Welcome to Doughty's Dump, your daily dump of college football and college basketball links, videos and other goodness. And if your time isn't valuable, follow me on Twitter and check out my podcast, High Motor.
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Rankings Predictions
College Football Playoff Selection Committee Chair Rob Mullens, like his predecessors, could run for public office. After the Week 11 Rankings were revealed last Tuesday night, he spewed a bunch of non-answers in the ESPN interview and subsequent interviews elsewhere. However, he did suggest the margin between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 LSU was small.
If the margin was small, LSU will be No. 1 in the Week 12 Rankings. If LSU isn't No. 1, Mullens was lying and for the first time ever I will have lost confidence in the 13-person committee.
On Sunday's episode of the High Motor podcast, I predicted what the rankings will be, and Chase Kiddy said what the rankings should be. Listen below:
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Morris Out, ________ In?
In the late afternoon on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2017, Bret Bielema left the field after Arkansas' 48-45 loss to Missouri in the regular-season finale, their eighth loss of the season and Bielema's 34th loss in 63 games over five seasons as Razorbacks' head coach. Minutes later, he was fired by interim athletics director Julie Cromer Peoples and would soon receive the first of several payments of an $11.9-million buyout.
Twenty-two games later, Arkansas fired another coach, Chad Morris, and at the moment — dependent on potential offsetting salary at another job in the future — are in line for another eight-figure buyout.
With Morris out, who might Arkansas target?
Bruce Feldman calls this a two-horse race: Gus Malzahn and Mike Norvell. He also mentions Mike Leach, Bryan Harsin, Billy Napier, and Seth Littrell.
Dennis Dodd: Mike Norvell is No. 1, followed by Bill Clark. He also mentions Eliah Drinkwitz, Tom Allen, and Sonny Dykes.
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Mechanics Error
On Sunday, I received a news release e-mail from the Pac-12 Conference. The title: Pac-12 acknowledges mechanics error in Washington State-California game.
Mechanics error? Like their mic wasn't working? What is a mechanics error?
Turns out, "mechanics error" means we made an outrageously stupid error and can't correct it. Here's the release:
"The Pac-12 Conference acknowledged an error in officiating during the third quarter of the Washington State at California game on Saturday, November 10.
With 10:14 remaining in the third quarter, Washington State received the kick off and returned it to the 50-yard line. The Referee threw a flag on the play for a hands to the face penalty. After a crew discussion, the foul was announced by the Referee as “hands to the face on the receiving team number 15” and Washington State was penalized half the distance to the goal from the spot of the foul and the ball was placed at its own 8-yard line.
After the next play was run, the Referee informed Washington State that there was an error in application of the penalty. The penalty was on the kicking team number 15, not the receiving team, and the penalty should have been assessed on California at the end of the play with the ball spotted at California’s 35-yard line.
The Conference confirmed the penalty for hands to the face was correct. However, the mechanics and communication were incorrect in assessing the penalty to Washington State instead of California.
The Referee has subsequently been suspended for one game for the breakdown in officiating mechanics and communication. The remaining members of the officiating crew have been downgraded."
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The Big Dump
If Mark Dantonio is fired, who might Michigan State target? . . . NBA Mock Draft 1.0 . . . Emotional scene at Breslin Center on Sunday night . . . Wanna bet this line doesn't stay at -3 all week? . . . Alabama scored on a brilliant fake sideline check . . . Florida State basketball mocked Jameis Winston's "Eat a W" celebration . . . LSU players made pitches to visiting Alabama recruits after their win . . . Oklahoma State will wear military appreciation uniforms vs. Kansas.
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Remember When…
Jameis Winston put the nail in Florida State's playoff coffin with his bizarre scramble fumble in the Rose Bowl loss to Oregon in 2014.
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High Motor
If you're interested in recent episodes of the High Motor podcast:
