Assassin said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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We skipped the ball game "to get ready for next year."

What all wonderful things have we accomplished in the last three weeks?

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Time to reflect on having Aranda as coach for another year?

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It should have allowed staff dedicated time to evaluate where they are, what they need, and vet portal candidates without having to take away time to waste on preparing for a meaningless bowl game.

So yes, there are many things that should have been able to be accomplished during this time. You as a fan do not see visible evidence of any of this right now. Had we prepared for a bowl game what would you have visible evidence of any thing being accomplished during the break between end of season and the bowl game. You could use your imagination, but you wouldn't have seen much happening.

It also would be one thing to know after the last game you would be playing another, but these 5-7 teams rightfully believed their season was over. Teams and players shut down and some went their ways towards their next step in their life and careers. Some may have, get ready, turned their attention to what their real school life is suppose to be about...academics and finals. You don't just turn that football mentality back on like a light switch.

Let's be realistic. Those who may be complaining as to why we didn't play would likely be the same people who would come on here and mock and ridicule and criticize a mediocre 5-7 team playing in a bowl game in a situation they didn't earn or deserve.

Robert Wilson said:

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We skipped the bowl game "to get ready for next year."

What all wonderful things have we accomplished in the last three weeks?

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Roster-wise, the portal isn't officially open yet, so while Players can announce their intentions to enter and their short list, no school or their staffs can talk about targets yet. It's too early to know if this time period has borne fruit.

Staff-wise, Klanderman seems like a fantastic addition at DC given everything...we'll see what Jacori Greer brings to the table...if it's a recruiting upgrade we won't know for another couple of weeks because of the portal window.

There's plenty of time for pessimism left this off-season.

Bearknuckle said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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We skipped the bowl game "to get ready for next year."

What all wonderful things have we accomplished in the last three weeks?

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Roster-wise, the portal isn't officially open yet, so while Players can announce their intentions to enter and their short list, no school or their staffs can talk about targets yet. It's too early to know if this time period has borne fruit.

Staff-wise, Klanderman seems like a fantastic addition at DC given everything...we'll see what Jacori Greer brings to the table...if it's a recruiting upgrade we won't know for another couple of weeks because of the portal window.

There's plenty of time for pessimism left this off-season.

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They should have been able to use this time to evaluate film on any number of players. Let's face it, true impact players will have agents and those agents will have been at work making contacts before the athlete officially declares.

BEAR 45 said:

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Bearknuckle said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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We skipped the bowl game "to get ready for next year."

What all wonderful things have we accomplished in the last three weeks?

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Roster-wise, the portal isn't officially open yet, so while Players can announce their intentions to enter and their short list, no school or their staffs can talk about targets yet. It's too early to know if this time period has borne fruit.

Staff-wise, Klanderman seems like a fantastic addition at DC given everything...we'll see what Jacori Greer brings to the table...if it's a recruiting upgrade we won't know for another couple of weeks because of the portal window.

There's plenty of time for pessimism left this off-season.

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They should have been able to use this time to evaluate film on any number of players. Let's face it, true impact players will have agents and those agents will have been at work making contacts before the athlete officially declares.

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exactly - this last few weeks was undoubtedly a flurry of activity on all sides, but AFAIK schools cannot broadcast their intentions (and probably wouldn't anyway tbh) prior to the official opening of the portal.

And it's worth noting that the Portal window is for players entering, they can still bargain/negotiate with schools after that window. So really it will be right up to the opening of Spring Camp before most schools rosters are close to finalized (although I suspect the bulk of the activity will come during the Portal window).

Bearknuckle said:

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BEAR 45 said:

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Bearknuckle said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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We skipped the bowl game "to get ready for next year."

What all wonderful things have we accomplished in the last three weeks?

---

Roster-wise, the portal isn't officially open yet, so while Players can announce their intentions to enter and their short list, no school or their staffs can talk about targets yet. It's too early to know if this time period has borne fruit.

Staff-wise, Klanderman seems like a fantastic addition at DC given everything...we'll see what Jacori Greer brings to the table...if it's a recruiting upgrade we won't know for another couple of weeks because of the portal window.

There's plenty of time for pessimism left this off-season.

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They should have been able to use this time to evaluate film on any number of players. Let's face it, true impact players will have agents and those agents will have been at work making contacts before the athlete officially declares.

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exactly - this last few weeks was undoubtedly a flurry of activity on all sides, but AFAIK schools cannot broadcast their intentions (and probably wouldn't anyway tbh) prior to the official opening of the portal.

And it's worth noting that the Portal window is for players entering, they can still bargain/negotiate with schools after that window. So really it will be right up to the opening of Spring Camp before most schools rosters are close to finalized (although I suspect the bulk of the activity will come during the Portal window).

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The NCAA has streamlined football transfers to a single January window: January 2-16, 2026, eliminating the spring window, with special 5-day extensions for CFP participants; basketball has its own window (March 23-April 21, 2026), and fall sports have varying windows (e.g., Nov 22-Dec 21 for Cross Country), all subject to coaching change exceptions.

Bearknuckle said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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We skipped the bowl game "to get ready for next year."

What all wonderful things have we accomplished in the last three weeks?

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Roster-wise, the portal isn't officially open yet, so while Players can announce their intentions to enter and their short list, no school or their staffs can talk about targets yet. It's too early to know if this time period has borne fruit.

Staff-wise, Klanderman seems like a fantastic addition at DC given everything...we'll see what Jacori Greer brings to the table...if it's a recruiting upgrade we won't know for another couple of weeks because of the portal window.

There's plenty of time for pessimism left this off-season.

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I hope we would've been prepared to handle these things along with bowl prep. What if we actually won six games or more?

Robert Wilson said:

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I hope we would've been prepared to handle these things along with bowl prep. What if we actually won six games or more?

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well,...

...at 6-7 wins, we'd probably still see a need for major roster churn and would under-prepare for the bowl in order to maximize player evals etc.

...at 8+ wins, we wouldn't be trying to turn over the roster nearly as much, so there wouldn't be as big a scramble.

Bearknuckle said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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I hope we would've been prepared to handle these things along with bowl prep. What if we actually won six games or more?

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well,...

...at 6-7 wins, we'd probably still see a need for major roster churn and would under-prepare for the bowl in order to maximize player evals etc.

...at 8+ wins, we wouldn't be trying to turn over the roster nearly as much, so there wouldn't be as big a scramble.

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That's a lot of speculation that tells me you don't think we are prepared to handle the portal and a bowl game. Unless the rules around the portal change, we need to get our **** together.

Robert Wilson said:

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Bearknuckle said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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I hope we would've been prepared to handle these things along with bowl prep. What if we actually won six games or more?

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well,...

...at 6-7 wins, we'd probably still see a need for major roster churn and would under-prepare for the bowl in order to maximize player evals etc.

...at 8+ wins, we wouldn't be trying to turn over the roster nearly as much, so there wouldn't be as big a scramble.

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That's a lot of speculation that tells me you don't think we are prepared to handle the portal and a bowl game. Unless the rules around the portal change, we need to get our **** together.

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what? that seems like a real stretch from what I typed.

At 6-7 wins, our bowl game would be one of the crappy ones with no value other than evaluating players who could return, and much of that takes place in the extra practice sessions anyway, so I assume that game prep would be just running our base stuff and we'd put more focus on eval. By "under-prepare" I simply meant we'd likely only spend the minimum amount of time to prep for it.

I believe that's the approach any program would take in that situation - putting their focus where their time spent will bear the most fruit.

So at 8+ wins, we'd have been happier with our roster's production, and would be able to focus more on wrinkles for the bowl and need to spend less time on mass evals...because of course winning a mid-tier bowl game against a decent P4 opponent does have a net positive effect for the brand, and the more dominating the win the larger the effect.