Here for the Wins

True. True. This Notre Dame fascination is fascinating. ESPNs SP+ had them 5th. FEI has them 4th, with offense and defense individually in the top 6. Even PFF has them with an overall grade in the top 5 with offensive and defensive units each top 5. The committee did not even put them in the field of 12 this year. I know it’s cause they get “beneficial” treatment if they finish in top 12, then they get an invite to a 12 team tournament.

I might view Coleman and Wingo as 1A and 1B. It probably doesn’t matter. Competition is good. Wingo is an interesting player. He’s a big play waiting to happen but has bouts in which his instincts fall short.

If I annoy you with my commentary, I apologize for my tendencies to take different stances than most. The UF game. We blitzed at slightly over 40% of dropbacks. LSU blitzed UF 45% of dropbacks. Now Lagway had a PFF grade 40 points higher versus LSU when Blitzed than when he was not blitzed. All 6 turnover worthy plays were on non-blitzed plays. Let’s keep in mind UF had a very capable C, a very capable T. Against Texas Lagway threw the ball on average at 2.05 seconds when blitzed. Against LSU that was 2.42. The depth of target versus Texas was 10.4 versus 4.8 against LSU. The website is bogging down so can’t get specifics, but our blitz rate was similar to the season average against UF. I have read complaints about our gameplan because we didn’t mimic LSUs pressure. A couple of things - UF had two weeks to prepare for us, and they were at home as compared to on the road versus LSU. Those are two significant factors. Now the numbers. You aren’t getting home a ton in 2.05 seconds. I’m not sure whether we blitzed, but the 55 yard TD was on press coverage. The other TD pass had no safety help over the top. There were maybe two other conversions on 3rd down in which we blitzed. The long completion to Brown also may have been a blitz. Lagway only threw 10 passes beyond 10 yards. We pressured on half, got 1 pick but gave up 2 TDs. Let’s not forget D Wilson was not available versus LSU. My point is that game was not conducive to being more aggressive because when we were it was often ineffective. There were factors present in this game that made it different than other UF played as well. OSU scored 14. One score was because a penalty extended the drive then we whiffed on 4th and goal from the 1. One can argue they played conservatively so they didn’t show us all they had. Maybe, but still only 14 and 200 yards.

Agreed. I’m more stodgy than most.

Are the rules the same next year? I have doubts that the rankings play out the same if the parameters were that way this year. Because the only reason Miami jumped Notre Dame was because the head to head so you think they’d disregard that? Unlikely. The thing to do is if it’s 12, it’s the top 12 teams. If it’s 24, it’s the top 24. Not some manipulation for a participation trophy. ”Similar to NFL playoffs.” For me, that’s a non-starter. Maybe we can get gambling and fantasy football completely driving college football too. Texas ought to play some home games in Mexico, maybe cool if Tx-OU could play south of the border. Maybe manage the games so they finish at 3 hours every single time.

I believe what you’re saying is correct but have not verified. That is ND getting preferred treatment over the #11. Agreed. But would not be happening had the G6 not gotten preferential treatment with a guaranteed spot over 12 ND. I might go so far as to say the committee if they want ND in the field, they can easily place them at 11 anyway. Or if they don’t, 13 could be done as well. if it’s 12 teams, it should be the top 12. No exceptions. That is where I stand. If the committee does their job in the manner I prefer, then ND not being in a conference is of no significance. Conferences are difficult but ND has a bullseye on their back that few have to contend with. Strength of schedule should matter. Tech’s, from what I recall, was worse than NDs. Ole Miss and Miami’s were very similar. There are likely some tweaks I’d make for the SOS, but that’s the metric that’s more important than conference affiliation. Maybe ND should join the MAC so they have two shots at making it. Finish top 12 or just be the highest G6 team. Then everyone is happy because they joined a conference.

1. It supports the Texas scheduling Ohio State to an extent. It does not support teams that will typically have 3, 4, 5 losses hoping to stay at 3 or maybe 4 losses. And you need two teams for a matchup. And Texas-Ohio State want top 8/byes/more home games. That is at greater risk. 2. The conference championship games are a problem. But we’re going to settle the championship on massively unbalanced schedules? The tie breakers for OSU-Indiana will be determined how? 3. Unbalanced schedules and same bs we’ve seen to date. The reward here is in contrast to your point 1. 4. It does likely have more persons interested. I’m a football fan. College football regular was always the best. I don’t care that casuals pay more attention. 5. Sure more money. That’s probably a negative for a fan like me. See #4. 6. So if ND finishes top 12, them getting invited to a 12 team tourney is special treatment? I understand the rationale, but it’s ridiculous because that is not the team getting special treatment. Not to mention that the committee can adjust rankings as they see fit to get them in or keep them out. This past year UNDs schedule was on par with Ole Miss, Miami and Tech. I don’t think ND sat on their ass at home 8 times either like a couple of teams with a conference. 7. I don’t believe you are correct here. Let’s say A&M gets Texas at home then an Arizona State for the playoffs. You cannot say the regular season maintains its status then say the 100 year rivalry game is not the “best home game of the season.” You just rattled off that the Big 10 and SEC would have locked up more than half the spots so hard to imagine those are the best games of the season in every case. Eating up all of December is difficult for student engagement but also many fans. There is no planning way in advance for that. You consider plans but not necessarily iron them out - cause funds, family and work still matter for most. 8. The current format isn’t perfect. None are. With all the bitching and moaning, the discussion that Tech, Oregon, Ole Miss proved little in the regular season to earn their rankings was limited. There was no equal treatment to teams this year. There won’t be in this format either. Here is one thing I don’t want. I don’t want a team that loses 33% of their games in a short season getting a shot at one that lost 0%. The 33% loser might even have a crappier schedule. It’s also a little backward that you can be 6th or 7th in conference yet get a shot at a “national” title. You played more games to earn that 7th spot than the title. There’s an alternate view for you.

I’m not sure the transfers will be any better, but we’ll see. Maybe they won’t need to be better but hold up just enough.

Just trying to see where you sit on this. Sarcasm or not? The UF dude was loaded for bear.

Super conferences were the likely outcomes once you expanded the national championship. You need to start with the power and money discussion. The SEC and Big 10 want control of both. You’ve for sure seen that from the SEC for two decades. Any threats to that dominance will cause change. To their desires.

I think this has already happened in some places. Just less in your face.

As a freshman at Oregon, he had 74 tackles and 4 interceptions. Then switched to WR and kinda disappeared at Oregon then transferred to Texas playing WR year 1 then DB. Don’t know the story but seems he wanted to play WR when likely better served as a DB.

Yes, from Oregon. His brother went from Arizona to Tech, if I recall correctly. So somewhat of a football family.

He played WR and DB for two major colleges. He is the type of “athlete” the fans want. Nothing is a guarantee however. Its great to see all the Longhorns participating.

2026 should be better. Far greater maturity, experience.

I’d say you’re on the right path.

Just a little ironic that a team unable to win its conference or even participate in the conference title game can be a national champion. One an 8-9 game championship while the other is a 3 game championship.

Because we have won 35 games over the past 3 seasons, and we have guys here through all of that. Because we have guys who’ve played in hostile, playoff and championship environments. We have guys that have competed against the best. We have guys that the NFL will gladly invite onto their teams. You take these factors generically there are few teams that can say that. That’s why.

I manually counted so perhaps math is off a little bit. In the 2025 NFL draft, there were 23 Tackles taken, 14 Guards and 3 Centers. in 2024, 25 Tackles, 16 Guards, 11 Centers. In 2023, 16 Tackles, 15 Guards, 10 Centers. The 3 year totals are 64 Tackles, 45 Guards and 24 Centers. First rounders - 17 Tackles, 4 Guards, 1 Center. There at least two guys drafted as Guards that were Tackles in college - Troy Fautanu, Wyatt Milam. Gray Zabel is another that had more starts at Tackle than Guard. I suspect if you looked deeper there are more that were collegiate Tackles and moved to the interior than moved from the interior to Tackle. Just Texas guys alone we’ve had Conner Williams, Sam Cosmi and Justin Blalock play Tackle at Texas then found their home on the interior in the NFL. There’s a couple of points in here. I’ve read multiple posts about Flood’s ability to develop Tackles but not interior guys. The data suggests he’s not alone. The draft data reflects Tackles are more favored, and it’s quite likely it’s even more slanted in that collegiate Tackles are drafted as interior guys rather the other way around. Then we have the discussion of “elite.” With NIL, the waters are muddied, but I’d assume that a majority of draft eligible elite guys jump to the NFL. Of those 133 drafted offensive linemen, 28 were drafted after Hayden Conner in the 211 slot. I’m guessing few here ever referred to Conner as elite. Now, you’re down to 104 offensive linemen that might be considered elite. Proportionally speaking that’s about 35 Guards over 3 years or 11 per year. If you pair that up with PFF grades, there was 1 with a 90+ (from Army) and 11 with 80+. Only 5 were from the Power 4. Two of the 5 were first year starters and have eligibility left. The other 3 should be out of eligibility unless they get some form of waiver. There just aren’t many elite Guards running around. Moving Baker inside is somewhat uncommon although that transition was likely to occur at the NFL level. It’s uncommon because few teams have two very capable Tackles.

This is a pretty solid thought. I suspect the D2 and D3 guys were hoping for an upgrade. You likely do have more D1 guys hoping to hang on for an extra year. That’s more refusing to let go than crisis. You have seniors exiting and freshmen entering so it’s not like the total of spots are shrinking, as you mentioned.

It is. So Notre Dame. If they get #12, they are bumping at worst #10. That’s assuming the G5 is outside the top 12 and potentially one conference champ?

Yet not baffling that some team outside the top 12 gets in?

You are correct on the 11-1. But the rest is a bit wrong. UF - the 5 pick game was two games prior. It was without Dallas Wilson. I don’t think we were spying Lagway, certainly not to a materially impactful degree. Lagway physically got better with the bye but mentally he repaired himself a bit too. This game was pretty poor on so many fronts. Arch never missed a TD pass versus Ohio State. So the question still remains had he completed these “layups” do we score.

Nah.

You and I may well have differing opinions about how we got there, but there were positives. Going in to next year, our roster is in good shape. The TE pickup may be greatly underappreciated.