Mark II

I’m always half-joking and half-unsure | Its all just MarkOnomics | Gintama, Berserk, and Fire Emblem | Yanks, TTU, WSU, Ravens, and Raiders fan

[Mark II @fullmetalmark]

Whenever I say or post a pun, someone I know is saying “fuckin Mark” somewhere out there

[Nick Walters @nickwalt]

The #Raiders picking Fernando Mendoza No. 1 in ESPN's 'The Pick Is In' doc series

GM John Spytek: "It's probably the least suspenseful 1st-round pick I've ever been a part of but at the same time it was one of the most if not the most exciting picks I've ever been a part of."

[NFL @NFL]

The @Raiders’ young offense is going to be tough 😤

@fernandomendoza | @AshtonJeanty2 | @brockbowers17

[Athlete Nostalgia @athletenost]

No drama.
No scandals.
No off the field problems.

Just damn good football🌵

[ShifftttyyyQB1✞🏴‍☠️ @raiders1022]

Raiders Fernando Mendoza on what kind of leader he is

“Although I’ve came off as very humble, pretty fuzzy & warm. At the end of my Indiana career when you have that equity I was able to be like #4 or #12. I was an A-hole sometimes, I wanted everyone to do their 1/11th.” ☠️🏴‍☠️

[Texas Tech Softball @TexasTechSB]

BACK-TO-BACK BIG 12 CHAMPIONS! 🏆

[Mike Hoffmann @MikeHoffmann]

Luke Falk shared a Mike Leach story that stopped me cold:

Two kids. One rich. One poor.

Every training camp, Coach Leach told his team about these 2 kids.

The rich kid has two choices.

Get soft. Get entitled. Expect everything handed to him because he was handed more.

Or take the resources, the coaching, the opportunities, and compound them into something greater.

The poor kid has two choices too.

Say nobody gave him anything. Blame the world. Make his circumstances the reason he never became what he could have been.

Or outwork everyone in the room.

Luke said the locker room had both. Kids from wealth. Kids from nothing. Kids with every advantage. Kids who scraped for every inch.

Same choice for all of them.

Ownership or victimhood.
Fuel or excuse.

The rich kid can waste the head start or build on it.

The poor kid can drown in the deficit or weaponize it.

Greatness doesn't come from where you start.

It comes from which kid you choose to feed.

Credit to @coachlukefalk for continuing to share golden nuggets about Coach’s legacy

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

Being a Raider is already rubbing off on Fernando Mendoza

[Ryan Mainville @RyanMainville]

Did Indiana get their defense for free?
Did Miami get their defense for free?
Did Ohio State get their defense for free?
Did Oregon get their defense for free?
Did Oklahoma get their defense for free?
Did Notre Dame get their defense for free?

[Barstool Big 12 @BarstoolBig12]

Final reminder that BYU and Texas Tech should BOTH be in the playoffs regardless of who wins this game.

[Texas Tech Football @TexasTechFB]

This is our moment.

Let's go take it.

#WreckEm | @reliantenergy

[Pat McAfee @PatMcAfeeShow]

Jacob Rodriguez has had a MAGICAL year

#CollegeGameDay

[RC Maxfield @RCMB323]

Texas Tech plays football this week…

[IcingThePunter @IcingThePunter_]

I’m really good at criticizing the play calls of professional coaches, and I can usually guess how long to microwave food without looking at the box. I’d say those are my two main skills.

[Barstool Texas Tech 🌵 @barstoolttu]

RB1 in cinci‼️‼️

[Sean Dillon 🎙 Hosts Beyond the Mic @SeanADillon]

Grant McCasland on #TexasTech teams accountability and getting emotional about #ChanceMcMillian

[Reagan Harris 🇺🇸🇳🇴 @OKSTMart]

Remember… they told you the Big 12 wasn’t Power 4. They put a conference champion as a 3 score underdog on a neutral site.

They told you 3-loss Ole Miss, Alabama, & South Carolina would all splatter Arizona State.

Stop listening to these people. They will ruin this sport.

[JPA @jasrifootball]

An #NFL Scout on Cam Skattebo:

“Not sure what he’s gonna run, nor do I care. You can’t bring the dude down. That’s a skill that translates to the pro level.”

(via: @Schultz_Report)

[Connor Stalions @cpstalions]

Now that the Big Ten is 4-1 vs the SEC in bowl games, I think it’s time we have a serious discussion. Strength of Schedule is a completely flawed metric that begins and ends with a biased opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt.

It begins with a biased pre-season ranking, which influences an initial strength of schedule, then is effected by minimal cross-conference games, and compares conferences that don’t even have the same amount of conference games being played, as well as teams who have drastically different schedules within those conferences.

Biased pre-season rankings.
There is no logical reason why pre-season rankings exist, other than orchestrated drama to increase TV ratings. The CFP system got this right by not ranking teams until November. HOWEVER, the CFP does take into account Strength of Schedule, which traces back to the biased pre-season rankings. If it weren’t, then who’s to argue that the MAC isn’t the best conference (e.g. NIU beating Notre Dame) that faced a few upsets (e.g. Ohio State upsetting Akron) and not the other way around? Obviously we all think it’s the other way around, and that’s an extreme, but the point is it traces back to a human opinion from pre-season expectations.

Minimal cross-conference games.
They’re all games between an unknown placed team from one conference vs another (e.g. future SEC’s 4th place Alabama defeating B1G’s future 15th place Wisconsin, or the future B1G’s 9th place USC defeating SEC’s future 7th place LSU) early in the season to set a preconceived notion that one conference is better than the other without truly knowing anything about each conference yet — not to mention teams evolve throughout the season.

The ACC and SEC only have 8 conference games… by choice.
Half the SEC plays a P4 opponent rival (e.g. UGA-GT, SC-Clemson, etc.) to fool you into thinking they schedule tough Out-of-Conference opponents. But let’s not forget, that’s just the equivalent of a Big Ten’s 9th conference opponent. And the other half schedules an FCS opponent before their rival.

Half of the SEC schedules are only 67% P4 and include an FCS opponent. The other half is 75% P4 and also includes an FCS opponent. While half of the B1G schedules are 83% P4 with no FCS opponent. And the other half is 75% P4 with no FCS opponent. Both types of B1G schedules are objectively more difficult than either type of SEC schedule. Don’t let UGA-GT “out of conference” games fool you. That’s just the equivalent of a 9th Big Ten (or Big 12) conference game.

Some teams have easier schedules than others… by draw. Within their own conference that is. For example, 7 of Michigan’s 9 conference opponents were bowl eligible, while only 5 of Penn State’s 9 conference opponents were bowl eligible. And then all 8 of LSU’s conference opponents were bowl eligible, while only 5 of Georgia’s conference opponents were eligible. Am I arguing LSU would beat Georgia and Michigan would beat Penn State? Well… maybe yes to the later. But the point is, we’ll never know… and that’s even within a conference.

Example Comparisons
Let’s look at Michigan & Bama’s four Out-of -Conference games (well… Michigan’s 3 OOC games and then their first conference game), for example.
🐘: USF, WKU, Mercer and Wisconsin. (Only 2 bowl opponents and an FCS opponent).
〽️: Fresno, Texas, Ark St, and USC (All 4 bowl opponents).

Now let’s compare some key SEC & B1G schedules broken down by # of opponents.

# of Bowl Eligible Reg. Szn Opponents:
Michigan: 10
Texas: 9
Ohio State: 8
Alabama: 8
Penn State: 7
Georgia: 7
Tennessee: 7

# of Playoff-Bound Reg. Szn Opponents:
Michigan: 4
Ohio State: 3
Georgia: 3
Alabama: 2
Texas: 1
Penn State: 1
Tennessee: 1