Neuheisel supports Bradford & Stoops
I wrote in the Wednesday Oklahoman about how CBS analyst Gary Danielson said Sam Bradford made a mistake in not turning pro last year and that Bob Stoops should have encouraged Bradford to leave OU.
But the next day on the Dan Patrick Show, the forum in which Danielson criticized Stoops, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel defended the decision to return, even in the wake of Bradford’s injury.
“I don’t think you can ever look back,” Neuheisel said. In 2005, USC quarterback Matt “Leinart had a great experience when he came back to SC for a year. I think Bradford is still going to have a great senior season.
“I just think kids are looking at how much they enjoy college. Unless some catastrophic thing happens, Sam Bradford’s going to have an unbelievable NFL career. ”
Patrick asked Neuheisel what he would have told Bradford last January, had Neuheisel been the OU coach.
“Sam, I think you can have your cake and eat it too,” Neuheisel said. “I certainly don’t want to stand in your way if you feel the NFL’s calling. But I can tell you barring catastrophic injury, that’s going to be available to you as well. I think you can have it all. We’d love to have you back.”
The truth of the matter is coaches are supposed to support their programs. Their job is to produce quality football and quality young men. Ideally, a top NFL prospect has a strong home base in which to help him make such a major decision. And that’s exactly what happened with Bradford.
Now, with someone like tight end Jermaine Gresham, the system breaks down. Gresham, as has been well-documented, came from a less-stable environment. He basically was raised by a village in Ardmore and didn’t receive the home training someone like Bradford or Gerald McCoy did. Truth is, Bob Stoops’ responsibility is greater to someone like Gresham than someone like Bradford, even though the financial stakes are greater on Bradford’s case, since he would have been a higher draft pick.
Bradford was a guy who really couldn’t make a wrong decision, and even with injury Bradford is on a solid life course. But Gresham, who suffered a knee injury in August and will miss his entire senior season, likely erred in not going to the NFL. His draft status is much shakier now than Bradford’s, and Gresham probably cost himself some money. We know for sure he cost himself a year’s worth of money; money he can’t ever get back.
College Football Week 4: Beware the Pac-10
That bastion of college football analysis, the Wall Street Journal, last week made a declaration. Dismiss the Pacific-10 Conference at your own risk.
The WSJ studied head-to-head matchups this decade among teams from the BCS’ automatic-qualifier conferences. And the results were stunning.
The Pac-10 is the nation’s best league. The Pac-10 is 81-63 against the other five conferences in the 2000s, a winning percentage of .562 that is better than even the SEC’s .531.
Even taking out Southern Cal’s 19-3 record, the Pac-10 is above .500.
So why does the Pac-10 not get in the debates with SEC and Big 12 devotees? No good reason, other than hype and geography. The Pac-10 does not have an ESPN contract, and its games often finish after newspaper deadlines.
But facts are facts. The complete standings:
Pac-10: 81-63, .562
SEC: 95-84, .531
Big 12: 81-85, .488
Big East: 79-85, .481
ACC: 100-110, .476
Big Ten: 84-93, .475
In 2009, the SEC is the clear leader so far, with a 6-2 record. But the SEC still has six games remaining against other BCS league foes: Georgia Tech at Mississippi State, Arkansas-Texas A&M at Arlington, Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt, Florida State at Florida, Georgia at Georgia Tech and Clemson at South Carolina.
The Pac-10 is next at 6-5, followed by the Big East 5-6, Big Ten 4-5, Big 12 3-4 and ACC 4-6.
The Big 12 has only three games left: Colorado at West Virginia, Texas A&M-Arkansas and OU at Miami.
Colorado isn’t likely to win in Morgantown, which means the pressure is on A&M and the Sooners to keep the Big 12 from being last in the 2009 conference standings.
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEEK
10. Jimbo Fisher: Rough September for the Florida State offensive coordinator and coach-in-waiting; 19 rushing yards vs. South Florida in a 17-7 loss, 19 points vs. I-AA Jacksonville State. Despite a contract that guarantees it, Fisher shouldn’t count on replacing Bobby Bowden.
9. Dan Mullen: With a chance for a monumental win in his first month of games, the Mississippi State coach failed in a 30-24 home loss to LSU. On 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the final moments, Mullen had quarterback Tyson Lee throw a jump pass. Mullen must have thought he still was at Florida with Tim Tebow. The pass was knocked down, and Lee was stuffed on fourth down.
8. Mike Locksley: A new New Mexico coach’s worst nightmare. A loss to a bad New Mexico State. Locksley’s Lobos are 0-4 after a 20-17 loss to New Mexico State, which beat Prairie View by the same margin, 21-18.
7. Veteran quarterbacks: Rough Saturday for three guys who seem like they’ve been around forever. Illinois’ Juice Williams, who engineered a huge upset at Ohio State in 2007, returned to Columbus, but the Illini managed just 170 total yards in a 30-0 loss to the Buckeyes. Riley Skinner, who quarterbacked Wake Forest to the ACC title in 2006, lost a fumble in overtime, allowing Boston College to escape with a 27-24 victory. And Tim Tebow suffered a concussion against Kentucky that sent him to a Lexington hospital for an overnight stay.
6. Galen Hall: The 69-year-old Penn State offensive coordinator first coached on the college level at Oklahoma in 1966. He’s had a grand career. But Hall’s Nittany Lion offense was a dud vs. Iowa. After Daryll Clark threw a 79-yard TD pass 105 seconds into the game, Penn State’s offense went into hibernation and the Hawkeyes won 21-10. The Nittanys finished with 307 total yards.
5. Indiana: Since their Rose Bowl season of 1967, the Hoosiers were 1-30 vs. Michigan. But IU had the Wolverines in peril Saturday, only to settle for four field goals, all from the red zone, and Michigan survived 36-33.
4. Pac-10: Some believe the Pac-10 needs a new champion, that Southern Cal’s dominance is holding back the league. Some thought Cal could be the team to break USC’s seven-year stronghold on the championship. Think again. Oregon routed the Golden Bears 42-3.
3. Danny Hope: The first-year Purdue coach - and Howard Schnellenberger’s offensive line coach at OU in 1995 - had a chance at a memorable victory, leading Notre Dame 21-17 late in the game. But the Irish drove deep into Purdue territory. Out of timeouts, the Irish reached the 2-yard line and faced 3rd-and-goal with the clocking ticking. But Purdue called timeout with 36 seconds left to set its defense. That in effect gave Notre Dame two chances from the two, instead of one, and the Irish needed both. Jimmy Clausen threw a fourth-down TD pass to beat the Boilermakers.
2. Baylor: All hope and optimism was sucked out of the Baylor season when quarterback Robert Griffin suffered a torn ACL. The 3-1 Bears have to go 3-5 in the Big 12 to become bowl eligible. Without Griffin, Baylor likely is to go 0-8.
1. Jevan Snead: Few No. 4-ranked teams have looked worse than Ole Miss in a 16-10 loss at South Carolina. Few Heisman Trophy contenders have looked worse than Snead, who completed just seven of 21 passes for 107 yards.
REALITY RANKINGS
10. Brigham Young: Cougars still getting credit for beating the Sooners.
9. LSU: Tigers rewarded for winning on road, at Washington and Mississippi State.
8. Southern Cal: Loss at Washington will haunt Trojans all season.
7. Oregon: Three good home wins (Purdue, Utah, Cal), but will Ducks repeat road meltdown shown at Boise State?
6. Georgia: Three good wins - South Carolina, Arizona State and at Arkansas - counter loss at OSU.
5. Alabama: Crimson Tide’s win over Virginia Tech looking better and better.
4. Houston: Two great wins (Texas Tech and at Oklahoma State) but same problem as Boise State.
3. Boise State: Broncos’ strength of schedule about to wither. Toughest game left is at Tulsa.
2. Iowa: Win at Penn State ranks with USC’s victory at Ohio State as most impressive of the season so far.
1. Cincinnati: Hard for any team to get three quality wins in September, but the Bearcats have done it. At Rutgers, at Oregon State, home against Fresno State.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Idaho: The Vandals haven’t finished with a winning record since 1999, despite being coached by Tom Cable (now the Oakland Raiders’ coach) in 2000-03 and Dennis Erickson in 2006. Robb Akey was a combined 3-21 his first two years with Idaho. But the Vandals are 3-1 after a 34-31 victory at Northern Illinois, which was coming off an upset of Purdue.
9. Mardy Gilyard: We saw the Cincinnati flanker at Owen Field last year, and luckily for the Sooners, they won’t see him in Cincy next year, since he’s a senior. But Gilyard is as good a pick as any as the nation’s best player. He had nine catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns as the Bearcats beat Fresno State 28-20 to continue their trek up the polls.
8. Temple: I’ll admit - I had largely forgotten that the Owls still played football. Not that long ago, they were in the Big East. Now they are a Mid-American Conference (football only) also-ran. But Temple routed Buffalo 37-13 to give notice that it still straps on the pads.
7. Mike Stoops: Don’t look now, but Stoops is building a pretty good program in the desert. Arizona won 37-32 at Oregon State, and the Wildcats now are 22-19 since the start of the 2006 season, including 14-14 in the conference.
6. Alabama defense: Arkansas scored 41 points on Georgia. The Razorbacks scored seven on Alabama, in a 35-7 loss, and totaled just 254 yards. Watch out, America. Nick Saban is back.
5. Punt blocking: Nothing turns around a game like a huge kicking-game play. We saw that in the two biggest games of the week. Iowa beat Penn State 21-10 thanks mainly to Adrian Clayborn’s 53-yard return of a blocked punt, which put the Hawkeyes up 11-10 early in the fourth quarter. And Matt Reidy’s 1-yard return of a blocked punt blew open Virginia Tech’s game against Miami, giving the Hokies a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, en route to a 31-7 victory.
4. TCU: Amid all the celebration of Boise State, Brigham Young and Houston for their big upsets, don’t forget the Horned Frogs. A 14-10 victory at Clemson showed that TCU is for real and might run the table itself.
3. Homecomings: South Florida freshman B.J. Daniels, who grew up in Tallahassee but went unrecruited by Florida State, returned to his hometown and threw two long TD passes to produce a 17-7 upset. The Bulls were without four-year starting quarterback Matt Grothe, who was lost for the season a week ago but not missed, since Daniels threw for 215 yards and ran for 126.
2. Boise State: The Broncos routed Bowling Green 49-14, but their big news was all the teams that lost. No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 5 Penn State, No. 6 Cal and No. 9 Miami were beaten, and suddenly Boise State is No. 5 in the polls. The BCS title game is not out of the question for the Broncos.
1. Case Keenum: Hard to believe, but 20 years ago, a Houston U. quarterback, Andre Ware, won the Heisman Trophy. Now comes Keenum, a quick-moving, accurate-throwing QB who directs Houston’s constantly-shifting offense. In a 29-28 victory over Texas Tech, Keenum completed 38 of 58 passes for 435 yards and directed the last-minute, game-winning drive. Don’t count him out for the Heisman.
Last chapter of Murcer book omitted
Kay Murcer, the widow of Oklahoma (and New York Yankee) baseball institution Bobby Murcer, has a most unusual request. Could you please read the final chapter of her husband’s book?
Before he died last autumn from a brain tumor, Bobby Murcer teamed with Glen Waggoner to write Yankee For Life. The paperback version, published by the reputable firm of Harper Collins, came out in April. But six weeks ago, Kay Murcer discovered that the last chapter had been omitted. The proof of the book sent to Kay Murcer had contained the four pages in which Bobby Murcer summarizes what a blessed life had been his and what he learned through his 18-month battle with the cancer.
“I had no reason to ever suspect it would be altered with such insensitivity,” Kay Murcer wrote to The Oklahoman in an email. “That last chapter is necessary to the completion of Bobby’s story and to the entire message Bobby hoped to leave for all readers.”
Ironically, the epilogue Kay Murcer wrote is included in the paperback versions, but she believes her words are lacking relevance without Bobby’s final thoughts.
Kay Murcer saw some paperback copies at a book store over the weekend and decided to publicize the omission. “I want to tell someone with the ability to alert the public that readers are not getting the whole story unless they read the hardback, and that’s not fair,” Kay Murcer wrote. “Bobby would be livid if he were still here to protect his own words. So I’m protecting them instead. It matters to me.”
Kay Murcer said she doesn’t seek anything from Harper Collins other than the omission be brought to the attention of the public. So here it is.
If you want to read Murcer’s final chapter, this link will take you to those final four pages:
Cowboys video board draws curiosity
I’m headed to Arlington tonight for the Cowboys-Panthers game, and this will be my fourth trip to JerryWorld and my third ballgame. But I got a very interesting email last week that makes me look at the Cowboys’ amazing video board in a whole new light.
Bill Perry is deputy director of network public affairs for OETA, the Oklahoma Education Television Network. In other words, he’s an experienced television man. And he had some interesting observations about the stadium.
Perry was at the OU-Brigham Young game and wrote me: “As a TV guy, I was naturally fascinated with the contemporary technology in use there and did a little exploring. What I noticed, there’s something unusual about the big screens I’ve not seen anyone mention to date in print or anyplace else. It’s a unique technical challenge they faced, and it’s because the screens are not hanging on a wall, like in most stadiums.
“With the video screens right in the center, it occurred to me that if all the screens carried the same feed, at least half the stadium would be looking at a reverse image of what they saw down below. The pressbox side is the primary angle with multiple camera positions, so for everyone on the pressbox side, the broadcast video feed matches what’s on the field. But if you’re sitting on the same side as the Cowboys bench, that feed would look backwards to you (the screen direction would be wrong according to what your eyes were seeing).
“To see how they tackled this potential problem, I took a walk and looked at both ‘big’ sides during the game. Somehow the screen direction was matching what was down below. Did they just flip the picture? Nope. All the numbers would be backwards, and they were not.
“After looking at it, I finally figured out that they must have some additional cameras on the reverse (Cowboy bench) side, dedicated to feeding that board the images necessary to keep the fans on that side from going directionally nuts (that way the runs and passes are not going the wrong way when they look up at the board). However, when there’s a closeup they use the same shot on both sides of the big boards. That’s why it can indeed be confusing if the closeup is of a ref calling a penalty — if you’re sitting on the Cowboy side, the guy on the big board is pointing in the opposite direction from the reality down below. When all those flags were flying at the OU game, we kept thinking they were pointing at BYU until we eventually figured out the ref image was backwards on the closeups.
“The smaller end screens are also somewhat of a screen direction issue, but I think people in the end zones can adapt to whichever screen direction is up there. I believe the south small screen is in sync with the pressbox side and its opposite one is in sync with the Cowboy bench side, but I didn’t confirm that.
“It must be very stressful to keep everything fed correctly during the game. Of course, when they are showing a commercial or promo video or, really, anything other than game action, they can pump the same feed to all four sides. But the technology of managing two separate feeds and cutting in closeups on both views is really a slick accomplishment. One more reason to be impressed.
“Now the sound in that big football room was really really lousy — we couldn’t understand but maybe 10 percent of the PA announcements. I have talked to a lot of people who sat everywhere from sections 100s up through the 400s at the OU-BYU game, and they universally thought the sound was terrible. The other common comment was the lack of an informative data or stat board anywhere (TV feeds could not be seen). There was nothing to indicate ‘yards to go’ or how many timeouts were left for each team. Since you couldn’t hear the PA, that became irritating. The dinky scoreboard in the corners of the strip boards were also laid out poorly, as in 13 OU 10 BYU, with numbers preceding the team, not following it. Lots of nice things in there, but some dumb things too.”
Now that was an interesting email. That’s a guy who went to a stadium and studied what he was seeing. I can’t vouch for the sound; we don’t hear much in the pressbox no matter where we are. But I believe it. Sound quality is mostly awful at a lot of arenas. And the scoreboard issue is ridiculous. No down and distance. Hard to find the clock. Stats virtually non-existent.
But that video screen is something else.
Miami’s loss to V-Tech means what?
On a Saturday full of drama, with big upsets and wild finishes, a dud and a thud hit Blacksburg, Va. Miami’s meteoric rise back to college football prominence crashed with a thoroughly uninspiring 31-7 loss at Virginia Tech.
So what does that mean for Oklahoma, which plays at Miami on Saturday? Several things.
1. Miami is not yet back as a juggernaut. The U’s victory at Florida State was impressive, though the Seminoles are perhaps the weirdest team to come down the pike in a decade. And Miami’s waxing of Georgia Tech was solid, though that’s a bad matchup for the YellowJackets.
2. Don’t dismiss Miami as a fraud. It was a terrible spot for the Hurricanes. Coming off two huge games, with another next week, Miami was bound to have a letdown. I don’t know why sports teams can’t find the magic level week after week, but there is a century of evidence that they can’t.
Plus, in the same way Georgia Tech was a great matchup for Miami — trying to run option against Miami’s speed — Virginia Tech was a horrible matchup for Miami. A doberman defense, like always in Blacksburg, that could get after quarterback Jacory Harris. An offense that isn’t flashy but generally doesn’t beat itself. A home crowd that makes for a tough place to play.
And finally, the rain. It rained all day, and few teams are better mudders than Virginia Tech.
Miami picked a bad time to have a bad day. The Hurricanes have flaws, and Virginia Tech exposed them. But don’t count out Miami against Oklahoma. The Hurricanes will be back at home, they will be licking their wounds and they will be seeking redemption.
Should the Sooners win, the verdict won’t be quite the prize it would have been had Miami been undefeated. But that prize still won’t be easy to obtain.
Emails in on centralized scheduling for college football
The new emails are in, and readers are parading me through the streets. They loved my idea to create minimum scheduling requirements in college football.
Let’s start with Kent: “OU playing Idaho State, OSU playing Grambling, Texas playing Louisiana-Monroe, it’s a flatout joke. As much as tickets cost, I don’t see how anyone could enjoy a game like Idaho State. I stayed home and I’ve missed less than 10 home games since 1972. I even sat through the Blake and Gibbs years.”
I’ll never understand fans going to those games. Paying for them as part of season tickets, yes. But going to the games? Who values their time so little?
Steve, fom Wyoming, wrote: “Very well said, especially recommending that the Mountain West be involved.”
You know, some from the Mountain West thought I was their enemy earlier when I wrote that the BCS system has been very good to mid-majors. But it was true. And it’s also true that the Mountain West deserves inclusion at the BCS table.
Jim: “Your suggestion of weighting a school’s non-conference schedule is an excellent idea and might be the only way to make it work. Texas is still in denial about their weak non-conference schedule being the reason they did not play in the Big 12 or national championship game. Strength of schedule needs to be a major component in selecting the teams for BCS bowls. Without it every school will back away from going on the road to play a school from another BCS conference. If a non-BCS conference school read your article and believes it can happen, they are now in seclusion with the athletic director trying to figure out how they are going to pay the bills. The AD is trying to figure out what programs have to be cut to keep the budget balanced. Without those $800,000 paychecks from the big guys, I-AA might be history. If you think football has a problem, how about basketball? I would think you would be hard-pressed to find more than 10 schools who have full houses for preseason games against East Centrals or Binghamtons. As a matter of fact, can you find 20 programs who have full houses on midweek conference games?”
Basketball is the great example of what football must avoid. No one cares about pre-New Year’s college basketball, other than in Lawrence, Durham, Lexington and Chapel Hill. Same thing could happen to football if something isn’t done.
Scott, from Pittsburgh: “I like the plan. One other source of blame for all the mismatches — the fans. They are such frontrunners, in many cases they are willing to pay inflated prices for all these mismatches. Penn State is a great example right now in our part of the country. They have an abysmal non-conference schedule, play eight home games (including six of the first seven weeks) and fill their 100,000-plus stadium with fans every week. I am not sure I would walk across the street to see several of their games, yet people loyally trek (and it is a trek) to State College eight Saturdays a year regardless of who they play. There are certainly a lot of barriers to moving football towards better scheduling, and a little consumer demand for a quality show would help. A few empty seats might encourage a better product.”
Fans indeed hold all the power. Want a playoff? Quit watching bowl games live or on television. Want better schedules? Don’t go watch OU-Idaho State.
Brian, a Texas fan: “You are so right on the wuss way most teams (including my beloved Longhorns) schedule. I know the UT-Ohio State games were scheduled before Mack Brown got there, and while I think Stoops is a great coach who lacks in the class area, he is most willing to schedule a rough and tumble schedule. Mack Brown, not so much. I like your idea. It would in my mind make UT and all of college football better at an earlier time. USC does it that way. Ohio State and OU, too. Time for UT to step up! I had never heard of Louisiana-Monroe and thought it was the new name of the old Louisiana Tech team.”
Louisiana-Monroe is the old Northeast Louisiana. I know my Bayou schools.
Craig: “Love your scheduling idea but no way you will resolve issue quickly with that many conferences involved. What about a Big 12/SEC challenge series similar to what they have in basketball. You seed each team from both conference based on previous year performance, home and home dates, rotate every two years.”
I’m all for a challenge series; I’ve called for a Big 12/SEC/ACC challenge series, which would produce two games a year for every team. But you have to let the schools decide amongst themselves who they will play from the pool. It’s a big enough step to get them to give up that much control. You can’t expect total control.
Richard, from D.C.: “I think your proposal would do a lot to discourage the playoff idea, which I think is bad for college football and academics in general. A healthy non-conference schedule would give the ratings a little more credence and help shape the BCS finale.”
I actually think my idea is playoff-neutral. Shouldn’t affect the playoff debate much, although it certainly enhances the BCS system.
Jim: “Good thoughts. How do the small schools receive financial support? How about funding from nationwide tax on all football fans?”
Or better yet, if you can’t afford football, don’t play it.
Jim: “Good job. This is my major pet peeve. Scheduling cupcakes cheapens what is potentially the best spectator sport in America. Worst offender? Texas. They can’t seem to get enough of the Louisiana-Monroes. About the only thing I get out of it is rooting for the underdog. I still have fond memories of Appalachian State taking it to the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.”
But see, under my plan, you still have those games. I’m only calling for two of four non-conference games to be against legit foes. The other two can be cupcakes.
Josh, an OSU fan: “I liked your idea. Georgia-OSU, Miami-OU, OU-BYU, USC-Ohio State is great stuff. Bring it on. Also, the eight home games this season, for me, is a pretty large commitment. You add to that a road game (at A&M), a bowl game and possible conference championship equals an exhausting four months. I understand that no one is forcing me to do that, but hey I am a fan I’ll do what I got to do, but put me in the ‘I prefer 6 home games’ category. Also if we are going to fix college football, how about trimming the fat from division I-A. Tulane, Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and San Jose State need to drop down a level. How about reducing scholarships to 80 or 75, so we can get some real parity? As a fan of a team who is not in the college football cartel of Oklahoma, Texas, USC, etc, it would be nice to see some new teams win the championship once in a while. The last team to win its first national championship was Florida in 1996. They have now won thrice. The last team to even play for its first title was Virginia Tech in 1999.”
Well, there’s a problem. Trim scholarships and create more parity, and you’ve empowered Tulane, Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and San Jose State. Hard to make them better, then tell them they have to go down a class.
George: “I know we won’t have a college football playoff system soon. However, since you and others believe that the regular season works as some kind of a playoff. I think you can add a little wrinkle and make it more fair or legit. I think if during the season, say after five or six games, every top two or three teams of each conference are told beforehand to have an open date. A committee of experts would match those aforementioned teams against each other (say Texas would play BYU and Alabama would play Boise State). May have two designated open dates during the season, better in the middle of the season instead of the beginning to have a better measure of team’s strength. After that process, I believe at the end of the season, pollsters can have a better perspective of who really is deserving to compete for BCS bowls and national championship. This makes the regular season more like a playoff process.”
Well, that’s a swell idea, but it has no hope of working. College football is a huge campus event, with all kinds of activities planned months in advance. You can’t go adding games in mid-stream.
Gary, another Texas fan: “For years while I was growing up a dedicated Longhorn fan, I watched OU compete on the national stage. Texas fans that were older (and supposedly wiser) than me kept telling me that it didn’t matter that OU seemed to get more attention on a national scale. They said it was just a prejudice against Texas because we were better than everyone else. I kept thinking, baloney!! They were getting national attention because they played a world class schedule and therefore garnered the attention they deserved. Texas, meanwhile, played in the Southwest Conference and seemed to rarely venture outside that conference. Nobody seemed to pay attention to whether they were good or bad unless they beat OU. For years, I’ve maintained that they needed to play world-class opponents outside their conference, if for no other reason than to see how they size up against really good competition.”
Well, Gary, I think you’re being a little hard on your Longhorns. Texas has historically played a pretty good non-conference schedule. Not this year, and maybe not much in years to come, but in the past, pretty good.
Scott wrote about my Mike Balogun column: “I tend to fall outside the masses when it comes to the opinions on the NCAA. I happen to think it is an organization of well meaning, well educated men and women governing by and for the member institutions. If the six BCS conferences grabbed the MWC and the WAC and formed their own organization, at some point in the process they would ask themselves, ‘Who is going to be our governing body?’ However, I digress. This rule seems good to me on a couple of fronts briefly mentioned or not mentioned in your article. First, you mention ‘natural progression’ and this is true. However, it is more to the point that playing organized football for extended years beyond high school has to start counting against eligibility for the purpose of skill advancement. Yes, Weinke played pro baseball, but not football, so, in theory, he did not progress his football skills beyond high school. So the big, bad NCAA that supposedly hates student-athletes gives a young man a chance to compete at a later age if he has not exhausted eligibility in a particular sport. However, Weinke’s collegiate baseball days were over. In turn, at some point, playing organized football past a certain age has to be considered as advanced participation in the game, no matter the pay scale. This leads to the second — and potentially bigger — issue. Coaches, boosters, agents, you name it, could start utilizing these semi-pro leagues as farm teams for their school. Without an eligibility consequence, entities with an interest could pay players to hone their skills with these teams on the chance that they become good enough to warrant a scholarship some day. Also, coaches could also get on the payroll to work with certain players and get them directed to a certain school. Huh, sounds like AAU basketball. I am not educated enough to speak very well on this topic. However, on the surface, I would be all for any athlete paid in any sport losing his NCAA eligibility in any sport. Hence, I believe this rule to have merit, and it seems to me the member institutions would agree.”
Sounds to me like you’re more than educated enough to speak on this subject. Excellent points, all around.
Some OSU fans checked in after my column praising Mike Holder’s season-ticket policy. Jeff: “I enjoyed your article today. It was insightful and gave a fresh perspective on the business that is college athletics. I have always thought that Holder’s policy would work for the simple reason that, in a saturated market, you have to create demand and a higher price by limiting supply. I find it interesting that in a state of roughly 3.6 million people, Oklahoma could have over 200,000 seats available for Division I football on the same day. That is nearly six percent of the state’s population attending a Division I football game on any given Saturday. I understand that there are a lot of out of state fans (such as I), but the competition for ticket sales is daunting in a down economy. What Holder has done is remarkable, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for the accomplishment.”
I think what you’re saying is that college football is big in our state.
Dick: “I agree with you on Holder and his ticket policy. It struck me as a good idea from the start. It obviously upset a lot of OU fans last year, but Holder is not a guy to worry about that type of firestorm. I don’t know Holder personally, but I know people who do, and he appears to be a guy that can rub some people the wrong way. But he has done an excellent job as AD. After watching what he did with the OSU golf program, I have always been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as AD. He took the golf program from a very good one to what is clearly the preeminent program in the country.”
I think Holder has done some good things as AD, but the only similarity between coaching a golf program and running an athletic department is that rich friends can help you with both.
Lenny: “In the article about OSU athletic director Mike Holder, you said it’s a good thing he’s not an elected official. The same can be said about sportswriters and sportstalk show hosts. There probably wouldn’t be very many left standing.”
Oh, you’re exactly right, Lenny. I would be very lonely.
Terry: “I noticed that several of the state colleges (Southwestern, for example) have either losing records or have not won a single game. Do you think this is a reflection on the quality of high school football in Oklahoma or what? I graduated from Southwestern in the ‘70s, and they were a national power at their level.”
The problem is simple. The move up to NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference has been a disaster for Oklahoma schools. They aren’t on the same level as the Texas schools, for reasons I guess I don’t know.
Mike: “I am a Sooner fan living in Los Angeles for the past 22 years. If it will make Oklahomans feel better about the BYU loss, let me say the past week I have seen USC fans decked out in their Trojan gear going to the bank, the grocery store, Sam’s Wholesale, Costco and THEY ALL LOOK LIKE THEY’VE BEEN SHOT. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Now, now. There’s no reason to get petty.
Don: “Number of catches for Brody Eldridge against Tulsa: zero. Number against Miami: many. OU is going to need it. Miami is a very good team. This game will shed a good amount of info on how good OU is. You heard it here first.”
Trouble is, Eldridge can’t catch. They might throw him one or two passes but certainly no more than that.
Jeff: “After shutting out Tulsa and the play of Landry Jones, I am very optimistic. Texas didn’t look very good against a very thin Tech D. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but I think we can win out if the D continues to improve. We are so dominant up front. The O-line is looking better and Caleb is looking good. I guess the best way to sum it up is I am a lot more optimistic than I was at this time two weeks ago. Will Sam be back for Miami or is it Landry’s game unless he really struggles? I still think they would want to hold him out and get him in against Baylor for the Texas game. Do you see an Aikman/Holieway story emerging? I don’t guess you can keep a healed up Heisman winner on the bench. Landry certainly impresses, though.”
No way a Holieway-Aikman story develops. When Aikman went down with a broken leg in 1985, he had quarterbacked OU in five games. The Sooners were 3-2 in those games. The first three games in ’85, OU scored 13 points vs. Minnesota, 41 vs. Kansas State and 14 vs. Texas. Compare that to what Sam Bradford has done. A Heisman Trophy. Two Big 12 titles. An assault on the record books. This is Bradford’s job.
Chat Recap: Friday, Sept. 25
Ole Miss loss means Sooners move up
Ole Miss’ 16-10 loss to South Carolina on Thursday night was a reminder of two things.
1. Early polls are unreliable. Mississippi was ranked fourth and had done virtually nothing. The Rebels this season had defeated Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana. That’s no reason to raise some team to fourth in America. When Oklahoma State jumped all the way to No. 5 earlier this month, the Cowboys got there by beating Georgia, not Memphis.
2. Oklahoma’s pathback to national contention will come quickly. OU is ninth in the coaches poll and 10th in AP, which means the idle Soonerslikely will rise to at least eighth and ninth next week. If OU beats Miami and Texas, OU will be back in the top five.
The loss to Brigham Young could hurt the Sooners if two other major-conference teams win out, but otherwise, that Sam Bradfordless (at least for a half) loss won’t resonate. So this season would sort of become what last season became: cheering against Penn State to lose.
OU kickers on Mitchell Park infield
Bob Stoops acted like the possibility of playing Miami partially on infield dirt at Miami’s Landshark Stadium was no big deal. But the more he thought about it, the more he decided it couldn’t hurt to prepare.
“Maybe I’ll send the kickers over to the baseball field,” Stoops told me Tuesday afternoon.
And on Wednesday, that’s exactly what Stoops did. Jimmy Stevens and the rest of the OU kickers worked out at Mitchell Park, kicking off the infield dirt.
Wise move. Georgia Tech played Miami last week at Landshark, and with the Florida Marlins still in season, the baseball layout remained. Which meant a portion of the game was played on dirt. Same with the Dolphins-Colts on Monday night. Georgia Tech’s Scott Blair missed a 39-yard field goal off the infield dirt, only Blair’s second miss in 19 career attempts from inside 40 yards.
ESPN’s Erin Andrews reported during the game that players from both teams were getting cut and scraped from the dirt. I don’t know how you prepare for that, but no doubt you can prepare for the kicking. Stoops indicated the shoes would be no different for grass or dirt — not that you could do much if they were — and he, as usual, presented a front of no big deal.
The Marlins are only 41/2 games back in the wild-card standings, so while their final scheduled home game is Sunday, Landshark must remain baseball-ready so long as Florida’s playoff hopes are alive. We are trying to find out from Miami officials how soon the park can be transformed to total grass, but so far no information.
Ideally, the Marlins would be eliminated by this weekend, they finish out Sunday and the field could be sodded by Monday, giving it five days to find firm footing for the OU-Miami game.
The Dolphins host Buffalo on Oct. 4, the day after OU-Miami, so no way do the Dolphins want to play on dirt if they don’t have to.
I still can’t believe the NFL allows games to be played on baseball layouts, with infield. Oakland, Miami and Minnesota are the only franchises that still share a stadium with a baseball team, and the baseball Twins move into a new stadium next year.
When we all were kids, we avoided dirt sandlots for football. We’d go find a patch of grass and play. Who wants to play on dirt? Certainly not the Sooners, I can tell you that.
College Football Week 3: Come quickly, conference play
The Big 12 had its share of games in the national spotlight on opening week. OSU-Georgia and OU-Brigham Young. Last Saturday, Nebraska-Virginia Tech and Texas Tech-Texas were great matchups (and games).
Next week, OU-Miami ranks with USC-Cal as the games of the day.
But in Week 2 and Week 4, the Big 12 offered up nary a game worthy of ABC to telecast.
In Week 2, Houston-OSU turned into a wild showdown, but no one saw it coming. In Week 4, Houston again offers the marquee game for the Big 12 – hosting Texas Tech in a game that will be televised by ESPN2.
There’s a dearth of legitimate September games in the sport, and the Big 12 is as much to blame as any league. Texas plays no marquee non-conference games. Nebraska plays only Virginia Tech. Missouri played only Illinois. Texas A&M plays only Arkansas. Kansas’ best foe is Southern Mississippi. Tech’s is Houston.
The league is top heavy with mismatches. Conference play can’t get here fast enough.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Florida State quarterbacking: The Seminoles’ decade-long slump can be traced to lack of solid quarterbacking. But Christian Ponder, a junior from the Dallas suburb of Colleyville, is changing that. Ponder completed 21 of 26 passes for 195 yards and two TDs, plus ran 11 times for 77 yards and a touchdown, as the ‘Noles routed Brigham Young 54-32.
9. Florida-Tennessee rivalry: The coaches are sniping and the Volunteers didn’t go down without a fight, losing 23-13. Maybe this rivalry isn’t dead after all.
8. Ryan Mathews: This is what Friday night football does. Elevates unknown players to star status. Fresno State lost 51-34 to Boise State, but college football fans were introduced to this Fresno State junior tailback, who raced to touchdown runs of 69, 60 and 68 yards and now leads the nation in rushing with 149 yards per game.
7. Joe Cox: Remember way back, oh, two weeks ago, when everyone thought Cox couldn’t quarterback? Now he’s led Georgia to 93 points the last two weeks, including a 52-41 victory over Arkansas in which Cox completed 18 of 26 for 375 yards, one interception and five TDs. His two-game total, counting a 41-37 win over South Carolina: 35 of 50 for 576 yards, seven TDs and two interceptions, after a mediocre opener at Oklahoma State.
6. Miami: Halfway home to what would be perhaps the greatest 4-0 start in college football history. The Hurricanes vanquished Georgia Tech 33-17, their second straight ranked victim, and now get Virginia Tech and OU back-to-back.
5. Bravery: You’re a mid-major. On the road against a Big Ten school. You lead by seven with 3:44 left in the game and face 4th-and-2 at your own 16-yard line. What do you do? If you’re Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill, you go into punt formation, snap the ball to the up man and watch Justin Anderson ramble 11 yards for a first down. By the time Northern Illinois punted, Purdue had 25 seconds left and 80 yards to go. Final score: Northern Illinois 28, Purdue 21. Jerry Kill is my new favorite coach.
4. Jahvid Best: The California star has staked his claim as America’s best tailback, with five touchdown runs and 131 yards in a 35-21 win at Minnesota. With all the star quarterbacks either injured or playing so-so, Best could make a Heisman dash.
3. Cincinnati: Don’t look now, but the Bearcats could be headed for Pasadena. They’ve already won at Rutgers and Oregon State (28-18 last Saturday); their remaining road games are at Miami-Ohio, South Florida, Syracuse and Pitt.
2. Steve Sarkisian: Few coaches with a 2-1 career record have been hotter than this former BYU quarterback and USC offensive coordinator. Washington had won two of its previous 23 games going into 2009, but the Huskies are 2-1 after that 16-13 upset of Southern Cal.
1. Boise State: The Broncos not only get a big win at Fresno State, but Brigham Young’s loss to Florida State means Boise State has clear sailing to a BCS bowl.
REALITY RANKINGS
1. Miami
2. Cincinnati
3. Alabama
4. Boise State
5. Southern Cal
6. Houston
7. LSU
8. Georgia
9. Washington
10. North Carolina
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEEK
10. Baylor: The Bears seemed primed for a bowl run, having won at Wake Forest in Week 1. But Baylor lost 30-22 at home to Connecticut and now figure to be 3-1 going into Big 12 play. That means the Bears must go 3-5 in the conference to be bowl eligible.
Even giving Baylor wins at Texas A&M and Iowa State, the Bears will have to win in Arlington against Texas Tech or in Waco against OSU, Nebraska or Texas.
9. Option football: Georgia Tech was stuffed by Miami (33-17), gaining 95 yards on 39 runs. Then Navy lost to Pitt 27-14, gaining just 129 yards on 46 runs.
8. 400-yard passers: Five quarterbacks threw for at least 400 yards in Week 3. Four lost. In fact, six of the top seven passing leaders of the week lost: Hawaii’s Greg Alexander (477 yards in a 34-33 loss to UNLV), SMU’s Bo Levi Mitchell (424 in a 30-27 overtime loss to Washington State), Texas Tech’s Taylor Potts (420 in a 34-24 loss to Texas), Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett (408 in a 52-41 loss to Georgia), Northwestern’s Mike Kafka (390 in a 37-34 loss to Syracuse) and Bowling Green’s Tyler Sheehan (383 in a 17-10 loss to Marshall). Only Troy’s Levi Brown (413 yards in a 27-14 win over Alabama-Birmingham) matched such huge numbers with victory.
7. Kid Nichol: Nichol transferred from OU after Sam Bradford’s emergence to find playing time. Alas, at Michigan State, Nichol has found fellow sophomore Kirk Cousin. After sharing time early, Cousin has taken the QB reins; he threw for 302 yards in a 33-30 loss to Notre Dame. Nichol threw four times, completing two.
6. Helmet enforcement: Flags flood football fields these days for helmet-to-helmet penalties, even if helmet doesn’t meet helmet. But when a helmet did meet a helmet – Texas’ Sergio Kindle knocking the block off of Tech quarterback Taylor Potts – there was no flag. Just a fumble that helped the Longhorns seal the game. I swear, you almost believed Potts’ head was still in the helmet as it bounced away from Potts’ body.
5. Ralph Fridgen: The Maryland coach was 31-8 his first three years, 2001-03, including an Orange Bowl berth. But the Terrapins are 34-30 since, including a 1-2 start this year. Maryland lost to Middle Tennessee State 32-31 a week after needing overtime to beat I-AA James Madison 38-35.
4. Nebraska revival: In Bo Pelini’s second year, the Huskers seemed on the verge of jump-starting the long rebuilding process. They led Virginia Tech 15-10 late in the game and had the Hokies backed up. Then Tyrod Taylor and Danny Coale teamed on an 80-yard completion to the Nebraska 3-yard line with 1:11 left in the game. V -Tech won 16-15, and the Cornhuskers’ return to college football’s inner sanctum will have to wait.
3. Steve Kragthorpe: No coach in America needed a victory more than did Kragthorpe, who was 12-13 in two-plus seasons at Louisville, which had gone 41-9 under Bobby Petrino. Kragthorpe was 0-2 vs. arch-rival Kentucky; make that 0-3, after a 31-27 loss at Lexington.
2. Aaron Corp: The Southern Cal junior already had been beaten out by a true freshman quarterback, Matt Barkley, who proceeded to engineer an epic victory at Ohio State. Then when given the reins in Barkley’s absence, Corp and the Trojans fall flat at Washington, losing 16-13, with Corp throwing for just 110 yards and no touchdowns.
1. State of Utah: Two mighty entities died Saturday. Utah’s 16-game losing streak and Brigham Young’s national-championship dream. The Utes lost at Oregon 31-24, while BYU was routed at home by Florida State 54-32. Utah was still emboldened by its Sugar Bowl upset of Alabama. BYU was buoyed by its upset of OU on Sept. 5. The Nov. 28 BYU-Utah game looked like it might be a national semifinal. Now, at best, it will be the Mountain West title game.
