Nebraska fans are delusional. December 5, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: assistant, B1G, Big Ten, Big XII, Bo Pelini, coach, coaches, college, Cornhuskers, delusional, fans, football, Georgia, NCAA, Nebraska, SEC, Southeastern Conference, TCU, Texas, USC
1 comment so far
In case any reader has missed the news, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini has been fired…for going 9-3. Most fan bases would be happy with their team having such a record. Of the fan bases that would not, most would at least tolerate it if they sensed that the program was still headed in the right direction. Of the few remaining fan bases that would not tolerate such a record, let us put them through a litmus test. Test Item A: are you an upper-tier program in the Southeastern Conference? Yes or no? If no, are you Florida State, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Baylor, TCU or Texas? No? Then the problem is not with your coach, it’s with you.
Specifically, it is with “you” in two ways: first and foremost, it is with your school’s geography. Second, it is with your unreasonable expectations in this new era. This includes you, Nebraska, and I shall explain.
First, let us point out the obvious: gone are the days of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne when the Cornhuskers were regularly competing for the national title. For, you might acknowledge, but why? The reason is simple. Thirty years ago, Nebraska was one of the relatively few teams that regularly got on TV. Therefore, if a prized high school football player was being recruited nationally, that recruit had a vested interest to play for a Notre Dame, Nebraska, Michigan or Penn State if he wanted to get national attention. All that changed when college football television coverage started to expand, as it did in earnest starting 15 years ago. All of a sudden, top-ranked recruits with options did not need to go to cold, isolated, academically-rigid schools in order to get on television regularly and earn their fame. Now, with a much-expanded list of school options, they quickly noticed that schools in the Sunbelt did not have the problems of snow drifts in winter, did not have the academic rigidity of most schools up north, and best of all, the co-eds were much prettier. You’re an 18-year old kid who can run a 4.3 in the 40-yard dash, and can pick any school you want. Are you going to go to Lincoln, Nebraska, where it is cold, is isolated, and you have to deal with snowbanks for four months out of the year, or are you going to pick USC or Texas, where it’s 70 degrees in January, and the girls are [mostly] knock-outs? These days, it’s a no-brainer.
Second, Nebraska is not exactly the kind of state the produces its own in-state talent. States that do not are at a structural, geographic disadvantage from those that do. Usually, they have to go several states away to get the players they need, be it California, Texas, or even New Jersey. Now that Nebraska is out of the Big XII, their recruiting pipelines to Texas have been largely severed. Moreover, most 17 and 18-year old kids don’t even know who Tom Osborne is/was (heck, they were toddlers when he retired), let alone give a hoot about the tradition of Nebraska’s team, or even Notre Dame’s for that matter.
Given that the key to success in college football is talent acquisition, when you have a host of schools that can offer more to prize recruits than you can offer, that puts you at certain structural disadvantages. It is not anybody’s fault per se, but it speaks to the fact that the patterns of life in America themselves have changed. Sorry, but those are the breaks.
But that is not all. The other issue is finding good coaches themselves. It used to be, again, in the days of Daveney and Osborne, that being an assistant coach at Nebraska was a relatively plum job, as far as assistant coaching went. Not anymore. To be sure, the Cornhuskers do pay their coaches a bit better than more Big Ten schools (their offensive coordinator, Tim Beck, got a raise in January of 2013 from $365K to $700K), but that’s still chickenfeed compared to what most coaches make in the Southeastern Conference or even at, say, Texas.
Again, you’re a coach with options. You have a pretty wife and good-looking kids. Are you going to be able to persuade her to move with you to cold, isolated Lincoln, Neb., when you also have the option of taking her to Tucson to coach for the Arizona Wildcats, to Tempe to coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils, or to Austin to coach for the Texas Longhorns? It’s a surprisingly easy sell to persuade her to let you take an assistant job at TCU, since that plugs you into the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. If you take a coaching job at Georgia, that puts you within an hour-plus of Atlanta, and in Athens, Georgia, one of the most ‘happening’ college towns in America. So, wives of assistant coaches, what’s it going to be? Lincoln, or Tucson? South Bend, or Austin? Ames, Iowa, or Atlanta? State College, Pa., or Los Angeles? This, my friends, is the “game within the game” that nobody ever mentions, but plays a huge roll inmany a football program’s fortunes, especially in this day and age.
Given all that is working against the Husker Nation’s favor these days, Bo Pelini’s job of going 9-3 is, frankly, miraculous. This is to say nothing of the job he and his staff have done (remember the aforementioned challenges of putting together a good coaching stuff in the Corn State?) regarding player development, because keep in mind of the other aforementioned challenge of not having the pick of the recruiting litter anymore.
And yet he was fired, for a 9-3 record this year. Does the deluded fan base of Nebraska think they will be able to do any better than Pelini? If so, who? Granted, the man had a rather abrasive personality, and he could thus easily rub lots of people the wrong way. But behind closed doors, away from the cameras, all coaches can be at least occasionally abrasive. It goes with the territory. So I ask again, whom does Nebraska intend to find that will do a better job than Pelini? The reason I posit this question is, if the Huskers no longer have the first dibs on prize recruits, what makes them think they will be able to attract a prized head coach?
College Football Awards Week 11 November 11, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports, Uncategorized.Tags: Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, BC, Bill Snyder, Boston College, Brian Kelly, Buffalo, Butch Jones, Cards, Cincinnati, Clemson, college, Crimson Tide, Doc Holliday, Duke, East Carolina, Florida, football, Gary Patterson, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Gus Malzahn, Horned Frogs, Houston, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Irish, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Kirk Ferentz, KSU, Louisville, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Mark Stoops, Marshall, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Navy, NCAA, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Pat Fitzgerald, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Presbyterian, SEC, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Sun Devils, TCU, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Tigers, Todd Graham, Tony Levine, Troy, Urban Meyer, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wildcats
add a comment
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 11] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Todd Graham, Arizona State
Glad I’m not him: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (hon. mention: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame)
Lucky guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Poor guy: Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Tony Levine, Houston
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Doc Holliday, Marshall
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Desperately seeking … anything: Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 11 Ole Miss (defeated Presbyterian 48-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Penn State (defeated Indiana 13-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kentucky (lost to No. 20 Georgia 63-31)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Wake Forest (lost to No. 21 Clemson 34-20)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Marshall (defeated Southern Miss 63-17)
Dang, they’re good: TCU
Dang, they’re bad: Iowa State
You know, they’re not so bad: Louisville
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Michigan State
Did the season start? West Virginia
Can the season end? Buffalo
Can the season never end? Ohio State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 3 Auburn 35, No. 3 Ole Miss 31
Play this again, too: No. 24 Duke 51, Pittsburgh 48
Never play this again: Marshall 63, Southern Miss 17
What? Texas 33, No. 23 West Virginia 16
Huh? No. 9 Arizona State 55, No. 10 Notre Dame 31
Are you kidding me? No. 14 Ohio State 49, No. 8 Michigan State 37
Oh – my – God: Texas A&M 41, No. 3 Auburn 38
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 11, pre-week 12)
Ticket to die for: No. 1 Mississippi State @ No. 5 Alabama
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Temple @ Penn State
Best non-Power Five matchup: East Carolina @ Cincinnati
Upset alert: No. 16 LSU @ Arkansas
Must win: South Carolina @ Florida
Offensive explosion: Missouri @ Texas A&M
Defensive struggle: Virginia Tech @ No. 22 Duke
Great game no one is talking about: No. 14 Ohio State @ Minnesota
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Stoops of Kentucky vs. Butch Jones of Tennessee
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 6 TCU @ Kansas
Why are they playing? Georgia Southern @ Navy
Plenty of good seats remaining: Troy @ Idaho
They shoot horses, don’t they? No. 12 Michigan State @ Maryland
Week 11 Random Thoughts:
- So many good games took place from 19:00 or later on the 8th of November. Start with Louisville at Boston College, which should not have been interesting on paper, but was, unfortunately, due to the Cardinals’ inability to get it together for the first half (they did in the second). Then again, the Cards have always had their troubles with BC! But then came TCU vs. Kansas State. Bill Snyder has put together an excellent team for this year, and the Wildcats being well-coached shows on the field (especially against Auburn early on in the season). But even a good time like KSU was no match for Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs, who are making every statement they can in order to vie for the playoffs.
Or, look at Ohio State vs. Michigan State. After the Buckeyes laid an egg at home to a mediocre Virginia Tech squad, everybody was skeptical as to how good a team they truly were. Leave it to Urban Meyer to coach his talented bunch up to be more than a match for Mark Dantonio’s Spartans.
But it turned out the most important game, and the one with the biggest national title implications was the Alabama-LSU game. In typical fashion, it was a defensive struggle, and just to make things even more exciting / to heighten the already high degree of urgency even further, the game went into overtime. The Crimson Tide still have a brutal slate of games ahead, but their win is certain a step in the right direction for them
- As I have noted before, Notre Dame is overrated. To be sure, I also noted (in other article) that they are enigmatic. But the overrated question mark remained; lurking, hidden, just waiting for the right opportunity to emerge. Thanks be to Todd Graham and the Arizona State Sun Devils to confirm that which us skeptics felt all along. After all, to have the Irish be among the final four, thus displacing a far-more deserving second SEC team in the process, would have been a travesty beyond words: a travesty, thankfully, that will be pre-empted before it even began.
College Football Week 8 Awards October 19, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Appalachian State, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Art Briles, B1G, Baylor, Big Ten, Bobby Petrino, Boilermakers, Boilers, Boise State, Brian Kelly, Bruins, Buffaloes, BYU, Cal, Central Florida, college, Colorado, Darrell Hazell, Doc Holliday, FIghting Irish, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, football, Furman, Georgia State, Golden Bears, Golden Gophers, Indiana, James Franklin, Jerry Kill, Jimbo Fisher, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Marshall, Miami, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, NCAA, Nevada, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Seminoles, SMU, South Carolina, TCU, Temple, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Troy, UAB, UCLA, Urban Meyer, USC, Utah, UTEP, UTSA, Virginia Tech, Washington State, West Virginia, Will Muschamp
add a comment
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 8] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
Glad I’m not him: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Lucky guy: Jerry Kill, Minnesota
Poor guy: Darrell Hazell, Purdue
Desperately seeking a wake-up clue: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Doc Holliday, Marshall
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Art Briles, Baylor
Desperately seeking … anything: Will Muschamp, Florida
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 8 Michigan State (defeated Indiana 56-17)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Louisville (defeated North Carolina State 30-18)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Colorado (lost to No. 22 USC 56-28)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Kansas (lost to Texas Tech 34-21)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: No. 7 Alabama (defeated No. 21 Texas A&M 59-0)
Dang, they’re good: Alabama
Dang, they’re bad: SMU
You know, they’re not so bad: Minnesota
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Baylor
Did the season start? Texas A&M
Can the season end? Georgia State
Can the season never end? Florida State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 2 Florida State 31, No. 5 Notre Dame, 27
Play this again, too: No. 20 Utah 29, Oregon State 23
Never play this again: South Carolina 41, Furman 10
What? Nevada 42, BYU 35
Huh? No. 14 Kansas State 31, No. 11 Oklahoma 30
Are you kidding me? No. 7 Alabama 59, No. 21 Texas A&M 0 (the shear blowout)
Oh – my – God: West Virginia 41, No. 4 Baylor 27
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 8, pre-week 9)
Ticket to die for: No. 3 Ole Miss @ No. 24 LSU
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: (none, notwithstanding the “Why Are They Playing” entry)
Best non-Power Five matchup: Temple @ Central Florida
Upset alert: Texas @ No. 11 Kansas State
Must win: No. 22 West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
Offensive explosion: No. 15 Arizona @ Washington State
Defensive struggle: Miami @ Virginia Tech
Great game no one is talking about: BYU @ Boise State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Urban Meyer of Ohio State vs. James Franklin of Penn State
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 1 Mississippi State @ Kentucky (also: UConn @ No. 18 East Carolina)
Why are they playing? UAB @ Arkansas
Plenty of good seats remaining: UTEP @ UTSA
They shoot horses, don’t they? Florida Atlantic @ No. 23 Marshall
Week 8 Random Thoughts:
- While Michigan State is a solid choice for the “Thought you’d kick butt, you did” weekly award, the truth is, a number of teams ended up kicking butt, that in hindsight made sense that they would. Start with South Carolina (see: last week’s “Why are they playing?” nod), who beat relatively hapless Furman 41-10. In hindsight, a resurgent Ohio State team against a Rutgers team still learning to navigate the terrain of the Big Ten was also a clear would-be drubbing (result: 56-17). Even more obvious was the Colorado @ USC match-up. The Buffaloes still cannot get things together, while Steve Sarkesian is slowly building the Trojans back to national prominence. The 56-28 result, therefore, came as not surprise.
- While Alabama could not be a more obvious choice for the weekly “Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did” award (59-0 over Texas A&M, their biggest lopsided shutout in 35 years), other games would have been decent choices as well. Start with Marshall’s butt-kicking of Florida International, 45-13. Even more of a surprise, though, was TCU’s drubbing of Oklahoma State, 42-9. On paper, these were closely-matched teams (No. 12 vs. No. 15, respectively). Turns out that in reality, they were not that close in terms of competitive prowess after all. Further down the food chain, Appalachian State – a newcomer to the FCS – beat up on Troy unexpectedly, 53-14. Sounds like the latter is a “Can the season end?” candidate. Stay tuned.
- Last night’s Notre Dame @ Florida State slugfest is already an instant classic. Clearly one of the biggest, best games of the season thus far, it wins the “Play this again” award hands down. That said, despite some lop-sided victories in football this past weekend, plenty other games merit a second look nevertheless. Start with the late Thursday night game on the West Coast, Utah @ Oregon State. The Utes went into Reser Stadium, took the Beavers into overtime, and walked out victorious. Speaking of the West Coast, take a look at the final score between UCLA @ Cal (spoiler alert: 36-34). Consider that you have the Bruins vs. Golden Bears, and two different shades of blue and gold going head-to-head, in the same conference, no less. With such similarities, such a score result is only fitting. In the Big Ten, one was able to enjoy an interesting matchup between Minnesota and Purdue. On one hand, the Golden Gophers have quietly risen to the top of their division in the conference, while Purdue has quietly improved from their doldrums. Indeed, the Boilers almost won on the road.
- Notre Dame remains an enigma. After so many close calls against inferior teams, surely they would not have played No. 2 Florida State as closely as they did on the road. Not when having to result to strokes of luck to win against Stanford. Not when allowing Purdue to play them as closely as they did in Indianapolis. Yet on Saturday night, they played in Tallahassee like they deserved to be the 5th-ranked team in the nation. Further monitoring of the team will be in order to make sense of this inconsistent behavior. Fortunately, the schedule is such that it will allow for further clarity to be reached as it plays out. The Fighting Irish journey to Tempe, Ariz., to play Arizona State in three weeks, followed by Northwestern and then Louisville at home. Then, they cap off the season in Los Angeles against USC. One takes any one of those teams lightly at his own peril (translation: if the Irish fail to bring their A-game to any one of these matchups, they’re doomed).
- As an aside, part of Ole Miss now being taken seriously in the national rankings (No. 3, currently), is that their defense is given plenty of respect with an up-and-coming brand: the “land shark” defense. One must admit, that has a nice ring to it!
College Football Week 7 Awards October 13, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Aggies, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Auburn, Baylor, Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Bobby Petrino, Boilermakers, Boise State, Central Florida, Charlie Strong, Chattanooga, Colorado, Colorado State, Dan Mullen, David Shaw, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Fresno State, Furman, Gary Pinkel, Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Gus Malzahn, Hugh Freeze, Idaho, Illini, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jim McElwain, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, New Mexico State, Nike, North Carolina, North Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Paul Petrino, Purdue, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Stanford, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Todd Graham, UConn, USC, Utah State, West Virginia
add a comment
(
Note: All rankings are current AP [week 7] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Wish I were him, too: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Glad I’m not him: Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Lucky guy: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Poor guy: Charlie Strong, Texas
Desperately seeking a wake-up clue: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jim McElwain, Colorado State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Desperately seeking … anything: Paul Petrino, Idaho
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Tennessee (beat Chattanooga 45-10)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 6 Notre Dame (beat North Carolina 50-43)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Chattanooga (lost to Tennessee 45-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Purdue (lost to No. 8 Michigan State 45-31)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: No. 13 Georgia (defeated No. 23 Missouri 34-0)
Dang, they’re good: Mississippi State (and Ole Miss)
Dang, they’re bad: UConn
You know, they’re not so bad: Central Florida
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Missouri
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? Idaho
Can the season never end? Ole Miss and Mississippi State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 7 Baylor 58, No. 9 TCU 61
Play this again, too: LSU 30, Florida 27
Never play this again: Arkansas State 52, Georgia State 10
What? Iowa 45, Indiana 21
Huh? USC 28, No. 10 Arizona 26
Are you kidding me? Duke 31, No. 22 Georgia Tech 25
Oh – my – God: No. 3 Mississippi State 38, No. 2 Auburn 23
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 7, pre-week 8)
Ticket to die for: No. 5 Notre Dame @ No. 2 Florida State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: (none, notwithstanding the “Why Are They Playing” entry)
Best non-Power Five matchup: Fresno State @ Boise State
Upset alert: No. 10 Georgia @ Arkansas
Must win: No. 21 Texas A&M @ No. 7 Alabama
Offensive explosion: No. 4 Baylor @ West Virginia
Defensive struggle: Kentucky @ LSU
Great game no one is talking about: Utah State @ Colorado State
Intriguing coaching matchup: David Shaw of Stanford vs. Todd Graham of Arizona State (also, Bill Snyder of Kansas State vs. Bob Stoops of Oklahoma)
Who’s bringing the body bags? Colorado @ No. 22 USC
Why are they playing? Furman @ South Carolina
Plenty of good seats remaining: New Mexico State @ Idaho
They shoot horses, don’t they? Southern Miss @ North Texas
Week 7 Random Thoughts:
- This weekend was almost as epic as the previous one. True, there were the amount of upsets to match last week, but there were great matchups and key tests therein. Both flagship schools from the Magnolia State proved that they not only could stand prosperity, but that last week’s wins proved to be no flukes. Indeed, Ole Miss went in to College Station, Texas, in front of the largest crowd ever to assemble for a football game in the Lone Star State (106,000 fans), and beat the Aggies in convincing fashion, 35-20. Meanwhile, Mississippi State had just as huge a challenge as they had the previous week, if not even more so in a cagey Auburn squad. The fact that they beat the Tigers/War Eagles at home shows that the Bulldogs are for real, and that their No. 1 ranking is no happenstance.
- Last week I observed of the inconclusiveness of Purdue’s win over Illinois. The unanswered question at the time was, had the Boilermakers improved that much from their inept showing against Iowa the previous week, or were the Illini just that bad? After their respectable showing against a very tough Michigan State squad, I am compelled to conclude that they have, in fact, improved: clearly a positive trend.
- So what was up with those God-awful, all-white uniforms that Purdue wore at home? It turns out that they intended to use neon-yellow trim on their uniforms for some sort of breast cancer awareness gesture. For some inexplicable reason, Nike refused to make a black jersey for them in that sort of trim, so the Boilers went all-white instead. Sounds like the Boilers should switch to Under Armor, for such a refusal for a team is most unbecoming. Seeing things another way, would Nike have a refused such a thing to, say, Oregon?
- They say that the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins. The Longhorns demonstrated that in spades against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Statistically, they dominated the Sooners, but too many miscues, penalties and turnovers caused them to give up the game. Even more ironic was that the Sooners were ranked ahead of Texas anyhow. Now we know why. Charlie Strong has his work cut out for him in terms of stemming such mistakes in the near future.
Week 6 College Football Awards October 6, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Art Briles, Auburn, Autzen Stadium, Baylor, Boilermakers, Brady Hoke, Buffalo, Bulldogs, Butch Jones, BYU, Cal, California, Cardinal, Central Florida, Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado State, Dan Mullen, Eastern Michigan, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Gary Patterson, Hugh Freeze, Illini, Illinois, Irish, Jim McElwain, John F. Kennedy, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Les Miles, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, NC State, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, Rebels, Rose Bowl, Sooners, South Carolina, Stanford, Steve Spurrier, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Washington, Will Muschamp, Wisconsin
add a comment
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 6] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Wish I were him, too: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Glad I’m not him: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Lucky guy: Will Muschamp, Florida
Poor guy: Butch Jones, Tennessee
Desperately seeking a wake-up clue: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jim McElwain, Colorado State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Les Miles, LSU
Desperately seeking … anything: Brady Hoke, Michigan
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 1 Florida State (beat Wake Forest 43-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 1 Florida State (defeated NC State 56-41)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Maryland (lost to No. 20 Ohio State 52-24)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Northwestern (defeated No. 17 Wisconsin 20-14)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: No. 5 Auburn (defeated No. 18 LSU 41-7)
Dang, they’re good: Auburn
Dang, they’re bad: Florida Atlantic
You know, they’re not so bad: Utah
Can’t Stand Prosperity: UCLA
Did the season start? Tennessee
Can the season end? Michigan
Can the season never end? Ole Miss and Mississippi State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 11 Ole Miss 23, No. 1 Alabama 17
Play this again, too: Utah 30, No. 8 UCLA 28
Never play this again: Clemson 41, NC State 0
What? No. 12 Mississippi State 48, No. 6 Texas A&M 31
Huh? No. 25 TCU 37, No. 4 Oklahoma 33
Are you kidding me? Arizona 31, No. 2 Oregon 24
Oh – my – God: No. 11 Ole Miss 23, No. 3 Alabama 17
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 6, pre-week 7)
Ticket to die for: No. 2 Auburn @ No. 3 Mississippi State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Cincinnati @ Miami
Best non-Power Five matchup: BYU @ Central Florida
Upset alert: No. 3 Ole Miss @ No. 12 Texas A&M
Must win: Texas vs. No. 11 Oklahoma in Dallas
Offensive explosion: Washington @ California
Defensive struggle: LSU @ Florida
Great game no one is talking about: Louisville @ Clemson
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Patterson of TCU vs. Art Briles of Baylor
Who’s bringing the body bags? Chattanooga @ Tennessee (also, No. 9 Michigan State @ Purdue)
Why are they playing? Charleston Southern @ Vanderbilt
Plenty of good seats remaining: Buffalo @ Eastern Michigan
They shoot horses, don’t they? Louisiana-Monroe @ Kentucky
Week 6 Random Thoughts:
- In all the years I have followed college football closely (two decades and counting), I honestly cannot recall a weekend where the top-ten rankings were turned upside-down with upsets. Indeed, upsets abounded all over the place. To wit, Thursday night, Arizona went into noisy Autzen Stadium and upset the No. 2 Oregon Ducks. Friday night, Utah State beat deceptively-tough No. 18 BYU. Then on Saturday during the noon timeslot, Mississippi State finally earned a big win over a top-ten opponent in Texas A&M. Following that, Ole Miss beat No. 3 Alabama. The last time the Rebels went 5-0, John F. Kennedy was in the White House. If that is not enough, TCU went into Norman, Okla., and upset the Sooners. Let us not forget that out on the West Coast, unranked Utah upset No. 8 UCLA out in the Rose Bowl. So, just so everybody is up to speed, the No. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8-ranked teams all went down.
- Regarding Purdue’s win on the road at Illinois, it remains inconclusive as to whether or not the Boilermakers have improved that much since stinking out the joint against Iowa on homecoming weekend, or if the Illini are even more inept than Purdue.
- So with all the top-ten teams going down to defeat this past Saturday, how come No. 1 Florida State escaped unscathed? That would not have anything to do with the fact that they played Wake Forest, would it?
- With all the top-ten teams upset, it might have escaped the notice of many fans that unranked Northwestern also pulled off an upset over the No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers. Given the Wildcats’ mediocre performances thus far, none of us saw that one coming.
- I cannot help but surmise that the only thing the saved Notre Dame’s bacon at home against Stanford was the positively nasty weather that no doubt threw the Cardinal a bit off their game. Otherwise, the Irish might have (indeed should have) been exposed.
- For those of us who are waiting for the opportunity for Notre Dame to be exposed as the truly overrated team they are, mark your calendars for Nov. 8, when they play Florida State, followed by Nov. 22. On that date, they play the Louisville Cardinals. Just sayin’.
Week 3 College Football Awards September 16, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Arizona State, Baylor, BC, Bill Snyder, Bobby Petrino, Boilermakers, Boilers, Boston College, Bowling Green, Buffalo, BYU, Cardinals, Cards, Central Michigan, Charlie Strong, Chuck Martin, Clemson, Colorado, Ducks, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, FIghting Irish, Florida State, Georgia, Grover Cleveland, Gus Malzahn, Idaho, Indiana, Jim Mora, Kansas, Kent State, Louisville, Mark Richt, Memphis, Miami (Fla.), Miami (Ohio), Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Ruffin McNeil, Rutgers, SMU, South Carolina, Southern Illinois, Steve Addazio, Steve Sarkisian, Steve Spurrier, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, Troy, UMass, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Western Kentucky, Wyoming
add a comment
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 3] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Steve Addazio, Boston College
Glad I’m not him: Charlie Strong, Texas
Lucky guy: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Poor guy: Mark Richt, Georgia
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Ruffin McNeil, East Carolina
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Steve Sarkisian, USC
Desperately seeking … anything: Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 22 Ohio State (defeated Kent State 66-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Vanderbilt (defeated UMass 34-31)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (see first line above)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Colorado (lost to No. 16 Arizona State 38-24)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Syracuse (defeated Central Michigan 40-3)
Dang, they’re good: Oklahoma
Dang, they’re bad: Kansas
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Virginia Tech
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? Eastern Michigan
Can the season never end? Ole Miss
GAMES
Play this again: Bowling Green 45, Indiana 42
Play this again, too: Middle Tennessee 50, Western Kentucky 47
Never play this again: No. 8 Baylor 63, Buffalo 21
Told you so: Penn State 13, Rutgers 10
What? Virginia 23, No. 21 Louisville 21
Huh? No. 24 South Carolina 38, No. 6 Georgia 35
Are you kidding me? East Carolina 28, No. 17 Virginia Tech 21
Oh – my – God: Boston College 38, No. 9 USC 31
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 3, pre-week 4)
Ticket to die for (sort of): No. 22 Clemson @ No. 1 Florida State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: North Carolina @ East Carolina
Best non-Power Five matchup: Middle Tennessee @ Memphis
Upset alert: Miami (Fla.) @ No. 24 Nebraska
Must win: Southern Illinois @ Purdue
Offensive explosion: No. 2 Oregon @ Washington State
Defensive struggle: Penn State @ Rutgers
Great game no one is talking about: Virginia @ No. 21 BYU
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gus Malzahn of Auburn vs. Bill Snyder of Kansas State
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 6 Texas A&M @ SMU
Why are they playing? Troy @ No. 13 Georgia
Plenty of good seats remaining: Idaho @ Ohio U
They shoot horses, don’t they? Eastern Michigan @ No. 11 Michigan State
Week 3 Random Thoughts:
– Just when you think that Louisville is rolling again under second, non-consecutive term head coach Bobby Petrino (paging Grover Cleveland), the Cards lay an egg on the road. Virginia is not that bad of a team, but that is still no excuse for all the quarterback miscues that seemed to plague U of L throughout the game, leading to the disappointing result. Perhaps Petrino should consider playing the freshman QB?
– Virginia Tech seems nothing if not consistent when it comes to losing games the week after winning a big one.
– They say that football can be a game of inches. In the case of South Carolina upsetting intra-conference and border rival Georgia, it was a game of one inch. Period. Well, that and a good (favorable?) spotting of the ball by the refs after 4th and one inch.
– Perhaps Oregon might have been saving a little energy for future endeavors later this season. How else might one explain a win over Wyoming by a score of only 48-12? Given how well the Ducks have played thus far, you’d think the Cowboys got off easy.
– Did Purdue acquit themselves against No. 11 Notre Dame, or are the Fighting Irish that mediocre? In the wake of the Boilermakers embarrassing themselves at home last week to Central Michigan, coupled with ND demolishing Michigan, one would have thought that the annual in-state rivalry game would have meant utter demolition for Purdue. Instead, the Boilers ended up leading, however briefly, in the first half, scoring two touchdowns on the Irish. Such an effort compelled Notre Dame to increase their efforts, allowing them to gradually win over the course of the second half, 30-14. The reason that so many people naturally incline towards the former answer is that they want to believe the Notre Dame hype (it sells, after all!). But what we keep learning, and continue to have to keep learning over the past 10-15 years, is that Notre Dame is once again overrated. The real question, therefore, to consider is, how bad is Michigan?
– That being said, Notre Dame’s helmets for that game did look rather neat. It is a long time coming that they incorporated a blue “ND” logo on to their gold shells. The single, blue center stripe was a nice touch, too. The jury is still out on the latitude-longitude, “globe lines” effect, though. Moreover, I can do without that weird brocade effect on the shoulders of the jerseys.
– Is Texas in trouble? First, they lost ignominiously at home to BYU last week. Then, they lose to an increasingly good UCLA team, ostensibly at a neutral site, though hardly anybody could consider the Horns playing in Dallas as playing on neutral turf, be it the Cotton Bowl or AT&T Stadium. Yes, Jim Mora has truly breathed intensity into the Bruins program at Westwood, Calif., but there is still no excuse for such a proud, tradition-and-resource laden program as Texas to suffer two such consecutive losses. Is Coach Strong in over his head at Austin? It would be a very painful thing to acknowledge, to be sure. The wise thing, at this point, is to allow the rest of the season (and how it plays out) to answer that question.
– If we were to apply the law of transitive properties, just how badly would Syracuse beat Purdue if the two played each other right about now?
College Football Week 2 Awards September 8, 2014
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Akron, Arkansas, Auburn, Ball State, Baylor, Big Ten, Bo Pelini, Boilermakers, Boise State, Braxton Miller, Brett Bielema, Buckeyes, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Charlie Strong, Chuck Martin, Clemson, Cornhuskers, David Shaw, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, EKU, FIghting Irish, Frank Beamer, Fresno State, Georgia, Golden Gophers, Hokies, Illinois, Iowa, Kliff Kingsbury, Lamar, Longhorns, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Mack Brown, McNeese State, Memphis, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico State, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, San Jose State, SMU, South Carolina State, Southern California, Spartans, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCLA, UConn, Urban Meyer, USC, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Western Illinois, Western Kentucky, Wisconsin, WKU, Wyoming
add a comment
Yes, we’re back. After having missed handing out last week’s awards due to travels abroad (having visited two, count ’em, TWO different continents in the Eastern Hemisphere!), we’re back, and as Little Richard would say, we’re ready-ready-ready to rock n’ roll!
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 2] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
Glad I’m not him: Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Lucky guy: Bo Pelini, Nebraska
Poor guy: David Shaw, Stanford
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Dan Enos, Central Michigan
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Charlie Strong, Texas
Desperately seeking … anything: Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: No. 9 Texas A&M (defeated Lamar 73-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: No. 19 Nebraska (defeated McNeese State 31-24)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: San Jose State (lost to No. 5 Auburn 59-13)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Memphis (lost to No. 11 UCLA 42-35)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: No. 15 Ole Miss (defeated Vanderbilt, 41-3)
Dang, they’re good: Texas A&M
Dang, they’re bad: SMU
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Texas
Did the season start? Ohio State
Can the season end? Miami (Ohio)
Can the season never end? Oregon
GAMES
Play this again: No. 14 USC 13, No. 13 Stanford 10
Never play this again: No. 23 Clemson 73, South Carolina State 7
What? Eastern Kentucky 17, Miami (Ohio) 10
Huh? No. 16 Notre Dame 31, Michigan 0
Are you kidding me? Virginia Tech 35, No. 8 Ohio State 21
Oh – my – God: BYU 41, Texas 7
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (post-week 2, pre-week 3)
Ticket to die for: No. 6 Georgia @ No. 21 South Carolina
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Nebraska @ Fresno State
Best non-Power Five matchup: New Mexico State @ UTEP
Upset alert: Tennessee @ No. 4 Oklahoma
Must win: No. 12 UCLA vs Texas
Offensive explosion: Louisiana Tech @ North Texas
Defensive struggle: Penn State @ Rutgers
Great game no one is talking about: No. 21 Louisville @ Virginia
Intriguing coaching matchup: Bret Bielema of Arkansas vs. Kliff Kingsbury of Texas Tech
Who’s bringing the body bags? Wyoming @ No. 2 Oregon
Why are they playing? No. 8 Baylor @ Buffalo
Plenty of good seats remaining: Eastern Michigan @ Old Dominion
They shoot horses, don’t they? Boise State @ UConn
Week 2 Take-aways:
This week’s results do NOT bode well for the Big Ten! Where to begin?
- For starters, Illinois had to squeak by Western Kentucky, 42-34.
- Then there was Nebraska having to score a last-minute touchdown to beat lowly McNeese State at home, 31-24. Way to live up to that No. 19 ranking, Cornhuskers!
- Cracks in the proverbial damn truly became evident with Purdue’s ignominious loss at home to Central Michigan – a team that the Boilermakers have historically owned – 38-17.
- Of course, Wisconsin was supposed to make mincemeat of Western Illinois, so nothing to see there: moving on.
- Iowa slowly plodded to victory over Ball State, 17-13; hardly an impressive win.
- Penn State seemed to allow Akron to make a game of it, 21-3.
- Middle Tennessee seemed to provide some challenge to Minnesota, losing to the Golden Gophers only 35-24.
- Northern Illinois actually did beat a well-coached Northwestern team, 23-15.
The best part (“best” being used facetiously) was that it got worse as the day progressed.
- In the evening, Notre Dame undressed Michigan, 31-0
- Then-unranked Virginia Tech came into the Horseshoe to upset then-No 8 Ohio State in a very embarrassing way, 35-21. Are the Buckeyes that crippled without Braxton Miller?
- At least then-No. 7 Michigan State had a valid excuse, losing late in the game, on the road, (heck, on the West Coast) to current-No. 2 Oregon. Moreover, in further defense of the Spartans, they made a good game of it for more than half of the match-up. Still, a loss is a loss.
Yes, this will really bolster the conference’s credibility with the selection committee come season’s end.
In other news, it appears as though Charlie Strong truly does have his work cut out for him at Texas. The problem with the flagship program of the Lone Star State was that it lost its intensity, that things had become both stale and too synthetic under previous head coach Mack Brown. Strong had proven that he could restore the intensity of one program already at the University of Louisville: the powers started to think that he could do the same thing at Texas. Well, evidently he has not restored enough intensity to that program. Either that, or BYU just has the Longhorns’ number, but I doubt it.
The 2013-2014 NCAA Bowl Games: The Good, The Bad, and the Intriguing December 21, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Alamo, Arizona State, Armed Forces, Auburn, Baylor, BBVA Compass, Boise State, Bowl, bowl game, Buffalo, BYU, Central Florida, Clemson, college, Cotton, Fiesta, Florida State, football, Fresno State, Hawaii, Heart of Dallas, Holiday, Houston, Idaho Potato Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger, Las Vegas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Missouri, national championship, Navy, NCAA, New Orleans, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Orange, Oregon, Oregon State, Poinsettia, Rose, San Diego State, Southern California, Stanford, Sugar, Texas, Texas Tech, Tulane, UNLV, USC, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Washington
add a comment
Oklahoma State and Missouri used to play each other routinely as conference foes, even as recently as 2009. Since Mizzou skipped the Big XII for the SEC, however, that routine came to an abrupt end. Now, they are to meet each other again in the Cotton Bowl.
Ticket to die for: Could it be any more obvious? No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 2 Auburn in the BCS National Championship Game (Jan. 6)
Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: (two good ones) No. 20 Fresno State vs. No. 25 USC in the Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 21), and Boise State vs. Oregon State in the Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24)
Best non-Big Six matchup: Utah State vs. No. 23 Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl (Dec. 26)
Upset alert: No. 5 Stanford vs. No. 4 Michigan State in the Rose Bowl (Jan. 1)
Must win: No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 7 Ohio State in the Orange Bowl (Jan. 3)
Think there’s enough Crimson? No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl (Jan. 2)
Old Rivals Reunite: No. 13 Oklahoma State vs. No. 8 Missouri in the Cotton Bowl (Jan. 3)
Offensive explosion: No. 14 Arizona State vs. Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl (Dec. 30)
Defensive struggle: Middle Tennessee vs. Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl (Dec. 30)
Great game no one is talking about: BYU vs. Washington in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (Dec. 27)
Home Field Advantage: Louisiana-Lafayette @ Tulane in the New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 21)
Could be bad for the home team: No. 10 Oregon vs. Texas in the Alamo Bowl (Dec. 30)
Intriguing coaching matchup: Brady Hoke of Michigan vs. Bill Snyder of Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (Dec. 28)
Who’s bringing the body bags? No. 6 Baylor vs. No. 15 Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 1)
Why are they playing? UNLV vs. North Texas in the Heart of Dallas Bowl (Jan. 1)
Plenty of good seats remaining: Buffalo vs. San Diego State in the Idaho Potato Bowl (Dec. 21)
They shoot horses, don’t they? Vanderbilt vs. Houston in the BBVA Compass Bowl (Jan. 4)
College Football Week 15 Awards December 9, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Army, Auburn, Bowling Green, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida State, George O'Leary, Joey Jones, June Jones, Louisville, Mark Dantonio, Memphis, Michigan State, Mike Gundy, Missouri, Navy, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Philadelphia, Rod Carey, SMU, South Alabama, South Florida, Texas, UCF, UConn, Urban Meyer, USF, Willie Taggart
add a comment
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 15] unless otherwise noted.)
COACHES
Wish I were him: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Glad I’m not him: Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Lucky guy: George O’Leary, Central Florida
Poor guy: June Jones, SMU
Desperately seeking a clue: Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Joey Jones, South Alabama
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Rod Carey, Northern Illinois
Desperately seeking … anything: Willie Taggart, South Florida
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Florida State (defeated Duke 45-7)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Northern Illinois (lost to Bowling Green 47-20)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Duke (lost to Florida State 45-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Bowling Green (defeated NU 47-20)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: UConn (defeated Memphis 45-10)
Dang, they’re good: Florida State
Dang, they’re bad: South Florida
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Ohio State
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? Memphis
Can the season never end? Michigan State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 3 Auburn 59, No. 5 Missouri 42
Play this again, too: Louisville 31, Cincinnati 24, OT
Never play this again: No. 1 Florida State 45, Duke 7
What? UConn 45, Memphis 10
Huh? No. 17 Oklahoma 33, No. 6 Oklahoma State 24
Are you kidding me? Bowling Green 47, No. 16 Northern Illinois 20
Oh – my – God: No. 11 Michigan State 34, No. 2 Ohio State 24
NEXT WEEK
Ticket to die for: none, except for Army vs. Navy in Philadelphia: God bless our troops!
Steve Sarkisian to USC December 3, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Bobby Petrino, Bobby Williams, Citrus Bowl, coach, Ed Orgeron, FBS, football, Georgia, Huskies, James Franklin, Kevin Sumlin, LSU, Michigan State, NCAA, Nick Saban, Ohio State, Pac-12, Pete Carroll, SEC, Southern California, Steve Sarkisian, Texas, Trojans, Urban Meyer, USC, Washington
add a comment
The latest news has it that Steve Sarkisian has been named the next head coach at the University of Southern California. When one considers that the available pool of good coaches is very limited right now (what with relatively few firings and hirings at this time) and most of the best coaches are already ensconced in good programs (Saban at Alabama, Meyer at Ohio State, etc.), this was an excellent hire.
Granted, many were advocating for the permanent hire of Ed Orgeron. But as well as he has done in the moment, one must ask, could he sustain the positive trend long-term? His track record might not suggest that. Plus, we have seen the temp-to-permanent hire scenario before in major college football, and it usually does not turn out that well. Remember Bobby Williams at Michigan State? After Nick Saban left for the LSU job, Williams led the Spartans to victory over a formidable Florida Gators squad in the 1999-2000 Citrus Bowl. Everybody immediately allowed for themselves to be prisoners of the moment and made Williams the permanent head coach at MSU after that. Part of the rationale was how much the players loved the guy. Bad idea. Coaches like Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban are not loved by their players, but those coaches get results from the team. Meanwhile, the program at MSU eroded after three full seasons under Williams’ leadership. Orgeron currently enjoys similar popularity with the players at USC. While this produces short-term gains, it will take somebody who is a bit more of a taskmaster to make sure that these positive trends can be sustained.
But what about Kevin Sumlin as a possibility? Yes, Coach Sumlin has become a rather hot commodity over the past year or two, but his one weakness is that, while his offenses have considerable fire power, his defenses, well, not so much, and USC prides itself on not only being “Tailback U,” but also having tough “D”’s that shut down the pass-happy intra-conference opposition. Could Coach Sumlin sustain that reputation, given his track record with weaker defenses in the recent pass? At this point, it does not appear as though he couch.
What about other candidates, say, James Franklin, whose name was bandied about as a possibility? A fine choice, especially given what he has accomplished at Vanderbilt under very restrictive circumstances with which the rest of the teams in the SEC do not have to contend. Still, he has one glaring weakness: he has no west coast ties. In the world of college football recruiting, this is vital. A great deal of recruiting has to do with knowing the high school coaches in the key recruiting areas. Franklin knows none.
But “Sark” knows plenty. He knew them as a high-ranking assistant at USC under Pete Carroll, and he still knows them while trying to recruit the players for Washington. In that important respect, this shall be a seamless transition for him. Instead of recruiting key players in the talent hotbed that is California, he shall do so wearing Cardinal-and-Gold polo shirt as opposed to a Purple-and-Gold one. Moreover, his experience with the program gives him intimate knowledge of organizational culture, making him a good company fit. This is thus a good hire for the Trojans in any important respect.
To be sure, the gain for USC is a major loss for Washington, where Sarkisian had a good thing going. But as great as things were with the Huskies, the USC job is rated by coaches and others “in the know” as one of the three absolute best coaching jobs in all of college football, along with Texas and Georgia (yes, Georgia). In other words, if the Trojans come calling, unless you are coaching at one of those two schools, you are a fool to pass up this golden opportunity. Sorry about the setback for UW, but good for Sark, and good for USC.
intellectualgridiron 