AUloggerhead

Immediate playing time ... as much fun as it's been to watch the Great Exodus, players seeking immediate PT will ultimately gravitate back there. However, they can forget about stockpiling 5*s on the 1st & 2nd teams again. The depth advantage they enjoyed in the past has evaporated like a shallow bird bath in August.

And only 8 turnovers against LSU. There has been a marked improvement over last year's team -- especially with Jaylin & Tre, and more discipline out of KD & Cardwell. Cardwell's offensive game consists largely of the 2-handed dunk ... no matter, his blocks have deterred a lot of opponents from coming inside and unlike last year he's hanging on to the ball better. Still don't want him dribbling too much. As for Aden ... I don't know what people expect to see but he's only a FR so he's got room for a lot of improvement. Would like to see him shoot 3s from the line and not from 6-ft behind it -- his % would go up. This is a much better team than last year and I'm enjoying watching them play.

Wonder if DeBoer should just go ahead and book an "office" in Bryce Hospital right now ... just in case.

Oregon has recruited pretty good but take a look at their roster and only 20% or so come from either OR or WA. The rest are from mostly CA but also from nationwide (thanks Phil.) You'll find similar results for UW, WSU, OSU etc. The entire population of WA is about 7.8 M. In contrast, metro ATL alone is about 6.2 M while S. FL (Metro-Dade, Broward & Palm Bch Counties) are over 9.5 M. The recruiting advantages of access to just those 2 areas, metro ATL & S FL, are enormous. DeBoer should do just fine recruiting the Southland.

All the schools in the NW struggle to recruit because of the lack of population density. There's just not enough local talent forcing all of them to go to CA & elsewhere to get blue chip players. As much as I want uat to fail, they got a real coach capable of keeping them winning (damn it!) uat has the facilities & resources, plus the real-world example of Harsin failing to recruit, to not let that happen to them (damn it!) Will he recruit like Sabun? Probably not. Will he get his fair share of 4 & 5 * players to be successful? Probably will (damn it!) It's a new day in the SEC with OU & Tx joining, so the competition will be nothing like DeBoer's ever faced before (Yay!) I don't think DeBoer will continue winning at Sabun's pace but I also think any drop off isn't going to be that much. Time will tell.

Finally! No news for the last few days & I thought he was gone. OL shaping up nicely now!

Carroll is 72 -- same age as Nick. Although Pete is in great shape with no health issues, I just don't believe he's looking at uprooting from Seattle to Tuscalooser. He's still employed with the Seahawks in an advisory role.

Jimbo Fisher! He's got the name, the arrogant attitude and the experience of being a HC in the SEC -- plus, he's available!

It may have been garbage time but so what? Brown had some zip on his passes that hasn't been evident by any of the other QBs all season long. I'd like to see more of that. Let the QB competition begin.

Hat tip for the Slap Shot reference!

Exactly. After all the previous blowout wins, you had to wonder how they'd respond to a legit SEC opponent in a close game. And it definitely was close in the beginning and most of the 1st half. But as soon as AU opened up a 10-pt lead, they never let up and it just snowballed from there. Arky was cold shooting from the field but that was also in response to the AU defense. I'm hoping this win gives them confidence to play in tight games in the future.

Great start to conference play! 32-pt mov at Arky -- who saw that coming? Quality depth & relentless D for the win!

Bolded part is spot on. AU & all true AU fans aspire (& expect) better. Much better if truth be told. To the last part of your post, I would not be any "happier" if CHF's won/loss record was 1 win more than it ended up because there's scarcely much of a difference between 6-7 & 7-6. Both of those records are sailing on the same ship, the USS Mediocrity with 2 lifeboats named Alsoran & Middleofthepack. The rebuild road to championship level is a long one and it's going to take more time than just one season. WDE

AU has been meh for far too long. 4 more wins in the last 3 years resulting in technically "winning" seasons during that time wouldn't make a difference in the perception of AU still stuck in mediocre mode since Mediocre Malzahn's 6-5 season in 2020. Unless ... and I don't want to presume this of you ... you're one of those people that think 'Malzahn never had a losing season' really means all that much. I certainly don't. AU should have beaten uat this year. Still can't wrap my brain around the circumstances leading to losing in that fashion. Can't argue AU winning against NMSU or Maryland -- they flat out whipped AU.

So? If AU had won just 1 more game each in '23 & '21, plus 2 more in '22, then we wouldn't have 3 losing seasons in a row but we'd have 3 additional meh seasons on top of Malzahn's 6-5 last season in '20. Bottom line: there's precious little difference between a "losing" season & a barely losing season. The Jimmys & Joes CHF is recruiting & bringing to the Plains will absolutely make a difference in the future. Give it time.

Trying to shoe horn the playoff into the old bowl system has ruined both the playoff & the bowl system, IMHO. The two are just incompatible & if I had to choose ... I'd go with an expanded playoff. Changing conference affiliations, NIL & early draft eligibility have put more daggers into the bowl system, not to mention 43 bowl games this year -- so many that teams without winning records are selected to fill them up.

Quit trying so hard to figure out a champion? ... Wut the actual heck? A better idea is how about we quit trying to prop up the outdated bowl system? This isn't the only year that bowl game venues are largely vacant and it's been going on for decades. The TV broadcasts do all they can to avoid showing empty seats. Only some teams travel well & fill up stadiums no matter what -- AU is fortunate in that respect. Speaking of AU, we've been shut out of the mythical NC in '83, '93 & '04, so no thank-you to going back to that way of choosing a champion. Let the eventual winner of the playoff games decide the champion, not a group of pencil-necked sportswriters. The trend of players opting out of playing (meaningless) bowl games should be another clue that the draw is just not there anymore. Instead, why not expand the playoff system and hold all the games on the campus stadiums like the Div II & III do? Div III has a 32-team playoff. If they can do it, there's no reason why Div I can too. If the current bowl venues want to host the final, they can damn well bid on it -- highest bidder gets the game.

It's a lock:

Seems the UCF folks haven't learned anything either by giving Goofy Gus an extension thru 2027 back in Oct. smdh