Gridiron Dynasty - Rockne DIA (BCS)

[joannes3000]

Late update. Again...

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Interdivsional play:

Cincy came into town with a lofty #7 ranking. They left battered, bruised, and put in their place. Our offense rolled in the first half, giving us a 27-7 lead that was just too much to overcome. We ran for 381/5 and passed for 231/1/0, totaling 612 yards while our defense allowed 274 yards.

17-40 W

Sim-coached Colorado State was next and the game was closer than our home crowd, and the coaching staff, expected. We ran for 285/4 and passed for 140/1/0, totaling 425 yards while our defense allowed 350 yards.

20-38 W

Our final interdivisional game had us on the road to face sim-coached Louisville. We decided to take the 1st quarter off before getting in gear. We ran for 318/2 and passed for 247/4/0, totaling 565 yards while our defense allowed 311 yards.

42-10 W

Stage two of the "put up or shut up" was successful as we posted a 3-0 record with a quality win against a top 10 team in Cincinnati. Our undefeated record at this point pushed us into the #9 WIS ranking with divisional play around the corner.

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Divisional play (aka, The Gauntlet):

Rutgers is being led by a fellow MAC grad - jbrehm - and he's doing a fantastic job in year one of his rebuild. The game wasn't decided until late in the 4th, where we scored a TD for the nail in the coffin. We ran for 300/5 and passed for 206/0/0, totaling 506 yards while our defense allowed 329 yards.

24-35 W

Syracuse was having an uncharacteristically down season when they came to visit, so I liked our chances at the upset. We took a slim 24-21 lead at the half and a 31-28 lead into the 4th to set up an instant classic.

We opened the 4th by finishing a 3rd quarter drive for a TD, giving us a 38-28 lead with 13:30 to play. Syracuse answered with a well-executed TD drive of their own, getting within 3 points with 6:30 on the clock. Our next drive had just crossed midfield when the tides turned. We hadn't thrown an INT all season, so naturally we throw a pick. All of a sudden, Syracuse has the ball at their 42 with 4:40 to go.

We got Syracuse to a 3rd and 3 with 3:17 to go, but they powered through on the ground and eeked out a 1st down. A 14 yard pass was negated by a penalty and after three solid defensive stands, we had Syracuse facing 4th and ballgame at our 41. We jumped offsides and giftwrapped a conversion for them. Our defense was only able to redeem themselves by limiting Syracuse to a FG that forced OT.

Syracuse elected to start on defense, and our offense went to work. 3 plays, TD. Not to be outdone, Syracuse's offense took 3 plays to hit the endzone. Off to OT2.

After getting Syracuse to 3rd and 6, our defense hung tough and forced a FG. What happened next was vintage joannes3000 offense - 5 plays, all out of Pro set. 7 yard run. 11 yard pass. 4 yard run. Incomplete pass. 3 yard run - TD. Upset city, baby! The 'Cuse goes down.

We ran for 207/4 and passed for 274/3/1, totaling 481 yards while our defense allowed 452 yards.

48-52 (2OT) W

No time to party, as Pitt's bus seemed to show up at the stadium minutes after Syracuse's left. After burying ourselves into a 10-24 halftime deficit, we managed to get the score to 24-31 going into the 4th. Pitt scored to open the quarter, putting the pressure on us, and we had a punt blocked and returned for a TD to ice the game. We scored a meaningless TD late in the game to make the scoreboard look respectable, but we got handled. We were forced into 3 punts while forcing none of our own. You can't beat sim teams if you play like that. We ran for 193/3 and passed for 205/1/0, totaling 398 yards while our defense allowed 412 yards.

45-31 L

Remember that 3 point loss we had against UConn last season? Going into the 4th quarter, neither team had punted. We opened the 4th with a TD that got us within 3 points, and our defense stepped up big time by forcing a punt. We had a 22 yard pass erased by a costly holding penalty that had us looking at 1st and forever. We scratched back to 3rd and 10, but couldn't get the job done and punted for the first time during the game. Our offense didn't see the field afterwards. We ran for 160/2 and passed for 234/2/0, totaling 394 yards while our defense allowed 377 yards. They did it to us again this season.

28-31 L

Our regular season finale had us on the road to face West Virginia. We had a 17-14 lead at halftime and West Virginia pulled within 3 points after scoring a TD early in the 4th. We rattled off two consecutive TDs to put the game away, however, before giving up a late TD during garbage time. We ran for 291/4 and passed for 209/2/0, totaling 500 yards while our defense allowed 465.

44-34 W

Stage 3 of the "put up or shut up" tour went amazingly well, although that UConn loss still stings. Pulling the upset against Syracuse was fantastic, and it killed me to lose by 3 to UConn for a 2nd consecutive season. They know we mean business, however, and I hope I'm around to renew the rivalry next season. A 3-2 mark within our division is plenty good and we were 3 points from being great.

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Now the wait begins. With the CCs starting tonight, we have the #22 WIS ranking to go along with our 11-2 mark. That should be more than enough for a level 3 bowl, although I don't think we'll get into a level 4 bowl unless we remain in the top 25 after CCs are crowned.

At this point, all that's left to wonder is who we'll be matched up with in our bowl game and if we have to win in order for me to keep my job. The most likely scenario will be a level 3 bid. There's a lot of landmines in that area with teams like Florida, FSU, Minnesota, Cal, and Arizona looking like the types of teams to wind up in a level 3 bowl. Any of these teams will have significant advantages over me and I must admit I won't like my chances against them. We'll find out how things turn out soon enough.

[joannes3000]

Well, I lost my bowl game; a triple-OT affair against Minnesota which was one of the teams that I didn't like my chances against. I waited two days until I got the dreaded email from my AD. But rather than saying to have my things packed, it was a congratulatory one! Apparently I had defied the odds (or I helped CS see the error in their ways) and didn't have what the sim typically views as a down season. It didn't matter, however.

With my job security having been bumped up a notch to "little or no jeopardy", Temple was set to continue their ascent in the Big East. I, however, had my heart set elsewhere. The UGA job opened up after they fired their coach and there was no way I wasn't going to apply. I got the following email about half a day later:

From: Bruno Hood

To: Coach joannes3000

Subject: Congratulations, Coach!

Sent: 6/26/08 5:31AM

Welcome to Georgia, Coach! We are thrilled to have you leading our program and we are sure that you can lead us to great success.

Bruno Hood

President

University of Georgia

Martin English

Athletic Director

University of Georgia

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When the home team finally opened up and I was finally qualified, I more than willingly jumped ship from a top 25 team in terms of talent in order to take a job that is in possibly the most brutal conference in all of GD. Florida and Tennessee are both elites and share our division. Alabama is an elite in the other division, bringing the total to three elites within the conference. So while I had to face UConn, Syracuse, and Pitt within my division in the Big East, they didn't have the inherent elite recruiting advantage that FLA and TENN have over me.

Plus, one of the game's best coaches ever is at the helm of Alabama and one of the games elite coaches is at Florida. On top of that, there is a perennial DIAA winner at Tennessee. Yeah, we have our work cut out for us in between the hedges all right. But you know what? We had the same problem at Temple and we did ok there.

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This is going to be my last post here on the squawk. I'm thinking of setting up a blogspace for my adventures as the UGA head coach, but I'm not sure yet.

[gsuteke]

Well that sucks

I enjoyed reading your write ups Joannes

[joannes3000]

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Well that sucks

I enjoyed reading your write ups Joannes

I'm pretty sure I'll start up a blog somewhere. If/when I do, I'll post a link here for those that are interested.

[AHF]

Quote:

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Well that sucks

I enjoyed reading your write ups Joannes

I'm pretty sure I'll start up a blog somewhere. If/when I do, I'll post a link here for those that are interested.

Please do. The write-ups are definitely entertaining.

[joannes3000]

Quick update. After working hard to build a contender at Temple and then promptly leaving it for the UGA position, I have decided to drop the Rockne world altogether. I thought at first that the new recruiting schedule would help me - a Saturday start rather than a midweek one. I quickly realized going into my 2nd season that it just wasn't going to work, however. Too much stuff going on at home with my family to recruit and keep up with my dream school, so I made the easy choice in dropping it.