The thought of OSU struggling on offense/at the QB spot makes me so giddy that I don't even want to start hoping for it to be real. But please let it be real....

Agreed about Harbaugh being annoyed by the suspension and thus having an increased willingness to interview with more NFL teams. This is troublesome as you cannot easily replace a Jim Harbaugh.

I can't say I'm surprised about the burnout among college basketball coaches.  They were already dealing with one-and-dones, and now the portal takes things to another level.  The offseason calendar could be reworked a bit, but even if the NCAA creates more mandatory dead periods, there's still going to be the stress of potentially having to revamp your roster (and protect it from being poached) every offseason.

Those signs... HAHAHA, you got me cry laughing at 9:09am in the morning. 

 

'Are Indiana fans ok?"  hahaha just amazing commentary there

Keon Coleman is #30 in that draft list. Only the dimmest Sparty fans will be able to ignore that.

OSU's offense will be "fine" this year regardless of who's at QB because much like UM they can out-talented 9/10thd of the opponent they'll see pretty handily.  But I do think both Brown and McCord were going to be a step down from Stroud even at the top of their projections and now it's clearly going to be a bit more.  It'll be interesting to see if the lean into the run more early on or if they try to fake it til they make it in the air.

My general feeling about NIL talk with basketball is that it really only matters to a subset of guys because at some point you're only going to get so much of an offer.  Sure, if you're a top-50 guy you might be able to command a bit more of a bidding war but some 3.5* from suburban KC isn't likely to be a program changer early on and smart teams will instead (a) try to recruit those guys and build them up over years or (b) just pluck them from the transfer portal after a year or two.  In fact, I wouldn't be shocked in CBB starts to look a bit inverse, with a bunch of small programs having a number of 1- and 2-and-transfers while the bigger programs have older rosters with some young studs and then a bunch of guys who've stuck around the college game a bit.  

There's less value in getting first-year guys who just haven't developed as much now, and as we saw with Howard you can wind up with a guy who does one thing really well (shooting) and not much else and you're stuck having to play him because you can't really develop those areas in-season.  Better to get those guys a year or two later with lower ceilings on any particular skill but overall more complete players.

The punishment for Harbaugh is whatever; the NCAA comes across as feckless so often that while I'd like UM not to give them a win it's unlikely to mean much.  I do think Harbaugh will be heavily eyeing the NFL this offseason; we'll see if anyone bites but at some point a bad team with a desperate owner will throw money at him to fix their problems and he'll jump.

I'm sure that Brian and many others here know more about this than I do, but the voluntary suspension doesn't bother me. It sounds like Michigan concedes that there were technical violations, and while it's infuriating that there's one standard for Tennessee and another for us the reality is that in many regulatory environments 5-10 violators go unpunished for every one who faces consequences.

Now if NCAA asks for anything more (or anything more than one additional inconsequential game) I think Michigan should challenge that in every way possible including ignoring any "gag" orders.

"JJ McAss". so simple yet so clever.  I feel better about the future of the country already!

s/

I've never really considered the Harbaugh is going back to the NFL chatter as credible, but recent events may have slightly changed the circumstances. He's been scrutinized rather heavily over minor issues so it would be understandable if he feels there isn't much hope for the state of the game in CFB and heads back to the NFL where the playing field is somewhat level. Nick Saban and Urban didn't look so great when they had a salary cap and only 1 first round pick.

Seems like whoever it is will be a major step down from CJ Stroud. Here's to seeing OSU's offense outside of the SP+ top ten. Or at least somewhere other than first.

This kind of thing seems particularly relevant for an OSU program that Ryan has basically made into a turbo passing team. They're not great on defense. They're not great at running the ball. If your whole identity is super reliant on being prolific at passing, you'd better find a good QB for that.

Now, like Michigan, will any flaws really matter for 90% of the season? No, but for a fanbase that expects to beat Michigan and win national titles sometimes, I don't think Day is building a very balanced program which may be his undoing eventually

The basketball comment is so on point...the best year of Howard's tenure had older players -- Chaundee and Mike were great finds, Eli and Livers were grizzled but poised, and the talented youth filled in.  Franz may have been a sophomore but he'd already spent years playing old man ball in Europe.

I'm looking forward to this year with more seasoning and athleticism on the roster.  Remember, it took JB a few years to build rosters of his players, and while he dealt with players leaving earlier than they should have, he didn't have the massive roster upheaval of NIL.  I think Juwan (like Harbaugh) will soon find his best talent mix and start to redirect the program arc.

It seems like with the playoff games not finding a broadcaster and the PAC-12 not getting a deal, we might be at an inflection point with rights fees. It will be interesting to see if the B1G and SEC can keep getting their deals going forward. There's a limit to everything. 

A Coach in the Big East: “The ‘process’ begins (and almost ends) with the financial benefit of the school.

I didn't need a Big East coach to tell me this. It became blatantly clear when in a matter of months the first and only schools top basketball recruits were taking official visits to were SEC schools that have zero basketball pedigree

The thing about the Michigan/OSU game is that any first-year starter is VERY experienced by the time the Game rolls around.

My theory is that the two teams’ play styles gives OSU a learning curve advantage. They are very much a “every down is 1st and 10 and our strong preference is to pass” team…meaning that the QB has had a LOT of reps with the full playbook.

Contrast that to Michigan, where the offense will be shut down as soon as the win is “clinched” in Harbaugh’s mind. I do NOT subscribe to the “holding back the good plays for the big opponents” theory - year after year we see that that isn’t the case - but a newbie Michigan QB has played a lot less football by The Game.

What was the over/under on the number of years Harbaugh would coach at Michigan when he was hired? At the time he said he wanted to be here for a long while but his prior success coaching in the NFL meant that if he restored Michigan to elite status he would get another NFL coaching opportunity.

I don't know that the NCAA nonsense will alter his thinking about leaving for the NFL; I think by the end of this season he will have achieved pretty much everything he set out to do at Michigan (especially if they win the National Championship).

The word was that if he got an offer after either of the last two seasons he would have taken it. After this coming season it seems even more likely that there will be NFL interest and that, once again, if he gets an offer he will accept it. Thankfully if and when that happens we have Sherrone Moore ready to step in as an internal hire and proceed as we are--as an elite program.

a complete re-building year of offense and a threat of suspension no matter how ridiculous it is, doesn’t sit well with recruits who will hear from everywhere that Harbaugh is leaving for NFL. 

My take on the OSU quarterback battle is that Ryan Day always drags these out even if he has a guy in mind. Maybe he's telling the truth this time. But the context of his quotes with limited chatter online does suggest to me that the overall level of play is going to be a modest stop down from Stroud

I still think whoever starts is gonna be the All-Big team QB though, along with JJ

I think their OT situation is far more dire than their QB one, personally

Here's hoping their tackles are half-cyans and their QB is just a guy