prez77 said:

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.

Click to expand...

There is no doubt Georgia has better athletes. However, this game is still decided in the trenches. ND dominated there and that’s why they would beat them most times even if Georgia had their QB.

This isn’t Georgia 2022. The SEC powers are hurt with NIL and the Transfer Portal. Players with NFL dreams/real potential just aren’t willing to sit for 2 or more seasons on Georgia or Alabama as back ups any more. The dominance that Saban had is unlikely to be repeated in our lifetimes. Blue Bloods will still be Blue Bloods but any one team or even one conference will not dominate as they have. I couldn’t be happier to see the smug SEC come back to earth!

JournCat said:

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

Click to expand...

He was excited!

His slogan was Jeb!

Look at that exclamation point!

We got to 12 teams for a host of obvious reasons:
* Preserving the "value" of conference championship games and ensuring participating teams don't just bench their starters.
* 12 teams is more than 8...more games = more money.
* The 12 team model will forever inherently favor the Big 2, and they know it. In most years it will include no less than two (but probably three) teams from B1G/SEC.
* 12 teams significantly brings down the heat on the last team in. If it were eight this year, then we would've been debating the exclusion of Ohio State or Tennessee (under the current system, there is literally no difference being #8 or #9)...that ball could've easily bounced the other way since OSU was coming off a "bad" loss to Michigan. As it is, no one is losing too much sleep arguing over 12th/13th/14th.

...so I totally get why they included 12, and I'm fine with it. My favorite solution to the problem we think we're seeing right now: let the top three seeds pick their opponents coming out of the first round. So, in this case, Oregon would've been allowed to pick who they play between Ohio State, Penn State, Texas, and Notre Dame. And then Georgia, and then Boise, and then Arizona State would've gotten the last team left.

Or, if you don't like that...then let Oregon pick from any of the seven teams remaining after the first round...so they could pick Boise (who still got a first-round bye for being one of the highest-ranked conference champs). If logistics and planning are raised as a concern, then you can have Oregon submit its rank-order list once the first-round games are announced, so if they wanted Boise that could've been known on Dec. 8, regardless of the first-round results.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Hungry Jack said:

That sequence at the end was the epitome of a catch 22.

The whistle blew because it was goaltending.

Because there was goaltending, the put back does not count.

But we have to review the goaltending to make sure it was the correct call.

As it turns out, it was not a goaltend.

But because the whistle made the play dead, the put back does not count.

So there is no goaltending, there is no put back, and no basket for the cats.

Have a nice day.

Click to expand...

I naively expected a make-up call on the inbound. Instead a no-call when Nicholson was pushed. How silly of me.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

That sequence at the end was the epitome of a catch 22.

The whistle blew because it was goaltending.

Because there was goaltending, the put back does not count.

But we have to review the goaltending to make sure it was the correct call.

As it turns out, it was not a goaltend.

But because the whistle made the play dead, the put back does not count.

So there is no goaltending, there is no put back, and no basket for the cats.

Have a nice day.

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.”

Click to expand...

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

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

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.

Click to expand...

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.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

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.

Click to expand...

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

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

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.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

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.

Click to expand...

Happy New Year Bob,

Vassar69 said:

You said the same thing about Johnson.

And Hilinski

And Wright

But maybe Stone will be different.

Click to expand...

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.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.