CFB Week 13 (11/20-24) News and Picks

RJ Esq

Prick Since 1974
2004-2005
No Records Kept

2005-2006 CFB Record
77-71 (52.04%), +2.2 units

2006-2007 CFB Record
70-48-3 (57.85%), +46.63 units (Behold the power of CTG)

2007-08 CFB Record
48-50-2 (49%) -45.22 units

----------------------------------------

No plays last week, but I feel like playing this week and see some opportunities.

All plays for $400 unless otherwise stated.

Picks
Boise St +4' (-110)
UGA -3 (-115)
USC -3 (-110) :)
MTSU +14 (-110) $200 :(
Arky +13 (-110) $200 :)
Hawaii 2H -' (-115)
 
Last edited:
SEC Fans Say: Thanks for Nuthin', Bama

Posted Nov 17th 2007 6:56PM by Ryan Ferguson
Filed under: Alabama Football, SEC, LA Monroe Football
nick-saban-wide-425.jpg

SEC fans are accused of being many things: obnoxious, overbearing, and boastful make the short list. One not-so-endearing trait is a tendency to beat our own chests a little too much when comparing ourselves to other conferences. We feel, right or wrong, that the SEC is the toughest conference in college football. Usually, it's true. (Hey, I'll contribute to the stereotype! Why not?)

Well, Alabama's 21-14 loss to Louisiana Monroe took a lot of air out of our collective balloons today. The Tide have long been considered one of the SEC's most storied programs, despite their lack of recent success. People notice when the Tide lose.

Losing to FSU, a bad team in one of the nation's worst conferences (ACC) was bad enough. Losing to Louisiana Monroe is a new level of awful.

Let's be clear about something. The Warhawks (I had to look that up, by the way) are not a good team. Not in the slightest. They lost four consecutive games to start their season and came into this contest with a 3-6 record. They were blown out by Clemson and Texas A&M. Troy and Tulsa beat them by three possessions. North Texas beat them. Before bringing their swagger into Tuscaloosa, they lost to Middle Tennessee State.

Having already lost 4 games this year, we knew Bama was not a top-tier team. What's embarassing, though, is that up to this point, the Tide have been competitive in all of their losses to SEC opponents. They lost to Georgia by a field goal in OT. Lost to LSU in a game they almost had in hand until J.P. Wilson fumbled late, 41-34. Lost to Croom's Bulldogs 17-12.

And now this.

Saban gets a pass for a lot of things in his first year at Bama. I'm not sure he gets one here. This is, frankly, inexcusable. La-Monroe plays in the... hold on, I've got to look this up again... Sun Belt conference. And they're pretty bad even by that conference's standard.

There are 4 million reasons why this shouldn't happen . I don't care if you play the entire second string: if you coach an SEC team, you win these games.

The honeymoon, if it wasn't over before Bama's fourth loss, is definitely finito now.

In their second game of the season, Auburn lost to South Florida. At the time, I said "This was an embarassing performance by an SEC team."

This is ten times worse.

Thanks for nuthin', Bama.
 
Michigan Sets Monday Press Conference

Posted Nov 17th 2007 6:24PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Michigan Football, Ohio State Football, Big 10, Breaking News, The Word
lloyd-carr-forlorn-osu-2007-425.jpg

Gee, I wonder what that's about?

Be sure to visit the page of our resident wolverine Brian Cook or his site MGoBlog for all you need to know on the situation, but it's 99% evident that Michigan coach Lloyd Carr will retire.

I'm sure we'll say more about his legacy later this week, but in the meantime he'll go out having squandered the talents of Mike Hart and Chad Henne in four tries against Ohio State (notably today's 14-3 defeat). That's after having dropped the opener to Appalachian State in one of the handful of biggest upsets in college football history.

Time to go.

Hopefully in time the decent side of human nature takes over and he's remembered more for his 1997 National Championship than the rapid decline these last 2-3 seasons with some of the more talented teams Michigan's fielded.

In the intermediate, it is assumed he'll acquire a position as a member of Michigan's athletic department and spend his off time in Australia knocking back beers with Best Friend Forever, Russell Crowe (mate). Not a bad way to wind down those golden years, all things considered.
 
Saturday Heisman Performances: Tim Tebow

Posted Nov 17th 2007 5:18PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Florida Football, SEC, Heisman, Florida Atlantic Football
tim-tebow-slingin-240.jpg
Ahhh, to be nicknamed Superman and the presumed Heisman Trophy favorite (muchas gracias to the torn ACL of one Dennis Dixon).

Ahhh, to have a suspect defense that forces you to play deep into games against even the gimmiest of opponents and pad your already Heisman-worthy stats.

Such is the life of your likely next Heisman Trophy winner.

Tim Tebow accounted for 4 touchdowns and nearly 400 yards in beating Florida Atlantic 59 to 20. After rushing for an SEC record five touchdowns last week, Tebow went to the air today in tossing three touchdowns and 338 yards (.714). He did toss an interception, but also was Florida's second-leading rusher (backup quarterback Cameron Newton bested Tebow 46 yards to 31) in a 369 yard afternoon.

Great job, kid. Just don't mess up against Florida State (or, possibly, the SEC Championship Game) and the trophy is yours.
 
UConn Actually Controls Its Big East Destiny

Posted Nov 17th 2007 5:04PM by Charles Rich
Filed under: Syracuse Football, Big East, Connecticut Football
dbrown.jpg
With an easy 30-7 win over Syracuse, UConn is actually the team that is in position to win the Big East next weekend. The Huskies are 5-1 in the Big East and 9-2 overall. They will finish their season next week against West Virginia.

If UConn could pull the upset in Morgantown, the Big East and a BCS bid would be theirs outright. West Virgnia still has to play tonight at Cincinnati, and has to win to keep pace with the Huskies. The Mountaineers still have the Backyard Brawl with Pitt a week after UConn as well.

The UConn-Syracuse game was never in doubt. UConn just moved slowly and relatively easily through the Orange. The Husky defense was never seriously challenged.

This should be the final nail in Coach Greg "I am a good coach, really" Robinson's tenure as a head coach (at Syracuse or anywhere). 2-9 this season, 1-5 in the conference. In his 3 seasons, Robinson has won a total of 7 games and lost 27. Only Duke and Ted Roof has had greater ineptitude among BCS schools in that period. Worse than the Orgeron at Ole Miss and Guy Morriss at Baylor.
 
Saturday Heisman Performances: Missouri Quarterback Chase Daniel

Posted Nov 17th 2007 4:48PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Big 12, Heisman, Missouri Football, Kansas State Football, The Word
chase-daniel-scramble-425.jpg

I'm not sure how much of a Heisman Trophy candidate you are when half the public adds an "S" to your last name, but Chase Daniel (not Daniels) is trying to change things.

Daniel tossed four touchdowns in a breezy effort against Kansas State in what lined up as something of a trap game before kickoff. Overall his numbers were in line with most other performances this year. He connected on 28 of 41 passes (.683) for 284 yards. Happiest for his coaches, it was mistake-free football as Daniel did not fumble or toss an interception.

Daniel's highlight show play will be his scrambling, broken-play 44-yard touchdown pass to frosh star Jeremy Maclin who snuck behind the defense and was wide open in the back of the end zone.

And as for that Maclin guy? He's special. Special enough to be a Heisman Trophy candidate starting next year after breaking the NCAA freshman all-purpose yardage mark in the first quarter today. On the day he was no slouch in recording 361 all-purpose yards (8 rushing, 144 receiving, 16 punt returns and 193 kick returns) and three touchdowns (8 yards, 44 yards, 99 yards).
 
Defending the Spread Offense

Posted Nov 17th 2007 3:29PM by Bruce Ciskie
Filed under: BCS, NCAA FB Coaching
urban-meyer-180.jpg
As I was live-blogging the Ohio State-Michigan "game" here at FanHouse, something occurred to me.
ABC's Brent Musberger was praising the Buckeye defense (deservedly so) for their performance in Ann Arbor, and he interjected a comment that he had made a couple of times earlier in the game. He talked about how Ohio State was having great success defending a "more traditional offense", and then he talked about how the spread offense is an "equalizer".

Before I rant, let me make something clear: When it first came to college football, the spread was an equalizer. It was a way for smaller teams that weren't as stocked with great athletes to spread out more talented defenses and make them defend the entire field. However, we live in a copycat world. Once one team has success doing something, everyone wants to do it. Not only that, but the big-time programs began to figure out that the spread was also a way for them to exploit defenses that weren't as big or fast.

In this day and age, there aren't a lot of teams that don't run at least parts of the spread offense. Yes, Michigan is one of those teams that doesn't. But that's not the point here.

I'm losing my patience with announcers. They continue to operate under the old conventional wisdom. That "wisdom" states that the spread is nothing but a gimmick, and that teams that run the spread are doing it because they're not as talented.

I call shenanigans. And I'm about sick of "conventional wisdom", because it's full of holes.Look at what has happened in 2007. Go back to January, when a spread team in Florida kicked Ohio State up and down the stadium to win the national championship. You got it. A spread team won the national title. And they did it by abusing Ohio State. Ten months later, the Buckeyes showed they still can't defend the spread when they lost to Illinois last week.

Who is the leading candidate for the Heisman right now? Tim Tebow, a quarterback who operates out of Florida's spread offense.

Who was a leading candidate for the Heisman before suffering an injury? Dennis Dixon, a quarterback who operates out of Oregon's spread offense.

Missouri and Kansas both use the spread as part of their offenses. One of them will play Oklahoma for the Big 12 title, and Oklahoma's offense isn't as "traditional" as it used to be. Let's not forget West Virginia, who has a shot at working themselves into the title game with their spread offense. In fact, five of the top six teams in the current BCS standings have the spread as at least part of their offense on a regular basis, and LSU has used parts of it in the past (not as much this year from what I've seen).

One of the things that really infuriates me about the current crop of national sports broadcasters is their propensity for using "conventional wisdom" in the place of "actual research". Sports are always evolving, and football is no different. There was a time that one-back, three-receiver formations were OMG INNOVATION in college football. Now, the spread has evolved into a base offense that is used by more than just underdogs and smaller schools. Unfortunately, we still have announcers who can't recognize this fact and choose instead to perpetuate old truths that don't work anymore.

I can only hope that whoever matches up with Ohio State in the Rose Bowl runs the spread. Perhaps Musberger will start to recognize that the spread's not a gimmick anymore. It might take five more years, but maybe he'll get the point.
 
'Bama reinstates suspended players

Posted: Saturday November 17, 2007 3:18PM; Updated: Saturday November 17, 2007 3:19PM

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- The NCAA reinstated five Alabama players who were suspended for improper receipt of textbooks, making them eligible for the regular-season finale at Auburn.
The four-game suspension for violating rules covering free books for course work will wrap up with Louisiana-Monroe games on Saturday. The NCAA informed Alabama of the decision before the game, a university statement said.
The group includes starting offensive linemen Antoine Caldwell and Marlon Davis and No. 2 rusher Glen Coffee, along with reserve defensive backs Chris Rogers and Marquis Johnson.
The NCAA ruling followed a report submitted this week by the university regarding its ongoing investigation into the case.
 
Jeremy Maclin Is Special

Posted Nov 17th 2007 1:50PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Big 12, Missouri Football, NFL Prospects
jeremy-maclin-240.jpg
No doubt about it.

Missouri's redshirt freshman receiver (slash running back slash returnman) Jeremy Maclin just set an NCAA record today and how. Maclin returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, simultaneously setting the NCAA frosh all-purpose yards mark. He came into today's game 78 yards off the mark and was well on his way even before the return after hauling in a touchdown pass the previous possession.

Maclin is hyped as one of the fastest players in the NCAA and it's hard to argue. Every time I see him break into the open (which happens quite often lately), he reminds me of Ted Ginn in both speed and gait. I mean he's a mirror image for that weird lean and forward leg kick Ginn has. No surprise, both dabbled in track which has helped discipline their running style.

Sometimes frosh players who start out hot hit a wall. Maclin is the exception here as he's been Missouri's big playmaker these last few games and a big reason why the normally puckered up Tigers are playing so well this late in the year.

Is it all that outrageous to wonder if he might be gone to the NFL after next season? Maclin will be a redshirt sophomore next year, making him draft eligible as he is three years out of high school (think Michael Vick). Ted Ginn is the template as a fairly unpolished underclass receiver/returnman/rusher and he was an easy first round pick in last year's draft. We shall see . . .
 
Congrats to the Buckeyes. Sorry I missed the guys in AA but glad I didn't have to sit in the cold and rain to watch Michigan shit the bed.

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B-HqwLgwQsY&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B-HqwLgwQsY&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
 
Dixon out with a Torn ACL
By Paragon SC Section: Diaries
Posted on Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 08:26:25 AM EDT


I bumped this from the diaries because of some new information that I saw this morning - Paragon
As Frak noted here, Oregon's Dennis Dixon is done for the season with a torn ACL.
From ESPN:

Dennis Dixon will have surgery on the left knee that buckled early in second-ranked Oregon's upset loss to Arizona, spoiling his chance to win the Heisman Trophy. Dennis Dixon's knee injury Thursday in Oregon's loss to Arizona came after the quarterback had torn his ACL on Nov. 3, Ducks coach Mike Bellotti said.
The quarterback tore his anterior cruciate ligament during Oregon's 35-23 victory over Arizona State on Nov. 3, according to coach Mike Bellotti, but he had rested it and felt as if he was ready to play Thursday night against the Wildcats.
Now Dixon will miss the rest of this season.

The kid is a great competitor, we wish him all the best in his recovery.
UPDATE HERE:
It turns out that Dennis Dixon tore his ACL almost two weeks ago against ASU.
From The Oregonian via the Wiz .

Dixon had a torn anterior cruciate ligament, but he did not suffer the injury on that first-quarter play. He had torn it on a similar move 12 days earlier, against Arizona State. After that game, and after discussing his short- and long-term future with those closest to him, he decided to try to play with a completely torn ACL. "Dennis asked of us, on behalf of himself and his family, to not let anybody know -- he wanted to continue to try to play," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said of Dixon, who has rehabbed the knee since the ASU game and wore a brace Thursday night. "But he did feel some instability, obviously, on the play in question -- that was the concern that we had.

So obviously Bellotti knew more than he let on when he said that Dixon was probably done for the season after their loss to Arizona on Thursday. Not surprising, upon looking back on his original injury it doesn’t surprise me that he tore his ACL.
Understand that are a lot of people walking around with torn ACL’s that chose not to have them repaired of course those people are not playing football at this level so their chance of further injury is significantly reduced. You gotta love Dixon’s heart but I would seriously question his judgment as he could done significantly more damage to his knee putting his future playing career in serious jeopardy. Even with the brace he could have torn the PCL and possibly torn the posterior lateral horn of the meniscus. That would have knocked him out probably deep into next years NFL season.
Like I said, the kid has heart; he took one for the team and in this age of “me first” his dedication should be commended it would just be a shame if he had done further damage…thank god he didn’t.
We wish him luck.
 
From thewizardofodds.blogspot.com:

Hawaii's Dramatic Victory


<object height="355" width="425">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c-GYgsIc3Qk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object>
To hell with NCAA sanctions. Should Hawaii end up in a Bowl Championship Game, it should cut Dan Kelly a check. The Warrior kicker nailed a 45-yard field goal with 11.7 seconds left Friday night — after two timeouts by Nevada coach Chris Ault — giving Hawaii a 28-26 victory over the Wolf Pack at Reno.

Had Kelly missed, Hawaii would have been eliminated from BCS consideration. Instead it remains one of two undefeated teams (Kansas being the other) in Division I-A.

Adding to the drama: Colt Brennan was in for only two plays after suffering a concussion last Saturday.

But Brennan will be back Friday when Hawaii plays host to Boise State in a game that likely will decide a berth to a BCS bowl.

Thanks to The Warriors Will Throw and UH Bows.
<object height="355" width="425">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jW_Pzpa68b0&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object></p>
 
Mr. 2000: Tulane Tailback Matt Forte

Posted Nov 17th 2007 7:59PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Conference USA, UCF Football, Featured Stories, The Word, Rice Football, SMU Football, Tulane Football
matt-forte-180.jpg
Here's a nice moment from the weekend: Tulane tailback Matt Forte has crossed the 2,000 yard threshold this season. Forte entered Saturday with 1813 rushing yards and added another 195 today against Rice for good measure. That leaves Forte with 2,008 yards. For good measure, five touchdowns were among those 39 carries.

Forte was lightly recruited out of high school, with Tulane his only I-A offer. He's made a lot of people look foolish in notching 4,146 yards and counting over his career.

Forte may not be the only back to notch 2,000 yards this year, as UCF's Kevin Smith has 1947 yards after an impressive 179 yard, three-touchdown performance of his own today against SMU.

It's a passing era in college football, but the days of the 2,000 yard back aren't dead yet.
 
Miracle Comeback Might Have Saved Phil Fulmer's Job

Posted Nov 17th 2007 7:24PM by Ryan Ferguson
Filed under: Tennessee Football, SEC, NCAA FB Coaching, Featured Stories, The Word, Vanderbilt Football
vol-fans-240.jpg
Phil Fulmer likes to keep things interesting. By cleverly allowing Vanderbilt to build a 15 point lead going into the 4th quarter, the Vols' head coach had the Commodores right where he wanted them: prematurely celebrating a win over their hated in-state rival.

Vandy head coach Bobby Johnson realized that he'd fallen into a trap, but it was too late. Tennessee scored 16 unsanswered points in the 4th-quarter to win 25-24.

Vandy actually had a chance to win the game after Tennessee took their single-digit lead. DJ Moore returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards, but with :30 remaining, Bryan Hahnfeldt's 49-yard field goal attempt breezed just outside the left upright. Ain't it always the way with Vanderbilt?

The Vols' resurgence has been amazing. Since their awful 1-2 start to the season, Fulmer and co. have won seven of their last eight games. Only Kentucky now stands in the way of an SEC East title and a date with LSU in the Georgia Dome.

Tennessee probably can't beat Bayou Bengals, although stranger things (by far!) have happened this season. Still, just having the opportunity to return to the SEC Championship Game has to feel great for Vol fans. If the Vols beat the Wildcats next weekend, Phil Fulmer might have earned himself a ticket off the coaching hotseat.
 
The Land Grant Trophy Comes to East Lansing

Posted Nov 17th 2007 8:37PM by Charles Rich
Filed under: Michigan State Football, Penn State Football, Big 10
msuteam.jpg

Well, maybe the Spartans are showing signs of changing things under Coach Mark Dantonio. Down 24-7 in the third quarter of their final game to Penn State, Michigan State proceeded to outscore the Nittany Lions 28-7 to take the Land Grant shelving Trophy 35-31.

Penn State lived and died with what their defense gave them. The defense was able to get 3 turnovers that the offense was able to turn into 17 points. The problem was, that the defense didn't do much else to help matters. They surrendered over 400 yards of offense. Michigan State was able to run and throw, almost at will in the second half.

Offensively Penn State was able to run the ball very effectively, but Anthony Morelli -- and stop me Penn State fans if you've read this before -- was inconsistent. Only 16-35 and 188 yards. The ABC/ESPN announcers babbled endlessly in the final minutes, as Penn State tried to drive the field, about how this would be vital for the legacy Anthony Morelli would leave behind at State College. They never got around to saying what it meant once the drive died. I'm guessing it something like, "so much potential but..."

As for Michigan State, it is a huge win. Considering the way the Spartans lost games to Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin and of course Michigan in the season; it's been hard to believe that the culture of second-half implosions, self-destructions and downright stupidity was going to be changed. At least not in the first season.

Beating Penn State at home in the season finale in a big comeback may turn out to be a blip, but it is hard not to think it means something more for the Spartans and their fans.
 
BEAT BYU -- err -- Utah rolls New Mexico
By JazzyUte Section: Football
Posted on Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 09:51:41 PM EDT



capt_3ff5e851f0b34554bcd994fe1f4111e4_new_mexico_utah_football_utsw101.jpg
BRING ON BYU!
YES! The Lobo curse is finally broken! Utes roll to a 28-10 victory, own a 7 game winning streak and now enter a near-epic Holy War Saturday afternoon against BYU. Holy Moses, this is going to be a great game. I'll have more on the Lobos game, along with the BIGGEST GAME OF THEM ALL later. But right now, enjoy the victory!
 
Sam Bradford Is Concussed

Posted Nov 17th 2007 11:12PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Oklahoma Football, Big 12, NCAA FB Injuries, Breaking News, Texas Tech Football, The Word
sam-bradford-concussion-180.jpg
Yeh so there's a reason the Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford has been held out of this game.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops told ESPN sideline reporter Bonnie Bernstein at halftime that Bradford would not play in the second half. Texas Tech led 27-10 at intermission. "He's got somewhat of a concussion. They're checking him out right now," Stoops said.
Bradford came out with the Sooners up 7-3 after their second possession of the game. It appeared from television replays that he took a hard hit as he tried to make a tackle after teammate Allen Patrick fumbled on OU's first play from scrimmage. Bradford got up slowly.
Bradford was definitely wearing that "not all there" look as he sat for a few minutes on the sidelines. He was mouth breathing and red in the face, staring in different directions and generally looking like he was a bit spaced out. See the picture at right for further proof - kid doesn't look alright. Hope he gets well soon.

Oklahoma continues to fight for its life tonight against Texas Tech (trails 34-13 in the third quarter) and clearly misses Bradford. Oklahoma faces Oklahoma State next week and potentially plays in the Big 12 Championship Game thereafter and could dearly use Bradford's services. As for Bradford, he's not much of a Heisman Trophy candidate but any more missed time and he's probably out of the running for the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year award.
 
Random Notes from the Day in Football . . .
By MaconDawg Section: Football
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 09:57:06 AM EDT


Kyle has already brought you the Mark Richt Victory Watch, and will probably be along later with all of your usual University of Georgia postgame goodies. But as I know our readers are all worldly obervers of the larger college football landscape, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at some of the goings-on in the rest of the collge football universe.
My hat's off to Indiana. They beat Purdue on Saturday to win the Old Oaken Bucket, and more importantly, get to 7-5 and bowl eligibility. By now you already know the story of Terry Hoeppner, who continued to coach the Hoosiers as he fought the brain cancer which ultimately claimed his life. What bears mention is the job done by Bill Lynch, Hoeppner's former assistant who has held the team together since Hoeppner's death in June. One of the great moments of this past Saturday in college football was watching Coach Hoeppner's wife, Jane, exclaim after the victory that had her husband been there, "he would be up in the student section with the fans." I don't doubt it for a moment. Congratulations, Hoosiers.
Hey Coach Saban, you got Weatherbied. Charlie Weatherbie, by the way, is the head coach of the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks, who beat 'Bama 21-14 on Saturday. I didn't know that prior to visiting the school's website. John Parker Wilson probably didn't know that name either, but it didn't stop Coach Weatherbie's charges from picking him off twice in the first half during a lackadaisical performance by the 'Bammers. I'm pretty sure that every time Alabama loses a game in the foreseeable future, you'll read the words "Saban, paid over $4 million a year to turn around a traditional power" in the postgame coverage. Something tells me that back when Alabama was 6-2 and thinking BCS, fans did not anticipate heading into the Iron Bowl off back-to-back losses to Mississippi State and UL-Monroe. It's also worth noting that if Bama loses the Iron Bowl, they will finish 6-6, which is exactly the point that Mike Shula led them to last year with essentially the same team, only less experienced.
I know, the party line among the Tide faithful is that regardless of record, this team has a different attitude and is better than last year's team. And they are right. They are also right when they say Nick Saban is a fantastic recruiter. But it's going to be next year before 'Bama partisans really see much benefit from converting to Sabantology. Until then they're just a slightly better than average football team with a penchant for playing up to or down to the level of their competition.
Texas Tech just scored again. When Mike Leach's offense is humming, it is almost unfair. Such was the case last night in Lubbock when the Dread Pirate Leach looked at Bob Stoops and asked "what is this 'toss sweep' thing you speak of? It sounds boring." Texas Tech freshman wide receiver Michael Crabtree went for 12 catches, 154 yards and a touchdown, eclipsing the 1800 yard mark for the season. Is he a product of the system? Heck yeah. But he's a product of the system who will probably also eclipse the NCAA career receiving yards record one day unless he gets kidnapped by Chiapan rebels. In Crabtree's defense, he has seven games this season in which he's averaged more than 15 yards a catch, and has a reception of 29 yards + in all but one game this season. That says to me that a good part of Crabtree's success is due to his making plays after the catch, not the plays Cap'n Leach is calling.
Vanderbilt kicker Bryant Hahnfeldt is off my Christmas card list. So is the Vanderbilt offense that woke up at the beginning of the 4th quarter and remebered that hey, theyplay for Vandy. Seriously, Coach Johnson's squad should trademark this "short run, short run, incomplete pass" offensive combination because they totally own it.
I've been willing to overlook Vandy's general Vanderbiltness until now. But no more. Counting on Vanderbilt to win gave me a window into the life of a Commodore football fan, and it wasn't pretty. Being a Commodore fan means getting up early on Saturday, driving 5 hours to cram yourself into your expensive seats in Nashville or some similar locale, then waiting patiently for 2 and a half hours to see which one of the well-mannered and intelligent young men on your football team/coaching staff will be coming up into the stands to personally kick you in the man berries. Of course, we wouldn't have been counting on young Hahnfeldt if Cassen Jackson-Garrison hadn't taken his turn as designated Commodore Cajone Kicker during our game against the 'Dores. So I guess it all balances out in the end.
And speaking of balancing out in the end. . . Chan Gailey's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets won a hard fought contest against 3-8 North Carolina to get to 7-4. Which is one loss shy of Chan Gailey Equilibrium. These are the laws of physics, people. They are beyond dispute.
 
Clemson holds form - Tigers lose when it matters most

<script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-0237893561790135"; google_alternate_color = "ffffff"; google_ad_width = 300; google_ad_height = 250; google_ad_format = "300x250_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; //2007-06-19: entries google_ad_channel = "0603066557"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "003399"; google_color_text = "333333"; google_color_url = "999999"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><iframe name="google_ads_frame" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-0237893561790135&dt=1195399180359&lmt=1195399180&alt_color=ffffff&format=300x250_as&output=html&correlator=1195399180359&channel=0603066557&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fanblogs.com%2Fclemson%2F007298.php&color_bg=FFFFFF&color_text=333333&color_link=003399&color_url=999999&color_border=FFFFFF&ad_type=text_image&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Freader%2Fview%2F&cc=100&ga_vid=1546096358.1193703380&ga_sid=1195399180&ga_hid=437389415&ga_fc=true&flash=9&u_h=768&u_w=1280&u_ah=738&u_aw=1280&u_cd=32&u_tz=-480&u_his=1&u_java=true&u_nplug=26&u_nmime=104" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="250" scrolling="no" width="300"></iframe> There are certain things I have come to count on in life - the sun will rise in the east, Pink Panty Pulldowns will knock your @ss out and that Tommy Bowden's Clemson Tigers will always find a way to lose when it matters most.
The Tigers - whose season long motto has been "Finish the Job" - took the lead late in the fourth quarter with an ACC Championship Game berth on the line. Rather than finish Boston college, CU gave up a key third down conversion to keep Matt Ryan's BC Eagles on the field.
And Boston College made them pay. Driving 79 yards in the waning minutes of the game, the Eagles scored the go-ahead touchdown on yet another third down - a strike up the middle that went for "just" 44 yards, but carries Boston College all the way to the ACC title game in Jacksonville.
The Ealges finished the job, beating Clemson 20-17.
BC QB Matt Ryan, who finished with 315 yards, said that the Eagles win close games because of preparation.
"We practice in these situations a lot and we've done a pretty good job of executing," Ryan said. "It was a great win, exciting, a lot of fun and we're glad to walk out with the win."​
For whatever reason, this is the third straight year that Clemson has had one game derail their entire season. I don't get it - and I know Clemson fans are scratching their heads, too.
Boston College will face Virginia or Virginia Tech in Jacksonville, Fla., for the ACC crown and the league's spot in the Bowl Championship Series.
 
Postgame Reaction :: Oregon State 52, Washington State 17
By Jake Section: Football
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 04:00:47 AM EDT


Short-handed secondary? Second-string quarterback?
No problem.
Yvenson Bernard scored twice, and Lyle Moevao, James Rodgers, Clinton Polk and Matt Sieverson all ran for touchdowns. Polk, Sieverson, and Rodgers got their first touchdowns of the season. For Sieverson and Rodgers, it was the first touchdown of their Oregon State careers. The Beavers lone passing touchdown was tipped then caught by Howard Croom, a play that is illustrated in the image below. Alexis Serna added a 22-yarder in the second quarter. He would end up missing a 50-yarder later in the game.
Oh... and the Beaver defense forced seven-- count them-- seven interceptions. Six off Alex Brink, and one off of Gary Rogers.
CroomTip.jpg

AP Photo/Dean Hare (via ESPN)
I'll post five discussion questions in the morning. It's been a long day.
7-4, baybee!
 
They All Fall Down. Yarr.
By SMQ
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 01:24:40 AM EDT


capt.3f48232f3ff14d9aa77c98ad47c2cb16.oklahoma_texas_tech_football_txmo1023.jpg

The demise of my ill-fated "Lock of the Week" complicates mythical championship matters in one very specific way - if the Sooners go on to knock the North champion out of the nominal title game in two weeks, opening the door for Ohio State or West Virginia - but there will plenty of time for BCS navel-gazing directly. In the meantime, in honor of probably the biggest win of Mike Leach's head coaching career: guns up, los banditos!<object height="305" width="365">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/69emr28eqxo&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="305" width="365"></object>
<object height="355" width="425">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/69emr28eqxo&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object>
 
Making Sense of the Day After
By outsidethesidelines Section: Football
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 01:12:19 AM EDT


In the preview for the Louisiana-Monroe game I said that you could not underestimate how terrible a loss would be in this game. And I'm not going to change my tune just because that loss moved from the realm of possibility to the record book. The losses to Louisiana Tech, Central Florida, and Northern Illinois were all embarrassing, but all four of those losses came against opponents that, while not name-brand schools, were actually good football teams. Louisiana-Monroe is nowhere near a good football team, and it's an even worse program. These guys haven't had a winning season since joining Division 1-A, haven't beaten a BCS conference opponent in well over a decade, and were blown out earlier in the year by the likes of Tulsa.
Bottom line: This loss is as bad as it seems, and probably worse. It could be the worst single loss for Alabama since the arrival of Bear Bryant.
And the damning thing of it is that if you look at the stat lines we controlled this game, just like last week. Yet we lost, just like last week. As was the case a week ago, turnovers were the key culprit in the defeat. The initial turnover by Wilson on the interception didn't really hurt, but the others did. The ensuing interception led directly to a ULM touchdown, and the fumble on the punt return late in the first half forfeited any possibility of scoring points on a short-field before halftime. And the late fumble by Jimmy Johns cost the Tide a drive that seemed to be destined for a game-tying touchdown. Then we turn the ball over on downs when we cannot convert on two short-yardage situations where we needed to gain a mere one yard to move the sticks. On the other hand, our defense could not force a single turnover from the ULM offense all afternoon.
The harsh truth of the matter is that we are not a very good team, and teams that are not particularly good are almost always going to lose, regardless of the quality of opponent, when they are -4 in turnover margin. In that sense, we are very much our own worst enemy. We cannot beat inferior teams because we are too busy beating ourselves. If we could have protected the football the previous two weeks, we would be 8-3 going into the Iron Bowl as the favorite.
Beyond turnovers, though, we just aren't playing very good football. The passing game was pretty good today, but aside from getting yards in spurts, it is far from consistent enough to be able to move the ball down the field consistently. We'll have two big completions for 40 yards, and then we'll run for no gain, have an incomplete pass, and then a three yard gain on a pass. When you add all of that up it looks good statistically, but it's not the kind of consistent attack you need to move the football down the field and get points. We saw that today, as we'd get two or three first downs and then stall out. The running game, too, is pretty much the same way. We'll pop off some good gains and then we'll run it into the line for little or no success.
The defense is playing pretty well, but it needs improvement. The Warhawks did have two long drives against them, and perhaps more importantly, could not create any turnovers. Moreover, even when they did get stops, they seemingly came only after ULM gained twenty or thirty yards, thus swapping field position.
And basically that's how we lost. The defense couldn't get us any turnovers, nor many short fields. The end result was that the offense, incapable of the big play, had to march methodically over long distances just to get some points, and due to incompetence we couldn't do that. And after we cost ourselves points with multiple turnovers, the Warhawks came out on top. It's as simple as that.
The talent level was not the culprit today, as we have more than a team like ULM could ever dream of having. The talent deficit -- and there is one against the better teams around, no doubt there -- is a problem that must be fixed, but just as important is that is that we have a deficit in heart, discipline, and effort, and that is really what hurt us today. As a football team, you have to come out and play 100 per cent every play, every game, regardless of who you play. You cannot just get ready to play against the top teams and then just put in some half-ass performances against everyone else and expect to just coast through a team that is going to roll over and play dead for you.
Coach Saban himself perhaps summed it up best when he said the following in his postgame comments: "The season is long. What we do demands a lot of commitment and perseverance. You have to challenge yourself. You have to keep pushing yourself. It's about not taking the easy way. I'm not sure we've done that."
At the end of the day, we are a team not only in need of more talent, but in desperate need of winners as well. At the moment, it seems that we just have entirely too many players who are, in fact, losers. Players who don't put in the work needed in the off-season S&C program, don't put in the work needed throughout the week in practice, and then suddenly expect to show up and win football games, and that's just not how it works. You have to give it your all in the off-season, give it your all in practice, and then play 100 per cent on Saturday on every play regardless of who you are playing, whether it be Louisiana State or Louisiana-Monroe.
And there is really little that Saban can do to fix that problem in the short term. Bear Bryant once famously said, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit," and that harsh reality is that we have far more chicken shit on the roster than we need and more than we'd all like to believe. We have some players who do things as needed, but as Coach Saban said earlier in the year, we have too many players who want to talk about winning and not enough players who are doing what it takes to win.
Again, there is relatively little that Saban can do to fix that in the short term. As Cecil Hurt, sports editor of the Tuscaloosa News, mentioned, one of the best things that could possibly happen will be roster turnover. In other words, cut off the dead weight. In days gone by, a coach would have just ran off a massive chunk of the roster in a Junction-esque style camp, but those days have long since passed. Today those roster turnovers are accomplished by time and talented incoming recruiting classes. In layman's terms, losers are going to leave and they are going to be replaced by winners.
In his first season at LSU, Saban experienced a similar loss when his Bayou Bengals fell to lowly Alabama-Birmingham when they were coming off a painful conference loss on the road to Auburn. In many ways, that loss very much resembles today when his Crimson Tide fell to lowly Louisiana-Monroe when they were coming off a painful conference loss on the road to Mississippi State. In the grand scheme of things, the loss to UAB didn't slow down LSU one bit, and no one should expect the loss to ULM to slow down Alabama.
Things will get corrected, and Saban will likely lead us where we want to go. But the losses of the past two weeks have shown us that the path we have to travel to get to where we want to be is longer than anyone would have previously wanted to admit.
 
Goooo Raiders!!


Oklahoma 27, Texas Tech 34.
<object height="355" width="425">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IJDB2qomVlA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></object>​
Because of the Oklahoma loss the Horns are still in the hunt for the Big 12 crown and the Sooners are knocked out of the national title discussion. Not that the team needed it, but now the team has a little something extra to play for next Friday against the Aggies.
Go Raiders!!! (Your quarterback is still a punk and your coach is still whiny and wrong. And your fans suck too.)
 
The Austin-to-Lubbock connection

By John Bridges | Saturday, November 17, 2007, 11:19 PM
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach might want to rethink that “Austin officials conspiring against me” thing. After feeling wronged by Austin resident/head referee Randy Christal in a loss to Texas last week, Leach found his big game against Oklahoma being officiated by another Austin resident, John Bible.
Bible’s crew — and especially the official review guy upstairs — had to make a critical late in the game and ruled in Leach’s favor, saying that an Oklahoma receiver did not have the ball when he came down in the corner of the end zone. It was one of those calls that could”ve gone either way, and here’s guessing that Sooner fans saw it differently than the Guns Up crowd in Lubbock did.
Leach’s Raiders held on for a 34-27 victory that keeps Texas’ Big 12 title hopes alive. An Oklahoma loss to Oklahoma State next week, coupled with a Texas victory over Texas A&M, would send the Longhorns to San Antonio for the Big 12 championship game in two weeks. Given that the status of two of Oklahoma’s spark plugs — quarterback Sam Bradford and running back DeMarco Murray — now is uncertain, a Cowboys victory wouldn’t be any more surprising than what happened at Texas Tech.
Hm, maybe those Austin-based refs had this whole thing figured out all along.
 
Mountaineers Survive Late Cincinnati Scare

Posted Nov 17th 2007 11:44PM by John Radcliff
Filed under: West Virginia Football, Big East, West Virginia, Cincinnati Football
project-100-009.jpg
For the second week in a row, West Virginia moved out to a commanding lead only to have to pull out the victory at the end of the game. If you want to get head coach Rich Rodriguez a Christmas present I'd suggest a healthy supply of Just for Men hair color. He watched a 17 point lead evaporate last week against Louisville due to untimely fumbles.

And again this week, with West Virginia up 28-17 in the 4th quarter the fumble bug struck Pat White. First on a bad exchange with the center that didn't lead to any Cincinnati points. But on the next possession White was stripped of the ball and the Bearcats marched down for a touchdown to draw within five points. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by West Virginia and they were able to run the clock out. But the game never should have been this close.



Midway through the first half, West Virginia found a soft spot in the Cincinnati defense and exploited it with run after run up the middle that seemed to have drained the Bearcat defense by the end of the third quarter. West Virginia was chewing up large chunks of time off the clock and seemed well on their way to an easy victory. But they would have to hold off a late surge again for the victory.

With Dennis Dixon of Oregon going down, Pat White's name was being bounced around most of the day for a shot at the Heisman trophy again. It still remains to be seen if his late collapse will hurt his chances, or if it will be overshadowed by his 295 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. With Oregon and Oklahoma both losing this weekend, West Virginia's chances for a shot at the national title game are looking much better. They have two games remaining at home against UConn this weekend and they close out the season December 1st against Pitt.
 
Texas Tech Smokes #4 Oklahoma

Posted Nov 18th 2007 12:19AM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Oklahoma Football, Big 12, Breaking News, Texas Tech Football, The Word
michael-crabtree-reach-425.jpg

This is definitely one of those "not as close as the score indicated" type game. Texas Tech held a 34-13 lead for much of the second half after sprinting out to a 27-10 halftime lead. Oklahoma actually scored a defensive touchdown very early in this game for one of their rare touchdowns. It later added another seven in the game's last minute but let's be honest here they got whipped no matter what the 34-27 final score says.

Like Oregon two nights before, Oklahoma's offense fell flat once their superb starting quarterback went down. For the Sooners it was an early concussion to Sam Bradford as backup Joey Halzle was ineffective until late in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma's previously slim chances of playing in the BCS Championship Game are shot. They must now hold on next week against Oklahoma State in order to even make the Big 12 Championship Game and play spoiler to the winner of next week's much-hyped Missouri - Kansas tilt.

Red Raider quarterback Graham Harrell set an NCAA record with his 10th 400-yard game this season. For a while he was on pace to eclise Drew Brees' NCAA record for pass attempts in a game (83) but settled down as Texas Tech ran the ball to nurse its lead and finished with a still-staggering 72 attempts.

For one night at least, the pirate beat the Sooner. Arrrrrr!
 
Clemson Fails to "Finish the Job"

Posted Nov 17th 2007 11:59PM by Charles Rich
Filed under: Boston College Football, Clemson Football, ACC
tbowden3.jpg
Cue the Bowden, hands over the face photo.

That motto for Clemson this season, rings quite hollow for Tiger fans. Once more, a Tommy Bowden Clemson squad comes out tighter than Nancy Pelosi speaking at a Southern Baptist Convention. From the coach down to the players, they were feeling the pressure of being a favorite and expected to get to the ACC Championship.

Clemson had it all set up for them to go to the ACC Championship. They just had to beat Boston College at home. The Tigers had been hot. Four straight wins. Scoring at least 30 points and not letting any team score more than 17 in that stretch. Running the ball really, really well. The passing game opened up.

Boston College was reeling after two straight losses, no running game and a very beat-up defense.

Hindsight says, you could just hear the "Ka-Boom" of an implosion coming. That it just couldn't end any other way. Boston College pulled out a late, gut-wrenching 20-17 victory that almost defied belief if it hadn't been so familiar.

Clemson spent much of the game forgetting to run the ball. Not that they were particularly effective when they did. C.J. Spiller and James Davis combined for 62 yards on 23 carries. Spiller got 24 of his yards during the second last possession for the Tigers.

The Clemson defense played well, but spent way too long on the field as BC had a +13:30 time of possession advantage. The Clemson special teams helped with field position -- the Tigers started 5 drives past their own 40-yard line. Clemson's offense just couldn't move the ball and couldn't even eat much clock.

Boston College, as usual, was the Matt Ryan show. Ryan kept BC in the game and was -- pardon the cliche -- magical in the fourth quarter. The Eagles took a 13-10 lead midway through the 4th for the first time.

Clemson answered with their first solid drive since the start of the 3d quarter to retake the lead, when they remembered that running the ball makes it a lot easier to pass.

Then Ryan took over. He was 6-7 for 68 yards on the final drive. The killer was a perfectly thrown, hit the receiver in stride 43-yard pass for the score. At that moment, Clemson Memorial Stadium went dead silent.

Clemson tried to answer, and QB Cullen Harper deserves a lot of credit. The problem is his receivers went tight. Really, really tight. Aaron Kelly and Tyler Grisham both dropped big passes as Clemson tried to drive. Kelly, especially, dropped what would have been a TD that was thrown perfectly. Instead, he let it clang off of his arms as he was running free.

Even then, Clemson was at the BC 30 on 3d down. At least get a field goal attempt. Instead, Harper makes his own big mistake. He takes a sack to lose 7 yards. The 54-yard FG attempt wasn't close.
 
Are You Still Here?

How the hell am I supposed to even be thinking about your dumb ass at a time like this? The biggest sporting event involving my favorite team in the HISTORY of the school, and I’m supposed to find something witty to take back to you about the Huskers? Who gives a damn about Nebraska football right now? Hell, even most of you don’t really care at this point. However, I write for you ….so I will attempt to keep up the hate, even when the motivation is long gone.

So last night, I was up til about 12:30 in the morning or so, checking out scores, highlights, press releases and just about everything else associated with my team being in the tip 5 of the BCS. Despite the slight diss the national talking heads are giving Missouri (apparently beating a bunch of MAC teams gets you a lot of face time)…it’s still great to finally have to watch other games, watch computer polls etc.

However, as I was finally shutting everything down…minutes before my head hitting the pillow after a great afternoon of watching football…it dawned on me like a ton of bricks. Out of the blue…out of nowhere:

You’re completely and totally an afterthought.

It’s almost as if you don’t even have a team. Despite the big win over IDLE university yesterday (I’m assuming they scored 50+ on you)….NOBODY outside of the Sand-Loess Hills corridor even remembers that you have a team, with the exception of the fact that every now and then, they’ll see a blurb float by on their screen that says, “Tom Osborne hasn’t made a coaching decision yet”.

Wow, that’s good stuff.

I’ve learned over the past couple of decades, that big losses don’t phase you. Hell, giving up 70 points to Texas Tech or 76 to Kansas didn’t really make you flinch. What DOES piss you off is when you become an afterthought..which ironically, you have. Your games aren’t previewed on gameday. Highlights of your victories don’t splash across the introduction of Sportscenter. You’ve become Purdue. Perhaps you may figure this out soon…but I think I’ll just let you figure it out on your own. I’ve got other things to worry about.

Speaking of which, since Nebraska football is irrelevant and I’m nearly in off-season mode already…it appears that for the next week, we’re going to be in Big 12 war mode here at BEL. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few other things going on and go around the state of college football:

* Can somebody PLEASE tell me what the hell is so great about Les Miles? I realize he’s the head coach at LSU, and sure…they’re pretty good. But wasn’t he at Okie State not that long ago? Did they somehow do something impressive that I simply forgot about? According to ESPN, the Michigan job is the greatest end-all, be-all job this side of being Pope. Yet before the job is even open Les Freaking Miles is supposed to pack up yet again and save the day? What sort of lottery did this guy win? I must be blind, because I don’t get it.

* Speaking of Michigan…I get that they have tradition. I get they are two huge name schools with huge alumni bases who have pumped out great players over the years. But after watching some of that game yesterday, can anybody really claim that either one of those teams is that much better than Cincinnati? Kentucky? Clemson?

I’m all for tradition and all that (God knows you people are)…but good lord, there are HUGE games being played around the country, (Including 2-9 Notre Dame…and don’t get me started on that) do we really need 15 minute breakdowns on two teams that would finish 4th or 5th in the Pac 10 or SEC? Why ESPN latches their jaws onto something and won’t let go is absolutely beyond me. Why somebody hasn’t tried to startup another network to challenge them is even more beyond me. Oh well..at least they fired Trev a few years ago. Gotta give them that.

* Not to be a homer here…but give me one reason why Chase Daniel isn’t the Heisman winner? I realize Tebow is the media darling and Ooooooo…apparently it’s important to rush for 20 TD’s and pass for 20. (Doesn’t that just mean you have a shitty running game inside the 5?). But dude has lost THREE games…including that powerhouse Auburn team AT HOME. Daniel has fewer picks per attempts (2.08 vs. 2.02), 800 more yards and oh yeah…two more touchdowns. He also didn’t lose to Auburn at home.

The Heisman is a joke, don’t get me wrong…and yes, I see the complete idiocy of having a Missouri player be up for the award. But this little journey into the forefront of college football has shown me literally hundreds of the annoying tendencies the media has against players from the Midwest.

Oh crap…now I sound like you.

Strike that. Give Tebow the Heisman. He deserves it.

* So what do I make of the Mizzou vs. Kansas game next Saturday? (Not including the beer and hate induced violence that will rage outside the stadium for literally hours before and after the game). Well, make no mistake that KU is very well coached, and very disciplined. They stay in their lanes blocking..they run slants well, and midget boy Reesing does a great job distributing the ball. They’re balanced and they have some good football players on both side of the ball.

With that being said, there’s no way on earth they’re going to win this game.

Kool aid you say? Myopic you say?

Let’s just say it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you play absolutely NO ONE during the regular season, you simply can not prepare for the speed and size that will get thrown at you when things count. So KU’s biggest win this year is over a 6-5 Texas A*M squad? By EIGHT!?!? Meanwhile, Missouri beat the hell out of Texas Tech by 31 (Catch them last night?) and was putting the absolute wood to 9-3 Illinois before holding on at the end in week one. Even beyond that…taking Iowa State out of the equation…Missouri has throttled common foes either every bit..or more than Lamehawk U.

But take ALL of that away, anyone can win on any given Saturday. I am certainly aware of a few breaks here or there could make or break either team’s destiny. But in a game THIS big…and for those of you out of the area…TRUST ME…the stakes haven’t been this high since Abe Lincoln was in office…the thing that wins game is poise.

The team that stays within themselves and dials down the emotion is going to win the game. Now I’m sure beating a Adarius Bowman-less Okie State team is big…or slipping by Colorado in mid-season is a confidence builder…but how much big game experience can you really rely on if you’re KU? Not that Missouri has had tons of experience on a giant stage like this, but both the Oklahoma and Nebraska games this year were electric.

Did I mention the Tigers bludgeoned KU in Columbia last year?

This game could go 1,000 different directions. But make no mistake, never in the history of sports (and no…I’m not exaggerating) has one group of fans…one school…one team wanted to beat the other so badly. You can have your Michigan vs. Ohio State jerk fest…you can talk about Duke or North Carolina….Florida and LSU blah blah blah. But these teams are so good so rarely, that the event takes on even more significance. Throw it all together in the epicenter of hatred…Kansas City..and you’ve got a college football game for the ages.

I just hope I can make it through the week.

If you’re on either side of this war, I wish you luck. If you’re not, and you’re dressed in your red overalls and giant foam yellow corn hat…well…I pity you and look forward to your reports of someday kissing a live girl. It’s not like you have anything else better to do these days.

Hate Week II begins….
 
<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle"> Who's Hot & Who's Not - Nov. 18 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
497146.jpg

Air Force RB Jim Ollis
</td> <td nowrap="nowrap" width="3">
</td> <td valign="top"> <table bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="60%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td nowrap="nowrap" valign="middle">By Pete Fiutak
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 18, 2007
</td> <td nowrap="nowrap">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

The Air Force running game, Andre Caldwell, the Pac 10, the Kentucky offense and more in the latest Who's Hot & Not.
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
[SIZE=-1]Past Hot and Not: [/SIZE] Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10
Week 11

Who’s Hot …
The Air Force running game
New head coach Troy Calhoun was going to run a balanced attack that used QB Shaun Carney as more of a passing threat to get the ball downfield. A funny thing happened along the way; the Falcons became unstoppable on the ground. No. 2 in the nation running the ball, behind Navy, averaging 298.5 yards per game, Air Force has rushed for 1,291 yards and 12 touchdowns over the last three games. In last week’s 55-23 win over San Diego State, Air Force tore off 569 rushing yards and eight scores with Chad Hall, Jim Ollis and Ty Paffett all running for more than 100 yards. Calhoun’s first year was a rousing success going 9-2 and finishing second in the Mountain West.

Boise State QB Taylor Tharp
It’s not just about Ian Johnson and the running game in Boise anymore as senior QB Taylor Tharp has thrown for 2,839 yards and 27 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. Three of the picks came in the second game of the year, a loss to Washington which was the team’s lone gaffe on the year, and he has thrown only one pick in the last four games. In his last three games, he has completed 80% of his throws for 824 yards and nine touchdowns, and is coming off a four-touchdown performance against Idaho. Now comes the real fun with the showdown against Hawaii.

Utah
Dismissed and left for dead in mid-September after losing to UNLV 27-0 for an 0-2 Mountain West start and a 1-3 overall record. Since then the Utes have cranked out seven straight wins to cement themselves in the third spot in the conference behind BYU and Air Force thanks to a defense that’s allowed just 13 points over the last three weeks and 40 points over the last five games. The rivalry date with BYU closes out the regular season.

Minnesota
After dogging the Gophers all year, it’s only fair to give a little bit of time to one of the positives. Minnesota might have had its worst season ever, but there’s reason for optimism with star QB Adam Weber just a freshman. He set school records for passing yards, total offense, passing yards and completions going 258 for 449 for 2,895 yards with 24 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, while running for 617 yards and five scores. He closed out his first year by throwing for 352 yards and two scores, and running for 87 yards, in the 41-34 loss to Wisconsin.

Florida WR Andre Caldwell

The Florida senior caught three passes for 103 yards in the season opener against Western Kentucky, but suffered a knee injury against Troy and was out/limited with just two catches for 18 yards over a five-game stretch. He was fine against Kentucky and Georgia, and then everything clicked in as he has become Tim Tebow’s main man with 33 catches for 415 yards and three touchdowns over the last three weeks, highlighted by a 13-grab day against Florida Atlantic. The showdown with Florida State closes out the regular season.
Who’s Not … Arkansas pass defense
The overall stats don’t appear to be that bad. After all, Arkansas is 40<sup>th</sup> in the nation in pass defense, allowing 211 yards per game, and sixth in the country, and second in the SEC, in pass efficiency defense. However, there have been problems over the last three weeks with major breakdowns in shootouts. Tennessee didn’t need to bomb away, with Erik Ainge only completing 12 of 25 passes for 128 yards with two touchdowns in the 34-13 win, but last week, the Hogs gave up 421 yards and four touchdown passes to Wesley Carroll and Mississippi State. On the plus side the picked off four passes, but three games ago they gave up 364 yards and two scores to South Carolina. Up next is LSU, who’s only averaging 229 passing yards per game.

The Pac 10
Talked about as one of the strongest conferences in the country, if not number two behind the SEC, the Pac 10 took a serious overall hit this week when it lost a national title contender (Oregon) and its Heisman front-runner (Dennis Dixon). The conference is also in danger of potentially losing a second BCS team if Oregon loses to Oregon State in the Civil War, UCLA needs to beat either Oregon or USC to become bowl eligible, and Cal won’t likely get to play near home in the Emerald Bowl since Oregon State can’t go to the Sun Bowl two years in a row. The league has taken a big hit recently because of …

California
There was a moment on October 13<sup>th</sup> when the Bears were driving against Oregon State with a chance to be the number one team in America. A brain-cramp by backup quarterback Kevin Riley led to a loss, and ever since Cal has lost five of six games with the one win coming by three at home to a bad Washington State team. Remember, this slide all came after a win at Oregon. After last week’s 37-23 loss to a Washington team without Jake Locker, thanks to 334 Husky rushing yards, Cal needs a win over Stanford in two weeks to get to seven wins.

Kentucky’s offense
While UK has the SEC’s No. 1 passing offense and overall is averaging a solid 427 yards per game, the one-time juggernaut of an attack has struggled to keep up the pace. Over the last three weeks, the Wildcats have been held to just 322 yards per game with a mere 297 last week against Georgia. UK has netted fewer than 100 rushing yards in three of the last four games. Tennessee comes to Lexington to close out the regular season.

The State of Mississippi and turnovers vs. LSU
In the season opener, Mississippi State lost six interceptions and a fumble in the 45-0 loss to LSU. The Tiger defense has been great all season long, but didn’t come up with more than two interceptions in any game since the opening-day win until the trip to Ole Miss. The Rebels threw three picks and lost a fumble meaning all of Mississippi has turned it over 11 times with no takeaways.
</td></tr></tbody></table>
 
Longhorns-Aggies Game Week: Preview Part 1 - Setting The Stage

by HornsFan Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 02:54:33 PM EDT

No matter the postseason stakes, the Texas-Texas A&M football game is always meaningful. Though we're more like siblings who fight something fierce than, say, neighbors who want to kill one another (here's lookin' at you, Oklahoma), it's an intense rivalry of deep importance to each fanbase. For its part, Aggieland often seems like it exists almost entirely as an oppositional force to the University of Texas at Austin. Meanwhile, nothing gives the burnt orange faithful greater joy than feeling superior to Texas A&M. So when we lose, it hurts.
Last year, Longhorn fans suffered a particularly bitter loss. Though Texas A&M left Austin with a narrow 12-7 victory, Mack Brown's Longhorns were outplayed, looking listless throughout. After that game, more than a few fans told me they felt it was the most disappointing loss during the Mack Brown era.
Heading into 2007, many - myself included - thought A&M was well positioned to be a very solid, offensively dangerous football team. Persisting questions on defense tempered overall expectations, but the consensus among more than a few was that this was a team which had potential to be in very good position heading into November. The Aggies had an experienced offensive line, a returning quarterback, and both parts of their tailback tandem.
Fast forward 11 weeks and Frantana's Aggies have made no such steps forward. Mired in mediocrity, with a lame duck coach leading a team that's now lost four of its last five games - including its last three - the 2007 season will be remembered as yet another disappointment... unless they beat the Longhorns on Friday afternoon.
Though nothing could save Frandullah's job at this point, the difference between leaving College Station with a few pats on the back and leaving drowned in an emphatic chorus of spiteful jeers will be the outcome on Friday. There is nothing A&M fans live for more than beating the Texas Longhorns.
What's that mean for Texas? As always, prepare for battle. Disappointing as A&M's season has been, there is little chance they won't fight hard for this win - sinking ship or not. If Texas assumes victory will come easily, the Aggies will be happy to try to take it away.
More importantly, as disappointing as the A&M season has been, the book is more or less closed on their '07 campaign. Win or lose on Friday, the conclusion of this season will mark the end of the Franchione era.
For Texas, however, the ending of the 2007 story could take on any number of different shapes - some good, some bad. The Longhorns have fought relentlessly to rebound from an 0-2 start in Big 12 play and won five straight games. Offensive centerpieces Jamaal Charles and Colt McCoy - each of whom bottomed out mid-season - have refused failure, continued fighting, and rebounded in extraordinary fashion. A win over the Aggies would give Texas 10 on the season and a guaranteed spot in the Cotton or Holiday Bowl, with a reasonable shot at a BCS Bowl at-large invitation. After Oklahoma’s loss in Lubbock last night, the door is still open to play for the conference title. This story can end well. Very well.
Without a win on Friday over A&M, that feel good story would evaporate. Much like the 2006 season unraveled in Manhattan before fans could figure out what happened, so too could the '07 season. Though dreams of a BCS Bowl, a Cotton Bowl matchup against a top-tier SEC team, or a Holiday Bowl clash with the #2 team from a strong Pac 10 have Texas fans excited heading into the week, a loss to A&M would immediately trigger a wave of massive disappointment: Two straight losses to Frannypants. A 9-3 record pushing us down to a who-cares bowl. And all those doubts which peaked during the first three quarters of the Nebraska and Oklahoma State games would once again dominate the mood among the faithful, fueling an impossibly long three weeks of handwringing about the state of the program as fans wait for the bowl game. A loss would leave Texas fans in the same position as last year – watching helplessly on Saturday afternoon, hoping for Oklahoma to choke against Oklahoma State.
<ins>Success Comes At A Price</ins>
Looking beyond the mere implications for this postseason, one could argue Friday's contest with A&M is the most important Texas football game since the national title nearly two years ago.
There were two important consequences of Vince Young leaving Texas after his junior year as king of the college football universe. First and foremost, he'd elevated the Mack Brown-brand Longhorns to a level never seen in this state during the modern (scholarship-reduced) football era. Texas' 25-1 ledger over Vince Young's sophomore and junior seasons at Texas - culminating in an unforgettable national championship - created a perfect storm in Austin, with Mack Brown hand picking recruits he wanted - all of whom wanted Texas.
VY's early departure also left Texas with a quarterback quandary heading into 2006. Under-the-radar recruit Colt McCoy had a redshirt year in the system, while more highly touted Jevan Snead entered fall camp a true freshman. McCoy won the job in August, but fans weren't sure what to expect from a baby-faced, redshirt freshman trying to follow the incomparable Vince Young. They had their answer in the season's second week, when a 17-point defeat to Ohio State seemingly killed any hopes of a title defense.
But by November 11th, the Longhorns - playing a night game in Manhattan - improbably found themselves back in the driver's seat to the national title game after a wild Saturday of upsets across the country. Already ranked #4 in the polls, by the time Texas received the game's opening kickoff, fans and players knew that wins over K-State and A&M would give the team an excellent chance at a second straight BCS Title Game appearance.
Just ten plays after Texas received that opening kickoff, McCoy had led the offense 79 yards on 4-for-4 passing for 59 yards, setting up a 1st and Goal from the Kansas State one-yard line. After unsuccessful first and second down tries by Selvin Young, McCoy tried sneaking it in himself. When he failed to get in from the one on third down, Texas was faced with 4th and Goal. Texas went for it, McCoy plunged over the pile, and scored a touchdown. He also suffered a stinger injury that would keep him out of the rest of the game.
And with that, the wheels came off: Texas lost in Manhattan, and then, in losing at home to A&M, coughed up the Big 12 South Division title to an Oklahoma team it had defeated in October. Texas would ultimately fall all the way to the Alamo Bowl, just two short weeks after finding itself on the brink of the BCS Championship Game.
<ins>From The Bottom To The Brink</ins>
After an Alamo Bowl win fueled by Colt McCoy's 300 yards passing, Texas kicked off the 2007 season with high hopes renewed. Though the running game that dominated under Vince Young's direction had become painfully average by the close of 2006, Colt McCoy had surprised fans with his strong play as a passer out of the shotgun. Though here and elsewhere fans discussed at great length the need to improve the short-yardage running game (the deterioration of which in 2006 led directly to McCoy's injury), there was a general feeling, if not a consensus, that Texas' "post-VY" identity had been found: a pass-first, McCoy-led attack that used Limas Sweed to stretch the field. Defenses which chose to defend Sweed with single coverage would pay the price in touchdowns. Those which committed deep safety help would pay the price underneath with Quan Cosby, Jermichael Finley, and - the theory went - a running game that had more room to work.
Fatefully, Limas Sweed hurt his wrist just before the season opener, and though he tried to play through the pain, he was not the same player he had been and Texas' offense immediately suffered. Though the running game was relatively improved over the final eight games of '06, McCoy suddenly found himself struggling in the passing game. After consecutive defeats to Kansas State and Oklahoma, Sweed finally opted for surgery, and with that, the entire Texas offensive gameplan heading into 2007 was six feet under.
By the beginning of the fourth quarter against Nebraska, Texas had sunk to its lowest point in years. Trailing to a free-falling Cornhusker team in Austin, McCoy took one play off to nurse an injury. John Chiles came in for that one play, Texas ran the zone read, and Jamaal Charles took off for 25 yards. McCoy came back in, ran the same play, kept the ball, and ran it for 25 himself. By the end of the quarter, Texas had rushed for over 250 yards and three scores to fend off Nebraska. A week later in Stillwater, after another hellish three quarters of football, Texas stormed back from a 35-14 fourth quarter deficit to win on a walk-off field goal. And finally, last week against Tech, Texas' offense simply scored at will from start to finish. Charles was great, McCoy was great. Greg Davis was great.
And here we are. Like last year, Texas has arrived near the finish line in position to make the season a successful one. It's been at times ugly. At times lucky. At times just Longhorn football players exerting a sheer determination not to lose. But for all that to mean something, Texas has to beat A&M in College Station on Friday. A loss would ruin this season much the way 2006 fell apart.
<ins>Making It Mean Something</ins>
What would a win mean for Texas? For starters, Oklahoma’s loss last night means the Big 12 South is not yet decided; a Longhorn win and Sooner loss would send Texas to the championship game in San Antonio. Even if the Sooners do take care of business, though, a win over A&M would guarantee Texas a worthwhile bowl invitation. Though the prestige of a solid bowl is a valuable commodity in and of itself (program perception, etc.), the real prize would be getting to play another legitimately strong team to close the year. I do think Texas has suffered at times from the non-lessons that accompany games against teams the 'Horns can beat simply by showing up - Baylor, Rice, Arkansas State, most teams from the North in recent years. But even the great Vince Young probably wouldn't have won his national title if Texas hadn't gone through that trial-by-fire in Columbus. I'd love nothing more than for this Texas team to beat A&M and earn a chance to play Arizona State, Oregon, USC, Georgia, Tennessee, or Florida in a bowl. Win or lose, the game would be a great one for all those Texas players who will be dreaming of helping carry the 2008 Texas team to big and great things.
Beyond the tangible prizes that would accompany a win over A&M, this Longhorn team needs some validation. The reason I've just recapped the past two seasons so thoroughly is because these past 24 games have seemed in many ways like a transition from the Vince Young era. That's not the whole story of the last two years, but it may well be that it's the driving one. And this storyline needs some punctuation.
Texas has been in relative turmoil since Vince Young departed, a process the program, team, and fans can live with if - if - this is a transition. That's why this game has the potential to be one of the most important games of Mack Brown's tenure in Austin. A win would feed a storyline we're all comfortable with and give further hope that this group is starting to turn a corner all on its own. A loss would send us all back to the drawing board, wondering if the best has passed us by.
 
Baylor fires Morriss

Move comes after Bears' 12th straight losing season

Posted: Sunday November 18, 2007 3:02PM; Updated: Sunday November 18, 2007 3:52PM

WACO, Texas (AP) -- Baylor coach Guy Morriss was fired Sunday, a day after the Bears finished their 12th consecutive losing season with their 12th straight Big 12 loss.
Morriss was unable to produce a winning record in his five seasons, going 18-40 overall and 7-33 in conference games. He had a year left on his contract.
Athletic director Ian McCaw said he told Morriss of the decision Sunday. The move had been anticipated for several weeks.
The leading candidate to replace Morriss is Baylor icon Mike Singletary, a linebacker for coach Grant Teaff and the Bears from 1977-80. Singletary was selected to 10 straight Pro Bowls during his 12 seasons with the Chicago Bears and was elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
"I want to publicly express my appreciation to coach Morriss for his contributions to the Baylor football program," McCaw said in a statement from the Waco campus. "The football program is on a more solid foundation than it was when he arrived at Baylor."
The Bears (3-9, 0-8 Big 12) ended their season with a 45-14 home loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday night. Morriss met with the players Sunday afternoon after he was fired.
"I would like to thank them publicly for their hard work and efforts on the field as well as in the classroom," Morriss said in a statement. "I believe the football program is in better condition now than when I inherited it. I wish Baylor well in all future endeavors."
Baylor interviewed Singletary before hiring Morriss five years ago, but Singletary had no coaching experience then. He does now.
Singletary is in his third season as assistant head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, who played at home Sunday. He was an assistant in Baltimore two seasons before that and has interviewed for three NFL head coaching jobs, including the Dallas Cowboys last winter.
Other potential candidates are Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, who has strongly denied reports that this will be his last year with the Razorbacks, Houston coach Art Briles and Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora.
McCaw said a national search would begin immediately, and that there was "no precise timetable" to name the new coach. He wouldn't comment on potential candidates.
Whoever replaces Morriss faces a difficult task.
Baylor's 12 consecutive losing seasons have all come under the four coaches since Teaff left in 1992 after 128 victories and eight bowl appearances in 21 seasons.
The Bears are the only Big 12 team without a bowl appearance since the conference's inception in 1996. Only two teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences have gone longer without a bowl, but Indiana (7-5) is expected to play its first postseason game in 14 years and Vanderbilt (5-6) can get bowl eligible by winning its regular-season finale.
This was the fourth time Baylor didn't win a league game. Only two other teams have gone 0-8 in the Big 12 -- Kansas in 2002 and Iowa State in 2003.
When asked after Saturday's game what needed to be done to make Baylor a winner, Morriss didn't give an answer.
"I don't know if I have enough time right now to answer that," Morriss said. "I'd have to give that some thought."
There were some positive accomplishments under Morriss, a 15-season NFL lineman who was 9-14 in two seasons at Kentucky before taking the Baylor job.
Baylor beat two-time defending North Division champion Colorado in Morriss' conference debut in 2003. The coach also delivered the first Big 12 road victory, in 2005 at Iowa State, and then last year the Bears won three Big 12 games in the same season for the first time.
But the Bears had 37 turnovers this season and their 33 conferences losses under Morriss were by an average margin of four touchdowns.
"You keep thinking any week now it's going to click, and it just never did," Morriss said. "We just couldn't get it going."
 
How the Horns could end up in San Antonio

By John Bridges | Sunday, November 18, 2007, 02:06 PM
That is, in San Antonio for the Dec. 1 Big 12 championship game, not the Alamo Bowl (which, mercifully, doesn’t seem to be in the Longhorns postseason picture this year).
Oklahoma’s loss to Texas Tech on Saturday created havoc in the Big 12 South, giving the Horns several ways of making the Big 12 championship game. All of those ways start with Oklahoma losing to Oklahoma State on Saturday. Should the Sooners win in Norman, they head to the title game, no questions asked. The Sooners hold a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Longhorns based on their victory last month in Dallas.
Where things get interesting is if the Sooners lose to Oklahoma State. Should that happen, OU would have a 5-3 conference record. A Longhorn victory over Texas A&M puts Texas at 6-2 in Big 12 play and makes them the Big 12 South champs.
And here’s the real oddity: Based on our reading of the Big 12 tiebreaker procedures, the Longhorns would be the South representative in the title game if both Texas and Oklahoma lose their regular-season finales. How does that work? Follow along carefully.
First, losses by Texas and Oklahoma this weekend would create a three-way tie, with Oklahoma State also having a 5-3 conference record. That would put this three-way tiebreaker procedure into play:
If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 7 will be followed until a determination is made. If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.
1. The records of the three teams will be compared against each other.
That’s fine, but it wouldn’t solve the problem. Texas, OU and OSU would all be 1-1 against each other (Texas over OSU, OSU over OU, OU over Texas).
2. The records of the three teams will be compared within their division.
Again, they’d still be tied, since all three teams would be 3-2 within the division.
3. The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish - 4, 5 and 6.
OK, now it gets confusing, because at this point Tech and A&M would be tied for fourth in the South with 4-4 records. We assume that conference officials would then apply a head-to-head tiebreaker and declare Tech the fourth-place team. If that’s the case, then Oklahoma is eliminated from the three-way tie by its loss to Tech. (Both Texas and OSU defeated Tech.) With OU out of the picture, the head-to-head tiebreaker would kick in. Texas would prevail, based on its last-second win at Oklahoma State.
4. The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
It shouldn’t come to this, and, even if it did, it wouldn’t settle things. The only common opponents for all three are Tech, Baylor and A&M. All three are 2-1.
5. The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big 12 regular-season (intra-) conference play shall be the representative.
Lord help us if it reaches this point. That brings the BCS computers into play, and nobody but Jerry Palm would get any satisfaction out of that.
6. The team with the best overall winning percentage shall be the representative.
7. The representative will be chosen by draw.
If that doesn’t solve, it the next step appears to be rock, paper, scissors.
 
Aplous--No.

Maybe this week though. I'm a bit more energized this week. I was simply burned out last week and tired of getting my head kicked in. Maybe this week. I do plan on playing the Bowls, though.
 
Dorrell's Playing Of Race Card Was Predictable
By Nestor Section: Football
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 03:31:18 PM EDT


I hope no one here is surprised that Karl Dorrell has offically decided to play the race card before leaving UCLA. And no the reporters and columnists are not playing the race card for him. They are doing it because to me it is pretty apparent that are being goaded to do it by Dorrell himself.

Is this the first time we have seen the hint of race card from Dorrell? No.

Race card was evidently in play when Dorrel was hired in Westwood. Once again let's got back to Jason Whitlock's seminal article on the hiring of Dorrel (emphasis mine throughout):
But what really caught my attention and raised my skepticism was the Los Angeles Daily News' account of how and why Dorrell landed the job. Dorrell did absolutely nothing wrong. The newspaper story just made me question exactly what the UCLA athletics department was thinking.

According to the L.A. Daily News, "Dorrell is viewed as young, handsome, fit, energetic, bright and, of course, African-American."


Take out the adjective "fit" and it sounds like I could've been UCLA's new coach. I don't think Larry Coker, Frank Beamer or Ralph Friedgen were ever young and handsome or, of course, African-American.

But the L.A. Daily News quoted a source close to the search as saying, "In today's day and age, having an African-American football coach represent your university has the potential to pay incredible dividends for the university. It's a whole brand new ballgame now."

Michigan State is still waiting to collect on those incredible dividends. What, is Trent Lott proposing legislation for kickbacks to universities with young, handsome, fit, energetic, bright and, of course, African-American head football coaches?

And the L.A. Daily News story wrapped up with this valuable bit of insight: "According to a source close to the search, Dorrell, dressed in a stylish dark suit and white shirt, had an extremely impressive interview" with UCLA's chancellor.

Why not just go out and hire Denzel? He did a great job in "Remember the Titans."


I hope Dorrell can coach football. Because I'm not confident the people he'll be working for know a damn thing about football. They won't be any help. Greg Robinson should've never been a candidate. Mike Riley, the other finalist, shouldn't have been a candidate either. He's never won anywhere and, obviously, judging by the jobs he's turned down, doesn't want the responsibility of being a head coach.

The Bruins return a great deal of talent and are expected to contend for the Pac 10 title next season. I pray Dorrell didn't just step into some ... stuff. Because if he's not ready, if he's unsuccessful at UCLA, black assistant coaches will be hearing his name, not Willingham's, every time a high-profile job becomes available.
And that is the truth. Before any one pipes up nationally on behalf of Karl Dorrell and how he has allegedly not been given a fair shake at UCLA, just think for a moment how what Dorrell is doing now will play into the minds of athletic directors around the country, when they are in position to make a decision on whether or not hire young African American head coaches. What Dorrell is doing right now will actually hurt the prospect for more African American coaches being hired in college football than helping it.

Oh and following his hiring Dorrell continued to hint or subtly play the race card issue few more times before this weekend to make excuses for his below average performance as the UCLA head coach. Remember this comment to TSN's Matt Hayes leading up to 2005-06 season:Then came the e-mails, the hurtful, embarrassing and, yes, threatening e-mails. This is what happens when the guy across town recaptures the glory and the Bruins are losing to the Fresno States and Wyomings of the world.

"If they could've hanged me," Dorrell says, "they would've."
Call me cynical. But I still don't believe it was a coincidence that Dorrell used the "hanging" non chalantly. He knew exactly what he was doing in making that statement. He was setting it all up for what we have seen in subsequent years. He knew he did not have the experience and the competence to be the head coach of UCLA football. And then there was this from T J Simers of the LA Times earlier this season:Before beating Northwestern to cap a 10-2 campaign, Dorrell suggested he might never get a fair shake because of his race -- the only race concerning me, though, was the one he was losing to cross-town rival USC.
So it is amusing to see lot of people shocked that Dorrell is playing the race card.

This was just about as predictable as performance of Dorrell "coached" football team that underachives every season. Unfortunately as mentioned above Dorrell's actions will end up hurting the cause of African American coaches in college football than helping. And in the process Karl Dorrell has done something that was unthinkable even days ago: he has shown himself to be an individual that is more shameless and selfish than Steve Lavin.

GO BRUINS.
 
It's Official

Daily:
Lloyd Carr, the third-winningest coach in Michigan football history, will announce his retirement after 12-plus seasons as the Wolverines' head coach, players confirmed today.

The official announcement will likely come Monday morning at a 10 a.m. press conference held at the Junge Champions Center.

Carr told his players of his decision at a team meeting this afternoon.

"He's not going to be here any longer, but he enjoyed the moments that he had to spend with us," senior linebacker Chris Graham said. "It's a sad thing to hear, but I enjoyed every moment of being here with him. He's a great coach to me. He's like another father figure. Just having him here is the whole reason why I came."​
More tomorrow.
 
Alright, here are my leans so far looking at the lines:

MTSU +11'
USC -3
Colorado -6
CMU -2'
Colorado St -3
Arkansas +13
Boise +5
Aggy +6
UConn +17
UCF -18'
Mizzou +3 (if it comes back)
Duke +17
Scarry +3
Tenn +3
Alabama +7 (if it comes back)
Georgia -3
New Mexico -10'
Temple +11'
Va Tech -3 (if it comes)
Notre Dame +3'
USM -13
 
Sunday Quarterback Rallies for the Win
By SMQ
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 06:47:49 PM EDT


The Worldwide Leader and its network counterpart played up a couple scoops on eminent coaching changes Saturday, first via Mark May's "sources," who confirmed for the studio-bound non-reporter that Houston Nutt would not be back in charge of Arkansas in 2008. The rest of the day, the omnipresent scrolling ticker told us "ESPN has learned" Lloyd Carr "is expected" to announce his retirement at a press conference Monday.
mark-may-00-display.jpg

Thank you, Mark, for that anomously-sourced, three-day-old, thirdhand report.
- - -

It's not just that both of stories were on relatively high profile blogs during the week, though any of the thousands of regular EDSBS and MGoBlog readers could have hardly missed either of them. It's this ridiculous veneer that "ESPN has learned" something. ESPN has learned Lloyd Carr plans to announce his reitrement because Brian said as much last Monday, a full week ahead of the event, citing three athletic department sources, and both the Ann Arbor News and very mainstream CBS columnist Dennis Dodd addressed the issue, the latter specifically citing MGo (albeit with an annoying "it's a blog" qualifier). ESPN? No attribution; at some point, just six days after the first hard report, the network just "learned" from unknown means (not even anonymous "sources") Carr was expected to step down. Not that he will step down, which would be technically new information, but that he is expected to step down. Which is perhaps six-months-old information, really. (The retirement was confirmed, by the way, by the Ann Arbor News this morning).
Similarly, the odds that Mark May independently "learned" of Houston Nutt's (also widely expected) impending resignation are about as good as the odds May will ever come off as a likeable, neighborly sort of guy. Nutt's resignation isn't even secondhand: Mssr. Swindle's "breaking" post, which is almost certainly what prompted May's producer to put the old lineman on the case (or make the calls himself and feed the "news" to May; I don't know how this works in TV, which I assume is as deceitful as possible all the time) was a very bloggy, reader-tipped link to a TV station in Arkansas, which presumably had done the actual reporting despite vague attribution to anonymous "multiple sources" its own self (again: personality-based TV news=sketchy). Neither is mentioned in May's breakout journalistic coup, as if we're expected to believe talking head Mark May spends time randomly calling sources around the country and finally unearthed a big one on his own.
This is nothing new. It's just another Internet broadside against a monolith that acts like no other outlet counts, even when everything it "learns" is because it's being taken to school on the ground.
Onwards...
SMQ WATCHED...
...with various degrees of vigilance...
Ohio State 14 Michigan 3
- - -
Bad conditions probably played a significant factor here, as you can see in this second quarter footage:

<object height="285" width="345">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J2qeBL3QSQA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="285" width="345"></object></p> But seriously, folks, Woody and Bo were never party to such malfunctioning passing games. I looked for them, and I can’t see that they exist, not on this level:

<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(164, 74, 74) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">
</td> <td align="center">Comp./Att.</td> <td align="center">Yards</td> <td align="center">TD-INT</td> <td align="center">Long</td> <td align="center">1st Downs </td><td align="center">Rating</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right">T. Boeckman</td> <td align="center">7-13</td> <td align="center">50</td> <td align="center">0-1</td> <td align="center">15</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">70.8</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="right">C. Henne</td> <td align="center">11-34</td> <td align="center">68</td> <td align="center">0-0</td> <td align="center">10</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">49.2</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Not included are two dropped shotgun snaps and a comic slip in the pocket by Boeckman and another fumble by Henne, who was sacked more often (four times) than he completed a pass for a first down and leaves Michigan Stadium with easily the worst performance of his career as a swan song. Ditto Mike Hart, saddled with a career low (when he plays a full game) 44 yards and a long of twelve in the third quarter - the Wolverines' longest gain of the game. That, in conjunction with Chris Wells' isolated success, is the story of a one-sided, physical pounding.
hart1.png

That screen capture comes from somewhere deep in the labrynthine comments of MGoBlog's tortured open thread, and may or may not indicate the reality of that specific play; the right side of Michigan's line looks like it could be charging downfield to set up a receiver screen, or it may just be doctored somehow to emphasize the larger reality it perfectly conveys: Michigan did not come close to blocking Ohio State, and though the Wolverine defense was significantly better the vast majority of the time, it was ultimately porous and beaten, too.
And that's it, really. This really was as old school as it looked: with both teams committed to plunging straight ahead as long as it was possible, Ohio State executed its blocks and opened holes for its great back and fouled up the Wolverines' zone rushing attack with aggressive penetration and effective enough zone coverage when Michigan had no choice but to throw - the Wolverines faced ten third or fourth down conversions of ten yards or longer, and made none of them - that Manningham, Mathews and Arrington had nowhere to go on the few occasions they managed to hold on the ball. Michigan came out early committed to achieving balance, dropping to throw eight times in 14 first quarter snaps, but over the game its receivers averaged 6.3 per catch - not per pass attempt, but per reception - and failed to hold on to two consecutive passes at any point over the last 46 minutes; Henne and Ryan Mallett ended the game with eleven consecutive incompletions, almost half of them drops. Michigan had thirteen full, non-half-ending possessions Saturday, and went three or four-and-out on eleven of them.

Snapshot_2007_11_18_12_09_09.tiff

Then again, the way the so-called championship is shaping up, maybe they'd rather go to the Rose Bowl, anyway.
- - -

We'll see over the next two weeks how much blame falls at the feet of the Wolverines' depressing failure to block, throw, catch or execute in any phase, a malaise that will probably send them packing for their second Alamo Bowl in three years, and how much credit is extended to the Buckeyes in the amorphous, petulant and vague popular mind, which will have to consider one-loss OSU against, presumably, a one-loss West Virginia or one-loss Kansas/Missouri champion out of the Big 12, dangerously assuming the latter can hold off Oklahoma (or Texas) in the conference championship. We'll know more about that tonight. For now, there's this: Ohio State's defense will finish the regular season first nationally in passing yards allowed, first in total yards allowed, and first in points allowed, after nearly shutting out an offense that had been held to single digits only once (earlier this year, against Oregon) and never without a touchdown since well before Henne , Hart, Long and Manningham came aboard - since 2002, actually, when the Buckeyes held Michigan to 247 yards in a very similar 14-9 win that sent them to the mythical championship in the Fiesta Bowl. But even that didn't compare to the one-sided hogtie OSU put on the NFL-bound Wolverine talent Saturday. So while Boeckman must be considered a liability at this point (moreso even than Craig Krenzel wasin the day) and the Buckeyes have to spend the next two weeks on the shelf, they should have preserved their role in the final mythical championship discussion, at least. The defense has earned that much. Boston College 20 Clemson 17
- - -
Ultimately, B.C. dominated the second half, but did it so quietly, first down by first down, that it was easy to miss before you see it in black and white:

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"> <caption align="top">B.C. 2nd Half Possessions</caption> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(164, 74, 74) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">Qtr.</td> <td align="center">Poss.</td> <td align="center">Plays</td> <td align="center">Yards</td> <td align="center">Result</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">7:05</td> <td align="center">15</td> <td align="center">48</td> <td align="center">TO on Downs</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">3:40</td> <td align="center">11</td> <td align="center">80</td> <td align="center">Rush TD</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">4</td> <td align="center">4:25</td> <td align="center">11</td> <td align="center">31</td> <td align="center">FG Good</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(234, 234, 234) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">4</td> <td align="center">3:36</td> <td align="center">8</td> <td align="center">71</td> <td align="center">Pass TD</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Before Matt Ryan scrambled out and found Rich Gunnell behind the defense for the winning touchdown, the Eagles had made one play all night longer than fifteen yards, and none longer than twenty; Clemson had four plays longer than 20 yards and the two most explosive players on the field in C.J. Spiller and James Davis, but it did not have the ball - B.C. held possession for 13 minutes longer than the Tigers, mainly by extending those four second half drives on eight third or fourth down conversions. Even the drive that ended with no points took half of the third quarter off the clock and kept Clemson's weapons on the sidelines after they had moved quickly for a field goal on a long drive out of the locker room.
Not that Spiller and Davis were doing any damage against the Eagles' top-ranked run defense, which limited the pair to three-yard average on 24 touches, including the only quasi-big play, a 19-yard run by Spiller that led to a missed field goal. This is the third game this season a defense has put the game on Harper by holding his backs in check, and Clemson is 0-3 in those games: in the Tigers' back-to-back losses earlier in the year, Georgia Tech held the Tigers to 34 yards rushing and Harper threw 39 times; against Virginia Tech the next week, Clemson was down immediately, finished with eight yards on the ground and Harper dropped back 67 times. Saturday, the Tigers netted 47 yards rushing and put the ball up 40 times for the first time since that night against the Hokies. Harper's touchdown-to-interception ratio in those three games: 2:4, as opposed to 27:1 in the Tigers' eight wins, when he's been backed up by the running game.
Snapshot_2007_11_18_18_01_47.tiff

No...no, not again....Yeah, again.
- - -
So the endless gushing about Matt Ryan, H*i*m*n candidate is hyperbole (and probably always has been, for lack of many better options), but his virtue as a winning college quarterback - and a readymade dink-and-dunk passer for a pro league that loves that kind of within-the-offense efficiency - was made clear again in the second half in his ability to manufacture drives without reliable big play options, with a running game averaging 1.8 yards per carry and an offensive line that frequently looked overmatched against Clemson's sleek pass rush. Never underestimate the power of a quarterback - Ryan capped a tough night by improvising his way to the play of the game on third-and-long; Harper, with a chance to answer, couldn't escape or get rid of the ball under pressure and had to take a sack that knocked his team out of position for the tying field goal. To be fair, Harper had no help: his receivers dropped three straight passes on the final drive, his right tackle inexcusab;y missed what should have been an easy block on a blitzing cornerback on the penultimate sack and, after all, Harper had converted a pass on fourth-and-long just to get the Tigers into a position to attempt a kick on the final snap. It was Ryan, though, who found a way outside of the anemic running game and the pedestrian receivers and the freshman left tackle to help himself, fit the pieces of his offense together in a way that exceeded the sum of their parts, and claw into the ACC Championship, which the Eagles deserve. Texas Tech 34 Oklahoma 27
- - -
I indicated after this game that this was the biggest win of Mike Leach's head coaching career - the Raiders' 2002 win over Texas in an almost identical situation, record-wise, is the only one that comes close - in large part because it pushes against the notion that his team can't score against top defenses and anecdotally validates every lovable quirk of Leach's particular philosophy. Graham Harrell threw 72 passes, the Raiders went for it on fourth down twice in the first half (and made it both times), four of six scoring drives took less than two and a half minutes off the clock, two of them taking less than 20 seconds. Keepaway was anathema, more talented opponent be damned; Tech played its aggressive, up-tempo, catch-and-run game from start to finish, never stopping to think about milking a lead, eventually finishing with 16 full possessions - twice as many as we saw in Clemson-Boston College, for example - and more yards and points than the Sooners have allowed in regulation since the controversial loss at Oregon way back in September 2006. It was vintage Tech on a night when only two of Harrell's six dozen passes went for longer than 20 yards, death by a thousand cigarette burns in a game that took a little over four hours to complete.
And it worked, for a half. The Raiders had six drives in the first quarter alone and stormed to 334 yards and 27 points before halftime. After a short field touchdown on the first possession following halftime, the same offense had 109 yards and zero points, failing to pick up a first down most of the fourth quarter. Here, the typical caveats about the Raiders' inability to run the ball or take chunks off the clock with the lead proved true when Oklahoma scored the last 17 points and had more than one chance to complete the comeback (the most notable being Manuel Johnson's apparent touchdown catch on fourth down in the fourth quarter, which would have cut the Tech lead to a single touchdown but was ruled, and upheld, out of bounds).
The real difference here from a typical Raider game wasn't the offense, which was basically what it always is, but the defense, which was uncharacteristically terriffic. A lot of that has to do with Sam Bradford looking on from the sideline, in street clothes, mouth agape, stricken by teenage acne, but even with Joey Halzle running the show, lesser quarterbacks have done better against Tech's D than four three/four-and-outs, seven punts, two turnovers and six points, which was Oklahoma's line on offense through the first three quarters, after which it trailed by three touchdowns. The Sooners did run the ball effectively, averaging 4.7 on 30 carries by DeMarco Murray, Allen Patrick and Chris Brown, but fell behind so quickly that they couldn't afford to be so patient - Tech got pushed around a little, as expected, but not enough to allow a run longer than 12 yards, and that won't get you back in the game when the deficit is growing by the drive.
d295df29-1e23-4a14-937c-091b2f7d0e4b.jpg

As long as you live, as much as you've seen, a fourth quarter comeback attempt by Anthony Morelli is one thing you can never prepare for.
- - -
Michigan State 35 Penn State 31
- - -
It would be premature to call this a real leap for Michigan State, but after another season of close calls and late collapses, to go ahead of a good team late, and hang on to that lead at the end, has to mean something, because the Spartans have not pulled that off in years. The calamitous, siren-inducing meltdowns of the J.L. Smith era seemed to be in the past, true, but MSU had still been done in over and over again by residual choking with chances to win: against Wisconsin, the Spartans rallied to tie the game late at 34, only to lose after missing a field goal to answer a late go-ahead kick by the Badgers, then turning the ball over on downs with a minute to play; against Northwestern, the Spartans allowed NW to run up a season-high 611 yards total offense, losing after failing to answer a Wildcat touchdown in overtime; against Iowa, the Spartans blew a 17-3 lead despite an all-time horror show performance by the Hawkeyes' Jake Christensen, who completed two passes in regulation but somehow led Iowa to a second half comeback and win in double overtime; against Michigan, the Spartans rallied to take a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter against its gimpy, reeling rival, then allowed two touchdowns in the final six minutes to lose 28-24 despite having held the Wolverines to a then-low for the season of 311 yards. Combined with the seven-point setback at Ohio State, all of Michigan State's losses had come down to the final minute, the difference between a possible conference championship and possibly no bowl at all in the crowded Big Ten race just a few plays at the end of a few games, always going against the Spartans, as they seemingly always have. Mark Dantonio may have mitigated the grisly flamboyance of collapse, but the overall principle was the same: Michigan State lost four games it led or was tied in the fourth quarter, ergo the overriding identity of Michigan State football was still one of an otherwise good team made mediocre by its consistent, virtually unbroken failure in the clutch.
This could have easily been the case again Saturday when Penn State, up 24-7 after a quick touchdown to open the second half, weathered back-to-back Spartan touchdowns in the third quarter to extend its lead to 31-21 after a very stereotypical MSU fumble set up a short field for the Lions to punch it in early in the fourth, setting the stage for another Spartan could-have-been that got away en route to 6-6. Instead of flailing, though, for once, State responded: down ten, MSU turned good field position after a kick return into a quick touchdown, forced a three-and-out on defense, and marched 80 yards in 12 plays and nearly seven minute to punch in the go-ahead score with 4:08 to play, essentially the Spartans' fourth touchdown in four tried in the second half. The spark on the winning drive was Jehuu Caulcrick's 17-yard run on a fake punt from the MSU 25, a do-or-die gamble that should have come up `die' when Caulcrick barrelled into a wall of unsurprised Lions, which should have dragged him down three yards short of the first down. But Jehuu Caulcrick has known greater struggle than 4th-and-5; Jehuu Caulcrick will not be cowed by your weak punt return team. He improbably reversed field and lumbered out of the pack for the first down, after which Brian Hoyer connected on passes of 23 and 22 yards on two of the next three snaps and Caulcrick handled the final dozen himself on five straight carries to the end zone.
Penn State still had every chance to stick another dagger in the Spartans' back, one that in all likelihood would have been another death blow to State's spirits for the next nine months, and was quickly on its way, moving to the MSU 24 in seven plays, the last four of them runs covering 30 yards. The Lions called timeout with 1:50, a fresh set of downs, and the win in front of them.
If there's one thing in the Big Ten, though, that can rival Michigan State's consistent ineptitude at the end of a tough game, it's Anthony Morelli's ineptitude in the same situation. In two years as a starter, Morelli had never once brought Penn State from behind in the fourth quarter, and with a golden chance to ride out a hero in his final regular season struggle, the senior wastrue to form: from the 24, Morelli threw four conseuctive incomplete passes, the last a wild, Hail Mary-looking heave out of the end zone to no one in particular. He came back on the field only to complete a desperate, hopeless dump off for about five yards as time expired. It was classic, really.
So, given the circumstances, it was not necessarily a change of character in the Spartans - something had to give, and it was Michigan State's tendency to spit the bit rather than Penn State's under Morelli. But everybody has to start somewhere.
Upwards...
The Shame, The Shame
- - -
Two weeks ago, even after Alabama dropped to 6-3 by losing at LSU, Nick Saban's multi-million dollar star still seemed very much on the rise. The Tide was competitive and had a realistic chance of beating one of the top two or three teams in the country, and had appeared well-coached and opportunistic against far greater talent. At the least, the one thing that wouldn't happen with Saban is a Shula-esque loss of focus on the level of last year's loss to Mississippi State, or the pair of lapses against Louisiana Tech in a three-year span under Mike DuBose.
And hey, it's not like Saban's team was run over by UL-Monroe – 'Bama outgained the War Hawks by 209 yards. The difference in the game, clearly, was four turnovers, especially the one that set up Monroe's second touchdown from a yard out, and turnovers are correctable, right? Right?
9a93ac3e-436a-4e00-927d-4be44fa65c3b.jpg

No?
- - -
It may be that Alabama's problems are deeper, more intrinsic than originally imagined, especially its tendency to give the ball away to inferior teams a) at the end of long potential scoring drives and b) in immediate scoring position, two problems that have reared their heads in each of the pair of disastrous losses the last two weeks. In one sense – making the Tide competitive again in the SEC – Saban is on schedule, having beaten Arkansas and routed Tennessee and taken Georgia to overtime and played LSU into the final minute. Unless you were expecting championships or something off 6-7, that's a perfectly acceptable record in a "baby steps" kind of way.
But the last two weeks, against alleged fodder, have been straight up Shula/DuBose levels of flat. This is how honeymoons end and harsh, four million-dollar demands start cropping up, and games like next Saturday's against Auburn are life and death: a third straight loss drops Bama to 6-6, extends the Tigers' in-state winning streak to six and, with at least nine other SEC teams qualified for a bowl, probably keeps the Tide at home in December. Like, again. Welcome to hell, coach.
On the bright side: Minnesota's first-year coach, on the other hand, may have ended his debut season on its highest note. Yes, the Gophers blew a second half lead at home by allowing three fourth quarter touchdowns to Wisconsin, their tenth straight defeat and a sobering cap on a winless season in the Big Ten. But Minnesota did hold the Badgers to 443 yards in the process – 325 rushing, a mere 118 through the air – and thus end the season allowing 518.67 yards per game, 0.95 yards per game better than the worst defense of the decade, 2002 Eastern Michigan. So when they ask you how that first year went, coach, you can tell them, after a season on the edge, "We weren't the worst of the decade." And that's something they can never take away.
 
Coach: Punished Rebels twice stole items from hotels

Posted: Sunday November 18, 2007 6:44PM; Updated: Sunday November 18, 2007 6:44PM
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi put 20 players on probation Sunday after they twice stole items from hotels.
A news release said the players have paid for the items, which included radios and pillows. Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said in the release that the players will be on probation indefinitely.
Officials said the items stolen cost between $15 and $40.
"Any actions similar to this will result in more severe penalties which may include dismissal from the team," Orgeron said in the release.
The action comes a day after the Rebels lost 41-24 to No. 1 LSU in Oxford. It appears the players will be allowed to play Friday at Mississippi State in the final game of the season.
A spokesman said a list of disciplined players was not available. Neither Orgeron nor athletic director Pete Boone immediately returned messages Sunday. Boone is scheduled to attend Orgeron's weekly news conference Monday to answer questions about the disciplinary action.
It was not clear from the release when or where the items were stolen. Ole Miss stays in hotels for home and away games. When they play in Oxford, they stay at a hotel in nearby Tupelo on Friday nights to get away from distractions.
This is at least the fourth disciplinary action Orgeron has taken this season. He reinstated Greg Hardy last week after suspending the defensive end for two games. Offensive linemen Corey Actis and John Jerry were docked starts. Orgeron has said in those cases team rules were broken, not the law.
Orgeron also suspended four players and dismissed another last season after police caught them smoking marijuana. Only one of the four suspended returned to the team this season.
Ole Miss' NCAA compliance officer said in the statement that the players disciplined Sunday do not face sanctions.
"Since the student-athletes have made restitution, there are no NCAA rules violations," said David Wells, senior associate athletics director for compliance.
 
Adding:

Boise St +4'

Had to hit this now as the line is going to 4 everywhere. Feel confident that Boise is the superior team here and Hawaii has been living lucky. Obviously don't like the fact that this game is in Hawaii, but think the Broncos handle business.
 
BCS Release Open Thread
By Jake Section: Football
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 07:51:26 PM EDT


I usually don't post about this, but today, I figured why not. The FOX guys will roll out the new rankings here in a few minutes. I'm interested to see how far the Ducks fall.

Update [2007-11-18 19:58:51 by Jake]: Here we go:
<hr> 1. LSU 2. Kansas
3. West Virginia
4. Missouri
5. Ohio State
6. Arizona State
7. Georgia
8. Virgina Tech
9. Oregon
10. Oklahoma



-------------------


I think that WVU has the easiest path to the MNC game as they do not have to play in a championship game and don't face as tough an opponent in the finale as either Kansas or LSU.
 
Kansas - Missouri Goes National, Primetime

Posted Nov 18th 2007 7:32PM by Brian Grummell
Filed under: Kansas Football, Big 12, Missouri Football, Breaking News, The Word
kansas-wide-425.jpg

For the first time since the 1800's, I suppose.
It's now official: The Border War game will be a primetime, national affair. Kansas University officially learned that KU's football game Saturday against No. 6 Missouri will kick off at 7 p.m. and be televised by ABC.
It's a full national telecast, too, meaning that 100 percent of ABC affiliates across the country will air the game.
I doubt anyone saw that coming before the season, huh? Throw in Oklahoma's upset loss to Texas Tech and the cherry on top for both of these teams is a visit from ESPN College GameDay.
The stakes are obviously quite high. The winner will ascend to the Big 12 Championship Game and a shot at a BCS bowl appearance if they beat the champion of the Big 12 South (likely Oklahoma or Texas). It could be extra special for Kansas which has a fairly good shot at playing in the BCS National Championship Game if it can win twice more.
Personally, I'm thrilled. This could play out a lot like a regular season BCS Bowl game. It's good for the game and good for these oft-struggling teams having among the best seasons in school history. It could also be a Heisman Trophy showcase game for both quarterbacks: Missouri's Chase Daniel and Kansas' Todd Reesing.
 
The Destructive Egoism of Karl Dorrell
By Guest Blogger Section: Diaries
Posted on Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 08:43:25 PM EDT


Bruin Blue expands on the point of Dorrell being nothing but a selfish and shameless jerk. GO BRUINS. -N

Dorrell knows exactly what he is doing . He is desperately trying to keep his high-paying, prestigious job. He doesn't care what he has to do to keep it, or what damage he might do to UCLA, its prestige, and its alumni base, if he ends up being fired. It's all about Dorrell, and it has always been.

I have always believed, and still believe, that Dorrell actually thinks he has done a very good job as coach. You can call this denial, you can call it arrogance, or you can call it stupidity. I happen to think that it is all three. But in all the comments he has made over the five seasons, you can see this thread running through them--that he has done the job, that it is other people who are failing. He's scapegoated a whole bunch of assistant coaches. He's blamed the players, basically saying that it's not his fault if they don't do what he has prepared them to do, and that he is sleeping well at night. And now he is essentially blaming society, or UCLA fans, or maybe the administration, for forcing him to play on a playing field that is not fair to him. It is really just more of the same, except that now he is indicting more than just his own players and assistants.

I am surprised that more people did not comment about what I think was an extraodinary meeting that Dorrell apparently arranged with his current recruit prospects. Was that nothing more than his effort to use them as a wedge against an administration which might think twice about firing him if the recruits were more loyal to him than to UCLA? Yes, he apparently told them that they are playing for UCLA, etc.; but I have never heard of a beleaguered coach doing such a thing, and the goal is completely obvious, to me, at least. Again, Dorrell will do anything he can to save this job, which he must somewhere realize is the best one he will ever have.

What angers me so much is that UCLA football is not about Karl Dorrell, who never, ever should have been hired as head coach. It is about all the students, alumni and fans who follow the team so closely; who go to the games if they can, or watch them if they can't; who at least figuratively live and die with the program, and who have been cheated out of five more years of enjoying it. And I absolutely guarantee you that Dorrell does not care one whit for any of them who are not his personal friends; he cares for himself, and a few of his assistant buddies, and that's about it. Just because someone is soft-spoken and seemingly polite, does not make him a great guy, as some think. He has lied to certain players; he has unfairly castigated some; he has callously fired assistants whose failings were easily as much his fault as theirs; he has acted as if all of us should be completely happy and satisfied with the pathetic product which he has given us over the last five years. There has never been one iota from Dorrell about how UCLA football should be accomplishing so much more--oh, yes; except for when he was hired, and he talked about winning the conference in the first season.

So now, even this endgame will be tainted by Dorrell's manifestations of utter self-interest. UCLA may end up being afraid to fire him if he can win one of the last two games. Or, as other schools have done, they may feel pressured to hire another African-American to replace him, to prove that there is not a taint of racism here. That of course would be DeWayne Walker, who would then de facto be our second affirmative action hire, as his credentials are as flimsy as Dorrell's. Or Dorrell's comments could help create a firestorm which would turn off potential top coaching prospects, and even lose us some recruits for now and in the future.

Let's see how strong-willed and brave Dan Guerrero and the rest of the athletic administration can be in the next few weeks. Let's find out if there is even one person in the L.A. mainstream media who will write what should be written--that Dorrell is incompetent and should be fired--and thus give even a little cover to our administration if and when they do. Let's see exactly what kind of coaching search we go through if Dorrell actually does not save his job. I will say one thing--that the very fact that there is still this countersurge in support of Dorrell is simply more evidence of how incredibly far we have to go to change the mindset in Westwood--a mindset which Dorrell has played for all it is worth from the very first day he was even considered for the job.
 
Not Even Morphine Can Help This Bama Team

by auburn91 Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 08:31:37 PM EDT

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com
<table align="right"><tbody><tr><td>
saban2.jpg
</td></tr></tbody></table>What a wild weekend – and I’m not just talking about on the field. I had a kidney stone attack at about 2 a.m. on Saturday morning and spent last night in the hospital. It was my first visit to a hospital as an honored guest. I was sent home this afternoon with painkiller and told to be ready to "pass it" sometime this week. And Alabama thought they were having a bad day.
As I lay in my morphine-induced state last night, I looked up at the television and saw the following: Louisiana-Monroe 21 – Alabama 14.
At that point, I realized how really good morphine can feel. Surely I was dreaming. I found out this morning otherwise.
Say what you will about Auburn. But this proud program has never lost to such a dreadful team. Alabama can spin this anyway they want; but they are in worst shape today than they were a year ago.
Many have speculated whether it will have an effect on Saturday’s Iron Bowl. Most believe it will not. I disagree.
This is a devastating loss for the Alabama program. It’s arguably the worst defeat in the school’s history. You don’t rebound from a loss like that in a week.
There’s no way Alabama recovers.
Don’t get me wrong. Auburn will still have to play well to win. But rarely does the better team lose. Auburn is clearly the better team this season.
Alabama fans have to be asking themselves today whether or not they hired the right person. At $4 million a year, there’s zero tolerance for a loss like what Alabama suffered on Saturday.
Can Nick Saban turn the Bama program around? Will he fail again like he did in Miami? Those are all questions that must be answered.
After all, not even Mike Shula brought Alabama down this far.
Let the games begin. It’s officially Iron Bowl Week.
 
Redux: Kansas 45, Iowa State 7

by CrossCyed Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 08:30:29 PM EDT

Well, I came into yesterday with big hopes of possibly upsetting Kansas. The game started out with a three-and-out that gave me hope, but it really went downward from there.
We got dominated in every aspect of the game, save punting. There's really not much point in recapping with nothing to look forward to this season.
This game did signal a changing of the guard. Out are quarterback Bret Meyer and receiver Todd Blythe. In are Austen Arnaud and Marquis Hamilton. Meyer went out the way I'll remember him, missing receivers. Blythe went out with only a couple of catches. I really do believe Arnaud will be a better quarterback than Meyer. We saw a sweet double-deke form Marquis on a great cornerback in Aqib Talib.
For now, we can look ahead to the future. We return most on offense, including the entire line, everyone at runningback and H-back. We do lose a dependable receiver in Ben Barkema, but it's not like we threw to him anyways. Needless to say, I don't think we'll lose a whole bunch there.
On defense, we do lose our two interior lineman, our two outside linebackers, as well as Caleb Berg. We'll find out how good of recruiters the new coaching staff really is, though.
All in all, it was a disappointing start to the season that hit a high point and finished a little disappointingly. But, with Gene Chizik, the future remains bright.
 
LSU Doesn't Want to Play Georgia

Posted Nov 18th 2007 9:45PM by Andy Katzer
Filed under: Georgia Football, LSU Football, Tennessee Football, SEC
skip-bertman-2-ak-180.jpg
At least that's what can be inferred from LSU athletic director Skip Bertman, who was "noticeably excited" upon hearing about Tennessee's comeback win against Vanderbilt. Either Bertman (pictured, noticeably excited in his days as LSU's baseball coach) is a big Phil Fulmer fan, or he sees the Vols as easier fodder for his team in the SEC championship game -- as long as Tennessee continues to win, they'll face LSU in Atlanta, a Vol loss would send the 'Dawgs to the Georgia Dome. CBS Sportsline senior writer Gary Parrish says:
t's probably better for the Tigers to stay away from the red-hot Bulldogs, or at least that's what I gathered from the reaction of LSU athletic director Skip Bertman, who was noticeably excited here in the press box when he heard the Vols had stormed back and won.
But Georgia blogger Senator Blutarsky, who has a dog in this fight (so to speak), has the appropriate reaction at his site:
You might want to dial back on the excitement, Skip. Your team just gave up 466 yards to the 90th ranked team in the country in total offense (Ole Miss moved up seven slots in the eleventh week of the season - which is statistically significant - thanks to LSU). Tennessee is ranked 59th right now in total offense. The Vols are number 67 in total defense, which doesn't sound too impressive - except Ole Miss is ranked #96. None of which is to say that Georgia isn't playing some impressive football right now. It's just that LSU may not be.​
For the record, Georgia is ranked 71st in total offense right now, a few slots behind Tennessee. Bertman might also want to consider the fact that Tennessee beat Georgia pretty handily earlier this season. It's all moot for the moment anyway, as neither UT or UGA has punched a ticket to the championship game yet. And even though LSU has, they may want to keep in mind that they have a game this weekend against Arkansas a team with an offense statistically way better than either Tennessee or Georgia (#20 in total offense nationally, #4 in rushing offense).

If LSU doesn't play any better this weekend than they played the first half against Ole Miss, they might have their hands full against the Hogs.
 
Longhorns-Aggies Game Week: Preview Part 2 - Anatomy Of An Upset

by HornsFan Sun Nov 18, 2007 at 10:53:16 PM EDT

Now that we've set the stage for Saturday's game, let's talk about the actual football. Texas A&M is 6-5 on the season, 3-4 in conference play. Among the wins, two should be considered respectable - a one-point win in College Station over Oklahoma State and a 22-point win over Nebraska in Lincoln. Wins over Baylor and Fresno State are expected wins, while Montana State and Louisiana-Monroe are more or less throwaways. (Even with Alabama's choke job against UL-M this weekend, they can't be considered a victory of note.)
We all know A&M's had a rough season, but without watching all of their games this year - as I have not - it's not been totally clear why. So let's start with a look at the game-by-game, big picture numbers, excluding A&M's two throwaway contests. The below chart shows A&M's yards per carry and quarterback rating in each game, as well as that of their opponents.
aggiepreview1.JPG

The chart makes clear Texas A&M has struggled in a number of ways, but one of the most glaring issues has been the Aggies' inability to put together a complete game on either side of the football (let alone across the board). That probelm is a little easier to see with some color aids, so take a look at the below "translated" chart, where the cutoff for a good ("Yay!") rushing day for A&M is above 4.0 yards per carry and a good ("Yay!") passing day is defined by a passer rating above 125. Conversely, a good day for the A&M rushing defense is defined by holding the opponent's offense below 4.0 yards per carry or a 125 passer rating.
aggiepreview2.JPG

Three times this year (at Miami, vs Kansas, at Missouri), A&M has performed poorly in three of the four facets of the game. Once (at Oklahoma) they performed poorly in all facets. <ins>In no games against reasonable competition have they performed well in three or four facets of the game.</ins> Obviously, that's not good.
Let's look a little deeper, though. I didn't expect much from the Aggie defense this season, but I did think this Aggie offense would shape up to be a difficult one to deal with. On occasion, it has been, but overall, the unit has not produced as well as many thought it would. Though the team rushing averages are eerily identical to last season, I did notice one big difference. Take a look.
aggiepreview3.JPG

Though A&M's overall rushing production hasn't dipped in 2007, there've been some interesting changes in distribution. Most notably, Michael Goodsen's production per play has dropped by nearly a third, from 6.7 yards per attempt all the way down to a pedestrian 4.5. After a phenomenal freshman season, Goodsen - reportedly playing through a series of minor injuries - simply hasn't had the breakout year many predicted. The big runs which helped make him such a phenomenal freshman have largely disappeared.
With Goodsen not providing big plays for the offense, there's been additional pressure on the passing game to provide plays that move the football chunks at a time. But quarterback Stepehen Mcgee, though once again rushing the football well this year, has been the team's biggest weakness on offense. Once more, to the charts:
aggiepreview4.JPG

While last year McGee performed the role of solid complement to the rushing attack, this season he's been atrocious, as his completion percentage, yards per attempt, TD-INT ratio, and QB rating have taken a significant dip. With no big plays from Goodsen and no ability to pass the football - while often playing from behind - the Aggies have suffered.
<ins>Anatomy Of An Upset</ins>
All this is good news for Texas, right? Not necessarily: the Aggies beat Texas last season with just 13 pass attempts among their 64 offensive plays, finishing the day with nearly 250 yards rushing while holding the ball for over 35 minutes of the game. In other words, McGee wasn't a passing threat against Texas last year, either.
But Michael Goodsen sure was. On A&M's opening drive of the game, the speedy freshman took a 3rd and 1 rush to the right outside edge, turned the corner, and scored on a 41-yard touchdown to put his team up 6-0. Playing with a lead against a Texas team with a broken running game and an over-dependency on its quarterback (who was playing hurt), the conditions were absolutely perfect for an Aggie-style game.
Which it was. Texas A&M stuffed Texas' feeble running game, dared the weak-armed McCoy to beat them (he couldn't), and ate up the clock on offense with run after run after run. The Texas defense, which entered the game second in the nation against the run, could not push A&M off the field on third down. If there was one stat which told the story of last year's game against Texas A&M, it was the third down conversions: the Aggies converted 10 of 16, Texas just 2 of 9.
<ins>Repeating The Upset</ins>
Though I'll preface this by saying that Texas did not deserve to win last year (and A&M did what they needed to do), it's worth emphasizing that the Aggies squeaked out a narrow victory under optimal conditions. Though they get this year's game in College Station, the Aggie offense remains one-dimensional, the defense continues to struggle, and the Longhorns are far more offensively mature than they were a year ago.
Heading into Friday's game, that last point has to be the cause of greatest concern for A&M. Though the Texas defense has limped down the finish line, the Longhorn offense seemingly has rounded into shape, highlighted by a near-flawless performance against Texas Tech in Austin. Assuming Jamaal Charles' ankle is at full-strength by Friday, 12 points will not be enough to fuel an Aggie win this year. Unfortunately for A&M, their team is ill-suited to beat good teams in any game that isn't dictated by A&M's tempo. In short: if Texas' offense is working well, the Aggies won't be able to keep up.
The keys for A&M to make a game of this, then?
1) Don't fall behind early. Texas A&M has struggled mightily this year when playing from behind, and they will again on Friday if it comes to that. Critical to their success is creating a game where each team is laboring through long drives and battling hard for points. The Aggie offense with a lead is a vastly different beast than the Aggie offense trying to catch up.
2) Rough up McCoy. Texas' offensive improvement of late has come about as McCoy has become an improvisational wizard of sorts, keeping the ball on runs, Stephen McGee-ing his way to tough rushing yards, and creating offense with his uncanny scrambling ability. Teams that have beat Texas in the last two years have largely done so with success getting to and knocking around the Longhorn quarterback. When McCoy is comfortable in the game, darting about making plays, the Texas offense works. When he's been hit hard and playing like a man who knows he might get knocked out at any moment, the offense has faltered.
3) Be opportunistic. With so little ability to move the ball through the air, the Aggie offense has to take advantage of every good opportunity presented to it. If they get a short field via special teams or turnover, they've got to put points on the board. A&M simply can't afford to play the game assuming that 10, 15, 20 points will win it. If I'm coaching the Aggies, I'm aggressively seeking points when they're available. The Longhorns' weakness right now is on defense, not offense.
4) Make Texas one-dimensional. Last, I think the only sane strategy for A&M on defense is to commit wholly to stopping the run. I'd commit eight defenders to the box, send defenders to the backfield like I'm Duane Akina, and see what I could do to disrupt Jamaal Charles and/or Colt McCoy. The most sensible overarching strategy for making Texas uncomfortable has to revolve around putting the 'Horns in a situation where they need to take advantage of opportunities down the field to exploit your defense. That's the one area that Colt McCoy and Greg Davis remain vulnerable, and it's where I'd center my strategy if I were A&M. Make Davis beat you with a gameplan that requires vertical passing plays. Make McCoy execute it. Try your best to take away everything else.
In Part 3 of the preview series, we'll look at what Texas needs to do to secure a victory.
 
Les than certain

With Carr leaving, is Miles a lock to lead Michigan?

Posted: Sunday November 18, 2007 9:27PM; Updated: Sunday November 18, 2007 9:27PM

<table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnimgadpad" width="100%">
Carr.jpg

Lloyd Carr won five Big Ten titles, the 1997 national championship and 121 games. But his 6-7 record against Ohio State will be the measuring stick of his Michigan tenure.
Michael Sackett/Icon SMI


</td></tr></tbody></table><table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td width="100%"><table class="cnniebox" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="middle"><td class="cnnietitlesq" width="22">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnietitle" width="99%">RELATED</td></tr><tr><td class="cnniecontent" colspan="2">• Carr set to announce retirement from UM

</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td width="100%">
</td></tr></tbody></table><table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnimgadpad">
advertisement_down.gif
<noscript>
</noscript>
</td></tr><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnstoryclpad">
</td></tr></tbody></table>It's not every day that the head coaching job at the nation's all-time winningest program comes open. As a matter of fact, it's only happened four times in the past half-century.
Now that Lloyd Carr has finally revealed this season's worst-kept secret, announcing his intention to retire at season's end, the Michigan coaching job is officially up for grabs. There will be no need, however, to post the vacancy on Monster.com or any coaching-job bulletin board. It's no secret the Wolverines want former letterman Les Miles to come home, just as it's no secret Miles has long coveted that very opportunity.
Whether the long-rumored marriage will ultimately become a reality could be determined by timing, money ... and possibly Darren McFadden.
While Carr's impending retirement announcement has been widely anticipated for more than a year, the event still merits reflection now that it's happening. For the past 13 years, the stoic sideline figure has been nearly as synonymous with Wolverines football as those famous winged helmets. Yes, he was grumpy, and he didn't take kindly to those pesky sideline reporters, but in keeping with the stately portrait of a Michigan football coach as was personified by Bo Schembechler, Carr fit the part almost perfectly.
In the process, he won a lot of football games -- 121 of them to be exact, more than any former Wolverines coach besides legends Schembechler (194) and Fielding Yost (165). The problem, however, was that in recent years, he failed to win the most important games.
The measuring stick by which all Michigan or Ohio State coaches are ultimately measured is their performance against each other. Ever since Jim Tressel's 2001 arrival in Columbus, Carr simply hasn't measured up, losing six of seven meetings. And while Carr delivered Wolverines fans their first national title in nearly 50 years back in his third season (1997), the ensuing decade has seen Michigan fail to return to that perch.
While Carr's teams made frequent visits to their traditional Mecca, the Rose Bowl, including three times in the past four seasons, Wolverines fans watched with frustration as programs like USC, LSU, Texas and, most gallingly, Ohio State, eclipsed theirs in notoriety by reaching a more modern pinnacle: the BCS Championship.
Despite enjoying as visible a national recruiting profile as any school in the country, Michigan has been stuck a rung below the truly elite circle for quite some time now, as evidenced by their string of four straight bowl losses -- including two lopsided Rose Bowl defeats to the Trojans. This season's stunning opening-day loss to I-AA Appalachian State served as the ultimate confirmation of that reality to even the most blinded of Wolverines diehards and seemed to warm a whole lot of previously pro-Carr loyalists to the pending inevitably of a regime change.
Presumably, that hunger for a return to national prominence has been the driving force behind Michigan fans' ever-growing infatuation with Miles, despite the fact he was never fully embraced at his previous school, Oklahoma State, nor had he yet won over Cajun Nation prior to this season, despite a 22-4 start to his tenure.
Truth be told, Miles' popularity in Baton Rouge did not begin to blossom until that noted traitor, Nick Saban, took the Alabama job last January, and seemed to really take off once the preseason No. 2 Tigers flexed their muscle in a Sept. 8 rout of ACC favorite Virginia Tech. It was about that same time that the Miles-to-Ann Arbor rumors began to gain steam. Michigan fans, smarting from a disastrous 0-2 start, could only drool from afar as a team chock-full of five-star recruits began a season-long run at or near the top of the polls, with Miles' brazenly fearless late-game play-calling (the "anti-Carr" approach to football, if you will) playing a direct role in several victories.
1 of 2


1.gif

1.gif


<table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnimgadpad" width="100%">
Miles.jpg

The Wolverines fan base has been clamoring for Les Miles but will the Michigan alum -- or the school -- wait out a long courtship if LSU makes the BCS title game?
AP


</td></tr></tbody></table><table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td width="100%">
</td></tr></tbody></table><table style="clear: both;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="300"><tbody><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnimgadpad">
advertisement_down.gif
<noscript>
</noscript>
</td></tr><tr><td width="10">
1.gif
</td><td class="cnnstoryclpad">
</td></tr></tbody></table>A Schembechler disciple who can recruit with the best of them and isn't afraid to go for it on fourth and 2? To the many Michigan fans soured from watching a few too many blown fourth-quarter leads -- not to mention a few too many Donovan McNabbs or Dennis Dixons running wild on the Wolverines' step-too-slow defense -- it's easy to see why Miles has become such a tempting target.
But it's going to take an unbelievable display of patience by both sides to make it happen.
By announcing his decision on Nov. 19, Carr has paved the way for what could be one of the longest and most awkward coaching courtships in the history of long, awkward coaching courtships. It's long been believed that all it would take is a phone call to summon Miles -- an avowed Michigan Man ("My wife, my first-born, my entire life is marked by my time at Michigan," he told the New York Times recently) whose LSU contract includes a specific Michigan buyout amount ($1.25 million) -- back to his alma mater. That speculation, however, never accounted for the possibility that Miles might be in the midst of national title chase when the job came open.
It's hardly uncommon for coaches to accept new jobs right in the midst of a bowl season. Some, like Cincinnati's Mark Dantonio (to Michigan State) last year, leave right away; others, like Utah's Urban Meyer (to Florida) in 2004 remain to coach their team in the bowl game. But a head coach entertaining suitors in advance of a potential national championship game is unheard of. To this day, Florida State fans blame their 2000 title game loss to Oklahoma in part on then-offensive coordinator MarkRicht's "lack of focus" upon accepting the Georgia job weeks before the game.
It's also not unprecedented for schools to "wait out" their coach of choice while he finishes out his season. Such was the case last year for Alabama, which, after firing Mike Shula on Nov. 27 and after initially getting spurned by both Saban and West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez, spent 37 days in limbo before AD Mal Moore finally money whipped Saban on Jan. 3, following his finale with the Dolphins.
But is Michigan prepared to possibly wait an interminable 51 days, until after the Jan. 7 BCS Championship Game, to decide its future? And perhaps more importantly, can Miles withstand 51 days of endless questions and speculation about his job status, particularly amidst what will be a media circus in New Orleans that first week of January.
That issue may in fact be the single biggest obstacle impeding the Miles-to-Michigan domino. Certainly, there are some financial hang-ups (in addition to the buyout, Miles stands to receive a contractual raise to the $3 million-plus range should he lead LSU to a championship, whereas Michigan reportedly pays Carr about half that), but those kind of things always seem to get worked out. And with the Wolverines expected to receive a New Year's Day bowl berth to either the Capital One or Outback bowls, it's not like they need their new coach to start work anytime soon.
It's the uncertainty and the potential distractions -- the 51 days of repeating "non-denial denials" and leaving recruits at two schools flopping in the wind -- that could ultimately leave Miles with no choice but to turn down his dream employer. That is, assuming Michigan offers him.
By no means is Miles the only football coach in America capable of leading the Michigan Wolverines -- not to mention it's the rare job that would tempt just about anyone in the profession.
Among the men AD Bill Martin would be smart to give a call to if he either can't or won't wait on Miles are Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, a renowned figure in that state for his success both at Central Michigan (winning a MAC title last season) and Division II Grand Valley State (where he won two national championships); Rodriguez, who came awfully darn close to leaving his home state of West Virginia a year ago; or possibly Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden, a Sandusky, Ohio, native whom Ohio State flirted with six years ago before hiring Tressel.
None, however, can enter the equation until Martin at least makes that first call to Miles. Michigan's fan base has made it clear for months that he's their savior-in-waiting, and while there's always the possibility Miles will say no, or that the timing simply won't work out, Wolverines fans would be infuriated if Martin does not at least pursue the possibility. It's kind of like Kentucky's futile attempt to lure Florida coach Billy Donovan last spring -- AD Mitch Barnhart may well have had little chance of landing him, but he had to at least appease Wildcats fans by making the call.
The impending Michigan-Miles standoff actually reminds me of another notable basketball coaching change four years ago. In March of 2003, Kansas coach Roy Williams led his team to the finals of the NCAA tournament all the while engulfed by speculation of his impending return to alma mater North Carolina. No one will soon forget the image of Williams, moments after his team's crushing loss to Syracuse, telling CBS's Bonnie Bernstein, "I don't give a [bleep] about Carolina right now."
Williams took the Carolina job less than a week later.
If the Michigan-Miles flirtation does in fact drag on for what could be more than seven weeks, we'll undoubtedly see similar moments of frustration from Miles -- who, as we know well by now, has far more of a feisty side than Williams.
There's only one event that could relieve much of the uncertainty and kick-start the dominoes a whole lot sooner: An LSU loss. It's no secret the top-ranked Tigers have been living on the edge for much of the season, and it's hardly unrealistic to think they could slip up either Friday against McFadden-led Arkansas (7-4) or in the Dec. 1 SEC championship game against either 8-3 Tennessee or 9-2 Georgia.
In the event LSU finds itself preparing instead for a non-championship bowl game, Miles would have plenty of precedent on his side if he chose to defect (as Saban did in accepting the Dolphins job prior to LSU's 2004 Capital One Bowl trip), and in fact, he might even find it to be in his best interest, considering the anticipated backlash in Baton Rouge should his team fail to fulfill its lofty season-long expectations.
The only question is, would Michigan still want Miles? After all, they've already spent a decade finishing just a step short of greatness.
 
ULM TO LOSE COACH IN WIDESPREAD SALARY ADJUSTMENT

University of Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie is celebrating for a few reasons. Sure, he’s got reason to pop the bubbly because his team beat the Alabama Crimson Tide 21-14 on Saturday. But Weatherbie has 4 million other reasons to celebrate–namely, that he’s going to be paid a salary commensurate to his record after beating the 4 million dollar man himself, Nick Saban.
2046909721_18b2d3cd8d.jpg
Give the man a Mouse. And his 4 million dollars.
“According to the win, I’m undervalued by 97 percent of what I should be paid,” said Weatherbie, who earns a mere $130,000 as the coach of the Warhawks. “I’m looking forward to being paid what I’m truly owed and living out one of my lifelong dreams: buying a Mouse, and then training it to smoke and drink beer.”
ULM had no formal statement in response to Weatherbie’s demands, but off-the-record sources were quoted as saying that “there was no fucking way” they could pay Weatherbie’s new salary, citing the fact that “paying almost one-tenth of our total budget to a 5-6 football coach would be completely fucking insane.”
Weatherbie, though, is confident something could be worked out. “Perhaps they could sell some land or something. I don’t know. Have a bake sale. Charlie wants his Mouse, and it’s time to give him some bananas for all his hard work. Tell the sob stories to my agent, pencilnecks. Bananas, motherfuckers.”
Weatherbie’s not the only one making cash from the hash of the Crimson Tide’s loss. With Saban’s wage skewing all coaching salaries, agents are rushing to the gates to demand audiences with ADs across the nation.
“It’s criminal that with six wins and a likely defeat in the Iron Bowl to come, my client is skimping along on $1.5 million dollars a year,” said Kyle Torvald, agent for Kansas coach Mark Mangino. “At the very least, the going rate for a win on a mere 4 million dollars a year as Alabama’s paying would take Mark Mangino up to $8 million a year, enough to pay for the pangolin flesh and whole pickled beluga whales that fuel his championship gameplanning.”
Torvald paused, and looked pointedly at the back of the room where Kansas AD Lew Perkins stood. He then said, “And if Kansas doesn’t want to put quality lye-infused whalemeat on Mark Mangino’s bloodstained sideboard of victory, we’re sure someone else will.”
The inflationary effect still “pales in comparison to what most CEOs make,” says economist Kevin Bridesworthy of the Brookings Institute, “but it’s catching up.”
“Soon we’ll see coaches begin to make demands they previously couldn’t dream of: sedan chairs, private brothels, payment in bricks of platinum, stacks of euros, private jets, you name it. They’re gonna have it,” says Bridesworthy, who also pointed out that Saban, building on his own contract’s record-setting salary, could reasonably expect to renegotiate his own contract in the coming months to reach a $10-12 million dollar level on salary based on the overall increase.
The other form could even include custom luxury goods in the form of dedicated staff to manage the whims and likes of coaches. Les Miles’ pending contract at Michigan includes an office stocked with its own private taffy-making machine and taffymakers on staff. When asked about the deal, Miles had no comment besides, “Mmmm, taffy.”
Weatherbie’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, is giddy with anticipation. “Certainly, the Saban deal establishes a level more in line with a coach’s actual value to an organization. But it’s really just a start. My client clearly is just as capable of going 6-6 as someone making 4 million dollars a year; why not reward him thusly?” asks Sexton, who also represents Nick Saban and negotiated the original $4 million dollar deal with Alabama.
And while the salary race is set to begin, Weatherbie’s already living the dream.
“I really don’t care where they get the money. I just want that Mouse. He’s gonna be funny as shit, right? Beer in his hand, cigarette in the other. Maybe I’ll teach him to get me beer out of the fridge, or even blow the whistle during practice. Man, this is…this is just gonna be awesome.”
 
OU's Murray out for OSU game

Sooners' top RB sidelined with dislocated kneecap

Posted: Monday November 19, 2007 11:47AM; Updated: Monday November 19, 2007 11:47AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray will miss the 10th-ranked Sooners' rivalry game against Oklahoma State this week after dislocating his kneecap.
Sooners coach Bob Stoops made the announcement Monday on the Big 12 coaches' conference call.
Murray, who leads the Sooners (9-2, 5-2 Big 12) with 764 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns, was hurt while trying to recover an onside kick in the final minute of Oklahoma's 34-27 loss at Texas Tech on Saturday.
Murray was among four Oklahoma players who were injured against Texas Tech. Quarterback Sam Bradford sustained a concussion, and Stoops said the Sooners will see how he reacts through the week before deciding whether he can play.
Receiver Adron Tennell tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season, and defensive end Alan Davis was also hurt.
 
Back
Top