bicranium

Watched the stream online, yeah. And had twitter open watching everyone analyze the placement of the hats, which ones looked worn, etc...lol. I audibly celebrated here at the office. And I think Dixon is next. Sometime this week. I think he didn't announce on Saturday because he wanted to get something formal set up at his school.

Man, one thing about recruiting under Urban... these late announcements... you never seem to have an idea (ie. Dontre Wilson and Vonn Bell last year) and then Urban gets them. That was awesome.

Solution: Buy the cheap case off eBay. Take Spankis' 20GB out of the old-school enclosure. Put in cheap case. Put in newer model Xbox 360. Done. As far as I know (there may be a newer method that I'm not aware of) there's a bit more to it than just buying any laptop hard drive and going to town. Has to be a certain series of Western Digital HDD's, has to be a certain size (no larger than 320 - which is what I put in mine) and you have to do some stuff with it plugged into a PC (loading Xbox 360 OS and whatnot via some hacker tool) before putting it in the 360. So taking Spankis' and putting it into the new enclosure as Eric did with his own would be the easiest way I think.

OSU's in-home with Raekwon was the last for him today. Auburn was in earlier today, Clemson sent some assistants to squeeze in between Auburn and OSU which most people are labeling as desperation, then OSU finished the night with Urban, Fickell, Vrabel and Withers. Guy on Rivals who is basically in charge of the announcement tomorrow on NBCSN said they usually know the day before but they don't this time. Said Raekwon hasn't told any staffs that he is or isn't going there. Raekwon's mother told the Rivals guy she may not even know until the school comes out of his mouth tomorrow. nevada says OSU thinks they have him. So given nevada's track record lately I'd say OSU is completely out of it. :lolguy:

Several people with "sources" saying Raekwon McMillan committed to Bama on Thursday night when Saban had his in-home visit. Could just be pre-announcement misdirection or could just be the truth. We'll know by 12:30ish tomorrow.

Definitely feel the biggest thing is that he's relatively young. People just assume he has to have the itch and that's partially confirmed by all the work he likes to do with the QB's heading into the draft and the consulting that I know he's done for at least OSU. He stopped by to visit with OSU and Braxton I think after the NW game and gave him some pointers/tried to give him some insight as to what people really thought of him. And supposedly OSU coaches can and do call him from time to time to get his input on certain things. I don't know if he has a connection to OSU just because of being from Ohio or if it's from the big visit he had here a few years ago.

Same. Posted as much a couple pages back. Dude is as "content" as a guy like him can be I think. He'll retire an absolute legend at Bama sometime in the next 6-8 years.

Johnnie at the Florida state title game tonight... http://i.imgur.com/qSv8RSp.jpg

Ohio guy on Scout who is pretty big as far as info in south Florida is concerned and has had great info on guys going all the way back to the 2008 class if not further back said recently that Shazier was a done deal to go pro. Shazier came out today and said he's "dead in the middle" on his decision to stay or go. Said if anything he's leaning towards staying. That would be pretty huge but I still don't see it happening. In other Florida news though, 4* WR Johnnie Dixon should be committing to OSU tomorrow. Was going to commit last Sunday but mom didn't quite approve of OSU yet. Urban had his home visit earlier this week and she felt a lot better then Urban supposedly sealed it with a phone call the other night.

Within a certain time frame they were absolutely mediocre. The period between Bear Bryant's retirement and Nick Saban's first season (25 years - 1982-2007) they had only 8 10-win seasons with just 1 national title and 3 conference titles. Since Saban has been hired Alabama's only season without 10 or more wins was his first. He has 6 10-win seasons in 7 years to go with 3 national titles and 2 conference titles. So he's 2 10-win seasons and 1 conference title short of matching the 25 year period between Bear Bryant and himself but maybe having 3 times as many national titles as that span makes up for his shortcomings... :lolguy:

Saban brought that pressure to Alabama. They had been mediocre for so long and they thought he was their savior. And he basically has been. Texas hasn't been mediocre for very long. Recruiting note... 5-star LB Raekwon McMillan announces on Monday. Urban, Fickell, Withers and Vrabel will be having their in-home visit with him on Sunday.

That sounds really difficult. Props to him. :gabe:

Saban's not exactly a young guy. I don't think it's such a sure thing that he'd go to Texas. Bama can match $10m/yr. Just a couple weeks ago on 60 Minutes Bama's president or AD mentioned how Saban was the best investment they've ever made. They're not going to let him go without a fight.

Not as bad as my friend in Fargo who moved this past weekend with highs below zero and windchills dipping into the -40's.

The scary thing is that some of these guys, 4th and 5th year guys, were getting lost in MAN coverage on Saturday. They were just letting their guys go free in man coverage with no acceptable explanation. It's poor discipline and you have to think that goes back to coaching. People who watched UNC when Withers was in charge there (as the DC then eventually the interim HC just like Fickell here) said this mirrors a lot of what happened with their defense. They had plenty of guys on their defenses drafted under Butch Davis and Everett Withers but they never quite put it all together on the field.

Not since he's taken over as interim HC then DC. Shazier might end up a 1st rounder based on some solid production and the crazy combine numbers he'll put up but I don't think anyone feels he's fundamentally sound. The last truly fundamentally sound LB OSU has had was probably Ross Homan. I think Luke might just be spread too thin. Obviously he proved he could develop LB's when he was the LB coach and really nothing else but I don't know if he can juggle multiple responsibilities too well.

Withers takes plenty of heat from people who actually pay attention. He is the co-DC and the safeties coach. The safeties were the biggest problem on the defense followed closely by the lack of LB development which is Fickell's area. Fickell calls the defense though. I think Withers' title is kinda like Fickell's was under Heacock. Just a title. Dream scenario was that Withers would take the FAU job and Fickell takes the BGSU job but FAU has honed in on RB coach Stan Drayton and I don't think BGSU is dumb enough to buy what Urban's selling with regards to Fickell so they'll probably take the guy who we'd love to have replace Fickell in Florida's DC DJ Durkin. I can't see Urban straight firing Fickell so he needs to go somewhere but now people are saying maybe he doesn't aspire to be a HC. Fuck me. Vrabel could very well go as Fickell's DC if he does end up somewhere like EMU, FAU or BGSU but there's plenty of logic that says Vrabel would stay in Columbus as the DL coach and maybe get a co-DC title for himself instead of being a DC at some lowly program that he has no ties to. I've read people referring to Vrabel as an OSU lifer so that would be great because I remember watching him in the NFL and commentators talking about how he was going to be a great coach someday and I figured he'd end up doing so in the NFL or something but if OSU can hang onto him for a long time that would be awesome.

Here's how the system is going to work... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Football_Playoff Also, with Bowling Green's HC taking the Wake Forest job Urban is pushing hard for Fickell to get that job. I wonder why...lol. Have a feeling, unless Urban can sell them on Fickell, that they'll take Durkin from Florida. If they do take Fickell though, Durkin is a solid candidate to replace Fickell at OSU if Urban can't get some really big name (ie. Chavis).

I think most years, at least at the start, we'll be seeing 2 SEC teams and 2 other conference champions.

Bunch of interesting parallels between the first and last seasons of the BCS from reddit... Florida State plays an SEC team in the title game. (In 98-99, they lost.) Ohio State fails to reach title game due to a loss to Michigan State, the only loss of the season. Ohio State scores 24 points vs. MSU. 1998 Heisman winner Ricky Williams was drafted in the eighth round of the MLB draft out of high school. 2013 Heisman favorite Jameis Winston was drafted in the fifteenth round. After blowing out New Mexico State in Week 1, Texas loses their next two games, giving up at least 40 points to each opponent. They then win their next six before losing again. (!!) With six games remaining in the season, Texas Tech is undefeated. They then lose five of those last six. Rutgers loses 6 games, Temple wins 2. These are the only two 1998 Big East schools who remain in the 2013 AAC. Arizona beats a highly-ranked Oregon team by more than 3 touchdowns, but beats a bad Cal team by less than 1 TD. Nebraska posts a 5-3 conference record (tied with one other team) after a Week 1 injury eventually sidelines the starting QB, who is replaced by a redshirt freshman. Contingency parallel: If Nebraska wins its bowl game, both teams will have finished 9-4 with the lone OOC loss to a Pac-10/12 team. Miami (FL) goes loses 3 regular season games to Florida State, Virginia Tech and a basketball school. AP Preseason #1 team does not make title game. Instead plays Big 12 team in the Sugar Bowl. (In 98-99, the Big 12 team lost.) A team from the state of Oregon plays a bowl game in Hawaii. After losing 8 the previous season, an Ohio MAC team fails to win a single game. Wake Forest goes 3-8 against IA/FBS opponents. Their last six games are a win over Maryland followed by five losses. A California team wins the Pac-10/12 by beating an Arizona team by 24 points. A MAC team loses just once in the regular season, to Bowling Green by 20 or more points. Capital One/Citrus Bowl: A 3-loss team who lost to Ohio State vs. a 2-loss team who lost to Tennessee. (Pre-bowl records. In 98-99, the 3-loss Big Ten team won.) A coach born in North Carolina takes his "Tech" school to the Music City Bowl. (In 98-99, that coach won.)

People questioning the 4th and 1 play aren't very bright. Braxton scored the TD to tie the game off that same play and gained another 5-6 yards on it on the drive to take the lead. Heuerman gets his block on Allen there and Braxton may have been gone. I question the offensive gameplan coming in and the play call before the 4th down. They split Hyde out wide early on and it resulted in nothing. All that did was take a huge running threat and a solid blocker out of the backfield on what were obvious QB draws. Had any of them been successful they probably eventually throw off of it but they were never successful. Then on 3rd and 3... they went back to it. The obvious play is just to run Hyde twice up the gut. You probably get it on 3rd down and if you don't you do like you've done going all the way back to last season and go tempo and run it again. Hyde didn't have a carry for less than 2 yards all night. 2 + 2 = first down. Which is why if I see Hyde out wide once on January 3rd my TV is going off.

If I see Hyde lined up wide once against Clemson I'm turning the game off. Just throwing that out there now.

Heisman, bowl season, recruiting, off-season. Hopefully this thread can go longer than a month. :dumb:

Double post. Looks like once the thread gets above 775 replies or so it just poops out.

Iowa is a tough team. Losses to 12-1 NIU, 12-1 OSU, 12-1 MSU and 9-3 (should be 10-2) Wisconsin. LSU will be without their starting QB. And they never really did anything impressive this season that should make someone think it's just over for Iowa. Recruiting note on Raekwon McMillan. Decides next Monday. In-home visit with Saban (who Raekwon hasn't really hit it off with - he likes Smart at Bama who may go elsewhere after this season) on Thursday. In-home with Urban on Sunday. Day before his announcement.