If Pounds could have one year where he didn't get hurt....
The kid has made some fantastic catches for us and people shit on him. I don't get it.
He’s made two truly amazing catches. The one against Colorado was big time as well. He hasn’t done much else and is always hurt. That’s why he gets shitted on.
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.
We've talked a bit about Oregon creating a narrative that they are very talented and the place to be; SEC PNW - and hoping results follow. Taking a few guys who are highly rated but questionable or with poor offer lists. At a time when top talent is following each other to only a small handful of schools, it's not a terrible strategy. At least with the lazy media, this is some evidence that it's starting to work. EWIWBI.
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.
We've talked a bit about Oregon creating a narrative that they are very talented and the place to be; SEC PNW - and hoping results follow. Taking a few guys who are highly rated but questionable or with poor offer lists. At a time when top talent is following each other to only a small handful of schools, it's not a terrible strategy. At least with the lazy media, this is some evidence that it's starting to work. EWIWBI.
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.
We've talked a bit about Oregon creating a narrative that they are very talented and the place to be; SEC PNW - and hoping results follow. Taking a few guys who are highly rated but questionable or with poor offer lists. At a time when top talent is following each other to only a small handful of schools, it's not a terrible strategy. At least with the lazy media, this is some evidence that it's starting to work. EWIWBI.
What you are describing is Sark with marketing
I mean, sure.gif... A guy that somehow continues to fail upwards, and a school that is all about marketing themselves. Eventually they'll have to do something with the talent. But they ain't winning shit without it.
"He's a really good athlete, tall and rangy, and he was one of those guys that was not here early. There's not a ton of learning going on in the summer, either, just school and a little bit of lifting and running. So for him to come in twenty-some days and really get this into his bloodstream is good. It's only going to continue to improve."
At what point did you think Cameron Williams could be a starter?
"We felt good about it from the very start and it wasn't necessarily on defense where I said this guy is going to get some things figured out. It's his attention to detail on special teams that really grabbed my attention because that's a hard thing for a new guy. They've got so much on their plate, they came here to play offense or defense and now we're throwing this special teams thing at 'em. So it takes them a while to understand the importance we put on it. He got that right away. So I kind of knew, this guy was going to be dialed in rather quickly."
On the hype surrounding Eason, and making his UW debut...
"I'm excited for him to go play. I think he's a really good player that's going to do some awesome things. I think expectations, I know how to handle them with our team. I never know how to handle them with you guys. They can be really detrimental when things get out of whack, and I think things have gotten out of whack with him. He's going to be a really great player, but he's a college player that's developing and figuring things out. I think we need to keep that in perspective."
Comments
The kid has made some fantastic catches for us and people shit on him. I don't get it.
Hope this clears things up.
A guy that somehow continues to fail upwards, and a school that is all about marketing themselves. Eventually they'll have to do something with the talent. But they ain't winning shit without it.
On Asa Turner...
"He's a really good athlete, tall and rangy, and he was one of those guys that was not here early. There's not a ton of learning going on in the summer, either, just school and a little bit of lifting and running. So for him to come in twenty-some days and really get this into his bloodstream is good. It's only going to continue to improve."
At what point did you think Cameron Williams could be a starter?
"We felt good about it from the very start and it wasn't necessarily on defense where I said this guy is going to get some things figured out. It's his attention to detail on special teams that really grabbed my attention because that's a hard thing for a new guy. They've got so much on their plate, they came here to play offense or defense and now we're throwing this special teams thing at 'em. So it takes them a while to understand the importance we put on it. He got that right away. So I kind of knew, this guy was going to be dialed in rather quickly."
On the hype surrounding Eason, and making his UW debut...
"I'm excited for him to go play. I think he's a really good player that's going to do some awesome things. I think expectations, I know how to handle them with our team. I never know how to handle them with you guys. They can be really detrimental when things get out of whack, and I think things have gotten out of whack with him. He's going to be a really great player, but he's a college player that's developing and figuring things out. I think we need to keep that in perspective."