Rose. While the game itself wasn't terribly compelling, the impact it may have on future Rose Bowls is. The Granddaddy has taken heat for selecting a three loss Illinois team to play USC with the goal of maintaining the Big Ten versus Pac 10 tradition. Many wish that the game pitted Georgia against USC. Contrary to public opinion, the Rose didn't have the opportunity to select Georgia due to an obscure rule which allowed the Sugar Bowl to protect the Bulldogs since the SEC champ was lost to the National Championship game. The reality is the only other option for the Rose was to stage a Missouri versus USC game, but that match up wasn't compelling enough to buck tradition and to upset Jim Delaney. But public perception - that the Rose passed on Georgia in favor of tradition - will carry some weight. In the future it will be difficult for the Rose Bowl to select a Big Ten or Pac 10 school who didn't win the conference title unless they are in the top 10 team.
Sugar. It will be interesting to see how Hawaii's blowout loss to Georgia will impact how future mid major BCS party crashers are treated in the polls. The lesson I learned is that Hawaii's poor margin of victory should have caused greater pause. The irony is that Hawaii was likely given a pass for close wins on the mainland against Louisiana Tech and San Jose State due to the challenging travel situation. I think the impact the Hawaii blowout will have, however, is that it will be difficult for a non-BCS conference team to get a BCS bid without a win over a .500+ BCS conference school.
Fiesta. Bill Stewart won the Fiesta bowl and won the head coaching job at West Virginia. His hire has been widely criticised. I'm not as quick to be critical of the hire because I suspect that West Virginia intends to have Stewart lead the Mountaineers for only one or two seasons. Stewart showed that he is likely capable to hold things together for next season, which could very likely result in another BCS birth with the team's core returning. West Virgina would then be able to hire a new coach when the timing is better and the fan base isn't as divided. One thing learned from the West Virginia coach search, WVU is probably the only school in the country where the state's governor gets involved in hiring the state university's football coach. See below for a classic interview.
Orange. What we saw in Miami was the Kansas team that we saw during their first 11 games. They played classic Mangino Ball - made very few mistakes and controlled the game throughout. The Missouri game was the exception, this Kansas team is good. With much of the starters returning for next season, Kansas is a legit national title contender for '08.
Fox. One negative on the Fox coverage of the BCS games is that the analysis is clearly more geared towards their NFL fans who may be watching one of their first college games of the season. Much of the analysis is very basic and insulting to those who have followed the competing teams all season. A positive of the Fox coverage is the time they give to the marching bands before the game and at half time. It shows off one of the things college football has over the NFL and allows for viewers to get a better feel for the atmosphere. Another interesting thing related to Fox's BCS coverage is how ESPN has almost completely ignored the games aired on Fox. During the Sugar Bowl, ESPN was airing a wrap up show on all the bowls played January 1st. If you flipped over to ESPN after the Fiesta or Orange Bowl expecting to get Corso's or Holtz's take on the game, you were greeted with NBA or NHL highlights.
National Title Preview. Expect to see a game similar to the Orange Bowl where neither team really gets things going on offense. Expect a defensive struggle where turnovers and special teams will be paramount. Advantage Sweater Vest.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Coach Speak
UCLA. I don't know what took so long, but UCLA made a hire that will have them competing with their cross-town rival shortly. Rick Neuheisel is a 46 year old alum with significant head coaching experience and NFL experience. What more could you ask for. The likely thing that held up the hiring was UCLA's worries about Slick Rick's past run-ins with the NCAA. The reality is that he'll be under such a microscope that he'll be forced to behave. Neuheisel was able to keep defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker in Westwood when it appeared he was heading to Washington. That will prove to be a key factor in Neuheisel competing for Pac 10 titles sooner rather than later. Bruin fans should be ecstatic.
June Jones. Jones - upset over poor facilities and a lack of commitment out of the university - proved he wasn't bluffing when he stepped down as the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors. Its a sad and surprising end to a great story. Expect Jones to accept the SMU job any day now, but the NFL isn't out of the question.
Purdue. Athletic Director Morgan Burke is treading on thin ice in West Lafayette. His plans to use a succession plan to replace Joe Tiller have leaked out. The concerning part for Boilermakers is that Tiller may not be on board with the idea of having his replacement work under him for one year before retiring. Cowboy Joe has been a tough guy to understand at times and his attitude towards Burke's plan could cause a mucky situation at Purdue. The succession plan could result in Tiller retiring this off season with hurt feelings. The leading candidate is Paul Chryst, Wisconsin's offensive coordinator.
Northwestern. Pat Fitzgerald faces a challenging situation this off-season. He fired his defensive coordinator, Greg Colby, on December 3rd. Recently his offensive coordinator, Garrick McGee, took the quarterbacks coaching position at Arkansas under Bobby Petrino. Given Fitzgerald's age (33) and limited time outside of the Northwestern program (one year each at Idaho, Colorado, and Maryland), it will be a challenge for him to make these hires. He likely has less contacts than typical head coaches. Fitzgerald will no doubt be one of the busiest guys in Aneheim this week for the AFCA Conference. A long shot, but interesting offensive coordinator, would be Fitzgerald's former coach, Gary Barnett.
Coordinator Carousel. With the majority of the head coaching vacancies filled, the coordinator carousel will be spinning at rapid speed. These moves will have huge impacts in 2008. Some big names to already move are Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp to Texas in the same role and Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English to Louisville in the same role. The American Football Coaches Association Conference is currently being held in Anaheim with resumes being tossed around and deals being made right now. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
June Jones. Jones - upset over poor facilities and a lack of commitment out of the university - proved he wasn't bluffing when he stepped down as the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors. Its a sad and surprising end to a great story. Expect Jones to accept the SMU job any day now, but the NFL isn't out of the question.
Purdue. Athletic Director Morgan Burke is treading on thin ice in West Lafayette. His plans to use a succession plan to replace Joe Tiller have leaked out. The concerning part for Boilermakers is that Tiller may not be on board with the idea of having his replacement work under him for one year before retiring. Cowboy Joe has been a tough guy to understand at times and his attitude towards Burke's plan could cause a mucky situation at Purdue. The succession plan could result in Tiller retiring this off season with hurt feelings. The leading candidate is Paul Chryst, Wisconsin's offensive coordinator.
Northwestern. Pat Fitzgerald faces a challenging situation this off-season. He fired his defensive coordinator, Greg Colby, on December 3rd. Recently his offensive coordinator, Garrick McGee, took the quarterbacks coaching position at Arkansas under Bobby Petrino. Given Fitzgerald's age (33) and limited time outside of the Northwestern program (one year each at Idaho, Colorado, and Maryland), it will be a challenge for him to make these hires. He likely has less contacts than typical head coaches. Fitzgerald will no doubt be one of the busiest guys in Aneheim this week for the AFCA Conference. A long shot, but interesting offensive coordinator, would be Fitzgerald's former coach, Gary Barnett.
Coordinator Carousel. With the majority of the head coaching vacancies filled, the coordinator carousel will be spinning at rapid speed. These moves will have huge impacts in 2008. Some big names to already move are Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp to Texas in the same role and Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English to Louisville in the same role. The American Football Coaches Association Conference is currently being held in Anaheim with resumes being tossed around and deals being made right now. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
Lesser Bowls Roundup
People like them. An annual event seems to be the bashing of all the lesser bowls. The loudest voices are who don't cover college football exclusively. But for your college football diehards and for the supporters of lesser bowl participants, the bowls are loved. The Motor City Bowl drew 60,624. The Liberty Bowl Drew 63,816. The Texes Bowl drew 62,097. The fact is these games are profitable and therefore will stick around. Additionally, they are a great opportunity to celebrate you school and have a good time. I found out first hand that the UConn fans really enjoyed themselves in Charlotte.
SEC Defense. Given that you can't turn around twice without being reminded of all the speed on SEC defense, you'd expect the conference to turn out some great defense efforts during the bowls. The reality is that you got a mixed bag out of SEC defenses. Mississippi State (5th in SEC total defense) held UCF to 219 yards, including only 119 to Kevin Smith. The Auburn defense (2) shut down one of the ACC's best offenses in Clemson (293 yards). Georgia (3) did an amazing job in holding Hawaii to 306 yards and 10 points. Tennessee (11) did a surprisingly good job in holding Wisconsin to 17 points. However, for the four good performances, there were four bad ones. Alabama (6) gave up 322 passing yards to Colorado and almost blew the game in the process. Kentucky (10) gave up 480 yards to an offensively challenged FSU squad. Arkansas (8) got embarrassed by giving up 38 points to Missouri and 281 rushing yards to Tony Temple (2nd best bowl effort ever). Florida's defense (7) struggled the most in giving up 524 yards to Michigan. Chad Henne went four season in the Big Ten without having a passing day like he did against the Gators, going for 373 yards.
Moutain West. The conference that has shown the best in the bowls is the Mountain West. They went 4-1 behind the strength of their defenses. Utah held Navy under their season averages in pulling out a tight win. New Mexico ended the nation's longest streak of not being shutout when they beat Nevada 23-0. TCU held C-USA's second best offense to 13 points. BYU held UCLA to 16 points. The Mountain West appears to play at level closer to the BCS conference, rather than their fellow mid major conferences.
Carr. The most memorable moment of the bowls so far involved Lloyd Carr's exit from his post at Michigan. In dramatic fashion Carr did something that he has struggled doing in the waining years of his career, win a bowl. With "Hail to Michigan" playing in the background, a teary eyed Carr closed the curtain on his career. The win will help put a much deserved positive spin on his legacy in Ann Arbor.
SEC Defense. Given that you can't turn around twice without being reminded of all the speed on SEC defense, you'd expect the conference to turn out some great defense efforts during the bowls. The reality is that you got a mixed bag out of SEC defenses. Mississippi State (5th in SEC total defense) held UCF to 219 yards, including only 119 to Kevin Smith. The Auburn defense (2) shut down one of the ACC's best offenses in Clemson (293 yards). Georgia (3) did an amazing job in holding Hawaii to 306 yards and 10 points. Tennessee (11) did a surprisingly good job in holding Wisconsin to 17 points. However, for the four good performances, there were four bad ones. Alabama (6) gave up 322 passing yards to Colorado and almost blew the game in the process. Kentucky (10) gave up 480 yards to an offensively challenged FSU squad. Arkansas (8) got embarrassed by giving up 38 points to Missouri and 281 rushing yards to Tony Temple (2nd best bowl effort ever). Florida's defense (7) struggled the most in giving up 524 yards to Michigan. Chad Henne went four season in the Big Ten without having a passing day like he did against the Gators, going for 373 yards.
Moutain West. The conference that has shown the best in the bowls is the Mountain West. They went 4-1 behind the strength of their defenses. Utah held Navy under their season averages in pulling out a tight win. New Mexico ended the nation's longest streak of not being shutout when they beat Nevada 23-0. TCU held C-USA's second best offense to 13 points. BYU held UCLA to 16 points. The Mountain West appears to play at level closer to the BCS conference, rather than their fellow mid major conferences.
Carr. The most memorable moment of the bowls so far involved Lloyd Carr's exit from his post at Michigan. In dramatic fashion Carr did something that he has struggled doing in the waining years of his career, win a bowl. With "Hail to Michigan" playing in the background, a teary eyed Carr closed the curtain on his career. The win will help put a much deserved positive spin on his legacy in Ann Arbor.
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