Rich Get Richer

Texas proved that you really do not have to play too difficult a schedule to gain access to the BCS title game. In an effort to make as much money as possible, Notre Dame seems to be running with that idea as they apply their 7-4-1 schedule model to a weak crop of teams in 2010.
For anyone unfamiliar with this model, Notre Dame wants to play as many home games as possible in an attempt to not only improve their gate but also add to their coffers with the money made from their NBC deal. So they booked seven home games just like all the major powers have done since the NCAA expanded the schedules to 12 (in an attempt to increase the money made by these powers). But they go one better than most programs by booking a neutral field game against a weak opponent and selling it to NBC as well. Last year they played Washington State in Texas and this year they play Army in Yankee Stadium. These are considered home games--yes that is eight homes games to four road ones--so NBC gets to televise the seven legitimate home games and the Army game, which they are moving to night because of the novelty of playing at the new stadium.
Wait it gets worse. One of the four road games is against Navy and the Irish refuse to play in Navy's small stadium. So that game is being played at the Meadowlands. So the Irish play seven games at home, one at Yankee Stadium, one at the new Giants Stadium and three at their opponents' home fields. And of those three, one is a difficult place for the Irish, at Southern Cal. One is at Michigan State, where the Irish won in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and the third is at Boston College, where Notre Dame has not been successful although that has nothing to do with the Eagles having some feared home advantage. The home games? Purdue, Michigan, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Western Michigan, Tulsa and Utah. Although not as easy a schedule as some folks would lead you to believe, it still does not vaguely resemble the rough schedule that Lou Holtz inherited when he began his tenure at Notre Dame, when the 1986 edition of the Irish went to battle against four teams that finished in the nation's Top 10 (Penn State, Michigan, Alabama, LSU). And you wonder why Brian Kelly ran up to South Bend as fast as he could? At Cincinnati last year he had to deal with six home games and six road games (the poor fellow).
Notre Dame used to pride itself on playing the nation's best. Now, the priorities have changed.

College Football Performance Formula-Final

Performance Formula Supports BCS in 2009 Football Season
After endless complaints this past season from the U.S. Congress and media over the Bowl Championship Series, the College Football Performance Formula upholds the BCS' top two of Alabama and Texas as the best teams in college football in the 2009 season.
Here are the top 75 college teams in the FBS:
1 Alabama 1.8282
2 Texas 1.7483
3 Boise State 1.7216
4 Florida 1.7134
5 TCU 1.6917
6 Ohio State 1.5991
7 Cincinnati 1.5911
8 Virginia Tech 1.5289
9 Penn State 1.5199
10 Oregon 1.5086
11 Iowa 1.4902
12 Brigham Young 1.4877
13 Pittsburgh 1.4523
14 Central Michigan 1.4500
15 Georgia Tech 1.4164
16 Nebraska 1.4143
17 Louisiana State 1.4109
18 Wisconsin 1.4001
19 Utah 1.3755
20 Miami 1.3496
21 Texas Tech 1.3175
22 Oklahoma 1.3122
23 Houston 1.3090
24 West Virginia 1.2969
25 Clemson 1.2958
26 Southern California 1.2914
27 Oklahoma State 1.2873
28 Mississippi 1.2722
29 Navy 1.2508
30 Arkansas 1.2506
31 Rutgers 1.2421
32 Air Force 1.2287
33 Connecticut 1.2269
34 Auburn 1.2252
35 Arizona 1.2133
36 Stanford 1.2113
37 East Carolina 1.2108
38 Oregon State 1.2105
39 Temple 1.2080
40 Georgia 1.1964
41 North Carolina 1.1863
42 Tennessee 1.1808
43 Missouri 1.1708
44 South Florida 1.1444
45 South Carolina 1.1442
46 Boston College 1.1425
47 SMU 1.1301
48 California 1.1267
49 Notre Dame 1.0877
50 UCLA 1.0722
51 Kentucky 1.0606
52 Michigan State 1.0495
53 Northwestern 1.0420
54 Mississippi State 1.0327
55 Minnesota 1.0164
56 Iowa State .9899
57 Washington .9711
58 Texas A&M .9627
59 Purdue .9366
60 Kansas State .9360
61 Kansas .9226
62 Wake Forest .9221
63 Michigan .8884
64 Colorado .8721
65 North Carolina State .8295
66 Duke .8262
67 Syracuse .8253
68 Arizona State .8146
69 Baylor .7859
70 Indiana .7547
71 Virginia .7536
72 Louisville .7490
73 Illinois .7222
74 Army .6911
75 Vanderbilt .6075

Message No. 2 to Tennessee Fans

Get off the ledge! Yes, the coach at Duke turned down your gracious offer to clean up the mess left by Lane Kiffin. But let's see the choice through his eyes. He is not getting younger and probably wants his current job to be his last. There are very few places better to retire than the Raleigh-Durham area. At Duke, where he has won nine games in two season--which is unbelievably good for them--he knows that the improvements he has made are enough to keep him employed there for a long time. At Duke, getting to a bowl, any bowl, is the goal. At Tennessee, the aim is higher, much higher. Cutcliffe has already been a head coach in the SEC and was shown the door because he was loyal to his coaching staff. As OC at Tennessee, he was a primary factor in the Vols winning the national championship and enjoyed the run the program had in the 90s. At Duke, he is enjoying a rebuilding process that is just now bearing fruit. He does not seek the limelight but enjoys teaching young men the sport and that is the same at Duke as it is at Tennessee as it is at St. John's in Minnesota. Why leave?

Which puts the pressure back on Tennesee. This is how the Carroll and Kiffin madness is really screwing programs. There are not many coaching candidates left. Hell the MAC has already been raided by a couple of teams. Tommy Tuberville, who was very successful in the SEC, was taken off the board by Texas Tech right before Carroll left for the NFL. The clock is ticking because the dwindling recruiting class is disappearing as we speak. But Tennessee has to get the hire right. Worrying about one class to the point that they rush and make a bad hire will cost them for years to come. Names being considered, supposedly, are Al Golden from Temple and Derek Dooley of Louisiana Tech. They knocked on Jon Gruden's door last year and may do so again. His wife is a former Vols cheerleader. That has to count for something.

Vols Nation Awareness Day

Okay, Tennessee fans. Your coach has dumped you for the West Coast. You want to hire the best coach available to replace the bum and money is no object. So you target Will Muschamp over at Texas, offering to triple his salary. Everyone wants a raise, right? And Muschamp must be getting tired waiting for Mack Brown to retire, right?

Well Vols Nation, I have something to explain to you. Tennessee has great college football traditions and is a wonderful place to work (I assume). But leave Texas? Are you crazy? There are elite programs in college football and then there are THE ELITE programs in college football. Texas, thanks to its ownership of a majority of superstar recruits from its fertile home state, great support and excellent tradition, is one of a select few. Ohio State, which rules the Buckeye State, is another. Florida, Alabama, Penn State and maybe LSU and USC are in the discussion. But not one of them--not even Florida or Alabama--presents such an ideal situation for a head coach. For one thing there is his eventual salary, if he proves to be successful in Austin. With help from the donations of some fatcat alumni, Texas will begin paying Mack Brown $5 million per year. Muschamp himself makes $1 million to be an assistant. Secondly, Texas pours a lot of money into facilities. If Muschamp wants something he will get it. Third, without lifting a finger Muschamp can lock up half of a top ten recruiting class by signing his pick of the best kids from the state. By September when the rest of the top programs are backstabbing each other to get an agreement from the latest hotshot linebacker, the Longhorns already have 24 kids signed and can focus on the actual football season. And how often do you think Mack Brown has to leave Texas to lock up a big recruit? Then there is the competition for media and other forms of publicity. The state is on board with that. And finally there is the schedule, which consists of Oklahoma at a neutral field plus a few other solid programs mixed in with some scraps. In the past five regular seasons, Texas was an underdog three times total, twice to Oklahoma. In other words, coaching Texas is the best job in all of football--pro or college.

As for Tennessee? The facilities and pay are there, of course. But of the 24 kids Kiffin et al signed for this year, only one was from in-state. Kiffin's staff had to work ten times as hard as Mack Brown's, with similar results. And competition? Florida and Georgia are annual guarantees and the SEC West powers come in and out of your schedule. Again, it is not even close. Tennessee was a dog more times last year than Texas has been for the past five years. To quote our favorite punching bag, Lane Kiffin, it is a no brainer for Muschamp to stay where he is in Austin.

I Kid You Not

Our boy Kiffin's BA from Fresno was in "leisure service management." Isn't that what a pimp does?

Knox Kiffin

Happy 1st birthday Monte Knox Kiffin, Lane and Layla's little boy. I had forgotten that Lane Kiffin's kid was given the middle name "Knox" and that he went by that name in honor of Knoxville. I guess we can now call him "Watts" Kiffin. It has a certain ring to it.
Oh, and the good folks in Knoxville are extra angry because when Kiffin talked to the team about his departure, you could hear Orgeron on his cell phone trying to convince a Tennessee recruit to go to Southern Cal. The kid was on campus and Orgeron was trying to stop him from enrolling at Tennessee, which would have made him unpoachable. You can't make this stuff up.

View From Bennett Avenue

Now who thought college football was done once the BCS title game ended? The domino effect that goes into play once a big name coach changes jobs is shaking up the sport right now.
Now I do not have too much good to say about Pete Carroll, except that he produced wins. I will give him his due in that regard. But his getting in bed with marketers and agents, while allowing his kids to run roughshod over the community was appalling. The USC family did not care as they wanted to return to national championship contention after a long drought. So they looked the other way. That must have applied to other sports too as their basketball program is imploding as well due to past violations. After an unbelievable delay, the NCAA is threatening to present their case in 2010. It is long overdue and has to be a solid one after all of these years.
So, the Trojans, faced with the absence of the coach on whose watch the alleged NCAA violations occurred, had two choices. Go with the goody two-shoes coach as a way to show the NCAA that we will be good boys and girls from now on. Or do what USC ended up doing--hire a guy who is currently under NCAA investigation for what he did at another school! Huh? And he may as well bring back the recruiting coordinator who had the same job at USC when the alleged violations began.
What is even funnier is that the new head guy, Lane Kiffin, has never won anything. Norm Chow built the Trojans offense into the powerhouse it became in 2005. But that year he had moved on after Carroll showed him less and less respect--which was especially ridiculous as Carroll's reclamation work with USC would have been ten times harder without Chow--and the coordinator spot was filled jointly by Kiffin and current Washington coach Steve Sarkisian. With all of the inherited talent they had to work with, including Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, Kiffin and Sarkisian just had to get the hell out of the way for that unit to score 50 pts per game. But I digress. Kiffin, somehow, turned a share of a college coordinator job into a head coaching gig with the Raiders. That, of course, blew up in his face. We all gave him a pass for that one--after all it was Al Davis--but fully expected the kid to go back and learn some more about this head coaching thing. Instead he lands one of the better jobs in college football as head man with Tennessee, where he proceeds in 14 months to embarrass himself and the program--and win one more game than he lost. The teams he beat this year? Western Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, Memphis, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Not one of them whiffed the final top 25 and three will have new head coaches in 2010.
So, good luck USC. You are going to need it. And as for Tennessee, make sure your next hire is someone who can both coach and represent your university in the best possible light. They are still out there...I think.

View From Bennett Avenue

Well let the speculation begin. With Nick Saban just winning a national championship with a second FBS program, let's guess where Pete Carroll will end up once the situation in Seattle ends poorly and he decides to return to the college game. It's bound to happen, right? UCLA? That would be funny. My guess is Arizona State.
Actually I fully believe that Carroll will do well in the pros. He was not as bad as advertised before and is a better coach now. But please, stop with the denials that the upcoming sanctions did not effect your decision.
As for USC, it has been a bad week. The basketball program is sinking fast, the football program is in trouble, baseball grad Mark McGwire admitted to steroid use and their top-ranked men's volleyball team got beat by Hawaii (the school not the state). Well at least you still have the Song Girls.

View From Bennett Avenue

I have been busy trying to find work the past few days and never did comment on the big game the other night. Sorry about that. Anyway, what an odd one? I do not remember a winning coach--and won who enjoyed an undefeated season--making so many boneheaded decisions in one game. The fake punt was so dumb it was unbelievable. Was he jealous of all the ink Boise State gets for trick plays? Texas should have opened with a 7-0 lead and would have added to it when the Alabama WR Julio Jones fails to fair-catch the ensuing short kick-off. That play proved that a team of 5-star players can lose to a weaker team if they commit brain locks like that one. Jones has never impressed one as a top student-athlete, so perhaps it was to be expected. Although it is hard to blame Saban directly for this one play, the coach is responsible for getting his team prepared and, well, Jones was not prepared. So they get bailed out with McCoy's injury and only trail by six. But this post is heading for War and Peace-like length, so let me knock Saban for his biggest blunder. How do you let the only dynamic, game-changing player left on the Texas offense almost beat you in the second half? Thanks to the gift TD received at the end of the 1st H, the Tide led 24-6 with a great run game and a tough defense that had already ended the amateur career of QB Colt McCoy. The odds in Alabama's favor looked to be a million-to-one. So then Alabama amazingly allows WR Jordan Shipley to run free in their secondary. The number one threat for Texas and the most reliable target for youngster Garret Gilbert was the star WR Shipley. He had to be neutralized, yet the Tide deep safeties were late coming over on both of his TDs. You cannot let the best player on the field beat you and yet there was Shipley catching pass after pass in the 2nd H.
But then the defense, which in all fairness Saban helped shape, bails him out with another brutal hit on an opposing QB. But that's football. and the best thing Saban has done with the Tide program is establish a team built on punishing line of scrimmage play.
Meanwhile--and yes I am back with some anti-Saban material, why was ESPN so amazed that Saban has turned around the Tide in only three years? It's Alabama for crying out loud. The program dipped because of questionable coaching and a loss of scholarships due to some recruiting malfeasance. Saban is now recruiting full tilt. And anyone can recruit top-notch kids from down-south to Tuscaloosa. Plus plenty of coaches have turned around big-time programs that momentarily slumped before this season including ESPN's own Lou Holtz, who was his only NCAA title three years after the Faust years. Don't the fools at ESPN read their own talent's bios?
Enough already. I have to post on Pete Carroll next.

Final Prediction of the Season

I am going with Texas tonight, plus the points, as I stand to win a couple of bucks from a preseason wager. Plus, I could not stomach another SEC title. Hook 'em Horns!

Remember When

With Alabama playing for a national championship tonight and my having already mentioned that former Notre Dame QB Tom Clements (pictured making the pass to Robin Weber) was one of my first heroes, I thought it best to post the recap I wrote about his shining moment: earning MVP honors in leading Notre Dame to a narrow win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on the last day of 1973--a win that would earn the Irish the national championship. Here it is from The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia:

Sugar Bowl (Dec. 31): Notre Dame 24 Alabama 23

Needing 1st down to seal win and national title, Notre Dame (11-0) turned to unlikely hero: backup TE Robin Weber. On 3rd down-and-8, deep in his own territory, Irish QB Tom Clements found wide-open Weber for 35y completion, which matched TEs number of receptions in entire regular season. Primary target on play was other TE Dave Casper, but Weber, who needed cortisone shot prior to game for his ailing knee, was too free to ignore against Crimson Tide's D which totally expected Irish to call conservative running play. With Alabama (11-1) O nailed in place with no positive y in 1st Q, Irish sprung misdirection elements of Delaware's Wing-T formation and opened scoring with FB Wayne Bullock's 1y TD run on drive that featured 3 straight completions/59y to WR Pete Demmerle. After exchange of TOs, Alabama QB Gary Rutledge led 52y drive that netted 7-6 lead. It was short-lived as ND frosh HB Al Hunter raced 93y with ensuing KO, and 2-pt conv pass to Demmerle gave Notre Dame 14-7 edge. Tide added FG before H and then took their opening possession of 2nd H to 5y TD run by HB Wilbur Jackson that climaxed 93y drive in 11 plays. Trailing 17-14, ND regained lead after LB Drew Mahalic returned FUM 9y to Alabama 12YL. Misdirection TD run by HB Eric Penick following huge block by Casper gave Irish 21-17 lead. Later, with Tide on ND 25YL, alternate QB Richard Todd handed off to HB Mike Stock, who threw back to Todd, all alone in left flat. Todd scored easily for 23-21 lead, but K Bill Davis missed crucial x-pt. Notre Dame next drove behind Clements--game's MVP with 74y rushing and 169y passing--who lugged it 3/25y and completed 30y pass to Casper (3/75y). K Bob Thomas then booted winning 19y FG, although Tide still had time to rally. Irish D held and forced punt, which was boomed 69y by P Greg Gantt to ND 1YL. At that juncture, Clements and Weber prepared to run out clock and enter ND lore. Alabama's mysterious bowl winless streak had reached 7 games.

A Little Love for the GMAC Bowl

If you call yourself a college football fan then you must tune in tonight to see the illustrious QB Dan LeFevour make his final appearance for Central Michigan. Hoping to snap the MAC conference's ugly 14-game bowl losing streak, the Chippewas battle Troy tonight down in Alabama. LeFevour is the only QB in NCAA history to throw for 12,000y and rush for 2,500y in his career while also holding the record for TDs produced (passing, rushing, receiving) with 148--7 more than Tim Tebow.

As for a pick for tonight's game, I'll let some guy named Miller, who is dominating the pool I am in, make it. He likes CMU big--and that is good enough for me.

Frost-covered Oranges

Who would win the coldest Orange Bowl on record? A Big Ten team, of course. Iowa ended a fine season in great fashion, manhandling a Georgia Tech squad that looked befuddled. The Hawkeyes dominated the line of scrimmage from the get-go, which squashed the option attack of the Yellow Jackets from the point of attack and set up their own offense for an early lead. QB Ricky Stanzi (17-29/231y, 2 TDs) looked great in his return to action although his exemplary play must have left Iowa fans wondering what-might-have-been regarding the season if he had not gotten hurt in the eventual loss to Northwestern. DE Adrian Clayborn delighted Hawkeye fans with both his pre-game announcement that he would return for his senior year and his MVP-earning play during the game (9 tackles, 2 sacks). Iowa DC Norm Parker made a statement for next season's Frank Broyles Award for assistant coaches (won this year by Kirby Smart of Alabama), as his D held Tech to 143y rushing. A fine win for the program, the Big Ten and coach Kirk Ferentz, who is now focused on building a Top 10 program after troubles plagued the Hawkeyes in the middle of this decade.

As for Georgia Tech, this game marks consecutive bowls game blowouts by teams sporting top-notch defenses. Paul Johnson needs to keep his squad focused on winning the ACC again while also coming up with wrinkles to offset athletic Ds. He can expect better line play for his offense in what will be only the third season in this system.

Figuring Out the Fiesta

I am having a tough time selecting a winner tonight. Correct that. I like TCU to win the game tonight. I am having a tough time with the spread. Then again, Boise has only won one of their last five bowl games. Yep, the Oklahoma win in the Fiesta Bowl three years ago was their only victory since 2004 with losses to Louisville, Boston College, East Carolina and TCU.

Okay, okay. Time is running out. Take the Horned Frogs and give the points. Then wonder what Jerry Hughes (pictured) and company would do against the Alabama-Texas winner.

Pick: TCU 35 Boise State 21

Bye Bye Bobby

I was born in 1964. While I am sure that my father had me watch Notre Dame football whenever they were on television, I first became truly aware of college football in 1973. The Irish enjoyed a great season that year behind QB Tom Clements, one of my first sports heroes (along with Bobby Murcer, Clyde Frazier, Fran Tarkenton and Bobby Orr). Watching a successful team with my Dad made it pretty easy to become hooked.

So my time committed to the sport is running on more than 35 years. That period roughly corresponds with the time Bobby Bowden has spent in the limelight, getting solid results from the West Virginia program before moving on to Florida State in 1976. The Seminoles had won only four games total over the previous three seasons, so Bowden had his work cut out for him. But he had three huge factors in his favor. For one, he was an excellent, hard working coach who was blessed with a preacher's ability to speak at one to you and with you. To build the program, Bowden the charming, down home speaker--whether it be to a crowd of boosters or a group of reporters or a recruit's mother--was actually more important than Bowden the coach.

The second important factor was that the school, and its alumni, was itching to win. Florida State had had a taste of success in the 1960s under coach Bill Peterson, who led the Noles to four bowl games with a Gator Bowl victory over Oklahoma after the 1964 season that was the school's biggest win to date. But even in Peterson's best seasons they were on the fringe of the big time much like a TCU or BYU today. A commitment to take the team to the big time meant better facilities, increased pay for assistants and willingness to play anyone, anywhere that allowed Bowden to schedule the best, and then, eventually, beat the best.

The third factor, which helped drive the success of the three major college football programs in the Sunshine State from this period through today was the incredible boom in population in the state on an annual basis. While we here in the North think of the elderly moving to Florida, and they do, the main focus of the population shift were young adults, both returning GIs in the 1940s and '50s and then baby boomers who lost opportunities up north when factories began closing, looking for opportunities in a state that had both cheap land and jobs. Those young adults had children and those kids needed improved sports programs, etc. In a matter of a few decades Florida became a recruiting paradise and men like Bowden, Howard Schnellenberger and Charley Pell benefited.

But Bowden was special. Neither Schnellenberger nor Pell are going to the College Football Hall of Fame. For one thing he won consistently year in and year out. By year two, 1977, the Seminoles won 10 games and beat Florida. By year four they were 11-0 at the end of the regular season with a shot for a national title. The FSU program was becoming a national power, which would be highlighted over the next 30 years by two national championships and the incredible run from 1987 through 2000 of finishing annually in the AP top 5. But I will always remember those earlier seasons when Bowden made the impossible possible with players like Ron Simmons and Mark Lyles.

Plus Bowden seemed to really be having fun at this coaching thing, which made it easy to root for his team when they took on powers like Oklahoma or Nebraska. Whether it was his love for trick plays or his post-game humility, win or lose, Bowden was an unique coach. With today's coaches wearing their stress levels on their sleeves, he will be missed.

View From Bennett Avenue

Is it over yet? The endless battles between mediocre teams? There have been some memorable moments this bowl season, but the amount of game time reserved for teams that should be home this time of year is dreadful. Just like the Thanksgiving table, where we trudge through seconds and thirds despite the strain on our belts, all the while saving room for dessert (and it's pie!), the bowl season slowly oozes through the holidays with some games as enjoyable as stuffing and some looking more like creamed onions. The end result is the same: we are bloated and sore, too glazed over to be truly content.
The pie is coming, so hopefully we can all rally. They are making us wait another five days for the battle between Texas and Alabama, however. With all of the hair pulling these days about athletes toting guns and coaches transpiring to make the lives of their charges as miserable as possible, the real enemies of sports have gotten away with their crimes. Those execs who had the great idea to turn the bowl season into this prolonged exercise in watching various colors of paint dry and who pulled the determination of the national champion away from New Year's Day must be hunted down. They must be treated harshly and with little or no mercy. When we are done with them and still not satiated, we can then turn our attention to the NCAA fools who sold the marquee games of their sport to the bozos at FOX. They too must be treated with little compassion.

Reports of its Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I guess the Big Ten is not as bad as once thought. That's a relief. All it took was a win by Ohio State in a BCS game, the Rose Bowl no less, and all is now right in the Midwest. Well, outside of Cincinnati anyway. The Buckeyes have always had a defense worthy of a national title, which made the argument against the talent in that part of the country a mystery to me as plenty of Buckeyes on the defensive side of the ball certainly look like supreme athletes to me (and the NFL). And certainly Terrelle Pryor is as athletic as they come. So kudos to you OSU and coach Tressel, who can breathe a bit easier--at least until their next flop in a national championship game. As for Oregon, and their supposedly great offense, you were not quite ready for the prime time. One of the bonuses for the Ducks this season after losing their first game against Boise State was that they could lay low and get rolling while the rest of the country focused on teams who did not get embarrassed in week one. But, back in the glare of national attention their offense just looked okay. The final score allowed Navy to keep their private accomplishment of scoring the most points this season against OSU with 27. Go Navy! That's what I love about college football.

As for the rest of the Big Ten yesterday, Northwestern and Penn State split against a couple of big, bad SEC teams. Unfortunately, nothing that occurred on those fields will change anything about the misguided perception that the SEC is light years ahead of everyone else. So I will not get too fired up, at least not until all of the bowl games have been played.