Andy

Panthers fire OC Joe Brady. My excitement over that hire didn't age well.

MSU vs Pittsburgh in the Peach could be 52-49 if Pickett plays. A couple minor bowls that catch my attention on first look are Iowa State/Clemson in the Cheez-It and UCF/Florida in the Gasparilla just for the novelty and likely sellout crowd.

I'm probably overreacting to today's results but I bet Michigan vs Georgia is a competitive game. Georgia's resume suddenly looks a bit suspect after they got blasted by the first very good team they played. Their offense just isn't that great and UM can probably hold them down enough to make it close. Or maybe it's just my natural pessimism.

I was really hoping we’d have the chance to play y’all in Fiesta. Notre Dame v Ole Miss would have been a fun and unique matchup. Definitely would've been, but unfortunately geography dictated Ole Miss would've gone to the Peach. Of course as it turned out, Bama winning means you're headed to the Sugar which is a pretty swell consolation prize.

It's sort of a bummer (for me, nobody else cares) that ND will probably be playing Oklahoma State now in the bowl instead of Michigan State. MSU would've been a more fun matchup. And maybe an easier one, though if today's Cowboy team shows up in Glendale, maybe not.

Iowa as a top 15 team says a lot more about this year in college football than it does about Iowa

The Freeman promotion is now being reported by pretty much everybody. More interestingly, just about every ND assistant that it was rumored Kelly wanted to poach is reportedly staying. The games are what matter, but tonight was a pretty feel good night in South Bend.

Heyman reporting same. Looks like it's happening.

ND claims Kelly didn't ask for anything and that they're constantly looking at facilities upgrades (not that you'd expect them to say anything else, I guess). Some contract details are out and Kelly is due 90% of his remaining deal if he's fired without cause and 100% of it if he wins a national title and later gets fired. So he's basically guaranteed $90 million right now. Not bad work if you can get it.

Notre Dame's record is a fraud like usual. Their garbage schedule this year was highlighted by a loss to Cincinnati and wins against Purdue 8-4, Wisconsin 8-4 and Toledo 7-5. All other teams were .500 or worse. Had they managed to beat Cincinnati they would have been granted the opportunity to get curb stomped by a real team in the playoff. I don't know that playing a B10 west schedule would have been much tougher this year. But if they go through that unbeaten and win the champ game, they get to play for a national title. Essentially, each year they just have to beat Iowa, Wisconsin and whichever other teams are decent that year, then win in the title game. Even if they have a loss, they still have a great chance to get into the CFP if they just win the B10 title. That's a much more straightforward path than they have now. We're about to change to a system that guarantees ND will get in every time they go 11-1 and gives them a chance at 10-2 if the schedule is good enough. Playoff access is not now and is not going to be an issue.

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. If they want a better chance to win a championship, they should join a conference. Like, for reals this time. If they joined the big 10 with a condition being that they get put in the west, they'd have a good shot to be in the title game nearly every year. I know, I know...traditions, blah blah blah. Notre Dame beat two of the best 3 teams in the B1G West this very year and would be locked into the playoff right now if they hadn't turned the ball over 3 times against Cincinnati. They have a top-10 recruiting class (for now) for next year and the start of what could be an even better one the year after. "Just join a conference" is easy to say but it really has nothing to do with anything at this point and it certainly wouldn't have changed anything about the first 2 sentences I wrote. I also cannot believe after the crap we've seen in college football the past decade and especially the past few months that people still think conference affiliation means anything at all. We are closer to a world where Ohio State and USC and Alabama start asking themselves why they're sharing money with the likes of Purdue and Oregon State and Vanderbilt than we are to one where anyone cares about the Big Ten or the Pac-12 or whoever else.

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.