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College Football Bowls and Playoffs

IU's JMU pipeline is drying up, even Cignetti knows he needs to lean on recruiting more. They're not looking for guys who want $$$, they're looking for guys that want a familiar coach. it's a short term strategy exploiting a massive loophole in the new college football world, and they hit a home run.

In five years, they'll be irrelevant again.
If im a college player. And the money is the same. Im going to play for cignetti. Or im going to University of Hawaii, because i dont give a **** and just want some tasty waves and a cool buzz,,,
 
Listened to Colin Cowherd at lunch, he's pinning most of the success on Mendoza, says they wouldn't have made this run with almost any other QB. Hope he's right, and I tend to think he is. They may keep getting a lot of xfers for a year or two but if the next guy isn't as good, they won't be able to match up with more talented teams well enough to make a similar run.
 
If im a college player. And the money is the same. Im going to play for cignetti. Or im going to University of Hawaii, because i dont give a **** and just want some tasty waves and a cool buzz,,,

Depends on the position, if I'm a WR I'm picking LSU or OSU, because they are WR-factories for the NFL. DL, Clemson or UGA. TE, ND or PSU.

Waterboy, Pitt.
 
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Listened to Colin Cowherd at lunch, he's pinning most of the success on Mendoza, says they wouldn't have made this run with almost any other QB. Hope he's right, and I tend to think he is. They may keep getting a lot of xfers for a year or two but if the next guy isn't as good, they won't be able to match up with more talented teams well enough to make a similar run.
I think Cignetti elevated Mendoza. He threw for 16 TDs and 6 INTs last year. Some draft analysts thought he could sneak into first-round consideration, so he far exceeded expectations this year. Credit to him for putting in the work and producing in Indiana's system.
 
I think Cignetti elevated Mendoza. He threw for 16 TDs and 6 INTs last year. Some draft analysts thought he could sneak into first-round consideration, so he far exceeded expectations this year. Credit to him for putting in the work and producing in Indiana's system.

Cowherd compared it to Brady/Belichick. We'll find out soon which way it goes.
 
Cignetti went 11-2 without Mendoza. Mendoza's record at Cal was 9-10.

Cignetti was 53-17 at IUP, 14-9 at Elon, 52-9 at JMU.

Cal probably didn't have 47 players aged 22-25. What we used to call "grad students". He's off to a great start in his first big time job, but I want to see it play out over 5-10 years.

Also, maybe schedule some real opponents out of conference. In 2024, Fla International, Western Illinois, Charlotte. In 2025, Old Dominion, Kennesaw St. Indiana St. In 2026, North Texas, Howard, WKU.

Over those same three years, OSU played (or will play) ND, Texas, Texas. Alabama after that.
 
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Cal probably didn't have 47 players aged 22-25. What we used to call "grad students". He's off to a great start in his first big time job, but I want to see it play out over 5-10 years.

Also, maybe schedule some real opponents out of conference. In 2024, Fla International, Western Illinois, Charlotte. In 2025, Old Dominion, Kennesaw St. Indiana St. In 2026, North Texas, Howard, WKU.

Over those same three years, OSU played (or will play) ND, Texas, Texas. Alabama after that.
The point is, Cignetti had a great season with Indiana before Mendoza arrived and Mendoza's game really stepped up after he got to Indiana. He just won a CFP championship with a 16-0 record. Impossible to discredit the job he did as Indiana has finished above .500 five times in the past 30 years--two of those were Cignetti.

Just about every P4 program schedules cupcakes, especially with expanding conference schedules. There's actually little incentive to schedule tough OOC games. Didn't matter for Indiana, they streamrolled through the playoffs outside of the last game, to a team the committee didn't want to put in.

Ole Miss - Georgia State, Tulane, Washington State, The Citadel
Texas Tech - Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kent State, Oregon State
Alabama - Florida State, Louisiana-Monroe, Wisconsin, Eastern Illinois
Oregon - Montana State, Oklahoma State, Oregon State
Ohio State - Texas, Grambling State, Ohio...still lost to Indiana
Miami - Notre Dame, Bethune-Cookman, Florida
Penn State - Nevada, FIU, Villanova
 
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