What’s Going On Invades Own State

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

Kevin Wilson is staging an invasion with a few camps. However, whereas satellite camps such as the ones the SEC whines about Jim Harbaugh staging tend to be in locations quite far from Michigan’s campus, Wilson’s are stylized as an INvasion, as he’s going from Bloomington to the far away land of Indianapolis.

#IUFB staff launching an #INvasion to the Indy Metro, offering a FREE camp with 4 opportunities. July 27. #Hoosiers pic.twitter.com/zmMzX5JZbA

— P2P Sports (@Preps2Prospects) July 12, 2016

If you’ll recall, when IU and Kentucky ended their series, Tom Crean cited an inability to get fans to Indianapolis as a reason why he was opposed to playing in Indy rather than on the schools’ campuses, so that makes two coaches at Indiana who don’t seem to know where Indianapolis is. Somebody should really get them a map. Anyway, the camp produced a commit, so good for the Hoosiers, although I would still like to know how exactly this is an invasion. Like, when Michigan “invades” New Jersey, to get guys who could be the next Charles Woodson or the next Ndamukong Suh, they’re competing with Rutgers. Not all that much of a competition, I know, but Rutgers is still technically a D-I school. Who is IU competing with in Indianapolis? D-II University of Indianapolis? Actually, that would explain a lot. Hey, you know what, whatever produces more chaos. #CHAOSTEAM forever!

It’s undeniable that this is bad writing

Ben Glicksman wrote this for The Ringer about Nick Saban’s effectiveness at Alabama. The piece starts out with some real hard-hitting writing, effectively saying “Nick Saban is a good coach. He is super focused on football.” which, duh, and then begins ignoring pretty crucial elements to things.

Take Alabama’s impact on recruiting. A few months before Saban arrived on campus, the Tide secured the nation’s no. 13 signing class in 2006, according to Rivals.com. Two years later, the Tide pulled in the no. 1 crop — a haul that included world-beaters Julio Jones, Barrett Jones, Mark Ingram, Courtney Upshaw, Dont’a Hightower, and Marcell Dareus. Over the next eight years, Bama inked Rivals.com’s top-rated class six times; competitors were forced to either devote extra resources to recruiting (launching an arms race of sorts) or push for legislation to limit Saban’s effectiveness (like the SEC’s crackdown on oversigning in 2011).

Did you catch that? Glicksman just called Saban straight-up cutting dudes part of his effectiveness. I’m assuming Glicksman thinks that all the other crap Saban pulled ranging from “shady” to “straight-up violation” was part of his effectiveness, too. Some of that stuff is talked about in this post from last month.

The Crimson Tide’s masterpiece under Saban came in the 2012 national championship, when they obliterated Notre Dame in a 42–14 rout.

That Notre Dame team backed into the title game. They were the definition of frauds. The only surprising thing about that result was that Alabama didn’t win by more. Glicksman goes on to detail a miscommunication between A.J. McCarron and Barrett Jones with the Crimson Tide up four touchdowns after which McCarron shoved Jones. Then he drops this:

And that’s the final part of the equation here. Alabama is not solely a powerhouse because of Saban; he is also a powerhouse because of Alabama. There’s a reason he has stayed at this school longer than any other (he is entering his 10th year with the Tide, compared with five-year stints at both Michigan State and LSU), and there’s a reason his legend has soared to meteoric heights in Tuscaloosa.

Saban left Michigan State to take the LSU job, a step up, then left LSU to take the Dolphins job, another step up. This is the same idiotic argument hack football writers make in claiming that Jim Harbaugh’s not going to stick around at Michigan because he’s stayed in the same place longer than four years. Both he and Saban were advancing their careers. While they may have left the NFL for different reasons – Harbaugh because 1) Jed York is an numbskull, and 1a) Michigan was Harbaugh’s dream job and they needed a coach and no longer had a Jed York type as AD, Saban because he sucked – they’re both at places for which there is no next step up for them. Now, I’m not saying Harbaugh will never go back to the NFL, but if he were to, I can’t imagine it happening until after a lengthy successful run at Michigan.

News from the front lines

Rutgers writer Ray Ransom wrote this for Off Tackle Empire and hooooly cow is it ridiculous. Let’s dive in, shall we?

It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe it. Rutgers will be the next great football dynasty.

And pigs will fly.

Between a top-10 recruiting base, a lack of any meaningful in-state competition, a powerhouse conference, the biggest media market in the country, and a rabid, growing fanbase, Rutgers is poised to join the upper echelon of college football dynasties in the 2020s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heck of a fanbase.

Rutgers is the State University of New Jersey. The State College of New Jersey is The College of New Jersey, located in Ewing.

Let’s just get that out of the way before we dig deeper.

Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way. I mean, yeah, if Rutgers was a state college they’d have now chance, but since they’re a state university, might as well start engraving the trophy now.

Fallacy #2: There is No Such Thing as a Rutgers Fan

 

So, we’ve covered the statistics, but because the author loves stories, let’s tell one about The Boss. Yeah, he’s got a sweet pad in Rumson. But do you know what he does on the weekends? He hangs out in Asbury Park and listens to live music. He helps aspiring artists cut new records.

A colleague of mine was playing a show last weekend and this dude comes in, orders a beer, sits down and starts nodding along. Yeah, it was The Boss. They talked music afterwards and nobody mobbed him or thought it was a big deal because the guy is there every weekend.

Bruce has enough money to live anywhere on Earth, same with Bon Jovi. Why do these guys keep coming back? Because Jersey is a truly great place to live.

Everyone knows all the cool kids listen to Springsteen and Bon Jovi. Those 5-star recruits should be rolling in any minute now.

When will you learn not to doubt Jim Delaney? Was he right about the Big Ten Network? Was he right about expansion? Was he right about the playoff?

Delaney and the power players in the Big Ten always had Rutgers at the top of their list, because it’s the only institution out there that had everything. Academics? Check. Athletic potential? Check. Recruiting? Check. Media market? Check. Fans? Check.

If you wanted a media market, why didn’t you go grab NYU or Fordham? Monmouth brings in plenty of TV sets, as does Army and Navy. Hey, UConn is right around the corner. Why didn’t the Big Ten add these schools, or others? Because it wasn’t the best fit.

Rutgers was the crown jewel of conference expansion.

This is in the running for the most delusional statement ever. The part about Rutgers, which by the way, isn’t the crown jewel of anything, being at the top of Delany’s list could very well be true; it’s not hard to believe that he’s actually that stupid. I’ve said before on here that I would gladly trade Rutgers for UConn. NYU, Fordham, and Monmouth – you know what, yeah, I’d probably trade Rutgers for them, too. And if we could make it work with hockey (would probably entail bringing in Air Force for hockey, but I’m pretty much okay with that), then yeah, trade Rutgers for them. Rutgers, in case you weren’t paying attention, you won one conference basketball game and one conference football game and it would have been zero conference football games if Indiana didn’t Indiana all over themselves. (#CHAOSTEAM!) Frankly, I would have preferred not to expand to 14 teams at all, because once the TV bubble bursts, the conference will be stuck with a team that’s nothing but an albatross and two if D.J. Durkin can’t turn Maryland around.

Twitter: @KSchroeder_312

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com