College football 2013 running discussion thread

I agree. I'd eject after a second "targeting" call. One and done, considering how quick the game is, is ridiculous. Warn a player and then toss them if they are involved in a similar play.
I understand that quarterbacks are defenseless, but if you tackle a guy below the armpits, that takes away the defenders ability to raise their arms up to obstruct a pass when they are going in for a tackle.

 

Even in 2014!

Boise might be done.

 

Clemson started doing that many, many moons ago, when the team's dressing rooms were in Fike Field house, a block away and on the "hill" side of the stadium. There weren't any west end zone stands (under which are the current locker rooms).

This pic, from 1949, shows how the stadium looked when the "running down the hill" tradition took hold:

 

georgia had the entire off-season to prepare as well, but point taken.
Now lets hope that voters aren't the hypocritical douche-bags we know they are.

Georgia goes on the road to play a top 10 opponent outside their conference,will they knock them out of the top 10? Is every game a 'must win' from here on out?

How many ranked opponents are on Alabamas schedule? On the road? Out of conference?

 

The FCS has some advantages against lower-tier teams.

1. They are more likely to be able to fill needs with a transfer because FBS transfers who don't want to sit out can go FCS and play immediately.

2. Many FCS schools can take non-qualifiers and let them go part time to gain eligibility under the old Prop 48 model. Most FBS conferences (all?) don't allow this. This allows an FCS school to land a few big-time players.

3. My experience has been in regions where there is a traditionally strong FCS program, some players will choose the chance to win in the FCS over playing for a bad FBS team. But this is usually Sun Belt-Southland or MAC-MVC wars, not MVC-Big 12.

4. Some good FCS teams are somewhat isolated and shielded from having to "pick second" behind major programs in their area. Montana and the Dakota schools are like this. Don't know how much time schools like Minnesota or Wisconsin recruit in the Dakotas, but it's probably not very cost effective for them to use manpower to beat the bushes there. So the Dakota schools probably end up with a handful of recruits every year who should be playing somewhere in the Big 10 or Mountain West, but sort of get lost in the shuffle and end up at a Dakota school. Same thing in Montana.

Now, this doesn't explain how McNeese State is 32 points better than South Florida, who should be able to draw players from two notches up in the pecking order relative to what McNeese can recruit.

And, of course, I'd add that those advantages above should not even begin to add up to the advantages FBS teams have, starting with 22 more scholarships. But if you want it explained how the FCS teams win a fair share of these games every year, those are some of the reasons.

 

Ah, the Rivals (and Scout, 24/7, RecruitingNation) problem.

Often, players get ranked based on their offer sheet. I've seen many cases where a guy is a 2-star choosing between a handful of FCS and Sun Belt schools, then an SEC school offers and he jumps to being a 3- or 4-star.

Oftentimes, at FCS programs that succeed in states with a heavy FBS presence, there's a huge difference in scouting quality. Better eyes for talent. Better eyes for players that fit in to what you are doing.

 

Sort of answers the question of what would happen if a big-time team played on the Smurf Turf, doesn't it?

 

Washington has been big-time team, elite even, and it's been crap, the same way Alabama was mediocre to sucky for years and now is big-time again.

Alabama: 7-5 in '87, 7-5 in '90, 4-7 in '97, 7-5 in '98, 3-8 in 2000, 7-5 in '01, 4-9 in '03, 6-6 in '04.

It's all cyclical.

 

Hopefully this will put to rest all the Heisman talk about Aaron Murray, I guess 300+ yards isn't completely laying an egg, but the two turnovers and no TD passes don't help. He's not even the best candidate on his team and he's yet to win an important game. I don't see that changing next week either.

 

That damn Gurley is a beast.

 

Well played, Mauer.

 

Probably, but Murray gets plenty more opportunities to prove himself. Boyd and Clemson really needed that one last night, otherwise everything they did the rest of the year would have been written off as beating up on the weak ACC.