College Football Thoughts

Some post-Christmas college football thoughts and observations including the question - did the Maize and Blue just hire a new coach?

Was having these thoughts anyway so figured might as well jot them down and share on Substack.

Brian Kelly Gets his Money from LSU

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Congress gets new information regarding Clinton Foundation corruption.

- Speaking of Hillary: Not saying this is true but it does answer many questions and connects many dots.

- Some details on the LSU-Brian Kelly legal battle. On team Kelly for this one.

- From the archives: What impossible meant to Richard Feynman.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Why did Democrats fight so long - before caving?

- How Obamacare works - or since it was enacted - doesn't work.

- LSU now saying it did not formally terminate Brian Kelly. That's a bold strategy there LSU - let's see if it works.

- VDH: The race for the Trump economy. Would be funny if the Trump Administration adopted the phrase "Build back better - this time for real!" as their motto.

Coaching Carousel III

Most people (except Florida or Penn State fans) had the open LSU head coaching job as the best on the carousel but then Louisiana governor Jeff Landry held a press conference. Standing behind a lectern that read "Protecting the most Vulnerable" in reference to the poor of Louisiana potentially losing SNAP benefits because of the government shutdown - Landry basically said to Chuck Schumer, "Hold my beer gumbo."

That press conference by Landry made the LSU job less desirable and the coaching carousel more bizarre. Have an updated look at the situation up on Substack.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The sordid tale of LSU football, the Louisiana governor and a year's long feud. Why would any top coaching candidate subject themselves to this circus? Especially now that AD Scott Woodward has been fired.

- Russ Roberts on the mood in Israel right now. 

- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. He's rumored to be up to chair the Fed but guessing these two won't be supporting him.

- President Trump on the meeting with China's President Xi Jinping.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Artic Frost is shown to have included over 400 GOP targets. Bigger than Watergate.

- VDH: The Left is "Bleeding Kansas". Sadly he may not be wrong.

- Japan and US to sign memorandum on shipbuilding cooperation.

- Ross Dellenger on the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes. Was not aware of Kiffin's past history at LSU.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- More on LSU firing Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly is 64 and I would not be surprised if he took his millions and retired.

- Memories of Book (and Comic Book) Reports.

- A Nuclear Fission Blank Slate.

- Scott Galloway - Notes on being a man, and advice for young men who are feeling lost.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh

- Researchers from Johns Hopkins have recommended that psilocybin be reclassified for medical use.

- The great New England sea serpent of 1817. 

- Love this bet!

- Heh heh - Democrats Kavanaugh concerns over time (funny because it's true)

- Another article calling out Amazon for raising their minimum wage for nefarious reasons

- Just days after settling with the government Elon Musk mocks the SEC as the "Shortsellers Enrichment Commission". Never change Elon - never change.

Tax the NCAA

Georgia fired head football coach Mark Richt after 15-years of winning about 75% of all the games he coached. By all accounts Mark Richt is a good and decent man who was a fine representative for the University but in the end that wasn't enough. At the same time that was playing out LSU was letting head coach Les Miles twist in the wind. The same Les Miles who had LSU wanked in the Top 5 earlier in the year and who has recently won a National Championship.

Isn't it time to give up the pretense that big time college sports have anything to do with education? Can anyone give me a good reason why the money generated by Division 1 sports isn't taxed?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

For the next few weeks I'm purposefully going to be that super annoying guy who keeps asking, "So got your Christmas shopping done yet?"... This is true - Turkey remembers... Who knew? Great Britain was once the world champion of ice hockey. They won the Gold Medal in hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics...  Just a reminder - Russia and Turkey have a quite a history of not getting along... Barack Obama - Less Competent than Carter and More Paranoid than Nixon". Wish that could fit on a bumper sticker... Heh heh - "Revis Island"... I think LSU would be crazy to fire Les Miles. If he wins this weekend he'll have pretty much the exact same record that Nick Saban had at LSU (49-15 for Miles vs 48-16 for Saban). If anything get the man better coordinators. Where's Les Miles version of Lane Kiffen on offense?... Cool quick cartoon explanation of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity...

Scorched Earth Football

William Tecumseh Sherman was the first superintendent of LSU (at the time named Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy). By all accounts he was the best man for the job and did a tremendous job as head of the University. He was only there for a brief period of time but made a lasting contribution. Less than 5 years after leaving LSU - Sherman's name was hated in the state.

Nick Saban was the head football coach at LSU for about the same period of time as it took to wage the Civil War. He took over the program in November of 1999 and stayed on the job for 5 years. In 2003 he led the school to a BCS Championship. The program has been a top program ever since.

Now Nick Saban is the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide a program he led to a National Championship in 2009. I can't help but think that Saban and Sherman are somehow kindred. Both are probably held in similar regard by the people of Louisiana.

As a further Civil War connection - the LSU team name is the Tigers. This comes from the Civil War where Robert E. Lee started calling all soldiers from Louisiana "Tigers" after a New Orleans infantry company called the "Tiger Rifles" fought so well for him and his Army of Northern Virginia.

I can't believe I have to wait another week for this game.

College Football Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous college football thoughts and observations.

Once again the Michigan Wolverines were clubbed. This time Oregon whipped 'em 39-7. Last week Michigan was famously upset by Appalachian State. That loss dropped Michigan from 5th in the AP poll to out of the top 25. In fact if you look at the vote totals - Michigan was dropped out of the top 30 (they had 39 votes to place them in 32nd place). Last week the question following their loss was whether they would drop out of the top 25. This week the question is whether they will receive a single vote in the polls.... If you had West Virginia Tech and 86 points - you lost!.... I think Georgia coach Mark Richt lost the game yesterday for the Bulldogs. He thought too much. South Carolina is a team you can run on but instead of a steady diet of off-tackle and up the gut runs - Richt's offense called for 45 passes to just 31 runs. I know many of those passes came late in the game when Georgia was in desperation mode but if they had focused on the run in the first 3 quarters - they wouldn't have been in a desperate position. If Richt had stuck to a simple game plan instead of getting cute then Georgia would be 2-0 today.... How bad is Syracuse? Iowa beat them 35-0. The Orangemen may not get their first win until October 20th when Buffalo comes to the Carrier Dome. And judging by how Buffalo handled Temple 42-7 yesterday - I wouldn't put that game in the win column just yet. I'm pretty sure 1-AA UMass could beat Syracuse right now and even Holy Cross would be a close game... The real National Championship may just be October 6th when Florida visits LSU who looked great beating Virginia Tech. Two observations here - if LSU is as good as it looked last night then USC better put a king size whipping on Nebraska next week if they want to keep that top spot in the rankings. I'm sure that fact is not lost on Pete Carrol and his staff. USC should be a good pick next week. My second thought is that Virginia Tech is probably grateful to Michigan this week because the collapse of the Wolverine program is obscuring the fact that Virginia Tech really isn't that good right now. They just squeaked by East Carolina and got pummeled by LSU. They will probably win the next three weeks to continue the charade but to my eyes this isn't close to being an elite team...