Straight Dope Message Board

[asahi]

I'll get it started:

Quack! Quack! = Croak! Croak! 1

[Zakalwe]

Hey, any good Group of Five head coaches out there, refresh your resumes, FSU might be looking soon... 2

[dalej42]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Hey, any good Group of Five head coaches out there, refresh your resumes, FSU might be looking soon...

That was embarrassing on Saturday. I took my lumps like a man and still wore my FSU shirt around Chicago yesterday even after that debacle. Taggert’s seat just got scorching hot. FSU had every advantage, playing at home in sweltering hot weather that the FSU players are used to and the Boise players weren’t and they were the ones that ran out of gas. 3

[Atamasama]

Originally Posted by asahi

I'll get it started:

Quack! Quack! = Croak! Croak!

Yeah that was painful. Last 9 seconds. 4

[Zakalwe]

Originally Posted by dalej42

That was embarrassing on Saturday. I took my lumps like a man and still wore my FSU shirt around Chicago yesterday even after that debacle. Taggert’s seat just got scorching hot. FSU had every advantage, playing at home in sweltering hot weather that the FSU players are used to and the Boise players weren’t and they were the ones that ran out of gas.

Got no inside info on this one (been at work a lot with the hurricane stuff), but my guess is that Taggert is already toast and they're just waiting until the coaching carousel season opens up. Say early November or so.

Saw a lot people today including at least one FSU HOFer and a bunch of long-time Golden Chiefs...not one wearing anything FSU. 5

[Anglachel]

Lot's of embarrassing upsets or near upsets this past weekend. Tennessee tops the list by getting thumped by a team that's not played even 10 years of football. I think they lost by eight, but had to score in the waning seconds to get that close.

In my opinion, the proliferation of the spread offense has brought the parity that scholarship limits were supposed to. Of course that doesn't apply to the same handful of upper elites who make the playoffs every year. 6

[asahi]

Originally Posted by Atamasama

Yeah that was painful. Last 9 seconds.

Actually, TBH, despite the fact that I'm an obnoxious S-E-C! S-E-C! fanboy, I thought Oregon was the better team and still do. In fact, I think Oregon could probably hang with any team in the nation if they prepare well, but they've got to get their coaching straight in the 4th quarter. That was heartbreaking to watch. 7

[asahi]

Originally Posted by Anglachel

Lot's of embarrassing upsets or near upsets this past weekend. Tennessee tops the list by getting thumped by a team that's not played even 10 years of football. I think they lost by eight, but had to score in the waning seconds to get that close.

In my opinion, the proliferation of the spread offense has brought the parity that scholarship limits were supposed to. Of course that doesn't apply to the same handful of upper elites who make the playoffs every year.

If you want to see the definition of the word 'nadir', check out some Rocky Top football lately. Sheesh! This is getting ugly. 8

[asahi]

Originally Posted by dalej42

That was embarrassing on Saturday. I took my lumps like a man and still wore my FSU shirt around Chicago yesterday even after that debacle. Taggert’s seat just got scorching hot. FSU had every advantage, playing at home in sweltering hot weather that the FSU players are used to and the Boise players weren’t and they were the ones that ran out of gas.

Taggert is just not qualified to be a head coach at a major program. He was a band aid at Oregon, but that's entirely different from being *the* guy to head up recruiting efforts in the competitive Southeastern US. And I suppose his coaching leaves a lot to be desired as well. Probably a quality assistant, but not a big time majors coach. 9

[HubZilla]

Nebraska won, but had a very lackluster opening vs Alabama. Oh wait, South Alabama.

I'll call it a foul-tip or "wake up call" as we seek to replicate UCF's 13-0 in Scott Frost's second year. 10

[DCnDC]

Maryland is crushing #21 Syracuse right now. Still in the 2nd quarter. 11

[DinoR]

#7 Michigan down 14-7 to Army at halftime.

Go anybody and in this case Army, kick a Wolverine. It's fun. 12

[dasmoocher]

Originally Posted by DCnDC

Maryland is crushing #21 Syracuse right now. Still in the 2nd quarter.

With 8 mins left, Terps have 56 points (SU has 20). Howard, who they hung 79 on last week, must be feeling a little bit better. It'll be interesting to see how they do in conference. 13

[wolfman]

Hah, I wasn't worried about Michigan for a second.








That particular second was the one after the ref signaled Michigan recovery. 14

[Happy Lendervedder]

Originally Posted by wolfman

Hah, I wasn't worried about Michigan for a second.








That particular second was the one after the ref signaled Michigan recovery.

What a coincidence. That was the exact same second I started breathing again. 15

[Zakalwe]

Dear lord. FSU (22.5 pt favorites) are taken to overtime by Louisiana-Monroe* and win based on a missed PAT.

Technically it still counts as a win, I guess.

My previous statements on Taggert stand. I think at the first good opportunity, the "For Sale" sign goes up in front of his house.

It's really too bad, he came in saying all the right things and with so much excitement after the complete dickhead moves by Jimbo on his way out the door**.

* LA-Monroe is not at all a bad 2nd-tier team, but there's no way they should have been able to hang with FSU.

**May the curse of Osceola forever be visited upon Jimbo and the Aggies. May no man currently alive ever see them in the playoffs. 16

[dalej42]

I agree, that may be the most embarrassing FSU performance ever. They should have been playing 3rd stringers against ULM by the 4th quarter. 17

[Velocity]

Longhorns are once again being undone by their worthless defense. They just gave up a backbreaking 60-yard TD to LSU on 3rd-and-17. 18

[ElvisL1ves]

The only question in Tallahassee is if Taggart will even finish the season. I'ma say No. 19

[Zakalwe]

Originally Posted by ElvisL1ves

The only question in Tallahassee is if Taggart will even finish the season. I'ma say No.

The only real question remaining is how FSU will deal with the $17 FUCKING MILLION they will owe Taggert when they fire him.

That's right, we hired a coach with a career losing record and made him the 12th highest coach in FBS football.

Taggert might* not be the only shown the door after this train finally finishes wrecking.


*shouldn't - Coburn (AD) needs to be right behind Willie. 20

[BobLibDem]

Seems to me that when even good schools play the service academies, they often have trouble defending the option. Whatever happened to the glory days of the wishbone? Why has it largely been abandoned? Seems like it should at least be in the appendix of the playbook, ready to be pulled out when nothing else seems to work. 21

[Zakalwe]

Originally Posted by BobLibDem

Seems to me that when even good schools play the service academies, they often have trouble defending the option. Whatever happened to the glory days of the wishbone? Why has it largely been abandoned? Seems like it should at least be in the appendix of the playbook, ready to be pulled out when nothing else seems to work.

I don't disagree with this, but the issue is that *any* time spent learning/practicing the veer is time taken away from practicing the primary offense. NCAA teams are already time-limited for practice and some of them have playbooks as (or more) complicated as NFL playbooks. 22

[HubZilla]

Nebraska lost to Colorado in a de facto home game (over 50% of CU's stadium was red).

Looks like Rome won't be built in a day, and we had such high hopes. Can we blame the evil national media for *raising* our expectations too high? 23

[RaftPeople]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

It's really too bad, he came in saying all the right things and with so much excitement after the complete dickhead moves by Jimbo on his way out the door**.

He recruited well at Oregon and I was worried they would be good with him, then he hired a strength coach with a full 21 hours of training (online) that put 3 players in the hospital.

And the amazing thing: he brought that coach with him to FSU.


Clearly not really a person that knows what he is doing. 24

[dalej42]

I really hate this damn ACC network. Even though I pay for ESPN plus, I still can’t see the FSU game. 25

[dalej42]

Taggert’s resignation needs to be on the desk tomorrow morning. 4 personal fouls in the 4th quarter? I’m not sure FSU could beat Tallahassee Community College right now. 26

[asahi]

Not normally a fan of replacing the coach mid-season but Taggert unfortunately qualifies. I agree: he needs to go now. There must be an assistant on the team who can at least stop the bleeding. 27

[dalej42]

Originally Posted by asahi

Not normally a fan of replacing the coach mid-season but Taggert unfortunately qualifies. I agree: he needs to go now. There must be an assistant on the team who can at least stop the bleeding.

I agree, normally a college coach should only be replaced mid-season if there are ethical issues or health issues. It’s. It’s not the losses that bug me as much as the fact that he doesn’t have control of this team. I have never seen so many stupid penalties, especially cheap shot penalties, from an FSU team as I have with FSU under Taggert. 28

[asahi]

In other news, it looks like the Chip Kelly experiment isn't paying off the dividends that Bruins fans had hoped for. Two losses to Cincinnati and SD State. Cincinnati was good under Brian Kelly but they're hardly a scary team now, and neither is SD State. I didn't expect UCLA to beat Oklahoma but I would expect a PAC12 team to put more than 14 points on the board against a defense that typically allows others to score. 29

[DCnDC]

Tulane ruins Houston's night in spectacular fashion, coming back from being down 28-7 after the first quarter.

This was the winning play: https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/sta...474689/video/1

This was the fake kneel that set up the winning play: https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/sta...474689/video/1

Houston is not going to be happy this morning. 30

[Atamasama]

Originally Posted by DCnDC

Tulane ruins Houston's night in spectacular fashion, coming back from being down 28-7 after the first quarter.

This was the winning play: https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/sta...474689/video/1

This was the fake kneel that set up the winning play: https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/sta...474689/video/1

Houston is not going to be happy this morning.

Not much of a fake kneel there. 31

[DCnDC]

Originally Posted by Atamasama

Not much of a fake kneel there.

Sorry. Guess that copy-paste didn't work.

Try this one: https://twitter.com/CBSSportsHQ/stat...792193/video/1

#11 played it perfectly. 32

[asahi]

Michigan is getting murdered.

Just five years ago Jim Harbaugh and Chip Kelly were the hottest names in coaching at any level. In 2019, it's a serious question as to whether they'll be coaching this time next year. 33

[dalej42]

I remember when the Tennessee vs Florida game used to be a thing. This is embarrassing. 34

[asahi]

Two crappy "targeting" calls against Wisconsin.

Both times the Michigan players were going down and lowering their heads in the direction of the defender, and both times it's the Wisconsin player that gets faulted for headbanging. Now I really want Michigan to get blown out. 35

[BobLibDem]

Good news: MSU offense has a decent day and handles Northwestern easily.
Bad news: Michigan is a fraud. Wisconsin stole their lunch money, ate their lunch, and then shat it out right in their faces.

I think Michigan State has the hardest two game stretch in the country, going to Columbus in two weeks and then Madison the following week. 36

[dalej42]

FSU finally winning a game, but embarrassing seeing all those empty seats. 37

[jaycat]

Well, there will be no debate about UCF being playoff-worthy this year. Very exciting one-point victory for Pitt this afternoon. 38

[asahi]

Originally Posted by BobLibDem

Good news: MSU offense has a decent day and handles Northwestern easily.
Bad news: Michigan is a fraud. Wisconsin stole their lunch money, ate their lunch, and then shat it out right in their faces.

I think Michigan State has the hardest two game stretch in the country, going to Columbus in two weeks and then Madison the following week.

From what I've seen so far, Wisconsin's playing the best football in the Big 10. Not saying they're better than OSU just yet, but they're playing the best on both sides of the ball, and they might be as good as any team in the nation for the moment. 39

[asahi]

On the bright side, my Tigers offense are playing like a Big 12 offense. On the bad side, they're playing like a Big 12 defense. Not good. Especially when Alabama's the same old Alabama.

I don't care if they have injuries. This is the same school that turns out DBs in the NFL draft year after year. It's the one position LSU gets right, and now they're all crap. 40

[asahi]

Originally Posted by jaycat

Well, there will be no debate about UCF being playoff-worthy this year. Very exciting one-point victory for Pitt this afternoon.

Great, gutty performance by Pitt. They were amped coming into the game, but I really, really liked the way the Panthers recovered after blowing that 21-0 lead. Keep in mind this is a team that fought tooth and nail against Penn St in Happy Valley.

This might be one of the better Pitt football teams we've seen in a while. 41

[Hellestal]

Originally Posted by asahi

Two crappy "targeting" calls against Wisconsin.

Both times the Michigan players were going down and lowering their heads in the direction of the defender, and both times it's the Wisconsin player that gets faulted for headbanging. Now I really want Michigan to get blown out.

Here's a video that starts with the second targeting call for anyone who wants to see how dangerous it was.

asahi is flatly wrong on the second call. That hit could've snapped McCaffrey's neck. He left the game with a concussion, and frankly, that seems like good news considering he might not have been able to walk away at all from such a collision. That second tackle was absolutely inexcusable. 42

[asahi]

Originally Posted by Hellestal

Here's a video that starts with the second targeting call for anyone who wants to see how dangerous it was.

asahi is flatly wrong on the second call. That hit could've snapped McCaffrey's neck. He left the game with a concussion, and frankly, that seems like good news considering he might not have been able to walk away at all from such a collision. That second tackle was absolutely inexcusable.

I am not wrong; yes, the hit was devastating, but it was in real time, and the Michigan player lowered his head. It wasn't dirty; it was incidental. Football's a rough game. 43

[garygnu]

Originally Posted by asahi

I am not wrong; yes, the hit was devastating, but it was in real time, and the Michigan player lowered his head. It wasn't dirty; it was incidental. Football's a rough game.

It was dirty as hell. 44

[dalej42]

I’ve watched the UCLA vs Washington State game twice tonight. Just wow! 45

[installLSC]

Originally Posted by dalej42

I’ve watched the UCLA vs Washington State game twice tonight. Just wow!

In case you missed that reference, and I don't blame you since the game ended at 2:30am East Coast time, this unbelieveable result is what he's talking about. 46

[kitap]

Originally Posted by asahi

From what I've seen so far, Wisconsin's playing the best football in the Big 10. Not saying they're better than OSU just yet, but they're playing the best on both sides of the ball, and they might be as good as any team in the nation for the moment.

If we can beat Michigan* - and we did! - we're doing really well, though I will never bet against Iowa when they're playing Wisconsin.

Targetting, though. Eesh. There's no good reason for anyone to be doing that.

Go, Badgers!

The score of the UCLA-Washington State game was ridiculous.

* At least this year when Michigan fans get overly obnoxious I can refer to this game instead of saying "do the words Appalachian State ring a bell?" 47

[That Don Guy]

Originally Posted by asahi

I am not wrong; yes, the hit was devastating, but it was in real time, and the Michigan player lowered his head. It wasn't dirty; it was incidental. Football's a rough game.

He clearly led with his shoulder. To be fair, the only reason it was targeting was, his knee was down when he was hit, making him a "defenseless player." However, that hit was not "incidental" - and defending it with, "Football's a rough game," only gives ammunition to the "Ban Football Immediately!" types.

Keep in mind that there was a rule change this year; the replay official no longer has the option to say, "Well, you can make a case one way or the other, so it's targeting"; unless the replay official can definitely say "targeting," he is supposed to rule, "Not targeting." 48

[Velocity]

Man, unranked North Carolina nearly upset No. 1 Clemson. 49

[Quintas]

Originally Posted by Velocity

Man, unranked North Carolina nearly upset No. 1 Clemson.

Yeah, Clemson seems to have an unexpected close call every season. Well, Syracuse and Pitt were both upsets, but there was another close call with Syracuse last year and saved by a missed FG against NC State in 2015 or 16. 50