CFW Week 15 Forecast – The Army-Navy game
And the uproar continues
From angst, to anger to uproar.
Yes, the angst and anger has grown into an uproar. Monday, Alabama coach Nick Saban got more than 250 phone calls from irate Florida State fans. They verbally attacked Saban, calling him every name in the book and using every four-letter word in the book and some outside the book. How crazy is that? Nick Saban wasn’t on the selection committee. He didn’t pick the four teams in the playoff. FSU fans should have been trashing their conference commissioner Jim Phillips on the phone. Oh, the irony.
If you think about it, Georgia and Ohio State have a case for being in the playoff. Perhaps a bigger case than Florida State. And I know some Georgia and Ohio State fans who are not happy about it. But they aren’t acting like a bunch of crackpots.
Anyone, using the FSU argument that they should be in the playoff because they are an undefeated conference champion, then, by golly, Liberty should be in the playoff. Liberty is an undefeated conference champion. What’s that you say? Liberty had a weak schedule. Well darn if you didn’t just make the committee’s point. Florida State had a weak schedule too. Michigan, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Washington and Alabama all had a higher strength of schedule rating than Florida State. Florida State’s strength of schedule was 55th in the country. Texas was 2nd and Alabama was 6th. Big difference.
And Texas and Alabama have their starting quarterbacks.
I don’t buy this argument that the selection committee is biased towards the SEC. The 13 members of the college football selection committee are a combination of former head football coaches, former football players, former athletic directors, a former college football sportswriter, and five current athletic directors – one from each Power Five conference. Twelve of the members are male and one is female. Nine of the members are Caucasian and four are African American.
As far as connections to the conferences are concerned, two are connected to the ACC (the NC State athletic director and a former Wake Forest coach), and one is connected to the SEC (the Kentucky athletic director). With regards to the other 10 members, there are two Big Ten connections, one Big 12 connection, one Pac-12 connection, one AAC connection, one MWC connection, one MAC connection, one Ivy League connection, one SWAC connection and one Independent connection.
So, when people say the committee is dominated by the SEC, that simply isn’t true. If anything, there is a strong advantage to the ACC and Florida State – the NC State athletic director, the former Wake Forest coach, plus former players from Notre Dame and Florida A&M. Notre Dame is a member of the ACC in all sports but football. However, the Irish have an agreement and strong relationship with the ACC in football. And Florida A&M is located in Tallahassee, down the street from Florida State. The ACC and Florida State have four connections, Alabama and the SEC have one. So, I would say the committee, if anything, was weighted towards FSU. Certainly, more so than Alabama and Texas. The committee wasn’t biased.
Some people say that no matter what, the SEC always gets into the playoff. Well, guess what? Maybe they should. The SEC has won six of the nine CFP championships. The SEC has been in eight of the nine final games. No other conference can come close to saying that.
And now the Florida State fans say they are going to boycott the Orange Bowl. They want the players to boycott it too. They want them to opt out. You know what the bottom line is? They are afraid of Georgia. They are afraid the rest of the country will say, “Guess what, the committee was right.”
Did you see the reaction of the Michigan players and hear their moans and groans when they found out they would be playing Alabama instead of Florida State? That should tell you something.
Even worse, the sleazy politicians in Florida (state and national) have gotten in on the act. In spite of more important issues in the state, nation and world, they are going to write letters to the NCAA. Note: The NCAA has nothing whatsoever to do with the CFP. They are going to waste taxpayer money filing protests, suing the CFP, getting a proclamation passed in congress, demanding a hearing in congress. I mean it is absurd. Why do we continue to elect these idiots – these nuts?
I empathize with the Florida State fans, but enough is enough.
It's water over the damn now, but there was a solution to most of this uproar. My friend Tommy Perrien has always said the playoff teams should be selected by a computer. And do you know what? I think Tommy is right. We should have had a computer selecting these teams all along. It would be a lot more palatable than a committee. I always remember a quote I once saw hanging on the wall in the office of a newspaper publisher. “God so loved the world, he didn’t send a committee.”
The Army-Navy game is Saturday. Neither team has had a great season. Both are 5-6. That means the winner is bowl eligible. But the winner won’t be going to a bowl game. With the Army-Navy game being played as late as it is, apparently none of the bowls felt they could wait until this weekend to select the winner. All the bowls announced their pairings last Sunday. If Army and/or Navy had already been bowl eligible coming into the game, then they would have been chosen for a bowl spot.
This is the last year, at least for a while, Army will come into the game as an Independent. On July 1, 2024, Army is joining the American Athletic Conference (AAC) for football only. Navy has been a member of the AAC (for football only) for some time now. So, starting next season, both teams will compete in the AAC. However, the Army-Navy game on the second weekend in December will not count as a conference game. That’s because the AAC championship game is played the first weekend in December on conference championship weekend. Now, this is interesting. Should Army and Navy come in first and second in the AAC conference standings, then the two teams will meet for the conference championship on the first weekend in December. Then, they will turn around and play each other again in the annual Army-Navy game on the second weekend in December. But not as a conference game. The conference championship game will be played on the home field of the first-place team in the standings. The Army-Navy game will continue to be played at a neutral site – generally Philadelphia.
And finally, as a Marine once told me: The Saturday of the Army-Navy game is the only day of the year that a Marine cheers for Navy.
The Heisman Trophy presentation is at 8 pm ET, Saturday on ESPN. The four finalists are Washington quarterback Michael Penix, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison. I predict that Daniels will win the Heisman, with Penix coming in second.
Transfer portaling to a different sport. Backup Alabama quarterback Tyler Buchner, a redshirt sophomore, has entered the transfer portal. But get this. Buchner has entered the portal as a lacrosse player. He transferred to Alabama during the offseason from Notre Dame. In high school, Buchner played both football and lacrosse. He was considered one of the top lacrosse recruits in the country. Buchner was also heavily recruited for football. He chose football and he chose Notre Dame out of high school. Now Buchner says his football playing days are over and he wants to finish his college career playing lacrosse.
Austin Peay football coach Scotty Walden has been named the new head coach at UTEP. In four seasons with Austin Peay, Walden was 26-14 – 9-3 this season. He is a native of Texas. Walden replaces Dana Dimel at UTEP. Dimel was fired a few weeks ago.
Former Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason has been named the new head coach at Middle Tennessee. Since he was fired from Vanderbilt after the 2020 season, Mason has been the defensive coordinator at Auburn and Oklahoma State. This past season, Mason took a sabbatical from coaching. Mason replaces Rick Stockstill at MTSU. Stockstill was fired a few weeks ago.
Texas co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate has been named the new head coach at Nevada. Choate has been on the staff at Texas since 2021. Prior to Texas, Choate was the head coach at Montana for five seasons from 2016-2020, where he compiled a 28-22 record. Prior to Montana, he was on the staffs at Washington, Florida, Washington State, Boise State and Utah State. Choate is a native of Columbus, Ohio.
Former BYU and Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall has been named the new head coach at New Mexico. Mendenhall coached Virginia for six seasons from 2016 to 2021, with a record of 36-38. Prior to that, he coached BYU for 11 seasons from 2005 to 2015. His record at BYU was 99-43. Mendenhall’s overall record is 135-81. He has been on a sabbatical from coaching since 2021.
Wyoming coach Craig Bohl announced he is retiring after the Cowboys play Toledo in the Arizona Bowl on December 30. Bohl has coached Wyoming for the past 10 seasons, with a record of 60-60. The Cowboys were 8-4 this season. Prior to Wyoming, he was the coach of North Dakota State for 11 seasons, with a record of 104-32. He led the Bison to three consecutive FCS national championships. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Bohl played football for the Huskers where he was a reserve defensive back.
“Boy, the way Glen Miller played, songs that made the hit parade, guys like us, we had it made, those were the days….” Screenwriter and producer Norman Lear died. Lear produced, wrote, created and developed more than 100 TV shows. Some of them included “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “Sanford and Son,” “One Day at a Time,” “The Jeffersons” and “Good Times.” During World War II, Lear served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Norman Milton Lear was 101. “….And you know where you were then, Girls were girls and men were men, mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.”
Go Navy, beat Army!
Happy Hanukkah!
Tom Carnohan
https://collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
December 7, 2023
Touchdown Tom’s Prediction for
This Week’s One Biggest and Most Intriguing Game….and then none
Army (5-6) vs. Navy (5-6) – (Ind. vs. AAC) – 3 pm ET, Saturday, CBS – Both teams are entering the game with identical records. Army is entering the game on a three-game winning streak. Navy is entering the game off a 59-14 loss to SMU. I have no idea who Navy will play at quarterback. Moreso, where they will find a quarterback. The Middies have four quarterbacks on the injured list. Actually, one is out for academic reasons. If Navy finds a quarterback, let’s hope he doesn’t get injured. I can’t imagine where they will find a sixth quarterback. It’s looking grim for the Middies. Navy is averaging 18 points a game and giving up 23 points a game. Army definitely has the momentum, coming in on the three-game winning streak. Yeah, at one point, Army was 2-6. The Black Knights had a five-game losing streak. But they have turned that around. Army only has one quarterback on the injured list. So, the Cadets appear to be in better shape than Navy. On offense, Army averages 21 points a game. The defense is giving up 22 points a game. It’s hard for me to do this and it’s against my better wishes, but I see Army coming out on top. This Mule kicks – Army 26, Navy 19.
Quotes of the Week
“Shut up with all the fake outrage,” Paul Finebaum, to the Florida State athletic director Michael Alford and the president of Florida State Richard McCullough.
“The CFP selection committee needs to be more transparent. What are you hiding? The public should know how each committee member voted,” Paul Finebaum.
“Paul Finebaum is a caricature of a caricature of Paul Finebaum. That’s what he is right now. You can’t take anything he says seriously. You just can’t. It’s like – they march him out there, they pull the string in his back, and he just starts spewing negative things about Michigan. When a person does that repeatedly and you just know his shtick, you can’t take him seriously. You take him for what he is. And that’s how I look at Paul Finebaum,” ESPN College GameDay’s Desmond Howard.
Tom Carnohan
https://collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
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