College Football Thread

[rayl456]

1 minute ago, Rico said:

jmo, I think Pat would be a better fit in Madison than East Lansing.

I agree

[Rico]

4 hours ago, Hovadipo said:

Pat Fitzgerald's PR team running a big campaign this week. Who takes the plunge? I think whoever does will be happy they did.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-coaching-carousel-2025-list-of-all-candidates-lane-kiffin-even-lincoln-riley/

[steubenhoosier]

2 hours ago, Rico said:

jmo, I think Pat would be a better fit in Madison than East Lansing.

Fitzgerald would be an excellent fit for Stanford. Use to coaching at a school with high academic standards. Ability to excel quickly in the ACC. Only question would be recruiting ties, but in the age of NIL that’s not nearly as important 

[str8baller]

4 hours ago, rayl456 said:

Wisconsin??

They’re standing pat. Their AD is a fool. He tied himself to this hire from the beginning and has refused all exit ramps. 

[str8baller]

5 hours ago, AKHoosier said:

Some of the higher jobs probably all think they can do better, but a low to middling program in a power conference shouldn't think twice.

There’s a ton of openings and only so many coaches to go around. I could see him at PSU on the high side and some bottom P5 dweller at the low end. 

[rayl456]

2 minutes ago, str8baller said:

They’re standing pat. Their AD is a fool. He tied himself to this hire from the beginning and has refused all exit ramps. 

Yep…I saw the news.

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, steubenhoosier said:

Fitzgerald would be an excellent fit for Stanford. Use to coaching at a school with high academic standards. Ability to excel quickly in the ACC. Only question would be recruiting ties, but in the age of NIL that’s not nearly as important 

Stanford doesn’t need a coach so much as a salesman/alumni whisperer. Assuming they could get their admissions to play a little ball they are a potential sleeping giant with the tiniest bit of support from their incredibly wealthy alumni.  
 

[Pagoda]

28 minutes ago, str8baller said:

They’re standing pat. Their AD is a fool. He tied himself to this hire from the beginning and has refused all exit ramps. 

Yea, they’re in a Fickell pickle.

IIRC they already tried giving Fickell more money for this season.  I’m looking and they spent pretty heavy on the portal, but it just hasn’t worked out for some reason.  Probably the coach/staff more than money.

Kinda reminds me of when we gave Woody another year with more NIL.  That doesn’t address the real problem.  If I were them I’d rather see coordinator changes or something. 

I dunno, maybe Luke figures it out, he’s been successful before, but it’s not looking good at the moment.

Too bad.  ;-)

[steubenhoosier]

41 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Stanford doesn’t need a coach so much as a salesman/alumni whisperer. Assuming they could get their admissions to play a little ball they are a potential sleeping giant with the tiniest bit of support from their incredibly wealthy alumni.  
 

They’ve got Andrew Luck to bring in the alumni base. Just need a coach 

[Hovadipo]

59 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Stanford doesn’t need a coach so much as a salesman/alumni whisperer. Assuming they could get their admissions to play a little ball they are a potential sleeping giant with the tiniest bit of support from their incredibly wealthy alumni.  
 

I imagine they’re a bit too uppity to mess with Fitz’s past, regardless of how it ended. Probably won’t touch admissions for the same reason, but that place could be a gold mine if something changed. 

[go iu bb]

14 hours ago, Pagoda said:

Yea, they’re in a Fickell pickle.

IIRC they already tried giving Fickell more money for this season.  I’m looking and they spent pretty heavy on the portal, but it just hasn’t worked out for some reason.  Probably the coach/staff more than money.

Kinda reminds me of when we gave Woody another year with more NIL.  That doesn’t address the real problem.  If I were them I’d rather see coordinator changes or something. 

I dunno, maybe Luke figures it out, he’s been successful before, but it’s not looking good at the moment.

Too bad.  ;-)

Yeah, it's a real shame. 

[AZ Hoosier]

15 hours ago, Pagoda said:

Yea, they’re in a Fickell pickle.

IIRC they already tried giving Fickell more money for this season.  I’m looking and they spent pretty heavy on the portal, but it just hasn’t worked out for some reason.  Probably the coach/staff more than money.

Kinda reminds me of when we gave Woody another year with more NIL.  That doesn’t address the real problem.  If I were them I’d rather see coordinator changes or something. 

I dunno, maybe Luke figures it out, he’s been successful before, but it’s not looking good at the moment.

Too bad.  ;-)

Absolutely. It comes down to coaching ability.

For many years, RMK did well with less talent in the pre-NIL era. Sure, he had talent but he proved that he didn't need 5-star talent to win.

Cig is doing more with less even in the NIL era.

Woodson (and Fickell) appear to have done less with more. NIL allows mediocre coaches to lurk in the shadows for just a bit longer.

[go iu bb]

3 minutes ago, AZ Hoosier said:

Absolutely. It comes down to coaching ability.

For many years, RMK did well with less talent in the pre-NIL era. Sure, he had talent but he proved that he didn't need 5-star talent to win.

Cig is doing more with less even in the NIL era.

Woodson (and Fickell) appear to have done less with more. NIL allows mediocre coaches to lurk in the shadows for just a bit longer.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "more with less" as far as Cignetti is concerned. As far as ratings out of HS and even the transfer portal are concerned? Absolutely. As far as actual talent? Not really, this team has multiple All American players and NFL prospects on it, probably the most of any IU time in a long time, maybe ever. Cignetti and the staff seem to be very good at evaluating and developing the players, as well as using them in ways that takes advantages of their strengths while masking their weaknesses. 

[AZ Hoosier]

1 hour ago, go iu bb said:

I guess it depends on what you mean by "more with less" as far as Cignetti is concerned. As far as ratings out of HS and even the transfer portal are concerned? Absolutely. As far as actual talent? Not really, this team has multiple All American players and NFL prospects on it, probably the most of any IU time in a long time, maybe ever. Cignetti and the staff seem to be very good at evaluating and developing the players, as well as using them in ways that takes advantages of their strengths while masking their weaknesses. 

But isn't that the very essence of a good/great coach? Cig won big last year at a perennial football bottom-feeder with players from JMU - guys that never would have gotten a shot at a B1G school (even Indiana) without him. Developing and deciding how to use them is the point. Woodson and Fickell have not done that, and it shows.

[go iu bb]

1 hour ago, AZ Hoosier said:

But isn't that the very essence of a good/great coach? Cig won big last year at a perennial football bottom-feeder with players from JMU - guys that never would have gotten a shot at a B1G school (even Indiana) without him. Developing and deciding how to use them is the point. Woodson and Fickell have not done that, and it shows.

Indeed it is. My point is that while the players he brought in (from JMU and other places) weren't highly ranked out of HS or even in the portal, they do actually have talent. Ponds,  Fisher, and Kamara are all All-American players, for example. So even though they weren't ranked highly out of HS and went to JMU, they're obviously quite talented. So he hasn't gone 21-2 during his time at IU without talent, he's done it with talent that flew under the radar. Winning with less 4 and 5 star players? Definitely. Wining with less actual talent? The gap isn't as large as it would appear when looking at player rankings and it's even smaller this year than last.

And, yes, he's a better coach in every aspect than either Woodson or Fickell could ever hope to be.

[Demo]

https://x.com/CoachDanCasey/status/1986268901299396793

Obviously this is from last year since the kid’s in the NFL now, but I don’t care, this has locked up clip of the month for November. Love it.

[Josh]

I'm torn on Iowa vs Oregon.  I think I'm cheering for Iowa so they stay ranked?  Somebody talk me through who to cheer for here

[Pagoda]

Probably doesn’t matter, but I prefer Oregon to win.  That lets us keep the claim of “best win in CFB.”  In a sea of rankings arguments, I like how that fact sticks out in our favor, especially after the nonsense narrative developed that we only beat bad teams.

But, who knows if that really matters much.

[Hovadipo]

Rumors floating around this morning of a Dakorien Moore torn ACL and a Kenyon Sadiq injury. Lines haven’t moved yet so this could just be classic internet rumors, but that’s a LOT of their offense especially against a run defense that’s almost as good as ours. 

[Josh]

27 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Probably doesn’t matter, but I prefer Oregon to win.  That lets us keep the claim of “best win in CFB.”  In a sea of rankings arguments, I like how that fact sticks out in our favor, especially after the nonsense narrative developed that we only beat bad teams.

But, who knows if that really matters much.

I mean, if Iowa keeps winning we still might have the best win in cfb.  Just a different win than people thought before