Bama Panther

Please, no! I don’t want to see Bama’s offense be an insane amount of QB keeps on RPOs, mixed with often erratic passing, again.

Patriots will jump back to #3 if they lose today. Don’t see the Cardinals record changing the Pats’ SOS enough for the Panthers to leapfrog them.

I don’t think this is being talked about enough in terms of XL’s abysmal performance today. He was completely half assing it on that go route until he realized Bryce threw the ball his way. Had he gone hard the entire route, the ball was perfectly thrown.

Absolutely agree concerning Milroe. When he is bad, he is REALLY bad, and you just never know which Milroe will show up. Agree. Good Bama could win the playoffs, but you can’t reward good Bama with the way bad Bama showed up in games against far lesser opponents.

I hate that Bama is out, but it’s the right call.

As it sits in ESPN’s (see Heather Dinnich’s) projections, I see three fairly comfortable wins in the first round (ND over Indiana, Texas over SMU, and Penn State over Clemson).

Don’t get me wrong, I hope Bama sneaks in. I just don’t know that the committee will do it with the way SMU fought back.

I wanted SMU to win before the game started. Once Clemson jumped out, I wanted them to throttle SMU, as I think a throttling would have allowed the committee to sneak Bama back in. Then, as SMU mounted their comeback, I wanted them to pull it out. The new system hasn’t changed anything, other than the amount of teams in the field. The arguments that folks used to have about the #4 seed are now just had at the #11/12 seeds (depending on where the fifth conference champ is ranked).

That’s my take as well. I know it’s been done in the past, but I don’t like punishing teams for losing in a conference championship game, especially games that come down to the wire.

My rankings, not that they mean anything: Oregon Georgia Arizona State Boise State Penn State Notre Dame Texas Ohio State Tennessee Clemson Indiana SMU First Two Out: Bama, Ole Miss

At the same time as the B1G game as well. I’d imagine ratings for Clemson/SMU will be far below Oregon/Penn St. ACC game should be entering the 4th quarter right now (225 pm EST).

Actually, Deion signed a five year contract with Colorado, so technically, he does owe them something (either three more years or a buyout).

He’s actually a liability in the running game as well. He’s wants to be the hero and keeps the ball waaaay too much on read options. It’s how Oklahoma beat them. He simply kept the ball and OU was keying on him. I’ll pull for Bama if they make it in. Do I think they deserve to be in? No. I said as much Monday when I sent a text to a friend with South Carolina as the #12 seed. Even if Bama does get in, I’m not sure they make it out of the first round.

I’m obviously biased but I think there is a legit question as to whether SMU stays in the CFP if they lose to Clemson. They would have ZERO wins against teams that finished the season ranked at that point and two losses. Bama has already jumped Miami for basically the same reason. With that said, I’m not teams should be penalized if they lose in a conference championship game, as it relates to being in the CFP or not. Seeding may be affected, but other than an absolute dismantling, I can’t see penalizing someone for an extra game that they are playing only because they performed so well in the regular season.

Your premise may hold true if Bryce only performed exceptionally well against teams like Vandy, Miss St, etc. Where it breaks down is Bryce’s performance against teams like LSU, UGA, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, etc. Bryce performed just as well against those highly ranked recruiting teams as well. So it wasn’t just an effect of playing with far better teammates against far lesser talent. Personally, I think Bryce was trying to hard to be perfect during year one, while also suffering from frantic play due to the pressure defenses applied to him. I hope his recent play is indicative of what his future play will be like.

Listening to the radio call after Farley’s penalty on the kickoff and Shroff said, “Sam Franklin is there talking to Caleb Farley, trying to mentor him.” Thinking back on all of Franklin’s stupid penalties on STs, I thought to myself, “That’s the last MF that needs to be talking to someone about not taking stupid penalties.”

FIFY

I feel like the refs helped UGA, but I’m a Bama fan who needed UGA to lose for Bama to have even a chance at the playoffs. GT had a 27-20 lead around the 2:00 mark on a 3rd and 1, Haynes King appeared to pick up the yardage for a first down, but he fumbled the ball on the hit. However, the hit appeared to include the crown of the UGA defender’s helmet directly into Haynes King’s facemask. This appeared to me to be textbook targeting by making forcible contact with the crown of the helmet, which would have overturned the fumble and given GT a first down. The refs missed a blatant hold against UGA on their drive to tie the game. The hold occurred on 3rd and 9 and allowed Beck to scramble for a first down at about the 3 yard line. They later scored to tie, but a 3rd and 19 would have been much harder to convert. There was also DPI on a 4th and Goal earlier in the game. The ball appeared to be tipped, which would have negated the DPI and given the ball to GT. The spin on the ball seemed to change after Beck let it go but the play wasn’t even reviewed. All that being said, GT had opportunities to win the game but couldn’t get it done. Their coaching decisions in OT were highly questionable. For instance, Brett Key didn’t even know the OT rules, calling for one after GT’s second OT touchdown (required to go for two in second OT). The play calling also went away from everything that worked throughout the game.

The plays are being called for the same group for which the first 15 scripted plays are being called, so there should really be no difference in playcalling. Unfortunately, Canales goes through periods of forgetting about the Panthers’ success running the ball, putting the offense, and Bryce, in bad situations. I’m not arguing that Bryce is good in any way. In fact, I think he is one of the biggest problems with the team. However, even with his limitations, Canales has to put him and the offense in the best position to make plays. They seemed to do that today during the scripted set; after that, they struggled.

He’s never going to be a franchise QB, but if he (and Canales with the play calls) can be comfortable throughout the game like they were during the scripted portion, there would be a few more wins.

10 points in first 3 drives/21 plays of the game. 10 points in the next 9 drives/39 plays. That shows far more comfortability with the scripted set of plays than with the remainder of the offensive play calling.

I think it was fairly obvious that Bryce was super comfortable with the first 15 scripted plays. He looked poised. He made good throws. After the scripted set, he, and Canales, both seemed to be uncomfortable with the flow of the game. It’s that uncomfortability that leads to poor/rushed throws. Bryce has to be better if he intends on being the future (which I don’t think he should be), but the playcalling after the script has to be better also.

Awful 2 minute drill by the Panthers there.

FIFY

That’s because he is a pretty average passer.