Glass Joe

All 7 of A&M’s wins in the SEC this season came against the bottom 8 teams in the SEC, and not a single one of these 7 teams had a winning SEC record: Arkansas, S Carolina, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Miss State, and Mizzou. A&M only played ONE SEC team in the top half of the conference, and they lost by double digits (Texas). A&M’s best SEC win was against Mizzou with their 3rd string QB making his first career start. Against the two very worst teams in the SEC, A&M gave up 42 pts to Arkansas (but won), and were down by 27 pts against South Carolina at home (but won). A&M had the most fraudulent 11-2 season in college football history (says me 😂).

The majority of Indiana’s starters are transfers (13 of 22), and all but one of their starting 22 is an upperclassmen (3rd year or more in college football). So, using high school recruiting rankings as a barometer of “talent” isn’t a particularly accurate measure of the talent Indiana is putting on the field. They are specifically selecting players from the portal who have already proven their ability at the collegiate level, so high school recruiting rankings are relevant to Indiana when selecting collegiate transfers. Further, Cignetti brought 11-12 upperclass players with him from JMU when he was hired 2 years ago, which means those players know the exact schemes and techniques that Cignetti coaches. While many of those players are gone now and only a few from JMU are on this years Indiana roster, the current players benefitted from a season of learning their positions from teammates who were experts in the techniques. As everyone could see this afternoon, Cignetti obsesses on every minute detail of his program, and roster construction is no different. He realizes that competing with other programs for highly ranked high school recruits may not be best for Indiana, which emphasizes upperclass players with years of development at the collegiate level (even if elsewhere). I don’t think Cignetti’s system would be optimized by bringing in 25 highly ranked high school players and expecting them to wait around for 2-3 years before getting on the field …. and particularly so in this Portal / NIL era when players will look around for better situations and paychecks every season. Personally, I think Cignetti’s approach to roster construction and having upperclassmen across the 2-deep depth chart is both unique and provocative. It reminds me of Bill Snyder at KSU back in the 1990s when he built that program from nothing to heights they’d never dreamed of. Cignetti is said to have a particularly expertise is evaluating players with specific traits (that fit his system), so add it all up and you get what we saw today at the Rose Bowl.

Who on that roster scares an opposing Defensive Coordinator? Which skill position player has elite athletic ability? Who scores TDs from distance without J.Love and J.Price on that offense? While ND has plenty of returning starters, they’re stuck with plodding skill position players who don’t win 1-on-1s against elite defensive talent.

The Aggies believe they have a big offer outstanding to Cam Coleman as well. It looks like they’re pursuing WRs with massive catch radius since Marcel Reed is so wildly inaccurate 😂

There goes any pass rush Michigan is going to generate against Arch. Huge advantage Texas.

I just KNEW Texas was getting Baugh!

Traded for Collin Klein?

We are going to “honor” the Ohio St and Michigan games because they are both to be televised by Disney / ESPN, who expects a huge ratings windfall for these games in the September inventory. The first two games against Ohio St and Michigan were televised by Fox, so now it’s time for Disney to get its cut. It’s also worth recalling that Disney paid a big “transition” fee to assist Texas and OU when we were leaving the Big 12 (negotiating the exit fees), and part of that transition negotiation was allowing Fox to televise the first two Texas vs tOSU and Michigan games on their network. So, I don’t think Texas is really in a position to not “honor” these return games and deny our benefactor (Disney) a huge payday. Not to mention, Disney owns the CFB Playoffs and its structure / committee process, so Texas shouldn’t be whining too loud about the CFB Playoffs (however justified).

Sorsby is the better QB.

I wonder if Raiola will intentionally tear his ACL this offseason to continue being exactly like Mahomes?

I understand the sentiment (and largely agree with it), but Lagway is still a name that a big school in need of some buzz can sell, and he does have legit tools IF & WHEN he’s fully healthy and placed into an ideal environment (offensive scheme, other playmakers at skill positions, good OL, etc). Given the egos of many P4 coaches and the deep pockets of their boosters, I don’t doubt that some P2 program will write the big paycheck and pursue here. The flip side of this (and, IMO, the most likely outcome) is more of a Florida State and DJ Uiagalelei situation. The guy took the big paycheck at the big expectations P4 school, but wasn’t physically / mentally “fixed” yet, and failed miserably. Or maybe Carson Beck at Miami, although he has his team in the playoffs and has showed some decent signs this season (along with some really bad ones). If I were in Lagway’s circle, I would think twice before signing with a high expectations P2 program and betting on a complete rehab in that situation (say, Oregon). I would advise him to step back to an easier, more comfortable, lower expectations situations and work on a lower-stress way to rehab Lagway’s career trajectory both physically and mentally. This guy appeared lost and broken most of this season, physically and mentally, and a fresh start to rehabbing the resume is desperately needed. Heck, if he does well at a place like UH (or wherever), he’d still have an opportunity to go for a huge NIL paycheck in 2027, or the NFL draft.

I think there’s a chance that if Oregon doesn’t write a big enough paycheck, a team like UH makes some sense for one year to rebuild Lagway’s resume and see if he’s viable for the NFL in the following draft (2027). Lagway’s priorities should be staying healthy, building his resume against Big 12 defenses, and putting himself in the most comfortable, easiest-path-to success environment as possible. UH makes some sense, and Fertitta has the money.

Leavitt or Chambliss?

I wonder if we’ll get a Lincoln Riley re-signing pic (or not)? 😉 Both players a back-ups on the current depth chart, btw.

Well, we do need some depth at Safety.