BIG NOON KICKOFF Discusses College Football Playoff Possibilities and More
On today’s edition of BIG NOON KICKOFF, host Rob Stone and analysts Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Urban Meyer talk about how this week’s cancellations and postponements could affect the College Football Playoff, if Group of 5 teams like Cincinnati and BYU have a Playoff path and more.
In Urban Dictionary, Meyer says he hasn’t said “The M Word’ in at least 40 years:
“The Team Up North is a term I used and I learned in the ’70s when the great Woody Hayes was coaching against the great Bo Schembechler in the greatest rivalry of all, the Wolverines against Ohio State. Woody Hayes would never use the term University of the M word. I just remember that from 30 years ago, and when I became head coach at Ohio State, we made that a rule around the facility. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve used that word in 40-some years.”
? @CoachUrbanMeyer pulls out the dictionary on #BigNoonKickoff pic.twitter.com/eCBlIobL4j
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2020
Meyer explains what it means to “look under the hood:”
“Every time I’ve had a team struggle, every time, it’s falling in one of three categories. No. 1, there’s some trust issue. The players don’t trust the coach. The coaches don’t trust the players. Or, awful one, when the players don’t trust each other.
“No. 2, it’s called a dysfunctional work environment. That’s where the expectations are very high, but we don’t work hard. The coach has to be real clear with his team and say, wait a minute. That’s going to lead to frustration, anger and disappointment, because we want to win a championship. I’ve got news, guys, we’re not working hard, so stop with the expectations. Your work ethic must exceed or equate your expectations. That’s a good environment.
“The last one is real obvious – you’ve got a selfish team. You’ve got problems on your team. Football is an unselfish sport. That means you have to do the nasty. That means, I’m a running back, I have to protect my quarterback. You don’t always get to carry the ball. Sometimes you have you to run down a kickoff 22 miles an hour, cover someone that’s coming 15 miles an hour the other way. That’s not fun. Why would you do that? Because you love your team and your teammates.
“So, when you hear LSU, Penn State, the Wolverines struggling – stop with the bad players. I get sick of hearing that. It’s not the players. I don’t think it’s the coaches. But, there’s something wrong. Lift the hood – find out. One of those three things is usually the reason.”
1️⃣ Trust issues
2️⃣ Dysfunctional Environment
3️⃣ Selfishness@CoachUrbanMeyer breaks down the 3 criteria every struggling team needs to examine on #BigNoonKickoff pic.twitter.com/Am1p9Ya7Qn— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2020
Bush and Leinart go behind the velvet ropes at Club Heisman:
? @zachkapono, @ktrask9 and @BreeceH earned their spots in Club Heisman this week with @reggiebush and @mattleinartQB! #BigNoonKickoff pic.twitter.com/Hpn8dHvDCq
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2020
Reporter Bruce Feldman reports that a lack of a central governing body makes it difficult for the College Football Playoff to change its time frame:
“I talked to a lot of power brokers around the sport this week, and they’re all over the map about whether the CFP calendar can or even should be moved in wake of all these cancellations and postponements.”
“One person made a key point, which is, while we’ve seen a lot of other flexibility from other sports in how they’ve set up their timelines to get a playoff in, college football has no centralized leadership … It’s a process that’s never been very flexible, and now you’re asking a process that has been entirely inflexible to make a lot of decisions on the fly.”
Would the CFP Committee push back the start of the playoff?@BruceFeldmanCFB explains the difficulties in changing the schedule on #BigNoonKickoff pic.twitter.com/8Dg8cpmwc0
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2020
Meyer says that in this abbreviated season, teams can’t leave any doubt in the minds of the College Football Playoff Committee:
“The committee has a job. Pick the four best teams. What does that mean? Let’s find out what happens. More importantly, the players and the coaches – their job is to leave nothing to doubt. That means, you get a chance to step on their throat, step on their throat. Give everything you’ve got.”
“Your job as a coach protect your players and university and get in that playoff. At what cost? At all costs.”
Expansion? Flexible Scheduling? Different Criteria?@CoachUrbanMeyer, @MattLeinartQB, @ReggieBush and @Brady_Quinn take a look at the CFP and share what changes they would make for this season on #BigNoonKickoff pic.twitter.com/KovPsrLn2e
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2020
Quinn says that the lack of a non-conference season will hurt Group of 5 teams in a bid for the Playoff this season:
“In a normal year, you have non-conference games where you get to see a little bit of how they stack up versus some Power 5 teams. We don’t have that this year. So, unfortunately, I think this is not the year to even have that discussion. It’s almost going to be impossible for that reason. The other thing is, it’s the big boys up front – the D-line and O-line – that’s where they don’t have the same type of caliber players you see in the Power 5.”
Meyer says that teams like Cincinnati and BYU need to have statement wins for a chance to get into the Playoff:
Those are really, really good teams. Here’s reality – not being disrespectful, but reality – can they survive an SEC schedule? I’d say no. Can they survive maybe the Big Ten? I don’t know that. I don’t know, but that’s not your job. You’re not in that conference. So, if you’re [Luke] Fickle and [Kalani] Sitake, put the pedal to the medal every chance you can. You’d better outscore everybody by 50 points or you have no chance, because the eye test matters.”
"It's nearly impossible for a Group of 5 team to get into the playoff in normal circumstances…but these aren't normal circumstances."@MattLeinartQB, @CoachUrbanMeyer, @Brady_Quinn and @ReggieBush look at BYU and Cincinnati's chances of making the CFP on #BigNoonKickoff pic.twitter.com/qyGAHLmJMn
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2020
Bush comments on Indiana’s top-10 ranking:
“How do you handle success? Because this is not something that they are familiar with. This is unfamiliar territory for them. When you start reading the headlines and listening to the media and they’re saying how great you are, that is a setup for downfall. I want to see how does the team handle success, and how is Michael Penix going to get the defense focused to go out on the field and take care of business.”
