Andy

Because he’s getting paid a metric ton and wants to win a title. He wasn’t accomplishing either by staying at ND. The sucky thing about all this is that it's going to give credence to the idea that ND can't win a title at all. I agree, and have for years, that ND was never winning a title with Brian Kelly. I do think there's a difference. Just to name one very recent example, Michigan just straight-up punked Ohio State with a roster that isn't appreciably more talented than Notre Dame's is, at least by recruiting rankings.

This is so blatantly obvious, I'd like to believe the player's association can't possibly miss the owner's intentions. Yeah, I think they see it, which is partially why they didn't allow them to roll over the 2020 expansion to 2021 like the owners wanted to. If they roll over on that point they can't do it without major concessions in other areas.

I would say that the 2 biggest complaints ND fans had about Kelly in some order were 1) that he gets trucked whenever he plays one of the few ruling-class teams in the country and 2) that he doesn't really live and breathe recruiting (which, of course, helps lead to 1). It still strikes me as odd that LSU would be so hot after someone who fit either of those descriptions, let alone both. But OMC is always talking about how LSU recruits itself, so maybe it won't matter. And given how adept he's become at beating anyone with less talent, that's a good recipe to at least win 9-10 most years.

Sour grapes? This is basically exactly how he left Cincinnati. They still hate him for it, justified or not. That's all I was pointing out. It's too bad he is leaving, he did a great job at ND. But onward and (hopefully) upward.

Lots of buzz Marcus Freeman will be elevated from DC. Been a fantastic recruiter since arriving and he's receiving a ton of support from former players. As for Kelly, he sent a late night message to the team through some app they use that was immediately leaked (shows you how he's viewed) and held a 10-minute meeting with the players this morning before bouncing. I guess tigers, no pun intended, don't change their stripes.

Apparently the OU Barstool Twitter page posted a picture of Venables' kid (who plays for Clemson) and DJ Uiagalelei doing the Horns Down and then deleted it, for whatever that's worth.

I'd prefer it to the Bucs, and it's not even close. By a million miles. I know Belichick isn't everyone's favorite person but their team seems fun enough and it would add a fun new wrinkle to the Belichick/Brady thing

Well, Cam was fun for like 10 days

Lincoln Riley leaving OU for USC per many reports. Unreal move. I guess he didn't want that SEC smoke. Also, not great news for my team, which plays USC every year and competes for recruits.

Conference USA Championship Game (7 pm Friday, CBSSN) Western Kentucky at UTSA Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas (8 pm Friday, ABC) (10) Oregon vs (17) Utah Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington, TX (12 pm, ABC) (9) Baylor vs (5) Oklahoma State MAC Championship Game in Detroit (12 pm, ESPN) Kent State vs Northern Illinois Mountain West Championship Game (3 pm, FOX) Utah State at (19) San Diego State Sun Belt Championship Game (3:30 pm, ESPN) Appalachian State at (24) UL Lafayette SEC Championship Game in Atlanta (4 pm, CBS) (1) Georgia vs (3) Alabama American Championship Game (4 pm, ABC) (21) Houston at (4) Cincinnati Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis (8 pm, FOX) (2) Michigan vs (13) Iowa ACC Championship Game in Charlotte (8 pm, ABC) (16) Wake Forest vs (15) Pittsburgh COVID Reschedule USC at California (11 pm, FS1) Dec. 11 Army vs Navy - in East Rutherford, NJ (3 pm, CBS)

In that scenario, Georgia and ND are in and dear lord do I not envy the people trying to pick 2 more. Baylor probably sneaks in as a conference champ. Then you're probably arguing between Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and Iowa somehow?

There is absolutely no team that should be left out for Alabama if #1 Georgia is going to be the opponent. There are years the Tide have earned some benefit of the doubt, not this year.

Would need 2 outcomes - UM over Wisconsin (likely since it already happened) and Oregon over Utah (less likely because the opposite already happened)

I'm mentally steeling myself for Michigan to be the team that draws Cincinnati.

That is not Mustache Man. You got fooled. Now that being said, apparently several LSU-affiliated people have started following Riley on Twitter very recently, so this could very well still happen.

If Riley can find someone to coordinate a defense, his QB development and the ability to get Southeast OL and WR recruits could be scary.

Nothing much weird in the new rankings, but worth noting Cincinnati is actually 4, first time a G5 team has gotten that high.

It's the hope that kills you. Saw some fun Cam magic today but the Carolina defense, mostly solid all year, picked today to suck ass, so now they're 5-6 with 2 against Tampa and 1 against Buffalo in the last 4.

Top 25 games ------------------------------ (1) Georgia at Georgia Tech (12 pm, ABC) (2) Ohio State at (5) Michigan (12 pm, FOX) (3) Alabama at Auburn (3:30 pm, CBS) (4) Cincinnati at East Carolina (3:30 pm Friday, ABC) (6) Notre Dame at Stanford (8 pm, FOX) (10) Oklahoma at (7) Oklahoma State (7:30 pm, ABC) Texas Tech at (8) Baylor (12 pm, FS1) (9) Ole Miss at Mississippi State (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) Oregon State at (11) Oregon (3:30 pm, ESPN) Penn State at (12) Michigan State (3:30 pm, ABC) (13) BYU at USC (10:30 pm, ESPN) (14) Wisconsin at Minnesota (4 pm, FOX) (15) Texas A&M at LSU (7 pm, ESPN) (16) Iowa at Nebraska (1:30 pm Friday, BTN) (17) Pittsburgh at Syracuse (7:30 pm, ACC Network) (18) Wake Forest at Boston College (12 pm, ESPN2) Colorado at (19) Utah (4 pm Friday, FOX) North Carolina at (20) NC State (7 pm Friday, ESPN) Boise State at (21) San Diego State (12 pm Friday, CBS) (22) UTSA at North Texas (2 pm, ESPN+) (23) Clemson at South Carolina (7:30 pm, SEC Network) (24) Houston at UConn (12 pm, CBSSN) Missouri at (25) Arkansas (3:30 pm Friday, CBS) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------------------- Tuesday Western Michigan at Northern Illinois (7 pm, ESPNU) Buffalo at Ball State (7 pm, ESPN+) Thursday Fresno State at San Jose State (3:30 pm, FS1) Friday Kansas State at Texas (12 pm, FOX) Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan (12 pm, ESPNU) Ohio at Bowling Green (12 pm, CBSSN) Utah State at New Mexico (1 pm, FS1) UTEP at UAB (2 pm, ESPN+) South Florida at UCF (3:30 pm, ESPN) UNLV at Air Force (3:30 pm, CBSSN) Coastal Carolina at South Alabama (3:30 pm, ESPN+) TCU at Iowa State (4:30 pm, FS1) Washington State at Washington (8 pm, FS1) Saturday TV Florida State at Florida (12 pm, ESPN) Maryland at Rutgers (12 pm, BTN) Navy at Temple (12 pm, ESPNU) Miami at Duke (12:30 pm, Regional Sports Networks/ESPN3) Indiana at Purdue (3:30 pm, FS1) Northwestern at Illinois (3:30 pm, BTN) Western Kentucky at Marshall (3:30 pm, CBSSN) Vanderbilt at Tennessee (3:45 pm, SEC Network) Virginia Tech at Virginia (3:45 pm, ACC Network) Tulsa at SMU (4 pm, ESPN2) UL Monroe at UL Lafayette (4 pm, ESPNU) Arizona at Arizona State (4 pm, Pac-12 Network) Kentucky at Louisville (7 pm, ESPN2) West Virginia at Kansas (7 pm, FS1) Tulane at Memphis (7:30 pm, ESPNU) Nevada at Colorado State (9 pm, CBSSN) California at UCLA (10:30 pm, FS1) Saturday Streaming Akron at Toledo (12 pm, ESPN+) Army at Liberty (12 pm, ESPN+) Miami (OH) at Kent State (12 pm, ESPN+) Louisiana Tech at Rice (1 pm, ESPN+) Charlotte at Old Dominion (2 pm, ESPN+) Texas State at Arkansas State (2 pm, ESPN+) Troy at Georgia State (2 pm, ESPN+) Georgia Southern at Appalachian State (2:30 pm, ESPN+) Florida International at Southern Miss (3 pm, ESPN+) Middle Tennessee at Florida Atlantic (7 pm, Stadium)

Mullen may be (definitely is) a clown, but he's done nothing but have good or great teams relative to expectations in the SEC for a decade and he gets fired after one bad year. Some college football programs are completely insane.

I haven't been watching so I can't speak to this, but as long as the same conferences with financial stakes in a certain outcome of a game are paying the people officiating that same game, they deserve every bit of skepticism they get.

The entire rankings show on Tuesday might be Gary Barta smirking about ranking Michigan ahead of MSU the last 2 weeks

Nothing much new or crazy in the CFP rankings. Mississippi State jumped back in after beating Arkansas because the committee is absolutely hell-bent on making sure Alabama has more than one ranked win, but whatever.

Top 25 games ------------------------------ Charleston Southern at (1) Georgia (12 pm, ESPN+) (21) Arkansas at (2) Alabama (3:30 pm, CBS) (3) Oregon at (23) Utah (7:30 pm, ABC) (7) Michigan State at (4) Ohio State (12 pm, ABC) SMU at (5) Cincinnati (3:30 pm, ESPN) (6) Michigan at Maryland (3:30 pm, BTN - Regional) Georgia Tech at (8) Notre Dame (2:30 pm, NBC) (9) Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (8 pm, FOX) (10) Wake Forest at Clemson (12 pm, ESPN) (11) Baylor at Kansas State (5:30 pm, FS1) Vanderbilt at (12) Ole Miss (7:30 pm, SEC Network) Iowa State at (13) Oklahoma (12 pm, FOX) (14) BYU at Georgia Southern (4 pm, ESPN+) Nebraska at (15) Wisconsin (3:30 pm, ABC) Prairie View at (16) Texas A&M (12 pm, ESPN+) Illinois at (17) Iowa (2 pm, FS1) Virginia at (18) Pittsburgh (3:30 pm, ESPN2) (19) San Diego State at UNLV (11:30 pm Friday, CBSSN) Syracuse at (20) NC State (4 pm, ACC Network) UAB at (22) UTSA (3:30 pm, ESPN+) Memphis at (24) Houston (9 pm Friday, ESPN2) Tennessee State at (25) Mississippi State (12 pm, ESPN+) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------------------- Tuesday Toledo at Ohio (7 pm, ESPN+) Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan (7:30 pm, ESPN2) Bowling Green at Miami (OH) (8 pm, ESPNU) Wednesday Northern Illinois at Buffalo (7 pm, ESPN2) Central Michigan at Ball State (7 pm, ESPNU) Thursday Louisville at Duke (7:30 pm, ESPN) Friday Southern Miss at Louisiana Tech (8 pm, CBSSN) Air Force at Nevada (9 pm, FS1) Arizona at Washington State (9 pm, Pac-12 Network) Saturday TV Texas at West Virginia (12 pm, ESPN2) Purdue vs Northwestern - at Wrigley Field (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Rutgers at Penn State (12 pm, BTN - Regional) New Mexico State at Kentucky (12 pm, SEC Network) Florida State at Boston College (12 pm, ACC Network) UMass at Army (12 pm, CBSSN) Wofford at North Carolina (12 pm, Regional Sports Networks/ESPN3) Washington at Colorado (3 pm, Pac-12 Network) Minnesota at Indiana (3:30 pm, BTN - Regional) East Carolina at Navy (3:30 pm, CBSSN) UCLA at USC (4 pm, FOX) UL Lafayette at Liberty (4 pm, ESPNU) Florida at Missouri (4 pm, SEC Network) Auburn at South Carolina (7 pm, ESPN) South Alabama at Tennessee (7 pm, ESPNU) California at Stanford (7 pm, Pac-12 Network) Virginia Tech at Miami (7:30 pm, ACC Network) Wyoming at Utah State (8 pm, CBSSN) UL Monroe at LSU (9 pm, ESPN2) New Mexico at Boise State (9 pm, FS1) Arizona State at Oregon State (10:30 pm, ESPN) Saturday Streaming Florida Atlantic at Western Kentucky (12 pm, Stadium) Kent State at Akron (12 pm, ESPN+) South Florida at Tulane (12 pm, ESPN+) Texas State at Coastal Carolina (1 pm, ESPN+) Arkansas State at Georgia State (2 pm, ESPN3) Marshall at Charlotte (3:30 pm, Stadium) Appalachian State at Troy (3:30 pm, ESPN+) Old Dominion at Middle Tennessee (3:30 pm, ESPN+) Kansas at TCU (4 pm, ESPN+) Rice at UTEP (4 pm, ESPN+) Temple at Tulsa (4 pm, ESPN+) UConn at UCF (4 pm, ESPN+) North Texas at Florida International (7 pm, ESPN3)

I still think a 2-loss Bama would have to win the SEC title game to have any sort of a shot. The committee has prioritized conference champs assuming they have as many losses as a non-conference champ. So if Bama loses to Georgia to finish 11-2 and you have 13-0 Georgia, 1 loss Big 10 champ, 1 loss Big 12 champ and 1 loss Oregon, Bama isn't getting in. I don't think a 2-loss Bama that wins the SEC gets a spot in that scenario either though. A 2-loss SEC champ Bama absolutely gets in and there's already precedent for it. 2-loss Auburn was sitting at #2 in the CFP going into the 2017 SEC title game (they had beaten Georgia and Alabama that year), so they were clearly going to get in if they had won the conference. The Tide wouldn't have quite the same resume - Ole Miss is the only really good team they've beaten - but I think any team anywhere near contention that beats Georgia has to be in given the way the Bulldogs have looked since week 1. (The Clemson win looks oddly quite unimpressive right now given the Tigers' season, but they've destroyed everybody else.)