0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/18/2016
It was one year ago when Duke University’s men’s basketball team couldn’t play a lick of defense. It was two years ago that the University of Kentucky wobbled on many of its road trips in the conspicuously weak Southeastern Conference. In January of 2016, Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari, both Hall of Famers, will once […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
When I’m (hopefully) 98 years old and still able to draw breath, I hope I won’t have to write about all the awful, horrible, no-good, very bad rules in the football rulebook. Surely, they’ll be changed before too long. However, some of them are still on the books, and when a certain kind of play […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
The Indiana Hoosiers haven’t yet encountered the toughest stretch of the Big Ten schedule, but they are riding a 10-game winning streak. A season which appeared to be in pronounced peril a month ago stands on much more solid ground today. Weirdly, an injury could have unlocked the key for the Hoosiers and their defense. […]
Jan 11, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Marlon Humphrey (26) celebrates after recovering an onside kick during the fourth quarter against the Clemson Tigers in the 2016 CFP National Championship at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Yesh Ginsburg on 1/15/2016
This picture has been flying around college football social media since Monday’s national championship game between Alabama and Clemson: If the picture is right, that’s a very big deal. A lot of people think the referees got the rule wrong and that Alabama should not have been awarded the ball because the ball did not […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Two years ago, Iowa basketball appeared to be the real deal in the middle of January. Two years later, the Hawkeyes get a second chance to write a happy ending to a season filled with promise. * Before addressing Iowa’s authoritative 76-59 win over Michigan State on Thursday night at the Breslin Center in East […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/14/2016
If you’re already in full mourning for the just-departed college football season, here’s a brief note: College basketball is richly and profoundly fascinating in 2016… and you don’t have to wait until March to realize this. Wednesday night, a series of events across the country, in early games and late games, created a tapestry of […]
0 comments by Yesh Ginsburg
The NCAA announced on Wednesday that a proposal to deregulate conference championship games in FBS had passed. It was not complete deregulation, but it was close enough. Long story short, any FBS conference–even one with less than 12 members–can now hold a conference championship game as long as the conference meets one of two conditions. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s unavoidable — discussion of Nick Saban as the greatest head coach in college football’s 147-year history has already become a feature of 2016. It will become an even bigger talking point if, 11 months from now, Alabama returns to the College Football Playoff in search of a repeat title it will be favored to […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Where do Alabama and Nick Saban stand in the larger theater of college football, and in the pantheon of the sport’s history? These topics are the talk of the village this week… if your village cares about college football, at any rate. We have a long offseason ahead of us, especially if you’re not into […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/13/2016
It is quite true that in a few respects, the now-ended 2015 college football season was a lot like several others. Alabama won the whole darn thing. Nick Saban outcoached his peers. A brand-name powerhouse won it all. Of course, you knew those things already, much as you could rattle off several other obvious details […]
0 comments by Yesh Ginsburg on 1/12/2016
Since the very beginning of the College Football Playoff, director Bill Hancock has doubled down on his statement that the CFP selection committee’s job is to select the four best teams to compete in the CFP. He emphasized it many times, including here and here. It was the running theme in his reddit AMA, which he […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
In a national championship game that featured some of the top defensive prospects in the nation, a low-scoring contest was inevitable, right? Not so fast, my friend. It was offense that took over in Alabama’s 45-40 victory on Monday night to claim the national championship. Another curveball: most of the huge names, outside of Derrick […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/11/2016
I apply my own law to big college football games: The offense-defense matchup which gains a much smaller portion of the pregame buzz is the matchup which will more centrally decide the contest. This law was set aside in the Orange Bowl playoff semifinal, when the confrontation between Oklahoma’s offense and Clemson’s defense — the […]
0 comments by Terry P. Johnson
The day we’ve been waiting for is finally here. College football will finally crown its national champion: Alabama or Clemson. So, which team will win? While I won’t answer that until the very end, here is a list of thoughts, observations, and stats to pay attention to in tonight’s contest. The defenses will dominate. Alabama […]
0 comments by Joe Dexter on 1/9/2016
The perception at the end of the 2015 season still might be that the Big Ten Conference doesn’t have the full horsepower to be considered the best conference in college football. Even though Iowa and Michigan State struggled on the the biggest stage, perception isn’t always reality. Nobody had more teams in the final CFP rankings […]
