2020-2021 NCAA Football: COVID edition

[cubby]

First play in teh redzone, commentators mention that Michigan needs to come away with a TD here.

Patterson proceeds to hang on to the ball too long, gets sacked, loses the ball and nearly ruins their chances to win this game.

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Scratch that. Drive doesn't reach FG range after the sack/fumble, so Michigan has to punt.

Alabama is playing their back up QB and they might have the better QB situation. Patterson is just dreadful today.

And now Alabama is driving it right back down the field after what looked like a great defensive stop by Michigan. If Alabama scores here it will be pretty difficult for Michigan to recover.

[xskarma]

Michigan just fails again and again to account for Jeudy. He's the ONE guy on offense you need to watch out for. Donald Brown yet again not showing that he can get this Michigan defense to live up to it's reputation.

So now it's all on the shoulders of Patterson, which means he'll try to do too much (even more so than on the last drive) and turn it over on some bone headed play. Can see this coming a mile away.

[Brubear]

Texas kept up with LSU and only lost by 1 score. We were just decimated by injuries on the D, combined with just bad coordinator plays. We are probably slightly better than our record indicates because of that. Also, Texas just seems to do well in bowl games in general, and Tom is excellent at getting our guys hyped up and serious about it even if the bowl isnt prestigious.

Im also reaaaaly tired of the "We didnt wanna be here" narrative whenever we win. It didnt fly with Georgia, it shouldnt fly with utah.

As for Michigan, Ive got some thoughts on it but I really dont wanna jinx the game :x

Utah definitely has no room to use the "they didn't want to be there" narrative, as Alabama fans have tried to use that to explain their Sugar Bowl loss and Ute fans wouldn't let it fly.

Utah got straight up beat, and I think most of that falls on the coaching staff. They were out schemed and outcoached. They had the talent and size to compete, but they clearly didn't have the scheme and preparation to compete.

[xskarma]

So now it's all on the shoulders of Patterson, which means he'll try to do too much (even more so than on the last drive) and turn it over on some bone headed play. Can see this coming a mile away.

Maybe not all on Patterson, but this was the expected result anyway. GG Alabama.

[cubby]

Michigan just fails again and again to account for Jeudy. He's the ONE guy on offense you need to watch out for. Donald Brown yet again not showing that he can get this Michigan defense to live up to it's reputation.

So now it's all on the shoulders of Patterson, which means he'll try to do too much (even more so than on the last drive) and turn it over on some bone headed play. Can see this coming a mile away.

You called it.

[Crissi]

shoulda stayed with my gut but alas, fell into the first half Michigan hype.

[xskarma]

shoulda stayed with my gut but alas, fell into the first half Michigan hype.

Literally seconds before the Patterson sack/fumble that ruined it all was the first time all game I allowed myself to think "Maybe if we can get a TD here and a stop on defense, we'd be in business".

And then the rest of the game pretty much went how I had expected the whole game to go. I'll give Michigan credit that they at least got to the point where I considered believing in them.

But, let's be honest, this is probably the worst Alabama team in the last 10 years or something, so losing pretty convincingly to them after keeping it close most of the game is not exactly a ringing endorsement of the coaching staff.

I'm not particularly on the "Fire Harbaugh" train, unless they know they have a surefire upgrade waiting to take over for him, but Harbaugh has also not done literally anything to convince me he should stay during his tenure so far. I expected more when he became the coach.

[cubby]

Great opening drive by Oregon.

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Wisconsin comes back with a kickoff return for td. Then an interception. But can't get a first down. Badgers are in the lead, but Oregon is playing very good football so far - if that makes any sense.

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Thought maybe Oregon had Wisconsin's offense shut down after the second three-and-out. Not so much now. Gonna be a good game.

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Holy shit!

Oregon blows a fumble recovery with another three-and-out and missed fourth down conversion. Then gets an interception and drives it back into the end zone. 14-10 Oregon.

And Wisconsin can't get into the Red Zone so far. I do expect that to change, however.

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And it did. Wisconsin scores on the last play of the half.

17-14 Wisconsin leads.

[draynay]

Rose Bowl has been awesome for 3 quarters, 4th off to a good start.

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As much as I enjoyed watching all those aggressive 4th down plays from Wisconsin, their many turnovers doomed them. The defense for both teams really showed up for this one and kept it close.

[cubby]

One of the best Rose Bowls in modern times. What a game, and such a send off for Herbert.

Glad Taylor got his 2k yards as well. That was close.

[draynay]

Glad Taylor got his 2k yards as well. That was close.

He deserved it and they made him earn it.

[Crissi]

oh good, I like Oregon and Herbert!

Now for some Sugar.

[cubby]

He deserved it and they made him earn it.

Agreed and agreed. I wasn't being sarcastic - I'm really glad he made it. Will he go draft or go back for his senior year and go after the FBS all time record?

[Crissi]

Looks like I'll be 2/4, not bad. Because Baylor is really shitting it up.

[cubby]

Looks like I'll be 2/4, not bad. Because Baylor is really shitting it up.

Baylor hasn't even done enough to shit it up. Baylor's QB has to be the best scrambler in the NCAA because he gets zero protection after the snap.

[Crissi]

Someone had mentioned this on reddit and I agree. Step 1 of beating Georgia is having your mascot go after the other mascot. That was Baylor's first mistake.

[muto]

Sucks they had to let Oklahoma in. After watching Alabama drum Michigan I think they’re still the 4th best team. Oh and with a back up QB.

[cubby]

National Championship time!

For my money, I don't think Clemson has run into a defense like LSU this year. Aside from their relative cupcake CFP semi-final game against OK, who aren't even that, the C-Tigers haven't seen anything this strong.

Of course...last year many said the same thing.

I just hope it's a good game.

[Fritters154]

For my money, I don't think Clemson has run into a defense like LSU this year. Aside from their relative cupcake CFP semi-final game against OK, who aren't even that, the C-Tigers haven't seen anything this strong.

Are you confusing Clemson for LSU in the semi-final? LSU played Oklahoma and Clemson played Ohio State, which was the #1 defense this year by pretty much every metric (LSU was like 28 teams behind them in yards allowed per game and touchdowns allowed per game). They also put up 29 against OSU, which was the most against them by any team on their schedule.

[Brubear]

So far the unstoppable LSU is looking very stoppable, and Clemson is driving against the LSU defense unlike anything Clemson has seen.

This is exactly why I don't hold much faith in the eye test and am very much an advocate for settling it on the field. Let the teams play each other and whoever wins, wins. No more of this "X is clearly better than Y despite them having zero common opponents or schedule".