SEC, Big Ten pushing greed to a new level for college football playoffs | Bohls
While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:
The SEC is right: it just means more ... money
1. A bad idea: Shame on the SEC and Big Ten for pushing an ill-conceived idea of three automatic qualifiers for each of the leagues and two byes for only their champions in a proposed 14-team College Football Playoff bracket. Why not just hold your own playoff and forget the other 100 FBS teams? Is that what this has come to? The voices of dissent came quickly. ”Automatic first-round byes for the Big Ten and SEC is like the NFL saying the Cowboys get a first-round bye since they have more fans than the Bengals,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes told ESPN. "How preposterous is that?” Pretty preposterous. Heck, we haven’t even tried out the new 12-team format yet. Can we just slow down and take a breath?
Emptying the notebook: Texas basketball
2. Max effort: When I asked Max Abmas if he would outshoot Caitlin Clark in a shootout, the Longhorns guard said, “I think I could handle her.” Really, I asked. “Yeah, what’s a good shooter supposed to say? I’m going to lose? But she’s been great for what she’s done for women’s basketball.” … Shonda Perkins gushes about her son as only a mother can although Chendall Weaver’s mom has reason to. “He was supposed to blow me a kiss after a dunk, but he only did it one time against BYU. I think he may have gotten into trouble for doing it.”
More: Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle expects Aggies-Longhorns SEC baseball rivalry to go 'nuclear'
Improving their stock in Indy
3. Draft debate: Xavier Worthy obviously improved his draft stock at the NFL combine, but so did Adonai Mitchell. “Just the reminder of his speed definitely helps him,” NFL analyst Lance Zierlein told me. “I think he’s moved into the 25-40 range now.” Said John Breech at CBS Sports, “Mitchell ran .13 seconds slower than his Texas teammate, but also weighed 40 pounds more. His size and athletic profile are that of a top-flight pass catcher in the NFL, which will likely catapult him into the first round.” I totally agree and think Mitchell, if taken by the right team, will have every bit the impact of a Marvin Harrison Jr. or a Rome Odunze. He had one drop — that’s right, one — in his 86 targets from Quinn Ewers last season and caught more passes thrown behind him or too far over his head than anyone I’ve seen since Jordan Shipley. And NFL teams will know that Ewers’ last three passes in the end zone against Washington went to Mitchell, not Worthy. “I prefer Mitchell to Worthy," Zierlein said. "Mitchell has a very good blend of size, speed and ball-winning capabilities. He still needs to become a better route-runner, but he’s a more complete talent than Worthy, who is more niche.” … Plus, as much of a blur as Worthy is, he weighed in at a possibly concerning 165 pounds, and some teams will worry if he’s too fragile. This isn’t to diss Texas' X-man because a receiver who scores 26 touchdowns in 39 career college games can flat out play. And yes, he can fly. But also, the track record of those who test fastest in the 40 at the combine rarely seem to pan out. Among them are former Washington receiver John Ross, who was the ninth pick of the 2017 draft and over his career that lasted just five years made only 62 catches for 951 yards and 11 touchdowns. Worthy’s also capable of being an electric punt and kickoff returner, too, though. … Mel Kiper and Zierlein both rank UT running back Jonathon Brooks as their No. 1 running back prospect, and Zierlein expects him to be ready for the 2024 season: “He’s very smooth and athletic as a runner and he can catch it out of the backfield. He has good size and is the most talented three-down running back in the draft.” … Finally, Zierlein said T’Vondre Sweat’s 366-pound weight is a concern for many teams. “With that said, he’s talented enough for a first-round grade, but he won’t play all three downs or have the same impact on the pass rush as Byron Murphy will. Based on his body type, explosiveness and three-down capability, Murphy might be the only DT in the first round.”
More: Texas guard Madison Booker is the first freshman to win Big 12 Player of the Year award
Texas' tennis future looks bright
4. Courting success: Maya Joint isn't even on campus yet, but the Texas women’s tennis signee is already making her presence felt in Austin. The top junior from Michigan teamed with current No. 1 Longhorns singles player Sabina Zeynalova in the doubles portion of the ATX Open draw and made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing 6-3, 3-6, 9-10. Texas women’s coach Howard Joffe can’t stop gushing about the 5-foot-5 Joint. “She’s a little redheaded kid whose name on Instagram is the ginger ninja,” he said. “You won’t find a nicer person. Just incredibly likable. She is the antithesis of a prima donna.” Joffe said Joint’s game reminds him of another tennis great with the way she moves around the tennis court: Martina Hingis. “Her two-handed backhand is just a laser," he said. "She moves incredibly well. She’s slight but strong and incredibly powerful. She’s a little thing but moves like the wind.” Joint figures to hit the ground running when she begins school this fall. “Her tennis has absolutely taken off,” Joffe said. “She’d be the highest ranked player in college right now by the metrics. She’s definitely flourishing. I think she’ll be in our top three singles next fall at a minimum.” So might Georgian Ashton Bowers, who played doubles with Joint in last year’s French Open and helps make up Texas’ No. 1 recruiting class in the nation.
More: In 4.21 seconds, Texas' Xavier Worthy upped draft stock, became a combine legend | Golden
Don't kill another good thing, NCAA
5. Bigger's not always better: So the powers that be are considering such outrageous things like expanding the NCAA Tournament to a 96-team field, which would be a huge mistake. There have been only two instances of expansion in the last 39 years, and the current 68-team format is the perfect model. No? I can’t wait to see that three-page bracket after Selection Sunday. And the suspense while we curiously wonder if a third No. 16 seed can knock off a No. 1 like UMBC did Virginia. Gone forever. If the change happens, I’m sure we’ll see the 32 conference champions receiving automatic berths get byes while we watch in hushed tones to see if No. 93 can upset No. 33. No bigger thrill, right? Please.
Texas A&M coach: Better get ready, Texas
6. A brave, new world: Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle said Texas should be prepared for a wild ride in the SEC when it joins this year. First, he said, “I think Texas will be fine over time, but I tell (Texas athletic director) Chris Del Conte, 'You just wait. Honestly, when I was at TCU, I wondered how much better can it be. It’s not even close. It’s the compounding effect every single weekend. There’s no teams with four freshman starters. They’re all old, and they’re physical. Last year there were only 20 freshmen in the whole SEC who got 50 at-bats or more, and A&M led the league with four. The average ERA in conference was 5.50. It’s not let’s play this freshman and hope he figures it out. You do that as a coach and you’re not going to have a job.” … As for the postseason, Schlossnagle said, “The goal in the league is to finish .500. You do that, and you’ll be in the NCAA Tournament. You go 16-14, you’ll probably host a regional. Better than that, and you have a great chance to be a national seed.”
G.J. Kinne: 'Bowls are only fun when you win'
7. Buy-in, not rent-in: You scared you’re going to lose G.J. Kinne at Texas State? Well, chill. A little. The first-year Bobcats football coach had a breakthrough 8-5 season in his initial campaign, not only beating Baylor in the opener but reaching and winning a bowl game 45-21 over Rice in the First Responder Bowl. It’s heady stuff for a perennial losing program, and now all he has to do is follow it up and repeat. But know that he also just closed on a a five-bedroom ranch home between San Marcos and New Braunfels with a pool, so there’s that. “Got to be a good sign, right, because we rented in Year 1,” Kinne said, laughing. “Beating Baylor, a Power Five team on the road, that was huge for me and our buy-in. That really helped us. Once we got bowl eligible, I was worried everybody would be happy with going to a bowl. But bowls are only fun when you win. And the next day, I was up at 6 a.m. fielding calls about guys on my team.” Such is the reality of college football. And Texas State did lose 19 guys in the portal. But it also picked up 18. A couple of impact players coming in are Incarnate Word defensive end Steven Parker, who spent two years at Kansas, and ULM linebacker Max Harris, who ranked second on the team in tackles and played for Kinne at Incarnate Word.
Whatever happened to ...
8. Scattershooting: While wondering whatever happened to former Cal and Texas running back Tre Watson, who led the team in rushing in 2018. ... Caught up with Keith Creel, last week’s Scattershooting subject, who owns a construction company in Fort Worth. The 65-year-old former Longhorns right-hander once threw 271 pitches in a 17-inning 1-0 complete-game victory for Duncanville over Irving High and another former Longhorn, Tony Arnold. Creel struck out 29, Arnold 31. Creel won a UT freshman record for wins in a season with 12, a fact that the late Cliff Gustafson told him before his game at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders scored five runs in the first inning and had two on with one out. Gus came out and asked what he wanted to do. “I told him, I’d like to get somebody out. He said, ‘So do it’ and left. I beat ‘em 7-5.” There may be another Creel in Texas’ future. His grandson, Trey Creel, is already hitting 82 mph on the radar gun. He’s an eighth-grader at Waxahachie.
Meanwhile, from the greatest seat in the world ...
9. On the couch: “The Catcher is a Spy” had so much potential. But ultimately I didn’t buy Paul Rudd as major-league catcher Moe Berg/turned spy. I kept seeing Paul Rudd. Do any of you have the same problem, seeing the actual person instead of the character? It lacked the suspense a more serious dramatic actor might have brought to the film. Gave it five ducks.
Keep an eye on the Seminoles
Crazy prediction: Florida State will escape from the ACC by 2025.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Even before a 12-team CFP format, SEC and Big Ten wanting more teams
