The big day is here. Is this a national holiday now? Sometimes it seems like it. All of the hype and what becomes a media circus surrounding some of these announcements. If the leading scouting services rank you with five stars, the whole world will follow you. But why not, if there is an audience who wants to see it then it's good business. Now what does it all mean? Here are your top schools according to Rivals. USC made a late push to take the number one spot from Florida who goes to two. Texas, Auburn and Alabama round out the top five. Six through ten are LSU, Oklahoma, UCLA, Tennessee and Florida State. Last year Alabama had the top rated recruting class by Rivals and went on to win the BCS national championship. Is it a concidence? I don't think so. Top players coming in plus good coaching can equal championships. But, not always. Is USC a lock to win the BCS next year? In a word, no. Lane Kiffin has looked really good today, but if last year at Tennessee is any indication he may look really stupid tomorrow. Does everyone remember what I'm talking about? USC coach Kiffin coaching the Tennessee Volunteers last year accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of cheating the day after signing day. Kiffin said that when recruit Nu'Keese Richardson was on his visit to Tennessee Meyer repeatedly called him which Kiffin said was cheating. Turns out Kiffin didn't know his rules too well. The story took another twist during the football season when Richardson was arrested and later pled guilty to armed robbery. I'm sorry but I don't think this recruiting class in any way validates Coach Kiffin. He still has a 12-21 record as a head coach and a tendency to always point the finger at someone else when something goes wrong. Somehow I think this high point will manage to implode on the Trojans. Kiffin will end up hurting this program more than he helps it.
Only time will tell just what impact this years recruits will have on the field. The season kicks off in how many days now? Oh that's right it's only February.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Senior Bowl, Recruiting and Seeing Red
The Senior Bowl is this week and it's all the Tim Tebow hour. Actually it's all about whats wrong with Superman. He has been batteling strep throat this week and according to the Sporting News daily edition he has had some "mental struggles". There had been debate all over the web as to where Tebow will be drafted, but you heard this here first. Tim Tebow will be drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars for two reasons. First, his presence on the team might help to sell some tickets. Florida Gator fans will probably scoop them up just to continue to see Tebow in person. Second, Mike Shula is the quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville. Shula was head coach at Alabama and was recruting Tebow to come play for the Crimson Tide before Tebow ultimately chose Florida. This would be Shula's second chance to coach Tebow. I know, it sounds crazy, but it could happen.
We are less than one week away from signing day and according to Rivals Florida has the top class to this point. The SEC has six teams in the top ten. This dosen't always translate to victories on the field but, Alabama had the top class the last two years running and this year they win the BCS championship so it apparently means something. As national signing day approaches there are still seven recruits still undecided who are listed as five star recruits by Rivals.
I read this so I just had to comment on it. As many times as I have said that I don't like boise State's blue turf I kinda like the red. That's pretty bad since I have noted before that my dislike for the Broncos is the blue turf. Guess I'm just seeing red.
We are less than one week away from signing day and according to Rivals Florida has the top class to this point. The SEC has six teams in the top ten. This dosen't always translate to victories on the field but, Alabama had the top class the last two years running and this year they win the BCS championship so it apparently means something. As national signing day approaches there are still seven recruits still undecided who are listed as five star recruits by Rivals.
I read this so I just had to comment on it. As many times as I have said that I don't like boise State's blue turf I kinda like the red. That's pretty bad since I have noted before that my dislike for the Broncos is the blue turf. Guess I'm just seeing red.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Coaching Carousel
This year's NCAA coaching carousel may have been as entertaining as the actual football season. Things started out fairly predictable with the seemingly forced retirement of Bobby Bowden at FSU and Notre Dame's ousting of Charlie Weis. The replacements weren't a surprise with Jimbo Fischer being the 'coach in waiting' at Florida State and Notre Dame hiring Brian Kelly away from Cincinnati.
Things got a little strange with three coaches being fired or resigning for off the field issues. Mark Mangino resigned two years after leading Kansas to one of the best years in their history because of reports of his verbally abusing of his players. His replacement, Turner Gill seems to be a very good choice.
Texas Tech fires Mike leach because of allegations of his mistreatment of Adam James after James suffered a concussion. After Leach's last contract negotiation you have to wonder if Tech was looking for any excuse to let him go. The hiring of Tommy Tuberville as Leach's replacement raised a few questions. Tuberville is a proven head coach with a record of 110-60 including an undefeated season at Auburn in 2004. However with Tech's history of an air it out every down passing attack one must wonder how Tuberville will work out with his history of winning with defense and a strong running game. The fiasco when he tried to implement a spread offense in Auburn two years ago adds to this concern.
Just when the circus was almost dying down rumors surface that Pete Carrol was leaving USC for an NFL job with the Seahawks. After a few of the supposed top candidates to be the replacement issued the obligatory statement that they were not interested, USC settled on Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin does have Trojan ties as a former Corrol assistant but was this really a wise decision? His 5-15 record with the Oakland Raiders plus a 7-5 record at Tennessee with his tenure full of controversy. From accusing other schools of cheating to a handful of secondary violations himself, his time at Tennessee was definitely interesting. That on top of the fact that the NCAA's investigation into USC is for allegations that come from the years that Kiffin was an assistant, could mean a bleak future for the Trojans. Tennessee choosing Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley as it's new coach is questionable too. However after the usual string of press released saying Coach 'X' is not interested in this job, Tennessee looked to be getting desperate for a 'yes'. Being turned down by the coaches of Air Force, TCU, and Duke, plus a few coordinators and a NFL TV analyst, someone accepting the job was a definite plus for the Volunteer nation.
Stay tuned for the next episode of As the Carousel Turns...
Things got a little strange with three coaches being fired or resigning for off the field issues. Mark Mangino resigned two years after leading Kansas to one of the best years in their history because of reports of his verbally abusing of his players. His replacement, Turner Gill seems to be a very good choice.
Texas Tech fires Mike leach because of allegations of his mistreatment of Adam James after James suffered a concussion. After Leach's last contract negotiation you have to wonder if Tech was looking for any excuse to let him go. The hiring of Tommy Tuberville as Leach's replacement raised a few questions. Tuberville is a proven head coach with a record of 110-60 including an undefeated season at Auburn in 2004. However with Tech's history of an air it out every down passing attack one must wonder how Tuberville will work out with his history of winning with defense and a strong running game. The fiasco when he tried to implement a spread offense in Auburn two years ago adds to this concern.
Just when the circus was almost dying down rumors surface that Pete Carrol was leaving USC for an NFL job with the Seahawks. After a few of the supposed top candidates to be the replacement issued the obligatory statement that they were not interested, USC settled on Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin does have Trojan ties as a former Corrol assistant but was this really a wise decision? His 5-15 record with the Oakland Raiders plus a 7-5 record at Tennessee with his tenure full of controversy. From accusing other schools of cheating to a handful of secondary violations himself, his time at Tennessee was definitely interesting. That on top of the fact that the NCAA's investigation into USC is for allegations that come from the years that Kiffin was an assistant, could mean a bleak future for the Trojans. Tennessee choosing Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley as it's new coach is questionable too. However after the usual string of press released saying Coach 'X' is not interested in this job, Tennessee looked to be getting desperate for a 'yes'. Being turned down by the coaches of Air Force, TCU, and Duke, plus a few coordinators and a NFL TV analyst, someone accepting the job was a definite plus for the Volunteer nation.
Stay tuned for the next episode of As the Carousel Turns...
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bulls and Video Games
It's time for South Florida and Cincinnati to kick off their Thursday night game that the winner will control their destiny in the Big East. I made a comment on earlier saying that who would have thought a couple of years ago that these two teams would be the ones fighting for control of the conference. I was reminded by a Bulls fan that two years ago the USF Bulls climbed to number two in the BCS poll. I remembered that was the year South Florida upset Auburn to catapult them into the national spotlight. This is totally irrelevant to the game at hand but I wanted to share how South Florida's last couple of years have followed a video game.
Playing everyone's favorite college football video game I believe it was NCAA 05 I started a dynasty with USF. The first season my big out of conference game was Miami who promptly clobbered my team. In year 2 i scheduled a trip to Auburn, running my version of a spread option I upset Auburn and want on to upset West Virginia and ended up winning the Big East. In year 3 I traveled to Florida State and pulled another upset on the road. I was just thinking earlier how funny that the same teams that my virtual USF Bulls upset three or four years ago the real Bulls have also beaten the last couple of years. Now I later beat Miami and in year 4 of my dynasty i won the BCS championship with the Bulls. Now don't book your reservations just yet everyone but IF the Bulls were to win out this year they would have beaten then #18 FSU, Cincinnati, who is currently ranked 8th, and Miami who sits at 9th. They would need some other teams to lose ahead of them but anything is possible if USF can avoid what has happened in previous years where they start strong and then collapse sown the stretch.Of course before we look ahead we need to take care of this week. South Florida is currently down 17-10 at the half.
Well with South Florida losing to Cincinnati 34-17 I guess that the BCS is out of the question. However on the video game it was the year after the FSU upset so maybe next year...
Playing everyone's favorite college football video game I believe it was NCAA 05 I started a dynasty with USF. The first season my big out of conference game was Miami who promptly clobbered my team. In year 2 i scheduled a trip to Auburn, running my version of a spread option I upset Auburn and want on to upset West Virginia and ended up winning the Big East. In year 3 I traveled to Florida State and pulled another upset on the road. I was just thinking earlier how funny that the same teams that my virtual USF Bulls upset three or four years ago the real Bulls have also beaten the last couple of years. Now I later beat Miami and in year 4 of my dynasty i won the BCS championship with the Bulls. Now don't book your reservations just yet everyone but IF the Bulls were to win out this year they would have beaten then #18 FSU, Cincinnati, who is currently ranked 8th, and Miami who sits at 9th. They would need some other teams to lose ahead of them but anything is possible if USF can avoid what has happened in previous years where they start strong and then collapse sown the stretch.Of course before we look ahead we need to take care of this week. South Florida is currently down 17-10 at the half.
Well with South Florida losing to Cincinnati 34-17 I guess that the BCS is out of the question. However on the video game it was the year after the FSU upset so maybe next year...
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The day games are over time for the night games to start, here are some observations from the day. In the SEC Auburn suffers their first loss of the year at the hands of Arkansas 44-23. Clearly not a warm welcome for Gus Malzahan. Alabama stays unbeaten by finishing off Ole Miss 22-3. Jevan Snead threw four interceptions to put the Rebel defense in plenty of tough spots. The Rebel defense played a great game holding Alabama to just 22 points, it could have been much worse. Alabama's only touchdown came on a 36 yard touchdown run by Mark Ingram on 4th and 1. Tennessee decides to play football today beating Georgia 45-19. This will make for some very unhappy Bulldog fans.
Oklahoma beats Baylor 33-7 in Sam Bradford's return game. Bradford was 26/48 for 386 yards and a TD. Bradford's 22 incompletions was a career high. With Texas coming up next week that has to improve. Oklahoma State beats Texas A&M 36-31.
Virginia Tech shuts down Boston College 48-14. Ohio State downs Wisconsin 31-13.
As Florida gets ready to take on LSU in Death Valley the news is that Tim Tebow is cleared to play it will be a game time decision for Coach Urban Meyer.
Oklahoma beats Baylor 33-7 in Sam Bradford's return game. Bradford was 26/48 for 386 yards and a TD. Bradford's 22 incompletions was a career high. With Texas coming up next week that has to improve. Oklahoma State beats Texas A&M 36-31.
Virginia Tech shuts down Boston College 48-14. Ohio State downs Wisconsin 31-13.
As Florida gets ready to take on LSU in Death Valley the news is that Tim Tebow is cleared to play it will be a game time decision for Coach Urban Meyer.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, Monday
It's Monday, another weekend of college football is now history. No top 5 upsets this weekend, Oklahoma was upset by Miami but that wasn't a stretch. One potential BCS buster falls with Houston losing to UTEP 58-41. Boise State sits at #6 just waiting for their chance. I don't have a problem with a unexpected team sneaking into a BCS game but for some reason I find myself wanting to see Boise lose. I've been thinking about this all day, and I like their offense. They are a fun team to watch, fast paced, multiple sets, lots of scoring. All I can figure is it has to be the blue turf. Grass is supposed to be green, there is just something wrong with blue 'grass'. Then you put blue uniforms on top of it and all you see is blue. Not much of a reason but hey I can have my opinion. I could get on the subject of their schedule but now that season opening win over Oregon is starting to look impressive. I guess I'll just drop it for now.
Later this week...Has Charlie Weis gotten himself off of the 'hot seat' or is he still warm?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Four weeks into the 2009 college football season and every week has been crazy so far. Oregon implodes against Boise St. and then takes down Utah ending the nations longest winning streak now this past weekend they dismantle Cal. Miami beats Florida State then shuts down Georgia Tech then follows that up by getting stuck in the mud against Virginia Tech. Just like last year Iowa hands Penn State their first loss, and FSU isn't 'back' yet. Everybody already has their BCS buster opinions already, Boise St., TCU, Houston, BYU, but they already have one loss. Boise and Houston have impressive offenses but at least TCU has a defense. BYU even with the loss still has the most impressive win with the upset win over Oklahoma. Florida, Texas and Alabama are on top of things but after that it's a mess. It's going to be a fun year.
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