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

[RJ Esq]

Carr's retirement

"They were probably cheering like hell," Lloyd Carr said when asked how his players felt when he met with the team to announce his retirement yesterday.

But other than a few jokes, it was a sad moment, hearing Carr announce his retirement. But, didn't it sort of sound like a Lifetime Achievement Award speech at the Academy Awards? Carr thanked everyone but God (thankfully), but remained extremely classy in his departure.

Carr really did mean a lot to college football. He remained true while many other programs fell to the popular curves and quick fixes. I really enjoyed his comments on how coaches, specifically in today's collegiate world, have to take much more responsibility for his players and help them understand how life works, rather than just baby them and cover up whatever problems they may have.

You probably realize by now that I'm writing this as Carr is on TV live. Something I just noticed on screen is how ESPN made sure to let viewers know that UM was held to 91 total yards versus Ohio State. That was a bitch move if I ever saw one. Is it really necessary, under these circumstances, to show that stat? Is it relevant to his retirement? ESPN would like you to think so. The media would love to churn up controversy whenever possible, and if it can relate the OSU loss to his retirement, then that works for ratings and readership. Now, I'm tuning into ESPNews, and what is prominently displayed next to the video feed? Carr's record and stats versus OSU.

Now I realize a UM or OSU coach is and will always be judged by his record versus the other rival. But this is not the place to do it. I really don't believe Carr is being pushed out because of his recent struggles against OSU. When asked about some saying he was tired of coaching, he said jokingly, "I'm not tired. I may look tired, but I'm not."

"This program will continue to abide by the standards that were established by Bo Schembechler, to win with integrity. In the big picture, character of Michigan will be defined by how this program has been run," Carr said. Let's hope so.

I'll have more on the Michigan coaching hunt during the next few weeks. It should be really fun.

 

[RJ Esq]

PAUL MAGUIRE IS EROTIC ZORRO

If you didn’t watch the Oklahoma/Texas Tech game Saturday night, you were likely enraged to the point of violence that ABC insisted on putting such piffle on in place of carving the country into three segments and giving we East Coasters what we craved: night-time ACC football, baby.
Actually, you weren’t, both because ACC games are hell to watch and purgatorially boring. Instead, you were treated to the Red Raiders’ upset of Oklahoma played to the accompaniment of the most anarchic crew in broadcasting, the Nessler/Maguire/Griese team of ABC. The anarchy comes mostly from Maguire, who’s game for anything: riding on the camera boom most of the day like The Watcher, chiming in on whatever strikes his fancy at the moment no matter what’s going on, and giddily living each second not paired with Joe Theissmann like it was his last.
Maguire even tried on the Red Raider outfit Saturday night, a getup made to look like a Zorro costume with a few extra swatches of red thrown in there. The original picture is funny enough, but we have yet to see a photo The Cheezburger Factory can’t improve on at least a little.

He is Paul Maguire, and he is here to steal your heart.

 

[RJ Esq]

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</td> <td width="528"> In the worst kept secret since the ending of the identity of the Drizzle, Lloyd Carr will throw two of the biggest programs in football into disarray by announcing his retirement today. We’ve summarized his retirement speech below.
To hell with the bastards. All of them. The bastards need to die, and die now. They will need to keep dying forever, the bastards. They ruin everything. They surround you at all times. Grim invocation of gray skies, hunger, and difficulty. Recommend you shake fist angrily and use only yourself as an evaluator for your own good. Repeat lines about the bastards, indicate that bastards are in this crowd at this very instant. Good night, bastards, I’m off to my bastard-free retirement. CC: Bastards.
Les Miles “has not done anything to play down speculation that he wants the job,” and when the Grey Lady is saying that, you may safely assume the restrained Times is tamping down the actual image of Miles sending lackeys to chip the paint off Carr’s office door at this very instant, and setting out taffy bowls at every convenient location in the Michigan football offices.

HT: LSUFreek of TigerDroppings.com.
I’m so glad I left Kentucky. Guy Morriss becomes the latest coach to get fossilized in the tar pit that is the Baylor football program. Why Morriss ever left Kentucky still, on the face of it at least, befuddles: Morriss led the ‘Cats to quasi-respectability before bolting for Kentucky after only two years on the job, only to endure the unique strappado torture of being a Baylor football coach.
How did it happen? Oh, the usual, according to the always excellent BearMeat:
Perhaps it was importing that West Texas A&M offense that we didn’t have the talent for. Or perhaps it was the flight of good assistants in the off season. Perhaps it was the dreadful recruiting . Perhaps it was the lack of decisiveness about the most crucial position on the field. No 5 QB rotation has ever led to a bowl game.
We feel safe, in even our limited understanding of the game of football, saying that it is a natural law that no 5 qb rotation will ever lead to a bowl game. Candidates for the job who promise never, ever to use a 5 qb rotation include Mike Singletary and Houston Nutt.

Oh, dear.
Football Jesus has been collecting the best signs from Gameday, and Michigan’s witty crew–if you don’t read The Victors message board, you need to, if only for the comic relief–came with a bumper crop.
1. You Can’t Spell C_ck_ _cker without O S U
2. We want a new Carr with Les Miles
3. Only Buckeyes work at Home Depot
We expect nothing less from the most sardonic fanbase in college football. If you don’t think this word is fitting, consider its etymology:
[Origin: 1630–40; alter. of earlier sardonian (influenced by F sardonique) < L sardoni(us) (< Gk sardónios of Sardinia) + -an; alluding to a Sardinian plant which when eaten was supposed to produce convulsive laughter ending in death]
Yessir. Words used correctly are awesome. Not that we’d know, but we’ve heard that they can be pretty cool, you know, when strung together, like, right and stuff.
The Pac-10 needs wins from Arizona and UCLA in the next two weeks to fill all of the Pac-10’s available bowl slots. Sure, we’ve crashed a nuclear sub at the bottom of sea. But those men looking for us up there? They’re Russians, dammit. They’ll figure this out safely and get us home for sure without giving us radiation poisoning, botching the rescue, or using faulty equipment and scuttling our chances for survival.
Your national title game, if played right now, would be at 8 in the morning, and my, wouldn’t that be inconvenient? Oh, and it would have Kansas and LSU playing in it. If you saw this coming, you are a dirty, dirty liar.
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[RJ Esq]

BCS Bustin': The Week in Realpolitik
By SMQ
Posted on Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 06:37:36 AM EDT


It has no bearing on the BCS, but check out the “Also Receiving Votes” segment of the latest AP poll: somebody voted for Northern Iowa, the first FCS vote to take advantage of the smaller division’s inclusion since Appalachian State picked up five points in Week Three. What, has he been reading Kenneth Massey or something? And what about Nebraska-Omaha, huh, buddy? Not undefeated enough for ya? This I-AA, Northern Iowan bias sickens me.

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"> <caption align="top">Updated BCS Standings, 11-18</caption> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(191, 88, 88) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">Rank</td> <td align="center">Team</td> <td align="center">BCS Pts.</td> <td align="center">Harris</td> <td align="center">Coaches</td> <td align="center">Comp. Avg.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">1.</td> <td align="left">LSU</td> <td align="center">.990</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">1</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">2.</td> <td align="left">Kansas</td> <td align="center">.949</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">2</td> <td align="center">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">3.</td> <td align="left">West Virginia</td> <td align="center">.888</td> <td align="center">T-3</td> <td align="center">3</td> <td align="center">T-3</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="left">Missouri</td> <td align="center">.871</td> <td align="center">T-3</td> <td align="center">4</td> <td align="center">6</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">5.</td> <td align="left">Ohio State</td> <td align="center">.860</td> <td align="center">5</td> <td align="center">5</td> <td align="center">T-3</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">6.</td> <td align="left">Arizona State</td> <td align="center">.802</td> <td align="center">6</td> <td align="center">6</td> <td align="center">T-3</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">7.</td> <td align="left">Georgia</td> <td align="center">.744</td> <td align="center">7</td> <td align="center">7</td> <td align="center">7</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">8.</td> <td align="left">Virginia Tech</td> <td align="center">.680</td> <td align="center">8</td> <td align="center">8</td> <td align="center">8</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center">9.</td> <td align="left">Oregon</td> <td align="center">.627</td> <td align="center">10</td> <td align="center">10</td> <td align="center">9</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">10.</td> <td align="left">Oklahoma</td> <td align="center">.582</td> <td align="center">9</td> <td align="center">9</td> <td align="center">13</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Left for dead last week, West Virginia jumped Missouri in both human polls, in three of the four computer polls that weren’t thrown out and in the poll at large. This seems rather bizarre, as the Mountaineers’ win over Cincinnati Saturday was their first of the season over a ranked team (unless you count the Harris Poll, where the Bearcats fall just outside of the rankings this week). I’m not sure that means the Mountaineers have taken over any driver’s seat for the next two weeks, though:

<table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"> <caption align="top">BCS Top Six: Remaining Schedules (Points Back)</caption> <tbody><tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(191, 88, 88) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">LSU (-)</td> <td align="center">Kansas (-)</td> <td align="center">West Va. (– .061)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Arkansas</td> <td>vs. Missouri</td> <td>Connecticut</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>SEC Champ.</td> <td>Big 12 Champ.</td> <td>Pittsburgh</td> </tr> <tr></tr><tr style="background: rgb(191, 88, 88) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <td align="center">Missouri (– .079)</td> <td align="center">Ohio State (– .087)</td> <td align="center">Ariz. State (– .137)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>vs. Kansas</td> <td>
</td> <td>Southern Cal</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>Big 12 Champ.</td> <td>
</td> <td>Arizona</td> </tr> </tbody></table> There’s one dead obvious, completely non-controversial scenario – LSU and Kansas win out, which we’ll just note here as “status quo” and leave at that – and it’s still a widely held assumption that Missouri will be number two if the Tigers emerge as Big 12 Champion with just the one loss (this is, of course, the only way Mizzou can win the Big 12). This is less obvious than it would be if Oklahoma was still playing for the same prize, though, not only because the Sooners have an excellent chance of knocking the North champion out of the second spot it’s likely to occupy next week, but also because a potential win over OU may have been devalued enough in Lubbock Saturday to keep West Virginia in the mix. The Mountaineers may not be able to catch Kansas if the Jayhawks’ run takes them all the way to 13-0, but the Mountaineers might have the caché to hold off Missouri; the Harris poll is split on WVU and Mizzou, but the coaches and especially the computers are West Virginia backers first here. It’s not a foregone conclusion anymore that a one-loss Big 12 Champion will assume the second spot without a major challenge, and the Mountaineers’ jump this week actually makes Missouri the challenger.
In the Tigers’ favor, of course, is their closing schedule, which is more than impressive enough to make up the difference, especially in the computer polls, which are currently very down on Mizzou but should pick up with added value in the SOS. If it comes down to Missouri and West Virginia for the second position (again, assuming 2-0 finishes by LSU and Kansas equal automatic bids), wins over Kansas and Oklahoma/Texas are likely to push the Tigers across the board back in front of WVU, whose UConn-Pittsburgh finish is a microcosm of the Mountaineers’ thoroughly mediocre schedule – at some point, West Virginia will have to answer for the absence of a top 20 opponent, and the week after its nearest competition has defeated two top ten teams in a row is not the ideal time. For now, the ball is still in the Kansas-Missouri winner’s court.
Re: the impending West Virginia-Ohio State imbroglio if Oklahoma (or Texas) wins the Big 12 Championship or LSU loses one of its last two, I don’t see much of a debate – not formulaicly, anyway, unless human voters who currently have the Mountaineers two spots in front of the Buckeyes have no problem with rank hypocrisy after WVU wins its last two while Ohio State looks on. Never rule out hypocrisy and/or inscrutable logic in matters of polling, but this is a different leapfrog scenario than Florida’s hopping Michigan last year, when the Gators moved ahead of the idle Wolverines by winning the SEC Championship; again, I don’t know what it is exactly that is so much more appealing to voters about West Virginia, but Ohio State literally can’t do anything to close the relatively wide gap if the Mountaineers keep winning. Compared to ‘Idle’ rather than the likes of Kansas and Oklahoma, UConn is a good enough opponent that a win is a win is a win over the Huskies (i.e. voters will not significantly punish a close game to reward a team that didn’t play at all), and Pittsburgh, well, the Panthers have been reamed by White and Slaton the last two years in truly merciless, hira basami fashion, so there’s no reason to believe Pitt might suddenly set off alarms by taking its tormenters to the limit.

At least the Devils are feeling loved at home.
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Realistically, Ohio State’s inclusion in the equation for the top two is symbolic, to show that a lot of people recognize the Buckeyes’ merit and right to be a part of the picture down the stretch, that they’re victims in large part of timing as much as anything else. But when the smoke clears, the only way Ohio State is going to make up more than two-and-a-halfhundredths of a point without Kansas, West Virginia and Missouri all losing is an unpredecented media blitz intentionally designed to sway enough voters to forcibly push OSU into one of the top two spots. Without a convincing game to back up the campaign, though, a la Florida’s SEC Championship last year or Nebraska’s Orange Bowl rout in 1997, this is not going to happen. The Buckeyes are going to the Rose Bowl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, if I was in charge of PR in Columbus, the drumbeat would be “We’d rather be in the Rose Bowl,” and that wouldn’t be much of a spin. I’ve said this before, and it’s becoming more clear: if Arizona State can survive Thursday against USC, there will be nothing less championship-worthy about an Ohio State-ASU Granddaddy than a matchup of another pair of one-loss teams in New Orleans, and the winner will have no less right to a poll championship in the AP and elsewhere than any potential winner of the nominal title game – with the possible exception of Kansas. The Jayhawks, by virtue of finishing 14-0 with three straight major victories to close the year, are the only team that can still claim in any serious way to rise above the pack. But if the team emerging from the Superdome is LSU, Missouri or West Virginia, the Disney/Fox/AllState-sponsored distinction will be painfully arbitrary, in fitting with the whimsical selection process.
The situation now is such that, if Arizona State wins its last two while Missouri defeats Kansas and wins the Big 12 Championship, it’s very possible the current top six will all enter the bowl season with one loss apiece, ensuring at least two and up to four of them will finish that way after the bowls, and that at least two and up to four then will be about equally deserving of a number one vote. There is no decent way to distinguish between the mob now except hashing over barely significant minutiae and rank propaganda – Arizona State, for example, is tied for third according to the computers, ahead of Missouri, and the Devils are not even properly in the end game discussion (behind two-loss Georgia in the AP!) at the moment despite a strength of schedule universally aknowledged (that is, by all six BCS algorithms) as stronger than all four of the teams immediately in front them – and there will be no proper way to distinguish between them after the bowls. It’s a royal mess, only waiting to get messier.
Face it, fans: these teams are all the same. There is no wrong choice, and that means none of them are right, either.
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Hawaii Watch: It is the standing position of this blog that Hawaii has done nothing to warrant consideration in any poll until it beats Boise State and Washington to complete an undefeated regular season, an opinion that holds fast after the Warriors’ last second win at Nevada Friday night with Colt Brennan on the bench. That win was impressive enough to push UH in front of Virginia in the BCS, thanks largely to its improved standings in the computers: two weeks ago, the Warriors appeared in the top 25 of only one algorithm, that of Peter Wolfe, and that was dropped from their final tally as the high score. Wolfe’s points are still dropped, but Hawaii now appears at the bottom of every other computer poll except Kenneth Massey’s (also dropped as the low score), giving UH by far its highest computer score of the season, 0.160, and keeping it on track for an automatic BCS bid. Three teams is this week’s poll have lower computer scores: No. 21 Wisconsin (0.110), No. 25 BYU (0.060) and No. 19 Boise State (0.030).

 

[RJ Esq]

From thewizardofodds.blogspot.com:

Fight Song? What Fight Song?


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According to a story in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas Tech students are behaving badly during games, singing an altered version of the school's fight song that contains the F-word. At times this has been loud enough to — gasp — be heard on national TV.

Now you wouldn't get that feeling from watching this video, where students claim (wink, wink) they don't know the words to the fight song. But we know better. Just like a villainous pro wrestler who clocks his opponent over the head with a steel chair when the referee has his back turned, they are quick to deny any involvement in such a heinous crime.</p>

 

[RJ Esq]

There's alot of freshman 30s in this video. Dear god.

From thewizardofodds.blogspot.com:

Muck Fishigan


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The guess is that this is a group of Ohio State students getting ready to jump into Mirror Lake last Thursday, a Columbus tradition before the Buckeyes play Michigan. That seems to be the conclusion reached by Mr. Irrelevant, which is where we found this video.</p>

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle"> 5 Thoughts - Miles to Michigan? </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">

LSU head coach Les Miles
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</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 Staff
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 19, 2007
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Is Les Miles really going to go to Michigan when Lloyd Carr steps down? There's already one 2,000-yard rusher this year and another on the way ... can you name them? Clemson, unsung players, and more in the latest 5 Thoughts.
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Five Thoughts: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10
Week 11
But if you're looking for the anti-Lloyd Carr ... [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2]By Pete Fiutak [/SIZE][/FONT]
1. For all you LSU fans worrying about the distractions with the Michigan head coaching job opening up, let me help you sleep well tonight.

Les Miles absolutely, positively will NOT be the next head football coach at the University of Michigan.

We’re talking about IBM here. We’re talking about North Carolina basketball. We’re talking about a football program that’s the equivalent of a dish of vanilla ice cream topped off with a vanilla wafer while being cheered on by 111,941 fans about as boisterous as a glass of warm milk. Miles would be a double dose of rainbow sprinkles, and that's not Michigan football.

Michigan basketball changed the way the college game looked and acted with the Fab Five, but again, that’s not Michigan football. Miles speaks his mind in a fun, harmless way and is never afraid to stir the pot a little bit. While that might be what Michigan needs, it’s not really what it wants. Unless Miles can prove he can be a bit more button-down, like 1992 David Letterman moving from late night to 11:30, he’ll be keeping his Baton Rouge address.

I’m a Miles fan. He stepped into a nearly impossible situation at LSU and took what Nick Saban did and made it better. I don’t care if Saban left behind the New England Patriots; if you’re 32-5 with (what will be) two BCS appearances and two SEC Championship games in three years, you’re doing just fine. However, it seems like he should be doing more.

As good as LSU has been this season, should it have needed a miracle late play to beat Auburn? Shouldn’t it have blasted Kentucky? Do you really trust this team in a huge road game under Miles after struggling so much with Alabama, getting a fight from Ole Miss, and losing two of the four road tests last year? With all the NFL speed and athleticism, and all the experience, shouldn’t this be an epic juggernaut of a team rather than the default BCS No. 1?

It might sound harsh, but we might be talking about Dale Brown here; a superior gatherer of talent who’d probably get his coaching doors blown off by a Bobby Knight. Put it this way; if Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban were coaching this LSU team, and Miles was coaching this year’s South Carolina or Alabama teams, what do you think would happen? Would the games be as close as they were? Remember, whoever takes over at Michigan will be judged by what he does against Jim Tressel, who has turned into the Florida version of Spurrier.

Raise your hand if you had heard of Tressel seven years ago? Remember, at the time, Glen Mason was a main man in the running for the Ohio State job before it went to a (gasp) D-IAA coach, and don’t be shocked if Michigan goes for a star-in-waiting who doesn’t have the big-time name recognition. No, it’s not going to be Les Miles wearing a Maize and Blue mock turtleneck, but it’ll be someone else who's really, really good losing to the Buckeyes every year while LSU is hanging out in the Sugar Bowl.




Just like clockwork
By Richard Cirminiello [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif] [/FONT]2. The next time I naively hop on the Clemson bandwagon, no matter how much talent the school’s housing, don’t hold back in reminding me that the program is never getting over the top under Tommy Bowden. Ever. After nine seasons with Bowden on the sidelines, the Tigers are still waiting for an ACC championship that’s eluded them since 1991. Oh, they’ve been good over the last decade, twice winning nine games, but never quite good enough when it matters most. Bowden’s teams have become known for their patented inconsistency and inability to deliver sustained excellence. Pulling the rug out from under fans and observers is now a part of the Clemson playbook. In 2004 and 2005, the Tigers couldn’t overcome three-game losing streaks, while last year, the school finished 1-4 after raising expectations with a 7-1 start. And then there’s this fall, one more disappointment to add to the resume. Clemson came into Saturday’s game with Boston College smoking hot. The Eagles were reeling and hurting on defense. Death Valley at night. A sea of orange. The Atlantic Division at stake. No way the Tigers lose this game, right? Wrong. Two blown leads in the fourth quarter, and a horribly blown coverage with 1:46 to go sealed their fate once again.

Clemson figures to be loaded next season with a ton of returning starters on both sides of the ball. It could be the year that the Tigers put it all together. It could be, but I refuse to make that suggestion until the final vote is counted. I’ve seen the script when Tommy Bowden is in the director’s chair, and it too often includes a disappointing ending.

Yes, they're playing this year
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2]By Pete Fiutak [/FONT][/SIZE]
3. You’re a die-hard college football fan, right? After all, you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t. Okay, now name the two running backs that’ll hit the 2,000-yard mark this year.

What’s that? Yes, really, one FBS/D-I running back has already gotten there, one is a mortal lock to do it this week, and you’ve never heard of them. The ESPNers have yet to acknowledge their presence, we haven’t done a good enough job on CFN of pumping them up, and they’ve managed to fly completely under the radar all season long.

They’re joining an exclusive club of Barry Sanders, Marcus Allen, Troy Davis (twice), J.J. Arrington, LaDainian Tomlinson, Mike Rozier, Larry Johnson, Ricky Williams, Byron Hanspard, and Rashaan Salaam. That’s five Heisman winners, four finalists, Hanspard, who finished sixth, and Arrington, who wasn't close to getting any Heisman love, yet you’ve probably never seen these two stars of 2007 play, and they’re not going to come within sniffing distance of the Heisman in a year when there isn’t anyone other than Tim Tebow who’s making any claim to the prize.

Tulane senior Matt Forte ran for 194 and five touchdowns against Rice to get to 2,007 yards on the year with 22 touchdowns. A picture of consistency, he has rushed for more than 200 yards in three games, more than 300 yards in two games, and more than 100 yards in his last seven outings. He wasn’t bad against LSU with 73 yards on 16 carries, but the Green Wave had to start throwing after getting behind.

Ironically, Forte might have a hand in the second player getting to 2,000 as he goes against East Carolina this week. UCF will clinch the East with a win over UTEP, or will get to play for the Conference USA title with a Green Wave win over the Pirates, giving Knight junior Kevin Smith an extra shot to hit two bills if he doesn’t gain 55 yards against a Miner team that’s 100^th in the nation in run defense.

One of the league’s best backs over the last two seasons, Smith has rushed for over 100 yards in every game but one this year, the 64-12 loss to South Florida, but he was great against the big teams he faced with 217 yards and two scores against NC State and 149 yards and two scores against Texas.

So among the greats, you now have to include Forte and Smith. Watch for the adulations to finally come over the next few weeks, but it’ll be too late. You missed their steady excellence.
And on the topic of great players flying under the radar ...[SIZE=-1]By [/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] John Harris[/SIZE]

4. As the season grows to a close, postseason awards are due to be handed out to many deserving candidates. But, as with any other season, there are names you won’t hear that deserve some sort of recognition. You’ll hear Tim Tebow’s name, what a few thousand times; you won’t hear Matt Forte’s name once, a guy who just hit the 2,000 yard rushing mark – one of only eleven guys who have hit that mark in college football history. Here are some other names you may not hear this December who have had strong seasons.
Tulsa quarterback Paul Smith has thrown for 3,886 yards and 34 touchdowns with a game left to play. No one has said a thing about Boise State quarterback Taylor Tharp, who has thrown for 2,839 yards, 27 touchdowns and is seventh in the nation in passing efficiency. LSU safety Craig Steltz has been tremendous all season long and is tied for fourth in the nation with six picks. Most people have seen the light on Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree, but how about senior receiver Danny Amendola who has 103 catches for 1,177 yards (not to mention conference mate Jordy Nelson from Kansas State who has 107 receptions and 1,441 yards)? Wake Forest’s Kenneth Moore played tailback in 2006 when every single Wake running back was injured and this year has 78 receptions at receiver. Missouri freshman Jeremy Maclin has 2,309 yards of total offense, but we’ll be talking about him in the future, so he may not count on this list. This list should be much longer, but it’s time people recognize a few standouts, even if the award circuit won’t.
One unknown player, one huge play
By Matthew Zemek

5. Okay, college football fans (and SEC fans in particular): we, the media, spill gobs of ink, use forests worth of newsprint, spend hours gabbing on the radio, and strain mightily to produce preseason publications with all their attendant items--picks, rankings lists, player profiles, and everything else you can think of.

Long story short, a lot of time and resources are devoted to the coverage of this industry. You spend a lot of energy reading up on college football, and your school (assuming it's in a BCS conference) invests a great deal of capital in this enterprise as well.

Yet, after all the tumult and the shouting, the difference between a great season and a mediocre one can often be found in one play involving the unheralded actions of one young man who improbably rises to the occasion.

SEC fans, as you greet the new week, do you know who Dennis Rogan is?

Don't look up the answer just yet. Think. Reflect. Rack your brain.

Okay, here's the revelation (if you immediately knew this answer, you really care about college football): Dennis Rogan is a freshman defensive back assigned to the Tennessee Volunteers' kickoff coverage unit. It was Rogan who stood alone in the face of two Vanderbilt blockers while Commodore return man D.J. Moore ran downfield with the pigskin in the final minutes of Saturday's intrastate rivalry game in Knoxville. Outnumbered and outweighed, Rogan faced long odds in his attempt to prevent Moore from getting a touchdown or, at the very least, reaching the UT 25 for a makeable field goal. With Vandy down by a single point, Rogan was placed in his own personal version of "Mission Impossible": fend off two blockers to tackle an onward-rushing ballcarrier, or face the prospect of another disappointing loss that would significantly affect the trajectory of Tennessee's entire season.

While Vandy's two blockers slowed down and lost focus, Rogan continued to play at full speed. He knifed through a gap and steered the hesitant Moore to the sideline, shoving him out of bounds at the Tennessee 42. Accounts of this play didn't make the standard-issue game stories cranked out by the Associated Press. Even the Knoxville News-Sentinel didn't mention the episode in its initial report on the contest.

But at the end of the day, the main reason why Phil Fulmer isn't getting buried in the press can be summed up in two words: Dennis Rogan. The reason why Tennessee is still alive in the race for the SEC East title and a spot in the prestigious SEC Championship Game against LSU? Dennis Rogan. The reason why a football season still matters in Knoxville? Dennis Rogan.

Sometimes, football analysis doesn't require hours of talk or large sections of cyberspace. Sometimes, a season is defined by people like Dennis Rogan. These quiet and obscure young men need to be given the credit and praise they deserve.

At your own school, find the unsung heroes who toil for your enjoyment on Saturdays. Be sure the Dennis Rogans on your team receive due recognition and gratitude.

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[RJ Esq]

More from thewizardofodds.blogspot.com:

Snapshots From Week 12

A look back at the week that was from TV Tan Line. Check out Tan Line's review of the week's games.

 

[RJ Esq]

Rivalry Week is here, BEAT BYU
By JazzyUte Section: Holy War
Posted on Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 02:29:59 AM EDT


One game.
One goal.
One team.
One victory.
It's simple, Saturday afternoon Utah will begin its march toward victory down in Provo. They will leave LaVell Edwards Stadium doing something nearly every Utah team has done since 1993, defeating the Cougars on their home field. Only once, in that span, has Utah been defeated down there, that will not happen Saturday. The Utes will win.
Utah will win because its coach knows the importance of this game and every player knows the importance of beating BYU. Utah will win because they will outplay the Cougars, just as they have the past five contests. Utah will win because history is on their side, as BYU has won but once in 14 years in their home stadium. Utah will win because their defense is like no other the Cougars have seen this season. Utah will win because I can't fathom a loss and would never enter this with the mindset that it is a losable game. Because it isn't, Utah will win, that's just how it is. Deal with it.
Am I nervous? Hell yeah I am. Every rivalry game makes me nervous, but it's a confident nervous. It's the type of nervous I had heading into the 2004 Holy War -- though I don't expect near the same result. Frankly, Utah has appeared nearly unstoppable over the past seven games. Their closest contest, against TCU, wasn't really all that close. The Utes have won their past three games by a combined score of 105-13, yup, Utah will win.
Not that I'm overlooking BYU, because they're a very good team, but Utah will win. Utah win because last year BYU, with its best team in 10 years, rolled into Salt Lake and played a Utah team with an inconsistent offense, an up and down defense and still barely won. Well this ain't last year's Cougars and surely this ain't last year's Utes. Utah will win.
This Saturday the Utes will leave LaVell Edwards Stadium with a victory, an 8 game winning streak and a possible top-25 ranking. They'll also leave BYU emotionally shattered on their home field, just as they did in 2005. Why? Because Utah will win.

 

[RJ Esq]

The Path to New Orleans

November 19, 2007 12:39 AM -- Filed in: Football | Media
Weird how college football works. The Rose Bowl is guaranteed for Ohio State but, if possible, we'd just rather bypass it altogether. Not that the Rose Bowl is some second rate option but Ohio State still harbors title hopes and rightfully so. That goal became a touch easier following our win in Ann Arbor and because of two important losses from teams ranked ahead. Oregon lost earlier in the week to unranked Arizona and Oklahoma went down to Texas Tech late Saturday. The shake up allowed Ohio State to move up to #5 in the latest BCS Rankings.

​

To state the obvious, there is still work to do. A lot, in fact, and the downside of this is our hope rests on the shoulders of others. We lost the opportunity to control our own destiny last week but we'll feel no shame battling another one loss team for the championship (unless Kansas wins out and even then, we still won't feel bad). In order for that to happen, there are some key points to remember:​

• We only need to get to #2 in the BCS.
• Kansas and Missouri play each other this coming weekend.
• The Big Twelve and the SEC have Championship games.

Before we move on any further, it's important to look at the schedules:

• LSU: Arkansas, at SEC Championship Game
• Kansas: Missouri, Big 12 Championship Game
• WVU: Connecticut, Pitt
• Missouri: at Kansas, Big 12 Championship Game
• Ohio St: In the Clubhouse

Like I said earlier, either Kansas or Missouri will be out of the picture next week. The winner will advance to the Big 12 Championship game to face, hopefully, Oklahoma. I say hopefully because the Sooners present the best chance of knocking off the opponent, be it Kansas or Missouri. And, Oklahoma will almost certainly have QB Sam Bradford back after missing most of the Tech game with a concussion.

This is relevant because it gives basis for what needs to happen following Ohio State's rise to #4 in the BCS. In a nutshell, the Buckeyes need any two of the following three (HT: Chris Stassen):

• Big XII out. Oklahoma wins at Oklahoma State to get to the Big 12 Championship game, and then beats the Kansas-Missouri winner.
• Louisiana State Loss. LSU loses in the SEC title game, or to Arkansas the week before the title game.
• West Virginia loss. West Virginia loses to either UConn or Pitt.

Admittingly, the probability on this is low but it's not all that absurd. In fact, I think it's quite likely at least one will happen. There has been talk by some (Mark May) that if Arizona State wins out, they could find themselves back in the thick of things. To squash this from happening, we probably should root for USC to win their remaining games.

It's a lot to process and whatever the case, we're off the a BCS bowl for the fifth time in seven years on JT. More on Michigan tomorrow.

 

[RJ Esq]

The Iron Bowl: A matter of pride

Posted by Phillip Marshall, The Huntsville Times November 18, 2007 10:34 PM

Categories: Football
Following is an excerpt from Phillip's book, "The Auburn Experience." An oversized coffee table book published in December 2004, the book features more than 300 slick pages of stories and photographs of many of Auburn's greatest traditions, teams, players and coaches in every sport. The book is available for $20, plus $5 shipping and handling. For orders of multiple books, there will be just one $5 charge for shipping and handling. Send check or money order made payable to Phillip Marshall to The Auburn Experience, P.O. Box 968, Auburn, AL 36831.
Liston Eddins ached all over. It was late on the afternoon of Nov. 29, 1974. Eddins had played a football game of great importance at Birmingham's Legion Field against the University of Alabama. Even walking was difficult.
Eddins, wearing his blue Auburn blazer, leaned on his wife, Nancy, and her aunt for support as he waited to cross the street. Waiting at the same intersection was an Alabama player, wearing his crimson blazer.
"His face was all battered and bruised up," says Eddins, who was a junior defensive end. "We just kind of looked at each other. He nodded at me and I nodded at him. We didn't have to say a word.
"It was mutual respect."
Alabama won that day, 17-13, holding off a late Auburn charge in one of the series' more memorable games.
"It was a brutal game," Eddins says. "That's the kind of game you want to play in. You just lay it all on the line. When I left the field, I knew in my heart I'd done everything I could do."
A generation later, Willie Anderson, Jessie McCovery, Dameyune Craig and Bobby Daffin made a heavenly trip home to Mobile. All true freshmen, they'd celebrated Auburn's 22-14 victory and a perfect 1993 season by painting their numbers on the outside of Anderson's red Dodge spirit.
"It was probably the happiest time in my life," Anderson says. "We took shoe polish and wrote our numbers and the score all over the car. We were blowing our horn, acting crazy. Auburn people were honking at us. I went to every Thanksgiving (basketball) tournament, every Christmas tournament, wearing my Auburn stuff."
It's all part of the tapestry and fabric of a game the late Auburn coach Shug Jordan dubbed the Iron Bowl. Children playing football in their backyards dream of being part of our state's biggest sports spectacle. The lucky few live those dreams and have their chances on the big stage.
"I wish everybody could just line up one time and walk the Tiger Walk and walk on that field in uniform," Craig says. "That's the best feeling I think any young man from Alabama can experience. I wasn't even mad when I wasn't playing. I was just happy to be on the field and be part of it."
Those childhood dreams came true for tailback Carnell Williams when he made a run for the ages, sprinting 80 yards on the first play from scrimmage in Auburn's 28-23 win in 2003.
"As soon as I got it and I broke out, they kind of took a bad angle and I cut out," Williams says. "I didn't see anything but green grass. I said 'Man, I think I'm about to go the distance.' Growing up in this state, watching that game, watching Bo break long runs, watching other guys do their stuff, to do that on the first play was the greatest feeling ever."
The good plays and the bad, the blowouts and the nail-biters, all become part of the state's football lore. The stories are told and retold through generations. Even players who come from other states are soon swept up in the drama and emotion of Iron Bowl day.
"That game changes you forever," says Ben Leard, who came from Hartwell, Ga., to be an All-Southeastern Conference Auburn quarterback. "Nothing compares to it. It is the epitome of intensity. Every backyard football game, every high school game you've ever played, every workout you've ever had leads to that game. It's the pinnacle of football to be involved in it.
"There's always a hero on one sideline or the other you wouldn't think would do it. Guys suddenly step to the top and are heroes in this game. And they'll remember it forever."
For all of their days, Bill Newton and David Langner will be remembered for what happened on Dec. 2, 1972. Newton blocked two punts and Langner ran them both in for touchdowns as Auburn stunned unbeaten Alabama 17-16. But their story is only one of many.
The 1989 Tigers will be remembered as the team that won 30-20 when Alabama finally played at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time.
Mailon Kent owns a successful insurance agency in Birmingham. His life has been one of accomplishment. But mention his name, and invariably the discussion will go to a day more than 40 years ago.
After being Auburn's starting quarterback in 1962, Kent had sustained a partially torn medial collateral ligament shortly before the 1963 season. By the time he was healthy enough to play, Jimmy Sidle was on his way to an All-America season. To this day, Sidle remains the only quarterback in SEC history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.
Kent, a senior, had played a few snaps against Florida State and a few snaps against Georgia as Auburn confounded the experts by winning of its first nine games. As the annual game against Alabama, also 8-1, neared, the talk was of a duel between Sidle and Alabama's Joe Namath.
But fate smiled on Kent on Nov. 30, 1963.
Paul Bryant was in his sixth season as Alabama's head coach, and Auburn had come under his spell. The Tide had shut out Auburn four straight seasons, winning 10-0, 3-0, 34-0 and 38-0. Kent would complete just two passes on that cold, raw day against Alabama, but they would be the two biggest passes of his career.
"On second down, we had the wind and the ball about midfield," Kent remembers. "Eddie Vesperille hit Jimmy and about three or four of them fell on top of him. They knocked the breath out of him."
Offensive coordinator Buck Bradberry turned to Kent and told him to go into the game and keep the offense moving.
"It was freezing cold and I hadn't even warmed up," Kent says. "No matter. Kent threw a 12-yard pass to Bucky Waid for a first down. That set up Woody Woodall's 32-yard field goal that gave Auburn its first points and first lead against Alabama since 1958.
Side returned, but when Auburn faced third-and-goal at the Alabama 8 in the third quarter, Kent got the call again. He hit Tucker Frederickson for a touchdown and Auburn won 10-8.
The march of time has failed to dim the feats of Auburn's Iron Bowl heroes - Travis Tidwell leading a stunning 14-3 upset in 1949, Connie Frederick running 82 yards on a fake punt as the Tigers broke a five-game losing streak 49-26 in 1969, Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley leading a rally from a 17-0 deficit to a 33-28 victory in 1970, Newton and Langner's version of Instant Replay in 1972, Bo Jackson going over the top for the winning touchdown on one of the more famous plays in Auburn history as the Tigers ended 10 years of frustration 23-22 in 1982, Jackson assaulting the Tide defense for 256 yards in a 23-20 victory in 1983, Lawyer Tillman's run to glory on a reverse as Auburn won 21-17 in 1986, Patrick Nix's touchdown pass to Frank Sanders that turned the game as Auburn finished a perfect season 22-14 in 1993, Jaret Holmes' game-winning field goal that put the Tigers in the SEC Championship Game in 1997 with an 18-17 victory, the heroics of reserve tailback Tre Smith as Auburn won 17-7 in Tuscaloosa in 2000. The list could go on and on.
It's difficult to comprehend that, for 41 years, the Tide and Tigers did not play at all. Though legend has it that the series was discontinued because of a fight, it wasn't that way at all. Auburn wanted expenses of $3.50 per day for 22 players and Alabama offered $3 a day for 20 players. Auburn coach Mike Donahue wanted a northerner to officiate the game and Alabama wanted a southerner. The dispute turned into a football separation that lasted more than four decades.
The late Billy Hitchcock, who lettered from 1935-37, never had an opportunity to play against Alabama. He said players on both sides wondered why.
"We thought about it," Hitchcock said. "We were friends with them. In summer baseball, we played in the amateur league with Alabama players. We didn't know why we weren't playing. We all wanted to play. It took a long time, but they finally got around to it.
"The story we always heard was that they were afraid there would be a fight on the field. As far I I know, there's never been a serious incident on the field. It's the fans in the stands that cause the problem."
In 1947, the Alabama House of Representatives passed a resolution urging the schools to "make possible the inauguration of a full athletic program between the two schools." Finally, on Dec. 4, 1948, Auburn and Alabama met at Legion Field. It was no contest. Alabama won 55-0. But Tidwell led the Auburn upset a year later and the seeds of what would become an historic rivalry were planted.
Coach Tommy Tuberville had heard stories of the Iron Bowl before he arrived at Auburn in late 1998. Experiencing it, he says, is an opportunity to be cherished for a player or coach.
"It's something special," Tuberville says. "You can feel it the week before the game. The atmosphere at the game is different than any other. You never know what's going to happen. It's a lifelong dream for a lot of these kids to make a difference in the outcome of that game."

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle"> Zemek - Was Carr Underappreciated? </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">
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</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 Matt Zemek
CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 19, 2007
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Is it possible Lloyd Carr will go down as one of the most underappreciated head coaches in college football history?
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In the wake of Lloyd Carr's retirement--officially announced Monday morning after days of speculation--it's worth contemplating a claim that possesses an alarming degree of legitimacy: Carr could very well be the least appreciated coach in the 138-year history of college football.

Commentators admittedly do tend to make rash judgments in the present moment, but the above statement really does stand up under scrutiny. Think about this: has another coach at another old-money college football school been ushered off the stage with so little fanfare after achieving so much? One doesn't get the sense that Michigan fans are sad to see Lloyd Carr ride off into the coaching sunset. They might appreciate the man, but the coach in Lloyd Carr is receiving incredibly short shrift from the Wolverine fan base and the larger community of college football commentators and analysts. It's a process that began as soon as Jim Tressel began to take hold of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry in the earlier part of this decade, and has continued without interruption ever since.

Every coach receives considerable criticism, but even through the vitriol, one can tell when a coach remains an icon or has his credentials questioned. Steve Spurrier, Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, and other great coaches over the past 20 years have all taken their fair share of shots, but their standing in history--and in the eyes of their fan bases--is secure. Not so with Lloyd Carr. All you could hear about this past weekend, after a painful (in more ways than one) 14-3 loss to the Buckeyes in The Game, was how Carr's legacy would suffer as a result of the defeat. One has to gently but firmly wonder: where did this talk come from? More specifically, what factual historical basis is there to diminish Carr's legacy as the coach of a storied program that remains one of college football's signature brand names?

In order to put Carr's Michigan career in perspective, one must compare this new retiree to the icon of all Michigan icons, Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler, who died one year ago to cast an even larger shadow over the Wolverine program, not to mention Carr himself. Just how do the numbers really stack up when Lloyd Carr and Bo Schembechler have their resumes presented to the public?

Schembechler coached Michigan for 21 seasons, Carr for 13. Schembechler made 10 Rose Bowls, Carr 4. Schembechler won or shared 13 Big Ten titles, Carr 5. Bo won two Rose Bowls, Carr 1. With eight more seasons in Ann Arbor, one thinks that Carr would have added to most of his totals. Bo has a noticeable advantage over his successor when you look at the raw numbers.

But then the comparison gets much more interesting. In the 1970s and the early 80s, the Big Ten was pretty much a two-team league until Hayden Fry's Iowa program and Mike White's Illinois squad began to make life more difficult for Schembechler and the Ohio State pair of Woody Hayes and Earle Bruce. In an era when parity was nonexistent in college football, Schembechler and Hayes dominated the Big Ten. From 1968-1980, a run of 13 seasons, Ohio State and Michigan won every Big Ten title and appeared in every Rose Bowl on January 1 of the following year. The last Rose Bowl contested by a team other than Ohio State or Michigan (from the Big Ten side of the matchup) before this 13-year run began was Indiana, in the 1968 game. The next time a Big Ten team other than OSU or UM played in Pasadena, the calendar had turned to 1982 as Iowa stared down Washington in the Arroyo Seco. At the same time when Bear Bryant and Alabama ruled the SEC; the Nebraska-Oklahoma axis controlled the Big Eight; and USC overwhelmed the Pac-10, Michigan and Ohio State owned the Big Ten. All in all, the 1970s zenith of the Schembechler era coincided with a college football climate that favored the big boys far more than what we see today. If you put Lloyd Carr in the 1970s and put Schembechler on the field today, the overall resumes would probably be very similar on many levels. Carr's lower numbers don't look quite so modest when adjusted for the degree of difficulty.

For all that's been mentioned up to this point, we've only now arrived at the truly revealing ways in which Lloyd Carr's legacy--relative to Bo and, for that matter, other great coaches at college football's most famous programs--is being so manifestly downgraded by a majority of fans, pundits and other people who should know better.

The biggest source of fan unrest in Ann Arbor over the past few years has been Carr's plummeting fortunes against Ohio State. The 1-6 record against Tressel was the first, last and most overwhelming reason why Carr felt an unusual level of heat for a man with his accomplishments and overall track record. With this point in mind, though, just how well did Bo Schembechler do against the Buckeyes and, in particular, Woody Hayes? The historical record says that Bo went 11-9-1 against OSU, and 5-4-1 against his beloved friend, mentor, and fellow icon. (Against Earle Bruce and John Cooper combined, Bo went 6-5.)

Gee, Bo barely cracked the .500 mark against the Buckeyes. Not bad, but not incredible by any stretch. Compared to Bo, Carr's 6-7 mark is entirely respectable and very competitive. When you then consider that Tressel has already ensured his place as a legendary college football coach who will sit with Hayes in the pantheon of the sport's most decorated sideline sultans, Carr's ability to win two Big Ten trophies and reach three Rose Bowls during the Tressel era ranks as a very substantial accomplishment.

But wait: we haven't even mentioned the best part of Lloyd Carr's coaching career and the legacy that ought to flow from it. Anyone want to guess why Lloyd Carr deserves to stand on the Michigan mountaintop and be recognized as one of college football's great coaches? Anyone? Please? Pretty please?

Well, let's trot out this humble little fact that just might be remotely important in giving Lloyd Carr and his legacy a fair shake: unlike Bo Schembechler, Carr actually won a national championship. Michigan hadn't ruled the roost in a single season since 1948. Bo's long tenture (1969-1989, including the 1990 Rose Bowl) never included the ultimate conquest. And by the way, how many national titles has Tressel won? One. Woody himself? Two. And what about other great college football coaches? Spurrier won only one. Bowden? Two. Paterno? Two. The national title is a hard prize to win; Lloyd Carr claimed it, Bo didn't.

Nothing in this analysis should, of course, be interpreted as a diminishment of Bo Schembechler's legacy. Just the opposite, in fact. Everything referenced here should upgrade Lloyd Carr's historical record, instead of leading anyone to downgrade what Bo accomplished in Ann Arbor.

Want to know the real reason why Lloyd Carr, even to this day, is being treated unfavorably by far too many college football analysts and observers, inside and outside the state of Michigan? In a word, charisma. In marked contrast to Schembechler's colorful, boisterous and irresistible presence, which made the man a media darling and a constant subject of fascination and reverence over the decades, Carr has all the charm--at least in public--of a city garbage dump. In an age when image--sadly--means far too much and substance is grossly underappreciated in the face of style, Carr's raw record of achievement--along with his prodigious charity work and his ability to graduate players and mold Michigan men just as Schembechler did--is being flatly ignored, not just downgraded. It's an outrage, it's a shame, and frankly, it's an embarrassment to any sane observer of college football.

Has our society fallen so far and so fast that a man of such noticeably high character should be written off so easily, his legacy so quickly diminished and downplayed if not outrightly ignored? Have we become so delusional and irrational that a man with Lloyd Carr's combination of integrity, wisdom, generosity, loyalty, and on-field achievements should--upon his retirement--meet with sighs of relief from a lot of Michigan fans and a collective yawn from other football fans across the nation? Are we so fully imprisoned by our own need for entertainment value, stimulation, and sex appeal that Lloyd Carr's charisma gap would allow us, as football fans, to overlook his actual legacy of accomplishment, on and off the field?

A great man and an equally great coach tossed his whistle aside today. Lloyd Carr's exit from the coaching stage should be greeted with towering praise for a man who very much sustained the Bo Schembechler tradition of excellence at Michigan, and who actually ranks very close to Bo on a number of historical scales and measurements. Much as great artists and writers were frowned upon in their own time but heralded well after their deaths (they're too numerous to count, but Vincent van Gogh would be just one example among many), Lloyd Carr might encounter the same fate.

Let's hope not. Starting this Thanksgiving and continuing forever more, one can only wish that Lloyd Carr--the Michigan man, the college football coach, and the successful keeper of Bo Schembechler's flame--will receive his just due while he's still alive and able to appreciate the accolades that have yet to come his way.</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[RJ Esq]

LSU's Dorsey playing with pain


posted: Monday, November 19, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry
filed under: NCF, LSU Tigers

<!-- begin free preview text --> Some random observations after watching top-ranked LSU visit Oxford this past weekend: • Glenn Dorsey is really hurting. I talked to the All-American DT after the game, and he said his leg is really bothering him. He sounded really frustrated. The Ole Miss O-linemen said he was nothing like he was before, and he doesn't have the same kind of explosiveness. Making matters worse for the Tigers is that LSU's other experienced DT, Marlon Favorite, is also hobbled. LSU ended up playing true freshman DT Drake Nevis a lot Saturday and he did make a few plays, but the Tigers got little pressure versus a team that has had a lot of trouble protecting the passer this year

 

[RJ Esq]

3 things Utah must do if they are going to win
By JazzyUte Section: Holy War
Posted on Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 02:54:27 PM EDT


Obviously there are more aspects to winning than just three things, but I think in order for the Utes to succeed Saturday, Utah will need to accomplish all three of these things -- or at least come damn close. While I feel good about Saturday, it's a rivalry game and every aspect of the contest matters. That means one mistake could prove costly and we can't have that, can we?

• Pressure the hell out of Max Hall! Hall is a good quarterback, but when pressured does not perform terribly well. If the Utes fluster him, he will turn the ball over and Utah has been great at forcing interceptions this season. Though BYU has done pretty good for how much they've turned the ball over this season, Utah is a different beast than the traditional teams BYU has faced. They will capitalize on those turnovers and they will be costly. However, that will require Utah to actually force those turnovers and the best place to start is by pressuring Hall.
• Capitalize on turnovers. It's important Utah capitalize on forced turnovers. They've done a great job of this throughout the season and they will need to continue against BYU. If, like I said above, they force Hall into mistakes, the success off those turnovers could be the difference in the game. With turnovers, the Utes will most likely be dealing with a short field, which Utah has done well in all season.
• Exploit the Cougar secondary. The Cougar secondary isn't horrible, but they do give up over 200 yards through the air in a game. If Brian Johnson can carve up this secondary, Utah should easily work its way down field. However, Johnson has struggled at times when throwing deep and that can't happen Saturday. It can't happen because BYU does have a stout run defense, only giving up 92 yards per game. If Utah struggles in its passing game, relying on the run might not be enough to move the ball to the point where the offense can be successful.

It will be interesting to see how BYU's offense does against the Utes' defense. I think Utah's defense will be the best the Cougars have faced all season and BYU's last real defensive opponent -- TCU -- could have won if they had any type of offense. The Utes, though, do have that offense and this is why I'm optimistic about their chances. With that said, this won't be a high scoring game -- at least compared to the last three. I wouldn't be surprised if the final score was somewhere in the 20s, instead of the 30s like last year. Of course the Utes will win and everything will be right in the world again.

 

[RJ Esq]

The Illini Deserve More Respect

Posted Nov 19th 2007 2:41PM by Tom Fornelli
Filed under: Big 10, NCAA FB BlogPoll, Illinois Football

You would think that in a college football season that currently has Kansas ranked #2 in the BCS for a possible matchup with LSU, voters would start thinking outside the box. I mean, South Florida was ranked #2 earlier this season.

For the most part, I've been impressed by the AP voters and coaches for their willingness to adjust to the ever changing landscape of college football, but there's one team out there that still isn't getting any respect in my opinion.

The Fighting Illini are currently ranked 18th in both the AP and Coaches poll. It's my opinion, and one I used in my Blogpoll ballot, that the Illini are a top ten team right now.

Sure, they're 9-3 and nobody in the top ten has three losses, but I don't think losses are the end all be all of a team's ability. Oregon has only two losses, but without Dennis Dixon, are they a top 10 team? They sure didn't look like one against Arizona on Thursday night.

I know Hawaii is 10-0, but they're Hawaii. They needed a last second field goal to beat powerhouse Nevada on Friday night. I know the Illini are better than Hawaii, yet they're ranked three spots below them in the polls.

But let's take a look at what Ron Zook and his boys have done this season.

Do you know how many teams in the country have two victories against a top 5 team right now? One. The Fighting Illini.

They beat Wisconsin when they were ranked #5 in the country, and they just beat the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes last weekend.

Their three losses? Only one of them was a bad loss, at Iowa back in October, but it's no worse a loss than Michigan's losing to Appalachian State. It's no worse than Oklahoma losing to Kansas State or Colorado. It's definitely not any worse than USC's loss to Stanford.

The other two Illini losses? Against Michigan and Missouri. Not exactly lightweights this season.

Right now the Illini are playing better than they have been all season, yet they aren't ranked as highly as they were after beating Penn State and Wisconsin. Not only are they still destroying people with their running attack, but now Juice Williams is becoming an actual quarterback. He's throwing for touchdowns now, not just running for them.

The worst part is the Illini have virtually no chance of climbing any higher in the polls now that their season is over, and they'll be off until January 1st.

Maybe if Zook and his boys roll into Orlando and take care of the Gators (which will be a great game, so I hope it happens) on New Year's Day, maybe then the Illini will start earning some respect amongst college football voters. I know there are already a bunch of teams in the Big Ten that realize how good this team is.

 

[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle"> The Legacy of Lloyd Carr </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">

</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 19, 2007
</td> <td nowrap="nowrap">
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

While Lloyd Carr came under fire over the last few seasons for his problems against Ohio State and in bowl games, his overall resume will make him one of the greats.
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3">
[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]The Legacy of Lloyd Carr[/FONT]

By Pete Fiutak

We live in a BCS world where a combination of human biases and opinions are mixed in with the cold hard data generated from the computers. When taking into account the legacy of Lloyd Carr, it'll be important to take a step back from the recent issues with Ohio State and bowl games to look at the entire résumé, and then history might be far kinder than a segment of the fan base was over the last few years.

Obviously he'll always have next to his name the problems against Ohio State late in his career with six losses in his last seven in the rivalry, but overall he was 6-7 against the Buckeyes.
<table id="table2" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="4" width="150"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffcc"> Lloyd Carr Highlights
- 121-40 record
- 1997 national title
- 5 Big Ten championships
- A .752 winning percentage
- A .779 Big Ten winning percentage

Lloyd Carr Lowlights
- Lost six of last seven games to Ohio State
- Lost to Appalachian State 34-32
- 4-6 on the road in the regular season against BCS teams & Notre Dame
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Obviously he'll always be the coach that lost to Appalachian State, but he also did a phenomenal job of bringing his program back from disaster. The 2007 regular season ended with two losses, but despite a slew of big injuries, he guided his team to an eight-game winning streak after an 0-2 start to get in a position to win the Big Ten title. He did the same thing in 2005 when his Wolverines overcame a rough first half of the year to hand Penn State its only loss of the season on the way to a key four-game winning streak to save the season.

Obviously he'll be remembered for struggling in the big non-conference games, but out of his 40 overall losses, a mere 12 were by more than seven points and there was only one loss to a team (1996 Purdue) that finished with a losing record. Obviously he'll be the coach who, going into this year's bowl, lost five of six bowl games including three Rose Bowls, but it's not like the BCS losses came to, well, Appalachian State, dropping two to national title-level USC teams and to a Vince Young-led Texas. Overall, he's a not-that-bad 5-7 in the bowls so far.

Michigan finished in the Big Ten top three for 11 straight years, won five Big Ten titles, came within the whims of the voters from playing for the national title in 2006, and won a national title in 1997.

Oh yeah ... he won a national championship.

Lost in the haze of the Ohio State loses and the recent bowl issues is a perfect 12-0 1997 season that not only established Carr as one of the greats, but also made his résumé better than the beloved Bo Schembechler's. While history has looked back on Bo as a legend, he never won a national title, was routinely pantsed in the Rose Bowl, and had a legacy of not being able to win the really, really big one. Carr won the really, really big one, but that won't be remembered as much as his inability to win a slew of just plain big ones.

Remember, Michigan is the winningest program in college football history. It's a place that actually believes that Leaders and Best stuff. So while Carr's consistent excellence was good enough for most places, and would've made him a god, complete with statues and field namings at about 100 other schools, being out of the national title hunt before October year in and year out didn't sit well with the fan base that wanted national championships every year.

The Wolverines were in the national title hunt until the end in 2006, but were out of it this year on opening day and lost a non-conference September game from 2000 to 2005. Under Carr's watch, Michigan went a pedestrian 15-9 in regular season non-conference games against BCS teams and Notre Dame, and was 4-7 since 2000. Carr was able to deflect the criticism by saying the Big Ten title was most important to Michigan, but that backfired once Jim Tressel was hired at Ohio State.

But beyond the numbers, beyond the expectations, and beyond the negatives coming in the big games, Carr was what a college football head coach is supposed to be. He won a lot of games and did it without a whiff of scandal, plenty of class, and with a love for his players that inspired unquestioned loyalty. He was a true Michigan head coach and will be looked upon as a sort of father figure who got his beloved program to heights not seen in almost 50 years, and then steered it through way above-average season after way above-average season.

But being way above-average doesn't cut it in Ann Arbor, just like it doesn't cut it in Columbus, Los Angeles, Gainesville and South Bend. The next head coach will be hired with that in mind, and the next head coach will quickly realize that the expectations of being Michigan, the bull's-eye on the back as everyone's circle game week-in-and-week-out, and with the weight of the one of the greatest programs in all of sports, being way above-average really isn't that bad.
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[RJ Esq]

Profiles In Disillusion
By SMQ
Posted on Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 01:17:13 PM EDT


Conquered favorites and other notables picking up the pieces of shattered ambition this week:
• Hail to the Grumpy Hero. Somewhere in the archives of the Michigan papers, you'll find something about losing the Big Ten title to Ohio State in the Wolverines' worst offensive performance in a couple decades, but the front pages are devoted to reams and reams of Lloyd Carr's just-announced retirement, his career, his legacy, why he's underappreciated by Michigan fans, why Michigan fans will miss and remember him forever, who should replace him, who shouldn't replace him, "how he told his team," etc. The tears will flow and the band will play and the old man will walk stoically into the cornstalks of immortality.
A short summation of Carr's press conference:

Michigan AD Bill Martin says essentially the same thing on the process of naming Carr's replacement:

• In telephone interview Sunday evening, Martin outlined what characteristics he'd like in the next Michigan coach. Longevity. "We have had football coaches who have been put in place for extended periods of time. If you look at this situation, I would be looking for someone who could serve for a longer period of time."
  In all, six Michigan coaches have lasted more than 10 seasons, including Carr, who is retiring after his 13th campaign.
  Head coaching experience: "You've got to have experience to come here. This is the winningest college football program in history. Lloyd has pushed that percentage rate up. To me that's the benchmark. This is not time to experiment (with coaches). This has to be a very careful, considered process."
  An understanding of Michigan's traditions, including an emphasis on academic and community involvement among players.
  "I think it can be someone who does not have direct ties to Michigan. It would be helpful if they did, but it's not necessary in my mind. Bo didn't have any experience here, Fritz Crisler didn't have any experience here, Yost didn't have any experience here."
  [...]
  Whomever Martin decides to eventually offer the coaching job to, it's likely that sticker shock will accompany the hire. Carr's pay package amounts to nearly $1.5 million this year, while those of other top coaches around the country are often much higher.
  - - -

"Other coaches around the country" = Les Miles, who is "obviously Michigan's perfect candidate," will "always be a Michigan man," is totally not interested in the job, is "not a lock" to replace Carr and isn't among the cream of the crop of coaches Michigan could consider.
But even the doubters recognize Miles is the Wolverines' coaching Dream Date unless politics stand in the way - per the Free Press' Michael Rosenberg, of the "Miles not a lock" opinion on Sunday, before Carr's official announcement:

• In theory, Miles is everything Michigan wants in a head coach. He played and coached at U-M. He has won at LSU and Oklahoma State. His team is No. 1 in the country. And from all indications, he wants the job and has wanted it for several years. Now this is where it gets interesting.
  Whatever Carr says Monday, one thing he will not say is this: "I hope Les Miles replaces me." And he won't say it to Martin or higher-ups, either.
  People inside the program say there is a rift between Carr and Miles. Just because Miles played for Bo Schembechler does not mean he would have been Schembechler's choice to run the program.
  At this point, I think Carr realizes his successor is not going to come from within the program. But that doesn't mean it has to be Les Miles.
  This is where Carr still holds some cards. I think he will time his announcement based on what he thinks is best for the future of the program. Part of that is recruiting. Part of that is the hiring process.
  If Carr announces his retirement Monday, will Michigan wait until mid-January to talk to Miles? That would create a huge distraction for LSU as Miles tries to win a national title.
  - - -

Ah, that wily Carr, envisioning fake punts and last second bombs into the end zone when a kick'll do just fine and challenges to a steel cage with Jim Tressel, and timing his exit early to discourage the department from waiting until the end of Miles' shining moment in mid-January?
Bah to that - from Martin's comments, all Carr has to do to keep Les Miles out of his old chair is tell his AD "Don't hire Les Miles."
Other candidates being thrown around: Kirk Ferentz (really?), Mike DeBord, Ron English, Jeff Tedford, Greg Schiano, ex-Wolverine/current Carolina Panther D coordinator Mike Trgovac, Cam Cameron (really?), Brian Kelly and, of course, Chris Spielman's favorite, Jim Harbaugh (because Harbaugh "has a lot of energy," natch). Word to the wise for Michigan: don't trust a Buckeye to make coaching suggestions - after 20 years, OSU's nefarious Spielman Project could just be reaching its fruition!
• Fired? Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God Almighty... Incredibly, there's no such outpouring for Guy Morriss at Baylor, bounced after the Bears finished a dreadful 0-8 Big 12 season with a 31-point loss to Oklahoma State Saturday. Athletic Director Ian McCaw said this:

• Regrettably, we've not realized the success that we expect, and therefore a national search will begin immediately to recruit the very best person to Baylor to lead its football program forward...I ask for the support and the prayers of the Baylor family as we enter into this vitally important process."
  - - -

To which the departing GuyMo said, quote,

• "Peace out."
  - - -

thereby officially ensconsing himself in college football lore (aside from his central, tragic role in the "Bluegrass Miracle") for "Least Sanctimonious Exit." The Dallas Morning News described Morris as he "held up two fingers in a hippie-style peace sign" and rode off into the wind, hopefully on one of the Harleys mentioned in the same article - though, in a pinch, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think a slow-moving old mare trotting painfully into the sunset wouldn't be more appropriate. Make them feel your pain, coach. Make them understand. Make them squirm.

Guy Morriss done had enough of this Baptist shit.
- - -
Most surprising statistic of Morriss' tenure? His salary: $1.2 million annually. To coach Baylor to a 7-33 conference record over five years? Hmmm...on second thought, he may have earned that, actually. Houston Nutt's name has come up as a replacement in Waco - gosh, why? Houston Nutt's not going anywhere, is he? - but make no mistake: ex-Bear Mike Singletary is the coach. He'll be announced by mid-week.
• You Promised Us, Nick. You Know What Happens to People Who Break Their Promises, Don't You? These are not the sort of headlines Alabama paid four million dollars for:

• "'Pattern in personality' must change in Tide" "Day of agony"
  "'Embarrassed'"
  "Boos rain down on Alabama football team after embarrassing loss to Louisiana Monroe"
  "Auburn a way to forget ULM"
  "Saban drawn and quartered at capstone, blood sacrificed as penance to Bear Bryant Museum"

The last one is sort of a, uh, figurative summary, if you will, but it encapsulates the general tenor of `Bama fans pretty well, I think. The honeymoon, clearly, has deteriorated into icy stares, but whatever else Saban does at Alabama, he has quickly accomplished this: never before has the Iron Bowl been sold as a distraction for losing to UL-Monroe. That is a first.
Saban now has to deal frankly with the prospect of losing his team completely in a way very, very familiar to `Bama partisans, way too familiar, going into an emotionally volatile game Alabama hasn't won in five years off three straight losses, the last two being bad, bad losses, with a winning season, bowl game, and general feeling of progress at stake. They will turn on you, coach. They will turn so fast. When you're hired, they look like this:

<object height="295" width="355">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kL00FDb5zqc&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="295" width="355"></object></p> But when it turns so sour, those same fans aren’t so nice:

<object height="295" width="355">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sf8ypOb_XS4&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="295" width="355"></object></p> On the "salvaging the season" front, senior cornerback Simeon Castille, asked if Alabama can beat Auburn Saturday - not will Alabama beat Auburn, but can Alabama beat Auburn - Castille's eyes widened, his nostrils flared, he breathed fire, screamed the scream of frothing madman, judo chopped his locker and lustily exclaimed,

• "I definitely think so. You never know what can happen with that game. Anything is possible when you are playing in the Iron Bowl."
  - - -

We have to assume he delivered that passive cliché with gusto, then grabbed and destroyed a bunch of reporters' pins, letting the ink ooze down his face Papa Shango style.
- - -
Elsewhere in Disillusion...
• The Oklahoman straight up second-guesses Oklahoma's gameplanning after the sooner defense allowed well over 300 yards and 27 points in the first half, breaking out four questions concerning the OU...offense?

• 1. With inexperienced backup quarterback Joey Halzle at the helm, why not try to run the ball against the Red Raiders, who rank 11th in the Big 12 in rushing defense? 2.Running the ball runs the clock, which keeps the Texas Tech offense off the field. Why not utilize running back DeMarco Murray more?
  3. Tight end Jermaine Gresham had one catch, and not until the fourth quarter. Wouldn't shorter passes to tight ends have been easier for Halzle?
  4. You don't try to beat the Red Raiders scoring three points at a time. Why kick a field goal at the end of the first half when you're trailing 27-7?
  5. If freshman quarterback Keith Nichol is healthy, why not give him a shot?
  - - -

Berry Tramel elaborates on the second question, but nobody asks, "Why didn't you guys, like, cover anybody?"
• Minnesota finished its season 1-11 and winless in the Big Ten with a loss to Wisconsin Saturday, its one win in overtime againstthe Ohio-based Miami in a debut season for Tim Brewster that included losses to Bowling Green, Florida Atlantic and North Dakota State, to say nothing of Northwestern and Indiana. Apparently the Gophers were stoked about finally passing 2002 Eastern Michigan to become merely the second-worst season-long defense of the decade at 518.7 yards (EMU allowed 519 in '02), though, because Brewster's placekicking son, Clint, was part of some fascinating constructive criticism of the Badgers' performance after the game:

• Bielema said he was so animated, in part, because cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu got "punched in the lower extremities" by Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker during the game. Decker acknowledged both he and Ikegwuonu crossed the line a few times. Ikegwuonu later head-butted Decker after getting hit in the groin.
  "There's a lot of emotion that goes into it, and the closer the game was, the more heated it got," Decker said. "Maybe sometimes I took a couple of cheap shots at him, he took a couple of cheap shots at me. It was a fair game at the end, and we respect each other."
  [...]
  Wisconsin kicker Taylor Mehlhaff also accused Gophers freshman quarterback Clint Brewster, son of the head coach, of jawing at him after the game.
  "I just went over to say good game to their kicker and this kid, the coach's son, comes over and I don't want to say what he said, but he just said, 'You guys are terrible' and this and that, we're 1-10 and we should have beat you and this and that," Mehlhaff told Wisconsin reporters. "I'm just like, 'Wow.'
  "I was giving their guys high-fives ... and telling them good game. I just couldn't believe anyone would come up and be like that. And then he said, 'How many kicks did you miss today?' That's pretty bold. I just said, 'I've got to go celebrate the axe.' "
  - - -

It might be upsetting, but sometimes, son, it's best to keep your mouth shut.
- - -
Note to Brewster: never criticize a man who just beat you for possession of a giant axe. See, football can teach life skills. • Guy Cipriano pulls no punches in his assessment of Penn State's season-ending loss at Michigan State:

• A below-average team beat an above-average team. No wait. An above average team lost to a below average team.
  No, wait again. An average team beat an average team.
  That sounds right.
  A 12-game regular season that ended with its game being the cheeseburger stuck on the same plate as a sizzling steak -- Michigan and Ohio State played an hour down the bumpy Michigan roads -- proved how this Penn State team will be remembered.
  [...]
  But don't be fooled. The four non-conference teams Penn State defeated are nowhere near being average Division I football programs.
  So stare at the Big Ten record. Stare at it again.
  The Nittany Lions went 4-4 against their peers.
  Coach Joe Paterno will tell you his team came close to defeating Michigan, Illinois and Michigan State. He will never tell you his team almost lost to Indiana and Purdue.
  He also will never tell you he leads an average Big Ten program, one that has posted a 32-32 record against conference opponents since 2000.
  Asked if his program is not as strong as it needs to be, Paterno quipped: "That's ridiculous."
  [...]
  But the business doesn't win Big Ten games, especially close ones on the road, at an impressive rate.
  The Nittany Lions held a 24-7 lead with less than 23 minutes remaining against a Michigan State team that finished 3-5 in conference play. Great teams win these games by double digits. Good teams win by single digits.
  Average teams find ways to lose.
  - - -

Michigan-Ohio State....sizzling steak? There is a man in a press box focused on his work. But - and no surprise here - Cipriano is still much kinder to the Lions than Penn State fans. Music City Bowl tickets on sale yet?

 

[RJ Esq]

State of Virginia 92, Miami 14

Posted Nov 19th 2007 1:08PM by Ian Cohen
Filed under: Miami Football, ACC, BCS

Just to get some background, let's take some time to consider the last three Miami football seasons and how they've ended:

2005- Destroyed by LSU in the Chick Fil-A Bowl and then involved in an ugly postgame brawl that somehow ended up being the second ugliest dustup the team got involved in with another football team that year.

2006- Eked past Nevada in the Humanitarian Bowl after finishing out the regular season with listless performances against the likes of 5-7 Virginia.

2007- After giving up 48 points to the 105th-ranked offense, Miami goes to Virginia Tech and has major media outlets wondering if they even care anymore. Next week: ACC Coastal Champ Boston College.

Usually, this sort of thing is indicative of a team that cannot be reached by their coaching staff. Only thing is, you could say that about 2005 and 2006, but this year, they've only got the new guy to blame. A new guy whose unimaginable past is supposed to endear him to players.

Exactly how short of a leash does Randy Shannon have at this point? The going rationale behind his hire was that he was the sort of company-first, low-key guy that could restore some sort of semblance of class to a program that had relapsed badly after the departure of Butch Davis. But this is a team that, a win against Texas A&M aside, can't do anything right on either side of the ball despite having a good degree of continuity from the previous regime. Is it possible that Miami has to clear house altogether? If nothing else, it's a burning told-you-so for not dumping a blank check on Greg Schiano. Due to its lack of a campus culture, Miami isn't really beset with the same frothing fanbase as a Florida State or Michigan, but even without that hanging over you, is this really a job that can attract a big name coach anymore?

 

[Aztec4Life]

With you on both of your plays bro. GL this week RJ!

 

[RJ Esq]

Thanks, Dmac.

 

[JPicks]

Not sure exactly how interested you are in NMU this week, but the line is back to 10 at bookmaker.

 

[RJ Esq]

Thanks, JPicks. I like it alot better now at 10.

Colorado St looks like a good value but I don't know how you bet on either CSU or Wyoming. Both teams suck right now.

 

[RJ Esq]

Capital One Bowl Threepeat?

Posted Nov 19th 2007 8:45PM by Bruce Ciskie
Filed under: Wisconsin Football, Big 10

I am not the world's most intelligent soul, and sometimes I have trouble picking up on things that are pretty simple (just ask Mrs. Ciskie for confirmation).

However, as I look at the 2007 college football bowl season (mainly how it relates to Wisconsin), I see that one thing is pretty clear.

Wisconsin isn't a good fit in the Capital One Bowl.

It's not because the Badgers can't compete in the game. They've won back-to-back Capital One Bowls, after all, and it's not like the SEC has been tearing up the college football world this season. Outside of LSU and maybe Georgia, there aren't any teams in that league that should scare Wisconsin.

It's because the Badgers have played in that bowl game two straight years. Even for the well-traveling Badger fans, this isn't the most attractive option on the board. Common sense would seem to indicate that the Capital One Bowl people might be wise to look elsewhere for a Big Ten representative (Michigan for Lloyd Carr's last game, maybe?).

Bowls aren't run by common sense, however. They're run by dollar signs, and the bowl committee apparently sees dollar signs when they look at Wisconsin. While it doesn't make much sense, the Capital One Bowl is still a very real possibility for Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dave Heller found an interesting point from the Patriot-News (Pennsylvania). Wisconsin's men's basketball team plays a game at Texas December 29, the same day as the Alamo Bowl. The Texas campus - in Austin - is about 80 miles from the Alamodome. It's not as glamorous as the Capital One Bowl, and it's not on New Year's Day like the Outback Bowl (the other bowl that appears a good possibility for UW). However, Wisconsin hasn't played in the Alamo Bowl in some time, and the fact that fans could potentially invade the Erwin Events Center before catching the football game could be attractive.

Or maybe the Badgers will go back to Orlando. It doesn't appear to be the best option, but a shot at a three-peat would at least be interesting.​

 

[RJ Esq]

West Virginia Just Keeps Winning

Posted Nov 19th 2007 8:27PM by John Radcliff
Filed under: West Virginia Football, Big East, West Virginia

It hasn't been pretty, but in this years college football season the only real prerequisite to a shot at the national title game is to keep winning. Outside of West Virginia's win against Western Michigan to start the season off or the Mississippi State game, nothing has come easy for the Mountaineers. And in their last two games against Louisville and Cincinnati, West Virginia did everything they could to keep their opponents in the game with untimely fumbles.

But despite all that, they find themselves in the number three spot in this weeks BCS poll. And looking at their closest competition, Kansas and Missouri, there is a very real possibility that both will suffer another loss before the season is over. It's by no means a lock, but one of those teams will lose this weekend and the other will most likely face Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game.

And that takes us back to the title of this post. Just keep winning and you're in the title game. It might not seem fair to those that think West Virginia doesn't belong in this position because of a less than demanding schedule. But life is seldom fair and sports even less so. There's been 11 top five teams that have lost to an unranked team this year. And all 11 of those teams have no one to blame but themselves for the position they are in. Make no mistake about it, a top five team should never lose to an unranked team.

Being a West Virginia fan, I'm probably a little biased and don't think the schedule is all that bad. And I think they deserve a shot at the title if they win the rest of their games. The Mountaineers have played five teams that have been ranked this year. Which is the same as Missouri, three more than Kansas, and at least the same as Ohio State. Forgive me, I can't remember if Purdue was ranked this year. No need to mention LSU since they played everyone that was anyone this year and are totally deserving of a shot if they win out. But as for the rest, I see no reason why any of the above would be more deserving that West Virginia.

I might have just made the best argument in like forever as to why college football needs a playoff system. But there won't be a playoff this year or any time in the near future. And until then, winning is all that matters.

 

[RJ Esq]

You Can't Fade Wake Forest

Posted Nov 19th 2007 5:24PM by Ian Cohen
Filed under: NC State Football, ACC, BCS, Wake Forest Football

So yeah, I'm as guilty as anyone of wondering whether NC State had surpassed Wake Forest as the predominant football team in the state of North Carolina (dear lord, that feels weird to write...until you realize that ECU had played better than any other team in the state except Appalachian). The Demon Deacons were coming off a two-game losing streak that pretty much ran the gamut from heartbreaker to backbreaker, falling in the last seconds to Virginia and getting utterly decimated by Clemson, whereas NC State had righted the ship with four straight wins.

With Humanitarian and Meineke Bowl reps in attendance, Wake sent an emphatic corrective to the doubters (guilty as charged) with a convincing win over the Wolfpack, who play Maryland next week in what will most likely be a bowl elimination game. As for Wake, even with a loss against Vandy next week, the Meineke Bowl seems like a reasonable destination for a 7-5 team. Since Virginia went to the initial two (back when it was called the Continental Tire Bowl), they've selected teams in a manner that have led it to be called (by me and likely few else) the Carolina Invitational. Besides the fact that they bring a better team to the table than either Maryland or NC State (the winner likely headed to Boise), Wake won't have to worry about mobilizing their relatively tiny alumni base to put on a reasonably good show in Charlotte.

 

[RJ Esq]

Kentucky's Fall Is Hard to Understand

Posted Nov 19th 2007 5:38PM by Ryan Ferguson
Filed under: SEC, Kentucky Football

Remember Kentucky football?

It was only a month and a half ago that the Wildcats defeated then (and now) #1 LSU in an epic, 3-OT battle which they won 43-37.

On that day -- October 13 -- and for the first time in history, ESPN's immensely popular College Gameday came to Lexington to celebrate the amazing resurgence of the moribund Wildcats. The Wildcats won with a potent offense led by All-SEC quarterback, Andre Woodson, who gave Kentucky their biggest win in school history and became the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

A week later, ranked #7 in the country, a banged up batch of 'Cats gave #15 Florida everything they could handle in a 45-37 loss.

Then, they lost to Mississippi State, 31-14. And the nation forgot about Kentucky football.

The Wildcats went on to squeeze out a 27-20 win to a good Vanderbilt team, but followed that up with an ugly 24-13 loss to Georgia, a game in which the offense never got in rhythm.

Before you know it, a season that was filled with such promise a short time ago has become just another season for the Cats.

What happened to Andre Woodson? The last time we saw "Heisman Andre" was against Florida. Since then, Woodson has looked like nothing more than an average, or perhaps slighty under-average SEC quarterback.

Woodson's QB rating when he played against the Gators was a sterling 172.72. In his last three games, that has dropped like a rock: 104.57 against Mississippi State, 139.10 @ Vanderbilt, and 116.62 @ Georgia. More importantly, he's thrown a total of 4 picks and 4 TDs across his last three games.

The Cats are now 7-4 and it's hard to fight off the sense that their season is slipping away. An 8 win season is still within reach, and with such a record the Cats could find their way to a mid-tier bowl. The difference between 8-4 and 7-5, however, could be the difference between a January or a Christmas bowl.

The fall is, frankly, hard to understand. The Cats' defense, maligned as the worst unit in the SEC last year, has stepped it up several notches down the stretch and are holding their opponents' scores down low enough to give the Cats a chance to win. But Heisman Andre has left the building, and on the way out he stole away Kentucky's hopes and dreams.

 

[RJ Esq]

DON’T DUMP DORRELL! LOVE, LA TIMES GUY.

We thought we were making this up.
Karl Dorrell doesn’t deserve to be fired. He doesn’t! Trust me. I know, because I talked to him once. In fact, I’m aiding and abetting any claim he may make–post-firing or not–that he is being judged differently because he’s black.
Does he feel as if he is not getting a fair shake because he is black?
“Let me put it this way,” he said. “In every opportunity that I’ve had in my coaching career, it was never in my mind that I was dealing with a level playing field. I’ve had to do more to accomplish what I’ve accomplished.
“It’s getting better. But still, that’s just the way it is.”
Well put. I’m convinced that race plays a role in what some of you critics are saying. To think otherwise would be plain foolish. Some of you just don’t know what to make of a coach who does not fit into your convenient stereotypes.
Like Chan Gailey, another black coach with a similar record (37-27, .578 winning percentage) I believe he’s being singled out because of his race, not his 34-26 record, .567 winning percentage, and inability to field a consistent football team from week to week. Both are victims of the same profiling. I guess some of you really can’t handle something different, can you?
Oh, and I’ll also create a website to say this from even though I’m a columnist who covers the guy from time to time. Not odd or fishy at all, really.
Sincerely,
Karl Streeter
LA Times Columnist.

 

[RJ Esq]

FOOTBALL AT BOISE IS FUN

Boise State may still be in the boonies and playing on blue turf, but festivity, thy name is Bronco football. In this year’s senior class finale versus the Vandals, Boise brought out the full arsenal of senior night glory:
In trouncing Idaho 58-14, the Broncos completed a pass to a lineman, who then struck a Heisman Trophy pose and took a leap into the stands. The Broncos allowed a defensive tackle to attempt an extra point. A backup quarterback threw two touchdown passes.
The lineman in question is likely NFL draftee Ryan Clady, a mammoth piece of human being who drew a personal foul for his celebration that, once underway, brought teammates over to join in since, as Ian Johnson put it, “Once I saw one yellow thing fly up in the air, I was like, ‘Oh, I might as well run over.’ They can’t sort us all out.”" Evil Richt approves!
The other grand point awarded to Boise State is the spotting of the second best t-shirt of the week, “SENATOR CRAIG IS A VANDAL.” Totally true, by the way: Craig graduated from the University of Idaho in 1969, where he was in Delta Chi fraternity and was likely spanked by other men with a paddle in his initiation ceremony. You make your own guesses as to how much he enjoyed it.

Idaho’s definitely-not-Yag senator is yours, not ours.

 

[RJ Esq]

You Probably Didn't Watch Tennessee-Vandy, But You Missed One Hell of a Game

Posted Nov 19th 2007 4:32PM by Ryan Ferguson
Filed under: Tennessee Football, SEC, Vanderbilt Football
Anyone actually watch that thing start to finish?

Not you, Tennessee fans. Or you, Vandy fans.

(scans crowd, notes lack of upraised hands)

Didn't think so. The game wasn't exactly easy to watch. If you're an ESPN Gameplan subscriber not living in a blackout area, you could have grabbed it, but with games like Michigan-Ohio State running, it was hard to pay much attention, wasn't it?

Well, you missed a great game. First, you missed Vanderbilt, a perennial SEC doormat, building up a 24-9 lead against their hated in-state rival heading into the 4th quarter.

Then you missed one of Tennessee's greatest, and perhaps most significant, comebacks of the Fulmer era, scoring 16 unanswered points to take a 25-24 victory.

Significance Factor 1: it kept Tennessee in the driver's seat for a berth in the SEC Championship game. Had they lost, Georgia would have represented the East.

Significance Factor 2: Phil Fulmer probably keeps his job if he wins the division, which as unthinkable as it sounded weeks ago, now seems quite likely unless Kentucky can pull the upset.

Enjoy the highlights.

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(Vandy fans: sorry about the lack of quarters 2-3. Apparently this Vol fan didn't think much of your 3 quarters' worth of domination. And, uh, sorry about whole "losing a game you had in hand" thing. God must love torturing you guys.)

 

[RJ Esq]

Did The Big Ten Officials Give Penn State a Fourth Timeout?
By Mike Section: Football
Posted on Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 04:25:46 PM EDT


I didn't tape the game, so someone has to go back and tell me if I'm crazy.
I remember late in the game Penn State was driving down the field. This was right after Brent Carter had rolled off a few good runs and Michigan State was on their heels. Penn State had 1st and 10 at the MSU 24 yard line. The Lions were down by four with 1:50 to play. They were lining up to snap the ball when the officials came running in blowing the whistle. The referee said, "Timeout Michigan State" but he motioned that Penn State took the timeout.
I remember thinking "That's an odd place for Sparty to call a timeout." Of course they cut right to commerical without the announcers sorting it out or even mentioning it, but I didn't think much of it. When they came back to the game the ABC game tracker showed Penn State with one timeout left. (They had used one earlier in the third quarter.)
So then Penn State throws four straight incompletions and give the ball back to Sparty. Dantonio takes a knee on first down and Penn State calls a timeout. According to the game tracker, this should have been their last timeout. But the officials said it was just our second. I suspect Dantonio thought it was our last timeout too because he appeared to be livid on the sideline as he yelled at the official and pointed at the scoreboard.
On the next play instead of taking a knee like he did on first down, he elected to run the ball to Caulcrick for four yards. Penn State called timeout and stopped the clock again. After another Caulcrick run the Spartans were forced to punt and give Penn State the ball back with 15 seconds to play. And of course then Anthony Morelli threw a 3 yard pass when he needed 78 yards for a touchdown. But that's another story.
This is just one more example of horrible Big Ten officiating this year. I didn't even mention the "Fourth Down...no third down...no wait...yep...it's fourth down" fiasco from earlier in the game. The conference really needs to consider a rigorous training plan for the officials this year. And they better evaulate their interview and screening process to find candidates that don't live in Ann Arbor and have more officiating experience than their kid's pee wee football league. The quality of officiating in the Big Ten this year has been far less than desireable.

 

[RJ Esq]

Charlie Weis Is Returning To The Patriots....For Advice

Posted Nov 19th 2007 3:27PM by Tom Fornelli
Filed under: Patriots, Notre Dame Football, NCAA FB Coaching

I was stricken with depression this weekend. You see, after Notre Dame beat Duke on Saturday for their second win of the season, and first at home, there was a great inner conflict inside my soul.

On one hand I was happy that the Irish actually won a game, but at the same time I was depressed by the fact a victory over Duke caused so much happiness.

It's just been an absolutely gut-wrenching season to be a Notre Dame fan in 2007. I keep searching for possible answers to all the problems the team has, but I can't find any. Jimmy Clausen has performed well lately, but it all came in garbage time against Air Force and against Duke. That's not exactly a sign of greatness to come.

Charlie Weis is also searching for answers, and his search is going to take him back to New England. Charlie wants to talk with his old buddies about what he's doing wrong in South Bend.

Charlie Weis will do some serious self-evaluation after this season. Then the Notre Dame coach will let his old coaching buddies on the New England Patriots put their two cents in.

"I think that those guys would have no problem telling me what things I did right and what things I did wrong," Weis said Sunday. "I think those resources, those people, because we're close enough and have a very close relationship won't be afraid of saying to me, 'What the heck are you doing?' And that's what I want. I want somebody to be able to tell me, to say it like that. And I know that those guys would do that."​

I'm not sure what the Patriots could tell Charlie though. I mean, other than start taping your opponent's practices and find another Tom Brady.

 

[RJ Esq]

Death, Taxes, Seven Wins For Georgia Tech

Posted Nov 18th 2007 9:28PM by Ian Cohen
Filed under: Georgia Tech Football, ACC, BCS

Let's be honest: Georgia Tech isn't a team you've had to think a lot about ever since their waaaaaaaaaaaaay-overvalued win against Notre Dame. And even if GT and "great expectations" generally aren't frequent bedfellows in the world of college football, that has to be considered a disappointment considering they inspired columns about why they're totally gonna beat UGA this year.

Or is it? Somehow, they stand at damn near the same position they seem to be in every year when facing Georgia: a seven-win team (after a close call against UNC) with serious QB issues that's looking at a meh bowl game, in this case, most likely the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. Thus, they find themselves in the same uncomfortable position: Chan Gailey is good enough to get them in the postseason discussion (every year since 1997) despite the fact that GT has some of the most rigorous academic requirements of any school (no Apparel, Housing and Resource Management majors here), and a regional superpower getting first dibs on the state's best recruits. And of course, there's the "save your hide" win that he always seems to get, this year being a 13-3 scalp of Clemson which seemingly happened when no one was looking...which makes sense, seeing as how GT's six other wins come against teams with a combined 12 victories over FCS competition (five of them courtesy of Miami).

 

[RJ Esq]

Jones, Valdez upgraded to questionable
NATE ALLEN
Nate Allen Sports Service
FAYETTEVILLE — Injured running back/kick returner Felix Jones and injured left offensive tackle Jose Valdez apparently upgraded from doubtful to questionable for Arkansas in Saturday's 1 p.m., SEC West game versus Mississippi State in Little Rock.
Jones (deep thigh bruise during the 34-13 loss last Saturday at Tennessee) and Valdez (aggravated ankle in the same game) had their first practice of the week in Thursday's light workout.
"Felix got in a little bit of work today," Nutt said. "We'll know more Saturday. Again, because of the type of injury it is it is very difficult, very hard to get back to full speed that quick. But, boy, he's giving a lot of effort and we'll see."
Nutt doubted Jones would be ready to return kickoffs but that it would be spot running back duty if he can play at all.
Third-year sophomore Michael Smith has practiced all week as the backup to Darren McFadden, the All-American tailback current Doak Walker Award semifinalist and 2006 Doak Walker Award winner, and as the running back complement to McFadden when McFadden quarterbacks the WildHog formation.
As for Valdez, Nutt said, "Valdez was out here moving good today. That was good to see. We got him about half of it."
In the meantime, sophomore DeMarcus Love will get his first start at right guard freeing the regular starting right guard Robert Felton, a former tackle who also has played center, to fill Valdez's critical left tackle spot against Mississippi State defensive end Titus Brown.
Brown has eight quarterback sacks among his dozen tackles for losses. He might be an experience overmatch for Ray Dominguez, the redshirt freshman backup tackle who replaced Valdez when Valdez went down against Tennessee.
"We'll start out with Felton," Nutt said, "because of the work he has gotten the entire week. That's going to be a good matchup."
Titus Brown's pass rush has been a key to the Bulldogs intercepting 14 passes, with five returned for touchdowns including one that was the game-winner in last Saturday's MSU, 17-12 victory over Alabama.
Cornerback Anthony Johnson and safety Derek Pegues have three interceptions each and between them returned three for TD's.
Arkansas starting quarterback Casey Dick said it's a matter of timing to keep passes out of Bulldogs' hands.
"If you go out there and throw on time," Dick said, "and throw it where it needs to go, everything will be fine. You've got to throw on time and not give them a chance to break on the ball."
Meanwhile, Mississippi State quarterback Wesley Carroll is pretty stingy about giving the ball up. He's thrown 158 passes and only been picked off once.
Dick's two best but gimpy wide receiving targets, senior split end Marcus Monk (knee) and senior flanker Robert Johnson (ankle), were rested Thursday but will play Saturday.
Monk and Johnson both practiced Wednesday. Monk has had his best week of drills since his return working both Tuesday and Wednesday in full pads.
With Monk injured, fullback Peyton Hillis, practicing well and counted upon even more this week with Jones iffy, is Arkansas' leading receiver with 37 catches for 409 yards with 3 touchdowns.
Senior cornerback Michael Grant was excused early Thursday as a precaution because he "tweaked" a hamstring, trainer Dean Weber said.
Grant should be fine for Saturday's game, Weber said, the last game on Arkansas turf this season.

 

[RJ Esq]

Razorbacks rewind

By Marty Cook
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007
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Monk’s presence helps UA
FAYETTEVILLE — Seeing Marcus Monk in action Saturday had Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt wishing he could press rewind on the season.
Nutt said Monk was a big reason the Razorbacks’ passing game was so effective in a 45-31 victory against Mississippi State at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Monk caught 3 passes for 53 yards and 1 touchdown, and quarterback Casey Dick completed 14 of 17 passes for 199 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Monk had surgery on his right knee twice in the preseason and returned to action late in the season. His injury-plagued season is symbolic of the receivers corps where players such as Robert Johnson, Crosby Tuck and London Crawford have had injuries.
“That is what makes you wish you could play September over again,” Nutt said. “[Monk ] is the biggest difference. When you have a weapon like that out there... you’d love to see what would have happened.”
Nutt said the Mississippi State game is the type of offensive production he had expected to see more this season, even though standout tailback Felix Jones missed almost the entire game with a bruised thigh. Tailback Darren McFadden rushed 28 times for just 88 yards but caught and threw touchdown passes.
“You saw glimpses of it [during the year ], but not the consistency because you lacked the passing game,” Nutt said. “But, boy, Saturday was good. You have to give it to Marcus Monk. That helps the most.
“ I don’t think he played but 10-12 plays, but they were important and critical and keep people off balance.”
Nutt also again praised Dick’s play, not just for the high completion percentage but for the way the quarterback changed plays and kept the offense in rhythm. “Casey has given us a chance to win every game, if you go back and look closely,” Nutt said. “He has done everything we’ve asked him to do. He has got to have supporting-cast help. “ That mixture of guys, the supporting cast just helps Casey.”
Injury update Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt hopes to have tailback Felix Jones for the LSU game on Friday. Jones, who has a bruised thigh, was on the field for one play against Mississippi State on Saturday, catching a pass for no gain. “Hopefully, we’ll get him back,” Nutt said. “We were going to play him a bunch, but it was still pretty tender and sore.” The Razorbacks are waiting for word on cornerback Jerell Norton and defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard. Norton, third in the SEC with five interceptions, was on crutches Sunday after taking a helmet on his knee, and Sheppard injured his ankle. Nutt said safety Michael Grant was less than full speed after slightly injuring his hamstring in practice Thursday before the game. Unhappy Herring Reporters had to be quick on their feet to catch a word from Razorbacks defensive coordinator Reggie Herring after Arkansas’ 45-31 victory against Mississippi State Herring bolted from the Razorbacks’ locker room before reporters were finished listening to Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt. Herring was upset about his charges giving up 421 yards passing to Bulldogs quarterback Wesley Carroll and three second-half touchdown passes. The Bulldogs’ three secondhalf touchdowns all took less than 1 minute, 48 seconds, including “drives” of 7 and 18 seconds. “He’s a competitive guy, along with Coach [Bobby ] Allen and Chris Vaughn,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “They didn’t feel good about that, giving up 5-second touchdowns. We thought we were going to put this thing out of reach and then, whoop, there they go, they scored again. “ You can’t give up cheap ones, and that’s why he was pretty quick to exit the locker room [Saturday ].”
Short week Since Arkansas plays LSU on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the Razorbacks will have a different practice schedule. The Razorbacks will practice tonight because many players have classes scheduled during the afternoon of what is normally an off day. Everything else will be moved up a day, except Thanksgiving. That is still Thursday. “[Sunday ] they are lifting, they are watching film, they are correcting and treatment, treatment, treatment,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. “Then [we will practice today ], Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before the Thanksgiving meal and then head off down there.” Worth noting Arkansas improved to 22-2 in Little Rock under Coach Houston Nutt. It was the Razorbacks’ ninth consecutive victory against Mississippi State. Arkansas hasn’t lost to the Bulldogs since 1998. Casey Dick’s four touchdown passes were a career high. He threw touchdown passes to four receivers: fullback Farod Jackson, wide receivers Robert Johnson and Marcus Monk and tailback Darren McFadden. Dick moved up to fourth in quarterback efficiency in the SEC with a rating of 130. 7.
Up next The Razorbacks finish the regular season against LSU in Baton Rouge at 1: 30 p. m. Friday, and the game will be televised by CBS. The Tigers (10-1, 6-1 SEC ) beat Ole Miss 41-24 on Saturday and are the No. 1 team in the BCS rankings. Overheard “Our guys, they have a lot of confidence when we’re hitting on all cylinders, we can win. So that, to me, is what you talk
about.” — Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt, on how to motivate his team to play No. 1 LSU on Friday Players of the week OFFENSE Casey Dick Junior quarterback Casey Dick completed 14 of 17 passes for 199 yards and a career-high 4 touchdowns. His accurate passing — including 12 consecutive completions — didn’t open up running lanes for Darren McFadden, but it made Mississippi State pay for its focus on stopping the run. Ernest Mitchell DEFENSE Junior tackle Ernest Mitchell helped the Razorbacks hold Mississippi State to 80 yards rushing, including just 40 by standout Anthony Dixon. Mitchell had 6 tackles, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble. He had two tackles for 13 yards in losses.

 

[RJ Esq]

Murray out; other Sooners ailing

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Click-2-Listen​

By Randy Riggs
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
It is a wounded Oklahoma team that will try to clinch the Big 12 South title on Saturday against Bedlam rival Oklahoma State.
Sooner coach Bob Stoops said Monday that leading rusher DeMarco Murray, who dislocated his kneecap in Saturday's loss at Texas Tech, is definitely out. So is No. 4 receiver Adron Tennell, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a knee.
The status of several players dealing with concussions, most notably quarterback Sam Bradford, is unknown. Defensive end Alan Davis, who has played well as a replacement for injured Auston English, also suffered a concussion against the Red Raiders.
English, the Big 12 sack leader, has missed the past two games with a hairline fracture in his right leg. His availability for the Cowboys also is unknown.
For KU, there's no place like home
When Lew Perkins negotiated to play Kansas' season-ending rivalry game with Missouri at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, he had no idea what the stakes would be.
If he'd had an inkling? "I'd a probably quit my job and gone to Vegas," the KU athletic director told the Kansas City Star.
The winner of Saturday's contest wins the Big 12 North. Perkins expects a 70-30 split between Jayhawks and Tigers fans, but everyone in the land of Oz knows there's no place like home.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino, however, isn't what-iffing.
"We've known for a long time we were going to play this game over there, and we're ready to do it," he said. "Everything is equal. There's no advantage or disadvantage to either team, in my eyes."
Border War for sure
Speaking of Saturday's "Border War" game at Arrowhead, Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said he had no idea of the depth of the bitter feelings between the two schools when he arrived from Toledo in 2001.
He got an idea at a reception after his introductory press conference.
"The first 10 people who came up to me said, 'Welcome to Missouri, but we've got to beat Kansas,' " Pinkel said. "I've been around some pretty good rivalries in my career, but this is as good as any I've ever been associated with."
The rest of the nation will get a taste of the rivalry: ESPN's "College GameDay" will be on the scene Saturday.
No helmet, no problem
How tough is Colorado linebacker Jordon Dizon, one of three finalists for the Butkus Award? Buffaloes linebackers coach Brian Cabral related this story to the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star:
Dizon suffered a minor injury in the Buffs' game with Missouri.
Cabral wanted the senior to rest for a few plays and knew Dizon would balk.
"So I had the trainers take his helmet away," Cabral told the paper.
"When he realized he didn't have his helmet, he was like a caged lion on that sideline. He was so mad."
Dizon swiped a teammate's helmet and made a dash to get back on the field, but a CU timeout thwarted him.
Cabral, not surprisingly, calls Dizon the toughest player he's ever coached.
BIG 12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSE (tie)
Todd Reesing, Kansas: Sophomore quarterback completed 21 of 26 passes for 253 yards and 4 TDs in three quarters in victory over Iowa State.
Graham Harrell, Texas Tech: Junior quarterback completed 47 of 72 passes for 420 yards and two TDs, and also ran for a TD, in victory over Oklahoma.
DEFENSE
Nathan Peterson, Oklahoma State: Senior defensive back tied his career best of three sacks and had five tackles for losses in victory over Baylor.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Jeremy Maclin, Missouri: Had a 99-yard kickoff return for a TD and totaled 360 all-purpose yards in victory over Kansas State.
BIG 12 QUOTABLE
'Peace out.'
— Guy Morriss
Former Baylor coach's final words at Sunday press conference announcing his firing after five lackluster seasons

 

[RJ Esq]

Stoops today: OU's Murray won't play against OSU; Bradford's status uncertain

by: Guerin Emig, World Sports Writer
11/19/2007 10:39 AM

NORMAN -- Oklahoma will be without leading rusher DeMarco Murray Saturday against Oklahoma State. Sooner coach Bob Stoops said Monday that Murray, who dislocated his kneecap late in OU’s 34-27 loss at Texas Tech Saturday night, would not play.

Murray leads the Sooners with 764 yards. He was clearly OU’s most effective running back at Tech, when he carried 19 times for 94 yards. Chris Brown rushed nine times for 32 yards and Allen Patrick, who fumbled on the Sooners’ first play, ran just twice for 9.

It will be Brown and Patrick in OU’s rotation Saturday afternoon. Patrick has 637 yards on the year, and he rushed for 163 yards in the Sooners’ 27-21 victory at OSU last November. But he has gained just 236 yards on 65 carries, with no touchdowns, since OU’s loss at Colorado Sept. 29.

Brown has 414 yards on the season.

Stoops had no new information on Sam Bradford Monday morning. The Sooners’ starting quarterback suffered a concussion after Patrick’s fumble and missed the bulk of Saturday’s defeat.

“We’ll have to see how Sam reacts through the week,” Stoops said.

The Sooners also hope to have defensive end Auston English back for the first time since he broke his foot against Texas A&M Nov. 3. English, like Bradford, remains questionable.

“We don’t know until we get through the week and see when he gets out there and does some work how it’s going to feel,” Stoops said. “It’s uncertain right now.”



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OU's DeMarco Murray (7) was injured against Texas Tech during their football game in Lubbock.

 

[HUNT]

Your gonna have a great week chief, I can feel it.

 

[RJ Esq]

Longhorns hope to contain A&M running game

Aggies have three rushing threats in Lane, Goodson, McGee

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Click-2-Listen​

By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Texas' defensive linemen are looking wistfully at game film of Texas A&M's offense.
After all, the Aggies prefer to run.
Texas A&M — with its no-frills, grind-it-out offense using the option, the zone read, the power play up the middle — doesn't bother much with passing when that running game is clicking. A&M threw only 13 times a year ago against the Longhorns.
"I think the defensive tackles will probably have more fun in this game," Texas defensive tackle Derek Lokey said of the Aggies. "We're going to get to make some tackles."
That's a welcome change for the Longhorns, who defended 48 passes by Texas Tech in their last game. The Red Raiders ran just seven times. The Saturday before facing Tech, the UT defense had to deal with Oklahoma State, which threw for a Tech-like 430 yards.
The last real run-first offense Texas faced was Central Florida, on Sept. 15. Golden Knight tailback Kevin Smith, the nation's second-leading rusher, ran for 149 yards against the Longhorns, with Central Florida totaling 192. That's the best by a Texas opponent this season.
Now comes A&M and its 219.64-yard average on the ground. Friday's game pits the nation's 14th-best rush offense against the 12th-best rush defense.
Lokey and his linemates may be longing for such a run attack, but they might want to be careful what they wish for.
In beating Texas 12-7 in Austin last year, A&M ran for 244 yards — and that was when Texas led the nation in rush defense.
A year before, when Texas was closing in on its 2005 national championship, Texas A&M debuted much of its current offense when Stephen McGee was thrust into the starting quarterback role for an injured Reggie McNeal. A&M surprised Texas with an effective option attack at Kyle Field, running for 277 yards. The A&M option kept the Aggies within reach of Texas until the Longhorns could survive for a 40-29 victory.
Chances are that A&M coach Dennis Franchione, playing in front of the home folks, will stick with the running game until UT proves it can stop it.
"I don't think they are going to change anything against us," said Texas coach Mack Brown. "What we'll have to do is to continue to improve and tackle better."
The Longhorns' defenders spent their bye-week practices cramming for the old-school option, which the Aggies have modernized by running it out of the shotgun formation.
TCU is the only team that has run this kind of offense against Texas this season. The Horned Frogs didn't do so with much success, totaling 43 yards on 32 carries in a 34-13 loss to the Longhorns.
For a defense, the object is to "feather" or string such running plays out toward the sideline. A Longhorn defensive end or outside linebacker will be assigned to McGee, a former Burnet High standout.
A defensive back will take the pitch man, either monster back Jorvorskie Lane or speedy Michael Goodson.
Lokey and the tackles will watch for the cutback. They'll also try to get pressure up the middle to force McGee into a quicker pitch.
Lane is averaging 61.2 yards per game, and is the Aggies' designated scorer with 17 touchdowns. Goodson is running for 52.2 a game.
"Goodson kind of reminds me of Jamaal (Charles)," said Texas defensive tackle Frank Okam. "He's a very talented player."
McGee has brutalized Texas the past two years. In 2005, he was the surprise starter, netting 108 rushing yards with two touchdowns.
The Longhorns finally figured out what McGee was doing, and the defense dropped him for 60 yards in losses.
A year ago, McGee gained 95. He's his team's leading rusher this year, averaging 75.3 a game.
"We can learn from last year to be mentally prepared," said Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo. "We probably need to play them a little tougher and not let them run the ball down our throat."

 

[RJ Esq]

Your gonna have a great week chief, I can feel it.

Thank you, sir. Hope so.

 

[RJ Esq]

LSU line dropped from 13 back to 12' and 12. Missed 13 and hoping it will come back.

 

[RJ Esq]

MICHIGAN: A LIST OF CANDIDATES

We present our own list of candidates for the Michigan job, since there seems to be a pattern with these going on.

Les Miles. Oh, he coached there, and played there, and met his wife there, so he must want to leave his current job that pays him a gumbo-pot full of money and has him squatting on a state full of absurd talent. The weather’s warm, the academic standards are low, so why wouldn’t he want to go to a cold place with high-ish academic standards? If Lee Corso thinks it’s a bad idea, then intuitively wouldn’t you think it’s a good idea by default?
He also said that coaching at Michigan is much more difficult than Les’s “perfect situation” at LSU because at Michigan the players have to “read and write”, whereas at LSU they only have to “read or write”.
And he’s “a Michigan man.” Just like Fritz Crisler, Fielding Yost, or Bo Schembechler! It’s a lock!
Bob Stoops/Urban Meyer/Bill Belichick. Throw any name out there, really, because someone will. Have no shame, either, since the deluded Kucinich/Paul wing of your fanbase will ignore any pesky demands reality places on them and toss out the names anyway. Claim some absurd connection if it helps: “He does have a buyout clause.” True. And you have genitals, and so does the hot barista who gave you your latte this morning. She will not have sex with you, though, and you will not get [insert impossible good coach already locked down with huge deal] here.
Nick Saban. Oh, he’s only saying he’s not interested. He’s coy like that.
Jon Chait. An occasional contributor for Slate and a senior editor at The New Republic. Attended a Michigan football fantasy camp once for $2500 and wrote vividly about it. Is “a Michigan man” through and through, which has the grumbly traditional types nodding with approval. No experience as a football coach, player, or recruiter besides fantasy camp. Could probably go .500 in the Big Ten in his first year, however, as Michigan continued their coaching search.

 

[RJ Esq]

Another Year Wasted
By Mike Section: Football
Posted on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 10:32:48 AM EDT



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</td><td>
</td></tr> <tr><td align="center">
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</td></tr> </tbody></table> Where did it go? It seemed like last month we were dusting off the lawn chairs and buying new propane bottles for the grill. The overbearing heat of August gave way to the blustery brisk of October which quickly turned into the wet cold of November. Seasons come and go, but some things never change. Penn State is once again 8-4.
We started this season with such high hopes. Our senior quarterback and running back were going to be unstoppable. Our secondary was going to blanket the field like snow in Antarctica. But our senior quarterback played like a freshman. Our senior running back got kicked off the team. The only thing our secondary covered was our eyes as we couldn't bare to watch them get torched.
I'm sitting here on the cusp of the long eight month layover feeling completely unsatisfied. We're supposed to be getting ready for a BCS bowl right now. We're supposed to be booking flights to Pasadena. Or even New Orleans. Not San Antonio or Orlando. The optimism I had for next year is now filled with doubts and concerns.
I feel like my car has been smashed. I'm standing on the corner looking at the wreckage asking myself "What happened?" Where did we go wrong? Looking back in hindsight it's obvious the warning signs were there.
I guess we should have known this was going to be a disappointing year back in April. The apartment fight was an early warning that this team lacked leadership and discipline. The problems carried on and the troubles with the law continued. Andrew Quarless and Willie Harriot were caught underage drinking at 3 AM in the middle of preseason practice. Joe Suhey and Ryan Breen were also caught drinking underage during the season. The players were involved in a second fight on campus at the HUB. Many of the same players were involved in the April incident as well. And of course Austin Scott's trouble are well documented.

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</td></tr> </tbody></table> In hindsight, we should have been concerned that Paterno couldn't make up his mind about singling out team captains until a week or two before the season. Looking at the players he chose it's easy to understand his dilemma. Dan Connor looked like an obvious choice to everyone, but was he? We all know about his problems in 2005 when he made prank phone calls to an elderly former assistant coach. Sure it was two years ago, but it gives an insight into the individual and it suggests a lack of maturity. Can anyone ever remember Connor calling out his teammates and rallying them at any time? All season long all I heard were soundbites from him saying they just have to keep working. Hardly inspiring.
Little was known of Terrelle Golden before this season. He was buried on the depth chart and constantly fighting injuries. He was more famous for his showboating as a freshman than anything else. But as the only one of three seniors on the offense he was made a captain and suddenly there were stories all over the place about him being a strong leader and really pushing guys in practice. I call bullshit.
And of course there's Anthony Morelli. We were told he had turned the corner and really matured at the Outback Bowl last year. Every player that could get within 100 yards of a microphone was telling us he was dripping with confidence. We quickly saw it was more of the same. A kid that couldn't read defenses and only made safe throws to the sideline. He didn't take care of the ball. He couldn't come through in the clutch. I could forgive all of this if he held his head up high and showed class through it all.
But Morelli showed a propensity to mentally break down under pressure. People reported seeing him arguing with fans behind the bench in the middle of the Michigan game. He was even motioning for people to come down and fight him. This is unacceptable. After the game he didn't talk to the media all week. The following week he threw three picks and fumbled the ball and the game away to Illinois. Another week went by where he didn't talk to the media instead leaving his coaches and teammates to answer the tough questions.
After the Ohio State game he threw his coaches under the bus publicly questioning the play calling saying "It's all on (Paterno), not us." When your team captain points fingers after some losses and refuses to talk about his own mistakes, you have a leadership problem.

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</td></tr> </tbody></table> But I don't want to pin this entire disappointing season on the quarterback. The coaches share much of the blame themselves. It started the day before the Michigan game when they instituted a game plan doomed to fail. They played it safe and limited the play book to running straight ahead and dumping off the ball on short passes. On defense they sat back in a soft zone that let a freshman quarterback pick them apart on third downs. This was a disturbing trend that started with the Notre Dame game and continued all season long. Ohio State, Illinois, and Indiana exploited it easily. But the coaches refused to adjust and ultimately payed for it against Michigan State, a team with five losses to which we never should have lost.
So yeah, I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I have to live through the next three quarters of a year with this empty feeling in my chest. But mostly I'm bothered because I don't know if we can fix it. I honestly believe we have the talent to compete with anyone in the country. But I'm not sure we have the coaching staff to do it. The problems with this team suggest to me that Paterno doesn't know how to relate to 18 year old kids anymore. And that is something that isn't easily fixed.
So I'll cheer on Penn State in whatever bowl game they go to. I'm sure I'll go into next season with high hopes. But my expectations will be severly lowered. Such is life these days as a Penn State fan.

 

[RJ Esq]

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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/20izFGbSB5g&rel=1" allowscriptaccess="never" height="355" width="425">Popout Les Miles choked up when asked about the Michigan job at his weekly press conference, fighting back tears and stating that he has not been contacted about the Michigan job…yet.
“It’s unfair to Michigan to say that they should. It’s unfair to me and my team. I promise you this, what I’m doing is what you should do — let it rest. I’m playing football for LSU. I love this team.”
Miles teared up and paused for 15 seconds before composing himself. “And I’ll not do anything to hurt it,” he said as his voice broke. “Any questions?”
Ooh, he’s crying because he won’t hurt the team, because talking about the Michigan job he’s already taken would hurt LSU! Or, he’s not going to take the job if it’s offered because he’s so emotionally tied to LSU! It’s great how you can read whatever you like into this! So go ahead and do that!
(Oh, and the obligatory “Your coach is a total pussy because he cried” comment. Because we’ve never cried. Nope. Ever. Especially not at Dumbo where Dumbo’s mom gets locked up and he visits her and they touch trunks through the bars…excuse us for a moment..)
HT: Sports by Brooks.
Bill Callahan will “learn his fate” on Saturday, according to the AP. The choice of words amuses us: BILL CALLAHAN, YOU ARE TO DIE BY WEASEL ATTACK ON SATURDAY. Callahan: “You impudent hillbillies, I bid you adieu from the mouth of hell, where I shall keep a parlor seat open for you and you especially.” His “fate” is that he’s going to be fired, in case you’ve been, you know, doing something else for the past three months.
The Institute of Awesome Studies brings us the news that college students often take advantage of football games to drink a lot.
“These results indicate drinking is connected not only to the game itself, but to the social context associated with the event,” Fromme said in a statement. “Most events associated with heavy drinking occur only once a year, such as spring break, but the weekly football schedule presents students with more regular opportunities to drink.”
We object with the “events associated with heavy drinking occur only once a year,” as Peter O’Toole still lives and breathes on this planet with we mortals.
Linebacker Geno Hayes of the Florida State Seminoles says Tim Tebow “is going down” in Saturday’s game against the Florida Gators in Gainesville.
“We are going to have the attitude that Tim Tebow is going down this week,” Hayes said. “That’s what we’re going to say, that Tim Tebow is going down. Y’all put that down. Tim Tebow is going down this week. That’s attitude.”
Well, yes, that certainly attitude. We’d love to make fun of Hayes here, but he’s a very, very serious guy. Hayes was the guy who, when he was confronted by police during a nightclub fight earlier this season, chose being tasered over cooperation. So while he may not have a good understanding of the human body’s ability to function while being electrocuted, we can’t short him on commitment to his goals.
Cal’s season officially hit bottom at halftime during the Washington game, not afterwards when Cal lost to the Huskies in Seattle. Why? The halftime entertainment, former Cal-Berkeley student William Hung, demolished halftime clad in Huskies gear.

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[RJ Esq]

<table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" class="storytitle"> Cavalcade of Whimsy - The Envelope Please </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="primaryimage" valign="top">

Penn State LB Dan Connor
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</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 20, 2007
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The finalists have been announced for most of the major awards, and Pete Fiutak tries to help the voters with who should win. Why Hawaii might belong in the national title hunt, the big weekend that was, and more in the latest Cavalcade of Whimsy.
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[FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif]Fiu's Cavalcade of Whimsy[/FONT]
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a.k.a. Frank Costanza's Festivus Airing of the Grievances [/FONT] [FONT=verdana, arial, sans serif][SIZE=-2]

By Pete Fiutak
What's your beef? ... E-mail with your thoughts
Past Whimsies [/SIZE][/FONT] 2006 Season | Preseason Part One, Part Two | Week 1
Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8
Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11, Part 1 | Week 11, Part 2
If this column sucks, it’s not my fault … I was gearing up for the last 365 days for this to be the column that would define my season, and maybe my career, but I only came up with 91 yards of total offense and couldn’t tackle some guy named Beanie.

And these two were supposed to be this close this off-season to starting for their respective teams … Was Oregon QB Brady Leaf on the punt coverage team when Antoine Cason took it back for a touchdown? Was Oklahoma QB Joey Halzle covering Michigan Crabtree? Just checking.

Although it wasn’t quite as painful to watch as Dennis Dixon’s knee buckling … Watching the Arizona offense when it doesn’t work for extended stretches, like in the second half in the win over Oregon, is like watching old people … drive. Oregon didn't lose the game, it fell asleep. Arizona, you might want to try a short pass when you're trying to kill a clock.

Bill, let the Oregon-Arizona and Oklahoma-Texas Tech games be a lesson to you when you have your pretty boy quarterback in the game when you're up by 40 against Buffalo … Oregon and Oklahoma fans will be what iffing this last weekend for the rest of their lives. Of course there’s a drop-off from Dennis Dixon to Brady Leaf, who doesn’t fit the offense at all, but it’s not like the Ducks had to go with an untested rookie. Leaf had thrown for 1,452 yards and nine touchdowns over his career and had played in plenty of big games before. It’s also not like Arizona is LSU. Even with a second string quarterback, if you can’t step up your defense and get enough out of the rest of the parts to beat a team that’s not going to a bowl, you probably weren’t national title material in the first place.

The same goes for Oklahoma. Joey Halzle can play, but the defense didn’t step up against the Red Raiders and the offense ran a mere 34 times behind one of the nation’s best offensive lines. If you can’t step up your defense and get enough out of the rest of the parts to beat a team whose only win of note came against Texas A&M, you probably weren’t national title material in the first place.

Fans of some teams would call it getting screwed. Hawaii fans would call it getting leid … What has to happen before Hawaii gets a chance to be in the national title discussion? Work with me here.

I know, I know, the Warriors have played a schedule that’s slightly mushier than my late football season gut, and I know it took overtime to beat both Louisiana Tech and San Jose State, but in this improbable season when every conceivable bizarre occurrence has kicked in, why is it completely out of the realm of possibility that they could win the BCS Championship game?

Oklahoma loses its superstar quarterback and falls apart. Oregon loses its superstar quarterback and the offense soils itself. Hawaii loses its superstar quarterback and the defense picks up slack, and Tyler Graunke steps in and shines, in a critical 28-26 win at Nevada. The team is finding ways to overcome adversity to get the job done.

Let’s say Hawaii blows out Boise State and Washington (you know, the team that just ran over the same Cal team that beat Oregon in Autzen) to finish unbeaten. Let’s say LSU loses once more to either Arkansas or in the SEC title game. Let’s say West Virginia gets upset by Connecticut or Pitt. Let’s say Kansas gets annihilated by Missouri, and Missouri aloses to Oklahoma. Let’s say USC beats Arizona State. At that point, there would be just two one-loss teams, Kansas and Ohio State, everyone else would have at least two losses, and there would be just one unbeaten team.

I’m not suggesting for a second that Hawaii is a better team than Ohio State, LSU, or several other teams, but I also didn’t believe that Boise State could actually beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Don’t you have to give Hawaii its shot if it’s unscathed and everyone else has major blemishes? In this crazy season, there’s something to be said for being unbeaten, and if you can't decide between a bunch of even teams, maybe the one team that didn't screw up should be in. Ehhh, don't worry about it. Boise State will probably end all the debate on Friday.

And then ask them if they think any of their offensive linemen are on steroids … I want to hook up all the coaches who voted in the latest Coaches Poll to a lie detector and ask them one simple question: Yes or no. Right now, on a neutral field, you’d rather face Florida, Boston College and Auburn than Hawaii?

And another Michigan receiver dropped a pass.

Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to watch that strange Robert Wuhl show … Hmmmmmm, where have we seen this before? A team with a commanding lead in the Big 12 South steamrolling to the Big 12 championship game loses its star freshman quarterback to injury in an upset road loss, and then gets a rivalry game at home in what becomes a must-win or else its other main rival will take the spot in the title game. Replace Texas with Oklahoma, and Colt McCoy with Sam Bradford, and this year’s South race becomes eerily similar to last year’s.

Give us your tired, your poor, your slightly above-average teams looking for a payday … In yet another example of twisted BCS logic, the powers-that-be voted to expand the requirements to be an at-large selection. Before, you had to finish in the top 14 to be eligible, but with four slots to fill, and the Big 12, SEC and Pac 10 hoarding the high spots in the rankings, the BCSers quickly realized there might not be enough eligible teams to choose from and expanded it to 18. So instead of dumping the silly rule that only two teams from the same conference can get into the well paid exhibition games, the sphere of mediocrity has been expanded. Congratulations everyone, instead of seeing the Kansas/Missouri loser or Florida or Texas, you might get 20^th ranked Connecticut. It should be cut-and-dry; if you’re in the top ten, you’re in. You earned it.

As opposed to the ill-fated “whatever happens in Lincoln, stays in Lincoln” line used during the Lawrence Phillips era … About his job status, beleaguered Nebraska head football coach Bill Callahan quipped, “Whatever happens, happens.” No, he didn’t get that from catchphrase used around the Nebraska weight room in the 1980s.

He’s already got the red wardrobe … Just to throw it at the wall and see if it sticks, if you’re the good Dr. Tom Osborne, don’t you fire a call over to Nebraska alum Barry Alvarez to see if he’s getting a little bored of the athletic director life?


Doyle: “The only excitement for the Tribe provided by Rick Vaughn who set an American League record by throwing four wild pitches in one inning. Congratulations, Rick. For the Tigers, 5 runs, 9 hits, and no errors. For the Indians, one run, and let's see, one hit. Is that all we got, one (bleep) hit?”

Stat Man: “You can’t say (bleep) on the air.”

Doyle: “Don’t worry about it. Nobody’s listening anyway.” … You’re not watching Notre Dame football anymore, and why would you, but the broadcasts have evolved over the year into a must-listen. Tom Hammond is the consummate play-by-play announcer and a company man, able to get excited about a first down against Duke like that one play might be what sparks a BCS title run. Meanwhile, Pat Haden, bless his heart, is a brilliant man (he’s a Rhodes scholar) who’s too good a color analyst to be stuck doing these games, and over the course of the year he's started to get crankier and crankier. He knows he’s watching bad, bad football, but he can’t blast away on the Irish considering the situation he’s in. He’s objective, but you can almost hear him thinking, “I really, really wish I could tune into the SEC game on CBS.”

And another Michigan receiver dropped a pass.

But I’ll give the boo-ya network a bit of a free pass because it’s giving Kenny Mayne, easily the best sports personality going, more air time … Don’t you dare, ESPN. Don’t you dare let your baseball people backtrack and rewrite their opinion on Barry Bonds now. All we heard from the talking heads during the chase for Hank Aaron’s record was apology after apology for Bonds while you all continually turned a blind eye to the facts. Now that Bonds has been indicted, the baseball experts all basically say they weren’t surprised. No you don’t. You don’t get to have it both ways. If you’re a supposed expert analyst, there was no way to look at the Bonds home run chase as anything other than a shotgun wedding; you could try to be happy about it, but you knew things were going to come to a bad end. As I mentioned during the Michael Vick situation, there’s nothing more sky-is-blue certain than when the feds indict. They don’t do jack squat unless they have a slam-dunk case, and now all the ESPN Bonds-heads have to pay for their sins from last year.

And this will be the last time the barely six-foot Tiger star is ever compared to the Trojan legend … Missouri QB Chase Daniel is Drew Brees in stature, background, arm strength, and smarts, but that’s for the NFL types to deal with in a few years. This season, with everyone doing everything possible to ignore the obvious that Tim Tebow is the best college football player in America, watch out for Daniel to make a big late run, sort of like Carson Palmer did in 2002. If you remember, this was before USC was USC again, and no one right of the Rockies had actually seen Palmer on a regular basis. However, his numbers were building and the USC athletic department did a great job of getting the word out, putting Palmer on a media blitz as the season was building towards the nationally televised showdown against Notre Dame. Palmer lit up the Irish for 425 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-13 win, and he went from being a bit of an unknown to a Heisman winner. The same thing might happen for Daniel. The buzz is now there, and if he’s amazing in a win over Kansas, and if he stars in a Big 12 Championship win, then he might steal the award at the last second.

And if he wants to give the award to Rex Grossman, that’s fine … Would we even be talking about the Heisman race if Tim Tebow was a senior? It’s non-underclassman thing with some Heisman voters is in the team photo for the silliest biases in all of sports. The theory, at least traditionally, was that an underclassman would get his turn to win the Heisman over the next two years, and that’s penalized worthy players like Grossman in 2001 and Larry Fitzgerald in 2003. What if Tebow gets hurt? What if there’s a little bit of a shift in the offense and he doesn’t have the same type of season? If Tebow is the best college football player in America this season, then he should be honored for it.

Unfortunately, poor McFadden will have to settle for getting $25 million in the bank next April while living in Miami … The Maxwell Award goes to the best all-around player, and based on talent, it’s hard to argue with Darren McFadden as a finalist, along with Tebow and Dennis Dixon. As good as he has been, he’s not going to lead the nation in rushing, he’s going to be well behind Tulane’s Matt Forte and UCF’s Kevin Smith, who will each finish with 2,000 yards, and he's not having the same consistent year Chase Daniel, Todd Reesing, and Glenn Dorsey are having. More on this in a moment.


Ohio State’s Vernon Gholston just got another sack.

How did this HBO show with some Katie Morgan person get on there? The DVR thing must be broken. … Do you want to delete Ohio State vs. Michigan?
- Yes, I want to delete
- No, I do not want to delete
- Oh dear Lord yes, please delete this and give me back the last three hours of my life so I can watch something better

Texas Tech fans, if you want to raise $10,000 for me for picking your Red Raiders to beat Oklahoma, I’ll sheepishly accept … Really, what did Mike Leach say about the Texas game that was so horribly wrong? The Texas Tech head man was fined 10K for questioning the integrity of a Big 12 officiating crew after his team’s loss to Texas, and while you can’t do that, coaches should be able to blast away on officials if they really do think there are problems. Were there Austin residents officiating the game? Apparently. Were the calls in question really, really bad? Yeah. Does the overall officiating need to be better? Sure. However, he made the mistake when he threw the word bias in there. After the issues in the NBA, a coach can’t suggest that, but he should be able to call competence into question.

Although that Clausen guy really did look like a keeper this week … I never want to hear a coach whining that he can’t recruit at a certain place. I don’t care if the limitations are geography, history, or anything else that can be used as an excuse. I don’t want to hear it, and why? Navy and Air Force. No one has tougher recruiting restrictions than the service academies, and it’s not even close. You’re complaining because star recruits might have to take an advanced math class once in school? Yeah, that’s a tougher recruiting barrier to get past than that whole you-might-die-in-a-war thing. Air Force is 9-3 and could potentially tie for the Mountain West top spot if BYU chokes down the stretch. Navy is 7-4 and going off to the Poinsettia Bowl. If those two programs can be successful, then there’s no reason Syracuse, Baylor or Duke can’t have a winning record.

The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
With the voting season for the big awards upon us, I’m going to help out the voters with who actually deserves to get the prizes.


11. Lou Groza Award – Nation’s Best Kicker
Finalists: Jose Martinez, UTEP; Austin Starr, Indiana; Thomas Weber, Arizona State
The Vote Will Be: 1) Starr, 2) Weber, 3) Martinez
The Vote Should Be: 1) Weber, 2) Martinez, 3) Starr
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … John Sullivan, New Mexico

Martinez has three misses, and while it’s not necessarily fair with two coming from beyond 50 yards, one was from 35. Weber’s miss came from 32 yards out and he has hit his two attempts from 50 and beyond. Starr has hit some big shots, but he doesn’t have any attempts from beyond 50 yards. Sullivan has gone 7-for-7 from 40 yards and beyond and has only missed one kick since the season opening loss to UTEP.

10. Ray Guy Award – Nation’s Best Punter
Finalists: Durant Brooks, Georgia Tech; Kevin Huber, Cincinnati; Brett Kern, Toledo
The Vote Will Be: 1) Brooks, 2) Huber, 3) Kern
The Vote Should Be: 1) Brooks, 2) Kern, 3) Huber
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Owen Tolson, Army

This one should be a slam-dunk. Brooks has been the best punter in America averaging 45.35 yards per kick with a whopping 29 put inside the 20 while forcing 18 fair catches. The second best punter, Army’s Owen Tolson, isn’t even a finalist. With a nation-leading (at the moment) 67 kicks, he keeps bailing the inept offense out of jams by averaging 45.46 yards per boot while putting 24 inside the 20. Kern is averaging 46.46 yards per put with 17 put inside the 20 while forcing 11 fair catches. Huber leads the nation with a 46.5-yard average, but he has ten touchbacks and forced six fair catches while putting 17 inside the 20.

9. Outland Trophy – Nation’s Best Interior Lineman
Finalists: Anthony Collins, OT Kansas; Glenn Dorsey, DT LSU; Jake Long, OT Michigan
The Vote Will Be: 1) Dorsey, 2) Long, 3) Collins
The Vote Should Be: 1) Dorsey, 2) Long, 3) Collins
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Sedrick Ellis, USC


Always sort of a nebulous award since it’s supposed to go to an interior linemen, yet offensive tackles are often thrown in the mix no matter where they line up, this should be a no-brainer as Dorsey has been the glue that’s been holding the LSU defensive works together. USC’s Sedrick Ellis has been terrific, but he’s fallen off the radar because the team hasn’t rocked. Jake Long has had a fine season, while Collins has been dominant. The KU line has had more to do with the team’s success than anything else, and Collins would be a fine representative. Long was the one constant on the banged up Michigan offense.

8. Davey O’Brien Award – Nation’s Best Quarterback
Finalists: Chase Daniel, Dennis Dixon, Tim Tebow
The Vote Will Be: 1) Tebow, 2) Dixon, 3) Daniel
The Vote Should Be: 1) Tebow, 2) Daniel, 3) Dixon
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Pat White, West Virginia

Wait and see on this one. Right now, Tebow deserves to be the winner in a landslide, but if Daniel goes nuts in his final two games and leads Missouri to the national championship, he might get the nod. It might sound harsh, but Dixon doesn’t belong on here. He had a tremendous season, but he lost at home against Cal and the knee injury against Arizona does actually count as a strike. West Virginia’s Pat White has come through with clutch play after clutch play to get his team in the national title picture, while Todd Reesing of Kansas and Graham Harrell of Texas Tech would also be better choices than the Duck star.

7. Doak Walker Award – Nation’s Best Running Back
Finalists: Mike Hart, Darren McFadden, Ray Rice
The Vote Will Be: 1) McFadden, 2) Rice, 3) Hart
The Vote Should Be: 1) McFadden, 2) Rice, 3) Hart
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Matt Forte, Tulane & Kevin Smith, UCF

The Doak Walker voters blew this one. Forte has 2,000 yards and Smith is 55 yards away from hitting two-grand, yet they aren’t on the list while Hart, who missed crunch time late in the year, is. Hart wasn’t even the best back in the Big Ten this year, or second best, with Illinois star Rashard Mendenhall and Ohio State’s Beanie Wells each far more deserving. Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart and Texas’ Jamaal Charles should probably be in here somewhere. Rice has actually been under the radar with a quiet 1,612-yard, 17 touchdown season. McFadden will be the top pick in next year’s draft, but if we’re talking about the best backs this year, he probably doesn’t belong in the top three.

6. Biletnikoff Award – Nation’s Best Wide Receiver
Finalists: Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech; Mario Manningham, Michigan; Jordy Nelson, Kansas State.
The Vote Will Be: 1) Crabtree, 2) Nelson, 3) Manningham
The Vote Should Be: 1) Crabtree, 2) Nelson, 3) Manningham
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … James Hardy, Indiana

This one is a no-brainer considering Crabtree blew up Oklahoma on national TV and has 125 catches for 1,861 yards and 21 touchdowns, but Nelson would be worthy of winning it in any other year with 107 grabs for 1,441 yards and ten scores. Manningham had a huge day against Wisconsin, but he should probably be no better than fourth with Indiana’s James Hardy, who’s second in the nation with 16 touchdown grabs, probably deserving to be third.

5. Thorpe Award – Nation’s Best Defensive Back
Finalists: Antoine Cason, Arizona; Jamie Silva, Boston College; Craig Steltz, LSU.
The Vote Will Be: 1) Cason, 2) Steltz, 3) Silva
The Vote Should Be: 1) Steltz, 2) Cason, 3) Silva
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Aqib Talib, Kansas

Easily the biggest gaffe among all the big awards, Silva, who had two monster games and has been All-ACC worthy throughout, but not deserving of being considered among the top three defensive backs in America, should be out and Aqib Talib of Kansas should be in. Almost no one dares throw at Talib, but he has four picks and has broken up 18 passes. Cason is slightly overrated, but there’s no beef with him being considered among the top three, while Steltz has been just a notch below Glenn Dorsey as the signature star on the nation’s number one team. He has been terrific all season long with ten-year NFL starter written all over him.

4. Butkus Award – Nation’s Best Linebacker
Finalists: Dan Connor, Penn State; Jordon Dizon, Colorado; James Laurinaitis, Ohio State.
The Vote Will Be: 1) Laurinaitis, 2) Connor, 3) Dizon
The Vote Should Be: 1) Connor, 2) Dizon, 3) Laurinaitis
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Sean Lee, Penn State

James Laurinaitis is very, very good, but he wasn’t the best linebacker in the Big Ten last year, he’s not the best linebacker in the Big Ten this year, and he’s probably deserving of second-team all-conferencestatus, even though he was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Again, there’s nothing wrong with him, but Dan Connor, Sean Lee, and Illinois’s J Leman were all better. While stats don’t always measure a linebacker, Laurinaitis made 39 solo tackles on the year. Jordon Dizon made 93 for Colorado. Connor made 66, Leman 65, and Sean Lee 50. Pitt’s Scott McKillop might be the best linebacker nobody noticed.

3. Bednarik Award – Nation’s Best Defensive Player
Finalists: Dan Connor, LB Penn State; Glenn Dorsey, DT LSU; James Laurinaitis, LB Ohio State
The Vote Will Be: 1) Dorsey, 2) Laurinaitis, 3) Connor
The Vote Should Be: 1) Dorsey, 2) Connor, 3) Laurinaitis
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Chris Long, Virginia

It’s hard to argue with anyone in the top three, if you’re assuming the leadership of Laurinaitis held together one of the nation’s best defenses. There are about five pass rushers who could be in the mix, like South Florida’s George Selvie or Indiana’s Greg Middleton, and KU CB Aqib Talib and LSU S Craig Steltz should’ve gotten a little bit of consideration, but the finalists are fine.

2. Maxwell Award – Nation’s Best Player
Finalists: Dennis Dixon, Darren McFadden, Tim Tebow.The Vote Will Be: 1) Tebow, 2) Dixon, 3) McFadden
The Vote Should Be: 1) Tebow, 2) Dixon, 3) McFadden
Player Who Should Be A Finalist But Isn’t … Glenn Dorsey, LSU

This should be obvious, but Maxwell voters are weird. Usually when there isn’t a clear-cut Heisman favorite, one player wins the Maxwell and one wins the big one. Voters might give this to Tebow, and then go into their anti-underclassman bias and go for someone like Chase Daniel, or even Dixon, for the Heisman. Again, Dorsey has been an invaluable warrior for the nation’s number one team.

1. Heisman – “The most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2007."
The Vote Will Be: 1) Tim Tebow, 2) Dennis Dixon, 3) Chase Daniel
The Vote Should Be: 1) Tebow, 2) Dorsey, 3) Daniel/Todd Reesing winner, 4) Pat White, 5) Daniel/Reesing loser

The race is still there to be won. Daniel or Reesing can take the bull by the horns and win it with the national spotlight on. Tebow deserves it, but it’ll be pulling teeth to get some voters to acknowledge his presence because of class and the three Gator losses.

Nuggets for the upcoming week, now made with white meat, at participating restaurants …

- How many Notre Dame fans would rather have George O’Leary as the head coach right now? He’ll be leading UCF to the Conference USA championship game.

- An early tip on something to watch for in the Army-Navy game: Army WR Jeremy Trimble. The school’s all-time leading receiver is coming off an 11-catch, 167-yard, two touchdown day against Tulsa, and he should go crazy against an awful Navy secondary.

- Iowa had a bowl game there for the taking. It had an apparently easy seventh win against Western Michigan in Iowa City on Senior Day, and then the defense didn’t show up. The offense struggled all year, but now the great second half of the Hawkeye season is thrown away by a strange letdown.

- The over/under on Miami net rushing yards vs. Boston College should be around 50. The Eagles are No. 1 in the nation against the run, allowing just 64 yards per game, while the Hurricanes were stuffed for -2 net yards last week by Virginia Tech.

- Early gift idea to ask for: XM Radio. Although I cursed it when I couldn’t find the Ohio State - Michigan game, and you don’t get the sports on the computer feed, it’s a godsend if you have to drive around on a football Saturday.

- Watch out for Arkansas QB Casey Dick as an X factor against LSU. He completed three of 17 passes for 29 yards with a touchdown and an interception last year against the Tigers, but he’s coming into the game hot after completing 14 of 17 passes or 199 yards and four scores against Mississippi State.

C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: Appalachian State over Michigan ... Underrated: UL Monroe over Alabama
2) Overrated: Bill Belichick … Underrated: Driving a giant Hummer while blasting Bad Company out of huge speakers
3) Overrated: No. 5 Donovan McNabb ... Underrated: No. 11 Donovan McNabb, as Stuart Scott called him
4) Overrated: Herschel Walker ... Underrated: Steve Spurrier
5) Overrated: ABC’s 25 Greatest Players of All-Time... Underrated: CFN’s redo of the 100 Greatest Players of All-Time, starting in January

My Heisman ballot this week would be … I vote based on a combination of three things: Most valuable player, most outstanding player, and the signature player of the season. 1) Tim Tebow, Florida, 2) Glenn Dorsey, 3) Chase Daniel, Missouri, 4) Pat White, West Virginia, 5) Todd Reesing, Kansas

“You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools/But that's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever” … The three lines this week that appear to be a tad off. (1-2 .. I knew I should’ve given you Texas Tech over Oklahoma … 11-22-1 overall. Ugh. I press on.) … 1) Boise State +4 over Hawaii, 2) Buffalo +2 over Kent State, 3) Oklahoma State -12 over Oklahoma

Sorry this column sucked, but it wasn’t my fault … yet again, I had a great column going, full of critical acclaim while being called a sleeper by many, and then, with everything on the line, I blew my chance to play for the ACC championship and now I need to beat South Carolina or I’ll be on the hot seat again.
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[RJ Esq]

Selwyn Lymon Is In Trouble Again

Posted Nov 20th 2007 3:53AM by Tom Fornelli
Filed under: Big 10, Purdue Football, NCAA FB Police Blotter

With so many teams in the Big Ten bowl eligible this season, it's entirely possible the 7-5 Purdue Boilermakers will find themselves at home this bowl season. If they do end up playing in a bowl game though, it's also entirely possible they'll be playing in the game without Selwyn Lymon.

Lymon was arrested early on Monday morning for drunken driving and resisting arrest.

Lymon was being held without bond at Tippecanoe County Jail on Monday following his Sunday morning arrest in West Lafayette. Police say he had a blood-alcohol content of .15 percent, nearly double the state's legal limit.​

Lymon's junior season has been a bit of a disappointment, because even though he has made seven more catches this season, he's gained 130 less yards. He's fourth on the team with 40 receptions for 450 yards and two touchdowns.

Coach Joe Tiller didn't have anything to say about the incident on Monday, so we can't be sure what punishment the school plans on handing out. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if Lymon is suspended from any bowl game Purdue may end up in because this isn't the first time Lymon's gotten into trouble this year.

You may remember that he was stabbed in the chest back in March after getting into a fight in West Lafayette outside of a bar.

 

[RJ Esq]

Longhorns-Aggies Gameweek: Preview Part 3 - Securing The Win

by HornsFan Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 03:19:42 AM EDT

We've set the stage for the stakes, we've talked about how the Aggies should approach this game, and now it's time to turn to what Texas needs to do to secure victory on Friday.
The A&M defense is 61st in the nation in yards per rush, 102nd in yards per pass attempt, and 104th in opponent quarterback rating. In short: the village is ripe for plundering. Teams that have torched A&M most painfully this season (Miami, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Missouri) have done so with a ruthless aerial attack. Those four opponents combined to complete 99 of their 128 pass attempts (77.3%) for an average of 334 yards per game. For those scoring at home, that's a whopping 10.4 yards per pass attempt. Did I mention 13 touchdowns against 0 interceptions? I probably should have.
Those four opponents also beat Texas A&M by a combined score of 151-64. Needless to say, a team which shows up against Texas A&M with its passing game working is primed for an afternoon of video game fun.
Lest we get too excited, though, each of those four games were road contests for the Aggies, and on the season, A&M has a drastic split between home and away pass defense. In College Station, the average opponent QB rating has been a solid 114.7; on the road that number rockets up to 178.2. Some of that should be attributed to better play at Kyle Field, but a significant factor has been the Aggies' misfortune of playing its stiffest competition away from home.
Turning to A&M's rush defense, the picture isn't much prettier. Five of the Aggies' last six opponents have rushed for over 4.0 yards per carry. No matter how you slice and dice the numbers, set up the splits, or look for niches where the Aggies play well, the overall defensive picture is grim. Not only has Texas A&M failed to stop any good offense from taking care of business - they managed to make a putrid Miami offense look like an unstoppable force. And if you've ever seen Kyle Wright play football, you know it takes a special kind of incompetence to make him look any kind of good.
And that's the big picture heading into the game. I covered the A&M offense in great detail in Part 2 of this series, and the above makes clear just how shaky the Aggies are on defense. Does Texas even need to do anything special to ensure a win?
Despite the big edge on paper, I have to say yes. Though there is not, and will not, be any excuse for a loss in College Station on Friday, the Longhorns cannot simply show up and expect to win. This Texas team, improved as it appears to be, cannot afford to go through the motions. This is the last game of Fran's Aggie career. It is the most important game of the season for A&M every season. And this Texas team is at its worst when it plays tentatively - when it plays not to lose. And it is at its best when it is pushing, pushing, pushing - seeking big plays and scrambling to save its life.
So if I'm Mack Brown? These are my keys to the game:
1. Play to win. Above all else - all the little stuff we have talked about and will talk about - this is the biggest one. Mack Brown's Longhorns are at their worst when the gameplan is to Survive And Advance, and at their best when playing desperately to win. Greg Davis and Mack Brown have hit their low points when they've approached a game tentatively, and achieved their greatest successes when their backs have been against the wall. Accordingly, the approach on Friday should be to seek and destroy. Getting into a slugfest with A&M is a mistake, and relying on this defense to win the game would be a backwards strategy. Attack, and play to win.
2. Make A&M be extraordinary. Frantana's Aggies do one thing and one thing well: play grind 'em out, ball-control slugfests. This goes with the first point, but along with doing what we do best - playing aggressively - we need to disallow A&M from settling into what they do best - playing conservatively. Make Stephen McGee beat us with his arm. Make A&M defend us across the board: the run, the deep pass, the intermediate stuff to Finley/Cosby/Jones. All of it. Anything but a game that Frandullah is comfortable with.
3. Get the special teams in order. One of the things we've glossed over this season has been the utterly pedestrian special teams play from the 'Horns this year. Quan Cosby, Receiving Hero^TM, has been a zero factor on returns. If there's one change Texas could make that might have an immediate tangible impact, it would be subbing in for Cosby someone with better playmaking ability. On the flipside, though Texas did a fabulous job a week ago stealing a posession on a pooch kick against Tech, there've been serious breakdowns in kick coverage this season. This isn't an opponent to whom we want to afford any free yards. Make. A&M. Score. With. Long. Drives.
4. Use Shipley and Finley. Among the things touched on in part two of the preview was the likelihood of A&M swarming the box, trying to keep Jamaal Charles in check, and hunting McCoy. When earlier this season Texas was trying to succeed offensively with an offense revolving around McCoy using Sweed to stretch the field, it made a lot sense for teams to sit in Cover-2 and watch us flail. A&M surely will have noticed our shift in priority, though, and it's likely that they'll spend a good chunk of their defensive capital trying to stop the run. Though run we must, it would be criminal not to exploit the Aggies in the vertical passing game. Even if they were sitting back trying to stop that, they've proven no ability to do so. Again, this gets back to Texas dictating the game, rather than reacting to the kind of game A&M wants.
All told, this isn't terribly complicated. If Texas plays the game it can and should play, the Aggies will struggle to keep pace. Conversely, if Texas allows A&M to dictate the game's pace, this game easily could slip into a low-scoring affair that remains tight through four quarters.
Like I said from the beginning, this game is critical for Mack Brown. Do it right and we'll all be excited about the rest of the year. Lay an egg and we'll all be wondering if this staff can ever win a conference championship without Vince Young.
It's that simple.

 

[RJ Esq]

Revenge Tour rolls on
By JazzyUte Section: Holy War
Posted on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 02:20:57 AM EDT

You're next, BYU!
​

50-0
28-10
??
Two teams down and one to go in Utah's Revenge Tour 2007. Each victory has been fairly easy for the Utes, but that won't be expected Saturday. Nope, not when you're facing a team that, like Utah, has won 7 games in a row. But Utah has an edge and I expect that to become more apparent as Saturday's game ticks to a close.
The most important aspect of this game, I believe, will be Kyle Whittingham's ability to outcoach Bronco Mendenhall. I'm not sure who will be the better coach in the long run, bur right now you've got to give the edge to Bronco, since he's already won two conference championships. However, in the past two contests, I think Whittingham has outcoached Bronco. That was evident in last year's game, when a far better Cougar team needed a miracle to beat the Utes. Had Bronco actually outcoached Whittingham, the game would have never come down to one play and BYU easily would have rolled. It didn't happen, much like a year prior when Whittingham again outcoached Bronco down in Provo.
Whether you feel Whittingham is a good coach or not, you can't deny his ability to coach his team up. The fact Utah rolled Wyoming after Joe Glenn's comments and then calmly did away with New Mexico is proof of this. If anyone thinks Utah will come out flat against the Cougars, they do not know Kyle Whittingham or this rivalry. If there is one good trait Whittingham learned from McBride, it's the ability to beat BYU. McBride, even when the Utes weren't nearly as good, always seemed to end the season with a victory against the Cougars -- or at least kept them in the game. Well now Utah and BYU are apparent equals and I think that will prove to a gigantic advantage for the Utes.
With that said, the Utes will still need to do some stuff well if they are going to win this game. You can't just rely on motivation, because that'll only get you so far. I want to see Utah run the ball, if Mack can go for 100 or more yards, I don't see how Utah won't win. However, if he's stuck in the 50s or even 60s, the Utes will be hard pressed to find a way to win. Likewise, the Utes will need to shut down the Cougar running game and keep Unga far from the century mark. BYU doesn't run the ball nearly as much as Utah, but when they do they've proven successful. If Utah shuts down their running game, however, it will give Max Hall and the Cougar offense one less option.
It's also vital the Utes find a way to stop BYU's passing to the tight ends. If anything scares me about the offense, it's this, because the Utes have struggled at times defending that type of offense. It's quick striking and can net a lot of yards if not defended well. Dennis Pitta could prove to be a thorn in Utah's defensive side, especially on 3rd downs, as Max Hall likes to go to him when BYU is need of a gain. However, the Cougars do not have an explosive offense and while those passes work, it's not going to be enough without a down field threat and a running game. I would much rather force BYU into a one-dimensional offense than have them pass down field and run all over the Utes.
I'm actually excited for this game and can't wait to see how the Utes will defend the Cougar offense. If Utah keeps BYU in the 20s Saturday, they should win. I like that, so hopefully Utah can easily keep them there.

 

[RJ Esq]

Gailey's Future
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What word best describes Chan Gailey? For me, it's mediocre.

He has a 58.9 career winning percentage at GT, and he will likely close out this year having lost at least 5 games a year for 6 years. His career winning percentage is 61 percent regardless of location. He's the meaty part of the bell curve of average.

While he has managed to go 6-1 vs. Miami, Auburn and Notre Dame, he has managed to lose games against horrible UNC, Duke, Wake and Fresno State teams while blowing two layup opportunities to beat his biggest rival (UGA '04 and UGA '06). All the while continuing his career long tradition of not developing an all-star QB (other than 1 year with Kordell Stewart).

The problem for GT...Gailey is hovering around the 55 or so percentile of coaches. That means there's almost a 50-50 shot that they could actually do WORSE with their next hire.

Especially if they go looking in a year where UCLA, Nebraska, TAMU, Michigan, LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Pitt, Syracuse, Washington State, etc all may be looking for coaches...not to mention the fact that GT is an inherently hard place to win because of their culture, budget, facilities and curriculum.

So, basically...Gailey needs to beat Georgia. Badly. We're getting their A+ game on Saturday. It's a hungry crew desperate for a win. Vegas knows it. That's why the spread is around 3 points. We didn't fair well when we ran into this type of situation in Knoxville, but our team is nothing like the UGA Crew that was obliterated on Rocky Top.

He's mediocre, but ask Tommy Tuberville if the sting of losing to these guys isn't real. Our boys should win by two plus TDs. But will we?

 

[RJ Esq]

Three dismissed from Oklahoma St.

Posted: Tuesday November 20, 2007 12:16AM; Updated: Tuesday November 20, 2007 12:16AM

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy says three Oklahoma State players have been dismissed from the football team and another has been suspended for the duration of the season.
Junior defensive back Calvin Mickens, senior tight end Paschal Smith and senior linebacker Marcus Brown were kicked off the squad on Monday, while wide receiver Jeremy Broadway has been suspended.
Gundy says each of the four committed an undisclosed violation of team rules, and each is a backup. Gundy says Broadway's status will be addressed after the season.
Since becoming the Cowboys coach in January 2005, Gundy has dismissed 15 players from the program.

 

[RJ Esq]

Harvin returns Gators after migraines

Posted: Tuesday November 20, 2007 12:17AM; Updated: Tuesday November 20, 2007 12:17AM

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida receiver Percy Harvin has endured migraine headaches since he was 10 years old. He never had them like this though.
"It wouldn't go away," Harvin said Monday following his practice in two weeks. "I couldn't see. I was dizzy. I couldn't walk... It was the worst I had. It was the worst I ever felt. I was just nauseous and throwing up. It feels good to be back out here."
Harvin missed the last two games because of the migraines, which he described as "like your heart beating in your head and you're blind."
He didn't travel with the 12th-ranked Gators to South Carolina, then spent five days in the school infirmary last week. Doctors performed a CT scan and an MRI in hopes of diagnosing the cause of the headaches.
They finally found an intravenous medicine that eased his pain.
Harvin started feeling better Friday, was on the sideline during Saturday's win against Florida Atlantic and worked out with teammates Sunday.
He felt even better Monday and could play against Florida State on Saturday.
"I'm just happy to be out here," Harvin said.
When the first migraine started, Harvin figured he was going through a typical one. But it continued much longer than normal. And his normal cure -- sleeping in a dark room -- didn't help.
"I just thought it was one of my regulars and I'd sleep it off and I'd be all right," Harvin said. "But the fourth day, I started throwing up. I threw up at least 30 times in one day, so they started pumping IVs and that's when it got a little serious. The doctors were in and out of my house, the training room. It was the worst time of my life."
His mom arrived a few days into the ordeal, but even that didn't change things.
"It was just my mom and everybody just crying because there's nothing anybody could do," he said. "I just had to cry myself to sleep some nights. It got that bad, to the point where my mom got scared. We're all happy it's gone."