November 28, 2009

COLLEGE GAMEDAY WRAP-UP:

Back by popular demand we'll reflect on a few things that we learned about today


Heres what we learned this week:

-Oklahoma State simply blew it today. The Cowboys had a prime opportunity to go to Norman, beat Oklahoma to shore up its first BCS bowl game in the BCS era. That simply wasn't the case, after OU got pounded by Texas Tech for 41 points last week, the Cowboys looked like a mere average team to Oklahoma. Remember that if Oklahoma would have lost today they would have ended up at 6-6...instead they got a huge win over a top 15 team to finish a miserable year at 7-5. Mike Gundy may take some heat for what looked like a poorly planned offensive gameplan...OSU really didn't use their experienced running backs to keep OU's defense on its toes.

-Texas is a very average beatable team. I handily believe that in Rivarly week weaknesses that you didn't think you had are very much exposed. Jerrod Johnson and A&M exposed a Texas D that looked out of sync and out of placed. If A&M hadn't given up a kickoff for a TD and fumbled the ball early in the 3rd quarter that lead to a Longhorn TD...A&M beats Texas by 2 scores. Shows a lot for a team that was 21 point underdogs at home...Texas relies waaaay to much on Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley on offense. Take them out and they have a hard hard time moving the ball in chunks. Nebraska can do that...and give Texas all they can handle next weekend.

-Auburn showed that Alabama is proned to big plays. The Crimson Tide might have been looking ahead to Florida next week in the SEC Championship game. The Tigers were determined to give Alabama a loss today...they however ended up 5 points short. This has been judgement week for many top teams in the country...as their rivals have clearly wanted to push them to their limits. The Crimson tide MUST shore up their mental breakdowns that allowed Auburn to score 2 TD's of over 50+ yards. Hmmmmm some other team coming up next week might be licking their chops to do the same thing to them next week.....True champions are tested when their backs are against the wall....I hope this was a wake up call for Bama.

-Georgia put a bright spot on GT to hide what has been a very disappointing season. Last week the Bulldogs were beaten up badly by a below average Kentucky team. They returned home to face Georgia Tech, a team ranked in the top 10 and pushing momentum into the ACC championship game next week against Clemson. The problem for GT is they rely way to much on the feet and play of Jonathon Nesbitt. He was injuried early in the game and like we have seen before last season this team becomes very beatable when there is no knowledgable QB running Paul Johnson's triple option offense. GT fans really hope that he is 100% next week, or you can kiss your BCS hopes goodbye. Georgia fans just want to forget about having a 6-6 season. This is one that they all want to forget.

-LSU continues to win on the skid of their behinds. Many times in their rivalry game against Arkansas, LSU simply was outmatched and gave up HUGE HUGE plays to the Razorbacks that allowed them to feel like they could spring the upset. The game went to double overtime with Arkansas missing a field goal to tie the game in double overtime. LSU went on the capture the L-Boot Trophy. If Les Miles and the Tigers would of have lost to their rivals after the poor game management that happened last week at Ole Miss...Tiger fans would be screaming for change on the sidelines. Lucky for Les Miles and his staff....they keep their jobs....for now.

-Clemson got vastly exposed by South Carolina, when you elimate CJ Spiller from their offensive gameplan, Kyle Parker simply isn't experienced enough to lead his team to a victory with his arm. Dabo Sweeney has relied too much on the play of Spiller, which has lead to him being in the hunt for the Heisman. Take away his opening kickoff for a touchdown and South Carolina did a very very good job limiting the speedy running back from making big big plays. I was particularly surprised by the by of the Tigers defense. Steve Spurrier dialed up a great gameplan that gashed Clemson on the ground all day. Clemson found itself down in a huge hole early...and when your best player in CJ Spiller is neutralized...it usually means a loss....hmmm guess you'll have to get it together for that ACC Championship game (kinda lost it's luster after both teams lost today).

-North Carolina crippled its chances of getting into a solid bowl game this season. After going to Boston College last week and getting a nice dominating win...the Tarheels went on the road and lost 28-27 to North Carolina State. A team that was 3-8 heading into today's game. That great Butch Davis defense was pulverized by NC State's offense. The Wolfpack had their way with Carolina all day making it difficult for them to get the ball. This a huge win for Tom O'Brien who was starting to hear boo's from his fan faithful for the few disappointing seasons he's had to date. This win keeps his job safe for another year.

-Florida tuned itself up on Senior Day against FSU. Tim Tebow was all emotional like a little girl and rolled up the yards on a very poor FSU defense. This marked the 6th win for the Gators in this series and they looked far better prepared for their showdown with Alabama next weekend in Atlanta. I do hope Tim Tebow doesn't get 3 more rushing TD's, if he does he'll break Eric Crouch career NCAA rushing TD record of 60. Didn't think I'd ever see anyone get close in this day and age with passing offense being so popular...better keep him out of the endzone Bama.

-We've likely seen the last game coached by Bobby Bowden. It feels iminent that Bowden will announce his retirement effective at the end of this season ending a chapter in one of the legendary coaches of this sport. It's plan and simple for Florida State, they must get Bowden out, because after next season if they haven't officially named Jimbo Fischer as the head coach, the school will owe him 3.5 million dollars. Thats a big chunk of change coming from a school that wanted to put the "head coach in waiting" title on one of their assistants. I think Bowden is done...his team is 6-6 and could possibly end up with a losing season. After he has spent so much time building up FSU as a national power, the evolution of College Football ended his dynasty reign. He'll be done, leaving Joe Pa as the longest head coach in College Football. Nebraska fans won't miss him, but I'm content with his replacement, because I don't think he'll be able to resurrect FSU back to national title prominence. Oh Bobby Bowden is even lucky he'll walk away with 2 national titles...Nebraska clearly should have had it from them in 93 and made the title game in 99...yeh I think the 99 team would of rolled Bowden's FSU team that year. Peace Old Balls.

-Norte Dame has closed an another poor chapter of football and can now start looking for a new coach. Look people it's no surprise that he'll lose his job officially on Monday and the hunt will be on to find the "right fit" guy there. Norte Dame fans need to realize that their program has average 7 wins for the past 15 years and have really fallen off as a national power. That job won't reel in well established coaches like Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll, and Bob Stoops. Those guys have proven to be excellent coaches that are in the right places. Why on earth would you leave those places? The answer is they won't which means Norte Dame fans must get used to their school bringing up a low-tier coach looking for their chance to make a splash at the national stage. I expect names like Chip Kelly, Turner Gill, Mike Sumlin, and Gary Patterson to be the candidates that will have the best chance at getting the job. Look it comes down to simple dollars...this program will have to pay Charlie Weis 18 million dollars for his firing, and simply can not hire a coach that will demand a salary of 3+ million a year. Get use to being a mediocre program Norte Dame...until you join a real conference...that's where you'll end up after every season.

-Mark Mangino has officially ended his tenue at Kansas. It hasn't been officially announced yet but my inside gut tells me that his athletic director was looking very intently on this game....win you keep your job...lose your out. I think its crazy to oust a guy who literally has made Kansas something the past few seasons. His temper has simply gotten the best out of him....its a shame because make a coaching change now...and your looking at another 4 years of misery. The Jayhawks will fire Mangino early this week and start their coaching search as well and I think they'll likely target Randy Eitzel from UConn. He has ties to KU's athletic director and given his success at UConn, he may be in line to try another rebuilding job in a more powerful conference. I think they are grasping for strings with this guy...I think he stays leaving KU to target guys like Turner Gill, Mike Sumlin, Jim Harbough, and Jim Levitt. It's a little bit different than Norte Dame, your a basketball school trying to make a name for itself in football, kinda hard to do when Nebraska is on the fast track to being dominate meaning you'll never make the Big 12 championsip in your division. The best you can hope for is a winning season and a bowl game. Thats what mid-tier programs must get their head around, in a day and age when everyone wants to win National titles, small programs like Kansas must realize they'll never win a National Title, and must hire a coach that just wants to have winning seasons and make bowl games. Do that and you'll be there for awhile...think Iowa State will ever win a National Title...Kansas is a lot like Iowa State...you had your chance...but didn't do it...now you may never get another chance again.

-The winner of the Heisman Trophy no question is Tony Gerhart. He gashed another opponent tonight and being how he's on a team like Stanford that relies on his legs to win, he's simply dominated pretty much every team he's faced. Look the hoop-la about the winner of the Heisman has to be leading his team to the BCS title game (i.e. Colt McCoy) is crap. This is suppose to be an award given to the most outstanding player in the country. From what I saw tonight he simply is the best player in the country surrounded by a very average team. He's pounded teams for over 1700 yards rushing and 30 touchdowns. If McCoy wins it I'll be outraged because simply voters have forgotten about what the most prestigious award in College Football means. When you look at the legends who have won that award....look at the candidates this season....he deserves to win. Yes I like Suh too, but honestly a defensive lineman will never ever get a fair shot at this award. Suh will rack in plenty of awards and thus Gerhart deserves the win. Without him, Stanford is nothing, and I mean nothing....they probably lose 6 plus games without him. That is totally deserving of this award...make me proud voters.


Coming back on Tuesday with our usual 3 day blogging week....Till then....