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College Football Championship: Washington vs Michigan - Printable Version

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RE: College Football Championship: Washington vs Michigan - Mick - 01-03-2024

(01-02-2024, 10:14 PM)Goose Wrote:  
(01-02-2024, 12:42 AM)Snorlax94 Wrote:  The old Saban would have had the fire to make sure his center could snap the ball and never would have tolerated all the flaws of this year’s team. 
You are correct. However, the "old" Saban operated in a system where he had a second string composed of 4 and 5 start athletes. They were stuck there. They couldn't leave. If the first string guy had "flaws" a second string replacement that was also all world was available. Lots easier to fix things when you have the horses. Today, lots of those second stringers jump in the portal. They aren't willing to "wait their turn" and they don't have to. Yes, this affects Saban a lot. He is used to a world where he always has better personnel than the opponents and that only a very few schools can compete with his guys. Not as true today.

Basically what happened to Georgia. FSU had all their starters enter the portal, Georgia had mostly second stringers enter the portal.

RE: College Football Championship: Washington vs Michigan - slide - 01-03-2024

(01-02-2024, 10:14 PM)Goose Wrote:  You are correct. However, the "old" Saban operated in a system where he had a second string composed of 4 and 5 start athletes. They were stuck there. They couldn't leave. If the first string guy had "flaws" a second string replacement that was also all world was available. Lots easier to fix things when you have the horses. Today, lots of those second stringers jump in the portal. They aren't willing to "wait their turn" and they don't have to. Yes, this affects Saban a lot. He is used to a world where he always has better personnel than the opponents and that only a very few schools can compete with his guys. Not as true today.

from an Athletic piece today (re. Alabama talent level):

"The 2023 Alabama team boasts the second-most talented roster — on paper — in the modern recruiting era (dating back to 2002). The average scholarship player on this team was a top-100 recruit coming out of high school. That is an absurd statistic. Even if half of the signees didn’t pan out, Alabama would still have 40-ish players who lived up to their recruiting hype and would be among the best players at their position in the country. That’s basically an entire two-deep. It’s unfathomable how many good players are on this team.

RE: College Football Championship: Washington vs Michigan - cardcrimson - 01-03-2024

Some could argue that Saban did more with less this year than ever before. Pundits buried this team early in the season, yet they made it to the CFP. Looking at the roster, they may have a lot of 4 and 5 stars, but who is truly a standout player? They got none, at least on offense. Milroe may get there, but man is he a work in progess; he was awful early in the year. This year, they had no Ingram, Henry, Harris, Smith, Jones, Cooper, Jeudy, Waddell, Tua, Hurts, Jones, Young, or other standout on O. Yet they still made it to the playoff.

RE: College Football Championship: Washington vs Michigan - Leftcoast - 01-03-2024

(01-03-2024, 02:40 PM)cardcrimson Wrote:  Some could argue that Saban did more with less this year than ever before. Pundits buried this team early in the season, yet they made it to the CFP. Looking at the roster, they may have a lot of 4 and 5 stars, but who is truly a standout player? They got none, at least on offense. Milroe may get there, but man is he a work in progess; he was awful early in the year. This year, they had no Ingram, Henry, Harris, Smith, Jones, Cooper, Jeudy, Waddell, Tua, Hurts, Jones, Young, or other standout on O. Yet they still made it to the playoff.

Michigan looked very, very good defensively and their offense is strongest in areas where Washington is weak.  Couple that with all the mistakes we saw Michigan Washington make in the final 10 minutes (pointing to a lack of discipline) and I see a blow-out win for Harbaugh and Michigan.  Except .... Penix was superb and the best player on New Year's day among all four semi-finalists.  His accuracy hitting well covered players in-stride was crazy.  If he has a day like that anything can happen.  Still, I see why Michigan is favored - it will take a career day for Penix if Washington is to win.