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College football Super League

The Athletic just published an article on a potential College Football Super League.

It says up to 20 influential leaders (including college presidents, an NFL executive, and others) are pitching the idea to "save the sport".

Basically, the top 70 teams are locked into the Super League forever. That includes all the current Power 5 teams and Notre Dame and SMU.

There would be seven divisions of 10 teams. An eighth division of 10 teams would be populated by teams who could be relegated up and down from the other 60 teams currently in Division 1.
The top 70 are safe forever. Each division winner would get a spot in the playoffs. And eight other wild cards would get in from among the top 7 divisions.

Very interesting article if you have access to it.

FOOTBALL Brent Key's final media avail before NC State 11/19

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key spoke to the media for the final time ahead of the Jackets' ACC finale against NC State in Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Jackets will aim to go undefeated in Bobby Dodd for the first time since the 1999 season on Thursday.

The Jackets had a Thursday practice in the stadium despite heavy rain as preparations continued for the Wolfpack.

"It was a Thursday mindset for us as a football program. It was a normal Thursday procedure going through practice and staff-wise, everything was the same," Key said. "We've got a one-game season and that is all it is and all that matters. We've got some really good seniors that will play in their last game at home and we've also got the opportunity to accomplish some things that not a lot of teams have accomplished here in a long time."

Key said going undefeated in their home stadium is important to the team.

"Being undefeated at Bobby Dodd Stadium is something that has happened two times in what the last 60 years, 58 years so for these kids you want to stack those types of accomplishments together so at the end of the year and at the end of the season you can have time to reflect," Key said. "That is a huge thing for these guys to be able to do and accomplish."

The point of emphasis as always with Key is the process and building up the program to win consistently and he repeated his mantra in his presser on Tuesday.

"This game is not played any different than the last game or the game before or the game before that. We've got to play one play at a time and everyone on this team is involved in the outcome of i whether you are on the field playing, on the sideline, coaching, staff, student assistants, student managers, student trainers, or anything else. Everyone in the entire organization is involved in the outcomes. We've shown glimpses of being a really good football team at times. We've shown what we are capable of doing, now it comes down to are we willing to do that every single week," Key said.

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Key said that the team is banged up and has been for some time and the extra couple of days for the bye, is not a true bye week with the Thursday night game to get healthy and help the guys with dings more than the seriously injured guys. Key said that the bye doesn't help the guys injured but helps more with guys with nicks and bumps and bruises from a long season stay fresh.

On facing NC State's defensive front, Key said they've faced every type of front this year, 3-man, 4-man, 5-man, he joked there are only a few ways to line up and no one has gone two-man or one-man upfront, he said that either the center is covered, or the center and both guards are covered or they are not and they have rules for each one of those fronts and techniques to use against them. He said NC State plays a lot of cover one and cover zero and they expect to see some blitzes and movement with those blitzes either three to a side or bringing them all and a lot of max blitzes and those things are challenging and they've got to be able to handle the pressure and blitzes and have answers to adjust to it.

Key said he is not worried about the legacy of this team right now when asked about going to back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2014. He said that legacy is still being created and there is a lot of season left and the legacy that matters right now is Thursday night in BDS. He said after the season they can talk about memories or rejoice in things

Key said the Miami win was two weeks ago and that is like two months or two years in CFB time. He said it is like a dog's life, seven by one. He said it was a good win, but now what? You need to build upon that win to have a good season and that is how you build a legacy that you can reflect back on later.

Key said that NC State does a good job with CJ Bailey as a freshman QB of not putting too much on him and giving him some breather plays as well where he doesn't have as much on his plate every down. They don't run as much full-field deep progression type routes all the time and they use the run game to manipulate the clock and control TOP in the game. They play to Bailey's strengths as a QB and that is the mark of a good team to him.

On GT's improved run D, Key said that it starts with Tyler Santucci and the guys playing within the scheme and then it goes from there to the way that jess Simpson and Kyle Pope teach it up front and then unselfish play by the LBs and DBs to make the tackles. Once the guys have seen themselves having success it builds and they are starting to feel the improvement on D now and then it is easier to get buy-in for what they are supposed to be doing every down. They key is every person doing their job on every down.

On Trey Cooley, Key said that his goal has been making sure Cooley is successful 5-10-15 years from now not necessarily in the moment.

Key joked he would play in Piedmont Park if they let him but Thursday nights are special and GT has been lucky this year to have some unique showcases for their program nationally not just to see Georgia Tech football, but GT athletics and the school itself to people and that in turns bleeds into the football program because it is a vehicle for the school to get more positive exposure. Key said he has a lot of great memories of Thursday night games and it is special with the nighttime skyline and the city and a crisp breeze in the air on Thursday. He said he reminds the team that in a few weeks the 2024 GT football team won't exist anymore, it'll be on a piece of paper and only in memories told by the team today and when they get back together later in life that is when they can share these memories so make them good ones.

Key said his final game at BDS is something he will always remember being in front of the fans and how loud they can be and he is very thankful for the students and how much they've given to the team this year and the fans being loud and the team would run through a brick wall right now for the students.

I asked Key about the depth in the secondary and he said that he looks at it like an OL, there are two guard, two safeties, two tackles and two corners and a nickel who is like the center and they all have to work together but instead of an 8-yard box the DBs play in a 53-yard wide box and still have to communicate and play together. He said they took some lumps early in the season playing a lot of guys to prepare for things like injuries to Warren Burrell and Syeed Gibbs that test depth and he wanted to have experience and versatility in that room because if you don't that is a recipe for disaster.

He was asked about Jordan Williams closing in on the record for games played on Roddy Jones (52 games), Williams just played his 50th and would break the record in a bowl game.

Key told a long story about how fat Williams got during the covid lockdown. It is worth a listen, words won't do the story justice.

Key said SR night will be special for him because there are a lot of guys who were the backbone of this program rebuild and last year there were a lot of special guys like Dylan Leonard or Connor Scaglione but there are some guys who have been here a long time like Williams or old guys like Sylvain Yondjouen or even some guys like Jackson Hawes who have been here one year and made huge mark on the program.

JOL Mailbag 11/18 Sponsored by Auto-Owners Insurance

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Don’t want to overreact to a couple basketball losses bc it’s not like we haven’t seen the same thing for 15 years. But what if any legit concerns should JOL actually be having. The player development part? Damon getting frustrated with the NIL process and alienating top recruits? Getting frustrated and bolting back to the NBA? GT BB being perceived as dead for long enough that fans and donors are going to be harder than expected to get back than the lapsed football folks were?

KQ- It is basketball and the best player on the team Baye Ndongo has started the season slow and it is killing them on the inside and they cannot get consistent inside scoring. Asking Doryan to carry as much as he is wasn't really in the game plan from the jump either, but they were unable to get a big they liked in the portal and thus here we are. I'll say this I don't put a lot on the early season games and the UGA game has been a weird one for GT historically. Shit they lost to a bad UGA team in January of 2004 in double OT the year that GT went to the title game in double OT. I was there. GT was 12-0 and lost to UGA. It happens.

The North Florida one bothered me more because of how bad the D looked, but they seem to have settled that down.

I’m assuming this would’ve been addressed in the Recruiting Buzz if it was the case, but I’m gonna ask anyways. Can the 2025 QB offer going out be looked at as trying to upgrade over Grady Adamson? It seemed like a strange take to me at the time, and, I may be wrong, but his numbers haven’t really jumped out to me this year.

You are conflating a poster putting up a graphic on a dude GT was recruiting 18 months ago with a new offer. I assume you are talking about Carter Smith the QB who decommitted from Michigan. I have no idea why the poster put that up. He didn't ask what was up, Carter didn't start posting about GT again or anything else. I know Carter and have seen him in person before. GT offered him in MAY OF 2023. You'd have to ask the guy who he posted it.

Just for kicks…take a shot at our defensive line 2 deep for next year off of current roster. We know we will be adding some portal players. Seems to be a lot of youth next year?

KQ- I mean this year's two-deep DL features three guys who were not on the team last season so it is a little bit hard to do that.

If I use who is currently on the team it would be this

Returning you'd have
RE- Height, Jacob Cruz or Amontrae Bradford
DE- Boyd, Iloh or Bradford
DT- van den Berg, Landen Marshall
DT- Lockett, Shymeik Jones

I assume they will add a DE and probably two DTs via the portal this offseason repeating what they did this cycle and you could also see some of the young guys fill out that depth as well. Jess Simpson and Kyle Pope hit the reset button on the DL and cleared some room to bring in guys they want this offseason. I expect GT will be heavy in free agency on the DL.

SEC teams including UGA seem to always schedule a cupcake before rivalry week. UGA will play UMass before Tech. Clearly they are using that week to prepare for the rivalry team which is often an ACC team for SEC teams. Why doesn't Georgia Tech and the ACC do the same? If you are not sure why then can you ask Key in the next press conference. Seems like GT and the ACC should schedule to assist them in winning the rivalry games since we all know when the ACC loses to the SEC it furthers the narrative that the ACC sucks.

KQ- A couple of things, (A) Brent Key doesn't have much to do with scheduling of football games nor did CPJ or Collins or probably Chan. These games are scheduled years out. (B) because of the contracts and the way the deals are structured most of the FCS and low G5 games are front-loaded because of television deals. (C) fans ****ing can't stand these games and don't show up including Athens. It will probably be their worst-attended game of the year next Saturday.

The league has a huge say in this as well. I think UGA played Ole Miss the week before the GT game and they've had SEC games some years in the past. Many of the other SEC teams have games. Bama is playing at Oklahoma this weekend (I'll be there covering that game because I worked it into a trip to see Grady Adamson).

If you weren’t in the college sports journalism industry, what would else would you have done?

KQ- Most likely I would be working in music merchandising for my old friend from college. I just went to see Iron Maiden Wednesday in Charlotte and he hooked me up. I worked for him in college and after college and was given the option to move to California or go on the road with bands and at the time I punted on that to chase my sports journalism career. I was also working on a masters in psychology briefly and didn't get very far at KSU in my interlude after I stopped covering UGA and was working at the MDJ before I started covering GT. So one of those paths.

If GT beats NC State, GT finishes no worse than 4th in conference not counting tie breakers.

Where will GT go bowling?


KQ- No one knows, the reality is the whole bowl landscape rides on how many ACC teams get in the playoffs and GT needs Notre Dame to make the playoffs as well otherwise everyone gets shifted down one spot. People are literally just guessing right now but a lot depends on matchups too. I don't see the Fenway Bowl against Tulane for example. They would want someone who might sell some tickets and that ain't it in December in Boston. Maybe GT against someone with northern ties would work for example. I could see GT wanting the Sun Bowl and making a push to get that one that less people want. Everyone will line up for Clemson and from there it is a crapshoot where everyone else goes.

How worried should we be that after the first four games, Nait George and Baye Ndongo do not look like they leveled up at all between Year 1 and 2.

KQ- I think sometimes it takes guys some time to get it going. I think Nait's defense is my biggest concern at the moment watching the team in one-on-one D more than Baye missing some shots inside. What is Nait's ceiling is an interesting piece of this as well. I think bigger guys take more time and Ndongo missing so many bunnies has hurt him early on. Hopefully he gets back on track.

How many acc football coaches gets fired/retire when seasons is over with?

KQ- Mack Brown I expect will be forced to retire at UNC. I have no idea what FSU does, will they push Norvell to try to take another gig? It seems like they are doubling-down on trying to set him up for success next year. UVA is interesting to me because Tony Elliott got another year but they are probably more like to not make a bowl again with SMU and at VT left (they've lost something like 19 of 20 against VT over the last two decades). Elliott is 11-21 and they've been more competitive but they got slapped around by that UNC team after GT beat UNC and UVA has been wildly inconsistent and their attendance is really bad for them.

I kind of wonder about Dave Clawson at this point as well. I like Dave and know him a little bit and I wonder how burned out he is by what has happened and them being a feeder for other schools. USF took two of their commits this cycle including their handpicked QB. That ain't good. Clawson and John Currie the AD are super tight so I doubt he leaves but he is another I might put on retirement watch soon. I don't think he likes where things are heading.

This could be the most stable offseason jobs wise for the league with head coaching positions. As far as guys possibly leaving for other jobs, Billy O'Brien and Manny Diaz are the two I'd keep an eye on depending on dominos and what comes open.

FOOTBALL Star Comparison: NC State at Georgia Tech

Looks pretty even based on recruiting rankings. I knew Doeren got some good guys there every once in a while, but I'll be honest, I was a little surprised with the amount of four stars they have.

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