Reality Check's Weekly Sagarin Predictor Thread...

[DJDAWG]

The Big Ten is projected to lose ALL ten bowl games??? WOW.

[RealityCheck]

The Big Ten is projected to lose ALL ten bowl games??? WOW.

Yep...I had to double-check the first time I went through the list...

Ohio State by 4.55 to Alabama
Michigan State by 0.84 to Baylor
Wisconsin by 11.78 to Auburn
Nebraska by 3.65 to USC
Minnesota by 4.40 to Missouri
Iowa by 7.84 to Tennessee
Maryland by 10.80 to Stanford
Rutgers by 4.73 to North Carolina
Illinois by 11.58 to Louisiana Tech
Penn State by 3.81 to Boston College

The Big Ten has some historically unfavorable bowl matchups, and the conference keeps over-reaching. I would not mind seeing the Big Ten bring the $EC down a notch or four.

I will repost the final numbers heading into the bowl season after the Army-Navy and FCS playoff games of next weekend.

[PawDawg]

Ohio State lead the Big Mac into the Final Four.

[RougeDawg]

Ohio State by 45.5 to Alabama

You must have had the decimal place in the wrong spot; fixed it for you.

[Dogsince65]

I HOPE Tech is smart enuff not to do anything right now with Holtz's contract. If he leaves, he leaves. It won't be anything close to a loss. We can easily find a coach as good or BETTER!

. Omg-- of course we can move on to a top 20 active winning coach who can recruit another coach as good as Diaz and a Sokol/bates. We can throw our 400-500 k around and convince a great coach to come to our 18 million athletic department after UAB folded with 30 million. I mean why not, our avg life span is 2-3 yrs before billing for real money. Said it many times, Holtz getting 500k for couple more yrs from buy out-- only reason he can work for what we pay . HD had higher pay for self/staff. Visions of grandeur -- last thing we need is more instability-- ULL paying 1 million to coach who can't get past n o bowl. Make up your list of Better coaches-- seems like 2 yrs ago it was kk (TT) monk(S miss) etc--- just plain DUMB. You really think we have any chance keeping Diaz without Holtz?? And please, don't say MD for hc, he has said all he wants is defense co-ordinator-- and he can earn5 times more than we pay him- STABILITY ...... Of course when I post this some morons will say I want mediocrity which is stupid--

[Champ967]

You're drunk again D65.

[Dogsince65]

Helllll NO! This team was built with one season bandaides.

Break out the check book after, season 4 so that he doesnt go into the final year as a lame duck. Evaluate, after he has proven he can build and sustain for the majority of a contract term.

. Holtz will be gone on his own terms when he is ready. Fortunately he has 500k yr coming from other sources. When you are #22 on active coach list ( page 9 of Tech media guide) and can get Diaz to coach with you - you don't stay long with program that has 18 mi budget-- unless you love the place. We really will not have enough $$ to keep him if we go 2-3 straight boats. I am always astounded When folks do not understand the fiscal reality of our program. We paid about 40k a win this year-- smarter folks than me can post when other programs pay per win but it's crazy

[cscollis]

If Holtz and Diaz are a pair, I say let sign them both up for 10 years. I Really like what Holtz did at the end of the CCG. Hugging Sokol after that the INT was a great gesture. Holtz needs to hire a OC and Holtz become the face of tech FB. I am not sold on the big 10 style offense and don't believe we will be the better P5 schools without a wide open offense. We will have multiple winning seasons but we can't have any more NSUS, period. Diaz is just as important to keep as Holtz.

[Cal&Ken]

If Holtz and Diaz are a pair, I say let sign them both up for 10 years. I Really like what Holtz did at the end of the CCG. Hugging Sokol after that the INT was a great gesture. Holtz needs to hire a OC and Holtz become the face of tech FB. I am not sold on the big 10 style offense and don't believe we will be the better P5 schools without a wide open offense. We will have multiple winning seasons but we can't have any more NSUS, period. Diaz is just as important to keep as Holtz.

That was a classy move by Holtz!

[dawg80]

I didn't try to read dog'65's rambling, incoherent mess. I assume he was trying to make a point about keeping Holtz, or some such nonsense. And, probably missed my point. So, I'll restate it here:

Do NOT rush to extend Holtz's contract. That is my main point. We've seen this happen too many times at Tech. Holtz is not going anywhere and even if he leaves, it's no biggie. There are only about 1,000 coaches out there who are as good, or better.

Now, PLEASE NOTE, I am NOT saying at some point, maybe two years from now, some kind of contract extension may not be warranted. But, I do NOT want to see Tech rush into renegotiating the contract based on, say, a bowl win. If Holtz turns out to be "good for Tech" then that will become obvious at the end of next season, or the year after. No need to rush into anything now. That's all I'm saying.

[Tech77]

Back on subject, I think our game with Illinois is a toss up. I think the line is not fully taking into account the players we lost, because we did pretty well without them in the Marshall game. The Illini have been inconsistent, but they have some good wins. I think this is a very good match-up for both teams.

[detltu]

If Holtz and Diaz are a pair, I say let sign them both up for 10 years. I Really like what Holtz did at the end of the CCG. Hugging Sokol after that the INT was a great gesture. Holtz needs to hire a OC and Holtz become the face of tech FB. I am not sold on the big 10 style offense and don't believe we will be the better P5 schools without a wide open offense. We will have multiple winning seasons but we can't have any more NSUS, period. Diaz is just as important to keep as Holtz.

I noticed that as well. I really thought that showed a lot of wisdom on his part. Sokol clearly felt like s after that pick. No point piling on.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Skip is a good man...

There is no doubting that -

[tenacious_dog]

I didn't try to read dog'65's rambling, incoherent mess. I assume he was trying to make a point about keeping Holtz, or some such nonsense. And, probably missed my point. So, I'll restate it here:

Do NOT rush to extend Holtz's contract. That is my main point. We've seen this happen too many times at Tech. Holtz is not going anywhere and even if he leaves, it's no biggie. There are only about 1,000 coaches out there who are as good, or better.

Now, PLEASE NOTE, I am NOT saying at some point, maybe two years from now, some kind of contract extension may not be warranted. But, I do NOT want to see Tech rush into renegotiating the contract based on, say, a bowl win. If Holtz turns out to be "good for Tech" then that will become obvious at the end of next season, or the year after. No need to rush into anything now. That's all I'm saying.

I agree with this. Only have to think about Bicknell's extension, where we were stuck and needing to make a change. There's time to address this under the current contract and no one's being slighted or taken advantage of.

[PawDawg]

Only have to think about Bicknell's extension, where we were stuck and needing to make a change. .

The Dykes (Sonny) renegotiation was bad too. It cost us and we didn't get much anything in return (increased buyout). The worst part was that we didn't have to do it when we did it causing a distraction before the bowl. BVDV was such a goof ball. We really didn't have to do it at all.