NCAA Football

[cryptique]

From Salon.com today...

 

King Kaufman's Sports Daily

 

Ohio State vs. LSU: The BCS's answer to a wild, unpredictable year is a couple of usual suspects. Sorry, Hawaii.

 

Dec. 03, 2007 | After all those crazy upsets and all that churn in the rankings, after a year when anything could happen and most of it did, the Bowl Championship Series has rounded up a couple of usual suspects for the Championship Game.

 

With almost a dozen teams able to make a claim for a shot at the title without laughing into their sleeve, the title game will be Ohio State vs. LSU. Oh, the topsy. The turvy. It's been months -- months, I tell you! -- since we've seen the likes of these two in the big one.

 

Ohio State earned its spot with a brilliantly played bye. The BCS voters and computers really admired the way the Buckeyes did nothing this week. These guys make Maynard G. Krebs look like Thomas Edison.

 

LSU played its way in by losing to an unranked team at home last week instead of this week. Losing to an unranked team this week would have been bad, not a championship-caliber move. Just ask West Virginia, which lost at home this week to Pitt. Losing to an unranked team last week? Not so bad.

 

Hawaii didn't lose to anybody, ever. The Warriors started the season ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll, No. 24 in the USA Today poll, went 12-0, and finished the season No. 10. They'll play Georgia in the Sugar Exhibition Game on New Year's Night in New Orleans.

 

Here's a list of the teams that passed Hawaii at some point this year in the three polls -- A.P., USA Today and Harris Interactive -- and the BCS standings, all without the Warriors ever losing a game: Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Boston College, Clemson, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas A&M.

 

Hang on. Just catching my breath. That was all in the first two weeks of the season.

 

Here's the rest of the list: Alabama, South Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Arizona State, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky (again), Virginia, Georgia (again), Connecticut, Michigan, USC, Virginia Tech, Florida, Texas, Clemson (again), Virginia (again) and Boston College (again).

 

Hawaii was passed 20 times in the A.P. poll and 19 times in the USA Today poll without ever losing a game. The Warriors were passed 10 times in 10 weeks in the Harris Interactive poll while going undefeated. They were leapfrogged 10 times in eight weeks in the BCS standings, winning all the while.

 

Last week, the 14th week of the season, was the first time all year that undefeated Hawaii was not jumped by at least one team in the USA Today poll. It was also the first time the Rainbows weren't jumped in any of the four rankings.

 

I could go into some eye-glazing detail about things like the three-week stretch at midseason during which Hawaii went 3-0 and didn't gain an inch in the polls, then had a bye week and moved up a little, pounded mediocre New Mexico State and moved up a lot, then had another bye week and dropped down.

 

I'll spare you. The point, though, is that a lot of what goes on in the polls is pretty random, but one thing's sure: There was a glass ceiling for Hawaii somewhere around No. 10. No matter how much everybody else lost and no matter how long Hawaii kept on winning, the Warriors weren't going any higher.

 

There were always teams that could be vaulted ahead of them. Kentucky lost five games but still found time to jump Hawaii in the polls on two separate occasions.

 

If there were ever a year when a team like Hawaii, a team from a smaller conference, would get a shot at the title game, this was that year, with not even one squad from a big conference having an unchallenged claim to a berth.

 

If Hawaii had no shot at the Championship Game this year, then no team from a smaller conference will ever have a shot at it unless it can muscle up its schedule with non-conference wins against BCS powers, who would sooner encourage their players to major in astrophysics and never miss a lab session just because of a silly old thing like practice than schedule teams like Hawaii or last year's model, Boise State.

 

The five smaller conferences in what's now known as the Bowl Subdivision -- it used to be Division I-A -- got together a few years ago and forced the six BCS conferences to toss a little more dough their way and give them a slightly better shot at big bowl berths, but what they ought to do now is form their own subdivision, or subsubdivision.

 

They're suckers in the meantime. They're the only teams in the NCAA that literally have no chance at a championship. Teams in the lower divisions play a tournament. Even traditional big-conference doormats like Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Baylor would get a crack at the title if they managed to put together a good enough team some year and didn't lose any games.

 

But teams from the WAC and the MAC, Conference USA, the Mountain West and the Sun Belt, they should have gotten the message loud and clear this year when it was delivered to Hawaii: You need not apply.

 

What a numbskull of a system. On ESPN's bowl selection show Sunday, host Rece Davis debriefed a guy named Brad Edwards, whose bio on ESPN.com describes him as a "college football researcher." Davis called him "our BCS guru."

 

BCS guru? That poor man! What a pathetic thing to be an expert on. It's like being the world's foremost authority on "Charles in Charge."

 

I used to know every Zip Code in Oakland, Calif. It was the byproduct of a job I'd had. Tell me an address in Oakland, I could tell you the Zip Code. I never got it wrong. It was a not-very-impressive parlor trick, occasionally good for 30 seconds of moderate amusement for someone who had moved around a bit in Oaktown, but otherwise useless.

 

It dwarfed encyclopedic knowledge of the BCS for usefulness and significance.

 

Well, let's let the guy speak. He's evidently devoted way too much of his life -- anything north of 10 minutes -- to the study of something so asinine it's scarcely worth learning what order the three letters go in. Why let that go to waste?

 

Davis asked him for his gut feeling on what would happen with the BCS after this absurd year. "Is the formula where they want it or do you expect more changes?"

 

This is kind of like asking if you expect daylight in future days. Of course the BCS formula is going to change. It changes every three weeks or so, every time someone notices how ridiculously stupid some aspect of it is.

 

"In reality, this is what the BCS was set up to do," Edwards said. "There's a season when you have a bunch of teams that all have similar records and similar r

[the carlos]

no BCS for us.

[PigSooie]

no BCS for us.

 

ASU?

[Mr. Tony Margaritatime]

Well, it's a fine mess...I can't complain though. Even if we are going to play Hawaii. I feel sorry for teams like Missouri. I think they got the royal shaft.

[IATTBYB]

Wow, what a weekend of football . . . and my team didn't even play! Mizzou got shafted, but that matchup with Arkansas might just be the best game on January 1. Even I can't summon up the fake bravado and predict a Michigan victory over the Gators. Meyer and Tebow will probably gut 'em like a walleye out of Saginaw Bay, this could be worse than what Dennis Dixon did to them on September 8. And Miles' decision to stay at LSU will make the coaching search in A2 very interesting. I wonder if the Ferentz rumors will heat up again.

 

And even though this will probably result in a revocation of my diploma,

 

Go tOSU!!!!! Beat the Tigers!!!!!

 

Go Illini!! Beat SC!!

 

Go Blue!!! Don't embarass Lloyd!!!

[quarter23cd]

I'm glad that OSU flies in a bit more under the radar this year in the sense that this time around there will be fewer individual award ceremonies to attend, so at least they won't be spending the next 136.5 weeks off at the banquet table again, having everybody tell them how great they are. I knew they were in trouble last year as soon as they came out of the tunnel. Florida looked hungry and OSU looked like it was sleepy and maybe had a bit of a tummyache from the all-you-can-eat buffet. I hope they learned from that.

 

In other news:

Go tOSU!!!!! Beat the Tigers!!!!!

Hell might have just frozen over, but thanks! Looks like the Big Ten is gonna have to stick together this year. Glad to have you aboard. Lets go get 'em.

:pirate

 

Go Bucks, Illini, Wolverines, Nittany Lions, Sparty, Badgers, Hoosiers, Boilermakers!

[borracho]

He is 181 yards away from breaking the single season rushing mark. That is entirely withing reach vs Miss. That would be something.

as someone who played pool w/Barry Sanders on his dorm floor at Okla. State (Wilham South 5!), i wholeheartedly hope this guy doesn't break his record...

[MrRain422]

I know it's supposedly good for the Big Ten, yadda yadda, but I'm still not rooting for the Buckeyes. Fuck them.

[quarter23cd]

I know it's supposedly good for the Big Ten, yadda yadda, but I'm still not rooting for the Buckeyes. Fuck them.

[IATTBYB]

I know it's supposedly good for the Big Ten, yadda yadda, but I'm still not rooting for the Buckeyes. Fuck them.

If rooting for the Buckeyes and the Sweatervest means stopping Miles from becoming a coach of a National Championship team, so be it! At least Lloyd will have that over the classless idiot who cannot even pronounce the name of the state immediately north of Louisiana.

 

Plus, it will make November 22, 2008 all the better when Michigan beats the defending National Champions in Columbus. Sorry Q23CD.

[the carlos]

ASU?

werd

[quarter23cd]

Plus, it will make November 22, 2008 all the better when Michigan beats the defending National Champions in Columbus. Sorry Q23CD.

No offense taken. I gotta be honest, I'm pretty sure I never once rooted for UM in a bowl game in a year where they beat OSU. All that BigTen solidarity stuff is easier to stomach when your team ends up where you want them to be.

 

Happy Holidays (and screw Michigan)!

[cryptique]

Happy Holidays (and screw Michigan)!

57-41-6

[quarter23cd]

57-41-6

That gap just keeps getting closer every year, doesn't it?

[uncle wilco]

Didn't Mizzou beat Illinois, as well as Kansas?

Mizzou beat Illinois the first game of the season by 6 and beat KU by 8. Both on neutral fields

 

Mizzou lost to OU twice. The first game by 10 (away) and the second time by 21 on a neutral field.

 

Fact is, Mizzou had their fate in their hands dropped it and then had their asses handed to them by OU. That game was a total thrashing in the second half.

 

If you can't win the big one, then you have no reason to complain. The Cotton Bowl is nothing to be embarrassed about.

 

And yes, the BCS sucks. I played NAIA football and we had a great playoff system. The only thing standing in the way of the NCAA Div I schools adopting one is the Egos, Networks, Bowls and Money. Which means, it will never happen. And that's a shame.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Per Joe Schad on ESPN, Arkansas has interviewed Ron English from Michigan.

 

 

Shoot me in the face.

 

 

Money shot!

 

[quarter23cd]

And yes, the BCS sucks. I played NAIA football and we had a great playoff system. The only thing standing in the way of the NCAA Div I schools adopting one is the Egos, Networks, Bowls and Money. Which means, it will never happen. And that's a shame.

Amen. The whole concept of the "Bowl Season" has always been kind of dumb to me. For teams to play a single, isolated game at a neutral site many weeks removed from the actual season--its a glorified exhibition game. I guess that's what the bowls began as--an exhibition game in a warm locale that serves as a reward to teams for having a good season.(not to mention a moneymaker for promoters) Which is fine if that's all it is meant to be...but a lousy system if you are trying to determine a champion. Even in years when there is less argument over who the "top 2" teams are, very seldom does a team play its best football of the season in the bowl game. I'd rather see them play next week than next month.

 

One of my favorite features of a (hypothetical) playoff system would be to provide more continuity with the regular season. Even with time off for exams and holidays, it still would be a vast improvement over the current system, where the BCS teams just sit around twiddling their thumbs for the next month+. Lame.

[Gobias Industries]

O H

[quarter23cd]

I O

 

 

 

 

It would be nice to see them exorcise some of those demons from last year. I don't want to wake up the next morning having 100 people email me this again:

 

...although that one still makes me laugh.

[benjamin]

Hot damn! Motor City Bowl! From now on Purdue will only be referred to as Perdon't

 

Fire up Chips.

 

you can't stop a perpetual C in motion!

[CommerceComet]

as someone who played pool w/Barry Sanders on his dorm floor at Okla. State (Wilham South 5!), i wholeheartedly hope this guy doesn't break his record...

 

Who won?

[PigSooie]

http://wholehogsports.com/nwat/59906

 

 

Clemson's Bowden apparent leader in UA coaching search

 

By NATE ALLEN

Northwest Arkansas Times

 

Published: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 PRINT E-MAIL

 

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden appeared Monday night to be the leading candidate to replace Houston Nutt as Arkansas' head football coach. Bowden, Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English are among those who recently interviewed as possible replacements for Nutt, sources and media, including ESPN said.

 

Nutt resigned Nov. 26 as Arkansas' head football coach and on Nov. 27 was named head coach at Ole Miss.

 

North Carolina coach Butch Davis, a Springdale native long coveted to be Arkansas' coach by some fans, also isn't ruled out by sources, though Davis has expressed intentions to continue with the Tar Heels after just one year in Chapel Hill, N. C.

 

Of Bowden, Malzahn and English, Bowden obviously fits Arkansas' customary criteria of hiring a proven head coach to be the Razorbacks' head coach, though new athletics director Jeff Long has not ruled out hiring an assistant.

 

Long has had discussions with Reggie Herring, Arkansas' defensive coordinator promoted to interim head coach for Arkansas'Cotton Bowl game with Missouri New Year's Day in Dallas.

 

Bowden's Clemson Tigers of the ACC are 9-3 and slated to play Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, New Year's Eve in Atlanta.

 

Bowden has been a head coach since 1997 guiding Tulane, normally a football doormat, to 7-4 and 11-0 seasons. He has been Clemson's head coach since 1999.

 

Much like Nutt at Arkansas, Bowden has had a long and mostly successful run at Clemson. However like Nutt, his length of time has not necessarily been an ally with restive fans. Bowden's Clemson records are 6-6, 9-3, 7-5, 7-6, 9-4, 6-5, 8-4, 8-5 and 9-3.

 

Born in Birmingham, Ala., Bowden has extensive experience coaching in the SEC and recruiting in the South.

 

Bowden has two assistant coaching tenures at Auburn, the second tenure as offensive coordinator when his brother Terry, was head coach and he also has been an assistant at Alabama and Kentucky. Outside the SEC but still in the South, Bowden has been an assistant at Florida State and Duke and a graduate assistant at West Virginia.

 

Malzahn, a Fort Smith native and former Arkansas high school head coach at Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale High, is in his first year as Tulsa's offensive coordinator after being Arkansas' offensive coordinator last year.

 

Malzahn has achieved offense success at Tulsa (9-4 ), which is slated to play Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6. Malzahn was the play-caller and coordinator when Arkansas went 10-4 and won the SEC West in 2006.

 

However Malzahn, not only has never been a college head coach, but is only two years removed from coaching high school.

 

Also, differences between Nutt and Malzahn, or at least differences among fans of the two, were part of an existing chasm in the Razorback program.

 

The program's general divisiveness was cited both by Nutt and UA Chancellor John White as a beneficial reason for Nutt to resign after 10 Arkansas seasons.

 

Malzahn would face a formidable task of healing should he reemerge at Arkansas as Nutt's successor.

 

Divisions have smoldered on both sides since Malzahn and two of his players who came with him from Springdale, quarterback Mitch Mustain and receiver Damian Williams (both now at the University of Southern California ) left the Razorbacks.

 

Long, in charge of the coaching search though he doesn't officially replace retiring Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles until Jan. 1, and English have common ground as both have been at Michigan.

 

However, English doesn't fit the description of Long's stated desire for a coach familiar with recruiting Texas and the Southeast, vital recruiting areas for the Razorbacks outside of Arkansas.

 

A native of California, English's coaching background is strictly West Coast, or Arizona or Michigan. He's been at Michigan since 2004 as secondary coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2006.

 

Previously, he was an assistant starting in 1995 at Northern Arizona with stops at San Diego State, Arizona State and one year in the NFL as defensive backfield coach for the Seattle Seahawks before coming to Michigan.

 

Last week rumors ran rampant that Auburn coach and Camden native Tommy Tuberville and Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin were under Arkansas consideration.

 

However there were conflicting sources that said neither were really in the mix. Kiffin has told Oakland area media he's not seeking the Arkansas position.

 

Southern California offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, also with a West Coast background without coaching experience in the South, is another whose name was bandied about last week regarding Arkansas.

 

Only Long can clearly say who is a candidate and who isn't. However in his lone public discussion about the search, Long vowed only that he will talk to a lot of people and keep the coaching search confidential.

 

Those two vows he seems to be fulfilling thus far.

[cwnorman]

If rooting for the Buckeyes and the Sweatervest means stopping Miles from becoming a coach of a National Championship team, so be it! At least Lloyd will have that over the classless idiot who cannot even pronounce the name of the state immediately north of Louisiana.

 

Plus, it will make November 22, 2008 all the better when Michigan beats the defending National Champions in Columbus. Sorry Q23CD.

 

Sounds like you're a little bitter?

 

How is Miles the Classless Idiot in all of this? No matter what rumor you believe, one of the "facts" in the whole circus was the Les seemed pretty angry about the apparent leak of information from UM before his team was to play for the SEC Championship. Seems to me your lack of class may be a little closer to home?

 

That mis-pronuciation of Arkansas came at an unfortunate time, but I think it was a pretty honest mistake. You see, Les use to be the coach of Oklahoma State, who plays Kansas and Kansas St every year. The Arkansas River is pronounced Ar-kan-Sas River in kansas. None the less, it was a bulletin board material mistake.

 

Les might not always sound like the smartest guy in the room, but considering his record of 33-6 at LSU over the last 3 years, he apparently knows a little bit about X's and O's.

 

Speaking of the intellectually chalenged, where again was the UM AD during a very crucial weekend as far as the future of his football program was concerned?

 

Concerning the National Championship, I hope all the Buckeyes fans that can make the trip to New Orleans do it. The city is doing better and needs your help. The Quarter and Uptown are exactly like they were and if you need any restaurant or bar suggestions just let me know.

 

As far as who will win the game, if I was Tressell there would be quite a few of those "hottest team in the Nation right now" teams I would have rather played than an LSU Team with five weeks of rest.

[quarter23cd]

Concerning the National Championship, I hope all the Buckeyes fans that can make the trip to New Orleans do it. The city is doing better and needs your help. The Quarter and Uptown are exactly like they were and if you need any restaurant or bar suggestions just let me know.

I would dearly love to make it down to New Orleans (my wife and I spent our honeymoon at the Hotel St. Marie on Toulouse St), but I don't think a trip is in the cards right now. (let alone trying to get tickets) OSU fans travel well, so they should have no problem bringing a crowd. (unless people are still gun-shy after shelling out the dough last year and having the football team forget to show up)

 

In the interest of being fair about this home field advantage stuff, how about next time the SEC sends a team up north to play us at a "neutral" site? For instance, Cleveland is lovely in January!

[cwnorman]

I would dearly love to make it down to New Orleans (my wife and I spent our honeymoon at the Hotel St. Marie on Toulouse St), but I don't think a trip is in the cards right now. (let alone trying to get tickets) OSU fans travel well, so they should have no problem bringing a crowd. (unless people are still gun-shy after shelling out the dough last year and having the football team forget to show up)

 

In the interest of being fair about this home field advantage stuff, how about next time the SEC sends a team up north to play us at a "neutral" site? For instance, Cleveland is lovely in January!

 

I hear you on the tickets right now. I've got a couple of irons in the fire right now, but it has to be relatively reasonable. Still sick at myself for not going to the 2003 Championship game.

 

I know OSU will travel very well, but will not argue with the home field advantage this year for the SEC. Though, you may be stretching it a little concerning Tempe last year.

 

Should be a great game. best of luck. if this season is any preview, this should be one helluva bowl season.