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bongaboi · 11 months ago

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Boston College: 2023 Fenway Bowl Champions

It was not the bowl game SMU envisioned when it handled Tulane 26-14 in New Orleans for the 2023 AAC Championship, securing its first conference title since 1984.

But furthermore, it was not the finish SMU envisioned when the bowl matchups were set. In one of the more lopsided matchups of the postseason, the 11-2 Mustangs — in the midst of a dominant 9-game win streak — were definitive favorites over a 6-6 Boston College team that defeated one .500 or better team all season.

Yet, that’s why they play the game. Boston College not only defended its nearby stomping grounds in Boston at the second annual Fenway Bowl — it upended SMU by multiple scores, exiting with a 23-14 victory for its first bowl win since 2016.

SMU is accustomed to fast starts, registering an FBS-best 13.4 points per game in the first quarter. The inability to generate a spark in the early going doomed the Mustangs for the remainder of the game. SMU moved the ball well on its first possession until Boston College defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku made a textbook strip while tackling SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings. The Mustangs’ offense stalled on its ensuing possessions and faced a first quarter shutout for the first time since November 2022.

Rhett Lashlee’s team rolled into the Fenway Bowl with nearly its entire cast of major contributors, but one major piece was missing. All-AAC quarterback Preston Stone suffered a broken fibula in the regular season finale, thrusting Jennings into the lineup. While Jennings led SMU to a conference title in his first start, the offense — ranked sixth in points per game — didn’t produce its typical output without Stone in the lineup, falling 157 yards below its season average.

SMU delivered two first half touchdowns, including one in the final 10 seconds of the half to produce a 14-10 halftime lead. The Mustangs typically thrived in second halves this season — refusing to trail for a single second in a third or fourth quarter since their Week 4 matchup at TCU. But SMU was completely shut out in the second half. The turning point occurred on a third quarter drive when clinging onto a 14-10 advantage. Jennings launched a beautiful deep ball to an open Key’Shawn Smith in the end zone, but the receiver was unable to corral the pigskin. The drive ended in a field goal attempt, and Boston College blocked it.

The Eagles capitalized on the special teams momentum swing, responding with a touchdown drive to open the fourth quarter. After an ambitious SMU 4th and 3 attempt from its own 42-yard line, Boston College took over and extended the lead to 23-14 on a 14-yard scramble by electrifying mobile quarterback Thomas Castellanos.

Castellanos, the offensive MVP of the game, made life difficult for SMU’s usually immovable defense. He eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season with a 156-yard outburst, scoring two touchdowns in the memorable performance. SMU’s defense, which was second in the FBS in sacks, only totaled one against the elusive quarterback, allowing Boston College to have manageable third down distances throughout the afternoon.

Running back Kye Robichaux added 89 yards and a touchdown, and the Eagles totaled 262 yards as a unit, boasting an average of 6.4 yards per carry. SMU only surrendered 3.2 yards per attempt in its first 13 games, exhibiting the nation’s 18th-best run defense, and the inability to sustain that excellence cost the Mustangs in a high-stakes game.

Offensively, SMU couldn’t produce the same success in the ground game against a Boston College defense which ranked 124th in stopping the run — allowing 5.4 yards per carry. The Mustangs never broke away for a run exceeding 14 yards and the passing offense finished 24-of-48.

SMU completes its 2023 campaign with an 11-3 standing which is still the Mustangs’ highest win percentage since the infamous “death penalty” punishment in 1987. The fate of the AAC champions’ season belongs in the hands of AP voters, as they hope to remain in the final AP Poll for the first time since finishing No. 8 in 1984. Now that the Fenway Bowl is over, it’s time to remove the AAC signage from SMU’s uniforms, stadium, and facilities as the Mustangs prepare their highly-anticipated transition to the ACC in 2024.

Prior to the Fenway Bowl, Boston College was 1-27 against its last 28 ranked opponents in the AP Poll. But by outlasting No. 17 SMU, the Eagles recorded their second ranked victory since 2014 — capping the 2023 season with the program’s most important win in over a decade to finish 7-6. Year five of the Jeff Hafley era launches next fall with more momentum than ever, and his Boston College team gets a rematch with SMU in Dallas next fall… as geographically-distant conference opponents in the ACC.

#2023 #boston college #fenway bowl #college football #bowl season

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conditifootball · 4 years ago

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Looking Ahead: ESPN 2020 Preview Of ACC Football

There is no getting around the fact that the ACC was down last season. Maybe even as down as it's ever been.

Many of the college football analysts across the country are expecting the conference to be improved in 2020. The question then becomes how much it will improve and whether or not any teams can narrow the gap between Clemson and themselves.

The ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) is calling for that second tier of ACC teams to be better in 2020. However, at the same time, it also expects Clemson to be improved this season.

Before it was announced that Justyn Ross would miss the season after undergoing surgery to repair a congenital condition, the FPI gave Clemson a 91 percent chance to win the Atlantic Division this season and an 88 percent chance to win the ACC.

They are also given a 75 percent shot to do so without a loss.

The most dangerous game inside the conference for the Tigers is their Oct. 10 match-up with Florida State in Tallahassee. The FPI gives Clemson a 91-percent chance to go on the road and get the win.

On the Coastal side, the FPI likes Virginia Tech. The Hokies, who return 20 of their 22 starters from 2019, are given a 49 percent chance to win the division, while North Carolina is given a 34 percent shot at winning the crown.

Miami could be a dark-horse contender to keep an eye on with Rhett Lashlee coming into run the offense, and D'Eriq King transferring in from Houston to compete at quarterback. However, the Canes are given just a five percent chance at pulling off that feat.

Regardless of who wins that side of the conference, the FPI would have Clemson as at least a 20-point favorite in the ACC Championship Game in December.

The Allstate Playoff Predictor gives Clemson an 81 percent chance at appearing in one of the College Football Playoff semifinal games, while every other ACC team is given less than a one percent chance.

The Tigers are also the favorite to win a national title, with the FPI giving them a 36 percent shot, the highest of any FBS team. Watch full online.....

https://casvids.com/watch/tXQ2NonO1TQlBPY

So, while it is conceivable that the ACC will be better in 2020, that doesn't mean there are any teams gaining ground on the Tigers. In fact, it would appear that as of now, the gap between Clemson and the rest of the league is still growing.

#conditionoffootball #football #پیش بینی فوتبال #شرط بندی فوتبال #فرم پیش بینی فوتبال

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human-relationships-stuff · 8 years ago

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Auburn Football brings back former Spain Park head coach as Offensive Coordinator

AUBURN, Ala. (WIAT) — Auburn Football has officially hired Chip Lindsey as their new Offensive Coordinator, according to a release from the program.

Lindsey spent 2016 as the OC and quarterbacks coach at Arizona State last year, where the offense averaged 33.3 points per game, according to a release from Auburn football. He is returning to the Tigers where he once served as an offensive analyst…

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#human relationships #human--relationships.com #blog posts #community #news #activity #auburn #Chip Lindsey #gus malzahn #Rhett Lashlee #sec #Tigers

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mimelord1 · 2 years ago

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SMU Mascot Cause Massive Delay At Football Game After Pooping On Field

SMU Mascot Cause Massive Delay At Football Game After Pooping On Field https://ift.tt/9WF8PeZ Play video content If you watched the SMU/Navy game Friday night, it was just a bunch of horses**t, right? Well, thanks to Peruna, the game abruptly stopped in the third quarter, after SMU scored a TD and the mascot bolted onto the turf to celebrate. Thing is … Peruna has loose bowels, and left an unhappy trail behind. Officials tried to ignore it, but SMU’s head coach Rhett Lashlee thought better and asked to hit the pause button while the poop was removed. Now this is where a lack of preparation became a glaring problem. There was no plan, no equipment, to remove the feces … something you’d think SMU would have at the ready given its choice of mascots. So the staff had to walk out on the field and pick up horse poop by hand. It took 15 minutes to make the field properly playable again. The announcers do their best to explain the Navy-SMU delay of game was due to Peruna deciding to poop on the field! pic.twitter.com/lO8JSHFjnY — RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 15, 2022 @RedditCFB ESPN announcers lost it trying to explain what happened. SMU won the game 40-34. As for Peruna … stay away from the per-unes. The post SMU Mascot Cause Massive Delay At Football Game After Pooping On Field first appeared on Suave Media. Tags and categories: Uncategorized via WordPress https://ift.tt/MWp8L1R October 15, 2022 at 02:10PM

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diariespress · 3 years ago

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SMU head coach on faith, football & his new role

THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCASTWITH JASON ROMANO, FEATURING RHETT LASHLEE Rhett Lashlee was named the head football coach at Southern Methodist University on Nov. 30, 2021. This is his first head coaching job after serving as an offensive assistant and coordinator for more than a decade with programs like Miami (Florida), Auburn and Connecticut. In 2018 and 2019, he was SMU’s offensive…

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newsupdated · 4 years ago

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How Clemson Mastered the (Totally Legal) Art of Signal Stealing

A month ago, Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said the quiet part out loud. He was asked on a Zoom call about Clemson’s reputation for stealing an opponent’s offensive signals that are used to relay play calls from the sidelines, and he met the question head on.

“Clemson is known well for doing it,” Lashlee said.

He went on to both downplay any implication that it was either rare or…

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#CFB_ACC #CFB_All #CFB_Clemson #CFB_Notre_Dame #College #College Football #Daily Cover #HP Feature

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/clemson-vs-miami-prediction-pick-odds-point-spread-line-football-game-live-stream-kickoff-time/

Clemson vs. Miami: Prediction, pick, odds, point spread, line, football game, live stream, kickoff time

No. 7 Miami travels to face No. 1 Clemson in Death Valley on Saturday in a top-10 battle sure to have implications on the ACC title and College Football Playoff races. There wasn’t much hype for the Tigers-Hurricanes game when the schedule was released in the preseason, but the impressive start by UM has made this early-season showdown one of the biggest games of the year — not only in the ACC but in all of college football.

After all, the ACC doesn’t get a ton of matchups between teams ranked in the top 10. This is the first such game since the 2017 ACC Championship Game when Clemson beat Miami 38-3, and only the 17th meeting between AP top 10 teams in the ACC in the league’s history.

Want more college football in your life? Listen below and subscribe to the Cover 3 College Football podcast for top-notch insight and analysis beyond the gridiron.

That adds an extra layer of intrigue to the perception portion of Saturday night’s events, as the quality not only of Clemson, the five-time ACC champs, and Miami, the most exciting 2020 contender so far, will carry implications that extend to the entire league.

There’s going to be a ton of talent on the field in Clemson with much of the nation’s eyes on the game. Let’s take a closer look at what to expect in this top-10 showdown as well as make some expert picks both straight up and against the spread.

Storylines

Clemson: The events of last Saturday had so much for college football fans to digest that Clemson’s win against Virginia likely appeared routine and without worry or concern. After all, when eight ranked teams lose in the same day, there’s enough carnage around the country to focus on without getting distracted by a 41-23 Tigers victory. But in that game, we saw evidence of a Clemson team that is still very much rounding into form and far from the final product that we expect will be competing for a national championship. The defensive line is down multiple starters and the offense is still waiting for wide receivers not named Amari Rodgers to step up and help fill the absences of Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross. It wouldn’t be a big deal most years, as Clemson has been known to plan its season to peak around championship time in December and January, but most years don’t feature a top-10 opponent in the fourth game of the season. The Tigers are being tested with a championship-like setting weeks before they are used to hitting that championship gear, and the results will be telling for what’s ahead — particularly with a date against Notre Dame in South Bend coming up in early November.

Miami: How will Miami stand up against the champs? The Hurricanes offense has thrived against UAB, Louisville and Florida State, but going head-to-head against Clemson’s talented front and the best defensive coordinator in football in Brent Venables is going to be a tough test for Rhett Lashlee and D’Eriq King. Keeping Clemson’s defense off-balance with tempo and hitting on enough explosive plays is going to be the key to hanging in this heavyweight fight, because no matter how disruptive the Quincy Roche and Jaelen Phillips-led defensive line may be, there’s only so long you can go before Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne are going to find the end zone. Dabo Swinney prefers to let his defense lead when Clemson faces ranked opponents in the regular season, but most of those ranked opponents have not had the No. 1 offense in the ACC ranking No. 12 nationally with a 499 yards per game average.

Viewing information

Date: Saturday, Oct. 10 | Time: 7:30 p.m. ET Location: Memorial Stadium — Clemson, South Carolina TV: ABC | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)

Game prediction, picks

Clemson’s defense might not be mature enough (yet) to fulfill the full “Big Game Dabo” playbook of letting the defense lead the way, but he’s got the best backfield duo in the country to anchor what should be a patient rushing attack. In fact, it’s experience in big games on big stages like this that will ultimately be the difference, as Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne can lean on handfuls of different games and situations for mental advantages against a Miami team that is still on its way back to the top of college football. I expect Clemson to establish the run and lean on it to avoid mistakes and keep D’Eriq King off the field. Pick: Clemson (-14)

Which college football picks can you make with confidence in Week 6, and which team will pull off a shocking upset? Visit SportsLine to see which teams will win and cover the spread — all from a proven computer model that has returned over $4,200 in profit over the past four-plus seasons — and find out.

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#clemson #football #miami #point #prediction #spread #stream #Sports

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clubsocial-india · 4 years ago

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New on Sports Illustrated: Miami's D'Eriq King Wants to Be the Next QB to Prove Size Doesn't Matter

D'Eriq King has led Miami to its highest ranking in three years ahead of a Saturday clash with No. 1 Clemson that gives the 5'10" King a chance to measure himself against Trevor Lawrence.

In the middle of the College Football Playoff championship game last January, when transfer quarterback Joe Burrow was leading LSU to the national title, D’Eriq King put himself on the market to make his own transition. The quarterback entered the transfer portal and tweeted his intent to leave Houston for a Power 5 program.

Time was of the essence. King had agonized over the decision to leave his hometown school and his family, and by the time he entered the portal he left himself with just a few days to make a decision and enroll for the winter semester at his new school.

Several programs expressed interest, but Miami showed the greatest urgency. The Hurricanes coaching staff reached out and asked King to visit Coral Gables that weekend. Their pitch wasn’t suited to a home visit or a phone call—and that had nothing to do with showing off the glamour of South Beach at a time when most of the country was shivering.

“I really wanted him to see who we were in person,” coach Manny Diaz said. “I wanted him to watch our players go through a workout, see that we were serious about winning down here. We really have a culture that is intact but just needed a leader at the quarterback position to make that shine, make that come out. I think there’s always a perception of who Miami is on the outside versus who Miami is on the inside.”

On the inside? Diaz, his coaches and players came off a dismal 6-7 season in 2019 with a renewed commitment to restoring The U as a football power. That meant dispelling an external reputation of being more interested in having a good time than playing good football.

Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz runs out of the tunnel before the second half of a game against the Virginia Cavaliers on Oct. 11, 2019.

“Being outside the program, you hear a lot of guys say all the Miami guys do is party,” King said. “You hear they’re late to workouts, missed this, missed that. When I got there and watched them work out, I didn’t see any of that.

“I mean, it’s Miami—it’s one of the great cities in the world. But I didn’t want to see the city or the beach as much as I wanted to meet the guys and see the tape.”

Thus a match was made in Miami. A city rife with distractions became the site of a shotgun winter marriage of two hyper-focused parties. A quarterback serious about showing he can be a Power 5 star (and NFL prospect) meshed with a program serious about making a comeback.

The results to date speak for themselves: the Hurricanes are an impressive 3-0 and at No. 7 in the polls have their highest ranking in three years. King is in the top 15 nationally in total offense (297.7 yards per game) and pass efficiency (a 153.85 rating) while leading the No. 7 scoring offense in the country.

Now comes the big yardstick game. On Saturday, Miami will visit No. 1 Clemson, the Atlantic Coast Conference kingpin that has won 22 straight league games. Not only will this showdown take the measure of the Hurricanes as a program, but it will give King a chance to measure up against the gold standard of college quarterbacking in Trevor Lawrence.

Lawrence is the NFL prototype, standing 6'6" and possessing an arm that makes scouts’ pulses pound. The 5'10" (at best) King has spent most of his career fighting the criticism that he was too small to play quarterback: he was once the eighth-string QB at Manvel High School; he was recruited by Baylor and others as a defensive back, even though he never played that position; he was shuffled out to wide receiver and kick returner for a while at Houston.

If he can be King for a day in Death Valley? If the Hurricanes can score a seismic upset? Then the U-turn at The U is really on.

D' Eriq King runs the ball against the Louisville Cardinals on Sept. 19, 2020.

Keshon King will be in Clemson Saturday. Of course he will. He hasn’t missed one of his little brother’s 38 college football games, and that sure isn’t going to change now that D’Eriq has reached the biggest stage yet.

When he was a student at Sam Houston State, Keshon drove two hours home on Fridays to watch D’Eriq play high school ball. That tradition continued when D’Eriq suited up for the Houston Cougars. This season Keshon has made two trips to Miami, one to Louisville, and now there will be one to the Upstate region of South Carolina.

It’s even more important for Keshon to be there this year despite D’Eriq’s distance from Houston. Because their father cannot be there.

Eric King died of a heart attack at age 48 in February, not long after his youngest child moved to Miami. That compounded the angst of being away from home for D’Eriq, leading Keshon to spend a couple of winter weeks after the funeral in Coral Gables to help D’Eriq cope.

“Dad was the one who always talked football with us,” Keshon said. “I can fulfill that role with him.”

A former player himself, Eric had coached both his sons. He and Cassandra King raised all four of their children (Calandria and Erica are the girls) in a sports-loving, competitive household.

“The only person who can stop you is yourself,” Eric King taught his children. “Be a leader in everything you do.”

Some star athletes aren’t wired for leadership roles. D’Eriq is. Shortly after he enrolled at Miami and started winter workouts with his new teammates, he set up group texts with every position group on the team. He texted them daily, “because I was the new guy and needed to show them I cared about them.”

“Even outside of football, people gravitate to him,” Keshon King said. “He’s very selfless.”

D’Eriq is selfless enough that when he scored his first Miami touchdown, against UAB on Sept. 10, he turned down the program’s sideline prop—gaudy touchdown rings. Instead, he took the rings and gave them to a couple of offensive linemen.

That selflessness led him to go along with Houston coach Dana Holgorsen’s odd plan to basically tank the 2019 season, which was supposed to be the quarterback’s last year of college. After starting 1-3, the first-year coach of the Cougars told King this was shaping up to be a lost season—for the team and for the player’s NFL hopes. So he suggested a redshirt season, and sat down with the King family to sell them on it.

“Very strange,” was Keshon’s description of it.

Still, D’Eriq bought in and said publicly that he would stick it out in Houston. But this was his third head coach (Tom Herman, Major Applewhite and Holgorsen) in college, and after a 4-8 year led to staff changes, he also was looking at a fourth offensive coordinator in 2020. After seeing what some instantly eligible quarterback transfers had been able to do elsewhere, King started envisioning himself in that role.

That led to the transfer portal, and that led to Miami. It also led him to Rhett Lashlee, the new coordinator Diaz hired to energize what had been a dreadful Hurricanes offense in 2019. Lashlee’s track record was attractive to King.

The former Gus Malzahn protégé played fast and emphasized the running game like his mentor. But at SMU, his most recent stop before Miami, he added a new element: some Air Raid passing principles. That led to a very successful season with another transfer quarterback, Shane Buechele from Texas.

“I had some very bright people tell me, ‘You need to take a look at what Rhett is doing at SMU now,’“ Diaz said.

Buechele threw for more than 3,900 yards and 34 touchdowns as SMU went 10-3 last year. Lashlee put on some of that SMU tape for King when he visited Coral Gables last winter, showing him how it could work with him taking the snaps. The two of them also looked at Miami’s skill talent and liked what they saw. Diaz added the last video piece, showing King what vintage Miami looked like when it had a big-time quarterback—guys like Heisman Trophy winners Vinny Testaverde and Gino Torretta, plus national championship winners Ken Dorsey, Steve Walsh and Bernie Kosar.

King was sold, and it didn’t take long to sell himself to his teammates. Coaches often like taking in older transfers because they’ve been around the block and gained enough knowledge to know what really matters in terms of being successful.

“He’s a mature kid,” Lashlee said. “He’s got that experience. He’s just a very consistent young man, he’s the same guy every day. I think that helps me as a coach and helps our offense to know that we’re going to get his best. I think that is slowly but surely becoming the personality of our offense, because he’s our leader.

“He’s so even keel, so consistent on game day. We can put him in position where he can just go play and react. He’s capable of doing a lot mentally, but let’s just let him go react and play football.”

King’s improvisational flair and athleticism helped him produce a whopping 50 touchdowns in 11 games in 2018, 36 passing and 14 running. That was the guy who set the Texas high school career passing touchdown record, breaking a mark previously set by the player he’d one day like to be��Kyler Murray.

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Murray, also standing shorter than 5'10", became the No. 1 pick in the NFL after a Heisman Trophy season at Oklahoma. His pro career is off to a promising start. King has looked at that track record and said, “Why not me?”

“I think [Murray] has opened some eyes at the position,” King said. “You don’t have to be 6'4" or 6'5", you just have to be able to make plays and be a leader.

“I’ve played quarterback since I was 4 years old. I’ve had an endless amount of people who said I was going to be too short, and I’ve kept playing quarterback. I still hear it every single day [about the NFL].”

There is still some chip on the shoulder from his days as a high school eighth-stringer, assigned a bottom-row locker in the junior varsity locker room. Just being able to take the field as the starting quarterback for a top 10 team at Clemson, and facing Trevor Lawrence, is a destination moment of sorts for D’Eriq King.

A guy this serious about winning won’t look at it that way, though. The desired destination is walking out of Death Valley alive and well and victorious sometime near midnight Saturday. If King and the Hurricanes pull it off, this shotgun winter Miami marriage could really become a beautiful relationship.

October 08, 2020 at 05:10AM Miami's D'Eriq King Wants to Be the Next QB to Prove Size Doesn't Matter from Blogger https://ift.tt/33F5cBp

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racingtoaredlight · 4 years ago

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College Football 2020 Season Week 4 TV Watch Em Ups: Rivalry Week!

There’s still a whole lot of magic missing from the first COVID college football season but at least the B1G and Pac-12 will be playing weird schedules and we’ll have the worst bowl season ever. I’m not being sarcastic, I’m actually happy about those things.

It’s hard to look at this all and not feel the pull of regret that the season is even happening. I said on twitter a few days ago that I wish every athlete in the country would just go on strike right now and I stand by that. The plague isn’t getting better and the poxes are piling up. Oh, well, what the hell. Let’s just keep on playing.

The gambling info is from the same place as always and the scheduling info is from the other same place as always. Times are Eastern, the worst of all possible time zones for sports watching.

Saturday, September 26

Matchup Time (ET) TV/MobileTickets

Georgia Southern at 19 Louisiana 12:00pm ESPN2

If you don’t really look at it even sort of then it’s almost an SEC game. This is the Ragin’ Cajuns Lousiana school, right?

Georgia Tech at Syracuse 12:00pm RSN/ESPN3

Syracuse should go back to being an independent and Georgia Tech should go back to the SEC just for laughs.

24 Louisville at 21 Pitt 12:00pm ACCN

Hard to imagine a more painful sounding matchup of ranked teams. Louisville got worn out at home by Miami last week and, even though it made me “happy,” I didn’t really see anything of particular note to be excited by Louisville’s team. Pitt, as with most years, just sort of exists. My prediction for this game is that neither team is ranked next week when the BOneG teams are allowed back in the rankings.

Kansas State at 3 Oklahoma 12:00pm FOX

The Big 12 is really only fun in that they have conference games that also act as conference games.

Campbell at Appalachian State 12:00pm ESPN+

Not worth the risk to stage this game in non-pandemic times.

5 Florida at University of Mississippi 12:00pm ESPN

A major topic of conversation in SEC circles right now is “are the Gators actually good?” We probably won’t learn a lot to that end from this game. But then again, we might. Such is post-Urban Meyer life for UF.

23 Kentucky at 8 Auburn 12:00pm SECN

If you go by rankings this noon slate is pretty good. I’m not seeing a lot of entertainment value on the face of things but I’m very much a downer for this whole season. Surely, things will go hilariously off script all day and I’ll sit around like a bump on a log watching it go by.

13 UCF at East Carolina 12:00pm ABC/ESPN+

People get paid to write insightful shit about sports and can’t even be bothered to care about any of it. Here I am giving my soul away for spare clicks. Life is terrible.

FIU at Liberty 1:00pm ESPNU

... and getting worse.

Eastern Kentucky at The Citadel 1:00pm ESPN3

While Thee Citadel was offering blood to Clemson last week my wife asked me what the hell that school is. I knew a guy that went there out of high school but I can’t for the life of me remember what the set up is. Are they like a school for the national guard? Backups to the Coast Guard? Just a military academy for college aged fail sons? I’ve never figured out Disqus for the phone so I probably won’t see what you write but answer my questions in the comments, please.

Iowa State at TCU 1:30pm FS1

I’m not always good at this but I did warn you that having Iowa State ranked in the preseason was a bad idea.

Tulane at Southern Miss 2:30pm Stadium

Tulane blew a 24-0 halftime lead against Navy last week and Southern Miss is in Southern Mississippi. Praying for these two teams to put those crushing disappointments behind them at kickoff time.

22 Army at 14 Cincinnati 3:30pm ESPN

Call me crazy but does anybody else think if we put together a football team of troops they could totally cover a 13-point line on the road against Ohio State’s non-union equivalent?

UTEP at ULM 3:30pm ESPN2

The line is tilting towards ULM but the o/u is still only 50 so I’d advise strongly against trying to watch this one up.

Mississippi State at 6 LSU 3:30pm CBS

Suddenly realizing I can’t remember which one Mike Leach is coaching at this year. Well, the bloom is off that guy in any case so fuck him. Hope he’s at MSU and they get buried by 60+ this week. It’s only worth saying that if he’s in Starkville because if he’s at Faulkner’s alma mater I always want them to lose by 60+ every week.

West Virginia at 15 Oklahoma State 3:30pm ABC

Okie State looked horrible last week and so did WFV. Don’t put too much stock in week one, especially with a ton of roster churn. Pound that over at 51.5, in my humbly offered opinion. Which is only for entertainment purposes even in a gambling is mostly legal environment.

8 Texas at Texas Tech 3:30pm FOX

Texas at #8 looks fucking stupid but Texas Tech might be as bad as they’ve been since before Spike Dykes showed up in Lubbock. So the Horns -17.5 seems very reasonable to me.

4 Georgia at Arkansas 4:00pm SECN

Georgia is pretty talent-heavy and Arkansas is very much not but Kirby Smart and crew aren’t the kind of bloodthirsty loons that make my heart go pitty-pat. O/u of 53 and a 28-point line make sense but I’ll be plenty surprised if the score is actually in the realm of UGA 41-Ark 12. I’m thinking more like 24-6 or some boring shit like that.

Duke at Virginia 4:00pm ACCN

Wa-HOO-wa! The line is tilting very heavily in Duke’s favor but the Cavaliers are still at -4. Hopefully that holds and the Hoos strangle the Devils in the crib to honor the blue lean of voters in the commonwealth.

Texas State at Boston College 6:00pm RSN/ESPN3

BC bludgeoned Duke last week but only get 18.5 at home against one of the few teams in the country to have a defined personality so far. Texas State is a bad team and there probably aren’t a ton of people eyeballing this one just yet. Load up on the Eagles.

2 Alabama at Missouri 7:00pm ESPN

Bama is still the king, really. The whole team is still 5-stars in front of 5-stars in front of 5-stars. Betting with Nick Saban is fool’s gold, though, because whatever he has in mind from week-to-week against the lower level opponents is impossible to divine.

Houston Baptist at Louisiana Tech 7:00pm ESPN3

I don’t need to waste mental space on this and neither do you.

Stephen F. Austin at SMU 7:00pm ESPN+

Pony Diddlers exploded all over the 096ers last week with a new playcaller. I’ll assume this is just schedule fluff and look away.

Kansas at Baylor 7:30pm ESPNU

R.I.P. to an all-time legend.

16 Tennessee at South Carolina 7:30pm SECN

No comment.

Vanderbilt at 10 Texas A&M 7:30pm SECN Alt.

aTm is a 30.5-point favorite and even if Vanderbilt is real trash I can’t imagine feeling confident putting money down on this one.

Florida State at 12 Miami (FL) 7:30pm ABC

Everything in the world is saying Miami rolls in this one and I find that completely nerve-wracking. Is the offense really good after stealing Rhett Lashlee from SMU? Is the defense even decent if they can get exposed so often against Louisville? Does FSU being a pile of shit with a head coach somehow alone on the COVID list mean anything? I’ve got a feeling the answer is no, no and no but I’m openly pessimistic.

Missouri State at Central Arkansas 8:00pm ESPN3

Every year, week after week, I write one word or one sentence capsules that boil down to supreme indifference. This season it’s even more pronounced because the whole enterprise is so obviously crummy.

NC State at 20 Virginia Tech 8:00pm ACCN

Not sure if I realized VPISU was ranked before now. Are they the first team to ever lose a home opener to Kentucky and have a ranking the following week?

Troy at 18 BYU 10:15pm ESPN

A proper as hell night game. This is the kind of game a college football Saturday should wrap up with in normal times. Can’t wait for the 2020 version of degenerate football to end up with a 100% positive rate in the coming weeks.

GAMES OF THE WEEK:

Georgia State at Charlotte Postponed

Tulsa at Arkansas State Postponed

USF at Florida Atlantic Postponed

North Texas at Houston Postponed

#saturday post #tv watching #watch em ups #football #college football #gambling #degenerate football

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auburnfamilynews · 4 years ago

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Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

In about 24 hours, we will be back to normal. No, covid won’t disappear. It will still be an election year. California will still have fire tornadoes.

But at 11 AM central on September 25th, 2020, we’ll be able to sit on our couches, yell at a television, wear our orange and blue best, and watch some damn football. Man it feels good to say that.

As we did back before college athletics took a six month hiatus, we’ll be tracking the pulse of the Auburn Family. Many of you are already signed up to be a part of REACTS, an SBNation initiative to gather fan input on a myriad of different college-sports related questions. If you aren’t signed up, all it requires is an email signup and about 20 seconds each week to answer a few questions.

Let’s get to the first order of business, shall we?

This feels about right to me. If you polled Auburn fans today, I’d say about one in five would be anti-Gus. Regardless of the taste the bowl game left in everyone’s mouth, though, I’d say Gus has done a magnificent job guiding this program through the toughest offseason, both on and off the field, in recent memory.

I’m not sure what exactly is drawing folks towards FSU/Miami, aside from perhaps the schadenfreude of watching a terrible Florida State team. Miami with Rhett Lashlee and D’Eriq King is actually quite fun to watch, and I’m looking for them to put up a whole host of points in this one.

Speaking of Miami...

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/9/25/21455806/reacts-were-back-auburn-tigers-fan-confidence-is-miami-back

#IFTTT #Blogger #auburn #auburn fast #wareagle #AuburnFamilyNews #war eagle #sec #football news #aubu

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i-news-day · 5 years ago

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Vroom! Vroom! Miami announces the hiring of a new, aggressive offensive coordinator

The Miami Hurricanes are officially on the fast track. The University of Miami football program announced Saturday afternoon that it has hired up-tempo, spread master Rhett Lashlee, 36, as its new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Lashlee spent ... source https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/acc/university-of-miami/article238936963.html&ct=ga&cd=CAIyHzhmNjA0ZmY0ZDA2NmEyMjM6Y29tLmJyOmVuOlVTOlI&usg=AFQjCNHI1ABOHNArRLf60dfXErr2PleLig via Blogger https://ift.tt/39E8tC7

#Blogger #SPORT NEWS

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/clemson-vs-miami-prediction-pick-odds-point-spread-line-football-game-live-stream-kickoff-time/

Clemson vs. Miami: Prediction, pick, odds, point spread, line, football game, live stream, kickoff time

Want more college football in your life? Listen below and subscribe to the Cover 3 College Football podcast for top-notch insight and analysis beyond the gridiron.

Storylines

Viewing information

Date: Saturday, Oct. 10 | Time: 7:30 p.m. ET Location: Memorial Stadium — Clemson, South Carolina TV: ABC | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)

Game prediction, picks

#clemson #football #miami #point #prediction #spread #stream #Sports

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junker-town · 6 years ago

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Sonny Dykes’ SMU offense has more questions than his defense? What?

Dykes’ first season at SMU was streaky, as Dykes seasons tend to be, but offensive struggles were a new touch.

Bill C’s annual preview series of every FBS team in college football continues. Catch up here!

It’s comforting to have constants in life. College football offers plenty of them, from North Dakota State winning FCS, to Indiana suffering gut-wrenching losses against good teams.

Sonny Dykes is another. Whereas certain Sons of Air Raid have evolved a bit — Lincoln Riley runs the ball a lot! Dana Holgorsen and Riley don’t really use tempo! — Dykes still leans into old-school air raid principles. He wants to throw the ball, he wants to create space and solo tackles, he wants to move quickly.

He’s also probably going to have an offense a few steps ahead of his defense. That’s been the case in five of his seven years as a head coach (three at Louisiana Tech, three at Cal, one at SMU). It is a sign of, and in some cases a result of, his own personal preferences. You can field a good defense with an up-tempo, pass-happy, air raid system, but it takes some finesse.

One other thing we know about Dykes by now: his team is going to be streaky as hell. At Tech, he went 1-4, then 4-2, then 1-5, then 16-2, then 0-2. At Cal, 1-11, then 4-1, then 1-6, then 5-0, then 1-5, then 6-3, then 0-4. In his first season at SMU, his Mustangs went 0-3, then streaked to the precipice of bowl eligibility by winning five of seven. They then lost to Memphis (forgivable) and Tulsa (less so) to come up just short.

Indeed, his first SMU season appeared in many ways like a continuation of the rest of his head coaching career. There was one primary exception: his offense stunk.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Kane — a rising coaching star, if ever one existed — actually engineered the second-best defense Dykes has ever had. The Mustangs ranked 79th in Def. S&P+, inferior to nothing he produced at Cal and second only to the 2011 Louisiana Tech defense, which randomly soared to 44th. And they pulled this off with almost no seniors.

Kane improved NIU’s defense by 65 spots, from 91st to 26th, in 2017, then improved SMU by 34 last year. Theoretically, there’s nothing stopping him from engineering something similar this fall. But for basically the first time ever, a Dykes offense has to figure out how to catch up to a Dykes defense.

The national average for yards per play is around 5.8. SMU topped that mark just four times all season, and two were against a really bad FCS team (Houston Baptist) and maybe the worst FBS defense of the 21st century (UConn). They hit 6.0 while getting torched by North Texas, and they hit 6.1 in a great overall performance against Houston. They averaged just 5.4 for the season and scored more than 31 points just three times.

Dykes inherited from predecessor Chad Morris a set of personnel that understood tempo and general spread concepts. It’s what made the Dykes hire seem so seamless to begin with. The receiving corps needed rebuilding, and the run game was surprisingly horrendous.

Granted, the offensive line was a pile of wreckage. Nine players started at least two games, and only two started all 12. Freshmen and sophomores accounted for 29 of 60 starts. There were two particularly experienced pieces up front (left tackle Chad Pursley and left guard Nick Natour), and they missed nine games between them.

So maybe the offensive struggles were just a product of circumstance — quarterbacks learning a new system, a new receiving corps, a banged-up and sieve-like offensive line. Two of those three things could rectify themselves, and while quarterback Ben Hicks left to re-join Morris at Arkansas, Dykes brought in Texas veteran Shane Buechele in case sophomore William Brown wasn’t ready.

No matter what, though, the offense has far more questions to answer than the defense. This is rarefied air, very much a non-constant, for a Dykes team.

Offense

In my 2018 SMU preview, I figured Dykes and new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, a Gus Malzahn disciple and former OC at Arkansas State, Auburn, and UConn, would have a constant they did not end up having: a run game.

In 2017, SMU ranked 26th in Rushing S&P+, 84th in opportunity rate (percentage of carries gaining at least four yards), and 46th in stuff rate (run stops at or behind the line). They mixed solid big-play ability (21st in run explosiveness) with steadiness and minimal negative plays.

In 2018, the Mustangs ranked 117th in Rushing S&P+, 125th in opportunity rate and 129th in stuff rate. They rose to 10th in run explosiveness, but my explosiveness ratings look at the magnitude of your successful plays. If you don’t have hardly any successful plays, explosiveness doesn’t help you all that much.

Obviously my preview didn’t take the revolving door of linemen into account. In-season continuity matters more than perhaps anything else for a line, and SMU had none. Maybe that will change this fall, but line coach A.J. Ricker’s got some patching to do this offseason, though.

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

James Proche

Pursley and Natour are gone, as are starting right guard Larry Hughes and two other experienced pieces. In their place are four sophomores and juniors with starting experience, anchored by 12-game starting center Hayden Howerton and sophomore and former star recruit Alan Ali. Columbia grad transfer Charlie Flores could carve out a role sooner than later, as could JUCO transfer Cobe (with a C) Bryant.

Until the line, and, consequently, the run game, are fixed, the passing game almost doesn’t matter, and that’s a really strange thing to say about a Dykes offense.

Xavier Jones, a 1,000-yard rusher as a sophomore in 2017, barely touched the ball (69 rushes, 16 pass targets) and did little with it when he got the chance. His per-carry average fell from 5.9 to 4.5, 3.1 if you take out the UConn game outlier. He’s back, as is senior Ke’Mon Freeman, but you figure Lashlee and Dykes are hoping that mid-three-star youngsters like redshirt freshman TaMerik Williams or incoming frosh TJ McDaniel and Ulysses Bentley IV can carve out niches sooner than later.

Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images

Shane Buechele

But that’s enough run talk. This is still a Dykes offense. With Lashlee involved, SMU toyed with the idea of balance on standard downs (55 percent run rate, five percentage points below the national average), then went pass-heavy when (frequently) behind schedule. This did Hicks few favors. He completed 62 percent of his passes on first downs but only 52 percent on second and third.

Dykes gave Brown three starts midseason. He looked pretty good in garbage time against Michigan, then led SMU to wins against Navy and Houston Baptist. He struggled against UCF, then Dykes gave Hicks his job back.

Odds are good Brown will be the backup again this fall, as when Dykes lost Hicks, he brought in Buechele. One of many Next Great Texas QBs to go through Austin in recent years, Buechele is a safe, steady passer (62 percent career completion rate, with just 11.5 yards per completion) and a willing runner. He was supplanted by Sam Ehlinger, but he has shown toughness and potential leadership ability.

Either he or Brown will have a receiving corps far more proven than it was this time last year. Senior James Proche became a solid, if overused, No. 1 target; his 146 targets were seventh-most in FBS. He was enough of a center of gravity, though, that players like juniors-to-be Reggie Roberson Jr. (52 catches, 802 yards) and Tyler Page (12 catches, 234 yards) were able to occasionally find downfield mismatches.

Every member of the receiving corps is scheduled to return, and Dykes added both Rice transfer Kyle Granson, an exciting potential up-the-seam threat (he averaged 13.4 yards per catch despite woe around him), and three mid- to high-three-star freshmen in Keontae Burns, Calvin Wiggins, and Rashee Rice.

If the line is at least semi-stable, and there’s a clear winner between Buechele and Brown, one assumes this will look far more like a Dykes offense than what we saw last year.

Defense

I really can’t say enough good things about Kane. The former Kansas linebacker is likely to be leading a power-conference defense very soon.

SMU’s greatest defensive strength last year was its extreme well-roundedness. The Mustangs were top-65 in rushing efficiency and passing efficiency, in rushing explosiveness and passing explosiveness, and in sack rate and stuff rate. They were a bit too reliant on their pass rush on passing downs (21st in PD sack rate but only 89th in marginal efficiency), but they forced so many passing downs that that was only a marginal concern.

They did this despite a lack of seniors and quite a few injuries. The top two linemen both missed time, and a potentially key piece in end Tyeson Neals played only three games. And in the back, basically everybody but safety Rodney Clemons missed at least one game. Neals’ was the only long-term injury of note, but this unit was constantly getting shuffled around, and it still produced.

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Delontae Scott

Theoretically, now comes the reward for the shuffling. Five linemen, five linebackers, and six DBs all return after making double-digit tackles a year ago, and that doesn’t even take into account a wave of sophomore and junior linemen who looked pretty good in limited opportunities.

SMU had a pass rush by committee, and most of the members of the committee are back. Linebacker Richard Moore (13.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, 25.5 run stuffs) returns, as does end Delontae Scott (10.5, 4.5, 14), but the power here is the depth and diversity. And the guy calling the plays.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Nelson

The pass defense was decent enough, especially when you take the pass rush into account, but the coverage was a little on the soft side: SMU allowed a 63 percent completion rate (101st in FBS) and suffered the aforementioned passing downs issues.

A deep safety corps gets a bit of a cleanse — leaders Rodney Clemons and Patrick Nelson are back, but the next three on the list aren’t — and while three of the top four cornerbacks return (including Christian Davis, who led the secondary in passes defensed), you figure there’s room for competition from youngsters and newcomers like three-star JUCO Sam Westfall.

Special Teams

SMU had an all-or-nothing special teams unit in 2018.

Kick returns? Great! James Proche ranked seventh in kick return efficiency despite nothing particularly explosive.

Kickoffs and punt returns? Terrible! Kevin Robledo was 126th in kick efficiency, and Proche had a couple good returns and a lot of nothings.

Place-kicking and punting? Extremely average! Robledo was 52nd in the former, Jamie Sackville 69th in the latter.

This unit, which predictably ranked a middle-of-the-road 62nd in Special Teams S&P+, returns intact.

2019 outlook

2019 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 31-Aug at Arkansas State 70 -5.7 37% 7-Sep North Texas 84 2.3 55% 14-Sep Texas State 102 9.0 70% 21-Sep at TCU 34 -14.0 21% 28-Sep at USF 71 -5.7 37% 5-Oct Tulsa 95 6.2 64% 19-Oct Temple 66 -1.9 46% 24-Oct at Houston 73 -5.0 39% 2-Nov at Memphis 26 -17.0 16% 9-Nov East Carolina 113 14.7 80% 23-Jan at Navy 118 11.5 75% 30-Nov Tulane 98 7.4 67%

Projected S&P+ Rk 85 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 97 / 66 Projected wins 6.1 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -11.6 (110) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 73 2018 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 7 / -1.5 2018 TO Luck/Game +3.5 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 73% (68%, 79%) 2018 Second-order wins (difference) 4.9 (0.1)

S&P+ was right and wrong about SMU last year. It projected six wins and came within a three-point loss to Tulsa of nailing that, but it also projected a lot of offensive competency and very little defensive play-making. Got it backwards.

Experience should be the Mustangs’ friend this year. SMU is 27th in returning production, 20th on a defense that so greatly exceeded expectations. The Mustangs are projected 85th, but that doesn’t take Buechele’s transfer into account — maybe he pushes them into the 70s.

Either way, odds favor bowl eligibility. SMU is a projected favorite in six games and a one-possession underdog in four others. As long as the Mustangs split their first two games (at Arkansas State, North Texas at home), postseason hopes should be realistic.

The future of this program is hard to figure out — Dykes will probably have his offense up and running by 2020 at the latest, but he might have to replace Kane by then, too. In a tough AAC, his own personal streakiness could manifest itself in good or bad ways. But for 2019, we’ll just set the bar at six or seven wins and worry about the rest later.

Team preview stats

All 2019 preview data to date.

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