Ripper Ramblings

Chizik gets it done. People had almost started to write off Gene Chizik at Iowa State before he pulled a stunner versus Iowa. Something that needs to be considered when evaluating new coaches is the situation they inherit from the previous regime. If Dan McCarney was still at ISU they would have been given little chance to up-end the Hawkeyes and would have lost to Kent State. The other side is this. The Iowa/Iowa State game has been one of the few rivalries where you can actually throw out the records.

Auburn to be home for the holidays. It will be an uphill battle for the Tommy Tuberville to get into a bowl this season. An upset in games at Florida, at Arkansas, at LSU, at Georgia, or versus Alabama will be needed to get six wins. The lack of a bowl will put the Mississippi River boat gambler on the hot seat as he could be yet another to be Croomed, losing to Sly Croom and then being fired (Shula, Zook).

Old Sly to hang onto job. Meanwhile, Sly's win in the Plains probably means he'll be able to stay off the hot seat for this season. Mississippi State has an outside shot of playing in a bowl themselves. Although, like Auburn, an upset would be necessary. On another note, Miss State is one of the few SEC schools to leave the confederate states to play someone other than Kentucky when they visit Morgantown, West Virginia.

Weis will hang onto job. The greatest thing in Charlie Weis' favor for keeping his job may be his contract. It runs through 2015 and is between $30 and $40 million in total. Interestingly, it is difficult to find specifics on the contract, perhaps because Notre Dame is a private institution. It is possible that there is a more reasonable buyout, but if not ND will likely hang onto Weis, rather than drop the cash.

Mike Stoops slipping at Arizona. Experts from coast-to-coast had projected this to be the year where Mike Stoops finally takes Arizona to the place everyone thought he would. The reasons were simple: a strong finish last year and the hiring of a new offensive coordinator. But last Saturday's loss to New Mexico signals that the revival season isn't going to happen. Stoops had high expectations as a head coach well before he had even accepted a job, but has turned out to be a big flop. The remainder of the Arizona schedule will not be played to see if they can finally sneak into the top part of the Pac 10, but rather to see if Stoops will be able to hang onto his job.

Dorrell's coordinator search still on going. Karl Dorrell has shuffled through coordinator's like playing cards while at UCLA. His latest hire, offensive coordinator Jay Norvell isn't working out. He's had poor offensive showings the last two weeks (236 yds vs. BYU, 5 turnovers vs. Utah). However, Dorrell is on the hot seat mainly due to his biggest problem - UCLA's erratic play - and that problem is all on Dorrell.

Louisville defense struggling. Steve Kragthorpe's defense at Louisville has caused them to slip from the top 10. While Kragthorpe is likely a downgrade from Bobby Petrino, defensive coordinator Mike Cassity is likely the primary problem. In Cassity's first year as Illinois defensive coordinator, 2001, they simply won the Big Ten behind a solid defense. Ultimately he couldn't maintain that type of success there and that seems to be happening at Louisville.

Tulsa puts up a tremendous offensive effort. Tulsa gained 595 yards on a normally stout BYU defense. Quarterback Paul Smith had a career day under first year coordinator Gus Malzahn. Let's be clear about something - the biggest loss for Arkansas due to the Nutt drama this off season is Malzahn and not any player.

The Big Ten is wide open. The Big Ten has been bad this season, but should provide for an interesting race. Only once since 1991 has the Big Ten champ finished with two conference loses (2000: Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan). Good chance that happens again this season. If so, look for a new name - Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State - to get a piece of the title.

Program prestige helping Michigan. Michigan's 38-0 win over Notre Dame has practically made people forget about their previous two games. Michigan is again being heavily considered as Big Ten champ. The other oddity about the Michigan talk is the thought that their fortune's will improve during Big Ten play since they won't face any spread offenses. What? Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Northwestern (nearly half the conference) run a spread offense.

The most underrated quarterback in the nation is: Kellen Lewis of Indiana and its not even close. He ran for 199 yards last week. The winner of his game this weekend versus Illinois will play in a bowl game and the loser may too.

What will happen with Nebraska's two late TD's? In nearly every write-up on the USC/Nebraska game the fact that the final score of 49-31 was made to looker closer than reality due to two late Nebraska touchdowns was pointed out. It will be interesting to see if those same writers - and more importantly coach's and Harris voters - remember them when they cast their final ballots in early December.

Time for Les to renege. LSU's toughest remaining tests include a bunch of home games (South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas) and trips to Alabama and Kentucky. Meanwhile, USC travels to Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona State. Les Miles' famous words of "They're going to play real knock-down-drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford - some real juggernauts...I would like that path for us." leaves Pete Carroll asking if the offer is still on the table.

One of the best college football writers in America is....Wendell Barnhouse of the Dallas Star-Telegram. He's dousing water on Florida (expects inconsistencies with young team) and USC (poor pass defense gave up 389 passing yards to Nebraska).

Clausen to be on his back. Jimmy Clausen is in for a painful Saturday. His Notre Dame offense has allowed the nation's most sacks (23) and faces the defense who has done the most sacking, Michigan State (17, tied).

Navy done-in by one of their own. Brandon Crawford is a 31-year old former Marine who spent time in Iraq. The significance? Late in the Ball State/Navy game he blocked a potential tie-breaking field goal, but did so playing for Ball State.

Big year in Florida. With Miami and Florida State struggling, the lesser known Florida schools have shined. South Florida had their biggest win over Auburn. Florida Atlantic did the same in beating Minnesota. Central Florida, in a losing effort, turned heads against Texas while opening a new on-campus stadium which will aid the program indefinitely.

Watch out for Cincinnati. In Cinci's two games versus I-A schools they have covered the spread by an amazing 64 points making them the best bet in college football. Between them and Rutgers nobody in the Big East has been as impressive. They meet October 6th in Piscataway on what is becoming the early season's biggest weekend.