Week 13: More rousing football
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 13
The final week of the regular season, and a good week it was. Two days of college football, which is great for fans and even better for writers, since we’re at games and can’t enjoy the wall-to-wall football. Thanksgiving Friday was a world-class day for me. Almost every game went the way I wanted.
Didn’t really care about Nebraska-Colorado, but who can resist a 65-51 game? And Texas A&M-Texas was fascinating theater; a coach and team fighting on the edge of the plank, knowing there’s no chance to get back on the ship but winning anyway. Finally, the epic triple-overtime game in which Arkansas took out top-ranked LSU with nothing more than pure enthusiasm and the nation’s best football player, Darren McFadden.
Then at nightfall, I caught some Hawaii-Boise State, but I must admit, I didn’t stay with the Rainbow Warriors. During a commercial, I flipped channels and came across the final 30 minutes of “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” Jimmy Stewart gets me every time, and the final scene, where as an old U.S. Senator, thinking about how he got to where he was, riding a train through the prairie back to Washington, well, that’s one powerful movie moment.
Then Turner Classic Movies kept me hooked with “The Best Years of Our Lives,” easily one of the 10 best movies ever made. If you haven’t seen it, go find it. With my son-in-law deployed with the 45th and headed for Iraq, the movie packed even more of a punch. Sorry,
Hawaii. You can’t stand up to that.
Coaching Carousel
Thirteen Division I-A coaching posts have come open this month. The problem most of those schools face is this: replacement level. Changing coaches does not automatically lead to better times. You want to hire someone better, you think you’re hiring someone better, but often you don’t.
Here are the 13 changes so far and their chances of improvement.
Arkansas: Houston Nutt. The Hogs won two SEC West Division titles in the last six years under Nutt. Chances of winning two the next six years? Fat. Nutt had some personal issues that led to his demise, and maybe he needed to go, but it’s not likely the Razorbacks will win as much they did under Nutt.
Baylor: Guy Morriss. The Bears hired Houston U.’s Art Briles to replace Morriss, who didn’t win nearly enough but improved the talent level. Briles has a chance to improve the record, thanks to the work of Morriss. I still wouldn’t have fired Morriss.
Colorado State: Sonny Lubick. It was time for Lubick to go, but what a job he did in Fort Collins — 108-74 in 15 seasons. Lubick is nearing 70 and hasn’t had a winning season in 2003, but he plowed the ground that made Colorado State a decent football school. The next guy can go there and win.
Duke: Ted Roof. Who cares? The worst football job in America. Coaching Temple is better than coaching Duke.
Georgia Tech: Chan Gailey. Some schools have their head in the clouds. Gailey was 44-26 in six seasons at Georgia Tech, excluding his 0-6 record against Georgia. Gailey had a winning record every year and still lost his job. G-Tech plays a solid schedule; the ACC, plus a non-conference slate that includes very few rumdums. I don’t like the next guy’s chances.
Michigan: Lloyd Carr. I’ve always loved this job. It might be the best job in college football, considering all factors, including administration loyalty and fan patience. Whoever Michigan hires, he will win.
Ole Miss: Ed Orgeron. Houston Nutt is replacing Orgeron, and talk about a cushy spot. Anyone will be better than Orgeron, who never should have gotten the job. Mississippi fired David Cutcliffe three years ago in a fit of madness; Cutcliffe went 44-29 in six seasons and was cut loose after his only losing season. Nutt will win in the 55-60 percent range and be a hero, as Cutcliffe should have been.
Nebraska: Bill Callahan. Nobody plays defense these days; nobody is allowed to play defense. But the Huskers were ridiculous under Callahan. A disastrous hire, with embarrassing loss after embarrassing loss. Nebraska tied for last place in the Big 12 North this season. The next guy will do better. There’s no way he couldn’t.
Northern Illinois: Joe Novak. Retired after 12 seasons and actually coached NIU to great glories; in 2003, Northern Illinois beat Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State, and reached No. 12 in the AP poll. I wouldn’t expect a repeat.
SMU: Phil Bennett. A 1-11 season and 18-48 record in six years is hard to defend. But this certainly seems like a dead end job. I guess you could argue that it’s better than Duke.
Southern Miss: Jeff Bower. This one bothers me. Bower was head coach 17 years, a player or coach at Southern for 29 years, has had 14 straight winning seasons and just got USM into a bowl game for the 10th time in the last 11 years. And Southern Miss pressured Bower out. Sorry, but I can’t see the Golden Eagles doing much better. What? Is an invitation to join the SEC coming?
Texas A&M: Dennis Franchione. I’m not defending Fran’s goofy newsletter, nor his losing Big 12 record, nor his 25-23 overall record. But it’s about time we quit labeling A&M some kind of great football job. Some reader in Texas, usually of a sound mind and not even an A&M fan, argued with me this week that newly hired Mike Sherman would eventually run Bob Stoops out of Oklahoma. You’ve got to be kidding. Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings are two pretty fair country football coaches, wouldn’t you say? Together, they head coached A&M 11 seasons, and their combined record was 52-59-3. Jackie Sherrill cheated like crazy, caught the hated Longhorns in a down cycle and still won just 64.8 percent of his games. Here’s the truth. If Texas slips, A&M can be pretty good. If Texas is dominant, no way the Aggies will be. Bob Stoops, rest easy.
Washington State: Bill Doba. Fired after a fourth straight season without a bowl, but goes out with a 30-29 record in five years. Everyone loves Mike Price, but his 14-year record at WSU was 83-78. Give the Cougars credit, though. They don’t hire bad coaches. Here are the WSU coaches going back 40 years: Doba, Price, Dennis Erickson, Jim Walden, Warren Powers, Jackie Sherrill and Jim Sweeney. Every coach left WSU and won elsewhere, except Walden, who was an interesting guy but didn’t really do much at Iowa State.
Ten Big Winners From Week 13
10. Colorado: The offensively-challenged Buffs needed a win over Nebraska to reach a bowl game. Sixty-five points later, CU was bowl bound in Dan Hawkins’ second year.
9. OU rumdums: In the craziest exacta this side of Pimlico, the two awful teams that have been dragging down Oklahoma’s computer ranking — Utah State and North Texas — both won on the same Saturday. Utah State beat Idaho 24-19, and North Texas edged Western Kentucky 27-26. Now both teams have two wins.
8. Sylvester Croom: The Mississippi State coach isn’t flashy, and his offense stinks, but give Croom this after a 17-14 victory over Ole Miss. His Bulldogs play defense. His Bulldogs don’t quit, considering they were down 14-0 with eight minutes. His Bulldogs are going bowling after a surprising 7-5 finish. And his emotion is real. We’ve seen Les Miles and Dennis Franchione tear up in recent weeks, and some of it seems contrived. When Croom broke down on the field after the game, you knew it was pure.
7. Phil Fulmer: Love or hate the beleaguered Tennessee coach — I love him; down to Earth guy — he’s in the SEC title game. Urban Meyer and defending national champ Florida are not. And neither is red-hot Georgia.
6. UCLA: The Bruins beat Oregon 16-0 in an epic that featured 22 punts and teams that have lost more quarterbacks than some schools lose in a decade. Believe it or not, UCLA still can make the Rose Bowl. If the Bruins upset Southern Cal, and Arizona upsets Arizona State, then UCLA is the Pac-10 champ, even though Karl Dorrell’s team is a mediocre 6-5. A series of tiebreakers puts UCLA in.
5. Virginia Tech: The Hokies climbed back into the longshot national title picture with a victory over Virginia. Remember that October game against Boston College, when all the contenders were rooting against unbeaten BC? Turns out, Boston College did everyone a favor by pinning another loss on Virginia Tech.
4. Houston Nutt: Remember in “High Noon,” when Gary Cooper, with no help at all from the townsfolk of Hadleyville, stood up to the band of killers while defending Hadleyville as town marshal? Then he rips off the badge and rides out of town? That’s what happened Friday in Baton Rouge. Nutt’s Razorbacks stunned top-ranked LSU in three overtimes, then Nutt ripped off his Hog hat and rode off to Ole Miss.
3. West Virginia: The Mountaineers routed UConn and are going to the Big Bowl if they beat Pitt. West Virginia will make New Orleans by playing as weak of foes as possible and as few games as possible. They’ve basically won in dodgeball by standing with their back against the wall.
2. Hawaii: A 39-28 win over Boise State lifted Hawaii to No. 12, the magic line to reach the BCS. If Hawaii beats Washington this week, the Rainbows will make the Sugar Bowl. But that makes the Sugar Bowl a big loser. Boise State brought a ton of fans to the Fiesta Bowl last season. Hawaii will bring few to New Orleans.
1. Missouri: Let’s see. First No. 1 ranking since 47 years. Biggest win in school history, and it comes over arch-rival Kansas. Quarterback Chase Daniel skyrockets into Heisman contention. Hard to see how anyone ever has been a bigger winner than Mizzou was with a 36-28 win over KU.
Ten Big Losers From Week 13
10. Florida State: Here’s how far the Seminoles have fallen. They lose to arch-rival Florida 45-12, fall to 7-5, finish fourth in their division of the ACC, are 58-35 since losing that Orange Bowl to Oklahoma seven years ago, and no one really seems worked up.
9. Vanderbilt: The Commodores haven’t been to a bowl game since 1982, the longest drought among BCS conference teams. Vandy needed to beat Wake Forest to get to 6-6, no small order considering the kind of program Jim Grobe is building, and it didn’t happen. Wake won 31-17.
8. North Carolina State: Nothing represents pure mediocrity more than a matchup of 5-6 teams, with the winner going to a bad bowl. But if you play in one of those games, the least you can do is win it. N.C. State didn’t. Maryland rolled 37-0.
7. Miami: A 28-14 loss to Boston College relegated the Hurricanes to 5-7, sending Randy Shannon to a rocky off-season in his debut year.
6. Kansas State: What happened to the Wildcats? They were 4-2 and about to win in Stillwater in October before Jason Ricks’ last-second field goal. Then K-State collapsed, beating only Baylor down the stretch. A 45-29 loss at Fresno State dropped KSU to 5-7 and out of the bowl picture.
5. Chan Gailey: The Georgia Tech was fired after his sixth straight loss to Georgia, then wondered if he had set a world’s record. Only coach ever to be fired despite NFL playoff berths in his only two seasons as head coach and fired after going bowling in all six of his college seasons.
4. Steve Spurrier: He’s a good coach, and South Carolina will have its moments, but a 23-21 home loss to Clemson dropped the Gamecocks to 6-6 and reminded everyone that life in the SEC East is rough, even with a flamboyant and great coach.
3. Bill Callahan: Everyone got all worked up when the Huskers allowed 73 points to Kansas. But giving up 65 points to Colorado is much more of a travesty. KU has a good offense. Colorado doesn’t. No way you can criticize Tom Osborne’s firing of Callahan.
2. Texas: The Longhorns seemed headed for the Orange Bowl, where they haven’t been since Tommy Nobis turned back Joe Namath’s quarterback sneak more than 40 years ago. But UT failed to slow Texas A&M’s vaunted passing game and lost 38-30.
1. Les Miles: Playing at home with a superior team, against a one-dimensional opponent with a lame-duck coach, with a chance to play for the national title in a virtual home game in New Orleans, LSU went splat. Arkansas had the ball three times in overtime and scored a touchdown every time. But one silver lining — Miles now can take the Michigan job earlier.
Bowl Projections
Jan. 7 Big Bowl: Missouri vs. West Virginia
Jan. 6 GMAC: Tulsa vs. Bowling Green
Jan. 5 International: Rutgers vs. Ball State
Jan. 3 Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas
Jan. 2 Fiesta: Georgia vs. Arizona State
Jan. 1 Rose: USC vs. Ohio State
Jan. 1 Sugar: LSU vs. Hawaii
Jan. 1 Outback: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Jan. 1 Cotton: Oklahoma vs. Arkansas
Jan. 1 Gator: Texas Tech vs. Clemson
Jan. 1 Capital One: Florida vs. Illinois
Dec. 31 Armed Forces: Air Force vs. Purdue
Dec. 31 Sun: Oregon vs. South Florida
Dec. 31 Humanitarian: Maryland vs. Boise State
Dec. 31 Music City: Kentucky vs. Florida State
Dec. 31 Chick-fil-A: Auburn vs. Boston College
Dec. 31 Insight: Oklahoma State vs. Indiana
Dec. 30 Independence: Colorado vs. Mississippi State
Dec. 29 Meineke Car Care: Wake Forest vs. UConn
Dec. 29 Liberty: Central Florida vs. Alabama
Dec. 29 Alamo: Texas A&M vs. Penn State
Dec. 28 Texas: TCU vs. Houston
Dec. 28 Champs Sports: Virginia vs. Michigan
Dec. 28 Emerald: Georgia Tech vs. UCLA
Dec. 27 Holiday: Texas vs. Oregon State
Dec. 26 Motor City: Michigan State vs. Central Michigan
Dec. 23 Hawaii: East Carolina vs. Fresno State
Dec. 22 Papajohns.com: Cincinnati vs. Southern Miss
Dec. 22 New Mexico: New Mexico vs. South Carolina
Dec. 22 Las Vegas: California vs. BYU
Dec. 21 New Orleans: Troy vs. Memphis
Dec. 20 Poinsettia: Utah vs. Navy
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Comments
Barry,
I do not know the author’s name, but the below “Twas the Night Before the Big XII” was sent to me and I thought you and your readers might enjoy it.
Best Regards,
Richard White
NYC
‘Twas the Night Before the Big XII
‘Twas the night before the Big XII and all through the land,
not a Tiger was stirring, not even the band.
Their Jockeys were hung by the locker with care,
in hopes that the Sooners soon would be there.
Temple was nestled all snug in his bed,
while visions of the BCS danced in his head.
And Pinkel in his kerchief full of Tiger pride,
and Bob and the Sooners ready to ride.
When down in San Antone there arose such a clatter,
Chase sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.
He realized the Option was gone in a flash,
and Maclin’s dreams of running had just been dashed.
The Tiger tight ends trembled as they watched the show,
A Crimson and Cream luster set the horizon aglow.
When what to their wondering eyes should they find,
but a miniature Schooner, seven National Titles behind.
With a wizened old driver, skilled in leading his troops,
they knew in a moment it must be Bob Stoops.
More rapid than Temple his players they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.
“On Bradford, on Joe John, now Patrick and Murray!
On Chris Brown! On Iglesias! On Hartley and Kelly!
To the top of the conference! To the top of it all!
Now dash their hopes! Dash their dreams! Dash away all!”
And then in a twinkling, the Tigers fought back a scream,
and Chase saw the last of his Heisman trophy dream.
The sooner defense drew in their breath and looked all around,
and realized that the booger picker was nowhere to be found.
Bob’s eyes how they twinkled, his coaches how merry!
As they carried on the legacy left them by Barry.
Gary’s sad little face and a fear in his belly,
he shook on the field as his knees turned to jelly.
Pinkel spoke not a word, and the ball they couldn’t carry,
Stoops filled up the scoreboard and then turned to Gary.
And laying his hand on the shoulder of his friend,
he gave Pinkel a nod and said, “Like Norman again.”
Bob sprang to the Schooner, to his team gave a shout,
to the BCS they flew and left Mizzou down and out.
And we heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
“Boomer Sooner to All and to All a Good Night!”
The fans and big time boosters at FSU are pissed.
Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is lining himself up to be similar to OSU’s “head coach designate” title they gave Sean.
Bobby is the only one that doesn’t seem to care, as long as he’s leading Paterno at least….
I told you Dr. Tom would take over and what happened? Those guys think Nebraska is a Ten type job when it really is about a Four. Turner is coming….and thats it. Dr. Tom will have to get back to the business of mixing smart kids with hoods again…….and making sure the local law enforcement looks the other way. That is the only way Nebraska gets back on track.
All kidding aside……smart move on his part. You have to recruit or maintain what you have….while all this backdoor drama unfolds. LSU wouldn’t let Les go until after Saturday or even after the bowl. Pelini will get the LSU job and Turner Gill will be in Lincoln trying to run the “bone” again. Miles of course, will be going to see Jerry at Coach and Fours for a haircut and some advise……”Les, come home….Bo would want you to…….you are a Michigan Man”! Then Jerry would give Les a beer, cue up the Victors…..which does give me chills I have to say…..and he will give Les the best $15 cut any place. Imagine what it does to a Michigan Man. Done deal!
Great piece Berry……..I love Lee Marvin in The Man who shot Liberty Valance. Hard to beat John Wayne or anyone in a John Ford film. That is on my must see film list for anyone. So is Slap Shot by the way. “Slashing is like this, then you got to da box, for 2 minute, you feel shame and den you get free”
Later!
Jeff
I really enjoyed reading all the posts here on this blog. I am a bowler from a long time ago and the American Bowling Congress is coming to my town, Arlington Texas. Thus, I am trying to reacquaint myself with all things about bowling balls and bowling shoes and accessories. I intend to keep visiting and maybe add in my own 2 cents worth next time. Keep up the Great Blog!
I know I’ve been down this road before, but you can scratch Missouri from the Big Bowl. We are NOT losing to them on Saturday. Here’s why - first, to win the Big XII, it’s mandatory that you be able to, as Pat Jones used to say, “knock their damn eyeballs out” While Missouri will use their cute little bubble screens and empty the backfield on third and two, we will saddle up Patrick and Brown and run it down their throats. As they become preoccupied with stopping the run, watch for Manny, Malcolm and Juaquin to sneak behind their secondary at opportune times. Second - Missouri has a tendency to die in the fourth quarter - witness their 24-23 lead against us going into the final quarter, ditto their near collapse against Kansas last week. Illinois outscored them 28-17 in the second half to darn near beat them after being behind 23 – 6 at halftime. Missouri was ahead 28- 7 at the half against Ole Miss, then hung on to win 38-25. This is clearly a sign of a team that can’t run the ball and is physically inferior to good opposition. Third, Bob Stoops teams are 4-1 in Big XII Title Games - been there, done that. No way can Missouri get back up against a excellent opponent after such an emotional game last week. Last, not having Murray for this one is not a huge deal – he was a non factor in our win last time. Not having English is a bigger deal, but I’m convinced that Beal is going to have a “coming out” party this week – he is big time player whose skill sets are perfect against Missouri’s offense.