The weekend that was at Message Board Geniuses – 1st round edition

Who’s to blame now, Bobby?

I spent Friday night and Saturday at Disney World with the family, so I only checked in on the games when I had a chance. I think we can say the 1st round games delivered in proving college football is different from the NFL and March Madness. Talent matters, and Bobby Hill is overrated.

Let’s start our trip in South Bend where Marcus Freeman’s defense destroyed Indiana’s hope of a Hoosier state title.

Imagine not winning a game against a team currently ranked in the top 25 and being splattered by the 1 you did play. Indiana, you were a cute story throughout the year, but you should have been playing in a New Year’s 6 bowl or having a nice postseason celebration of your season in a sunny locale. Instead, you are home for the holidays with the most empty calorie 11-2 record we’ve seen since Hawaii got scattered, smothered, covered and chunked in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

On the Notre Dame side, your All-American tailback gained 108 yards and you had almost 200 yards on the ground … good for you. 98 of those came on one play. Let me just put it this way. You aren’t going to overwhelm the Georgia line of scrimmage.

Let’s move over to State College for the Death Penalty Bowl to check in on the Ponies.

I said last week that SMU was this year’s TCU except TCU won a playoff game. This game was the classic “the moment was too big and they pissed down their leg” Coach 30 moment. Penn State had 74 yards of offense and a 14-0 lead due to 2 pick 6s. At that moment, the game was out of reach.

The big question coming out of the first 2 games is whether either of these 2 schools were worthy of an at-large bid. I think it’s safe to say the answer is no.

Let’s move on to Austin for what would turn out to be the game of the weekend.

A really bad 2nd quarter dooms Dabo and the Tiggers. Clemson cuts the lead to 7 and then gives up a long TD run to put the game away. To the geniuses on TigerNet, who are you going to hire to take Dabo’s place? Clemson is still the team in the ACC best constructed to play deep into January. Is Dabo the best in-game coach? No way. Has he built a program and a culture that can stand the test of time? I think so. The problem is he doesn’t have a pair of championship-quality coordinators to lean on for game planning and recruiting.

I did find this troll to be humorous.

Let’s end the trip segment of the weekend in Columbus. Damn, why didn’t the meteor show up?

Tennessee social media and message boards could be the most toxic in the world of the CFB internet. I admit I got this one wrong … bad wrong. Tennessee got boat raced. Jeremiah Smith is a man. Nico is still way overrated. When you get outcoached by the Just for Men spokescoach, you pretty much suck.

What’s the excuse this time, Vols? Face it. Your coach runs up big numbers against inferior competition, finds magic for a game every other year (Bama in Kneeland), and looks lousy against teams that are superior.

There’s going to be a winter of discontent in Knoxville.

What does all of this mean for Georgia? While ND doesn’t scare me, they could be a tough out if we don’t have a good game plan for Gunner or our execution sucks … not a time for a slow start. Penn State feasted on a QB not ready for prime time. Our offensive line will have to play their asses off in a game with them. Texas and Ohio State are both troublesome. Hopefully, Gunner has settled in by the time we possibly get to one of them.

For a bonus feature, here are some tidbits from other boards over the weekend.

Talk about toxic, bunch of Yankee idiots.
Ole Miss fans dunk on the Laner.
24-3, anyone?

What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments below.

Saturday Shade: It’s in the Game

Amongst the SEC Media Days smorgasbord of posts and commentary this week, there came the drop of EA Sports College Football 2025. Tons of Twixes of screenshots and gameplay and people doing the unimaginable (like getting Tech to a National Championship), along with a lot of griping and complaining about gameplay features. People were also adding their commentary about the different chapters of the game, like the Dynasty mode, where you take over a team and try to get them to a Natty.

Buried in the comments was this gem, which I have to admit was top-tier snark:

If they have an AI Jimmy Williamson and meetings with Mark Wiggins and Ed Tolley, I might actually drop the money on a PS5 and play it myself.