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Topic: SEC Front Porch

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MikeDeTiger

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #406 on: January 07, 2025, 11:09:04 AM »
LSU finished 61st in defense for 2024, a significant improvement from the previous year.

...

...

...

.......and they're still 61st in defense.  The 4 Playoff Semifinalists all rank in the Top 8 in defense.  

utee94

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #407 on: January 09, 2025, 09:54:24 AM »
Turns out I really like having a good defense.  Who knew??

This year's Texas defense is good.  I'm not sure its worthy of its lofty ranking, it's sort of disappeared in some big moments in some big games, but it's also gotten us a lot of important stops when it really mattered.  Huge stops on multiple 4th and shorts against A&M, Clemson, and Arizona State, in recent memory.

So I wouldn't say it's a shut-down defense, but it does play with intensity and it plays smart, most of the time.  And the improvement of the secondary from last year to this, has been remarkable. 

Gonna need the Defense's best effort of the year tomorrow night, I think. 

CWSooner

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #408 on: January 09, 2025, 09:36:25 PM »
Tulsa World
Berry Tramel's College football picks: Can Texas stave off the Northern invasion?
Jan 8, 2025 Updated 17 mins ago  0
Berry Tramel
Sports Columnist


College football’s national championship game is January 20, in Atlanta. Fitting place. The capital of southern football. Home of the SEC Championship Game and the Peach Bowl and Georgia Tech and probably three million Georgia fans and one of those neutral-site opening-weekend games in which Alabama or Clemson or Georgia clubs some poor opponent.

But unless the Texas Longhorns pull a major upset Friday night, Atlanta is in for a shock. Two northern teams playing for the title.

The College Football Playoff semifinals pit Notre Dame against Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night, then Texas against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

A sport dominated by Deep South teams suddenly has returned to its roots. Michigan won the 2023 national title, and unless UT beats the Buckeyes, the 2024 champ is guaranteed to come from the Great North.

Not since 2014 Ohio State has a northern team been the king of college football. And before that, the previous non-South champ was Texas itself, which in 2005 hailed from the Big 12 and the Southwest. Austin still is a Southwest city, but the ‘Horns have joined the Southeastern Conference, so rest assured that the South will use all ambiguity to its advantage.

Most years, both combatants in the title game have come from the South. Or at least not from the North. Between the 2014 Ohio State-Oregon title game and Michigan-Washington last season, the only North team to make the championship game was Ohio State in 2020.

But the Big Ten clearly has emerged as a worthy rival to the SEC, with two semifinalists, and Notre Dame is undergoing a renaissance, and the SEC/Clemson hold on the sport has slipped.

Let’s get to the predictions:

Notre Dame vs. Penn State: Fighting Irish 20-10. Notre Dame has been better tested in the CFP, with victories over Indiana (no big deal) and Georgia (big deal). The Nittany Lions have won with relative ease against Southern Methodist and Boise State.

Ohio State vs. Texas: Buckeyes 28-16. Give the Longhorns credit. Their strength is the defense, but the offense has answered the bell in this CFP, against both Clemson and Arizona State. The Buckeyes seemed to sleepwalk through much of the regular season but in the playoff has looked like 2020 Alabama. One of the most dominant teams we’ve seen in years.

Last week: 7-5. Season: 503-201.

berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com

Tramel's pick in tonight's game isn't looking very good.
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CWSooner

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #409 on: January 09, 2025, 11:26:14 PM »
Nice win for the Irish. I like that kind of team. Excellent defense, solid running game, a QB who doesn't have to be elite, but is tough and smart and can run the offense.
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utee94

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #410 on: January 10, 2025, 12:05:43 AM »
Lot of picks and near picks in that game from both ND and PSU.  Neither of those QBs were very good. I don't really see ND being able to compete with Ohio State OR Texas.

So now we'll see if Texas is able to compete with Ohio State.  I'm not betting on it, but hope springs eternal.
  

MikeDeTiger

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #411 on: January 10, 2025, 10:09:33 AM »
Berry Tramel is a putz.

A paragraph after remembering Michigan just won the 2023 Footbawlz, he says "not since 2014 Ohio State has a Northern team been king of the sport." 

Then he goes on to say how Ohio State in the playoffs (referring to dominance, greatness, etc.) looks like 2020 Alabama.  2020 Alabama?  Really?!?  That's his comp for a great team?

I end where I started.  Berry Tramel is a putz.  

utee94

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #412 on: January 10, 2025, 10:32:24 AM »
Well, yeah.

MikeDeTiger

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #413 on: January 10, 2025, 10:58:35 AM »
From OAM, on the Big Ten board: 

"I don't get the NFL love for Allar AT ALL.  Same with the LSU QB.  What in the holy hell can make up for poor decision-making and failing to find wide open spaces when you have two 1,000 yard RB threats behind you."

Nuss would be amazing with an OL that didn't turn every play into a panic play and that could open up the occasional hole for a RB to take some pressure off the QB spot.  He was really good for a first year starter considering what he had to work with.  When he got a whiff of a clean pocket, he was dealing.  I can only imagine what he could do with a complementary running game and a year of playing experience under his belt. 

No idea about the NFL love for him.  Don't know anything about that.  Somebody will have to clean-up his hero-ball proclivities--preferably us, this off-season--and teach him that if your OL sucks, it's okay to get sacked a lot. 

MikeDeTiger

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #414 on: January 10, 2025, 11:00:35 AM »
Carson Beck to the xfer portal. 

Who would've guessed.  If not for NIL he almost certainly would've been gone to the NFL for beaucoup $ last year.  Might be that NIL winds up hurting players as much as it damages the sport.  

utee94

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #415 on: January 10, 2025, 11:58:51 AM »
Carson Beck to the xfer portal. 

Who would've guessed.  If not for NIL he almost certainly would've been gone to the NFL for beaucoup $ last year.  Might be that NIL winds up hurting players as much as it damages the sport. 
Yeah true enough.  Same thing for Ewers, I wonder if his draft status would be any better if he'd come out last year, versus this year.  

CWSooner

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #416 on: January 10, 2025, 09:36:41 PM »
Berry Tramel is a putz.

A paragraph after remembering Michigan just won the 2023 Footbawlz, he says "not since 2014 Ohio State has a Northern team been king of the sport." 

Then he goes on to say how Ohio State in the playoffs (referring to dominance, greatness, etc.) looks like 2020 Alabama.  2020 Alabama?  Really?!?  That's his comp for a great team?

I end where I started.  Berry Tramel is a putz.
Re your 1st point, he should have written "had" instead of "has."
Maybe he has a problem with verb tenses. I have heard him say "I had went."
I suppose you'd rather he used 2019 LSU as the standard of a great team? Based on how badly LSU waxed OU in the Peach Bowl that season, I'd agree with you.
But 2020 Bama was awfully good too.
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OrangeAfroMan

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #417 on: January 11, 2025, 12:15:28 AM »
Berry Tramel is a putz.

A paragraph after remembering Michigan just won the 2023 Footbawlz, he says "not since 2014 Ohio State has a Northern team been king of the sport." 

Then he goes on to say how Ohio State in the playoffs (referring to dominance, greatness, etc.) looks like 2020 Alabama.  2020 Alabama?  Really?!?  That's his comp for a great team?

I end where I started.  Berry Tramel is a putz. 
Uhhh, 2020 Bama is an all-time great team.  Whether you're impressed with their play or not, their resume with ZERO cupcakes on their schedule makes them an all-time great team.  Like sort of undisputably. 
“The Swamp is where Gators live.  We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative. A swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous." - Steve Spurrier

OrangeAfroMan

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #418 on: January 11, 2025, 12:16:48 AM »
What he meant to say was this will be the 2nd straight year we'll have a national champion of northern aggression.  :57:
“The Swamp is where Gators live.  We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative. A swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous." - Steve Spurrier

MikeDeTiger

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Re: SEC Front Porch
« Reply #419 on: January 13, 2025, 11:05:06 AM »
Re your 1st point, he should have written "had" instead of "has."
Maybe he has a problem with verb tenses. I have heard him say "I had went."
I suppose you'd rather he used 2019 LSU as the standard of a great team? Based on how badly LSU waxed OU in the Peach Bowl that season, I'd agree with you.
But 2020 Bama was awfully good too.

2019 LSU wasn't really on my mind.

My issue isn't anything to do with Alabama within 2020.  They were the best team that year, hands down.  My issue is that wasn't even close to the best Alabama team of Saban's time, let alone who to point to for Greatest Team Of All Time.  2020 saw teams with no contact practices that lead to horrendous defense everywhere I looked.  Mac Jones was a product of that.....his play looked like it, and his NFL career cemented it.  They played one less cupcake than a standard team in a season, but less games (with two consecutive bye weeks in the middle of the season to rest and heal).  

2020 Alabama makes me yawn.  They're as forgettable as the season they played in.  They would've lost to a handful of other Alabama teams, let alone other teams we can legitimately talk about for GOAT.  

 

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