shake things up and make them a lot more fun for the rest of us.
Seems like Andy hasn't been keeping up with UW Recruiting.
- More beer and wine available in the stadium, with Corona being a new sponsor with a bar in the 100 section. Still no timeline on when alcohol can be purchased at regular concessions, but they're working on moving towards it. Baseball and Softball had it last year, Basketball will have it this year. Working on getting it with Football, but they are trying to figure out how that can work with traditional tailgating. Once concessions is selling alcohol, leaving the stadium at halftime will no longer be allowed.
- The Husky Chant will be moving back to a North/South orientation.
- More stats will be poasted on the big screen throughout the game.
- Zero chance that she approves a 9am kickoff next year against Michigan. She said it's too big of a game to give up home field advantage and the experience for the fans of having a great non-conference opponent in your home stadium.
- Other PAC-12 schools may want 9am games for exposure, but she wants Husky fans to have a great experience and the team to have home field advantage. Playing an East Coast team who travels to UW at a time that is more in line with their usual game times and their fans can watch it at home at the typical tie, is not a home field advantage.
- TV exposure is great, but taking care of UW's fans and the fan experience is the most important thing to the Athletic Department right now. Until they are contractually obligated to play at 9am, UW will not be a part of it.
- The AD is working really hard to understand how to get Husky Stadium rocking the way it did in the past. How to get the fans to show up. How to get them to stay. How to get them to be loud on every play.
- 2022/2023 is still being worked on for non-conference schedule. They had a lot of options they were trying to lock down but haven't come to fruition. By the end of the football season, they should have a series locked up for 2022/2023 as well as 2026/2027.
- Is not a fan of the constant transfer environment if you don't win a job in college football right now. However, if someone is going to transfer, she expects them to follow the rules of the PAC-12 and the NCAA in regards to sitting out a year.
- It is not the football program or head coach who denies a waiver, but it's the Athletic Department. Believes it's ridiculous that Petersen is being criticized for not approving a waiver, as it is not his decision alone and he is "the most principled man in college football".
Meanwhile, if Mario Cristobal at Oregon can use the roster-building techniques he learned at Alabama to build lines of scrimmage that look like the ones at Alabama, Clemson and Georgia and combine them with the skill position players the Ducks have always been able to get, he could have a team capable of breaking into the club by taking advantage of a conference where only two schools (Utah and Washington) seem to grasp the importance of dominance at the line of scrimmage. And if that happens, Chris Petersen at Washington will have to upgrade his roster. Of course, who knows what might happen if USC ever finds someone who realizes the Trojans have a prohibitive recruiting advantage on the West Coast and can lock down all the best big bodies to keep them away from Oregon, Utah and Washington?
Huskies currently have the fucking softest, quietest, weakest, most effete fan engagement package I've seen outside of Stanford and Cal, where their fans don't even pretend to care. Which is kind of how our gameday experience is trending.
Cuogs and Beavs might be a little gauche in their presentation, but their rube fans eat it up. The Huskies lost our rubes to the 12 movement, but this might be THE season to win them back, if they can win and do it with a guy who was born to be a superstar in Eason.
The Eason for Heisman campaign should've been launched the day Haener fagged out. That's the kind of shit that gets yokels amped up and interested, regardless of if he's a Heisman quality player. More skinny in the marketing materials, more pictures of him with dime piece coeds.
And, shit, embrace the #turnoversalmon if it serves its purpose of increasing engagement and gets some profile.
- More beer and wine available in the stadium, with Corona being a new sponsor with a bar in the 100 section. Still no timeline on when alcohol can be purchased at regular concessions, but they're working on moving towards it. Baseball and Softball had it last year, Basketball will have it this year. Working on getting it with Football, but they are trying to figure out how that can work with traditional tailgating. Once concessions is selling alcohol, leaving the stadium at halftime will no longer be allowed.
- The Husky Chant will be moving back to a North/South orientation.
- More stats will be poasted on the big screen throughout the game.
- Zero chance that she approves a 9am kickoff next year against Michigan. She said it's too big of a game to give up home field advantage and the experience for the fans of having a great non-conference opponent in your home stadium.
- Other PAC-12 schools may want 9am games for exposure, but she wants Husky fans to have a great experience and the team to have home field advantage. Playing an East Coast team who travels to UW at a time that is more in line with their usual game times and their fans can watch it at home at the typical tie, is not a home field advantage.
- TV exposure is great, but taking care of UW's fans and the fan experience is the most important thing to the Athletic Department right now. Until they are contractually obligated to play at 9am, UW will not be a part of it.
- The AD is working really hard to understand how to get Husky Stadium rocking the way it did in the past. How to get the fans to show up. How to get them to stay. How to get them to be loud on every play.
- 2022/2023 is still being worked on for non-conference schedule. They had a lot of options they were trying to lock down but haven't come to fruition. By the end of the football season, they should have a series locked up for 2022/2023 as well as 2026/2027.
- Is not a fan of the constant transfer environment if you don't win a job in college football right now. However, if someone is going to transfer, she expects them to follow the rules of the PAC-12 and the NCAA in regards to sitting out a year.
- It is not the football program or head coach who denies a waiver, but it's the Athletic Department. Believes it's ridiculous that Petersen is being criticized for not approving a waiver, as it is not his decision alone and he is "the most principled man in college football".
- More beer and wine available in the stadium, with Corona being a new sponsor with a bar in the 100 section. Still no timeline on when alcohol can be purchased at regular concessions, but they're working on moving towards it. Baseball and Softball had it last year, Basketball will have it this year. Working on getting it with Football, but they are trying to figure out how that can work with traditional tailgating. Once concessions is selling alcohol, leaving the stadium at halftime will no longer be allowed.
- The Husky Chant will be moving back to a North/South orientation.
- More stats will be poasted on the big screen throughout the game.
- Zero chance that she approves a 9am kickoff next year against Michigan. She said it's too big of a game to give up home field advantage and the experience for the fans of having a great non-conference opponent in your home stadium.
- Other PAC-12 schools may want 9am games for exposure, but she wants Husky fans to have a great experience and the team to have home field advantage. Playing an East Coast team who travels to UW at a time that is more in line with their usual game times and their fans can watch it at home at the typical tie, is not a home field advantage.
- TV exposure is great, but taking care of UW's fans and the fan experience is the most important thing to the Athletic Department right now. Until they are contractually obligated to play at 9am, UW will not be a part of it.
- The AD is working really hard to understand how to get Husky Stadium rocking the way it did in the past. How to get the fans to show up. How to get them to stay. How to get them to be loud on every play.
- 2022/2023 is still being worked on for non-conference schedule. They had a lot of options they were trying to lock down but haven't come to fruition. By the end of the football season, they should have a series locked up for 2022/2023 as well as 2026/2027.
- Is not a fan of the constant transfer environment if you don't win a job in college football right now. However, if someone is going to transfer, she expects them to follow the rules of the PAC-12 and the NCAA in regards to sitting out a year.
- It is not the football program or head coach who denies a waiver, but it's the Athletic Department. Believes it's ridiculous that Petersen is being criticized for not approving a waiver, as it is not his decision alone and he is "the most principled man in college football".
Comments
Fuller, 58 catches, 874 yards
Bacellia, 55 catches, 584 yards
Pounds, 8 catches, 166 yards
McClatcher, 9 catches, 134 yards,
Chin, 1 catch, 15 yards
Depending on the production in the first few games, I expect to see a very different looking depth chart before USC.
Jake Haener’s departure ‘awkward’ timing
Was he surprised by Haener’s decision to transfer from the program after losing the competition for the starting job to Jacob Eason?
“Timing is a little bit awkward,” Petersen said. “I think that was a bit surprising.”
What did Haener say to him, and how did he respond?
After Petersen told him Thursday afternoon that he was going with Eason, Haener informed coaches Saturday morning that he had decided to transfer. In an interview aired Monday afternoon with KJR-950 AM, Haener said there is a “very high possibility” that he will end up at Fresno State and that he will announce his decision in the next 24 hours.
The Huskies will have to adjust their game plan a bit. Petersen said previously that Haener would play some against Eastern Washington “because he deserves it.” Without him, redshirt freshman Jacob Sirmon is listed as Eason’s backup, and it doesn’t sound as if Petersen plans to play Sirmon in similar fashion, saying Sirmon “made nice strides, but it’s a little different” than giving Haener playing time.
A pointed message for the receivers
Is this the deepest group of receivers Petersen has had at Washington?
It’s no secret the Huskies are waiting for their first big-time playmaker to emerge at receiver since John Ross and Dante Pettis, but still atop the depth chart sit seniors Aaron Fuller, Andre Baccellia and Chico McClatcher.
Only one player younger than a junior — third-year sophomore Terrell Bynum — is listed on the two-deep. So perhaps Petersen is expecting one of his veteran players to take the next step to which he refers. Or perhaps we’ll see a younger player not currently listed — Austin Osborne? Trey Lowe? Puka Nacua? — make his way up the depth.
The new depth chart is here! The new depth chart is here!
• Petersen didn’t offer a clear update on Jones’ availability in the wake of the wrist injury he sustained at the beginning of spring practices. Jones did catch a few passes during the five practices open to media, but the injury clearly remains a factor.
• Bronson, he’s had quite the year, earning a scholarship at the end of spring practices and now earning a spot atop the depth chart on the d-line. I’d imagine Potoa’e still will play quite a bit, as will redshirt freshman Tuli Letuligasenoa, who is listed as the backup at the other d-line spot. And I’d imagine you’ll see some of redshirt freshman Taki Taimani, too.
• Third-year sophomore Henry Bainivalu, one of only three reserve o-linemen with game experience, isn’t listed as the backup right tackle — and isn’t on the depth chart at all. Instead, redshirt freshman Victor Curne is the backup right tackle, redshirt freshman Matteo Mele the backup at center and right guard and senior Henry Roberts the backup left tackle. In every camp practice open to media, Bainivalu was at right tackle with the No. 2 unit, with Mele and Roberts flipping between left tackle and center and Curne at right guard. Asked about Bainivalu’s progress in general, Petersen was vague: “He’s making progress, he really has. … We’ll just see how this thing continues to evolve.”
• True freshman Asa Turner is listed as the backup to Elijah Molden, presumably at nickel. I had fourth-year junior Isaiah Gilchrist pegged for that backup spot, but Turner, a four-star recruit from the San Diego area, is an intriguing option at nickel in coordinator Jimmy Lake’s system. Former UW cornerback Jordan Miller said it’s the hardest position to learn on the whole defense. Here’s how Lake described the nickel’s responsibilities last fall: “Those guys are taking on offensive linemen, they’re taking on fullbacks, they’re taking on stock blocks, right at the line of scrimmage, right now. But then you have to be fast enough to chase down all these wide screens. So it takes a special person that has all those talents that can do that.” It’s fitting that Lake might try Turner here. Notre Dame wanted Turner as a linebacker and UW wanted him as a safety. Nickel requires a bit of both skill sets.
• Another true freshman, cornerback Trent McDuffie, made the depth chart as a backup. This was easier to see coming, since McDuffie — a four-star recruit who was a national top-150 prospect from the L.A. area — took nearly every 11-on-11 rep with the No. 2 defense in practices open to media. McDuffie was the highest-rated of UW’s defensive back signees.
• As expected, true freshman Cam Williams is listed as a starting safety. Lake put him with the No. 1 defense during 11-on-11 periods in early spring, and he’s been there ever since. Petersen said Monday that “we’ve been extremely excited about Cam Williams since spring ball, just in terms of his attention to detail and picking it up.” Williams, a three-star prospect from Bakersfield, Calif., is listed ahead of junior Brandon McKinney, who has legitimate playing experience, so this is clearly a reflection of Lake’s belief in Williams’ potential.
• Sophomore Peyton Henry did indeed win the starting kicker job, but Petersen said true freshman Tim Horn will handle kickoff duties, meaning he is unlikely to redshirt.
• So that’s Williams, Turner, McDuffie and Horn as true freshmen listed on the two-deep. Which of the 2019 signees will play more than the four games allowed per NCAA redshirt rules? “We’re thinking about a couple of those DBs, a linebacker or two,” Petersen said. “We talked about Puka (Nacua). Tim Horn. We’ll just kind of have to see how these things evolve, to tell you the truth. We’re planning on playing a handful of these guys, but we’ll just kind of see how it goes down the road. We might end up playing more with injuries and all those things, and maybe it’s not a bunch the first game but a bunch more the fourth game. It’s kind of a work in progress with all those things.”
Everyone says so.
WSU must be one of the only teams in college football history to use home-field advantage as an excuse for losing.
We are truly #blessed.
Having a serviceable offense is part of your fucking job.
Now I remember why he blocked me on Twitter.
I hope he asks him 30 more times...
- More beer and wine available in the stadium, with Corona being a new sponsor with a bar in the 100 section. Still no timeline on when alcohol can be purchased at regular concessions, but they're working on moving towards it. Baseball and Softball had it last year, Basketball will have it this year. Working on getting it with Football, but they are trying to figure out how that can work with traditional tailgating. Once concessions is selling alcohol, leaving the stadium at halftime will no longer be allowed.
- The Husky Chant will be moving back to a North/South orientation.
- More stats will be poasted on the big screen throughout the game.
- Zero chance that she approves a 9am kickoff next year against Michigan. She said it's too big of a game to give up home field advantage and the experience for the fans of having a great non-conference opponent in your home stadium.
- Other PAC-12 schools may want 9am games for exposure, but she wants Husky fans to have a great experience and the team to have home field advantage. Playing an East Coast team who travels to UW at a time that is more in line with their usual game times and their fans can watch it at home at the typical tie, is not a home field advantage.
- TV exposure is great, but taking care of UW's fans and the fan experience is the most important thing to the Athletic Department right now. Until they are contractually obligated to play at 9am, UW will not be a part of it.
- The AD is working really hard to understand how to get Husky Stadium rocking the way it did in the past. How to get the fans to show up. How to get them to stay. How to get them to be loud on every play.
- 2022/2023 is still being worked on for non-conference schedule. They had a lot of options they were trying to lock down but haven't come to fruition. By the end of the football season, they should have a series locked up for 2022/2023 as well as 2026/2027.
- Is not a fan of the constant transfer environment if you don't win a job in college football right now. However, if someone is going to transfer, she expects them to follow the rules of the PAC-12 and the NCAA in regards to sitting out a year.
- It is not the football program or head coach who denies a waiver, but it's the Athletic Department. Believes it's ridiculous that Petersen is being criticized for not approving a waiver, as it is not his decision alone and he is "the most principled man in college football".
Andy, it seems college football is getting more and more stratified by the year. What team(s) are best positioned to break the stranglehold the top five or six programs seem to have on the sport, be it this year or in the near future?
The caste system seems to be the aspect of college football that frustrates the most people. Though it has always existed, it feels as if the group at the top has gotten considerably smaller in the past 10 years.
Probably because it has. Since Alabama won its first national title of the Nick Saban era, only four other programs (Auburn, Florida State, Ohio State, Clemson) have won national titles. That’s five different programs winning national titles in 10 seasons. In the previous 10 seasons, eight different programs (Florida State, Oklahoma, Miami, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Texas, Florida) won the BCS title, and the national title matchup never felt preordained at the start of the season.
Now it feels as if only two programs (Alabama and Clemson) have a chance to win because they’ve played for three of the past four national titles — and met in a semifinal the year they didn’t play for all the Tostitos. The root cause of this is Saban’s dominance at Alabama. It is the only constant the past 10 years. But even if Saban remains at Alabama for another 10 years, a change in the membership at the top is coming because some other coaches (most notably Clemson’s Dabo Swinney) have made it so Alabama doesn’t get every player Saban wants.
The membership of the club to which David refers — we probably should call it something sexy like The Club — is currently this group: Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma. These teams either make the College Football Playoff or just miss it. They feel like the only teams with a chance right now.
The newest member of The Club is Georgia, which ascended to another recruiting plane when Kirby Smart was hired to replace Mark Richt following the 2015 season. What makes this interesting is that the closer Georgia gets to Alabama and Clemson — two programs the Bulldogs recruit against for nearly every player — the easier it makes it for teams outside the club to join it. There are a finite number of recruits each year who can help a team build a national title contender, and every one who goes to Georgia is one who didn’t go to Alabama or Clemson. You watched this phenomenon play out for Clemson during the national title game. The Tigers signed receiver Justyn Ross and Alabama didn’t. Put Ross in crimson and that game goes from a blowout Clemson win to a nail-biter. Now imagine if Ross had gone to Auburn. It would have changed everyone’s 2018. The more that happens — and the more teams that siphon off a top recruit here and there — the closer everyone can get to those teams at the top.
Georgia’s roster upgrade has brought the Bulldogs closer to Alabama in the SEC, but it also has brought Auburn and LSU closer to the Tide because when those players go to Georgia, they aren’t going to Alabama. Auburn and LSU each recruit at a high level, and if Alabama drops even a few notches in talent then games that weren’t in doubt suddenly get tighter.
Meanwhile, if Mario Cristobal at Oregon can use the roster-building techniques he learned at Alabama to build lines of scrimmage that look like the ones at Alabama, Clemson and Georgia and combine them with the skill position players the Ducks have always been able to get, he could have a team capable of breaking into the club by taking advantage of a conference where only two schools (Utah and Washington) seem to grasp the importance of dominance at the line of scrimmage. And if that happens, Chris Petersen at Washington will have to upgrade his roster. Of course, who knows what might happen if USC ever finds someone who realizes the Trojans have a prohibitive recruiting advantage on the West Coast and can lock down all the best big bodies to keep them away from Oregon, Utah and Washington?
In the Big Ten, Penn State has recruited at a level that could get the Nittany Lions into the club. They’ve already won a Big Ten title under James Franklin, and they now have a talent base much closer to Ohio State’s — which is the gold standard in that league. Perhaps a change at the top in Columbus allows Penn State to slip into the group. Or maybe this is the year Michigan finally breaks through.
In the Big 12, Texas finally has a roster capable of competing for a Big 12 title. Is that good enough to compete for the Playoff? We’ll see. But the Longhorns are considerably deeper on the offensive line, and they’ve finally found a quarterback (Sam Ehlinger) who can raise the level of play of everyone around him.
That’s not a huge list of potential new members to The Club, but even one or two could shake things up and make them a lot more fun for the rest of us.
Seems like Andy hasn't been keeping up with UW Recruiting.
Cuogs and Beavs might be a little gauche in their presentation, but their rube fans eat it up. The Huskies lost our rubes to the 12 movement, but this might be THE season to win them back, if they can win and do it with a guy who was born to be a superstar in Eason.
The Eason for Heisman campaign should've been launched the day Haener fagged out. That's the kind of shit that gets yokels amped up and interested, regardless of if he's a Heisman quality player. More skinny in the marketing materials, more pictures of him with dime piece coeds.
And, shit, embrace the #turnoversalmon if it serves its purpose of increasing engagement and gets some profile.