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Posted

With Big 10 media days kicking off, I figure the conference deserves a season long thread.  Hopefully Foster preps a little more for his speech.  I think he should just open with “we’re in Las Vegas.  Any questions?”

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Posted
4 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

With Big 10 media days kicking off, I figure the conference deserves a season long thread.  Hopefully Foster preps a little more for his speech.  I think he should just open with “we’re in Las Vegas.  Any questions?”

Eagerly awaiting Foster's big entrance whilst this is playing:

 

Posted
4 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

With Big 10 media days kicking off, I figure the conference deserves a season long thread.  Hopefully Foster preps a little more for his speech.  I think he should just open with “we’re in Las Vegas.  Any questions?”

Yeah... who will be the next head football coach for ucla in 2026?

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Posted

The game in Ireland I can get even though we've gone way past teams that actually have some claim to Ireland like Notre Dame but this just feels dumb.

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Guess this goes here on this thread...

Intriguing New Coordinators: History says Jim Knowles will produce a championship-level defense, but when?

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By Zach Barnett            Aug 4, 2025 

Quote

As he begins what feels like the third or fourth "If not now, when?" season of his 12-year tenure at Penn State, we must first consider the consequences on what will happen to James Franklin if his Nittany Lions fail to deliver a Big Ten and/or national championship this winter. If Penn State goes 10-2 this regular season and loses in the CFP quarterfinals, are they going to fire him? Electrocute him? Coordinate a campaign to convince the family their house is haunted so they'll pack up and move? Not likely.

Barring the completely unforeseen, Franklin will be back for a 13th season in 2026, trophies or no trophies. And yet.

Penn State will likely begin the season ranked no lower than No. 3 in the AP poll. While that will be the fifth time (and third consecutive) in the Franklin era, it will also be the Lions' highest start since 1999. They return a starting quarterback that has all the tools to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. They were in the Big Ten Championship last season, and had a lead in the final five minutes of a CFP semifinal game last season. Truly, if not now, when?

After defensive coordinator Tom Allen took a lateral move to be closer to family, Franklin made a hire that was equal parts obvious and curious. 

First, the obvious. The last game Knowles coached ended with a confetti drop and a trophy lifting. In a zero-sum world of talent acquisition, hiring Knowles made Penn State stronger and Ohio State weaker. (Personality conflicts and sour grapes aside, Ohio State would've preferred to bring Knowles back over Matt Patricia, all things equal. They did offer him $2.5 million a year, after all.) Knowles put Duke among the top 40 nationally before he left, Oklahoma State in the top 10, and Ohio State to first in yards per play and points per game before leaving for more money elsewhere. That undeniable track record of improvement is worth $9.3 million over the life of a 3-year contract. 

Though we've now got a decade worth of proof spread across three schools that Knowles will eventually produce an elite unit, we also have data that Knowles's defenses tend to take one step backward before they take three giant leaps forward. 

At Duke, Knowles inherited a unit that allowed 28.3 points per game; in his 2010 debut season, the Blue Devils yielded 35.4 points a game.

At Oklahoma State, Knowles took a defense that surrendered 29.4 points a game and ranked a respectable 56th nationally in yards per play; in 2018, he coached them up to allow 32.5 points a game and rank 99th in yards pe rplay.

At Ohio State, the Buckeyes' numbers didn't immediately get worse; Knowles chopped their scoring average from 22.8 to an even 21 a game, and their yards per play from 5.33 to 5.18. A year later, Ohio State cut a full yard off its down-to-down average, but it took a year to get there. Every coordinator has a minimum number of practice hours, film clips and game reps for his scheme to click into place. Knowles's number is higher than most. 

The obvious counterpoint: 2010 Duke and 2018 Oklahoma State are not 2025 Penn State. The Nittany Lions have ranked in the top 10 nationally in yards per play for four seasons running, including a sixth-place finish last year. They return All-America candidate Dani Dennis-Sutton on the edge. The wheel does not need to be re-invented in State College. 

All that written, Knowles has his system, and he's not going to dumb it down out of fear for screwing up a good thing. And he's not running from the expectations around Penn State, either.

“I think in today’s game of football it needs to be somewhat complicated,” Knowles said recently, via the Altoona Mirror. “You need to have answers for everything, particularly at this level. Offenses don’t run the same things in college. In the NFL, they do. You better have all different kinds of answers," Knowles said Our job is to be great now. If it’s too complicated or I can’t get it installed where the players pick it up quickly, that’s my fault. I think I’ve developed a process that moves it along at a more rapid pace.”

Knowles hasn't just had to teach his scheme to the players, the entire staff is new (to him) as well. The staff part of the equation probably isn't a big deal; Allen was only at Penn State for one year. Prior to him, Manny Diaz spent two years on staff before getting the Duke job. Cornerbacks coach Terry Smith has been with Franklin throughout his tenure, which means Knowles is the fourth coordinator he's worked with. “Every single one of them has had a top-10 defense at Penn State," Franklin said. "I feel like that was attractive to Jim. But I think it was also attractive to Jim that when he watched our tape there’s some similarities to what he believes.”

Early into camp, Knowles said the install is on schedule. He even said the pieces are clicking into place without practice or game reps, which is either encouraging or frightening.  “I think we’re in a good spot,” Knowles said. “They’ve shown that they’ve responded to the installation without getting the reps.”

Either way, Penn State has three de facto preseason games (Nevada, FIU, Villanova) before Oregon comes to Beaver Stadium on Sept. 27. Penn State won't have to win that game to win a national championship, but they're going to have to beat an equally- or superiorly-talented team to win a national championship. Two or three of them, in fact. Knowles's past results indicate Penn State will have an elite-of-the-elite defense... in 2026 or '27. Can he speed up his timeline to meet Penn State's championship expectations?

 

 

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Posted (edited)

That article is rife with interesting quotes in there.  It's not quite as bad as some of the Mensa pieces we read a few years back, but it's an odd piece.  Lacks depth, IMO, but it is a WSJ Sports piece....

"Jim Knowles studied in the Ivy League and worked on Wall Street. Then he found his true calling: inventing new ways to hammer quarterbacks"
He attended Cornell, the LSU of the Ivy League.  I kid. :)

"At Ohio State, Knowles pulled off an even bigger miracle. Before Knowles arrived, the Buckeyes had just the 38th-ranked defense in college football."
"Bigger miracle" might be a bit of hyperbole.  In 2019, tOSU was top-5 in scoring and total defense.  In 2015-2016, they were top-5 in scoring and top-10 in total defense.  Not exactly a miracle.  Shoddy research.

"That’s when the mad scientist truly began experimenting. He designed schemes built to do exactly what sophisticated financial algorithms are supposed to manage: Spot inefficiencies and ruthlessly capitalize on them."
The article refers to him as an experimenter and mad scientist a couple of times, but cites nothing other than throwing blitzes that wreak havoc.  No examples of exploiting inefficiencies.

Jim, basically, is a very, very intelligent man,” said former Western Michigan coach Gary Darnell. “I wouldn’t want to play poker with him.
[Darnell nod referred to by @notre dame joe]

There are a few references to him figuring out how to snuff out offenses with inferior talent while at WMU and Cornell, failing to cite that some of that is because he is playing against inferior talent.  The testimonial of a WMU/Florida game where his WMU team caused 2 interceptions left out an important detail: WMU lost 55-26. Sure, the game was 31-26 at one point.  But WMU had zero sacks while giving up 600+ yards.

Sure, Knowles is effective, but the article seemed a little lazy.

Edited by boilerhorn
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Posted

Listening to a homer podcast preseason evaluation.  I’ve revised my evaluation to say we’ll see y’all in Miami.  Looking forward to it.

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Posted
On 7/25/2025 at 8:48 AM, mdmost said:

The game in Ireland I can get even though we've gone way past teams that actually have some claim to Ireland like Notre Dame but this just feels dumb.

 

Should have been Pedo State vs Pitt playing in Krautland.  My people recognize.

Posted

Because y’all care so much, here’s the Bruins fall camp preview.  Of course it’s easy to be rose colored on everything before the season starts, but we were only a hair below mediocre last year.  IF we assume all position groups on balance are equal to last year (granted some may be better some may be worse), it comes down to QB.  Nico has a massively higher ceiling than Ethan fucking Garbers last year.  I think our ceiling is 8-9 wins, maybe better.

 

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Posted (edited)
On 7/23/2025 at 10:04 PM, John80 said:

Nico hasn't quit yet so that's good. I hope UCLA has a good season in the Nationwide Frankenstein Conference.


“Not so fast, motherfuckers!”

-The ACC

 

On 7/25/2025 at 3:48 PM, mdmost said:

The game in Ireland I can get even though we've gone way past teams that actually have some claim to Ireland like Notre Dame but this just feels dumb.

 

 

Michigan’s two most heralded coaches…

Bo Schembechler & Jim Harbaugh

…and that’s not even bringing up Nazi-loving Henry Ford

There are tons of connections between Germany 🇩🇪 & Michigan. I have been in both in The last 12 months and they are fairly similar. 

Would you have preferred Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, or Missouri?!?!

Edited by Napoleon
Posted
10 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Because y’all care so much, here’s the Bruins fall camp preview.  Of course it’s easy to be rose colored on everything before the season starts, but we were only a hair below mediocre last year.  IF we assume all position groups on balance are equal to last year (granted some may be better some may be worse), it comes down to QB.  Nico has a massively higher ceiling than Ethan fucking Garbers last year.  I think our ceiling is 8-9 wins, maybe better.

Love the optimism, but you're Russian drunk on pre-season Kool-Aid. Right now, I'd guess UCLA as underdogs in 8 of their 12 games. I do think they could take a step forward this year, but I expect the same from your opponents Michigan State, Nebraska, Washington, and maybe even USC.

Plus, UCLA still has to face Utah, Ohio State, Penn State, and Indiana, all of which are likely to be strong this season.

I think you win 6.  

Posted

Couple of thoughts:

1) Michigan singing "Hail To the Victors" with a guy named Hiter on their team next in Germany is going to make people uncomfortable, I have to imagine.

2) Cignetti at Indiana might be able to say "just google me" in reference to winning, but you can also use Google to realize what a pussy that gasbag is with his scheduling. Dude showed up to Indiana and immediately canceled multiple P4 OOC match-ups and then replaced them with cupcakes.

They play Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State this season for their OOC. If they're anything close to the playoff discussion, unless they're undefeated with wins over Illinois, Iowa, Oregon and PSU, it's without merit. They were a fucking joke entry last year but everyone gave them a benefit of the doubt. Notre Dame proved them to be a fraud. This year, they bring a bunch of guys back and add Mendoza (QB from Cal getting draft buzz). If they're 9-3/10-2 or even 11-1, fuck those guys versus a 10-2 option with a harder schedule. 

Marler is an 8 conference game loving SEC honk, but he has a point here:

 

 

 

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Posted
14 minutes ago, Bodhi said:

Love the optimism, but you're Russian drunk on pre-season Kool-Aid. Right now, I'd guess UCLA as underdogs in 8 of their 12 games. I do think they could take a step forward this year, but I expect the same from your opponents Michigan State, Nebraska, Washington, and maybe even USC.

Plus, UCLA still has to face Utah, Ohio State, Penn State, and Indiana, all of which are likely to be strong this season.

I think you win 6.  

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Posted
3 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Couple of thoughts:

1) Michigan singing "Hail To the Victors" with a guy named Hiter on their team next in Germany is going to make people uncomfortable, I have to imagine.

2) Cignetti at Indiana might be able to say "just google me" in reference to winning, but you can also use Google to realize what a pussy that gasbag is with his scheduling. Dude showed up to Indiana and immediately canceled multiple P4 OOC match-ups and then replaced them with cupcakes.

They play Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State this season for their OOC. If they're anything close to the playoff discussion, unless they're undefeated with wins over Illinois, Iowa, Oregon and PSU, it's without merit. They were a fucking joke entry last year but everyone gave them a benefit of the doubt. Notre Dame proved them to be a fraud. This year, they bring a bunch of guys back and add Mendoza (QB from Cal getting draft buzz). If they're 9-3/10-2 or even 11-1, fuck those guys versus a 10-2 option with a harder schedule. 

Marler is an 8 conference game loving SEC honk, but he has a point here:

 

 

 

Cancelling Virginia was comedy.  Virginia?  That's like playing a G5 team in P4 clothing.

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Posted

Nebraska is getting a lot of buzz this off-season from CFB YouTubers and redditors, not necessarily for this season but as a program of the future. It really seems like they’re primed to become a giant again in the NIL and expanded playoff era. Solid showing this year should get it rolling.

Posted
1 hour ago, Helobious said:

Nebraska is getting a lot of buzz this off-season from CFB YouTubers and redditors, not necessarily for this season but as a program of the future. It really seems like they’re primed to become a giant again in the NIL and expanded playoff era. Solid showing this year should get it rolling.

Dont Put That Evil On Me Reaction GIF by MOODMAN

The “Sleeping Giant” narrative is nonsense. Hopefully, they can eventually ascend to the level of Iowa and USC.

This is a make-or-break season for Matt Rhule. If they win 9 games, including a bowl, they likely retain Raiola, and the 2027 recruiting class could be something special. But if they go 7–5, Raiola probably transfers, the recruiting class falls apart, and Rhule enters 2026 on the hot seat with no momentum.

The offense should improve under Holgorsen. Special teams should also take a step forward after hiring Ekeler from Tennessee.  Last year, they were among the worst in the country. That said, I’m not confident in their defensive line. They lost their top three linemen from last season and may struggle against running teams. They’ll likely need an explosive offense to compensate for what could be a noticeable step back defensively.

Posted

Penn State is also going crazy soft with their non-conference. Zero P4 this year or next, then they have home-and-home with mighty Syracuse in 2027-28. Plus Ohio State cycles off their schedule in 2026 and 2027. They're gonna dare the committee to leave them out at 10-2.

Posted
30 minutes ago, Bodhi said:

Dont Put That Evil On Me Reaction GIF by MOODMAN

The “Sleeping Giant” narrative is nonsense. Hopefully, they can eventually ascend to the level of Iowa and USC.

This is a make-or-break season for Matt Rhule. If they win 9 games, including a bowl, they likely retain Raiola, and the 2027 recruiting class could be something special. But if they go 7–5, Raiola probably transfers, the recruiting class falls apart, and Rhule enters 2026 on the hot seat with no momentum.

The offense should improve under Holgorsen. Special teams should also take a step forward after hiring Ekeler from Tennessee.  Last year, they were among the worst in the country. That said, I’m not confident in their defensive line. They lost their top three linemen from last season and may struggle against running teams. They’ll likely need an explosive offense to compensate for what could be a noticeable step back defensively.

At least Nebraska was once a giant.

It's the people that call AtM a sleeping giant that crack me up.  When were those morons ever a giant of college football?  Oh yeah, 1939.

Posted

So the tweet below is a follow-up to a farce post from the same account about UCLA selecting a different QB than Iamaleava. I cannot figure out if the DM from Nico is real or not. I want it to be. I can see it that way. But maybe someone here knows better. 

 

Posted
10 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

So the tweet below is a follow-up to a farce post from the same account about UCLA selecting a different QB than Iamaleava. I cannot figure out if the DM from Nico is real or not. I want it to be. I can see it that way. But maybe someone here knows better. 

 

If this is real, this guy is a gigantic pussy. Have fun, UCLA. 

Posted (edited)

Man, if just a few years ago you'd told me SBbruin would be starting a B1G catch all thread...I think I'd be less surprised if you told me we have inhabited Mars.  

Edited by ChiTownDoc
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Posted (edited)

UCLA Bruins coach defends silencing players

By John Brice       Aug 21, 2025 

Quote

DeShaun Foster, who played in the NFL and knows that league's many fan-friendly initiatives such as practices open to the public and players keeping media obligations, is turning things in an opposite direction for his second year atop UCLA. 

Foster this week defended curtailing media access as well as denying players the chance to speak with area reporters.

The Bruins are hopeful of a major turnaround under Foster in Year 2, having brought in talented Tennessee transfer-quarterback Nico Iamaleava

Foster even took a bit of an adversarial approach to the oh-so-pointed (easy) question of what type of work he planned for his Bruins to get Saturday inside the Rose Bowl. 

"Uh, it will be a practice," said Foster, who regaled audiences last year at Big Ten Media Days when he informed the masses that "I'm sure you don't know too much about our football program, but we're in L.A."

This Saturday's practice is the day, mind you, that UCLA is charging fans $100 apiece to view the session and then mingle some with coaches and players on the field upon its conclusion.

Foster said he's shutting down almost all access to his program, including barring players from media interviews, as a tactical approach.

"You guys film our practice and put it online," Foster told reporters. "If I was an opponent for another team, I'd look right at your guys' stuff and see what's going on. So, for them not to get a beat on Tino (Sunseri, first-year offensive coordinator) or our depth or anything that's going on. That's why it's closed."

And no player interviews?

"That's the same thing, if they come over here and interview then you guys are asking me if they're a starter or are they this or that," Foster said. "It's tough, but we want to win games."

Foster said he's not worried about any negative impact on his team receiving less media coverage because of Foster's policies.

"No, I'll let you guys handle all that," he said.

UCLA, which finished 5-7 a year ago in Foster's debut campaign as a coach and dropped five of those games by 12 or more points, opens its 2025 season with a major challenge inside the Rose Bowl Aug. 30 against Utah, a former Pac-12 Conference rival. The Bruins, in their second year in the Big Ten, have additional non-conference games at UNLV, now under the direction of Dan Mullen, and home against New Mexico.

The Bruins begin conference play with a road-trip to Northwestern. They also face three of the Big Ten's four College Football Playoff participants from a year ago -- hosting Penn State, traveling to Indiana and traveling to defending CFP champion Ohio State. They also close their season at cross-town rival USC. 

 

 

This Saturday's practice is the day, mind you, that UCLA is charging fans $100 apiece to view the session and then mingle some with coaches and players on the field upon its conclusion.

Edited by LTtxfan
Posted
On 8/20/2025 at 12:46 PM, closetojumping said:

Couple of thoughts:

1) Michigan singing "Hail To the Victors" with a guy named Hiter on their team next in Germany is going to make people uncomfortable, I have to imagine.

2) Cignetti at Indiana might be able to say "just google me" in reference to winning, but you can also use Google to realize what a pussy that gasbag is with his scheduling. Dude showed up to Indiana and immediately canceled multiple P4 OOC match-ups and then replaced them with cupcakes.

They play Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State this season for their OOC. If they're anything close to the playoff discussion, unless they're undefeated with wins over Illinois, Iowa, Oregon and PSU, it's without merit. They were a fucking joke entry last year but everyone gave them a benefit of the doubt. Notre Dame proved them to be a fraud. This year, they bring a bunch of guys back and add Mendoza (QB from Cal getting draft buzz). If they're 9-3/10-2 or even 11-1, fuck those guys versus a 10-2 option with a harder schedule. 

Marler is an 8 conference game loving SEC honk, but he has a point here:

 

 

 

IU’s scheduling is super soft. And I get the reasoning behind it if you’re Cignetti. W/L is the only metric used to evaluate a coach at a school like IU. It’s a bitch move, but it makes sense for him. 

Comparing them to the top end of the sec scheduling without any reference to ole miss is also a bitch move. Because that’s really the comparison team. A fringe playoff team that schedules like an absolute pussy. Ole Miss doesn’t have their ooc fcs team scheduled out past the next 2 seasons, but they’ll be there. 

So in the next 5 years ole Miss has:

0 P4 teams

2 road games (Charolette & S Alabama)

2 FCS games scheduled but we can safely assume both teams will be at 1 per year. 

3 of their 8 future FBS teams had a winning record in 2024

 

Posted
On 8/20/2025 at 2:45 PM, Bartles said:

Penn State is also going crazy soft with their non-conference. Zero P4 this year or next, then they have home-and-home with mighty Syracuse in 2027-28. Plus Ohio State cycles off their schedule in 2026 and 2027. They're gonna dare the committee to leave them out at 10-2.

Penn state’s future ooc schedule might be the most egregious given the tier of teams they want to be in. Texas, bama, OU, uga, Ohio state, UM, Clemson all schedule at least one non conference game of some significance each year. Usually it’s a national marquee game. 

They could find themselves fucked by the strength of schedule metric even when they aren’t at risk of missing the playoffs. Losing out on a bye, or having to play a road game in round 1. I’ll be interested to see what the strength of schedule metric looks like, but they’re absolutely setting themselves up to be on the wrong side of it. 

They should have a 6 year rotation home-home series with Pitt and wvu where 2/6 years your team is “off”. They should have a marquee game. And then with that 3rd game they can do whatever bullshit fbs team they want. 

Posted
4 hours ago, heso said:

IU’s scheduling is super soft. And I get the reasoning behind it if you’re Cignetti. W/L is the only metric used to evaluate a coach at a school like IU. It’s a bitch move, but it makes sense for him. 

Comparing them to the top end of the sec scheduling without any reference to ole miss is also a bitch move. Because that’s really the comparison team. A fringe playoff team that schedules like an absolute pussy. Ole Miss doesn’t have their ooc fcs team scheduled out past the next 2 seasons, but they’ll be there. 

So in the next 5 years ole Miss has:

0 P4 teams

2 road games (Charolette & S Alabama)

2 FCS games scheduled but we can safely assume both teams will be at 1 per year. 

3 of their 8 future FBS teams had a winning record in 2024

 

To be clear, you'll never see me defend Ole Miss and their scheduling. I have zero softness for other SEC teams or the conference.

It's funny, since I posted what you quoted, there's been an earthquake regarding scheduling. Sankey pushing the "we are going to be a leader as a conference in scheduling other conferences to play us" narrative is ramming a dildo right up Cignetti and Franklin's assholes. Now they're going to be on the defensive of a losing argument. 

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