Playoff Discussion (all welcomed)

unreal comment

You did ask for opinions....and you didn't specify if they were to be more than superficial, better than disrespectful of an opponent, or at least more than completely disregarding of an opponent's strengths.

A 1 loss Boise St has more than one player.

Penn State to be a "beat down." Well, that could be a "beat down" of the bettors who back Penn State in this game, we don't know what the opinion maker in this case was saying for sure, but we can imply a beat down of Boise State. No facts or further opinions to substantiate the opinion...at least say an opinion with some facts and observations. I won't leave an opinion and be so arrogant as to dismiss the opposition. This is typical of 99% of all online behavior. Also, it is your thread and you can make it how you want. Maybe you want a lot of responses and that is fine......my bad.

I came into the thread hoping to read insights, maybe people who have seen them teams play, have inside information......all I read were mean, empty comments and opinions.

I probably would be better off to laugh and ignore....which is what I do most of the time. In this case I laughed, and then responded....regrettably, because then you get into a word salad, and it's easy to misintrepret--something else which is all too common in the digitalized wordspace. "Please come back" is an invitation to reflect....not a "chest thumping" or whatever else could be intrepreted.

@MizuNoYoNiNaru

 I will say if there¡¯s a coach who can botch this it¡¯s James Franklin. I think they¡¯re just a much better team top to bottom and if they play their game this is a 3 score game

Oregon beat Boise by 3 points at home....

To say they have no chance is a bad joke....

Ohio State.   Lost by one first time around. Looked like they want to prove something versus Vols and have the talent to back it up.

Texas. Watching Texas against Georgia, Dawgs run game relied on dominant line play and Etienne elusiveness. Skattaboo isn’t big on being elusive and ASU line won’t dominate. Texas offense in a whole different league from Devils D . Flashback to first round blowouts.

Penn State   Not a fan of Franklin, but defense is dominant and offense is much improved the last few games. Jeanty is a hell of a running back but Boise just doesn’t have the horses to control PSU for the entire game. 

Georgia. I will admit to being a fan and seeing the NC matchup in 1981. This will be the closest game IMO. Dawgs will bring safeties down to control Leonard specifically and the run in general as the Irish receiving corps isn’t going to intimidate a quality defense. Stockton probably won’t sleep walk until he is behind as Beck often did. He also won’t be able to turn it on like Beck could under duress. Georgia starts out relying on the run and doesn’t really establish it until late. They get the last score and win by 3-4.

One thing I can promise you, Boise will bring their A game to Glendale. Whether or not you believe Jeanty should've won the Heisman is irrelevant. The team and coaches believe he should've won it. Also, Jeanty was the only one of the four finalists that wore his team colors, saying that he wouldn't even be in New York if it wasn't for Boise St. And he recently took his entire offensive line to a swank restaurant, paying a tab that exceeded $1000! Finally, this team is completely healthy and rested, and with a chip on their shoulder. They may not have 5 star talent, but they have 5 star heart and 5 star attitude. I wouldn't underestimate 'em. 

If Penn St loses everyone will blame Franklin, and also conclude, "Penn St didn't play their best."

Franklin is 1-10 against Ohio St.

3-6 against Michigan.

4-16 vs Mich and Ohio St.

3-17 all time vs teams ranked in the top 10. Did beat Utah in 2022 in the Rose Bowl. I think he is a great player development coach, great motivater, trusts his players. I don't know what he's doing wrong in big games, or what he's not getting his players to do or not do....play calling is off?

Jeanty will be putting Boise in manageable 3rd down plays all game long. He is capable of busting 20 yard runs.....This is a fact. He gets yards after contact. This is also a fact.

Boise St is ranked #8. Boise St is 18-16 vs top 25 teams since 2000. 

I don't think PSU can hang with Oregon, not even within two scores (ok they did get a late TD to lose by 8 on 7 Dec, but Oregon won EVERY qtr of football exc that garbage TD), .....Beating mediocre USC by a FG and spotting them 30 points!!....I do not think Penn St will ever have a two score comfortable lead in this game. I think if they give up 180 yards rushing to Oregon's rushing attack (inside the tackles) then Boise can fill in the blank how many yards they want on the ground.

..................

I think Texas is the most complete team in that bracket, and they will make the Finals. I think they will be a deserving favorite in the Championship. If Georgia gets beat....Texas will win it all for certain, unless they beat themselves (dropped passes, turnovers, etc)

@WahooS

 boise trailed in 4th Q at Wyoming. Managed 15 FDs. 

 One of my fave games was Boise upsetting a big school from FLorida I think, when no one thought they could. Petersen was the coach? Its about preparation and attitude....a break here and there.... but talent/size/speed prepared trumps all and most programs have the coaches to do so. 

People need to not sleep on Franklin only because, I am aware that he has gone to the sports performance side of assisting his coaching and one thing he is doing that is super powerful, is training his players with a speed clock that they can see....and if in the drill they do not hit 90% of their top speed, he has them keep going and I know this can be uplifting and motivating for the players....if you show them the data how it improves performance. (I can see the explosiveness in his defensive players for sure this year and he has had better players and defense at times but they are insanely fast and cover ground/hit hard....this is the school of Micah Parsons pounding and exploding to the ball carrier or QB)

Its a technique I know of that came into the 90's as a philosophy....practice harder and longer at high speed....'a blowout' its called and then taper and strengthen and they come to the game all geared up and ready to tear the roof off with top speed and power

Its also all the rage in harness racing training too.... and sometimes I feel football players are a crossover to those marvellously fast,strong and powerful beasts

Don't watch or follow ncaaf til playoffs/end of year....

Bsu/psu under 53.0 stood out...psu scored a bunch last week but 14 points were off pick 6s....doubt they get 2 again.....

Osu/ore over 54.0 stood out.. ore last 2 games 49-21 and 45-37...osu should be able to score as well...both teams should put up 24+ ...also 32-31 when they played in October 

Like the ore/osu over more

Great thread Wahoo..Happy Holidays to you and yours 

leans

bucks

dame

devils likely will bite at +14.5 or better 

thank you for sharing and enjoy your holidays my friend

Years ago, teams could just physically dominate another.  Even if someone like OU, Nebraska, Mich, Texas etc weren't playing particularly well, or maybe had a little emotional hangover etc, eventually they would just wear down the other team, just due to a physical disparity on the lines.  I'm not sure that disparity, at least to that degree, exists anymore.  Linemen coming out of high school weigh 320.  Gone are the days when Nebraska could take some kid that weighed 240, put 40 lbs on him, and own the line of scrimmage.  Everyone has those linemen these days.  All of the players hit the weights in high school.  With the transfer portal the way it is, the NFL deep diving to take kids from NDSU, and NIL paying butt loads of money, kids don't want to ride the bench for Georgia, or Bama, when they can start for Minnesota, so depth has become an issue as well.  We are seeing more and more parody across college football.  There is less and less difference between P5 and Group of 5.  Yes, I know, last weeks games weren't a testimony to that. But we've all seen the upsets by traditional doormats.  Ga Southern goes into Florida, doesn't complete a pass and walks out of the swam winners.  Bowling Green has upset both the Gophers and Miami in recent years.  Marshal beats Notre Dame in South Bend.  App st beats A&M.  NIU this year beat ND.  You can see it all over the board.

Coaching has become a huge difference.  With players on each side of the line of scrimmage closer to equal, the difference becomes weighted more on scheme, technique, and execution... But perhaps more than any other time, emotion is playing a huge role.  Emotion has always been important winning one game.  But now teams are asked to go through this gauntlet of extremely tough games, one after another.  Emotion is going to be critical.

I'm not teaching anyone here anything about the nature of emotional let downs.  We all know college football teams tend to have let downs after big emotional wins, and get caught in trap games, when there is a nobody, stuck between a couple big games, and their biggest game on the schedule is the following week.  We saw that example when Notre Dame beat Texas A&M and then fell flat on their face in a loss to NIU.  Teams can't just simply show up and win anymore.  Emotion is the fuel that makes a difference in these games.  It maybe gives one team a 10% edge, and takes 10% off the other team.  We see it, in in-game momentum swings like the 2nd half of A/M vs LSU.  How does a team fuel their tank, week after week after week?  Ol Miss is a really good football team.  They went into Arkansas, which can be a very tough place to play, and absolutely smoked the Hogs.  Then they dominated Georgia.  But asking them to go to the well one more time, and win at Florida in the swamp, was just too much to ask.  

So the question I have to ask is, whose tank is full this week?  Those favorites last week were JACKED up for those home playoff games.  Now you're asking them to go on the road to a neutral site, and find the fuel reserves again.  Will they find it?  For at least a half, will the bye teams have a big advantage in that regard.  They haven't been celebrating a first round win, they've been patiently waiting to kick some ass.  A couple of them have a chip on their shoulder and want to prove the committee doesn't have it wrong...

@anal_yzer

 ...

I'm not making a predication right now.  I'm having trouble figuring this out yet.  But don't dismiss emotion, or an emotional hangover, which may be the case.  Texas very well may be facing a trap game, where they may be overlooking ASU.  We might see that with Penn St as well.  I doubt Ohio St will have any trouble getting jacked up for Oregon, but I wonder whether they're running a little lower on fuel after that dominating emotional win over Tenn.

I think in some of these contests, particularly Ducks/Bucks, and Dawgs/Domers, we ought to be looking at the kicking game.  It sucks when the game is on the line, you need a fg to cover, you're kicker is getting ready to attempt from 51, and you find out from the announcers his long on the year is 43, and he's 7 of 13.  0-5 over 50.  You might want to look up Notre Dame's kicker stats.  Oregon has struggled as well.  I want that guy whose money, from 56, and is 22 of 23 on the year.  Did you watch the end of NIU/Fresno St.  Anyone who had Fresno St or the Under, is pissed Fresno kicker couldn't make a 35 yard field goal, and that was his 3rd miss of the game.  IF you think history doesn't repeat itself, then go back and watch Toledo/Akron.  Toledo had missed twice already, the coach played for a 29 yard field goal at the end of regulation.  Just like Fresno, it was a tie game, and he had time to punch it in.  Instead he hit the breaks on the 11, and the kicker, who had already missed twice, missed again.  Then with the let down, Akron scored in OT, and won the game. 

I'm still looking at stuff.  I like to look a fg percentage, longest field goals made, punting avg, net punting, return yards, penalties yards per game, turnover margins, QB third down percentages, blah blah blah.  I haven't gotten to all of that yet.

I'm going to add one more thought.  I reffed football for 20 years.  The 3 worst concussions I saw, ones where we actually had to call an ambulance, were ones that occurred just two weeks after a kid had just had one.  Each time, I'd hear the parent or coach say, yeah, he just had one two weeks ago.  The 2nd one is exponentially worse.  You probably know where I'm going with this, but Stockton got blown up on that hit.  That was one of the most devastating hits I've seen.  He looked out cold to me.  I question whether he's going to make it through the game.  Do you still want GA, if you're counting on their 3rd sting QB for the last 25 minutes?

Ok one more... Boise St should have beaten the Ducks, or certainly could have.  Don't know how many of you actually watched that game, or know how it went.  Ducks scored one touchdown on a punt return TD, and a 2nd one on a kick return TD.  I've pulled up the game, and that Oregon return game is dangerous.  They may give up a point or three with their kicker, but man, they might gain an edge with that return game.