Found this article about Slater.

“Slater earned his second career selection after he became the first rookie tackle to be selected in a decade in 2021. He has been a critical part of an offensive line that’s protected quarterback Justin Herbert this season, allowing him to throw for more than 3,500 yards with 21 touchdowns and three interceptions.

It’s an honor, for sure,” Slater said. “Cool to be recognized.”

“ Of the day-to-day and gsme to-game
Improvement of Slater this season, Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman said, “I think Rashawn is just getting better all the time. … Every week, you can say Rashawn has played his best game of the year. True pro. Love working with him. Nothing but positives.””

NUCat320 said:

Let’s say you had a crazy rich uncle, and he decided that he wanted to try self-preservation through cryotherapy, and he willfully froze himself 50 years ago!

Let’s further say that he was a big college football fan.

Let’s say funding ran out today, and you had to thaw him and see if he survived, and it worked!

“Uncle Warbucks, you’re alive!”
“What’s the date?! How was the Rose Bowl?”
“January 2! Rose Bowl was a blowout. OSU over Oregon.”
“Oregon?!?!? Oregon?!! Not USC or UCLA or Washington or Cal for chrissakes. OREGON?!”

“But there’s more uncle. We’ve got a COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF, and FOUR TEAMS ARE LEFT.”

“A playoff! Blasphemy! Who’s are the FINAL FOUR?!”

“Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State.

“Some things never change, I guess.”

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Great post - but your uncle should be told that Penn State and ND, and even Texas had what their fans considered near-death experiences along the way.

The Big Ten issued a statement that you can touch the rim as long as the ball isn't "in the basket" or "in contact with the rim."

I found the rulebook...

Section 15. Basket Interference and Goaltending
Art. 1. It is a violation to commit basket interference or goaltending.
Art. 2. Basket interference.

a. Basket interference occurs when a player:

1. Touches the ball or any part of the basket while the ball is on or within the basket. If the touching of the basket involves contact with the net only, the official must determine if the touching had any effect on the ball which would rise to the level of basket interference;
2. Touches the ball while any part of it is within the cylinder that has the ring as its lower base;
3. Reaches through the basket from below and touches the ball before it enters the cylinder;
4. Pulls down a movable ring so that it contacts the ball before the ring returns to its original position; and
5. Causes the basket or backboard to vibrate when the ball is on or within the basket or the backboard and/or is on or in the cylinder.

b. The cylinder is the imaginary geometric figure that has the ring as its base and is formed by the upward extension of that ring.
c. The ball shall be considered to be within the basket when any part of the ball is below the cylinder and the level of the ring

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FanatiCat said:

What does that mean? Great teams (we are talking about national champion level teams here) either don’t make many of those mistakes, or they are good enough to overcome them. If Georgia falls apart without one player and gets shut down by an “underdog/overmatched” ND, then they’re not national championship worthy this year. I watched that UGA-GT game. Just like the Texas-ASU game, if a targeting call was appropriately called in the last 2 minutes, Georgia (and Texas) very likely lose.

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I don't think Georgia was national championship material. I think Ohio State and Oregon are the top two.

I agree, not making mistakes is part of being good. Great baseball teams don't make errors at critical moments and great basketball teams don't leave their free throws on the floor.

However, if Georgia had their starting QB, and ND and Georgia were to play a series, I think Georgia wins. Overall, I think they have the better athletes and I think their peak ability as a team is higher than ND's even if ND did play a more disciplined game yesterday.

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TheC said:

Finally... the Rant Board is back! Good... we have a lot to catch up on.

Can you believe what Mitt Romney said in that second debate?!?! What a boob.

And can you believe some of these decisions from Kathleen Sebelius? Don't get me started.

Ok.... I need to pace myself here! Getting way too excited. I better go lie down.

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Excited to see Jeb Bush’s campaign? (Just kidding. No one was excited about that one, not even Jeb.)

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Classy as usual. Took the high road.

Finally... the Rant Board is back! Good... we have a lot to catch up on.

Can you believe what Mitt Romney said in that second debate?!?! What a boob.

And can you believe some of these decisions from Kathleen Sebelius? Don't get me started.

Ok.... I need to pace myself here! Getting way too excited. I better go lie down.

He always talks about the conference season being a 20-round fight. Smart not to antagonize anyone you might see again in the remaining 17 rounds. Plus we know his true feelings from the sidelines and Lou’s tweet about his final interaction.

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IGNORE2 said:

Sorry - dropped a word. Not the ‘I told you so’ that you planned on in that instead of injury, it simply took whistle happy refs to force them into action. So sorry you didn’t get the injury you contemplated for the kids to get to play and themselves worthy.

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Happy New Year Bob,

Vassar69 said:

You said the same thing about Johnson.

And Hilinski

And Wright

But maybe Stone will be different.

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You said the same thing about Johnny Johnson. And The Great Jeff Hecklinski. And Weaver. And Lavery. And Hoekstra. And then Kiitner.... oh, you did get that one right.

One out of six. Congratulations. You're my hero.

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1830sherman said:

I'm so glad we've got our '25 QB, and we're not still in the Gronowski waiting game.

Waiting for Gronowski...it got to be like waiting for Godot.

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What if: Gronowski had come with Lukan for 2024?

Preston Stone looks like a winner based on his 2023 performance.

It doesn’t matter now. Lujan has a QB ready to go (Lausch should play a Colter type role - he’s too talented not to be a WR with some real Wildcat potential).

CoralSpringsCat said:

Lions center, Frank Ragnow, also made the Pro Bowl. Ragnow is another Kurt Anderson disciple, having played for him at Arkansas.

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Anderson did a really nice job for our NFL linemen too: his coaching of Slater, Skoronski, and Ragnow proved that he can develop elite talent as well.

The new OL coach we have is solid too.

What hurt Anderson is the same thing that hurt other OL coaches at NU: the lack of a comprehensive system.

An offensive, defensive, or special teams philosophy is essential and relies ln leadership from the top.

Anderson was also an entertaining cat. I hope he is doing well.

Lujan will be more interesting with Preston Stone.

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NUChicago said:

Oh yes, the IL dynasty. First bowl win since??? Fatty goes to Iowa when Kirk retires.

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Why the fat shaming of Bielema?

He is a hell of a Big Ten football coach.

BigCat77 said:

They are definitely staying out there. Seattle Friday to Monday, Eugene Monday to Wednesday. Looks like a great road trip - I've got flights/hotels booked with train from Seattle to Eugene

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That sounds like so much fun. I love the PNW