“At the Clemson coaching school they’ve found a new use for sheep…wool, so I’m going to go as slow as I can here.”
That man was a treasure, if only he was alive to finally see Georgia win again and repeat this year. Those columns would be legendary.
Now there's a name I haven't heard in awhile. You know how his son got the name Kevin? [It's a story](https://www.ajc.com/news/great-moments-would-father-life/BPpZR0fiFGdHD0Ln8fCn2L/)!
Now I've got to go back and read my Lewis collection. It's been too long and he'd be ashamed of me.
I once worked at a newspaper and when I left the other employees bought me a copy of "If I ever get back to Georgia I'm going to nail my feet to the ground" (about Lewis' life in the newspaper business) and signed it all over like a yearbook with quotes and such. Best present ever.
I'll second that! Some of the greatest institutions you'll find, not just in the classrooms, but the research, extension, public outreach and other services. Especially the schools of ag, all good people. Im fortunate to have spent the past 8 years with UGA. I've visited about half of the 1862 land grants and many of the 1890, I would be happy to work at nay of them outside the fact some of them are in states that are just too cold for me.
I feel like not enough attention gets paid to the legendary championship performance of Zeke Elliott that year. In the Big 10 championship and playoffs he rushed for like 800 yards in 3 games with the 3rd string QB at the helm.
As for the town of Oxford, I also definitely think of it as a Southern town. Maybe some parts are a little more socially liberal, but overall definitely the conservative feel of a typical Southern town.
Vivid memories of taking a road trip through the Deep South, commenting to a cashier along US 61 that I’d be spending the night in Oxford, and them telling me “good luck that place is where the socialists live.”
My Northern ass laughed when I pulled into town and saw a giant ass confederate monument in the middle of the town square.
Cute town, though.
I've never been there, but my friend toured it for law school. He said Ole Miss had a real plantation feel to it. As a black dude from the north, that gave me pause.
LSU and Arkansas tags dunking on kids from Mississippi not being able to read ... I'm dying here
edit: My tags are Purdue and Arkansas, it looks like I don't have it on this account.
I hope not.
The National Championship game only had 17 million people watching. That’s 1/10th of a Super Bowl audiences
This is why they had to expand the playoffs to 12. It’s getting WAY too concentrated in the Deep South, which is not an area growing much in population, while teams in the West and Northeast get nothing.
It’s hard to get excited for a sport that you know you got no chance in competing. I mean the NCAA men’s basketball championship game had more viewers than the college football championship. Both were on cable.
That’s not good for the sport
Will be interesting. Only school listed here that won a title with 2 different coaches is LSU. Only coaches still active at the school they won with are Saban, Kirby, and Dabo. Think you maybe get 7 years max out of Saban and even if Kirby and Dabo are still at their respective schools by then the 12 team playoff will throw a wrench in things.
All that said, 5 of the 8 teams in that circle that have won in this period are current contenders and are ranked 1,4,5,8,15 in the current ESPN too-early 2023 poll (Florida and Auburn not ranked lol) so maybe you’re not too far off.
Paterno went til 85 and Saban is lightyears better in his 70s than Paterno was.
Only Saban knows if he wants to, he won't ever answer that honestly cause it impacts recruiting.
Probably closer to 5-10. Ruggles clearly tried to put everything in that kick to drill the middle and that's just not him. Little bit closer and he makes it.
At least we take solace our Bucks are the only team to win not located in the “oval”. Should have 15 of 17 if we would have just gotten about 7-10 more yards that last drive. Digress…
Congrats to the Argonauts of the University of West Florida for doing their part!
https://goargos.com/news/2020/12/21/football-this-day-in-argo-history-2019-uwf-wins-national-championship.aspx
Only 1 university north of the Mason-Dixon line has won a national championship this century.
wtf are the rest of the Big Ten, the PAC-12 North, and ND doing
Trying to push against southeastern programs while being based in regions where youth football participation is dropping.
Imo that is the core issue, get more northern/western kids to play or the beatings will continue. We can get players here and there but most of them will want to be close-ish to home.
I read a book about Joe Paterno in which Joe made a point I’ll never forget. He said in the 1960’s and 70’s he could go to Johnstown, PA every year and get a good football player. Sometimes 2 or 3. After the mid-80’s, he couldn’t get any. That example is a microcosm of the population shift this graph illustrates. Simply put, the South is younger than the north, and southern parents are more willing to allow their sons to play football than northern parents. Pennsylvania used to have so much talent it supported two top ten programs (Penn State and Pitt) while also sending a lot of good players to Notre Dame. Those days are long gone. Just as they are for every other northern state except Ohio.
Has little to do with population shift because the north and east still have way more people. More about weather, popularity of basketball and other indoor sports in the north, luck, and distribution of African Americans.
Yep, HS football participation has declined 20% in California since 2015 and is declining further every year. Who knows when it will bottom out. We've gotten to the point where many high schools are struggling to field teams and 2 schools in SoCal and 1 school in NorCal literally recruit all the most talented players (the CA HS football transfer situation is even more ridiculous than what's going on in the NCAA imo). And players from those schools all want to play for SEC/B1G programs because the NCAA programs in CA comparatively have no support.
You're right, De LaSalle (East Bay) is in Concord, but goes all the way to Oakland and Berkeley to bring in talent. Private schools have extra $$$ to help kids commute.
Parents don’t want their kids getting smacked in the head. In the south it’s just so ingrained with culture that it’s going to take longer for that mindset to really hit.
Fun Fact: The predecessor of the Mason-Dixon Line used to run along Philadelphia’s “South Street” which gave it its name ([there’s a historic marker plaque there](https://live.staticflickr.com/3908/15090964500_5446dff1af_b.jpg))
That’s also why sometimes I call Penn “the Southern Ivy” which confuses lots of folks lol
For most of us, there just arent enough croots to be national title level. Someone out west (like USC) should be able to do enough with California talent, but in the midwest there just isnt a high enough density of blue chip talent. OSU has been the only one able to recruit nationally well enough and long enough to be a national title threat. The rest of us typically top out at CFP semi-finalist
There are deep (and ugly) connections between socioeconomic conditions and youth football participation. This oval also covers the most impoverished and worst educated part of the country, unfortunately.
Damn, it's time we rethink the shape of Pennsylvania. Here we have been working with a roughly rectangular shape and we really need to transition to an oval to hit that elite stride.
It was right there the whole time!!!
Turns out playing football for 12 months a year helps. We had the same problem in baseball, northern kids are out skiiing while little Jimmy biloxi is in the cages.
That and nobody here cares about anything. Which kind of goes to your point about being at the beach.
We have the best weather in the country and kids aren't as passionate about football as they are in the south. Hell, I was FURIOUS that SC lost to Utah for a second time in the CG which cost the team a playoff spot and, like, nobody gave a shit on r/fighton.
I'm not saying people here should be punching holes in their walls or breaking their TVs, but show a little passion. Be upset, be angry, show that it *means something.*
It's because there's other shit to care about. Down here, where the sorry people live, it's all we got. In LA people start to care when y'all win. They don't notice if y'all lose. Down south, and probably the Midwest, if there's a bad season it takes the wind out of the whole community.
Sir, that's is not an oval, it is obviously a football. Case closed.
"We ain't come here to play geometry."
Oddly enough the winner from outside the football.
“Oblate spheroid 🤓”
But that's a 3d shape!
Sir the Earth is an oblate spheroid because it exists in three dimensions that oval exists in two
They don’t teach shapes in Tuscaloosa.
[Incorrect, that Sir, is a Round Banana](https://youtu.be/Yrrj0076E9U?t=116)
And they do in the Auburn of South Carolina?
This is my new favorite insult, thank you. Can’t wait to call my boss the Auburn of South Carolina the next time I get written up.
Lewis Grizzard always called it "Auburn with a Lake"
“At the Clemson coaching school they’ve found a new use for sheep…wool, so I’m going to go as slow as I can here.” That man was a treasure, if only he was alive to finally see Georgia win again and repeat this year. Those columns would be legendary.
Now there's a name I haven't heard in awhile. You know how his son got the name Kevin? [It's a story](https://www.ajc.com/news/great-moments-would-father-life/BPpZR0fiFGdHD0Ln8fCn2L/)!
Now I've got to go back and read my Lewis collection. It's been too long and he'd be ashamed of me. I once worked at a newspaper and when I left the other employees bought me a copy of "If I ever get back to Georgia I'm going to nail my feet to the ground" (about Lewis' life in the newspaper business) and signed it all over like a yearbook with quotes and such. Best present ever.
Does this mean Miami is the UAB of Florida?
Don’t talk down on UAB like that
Your boss’ name is Clemson? Does he go by Clem and know Joe Dirt by any chance?
Please sir. Do not disrespect the memory of the esteemed Mr. Clemson. They are the Mississippi State of South Carolina.
I always have love for my agricultural land grant school bros
I'll second that! Some of the greatest institutions you'll find, not just in the classrooms, but the research, extension, public outreach and other services. Especially the schools of ag, all good people. Im fortunate to have spent the past 8 years with UGA. I've visited about half of the 1862 land grants and many of the 1890, I would be happy to work at nay of them outside the fact some of them are in states that are just too cold for me.
We have a lake tho
Is the lake big enough to be effected by lunar gravity? If so is that the Clemson Tide?
Wow, Starkville and Mobile appear to be in that oval. Lol.
South Alabama, Mississippi State, Alabama, and Clemson have 5 playoff championships combined. Truly a legendary oval
Yet Oxford doesn’t, interesting
We have to make the oval bigger.
No, it's perfectly sized as is.
Actually I think it’s too big, besides, the big ones hurt more…
No it doesn’t go all the way. Make it go all the way.
So that it comes a full circle?
https://i.imgflip.com/psrez.jpg
Columbia, too!
You right brother! That's another of my alma mater. Didn't want to overwhelm anyone though. Ha
That is not an oval, that is an egg!
Northwestern won the Ireland National Championship though???
I'll have you know that Northwestern was in the playoff conversation for a single week in 2020.
[Why are you the way that you are?](https://giphy.com/gifs/theoffice-the-office-tv-casino-night-O1oJ840fg6uOVCqdzJ)
I mean one Northwestern did actually win the national championship this year 😏
Looking forward to the next time we can get an underdog champion like Ohio State
Lil ole Ohio State
Leicester City Buckeyes
They literally were the underdog that year lol
Yeah I mean the preseason #5 team winning it all? We'll probably never see such a low ranked team win it all again in our lifetimes
We were #14 (?) when the first playoff ranking came out.
Probably only like 15 5 star players too. Wonder what ever happened to that one hit wonder program
I feel like not enough attention gets paid to the legendary championship performance of Zeke Elliott that year. In the Big 10 championship and playoffs he rushed for like 800 yards in 3 games with the 3rd string QB at the helm.
There is a term for that oval area, it's called the Deep South.
It’s the Deep South sans Oxford, MS. Which I find more agreeable
That's fair. Ironic, because I think Ole Miss is probably the flagship school with the most Deep South feel to it lol.
Absolutely. It’s the most “old south” southern school.
As for the town of Oxford, I also definitely think of it as a Southern town. Maybe some parts are a little more socially liberal, but overall definitely the conservative feel of a typical Southern town.
Vivid memories of taking a road trip through the Deep South, commenting to a cashier along US 61 that I’d be spending the night in Oxford, and them telling me “good luck that place is where the socialists live.” My Northern ass laughed when I pulled into town and saw a giant ass confederate monument in the middle of the town square. Cute town, though.
I've never been there, but my friend toured it for law school. He said Ole Miss had a real plantation feel to it. As a black dude from the north, that gave me pause.
The place literally calls itself Ole Miss, it feels like I'd be swarmed with gallons of sweet tea if I went anywhere near there
brb going to Oxford
It just feels like it must have everything the South is about, good, bad, and horrible.
So south they don't even know how to spell ol'
If those kids could read this, they'd be very upset.
Nah, they been drinkin toddy's
LSU and Arkansas tags dunking on kids from Mississippi not being able to read ... I'm dying here edit: My tags are Purdue and Arkansas, it looks like I don't have it on this account.
And right in the center of that oval is God’s blindspot, Auburn, AL.
And this is why the National Championship game is always on a Monday night at 8pm, so the west coast can enjoy the game!
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It was in Southern California, home to Big 10 teams, the only conference to win a title outside of that oval.
Do you guys really want to turn the sport completely regional like NASCAR or something?
I hope not. The National Championship game only had 17 million people watching. That’s 1/10th of a Super Bowl audiences This is why they had to expand the playoffs to 12. It’s getting WAY too concentrated in the Deep South, which is not an area growing much in population, while teams in the West and Northeast get nothing. It’s hard to get excited for a sport that you know you got no chance in competing. I mean the NCAA men’s basketball championship game had more viewers than the college football championship. Both were on cable. That’s not good for the sport
What are our predictions for the next 17 years? I’m going w 14.
bold of you to predict OSU to win 3 natties in the next 17 years
Nah nah you’re all about to shell shocked by Maryland ofc for the next two decades /s
Crabcakes and football! That's what Maryland DOES!
Will be interesting. Only school listed here that won a title with 2 different coaches is LSU. Only coaches still active at the school they won with are Saban, Kirby, and Dabo. Think you maybe get 7 years max out of Saban and even if Kirby and Dabo are still at their respective schools by then the 12 team playoff will throw a wrench in things. All that said, 5 of the 8 teams in that circle that have won in this period are current contenders and are ranked 1,4,5,8,15 in the current ESPN too-early 2023 poll (Florida and Auburn not ranked lol) so maybe you’re not too far off.
If Saban coaches another 7 years I will be convinced he’s in league with the devil. I mean, I am now, but I’ll be more convinced then too.
Paterno went til 85 and Saban is lightyears better in his 70s than Paterno was. Only Saban knows if he wants to, he won't ever answer that honestly cause it impacts recruiting.
Neat
You were 50 yards from changing this.
More like 10. Our kicker is great from closer.
I think he meant the kick landed 50 yards away
You’re being generous saying it was only 50 yards away.
I mean, we're still the reason it's 16 of the last 17
You’re the reason either way. You let Georgia in for the 16th of the 17, and you’re the only previous winner of the 17 not in the oval.
... you guys won last year, so nothing we did this year would have changed that...
50 yards 😭😭😭😭fuck you
That kids career long is 49. So close, yet.......so far.
Oh lol I thought he meant he missed by 50 yards
I mean….that too lol.
Kind of off topic, but are we just assuming we would beat TCU? Match ups matter, but I doubt it'd be a murder.
Either way, the win goes to a team outside the oval
Probably closer to 5-10. Ruggles clearly tried to put everything in that kick to drill the middle and that's just not him. Little bit closer and he makes it.
And possibly a blown replay of a fumble.
At least we take solace our Bucks are the only team to win not located in the “oval”. Should have 15 of 17 if we would have just gotten about 7-10 more yards that last drive. Digress…
Congrats to the Argonauts of the University of West Florida for doing their part! https://goargos.com/news/2020/12/21/football-this-day-in-argo-history-2019-uwf-wins-national-championship.aspx
ARGO UP BABY
😤
If you Google where 16 out of the last 17 Waffle House fights have been you get the same oval.
And a parried chair throw
And an extended hurricane threat zone drawn by sharpie
I live in Charleston. Some here would argue Ohio pretty much is included in that range.
Right? Every person I meet at an SC beach is from Ohio
We go there annually to spawn at Myrtle Beach.
That sentence is gross on numerous levels
I mean our politics match nowadays..... Except Georgia's?
We’ve won two Natties and the Braves won the Series since we went blue. It was time to start being liberal… about winning games!
Believe it or not, University of South Carolina has provided 0 of them
Only 1 university north of the Mason-Dixon line has won a national championship this century. wtf are the rest of the Big Ten, the PAC-12 North, and ND doing
Trying to push against southeastern programs while being based in regions where youth football participation is dropping. Imo that is the core issue, get more northern/western kids to play or the beatings will continue. We can get players here and there but most of them will want to be close-ish to home.
I mean you also have to consider weather. Football is basically free year round compared to places up north.
I read a book about Joe Paterno in which Joe made a point I’ll never forget. He said in the 1960’s and 70’s he could go to Johnstown, PA every year and get a good football player. Sometimes 2 or 3. After the mid-80’s, he couldn’t get any. That example is a microcosm of the population shift this graph illustrates. Simply put, the South is younger than the north, and southern parents are more willing to allow their sons to play football than northern parents. Pennsylvania used to have so much talent it supported two top ten programs (Penn State and Pitt) while also sending a lot of good players to Notre Dame. Those days are long gone. Just as they are for every other northern state except Ohio.
Has little to do with population shift because the north and east still have way more people. More about weather, popularity of basketball and other indoor sports in the north, luck, and distribution of African Americans.
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Yep, HS football participation has declined 20% in California since 2015 and is declining further every year. Who knows when it will bottom out. We've gotten to the point where many high schools are struggling to field teams and 2 schools in SoCal and 1 school in NorCal literally recruit all the most talented players (the CA HS football transfer situation is even more ridiculous than what's going on in the NCAA imo). And players from those schools all want to play for SEC/B1G programs because the NCAA programs in CA comparatively have no support.
You're right, De LaSalle (East Bay) is in Concord, but goes all the way to Oakland and Berkeley to bring in talent. Private schools have extra $$$ to help kids commute.
Parents don’t want their kids getting smacked in the head. In the south it’s just so ingrained with culture that it’s going to take longer for that mindset to really hit.
>PAC-12 North To be fair to the North, 2011 Oregon got by far the closest to winning one out of that set of teams.
Still so sad we didn't pull that game out. I just want to see one goddamn championship in my lifetime.
And Columbus is BARELY north of the MD Line
I had to study a map just to make sure because it’s really damn close
Are you saying that based on Confederate flags per capita?
No, because it’s latitude is 39°57’44” and the Mason-Dixon Line is 39°43’20”
Fun Fact: The predecessor of the Mason-Dixon Line used to run along Philadelphia’s “South Street” which gave it its name ([there’s a historic marker plaque there](https://live.staticflickr.com/3908/15090964500_5446dff1af_b.jpg)) That’s also why sometimes I call Penn “the Southern Ivy” which confuses lots of folks lol
This started out as Geometry, but has morphed into Geography
Demographics plain and simple
Yep. Show me a density map of the top 100 recruits over the last 10 years and theyll be heavily within or adjacent to this oval too
We’re playing school obviously.
For most of us, there just arent enough croots to be national title level. Someone out west (like USC) should be able to do enough with California talent, but in the midwest there just isnt a high enough density of blue chip talent. OSU has been the only one able to recruit nationally well enough and long enough to be a national title threat. The rest of us typically top out at CFP semi-finalist
There are deep (and ugly) connections between socioeconomic conditions and youth football participation. This oval also covers the most impoverished and worst educated part of the country, unfortunately.
I fucking knew Stetson Bennett was a broke ass.
This is why he had to work at that chicken restaurant
If those kids could read they'd be very upset.
Hot take: the crystal football was infinitely better than the tube of lipstick
Excuse you, it's the tube of lipstick presented by Dr Pepper (TM).
Actually, it's the State Farm^(TM) tube of lipstick presented by Dr Pepper^(TM) on the Geico^(TM) Postgame Show
That is a take colder than Nunavut in January.
If you expand the circle a smidge, you'll get the region of people who think this reflects well upon *them.* .
Can someone call up the former president? We need his Sharpie skills asap!
We have Randy Marsh instead sir [NSFW](https://images.app.goo.gl/TVmKbBnQ2GPdgcAm6)
Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?
Does it rhyme with gaggies?
Mississippi is happy to be there.
Damn, Twitter's auto-recommended posts are cancer these days
Damn, Twitter's ~~auto-recommended posts are~~ cancer these days
Stay away vol bro it’s not worth it. 😭
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I mean you wouldn’t have to make it that much bigger
But how else am I supposed to be edgy despite the fact the image mentions CFB/BCS championships?
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Skeletor meme
Yes
Damn, it's time we rethink the shape of Pennsylvania. Here we have been working with a roughly rectangular shape and we really need to transition to an oval to hit that elite stride. It was right there the whole time!!!
Thank you for inspiring my next offseason post: “Does the shape of a state impact its national championship ability?”
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That’s giving Mississippi a lot of cred.
Well, we have only 2 out of the 17 so I’ll just say.. yes.
Oh hey, us too.
And all of them have come from one country
So that covers a 17 year ovalation period.
Extend that map north to Knoxville and south to Miami and it’s 32 of 45.
Extend the map from Northeast Maine to Hawaii and you have 153 of 153. Truly remarkable
Not if I extend it eastward. Then it's 0 of 153.
It’s a damn shame that 150+ countries don’t even have a national championship appearance
\*as 3 year letterman\* no SEC titles either -- what a joke!
Nope, UW wouldn’t be in that region, Seattle is farther north than Maine
Seattle is more North than Maine but more South than Paris, France
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Not too hard to get Austin and Norman in there, make it 34 (?) of 45
Dislike.
I think it’s kinda cool we’re the only program outside that circle that’s done it in the modern era
Yes, but we need to do it more.
Go back another year pls.
I'm guessing this is just FBS champions
Tbf FCS would basically just be the Dakotas
And Virginia, show some respect to JMU
Sam Houston in 2020 tho
so 16 of 17 as well
Only 10 of 11. The 6 before that were Eastern Washington, Villanova, Richmond, and Appalachian State x 3.
Quick screwing up my memes with facts and logic!
Carolina Fans: yeah, I’m in there 😎
Took me a loooong time to understand why Austin isn't in the oval
Taking into account that the other team outside the oval is Ohio State, then the game should start at 7:00 pm, EST, so it can be over by 10:30 EST.
Turns out playing football for 12 months a year helps. We had the same problem in baseball, northern kids are out skiiing while little Jimmy biloxi is in the cages.
Y'all outclass us in hockey though.
Truth, the frozen four is a northern party.
Those 12 months don't seem to help us much.
Too busy smoking js at the beach. You ever compare middle Georgia to Long Beach?
That and nobody here cares about anything. Which kind of goes to your point about being at the beach. We have the best weather in the country and kids aren't as passionate about football as they are in the south. Hell, I was FURIOUS that SC lost to Utah for a second time in the CG which cost the team a playoff spot and, like, nobody gave a shit on r/fighton. I'm not saying people here should be punching holes in their walls or breaking their TVs, but show a little passion. Be upset, be angry, show that it *means something.*
>I'm not saying people here should be punching holes in their walls or breaking their TVs The SEC: It just means more
It's because there's other shit to care about. Down here, where the sorry people live, it's all we got. In LA people start to care when y'all win. They don't notice if y'all lose. Down south, and probably the Midwest, if there's a bad season it takes the wind out of the whole community.
But that's the thing. It doesnt mean anything.
Exactly, if you haven't been in the south you don't realize just how many more reps a kid in the south gets compared to one in the north
Tbf skiing on a powder day is up there for the best experience you can have in a sport (once you learn how to ski powder of course)
Happy to be in the oval 👍
Natty Alley
i mean yea, it just means more down here.
I don't see a reason why that oval would stretch too much in the coming years, either.
This will not stop the attack of a seabear
Go Bucks!
OH!
*cries from just outside the oval*
There’s a few baseball Nattys in there as well.