Category Archives: NCAA

Jeffrey Siegler, NCAA, NFL

Jim Harbaugh Coaching Possibilities for the 2015 Season

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Jim Harbaugh is a part of the select group of people in this world who have the privilege of working where they want to. There is a high demand for a coach like him in all levels of football. He has been very successful in turning a losing team into a winning team. Harbaugh has done this at Stanford from 2007- 2010 and for the 49ers since 2011. Currently there are are a new wave of teams that want him to coach and rebuild their organization.

At this point Harbaugh’s Alma mater, the Michigan Wolverines are making the biggest effort in acquiring him. They have offered him $48 million dollars over six years. The Wolverines haven’t had the success that they have seen in the past, their last bowl win was the 2012 Sugar Bowl. They are one of the few collegiate teams that still hasn’t decided on a coach. Every day they don’t have a coach they are losing recruits to other teams. Harbaugh has shown a lot of interest in the job and some sources are even saying that a deal is already in place and he will be making his announcement to move after the 49ers season comes to a conclusion. Although these sources claims may not be accurate Harbaugh has recently said that he is torn between going to Michigan and staying in the NFL.

Staying in the NFL could have many meanings. He could remain in San Francisco and continue working toward a championship or become the coach of the struggling Raiders or any other of the bottom tier of teams. Many of these teams have the opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback that can be the cornerstone to building a successful team. Harbaugh has done this successfully twice in his past tenures.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to switching to a college program. As I mentioned earlier every single day of the year is important in recruiting high schoolers. Harbaugh doesn’t currently have this responsibility in the NFL. He has a general manager and owner to work on acquiring players. All he has to worry about is coaching on field. In college he would now hold the responsibility of recruiting, coaching, and all other football operation. In some ways this could be something that he likes because he is in the position of fielding a team that he would be coaching. This responsibility requires him to follow all recruiting rules and attend events that boosters attend. Here the school raises the money that they need to run the program.

I think that it will all come down to what is best for him and his family. At this point his family wants him to go home to Michigan where he can be close to everyone and be a part of a familiar organization . It will be hard for him to turn down Michigan’s offer because of this.

NCAA, Tyler Englander

Did the Committee get it right?

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The NCAA wanted controversy, they wanted there to be an argument about who gets in and who doesn’t, and most of all they wanted to create a college football season that was more intense than it was in the previous BCS system. The College Football Playoff system delivered and created the best college football season in recent memory. With that being said there are a few teams, Baylor and TCU, who feel that the system failed them and they believe that they should have been included in the first edition of the College Football Playoff. The question is, did they get it right?

Let’s start with the top two seeds in this year’s playoff, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oregon Ducks. There is little doubt that both of these schools should have been involved in the playoff. Starting with the Tide, it is quite obvious that the winner of America’s toughest conference deserved to be in the playoff. Also, after a tough loss earlier in the season to Ole Miss, Alabama has looked like the dominant team they are, plus the resurgence of Blake Sims after struggling early against Auburn has cemented the Crimson Tide as the favorite heading into the inaugural playoffs. Next is the Oregon Ducks, they avenged their only loss of the season to Arizona in the Pac 12 Championship game and finished the season as one of the hottest teams in the nation. Heisman hopeful Marcus Mariota has the Ducks primed to make a run at the first championship in Oregon history. Moving on to the number three team in the nation, the Florida State Seminoles. While I understand that people don’t believe Florida State should be in the playoff because of their average margin of victory, I would disagree with them. As the only undefeated team left in the nation and the defending national champions, the Noles deserved a shot to prove their still the top dog and that’s why the committee got it right by putting Florida State at three.

With little disagreement about the first three teams selected, the controversy came with who the committee selected for the fourth and final spot in this years playoff. That spot was given to the Ohio State Buckeyes who absolutely dismantled Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game. The other two teams in the running for that fourth spot were TCU and Baylor, and they feel that that they should have been included in the playoff. All of these three teams were deserving, but I tend to side with TCU and I believe that they should have been in the playoff. My reasoning behind that is that TCU had the toughest loss of those teams losing to Baylor, while Ohio State lost to a team in Virginia Tech that only scored three points in a double overtime game against an abysmal Wake Forest team. Also, if just one week ago TCU was two spots better than Ohio State how did a 52 point win make them fall three stops? Finally, the committee’s job was to get the best four teams in the playoff and it’s hard to believe that Ohio State with Cardale Jones is a better team than TCU with a proven quarterback in Trevone Boykin. It’s only sensical to believe that Cardale Jones won’t have the same performance against a stingy Alabama defense that he has against Wisconsin and that’s why I think the committee overvalued Ohio State’s win in the Big Ten championship game. With that being said, give credit to Ohio State who made a strong final impression and forced the committee to make a decision and it ultimately went in their favor.

Jeffrey Siegler, NCAA

Questions in Columbus for 2015

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Ohio State will be playing Wisconsin tomorrow in the Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Taking snaps for Ohio State isn’t the player who Buckeye faithful would have expected in the beginning of the season.The player is third string QB Cardale Jones. This is because earlier in the season Braxton Miller re injured his shoulder in practice and was ruled out for the rest of this season and just this past weekend red shirt freshman J.T. Barrett fractured his ankle against Michigan.

Jones was competing for the starting job with Barrett after Miller was injured. Ever since Barrett won he has put up numbers that put him on the radar for the Heisman. He brought them to an impressive 11-1 season and one spot out of the top 4 in the College Football playoff rankings. After the ankle injury Miller said in a quote to ESPN regarding Jones:

“I honestly feel like if I wasn’t starting this year, Cardale would have done the same things I did this year. Cardale is that talented. He definitely can do it.”- J.T. Barrett

Wisconsin is a three-point favorite in Indianapolis. I think that it is going to be very hard for the Buckeyes to hold back Melvin Gordon from running the football through their defense. If Ohio State comes through to win this game they can have a chance to be in the College Football Playoff, if any of the current top four teams lose in their respective conference championship games.  It will be very interesting to see the result of tomorrows games. If Cordale Jones and the Buckeyes defense can pull a rabbit out of a hat and beat Wisconsin then the selection committee will have a hard time deciding the top four FBS teams.

Looking beyond the question of what bowl game Ohio State will play in is, who will be the starting quarterback week 1 of the 2015 season, Braxton Miller or J.T. Barrett?

Right now I can see Urban Meyer starting J.T. Barrett next fall after coming off such a great season and because he will be a sophomore. But what about Braxton Miller? He said right after his injury in late August that he will return to Columbus in 2015 for graduate school. This decision made sense then but now that his starting job is in jeopardy he may want to rethink what his path to getting in the NFL will be. Miller isn’t an NFL caliber quarterback in the pocket like Barrett is, so if he wants to play in the NFL he will have to change positions for his final year of college at Ohio State. Another thing that can happen is he can transfer to a school where he can be the starting quarterback and develop his passing game before the 2016 draft like Russell Wilson did in 2011.

What ever happens will most  likely result in Ohio State having a quarterback that will lead them to another season being in the playoff conversation because of the options they have at QB.

NCAA, Tyler Englander

College Football 11-15-14

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NCAA Football: Auburn at Mississippi State

A big day of College Football is on deck. None- bigger then when undefeated #1 Mississippi State travels to Tuscaloosa to take on #5 Alabama. A huge game in the Big Ten when #8 Ohio State takes on #25 Minnesota. The Number four TCU Horned Frogs take on Kansas as they look to stay hot coming off a huge performance against Kansas State. Finally, Another game to watch as Auburn Vs. Georgia as Todd Gurley comes back from suspension.