College Football 2011

[duccarlos]

I would love to see The U in the SEC. I think that they need the competition to get them going. In the ACC they end up playing against teams that could be in Div 2. Against better teams week in and out, they would look like shit for the first few years until they grew some balls and started playing like they did in the hayday.

[rockaduc]

I agree w/ you in theory, but they don't seem to play w/ the same fire as those teams did. I think the sec teams would make them look like a team from the big 10 

[Pip]

I think both the U and A&M have alot of potential to benefit from the grind of the SEC. Both could be VERY good once, like Carlos said, you get the growing pains out of the way.

[metallimonster]

Well, well, well.  I guess I don't really see Miami moving to the SEC now.  They're going to be lucky to play football 4 years from  now.

Look, I'll eat my crow and I know OSU and Tress f'd up but this is nowhere close to what happened at OSU.  By the way Swamp, that whole SI article (except for one kid they already told the NCAA about) was proven to be completely false.  In fact, every article except the original Yahoo article was proven false.  Now, we're talking about OSU maybe getting a scholly or two reduced and that's it.  Now losing Jim Tressel, a coach who won nearly 85% of the games he played hurts. It hurts really bad but I still believe the Buckeyes will contend for the Big Ten title this year. They could go 7-5 or 11-1 I just don't know how good Fickell is or who will replace Pryor who was a thug and got a great man fired but won a lot of football games. But I believe we still have the best players in the conference. Say what you want about Tress but he is taking a fall for his program and not many if any other coaches would do that.

I've learned my lesson, I shit all over USC when they got hit now my program is in the same boat.  But, Miami is in big, big, big time trouble here.  This guy has a ton of proof and wants to take the program down with him.  Which he should, he gave all those guys money, jewelery, prostitiutes, and even an abortion and they couldn't help him out when he needed money for bail?  Coaches were in on it and he even tried to fight the Compliance Director. 

To me the best statement of that whole article was when he was asked about giving money to recruits.  His response; “We couldn't afford to go against the SEC”.  Wow, a guy who ran $930M hedgefund couldn't compete against the SEC. WOW.

All you Oregon, Auburn, and Bama fans, it's not over for your programs either.  Cliff Harris and Deron Thomas get caught going 118 mph in a car rented by a university employee and tell the officer when asked who has the weed “We smoked it all” this along with Willie Lyles who isn't done singing.  Auburn- Mandel has the finger man and a witness to the cash payment made to get Newton.  Bama- The brief story about this suit shop owner is just the beginning.

All I'm saying is, be careful before you throw stones at another program (which I am certainly guilty of) because yours is probably dirty too.

[rockaduc]

Hey, I've been waiting for you to chime in. It's good to see you are still drinking the Ohio state cool-aid. 
I am in agreement w/ your entire post except the part where you said they were going to win the conference. They will be lucky to win 6 games and I think Michigan is going to beat Ohio state this yr.

[metallimonster]

 I didn't say they we're going to win the conference I said they would contend.  And if OSU losses more games than Michigan I'll eat my hat.  Tell Me, what six teams are going to beat them?

I would have said Miami had a chance but not after this.  I'll give you Nebraska and Wisconsin and maybe even Michigan State.  But they'll be favored in every other game.  Really the only position that we are hurting for is QB.  Other than that we'll be just fine. 

I guess we'll just see won't we.  I think you have it backwards, Michigan will be lucky to win 6 games.  Remember, 3 losing seasons in a row right? Who's drinking the Kool Aid now?

If I had to make my guess, Wisconsin will win the conference.  I think Nebraska finds out real quick that we play real defense in the Big Ten. 

[duccarlos]

Hey, there is no way a big program is completely clean. The school should start recruiting big name PR people instead of players. I just want Miami to get out of the ACC. They will not go anywhere without big name competition. Evene if they lose every game in the SEC for the first 5 years, they will eventually get better, if only because of South Florida highschool thugs.

I think you are in denial about Nebraska. Michigan will not beat OSU this year.

[metallimonster]

I completely agree with you, every school is dirty. In fact I think OSU got very very very lucky that nothing more could be proven and that the blame it all on Tress theory worked.  The big differences are; a. Tress is taking the fall and b. Rife isn't singing like a bird like Shaperio or Lyles.  I'm worried about Pryor not getting into the NFL because that might piss him off so he'll talk more. Which is the last thing Michigan fans want becuase I'm sure both OSU and Michigan gave him something during the recruiting process.

I do think that Miami gets the death penalty for this.  Way too much going on with way to much proof that Miami let it go on. Hell, the dude got into a fight with the compliance director at a bowl game and coaches were taking kids to his house. 

It might be wishful thinking about Nebraska but I think week in week out they are going to be playing against way better defenses.  Really on Neb. and Texas played any kind of defense in the Big 12.  They'll beat the teams they're supposed to beat but I can easily see them losing to Wisconsin, OSU, and Illinois. If the QB play is there for OSU by the Nebraska (big if) it should be a very exciting game in Lincoln. If all this hadn't of gone down I would have tried my hardest to be there.

[duccarlos]

Not even the reporter of the story thinks that the NCAA will level a "death penalty" to any program. Those days are gone. The NCAA is truly a business and they will not kill a big program. Miami will get hit with the harshest penalty they can level without really killing it. Unfortunately, things are not as they used to be where schools were held to higher standards.

[rockaduc]

You are correct, I miss read your statement
. In order to contend, they would need to play in Indy. That's not going to happen. Don't forget about Iowa and psu Jo-Pa!

[DW]

I'm cautiously hopeful about Neb's prospects in the Big 10, but not even close to claiming the title preemptively.  We have to have some consistency on offense.  Some pretty awesome games last year, but some pretty embarrassing ones as well. All of the uncertainty surrounding the new schedule has me very excited for kickoff!

  I am working on tickets to the Mich/Neb game though...

Go Big Red

[metallimonster]

I don't see any way you can say that Iowa or Penn State are going to be better this year than they were last year.

Carlos- you're right they might not get the actual "death penalty" but Miami is such a small private school that they are going to have a very hard time recovering from this.  If USC got 3 years bowl ban and loss of 30 schollies for one player, this will have to be much more severe.  A school like Auburn or OSU can handle a blip like this I just don't know if Miami can especially since Miami fans are notoriously bad/fair weather fans (except for maybe the Dolphins).  I don't want to see a program get destroyed but this is not good at all.

[duccarlos]

They already went through it right after Erickson. They had to bring in Butch to at least keep their recruitment competitive even with a very limited amount of scholarships. Even though they were not eligible for bowl games, they still brought in quality recruits that were looking towards after the sanctions ended. That was a classy coaching staff and they built the team that won the national championship in 2001. People seem to forget all that because since Butch left they have been going to hell.

[Pip]

All my stones are still on the ground, brother. Every program is dirty as hell. I only really disliked Pryor. I like the history of USC, Ohio State, and definitely the U. Auburn is dirty, My Crimson Tide are dirty, hell even my adopted UAB Blazers are dirty, and they BLOW.

[Dellikose]

I am glad to see Pryor gone, but not at the price of losing Tressel.

I was never a fan of Pryor. It all started with the recruitment, which showed the type of ego that we were going to have to deal with. The kid definitely has talent, but the baggage associated with him is just ridiculous. Yes, I know that Tressel was lying and cheating, but at some point, I believe, his hands became tied with having to pick up these players and try to keep them just legit enough to win games. It's really a tough situation.

I'm going to miss Tressel because of what he did at Youngstown State and Ohio State... I grew up a few miles from YSU and then went to OSU.

As others have said, every successful program is dirty. But what really unnerves me is the hypocrisy of the NCAA. They knew that these OSU players committed violations leading up to the bowl game, and suspended them...for the first few games of the next season. But, to let them play the bowl game shows the greed associated with NCAA.

I just hope that OSU can recuperate from this and then focus on rebuilding their program.