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Lots of "one off disasters" happen to every team. Michigan State - with a real chance at the CFB, lost in a terrible upset

I'm a bit mystified by that myself - how can we be 3 spots below Wisconsin and 7 below Auburn in the AP Poll when we beat both of them and currently have the same W-L record as both of them??? The Coaches' Poll is a little more consistent but not by much... Will be interesting to see where we fall in this weeks CFB Invitational Poll as it is supposed to take "# of quality wins" and "head-to-head" outcome into consideration as tie-breakers for teams with similar on-field records.....

The further down the rankings you get the looser the already loose criteria seems to be as the stakes are much lower...

Maybe the pollsters read this board. Its a catch-22. Franklin sucks because we never beat anyone we shouldn't beat, but here we sit unranked because we suck with two wins over more highly ranked teams that our posters that complain about us never beating better teams won't give this years team credit for beating.
 
Purdue is tied for first on their side of the Big10 conference. Illinois is not.
Just to be fair, Purdue also got blown out by a Wisconsin team that PSU beat on the road...

PSU is prone to upsets because despite the advantage at skill positions, there does not seem to be a similar advantage along the line...so whereas when OSU has a key injury or a lapse amongst skill players, it is less likely to be upset since it can "win ugly" by pushing the line of scrimmage...PSU does not currently have that margin of an advantage along the lines, and thus upsets are more likely since winning "ugly" is more difficult, despite apparent talent advantages at other positions.
 
I am willing to give CJF a long leash but I gotta tell ya, his game management or rather, mismanagement, really tests my patience. Like what was that last series right before halftime @ MD? Each possession is freaking gold! You gotta make the most of it. Not to mention what message does it send to the kids when you mail it in like that! No, it's not the losing that's bothersome but rather the way we play.

As for the backup QB situation there's thing called the Transfer Portal. :rolleyes:He failed to use it when Will Levis hit the door running. There's no excuse for it. It's either that or he's a poor judge of evaluating QB talent during the recruiting process. It's one or the other so pick your poison. So I'm willing to wait until the season is over before voting 'go' or 'no go'. For CJF it's either adapt or die. In terms of facilities he's got it so much better here than Vandy so why does he 'look a gift horse in the mouth'. My patience wears thin and I know I'm not alone. There's a lot of young, hungry coaching talent out there just waiting for the chance. Gary Patterson arrived at TCU living out of his car. For real.

As for the Big Ten, it looks like Purdue is the closest thing we have to a playoff team and to be brutally honest, they'll get smoked in the playoffs. I watch a lot of college ball and I firmly believe the Big Ten is down this year. Its zenith was reached when we beat Auburn which, as it turns out, is a mediocre SEC team.

College football is cutthroat. You're either moving ahead or you're falling behind. JMO.

Yea, agree with this - MeatChicken and MSU are perfect examples of exactly what you're talking about. MSU is supposedly great because they beat MeatChicken, but outside of that win hasn't beaten anybody of significance - and easily could have lost to a couple mediocre-to-bad teams that they ended up winning by very narrow margins.... and then lost badly to a decent-but-not-great 3-loss Purdue team (i.e., supposedly awesome because they've beaten MeatChicken - all the way to #2)..... but MeatChicken hasn't beaten anyone of significance outside of a 3-loss Wisconsin team??? MSU looks like one of the most over-rated, over-ranked #2 teams in the short history of the CFB Invitational Rankings! MeatChicken is insanely over-rated and over-ranked based on their body of work for that matter even after dropping after the MSU loss. MeatChicken is still largely an unproven 1-loss team imho.
 
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I mean for the most part that describes just about every college football program. What program over the last 5-10 years consistently beats teams with more talent. Certainly not any of the teams with multiple playoff appearances.

OU is a great example. More talented than everyone in the big 12 every year and zero playoff wins because they've run into someone with more talent.Since the playoffs started OU has beaten arguably one team with more talent than they have (OSU 2017). All their other wins are teams they out talent. They just don't have anyone else with more talent they play consistently since Texas has been a mess. Anyone expecting Oklahoma to make the playoff 4 out of 7 years once they're in the SEC?

Just looking at the current rankings, we are apparently a worse than Auburn and Wisconsin, but no credit for winning either of those games.

Michigan State beat OSU twice in three years -- the second time earning them a CFP bid. They beat far more talented PSU teams two consecutive years. Dantonio could win big games. Of course, later in his tenure, he lost too many. But he knew how to win those big games late.

You're right, though. We're not all that unlike the rest of CFB in the sense that we beat who we're supposed to and lose to teams better than us. But that's in part the problem if we want to be back in the elite. CJF doesn't win many big games -- haven't beaten a top-10 team since 2016. So, we either need more elite talent or we need better execution and maneuvering late in some of these close games.
 
Michigan State beat OSU twice in three years -- the second time earning them a CFP bid. They beat far more talented PSU teams two consecutive years. Dantonio could win big games. Of course, later in his tenure, he lost too many. But he knew how to win those big games late.

You're right, though. We're not all that unlike the rest of CFB in the sense that we beat who we're supposed to and lose to teams better than us. But that's in part the problem if we want to be back in the elite. CJF doesn't win many big games -- haven't beaten a top-10 team since 2016. So, we either need more elite talent or we need better execution and maneuvering late in some of these close games.

I mean the fact that you had to go back to 2013-2015 kind of proves my point. Dantonio also lost 38-0 in the playoff that yearand his win percentage at MSU was worse than Franklin's is here. If Franklin lost a playoff game 38-0, the ones on here that bash him for not making it would still bash him.

Anyway back to the point, as of late, no one consistently beats other teams that are more talented than they are. OSU has only lost 3 conference games since MSU beat them last. once to us, once to iowa, once to purdue. Heck only Penn State and Wisconsin have multiple single score losses to them over that time span.

No one is beating the big dog in their conference consistently. Hell UGA is 0-4 against Alabama over that time frame.
 
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Agree with this, PSU is not nearly as good as they were coming into the season - injuries have decimated PSU.... and PSU gave duhO$U everything they wanted. duhO$U did not look very good this week and the Officials noticeably bailed them out at the end when UNL had taken the momentum - a horrendous non-called PI in the final minutes on a UNL 3rd down throw was glaring (the FOX announcers outright called it a horrendous non-call on a beyond obvious PI penalty). UNL had scored to cut the lead to 23-17 and were moving the ball again when the obvious non-call occurred - if the beyond obvious penalty is called, UNL has the ball near midfield with just over 5 minutes remaining. Instead, UNL was forced to punt and duhO$U kicks a 46 yard FG with a minute and one-half remaining on ensuing possession to put the game out of reach (put duhO$U up by 2 scores 26-17).

duhO$U is not one of the best teams in the Country imho - they're a good team, but will get pasted if they make the CFB Invitational.
Well, they regularly make it to the CFB Invitational. That is either a great deal of bad officiating or they are really pretty good.
 
Well, they regularly make it to the CFB Invitational. That is either a great deal of bad officiating or they are really pretty good.

There was a long conversation here last year anticipating OSU's beatdown at the hands of Clemson. That didn't turn out so well. Of course, the narrative shortly thereafter shifted to "well Clemson wasn't really that good".

I guess it's what many folks here hope for once CFP season rolls around, seeing as though there will almost certainly be no CFPs in our near future.
 
to ruin their season.

The point is - don't evaluate coaches on one game, one instance. It happens to everyone, every coach.

Evaluate coaches by taking into account the totality of what they've done, and what they're currently doing.
Or if they lose to Illinois at home
 
The further down the rankings you get the looser the already loose criteria seems to be as the stakes are much lower...

Maybe the pollsters read this board. Its a catch-22. Franklin sucks because we never beat anyone we shouldn't beat, but here we sit unranked because we suck with two wins over more highly ranked teams that our posters that complain about us never beating better teams won't give this years team credit for beating.
Illinois 20. Penn state 18.
 
I guess it's what many folks here hope for once CFP season rolls around, seeing as though there will almost certainly be no CFPs in our near future.

Based on how things are currently setup there are almost no CFPs in just about everyone's future, or past. Its a system where success begets success, even more so with the portal.

OU joining the SEC and Clemson potentially not bouncing back may shake things up and open up some opportunities for new teams but as it stands ACC or Pac 12 programs are probably better positioned to take advantage than someone in the big ten east.

If the Big Ten were serious about getting multiple teams in they'd do what the SEC did and reduce the number of conference games by one, balance the divisions, and manipulate conference schedules so the top programs in each division rarely play the top teams from the opposite side of the conference in the regular season.

Fun fact that gets at the heart of the scheduling argument, since the big ten east west split.

-5 of the 7 West division champs have ducked OSU in the regular season.

-None of the 7 have beaten OSU in the regular season.

No west division champ has ever played PSU in the regular season.

-
 
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Based on how things are currently setup there are almost no CFPs in just about everyone's future, or past. Its a system where success begets success, even more so with the portal.

OU joining the SEC and Clemson potentially not bouncing back may shake things up and open up some opportunities for new teams but as it stands ACC or Pac 12 programs are probably better positioned to take advantage than someone in the big ten east.

If the Big Ten were serious about getting multiple teams in they'd do what the SEC did and reduce the number of conference games by one, balance the divisions, and manipulate conference schedules so the top programs in each division rarely play the top teams from the opposite side of the conference in the regular season.

Agreed. Especially your past paragraph re Big-10 versus SEC.

The SEC only playing 8 conference games is big, especially with a Saturday in November always reserved for a cupcake game. Alabama is a 50-point favorite against New Mexico State this weekend.

Via scheduling and conference alignment, the SEC sets up its good teams for success. The Big Ten...not so much.
 
Agreed. Especially your past paragraph re Big-10 versus SEC.

The SEC only playing 8 conference games is big, especially with a Saturday in November always reserved for a cupcake game. Alabama is a 50-point favorite against New Mexico State this weekend.

Via scheduling and conference alignment, the SEC sets up its good teams for success. The Big Ten...not so much.

Fun fact. The last SEC east champion that played Alabama in the regular season were the Steve Spurrier lead Gamecocks in 2010.
 
Agreed. Especially your past paragraph re Big-10 versus SEC.

The SEC only playing 8 conference games is big, especially with a Saturday in November always reserved for a cupcake game. Alabama is a 50-point favorite against New Mexico State this weekend.

Via scheduling and conference alignment, the SEC sets up its good teams for success. The Big Ten...not so much.
Bring back the "Legends and Leaders"

Leaders:
OSU
Michigan
Purdue
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois


Legends:
Penn State
Nebraska
Michigan State
Rutgers
Maryland
Iowa

Better balance. You could argue Michigan State for Wisconsin swap.

A thousand iterations are possible, but you have to split the big 3.
 
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Bring back the "Legends and Leaders"

Leaders:
OSU
Michigan
Purdue
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois


Legends:
Penn State
Nebraska
Michigan State
Rutgers
Maryland
Iowa

Better balance. You could argue Michigan State for Wisconsin swap.

A thousand iterations are possible, but you have to split the big 3.

Big ten would still screw it up with protected crossovers. We’d get osu every year anyway.
 
Bring back the "Legends and Leaders"

Leaders:
OSU
Michigan
Purdue
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois


Legends:
Penn State
Nebraska
Michigan State
Rutgers
Maryland
Iowa

Better balance. You could argue Michigan State for Wisconsin swap.

A thousand iterations are possible, but you have to split the big 3.

Yeah, I like that configuration a whole lot better. Makes better sense on any number of levels.

Honestly, the current imbalance in strength between the two divisions is hurting the league.

Of course, my preferred fantasy-land solution is for us to move to the ACC.
 
Yeah, I like that configuration a whole lot better. Makes better sense on any number of levels.

Honestly, the current imbalance in strength between the two divisions is hurting the league.

Of course, my preferred fantasy-land solution is for us to move to the ACC.
I'm with you on moving to ACC.
 
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