Safety or a symptom of HUNH football...which is to say, safety?
Big 12 gets tougher than NCAA on full-contact practice limit | College Football
"There's a false sense of we just try to bang our kids around," said Patterson, whose physical coaching style has helped TCU lead the nation in defense five times since 2000. "I think all of us, we like keeping our jobs, and we want to keep our kids healthy. Fresh shoulders, fresh legs, means more physical players." Patterson said most teams get the heavier work done in the spring before turning the focus more to preservation during the regular season. And Bowlsby said that's what administrators found as they considered the change, which was approved in the spring.
No one is going to accuse the Horned Frogs of not being physical (they are) or of not fielding a consistently excellent defense (they do,) but I still think this is a function of the breakneck pace in the B12. Why else limit contact from all those snaps when teams are moving so fast and practicing so fast? Nah, Saban and Bielema's safety warnings last season had no merit, did they?
Speaking of tempo...
Nick Saban: Our increased tempo hurt our defense last year
“We learned a lot about that last year,” Saban said. “I certainly alluded to that when I talked about our defense. It got a little worn down at the end of the season. We didn’t play very well the last couple games. We actually played 170 more plays of defense last year than we had in previous years, which is the equivalent of two-and-a-half games. “We learned that maybe we need to manage practice a little better. Maybe we need to manage what we do with our players during the course of the season better, so we can finish strong. I think that’s one of our points of emphasis. We haven’t done that the last two years very well.”
As noted in the article, last season's 67.5 offensive snaps per game were the most since 2007, incidentally the last time the Tide fielded a defense quite as suspect. Pace matters. Depth matters. And, though Alabama may be moving to a more uptempo offense, I think the lesson is that Tide will have to be smarter about doing so.
Well, that's a hot take.
Mizzou coach says Notre Dame shouldn't be eligible for College Football Playoff - SBNation.com
Pinkel stated how important he thought it was that each conference have a championship game, so it stands to reason that he thinks Notre Dame's independence -- and thus no conference championship game -- makes them unworthy of making the four-team field, along with TCU, Baylor, and anyone from the Big 12.
Not only does Pinkel think ND, BYU shouldn't be in the playoff, but by implication he dumps on the One True Champion Every Game Counts conference...and he should. Adding a 13th game against a Top-25 opponent at the end of the season HAS to count for something, no?
Jimbo Fisher: College football must produce football players, not just athletes
As younger players get more playing time in college due to their athletic ability and play in up-tempo and spread offenses, they can miss out on development gained by sitting on the bench. Then these younger starters leave early for the NFL, and what the NFL gets are better athletes, but less-developed players. Cable said college players aren’t being taught the fundamentals, and while talking about his own team at ACC Media Days, Fisher said it’s a point of emphasis for this staff as they replace many starters this season. “What’s happening in sports today, we’re pushing this up so much,” Fisher said. “A guy plays as a freshman and sophomore and goes to the league as a junior. What you’re starting to see in the NFL, I think there are better athletes playing football than ever, but we’ve got to make sure there are great football players playing football. I think there’s a difference of learning to be a great football player and being a great athlete. That’s what you’re seeing in the NFL.
Jimbo Fisher and Tom Cable on the same page with Bielema and Saban: the pace of the modern game, and the style of offenses employed, place a greater premium on immediate athletic contribution rather than actually, you know, learning fundamentals.
Lochamy Brothers: Is Alabama's dominance over? - Video | AL.com
Will examines the off season and concludes that Alabama's dominance is over, watch as Reed counters to explain why that is not so.
Good lord, it's Crossfire for Gumps. Alabama is still a team to be reckoned with. The Tide will not win every championship, every conference or divisional crown, or every game. Shocker.
Gus Malzahn: SEC at disadvantage in playoff, other leagues fresher - CBSSports.com
To be fair to Malzahn, we don't have the full context of his remarks, and it's arguable that the SEC West grind really is tougher now -- thanks to the addition of Texas A&M, better coaching at the Mississippi schools, and LSU, Alabama and Auburn all operating at something approaching full throttle -- than during the bulk of the BCS era. No one's going to claim getting out of the SEC is easy. Few would claim that top-to-bottom, the SEC champion hasn't faced a tougher schedule than the Big Ten's -- or anyone's.
Yesterday, Malzahn took to the airwaves to explain why the SEC is at a playoff disadvantage: in short because the SEC is tough they are worn down at the end of the year. It ignores, of course, that most teams play a paycheck massacre, de facto bye at the end of the year against Little Sisters of The Lepers. This argument further makes no sense regarding competitiveness. If anything, the tough scheduling has usually paid dividends when SEC teams compete on the highest level. I didn't hear this nonsense from Auburn in 2013, 2010. Preemptory excuse making from the Plains is more like it.
Look, I'm not going to defend Ohio State's slumpbuster scheduling, but a weak schedule (of which Auburn has one of the poorest in the SEC this year) is a different matter than competitiveness on a big stage.
Finally.
A good read on Alabama's incoming RB, BJ Emmons. I think we're going to love this kid.
B.J. Emmons Commits to Alabama: 4-Star Gives Tide Another Potential Feature RB | Bleacher Report
He is a bullish runner, plowing through traffic with formidable physicality. Despite carrying more weight than most of his 2016 contemporaries, Emmons also carves up opponents with quality quickness. He finished the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds earlier this year while competing at the U.S. Army All-American combine. Emmons' combination of aggression and acceleration suits Alabama's offensive scheme well. "Alabama is known for their power-running game. They always want a tailback that they can put back there who can run between the tackles and be a physical presence," Allen told Carvell. "I certainly think that B.J. can do those things."
That's it for today, go forth and do evil.