week 11

[jebrick]

IU still struggles with the big school 5 star athletes. tOSU is going to kill them if/when they play.

Penn St just needs better OC to take advantage of their talent. Time to get out of the 90's

Was Texas Tech for real or BYU a pretender?

Maiava showed off some good skills. Perhaps he moves up some boards.

[K_C_]

IU still struggles with the big school 5 star athletes. tOSU is going to kill them if/when they play.

Penn St just needs better OC to take advantage of their talent. Time to get out of the 90's

Was Texas Tech for real or BYU a pretender?

Maiava showed off some good skills. Perhaps he moves up some boards.

IU lacks depth and was missing receiver Elijah Sarratt (and their best guard.) Sarratt only has 10 TD catches on the season. The one dude they can’t be without and Mendoza still put together another drive for the ages, just like he did at Oregon after he threw a pick 6, to win a game in a very tough environment. I think Oregon has some 5 star athletes on their roster.

As for OSU, no doubt they’re real good but because they might have the weakest road schedule in college football history (seriously, who have they played on the road?) they haven’t been tested yet.

The B1G Championship Game is in Indianapolis, which is a 45 minute drive from Bloomington.

We’ll see what happens and remember, OSU still has to go to Michigan. They seem to have trouble with Michigan.

[Steeldrama]

Yes Sayin and Mendoza are very deserving of the Heisman but if Diego Pavia doesn’t win it they should do away with the award

Epitome of winner, leadership and the cornerstone of the remarkable turnaround of Vandy football

It’s been a great season of linebacker play in college football

BYU’s Jack Kelly and Texas Techs Rodriguez the best part of that game yesterday

P.S. remember the name Elyiss Williams (hell yeah he pushed off)
The next great Georgia TE

[K_C_]

Yes Sayin and Mendoza are very deserving of the Heisman but if Diego Pavia doesn’t win it they should do away with the award

Epitome of winner, leadership and the cornerstone of the remarkable turnaround of Vandy football

It’s been a great season of linebacker play in college football

BYU’s Jack Kelly and Texas Techs Rodriguez the best part of that game yesterday

P.S. remember the name Elyiss Williams (hell yeah he pushed off)
The next great Georgia TE

Literally the last time Indiana had a quality football program, they were playing against OJ Simpson in the Rose Bowl.

I'm not kidding. That's 2 (maybe even 3) drives for the ages by Mendoza and company this year. You have the game winning drive at Iowa when Mendoza hit Sarratt for the game winning TD. Then following a pick six thrown by Mendoza at Oregon, when IU got the all back, Fernando led another methodically perfect drive to finish off the Ducks in their home stadium, then you have yesterday. Under all out blitzes, Mendoza put the ball up where only his receivers could catch the ball and 2 spectacular catches helped the Hoosiers fight off a very game Nittany Lions team in Happy Valley.

Right now, the Heisman is Mendoza's to lose, solely because he is making incredible comeback wins a work of art.

Damn I wish the Steelers had a shot at this kid.

[Steeldrama]

I knew my post would trigger you, KC

Yes the Hoosiers and Vandy can go toe to toe in college football irrelevancy

But

Before Pavia, Vandy hadn’t been ranked in top ten since 1947!

Before Pavia, Vandy hadn’t beaten Bama in over 40 years.

Curt Cignetti turned around the Hoosiers before Mendoza got there reaching the playoffs last season.

No doubt Mendoza deserving and will probably in fact win

Hoosiers story is great for college football

I’m a fan

But in my eyes Pavia is just built different

He’s a cultural phenomenon

The sole identity of an upstart underdog in a VASTLY superior conference

Take him out and Vandy wilts

Mendoza?

Sure his absence will hurt but Cig and that defense would keep them relevant in a dogshit conference (Ohio State aside obviously).

[K_C_]

I knew my post would trigger you, KC

Yes the Hoosiers and Vandy can go toe to toe in college football irrelevancy

But

Before Pavia, Vandy hadn’t been ranked in top ten since 1947!

Before Pavia, Vandy hadn’t beaten Bama in over 40 years.

Curt Cignetti turned around the Hoosiers before Mendoza got there reaching the playoffs last season.

No doubt Mendoza deserving and will probably in fact win

Hoosiers story is great for college football

I’m a fan

But in my eyes Pavia is just built different

He’s a cultural phenomenon

The sole identity of an upstart underdog in a VASTLY superior conference

Take him out and Vandy wilts

Mendoza?

Sure his absence will hurt but Cig and that defense would keep them relevant in a dogshit conference (Ohio State aside obviously).

It's really not triggering. Pavia is something else but Mendoza is a different animal.

Nobody believed Kurtis Rourke was going to lead IU to a title (especially with him playing on a torn ACL.)

Fernando Mendoza gives IU a legit shot at a national championship. A real legit shot.

Dude seems to thrive on adversity. He has that special rare something in his DNA that allows him to play his best when it's do or die.

IU was missing Elijah Sarratt and his 10 TD catches yesterday. That is as big a loss as there could be for IU, other than Mendoza and the big QB still found a way to get it done. He always seems to find a way to get it done.

....and the B1G Championship Game this season is in Indianapolis, which is a 45 minute drive from Bloomington. That place is gonna be loaded with Hoosier fans and it's important to remember that Julian Sayin hasn't been tested this year. Not once. OSU is so good, the kid hasn't had to overcome adversity.

At some point, he's going to have to.

[Charles Demarr]

No disrespect to KC, Smith etc.

I just don't see NFL greatness with Mendoza. Ryan Tannehill or Daniel Jones career trajectory.

[bradshaw2ben]

No disrespect to KC, Smith etc.

I just don't see NFL greatness with Mendoza. Ryan Tannehill or Daniel Jones career trajectory.

I would argue Mendoza has more stones and gut-check than DJ for sure.

[jebrick]

No disrespect to KC, Smith etc.

I just don't see NFL greatness with Mendoza. Ryan Tannehill or Daniel Jones career trajectory.

I would argue Mendoza has more stones and gut-check than DJ for sure.

Mendoza definitely has IT. The game has not been too big for him. He has looked much better than Dart of Allar when the game is put on his shoulders. He is accurate and can process. You can say his physical properties will limit him or you do not like him because he is not Josh Allen and that is fine. Unless Simpson comes out, I do not see any other QB that can be seriously talked about for the 1st pick in the draft.

[bradshaw2ben]

No disrespect to KC, Smith etc.

I just don't see NFL greatness with Mendoza. Ryan Tannehill or Daniel Jones career trajectory.

I would argue Mendoza has more stones and gut-check than DJ for sure.

Mendoza definitely has IT. The game has not been too big for him. He has looked much better than Dart of Allar when the game is put on his shoulders. He is accurate and can process. You can say his physical properties will limit him or you do not like him because he is not Josh Allen and that is fine. Unless Simpson comes out, I do not see any other QB that can be seriously talked about for the 1st pick in the draft.

I would think
Mendoza QB1
Simpson (if he declares) is QB2
Dante Moore (if he declares) is QB3 (I'd have him as QB2)
Sellers QB4

I don't think Hoover is declaring, but he would be top 3, maybe top 2.

Who comes next is a story yet to be completely told. In the mix:
Mendoza
Nussmeier
Allar
Green
Cole Payton
Maiava
Sorsby
Mohren
Klubnik
Kevin Jennings
Beck

[Ice]

I'll let "vastly superior" slide until CFP time.

[bradshaw2ben]

I'll let "vastly superior" slide until CFP time.

The Big12 Conference Championship scenarios could really throw a wrench in things. Basically, if OSU loses to Michigan, USC controls its own destiny

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1 ... s_week_11/

If 1-loss OSU doesn't make the championship and 1-loss USC wins the B1GCG, then USC gets the auto-bid and then you could have Indiana, OSU & Michigan (who would have beaten OSU) all with 1 loss and only so many wildcard spots. Not impossible that OSU could be out in that scenario.

In that scenario:
Texas A&M
USC
Texas Tech
(2) of 9-4 Duke, 12-1 JMU , the AAC winner
that's five

7 spots among:
Notre Dame
Alabama
Georgia
Miami
Louisville
SMU
Indiana
Ohio State
Michigan
Ole Miss
Oregon
Texas
Oklahoma
Virginia
Pitt
Georgia Tech

Possibly all the ACC at-large teams would be out, but it gets hairy in this scenario. If OSU beats Michigan, Oregon beats USC, and some ACC team with a better record beats Duke, it's a lot simpler.

[Ice]

I was referring more to the SEC as "vastly superior" to the B1G, which certainly didn't play out in the CFP last year, and I don't believe to truly be the case this season, either. The media does a tremendous job of hyping up mid to bottom tier SEC teams. I don't, for instance, believe Missouri is a significantly better team than Illinois or Washington, for instance, though the media would have you believe it.

Would be nice to finally see JMU get some national respect, and it looks like this could be the year where it happens.

[Steeldrama]

I'll let "vastly superior" slide until CFP time.

THIS season

It’s not debatable

BIG Noon?

BIG Joke

Zzzzzzzzzzz

[Ice]

Eh, SEC fans, and the media in general, always overrate their lower tier teams, (did you see that "good loss" Kentucky had by 20 points to Bama?, etc.), and this year, the top teams are sort of mid, too. We'll see again come playoff time.

By the way, a student informed me Arby's steak nuggets taste like smoked squirrel knees.

IU vs PSU was B1G noon last weekend, no? Only featured the play of the year to this point...

[Steeldrama]

Yep no doubt an exciting finish with the Hoosiers making my day downing a bad Penn State team

Doesn’t mean the rest of the game was remotely enjoyable to anyone outside of those two schools

Anyway

Im a transplant SEC Homer for sure

Up until the past two Saturdays with kids sports picking up i was dialed in every Saturday

Completely UNBIASED opinion MOST BIG Ten matchups were highly non compelling and frankly non competitive.

I’m a big Buckeyes fan and HUGE fan of the Hoosiers story

But

They’re IT for the entire conference now that Oregon has tailed off

The old ESPN 2 noon Big Ten games 15-20 years ago (where I touted Gopher WR Eric Decker as a future stud for example) were better games than MOST of Fox BIG NOON and poor CBS 3:30 games which pale in comparison to their past SEC game of the week matchups (no way that can be remotely debated)

Not going to sit here and nitpick Kentucky vs Rutgers as far as conference depth.

I’m simply saying the Saturday conference matchups heavily favor the SEC and the TV ratings bear that out even with the beyond annoying ESPN/Youtube dispute

[bradshaw2ben]

I was referring more to the SEC as "vastly superior" to the B1G, which certainly didn't play out in the CFP last year, and I don't believe to truly be the case this season, either. The media does a tremendous job of hyping up mid to bottom tier SEC teams. I don't, for instance, believe Missouri is a significantly better team than Illinois or Washington, for instance, though the media would have you believe it.

Would be nice to finally see JMU get some national respect, and it looks like this could be the year where it happens.

JMU vs Indiana would be the proudest moment of Cignetti's life.

[Ice]

I'll grant that Fox and CBS have leaned into the big names in the B1G this year (tOSU and IU for the most part), and their games to this point have mostly been routs. I'll also grant that the sheer size (both in number of teams and geographic footprint) means there are fewer truly high stakes games on the average weekend. So, from those perspectives, yeah, the TV isn't as compelling.

As far as overall strength of the conferences, I think mid level B1G teams tend to be underrated while the mid group in the SEC tends to be overrated nationally. I don't know where to put Oregon. On any given weekend, Lanning and Co. could hang with anybody in the country.

The pregame show, I'll give to ESPN handily. I like Meyer on Fox, but Saban and McAfee are really good, though the FG thing is getting tiresome. Portnoy on Fox is an instant channel changer. Really excited for GameDay in Pittsburgh for Pitt/ND this weekend.

And definitely on IU vs. JMU. They need to find a way to make that happen.

[bradshaw2ben]

I'll grant that Fox and CBS have leaned into the big names in the B1G this year (tOSU and IU for the most part), and their games to this point have mostly been routs. I'll also grant that the sheer size (both in number of teams and geographic footprint) means there are fewer truly high stakes games on the average weekend. So, from those perspectives, yeah, the TV isn't as compelling.

As far as overall strength of the conferences, I think mid level B1G teams tend to be underrated while the mid group in the SEC tends to be overrated nationally. I don't know where to put Oregon. On any given weekend, Lanning and Co. could hang with anybody in the country.

The pregame show, I'll give to ESPN handily. I like Meyer on Fox, but Saban and McAfee are really good, though the FG thing is getting tiresome. Portnoy on Fox is an instant channel changer. Really excited for GameDay in Pittsburgh for Pitt/ND this weekend.

And definitely on IU vs. JMU. They need to find a way to make that happen.

Hope you enjoy them chewing the shit out of the field the day before Steelers-Bengals. Bet you the field conditions on Sunday are a major talking point during the game.