Reflection Maze
We have come to the end of stage two in Wilk, the games. We now move on to stage three, job changes. Everyone looks forward to job changes because they have a knock on effect on next season as they will affect who you play and how strong your SOS is going to be. A lot of things get affected by stage three, including how you might plan to recruit if people move closer to you or further away. You get it, these things have a knock on effect. We are going to concentrate on what was said in the Knockout Maze, earlier this season to see how wrong I was.
Man was I wrong about the Nittany Lions. I counted Penn State out after they lost to LSU, what was I thinking? Let me tell you something I was not thinking. I doubted the skills of nortonis and for that I am sorry. I thought things were not going to work your way but they did. The last third of the season schedule worked out perfect for Penn State. They did their job to put themselves in position to win it all. I should not have doubted the skills of the defending champs. There were defending champs for a reason, they are good and have a good coach. With them being in prime recruiting land, I fully expect them to reload and make a run for the title again. I will try to not doubt them again.
I was right on with the Gators. I said they were not even going to win the CC, and boy was I right. Got something right. They finished 12-3 and finished ranked 9. To me that says they had a good season, even with the bowl loss. They are losing 9 seniors and with them being in a tough recruiting spot things might be tricky to reload and go again. I am not sure of the quality of the recruits around them but I am sure the coach will work some magic and try to get the Gators going again. I think I might have my finger on the pulse when it comes to the SEC. The Vols did their thing this year, double digit wins. They could not even get a bowl win. Things should be somewhat similar again next year.
Blitziscomin told us what happened this year with his work on the Maze. I always have faith in his skills as I took him on a few times and lost except once. He usually has things figured out but with the quality of coaches in Wilk going up things have kind of equalized on the sharp end of the rankings. Being located in Norman, OK things are tough to get top talent onboard, but he does it every year. He pulls in good classes and gameplans like heck and wins games. This year there was the unforeseen greatness of Missouri Knocked them out of the running of the NC. I am sure the Sooners will be back challenging next season as they do every year. The Fighting Irish were never in the running this year. Hopefully they will be back in the running next year.
The Trojans ran into a familiar foe. They are always blocked by them boys up north. Them Bears always maul them Trojans. I bet they have scares worse than Leo.
Bears are not to be messed with, at all. I have avoided them thus far and I am happy about that. In real life I mean. The Trojans need to find a way to get past them Bears. I think we the new coach it might become easier as time goes on as the coach is more predictable I think.
For the Big East I focused on the wrong team. I looked at the boys out of Pitt instead of the Syracuse team. The Pitt team did not make it to their own CC title game. The two losses they suffered did not help their cause. Syracuse made it all the way to the big game and they lost to Penn State, who retained their title. Syracuse have themselves a great coach who knows what he is doing. This can be seen across all his teams in the world he is in. I hope the coach sticks around for a while in the Big East as he builds his resume. The Big East might have an overlord now with z32fanatic.
When looking at Nebraska and Colorado I was both wrong and right. I was wrong abut one of them making the CC and right about one of them making the NC. I was right about Texas not making the NC, I thought they were going to be close to the single digit rankings but that was not to be the case, They finished ranked 16, that is outside the preseason rankings of the elites in the world.
The Buckeyes were found wanting as predicted in the Maze. The Maze rarely get things right when making predictions. So when we get them right we are surprised ourselves. The Buckeyes have been stable in the number of wins they get but I think now is the time for us to demand more out of them. With the Badgers I saw at least two losses in their future, they ended up with a total of three losses on the season. That is a great start to the reign of paulsuberlak, now the pressure is on for them to keep this up and maybe even go further. The Wolverines were so close but no cigar. They ended up with no silverware, well they won their bowl game. They had a good showing all season long and then lost at the final hurdle to the eventual national champions.
Houston with their new coach did not make that big game of all games. Their SOS did not help them at all. They finished the season ranked 6th, with a loss in the bowl game. The team went undefeated until the bowl game. I expect the same next season and maybe another run for the NC. They have 3 tough OOC games to get through and if they make it unscathed I think they will have a chance. The teams they will play will help with their SOS next season and help them be close to the top two spots.
I think that is enough of the reflection stuff. We had a great season and can only hope for me next season. I hope we have more coaches move up to D-1A and we just increase the population in the world in general. Until the next time, take it easy.
