Month: January 2009 (Page 43 of 61)

      Florida finishes No. 1 in polls, Utah No. 2

      January 9, 2009 /

      The final votes are in and to the shock and dismay of approximately zero people, the Florida Gators are college football’s No. 1 team. The undefeated Utah Utes are No. 2.

      Urban MeyerThe Gators received 48 first-place votes and 1,606 points in the poll released early Friday, after they beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS national title game.

      Utah, the only team in major college football to go undefeated this season, got 16 first-place votes and 1,519 points.

      “I thought we had an outside chance,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a telephone interview with the AP. “There was enough national sentiment, I thought we might get the No. 1 slot. It wasn’t to be.”

      Florida won its third AP national championship and second in the last three seasons. Steve Spurrier and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel led the Gators to the 1996 title.

      No. 3 USC received one first-place vote. Texas was No. 4, and will have to settle with finishing ahead of fifth-ranked Oklahoma.

      The Utes from the Mountain West Conference swept through their regular season, while Florida and Alabama from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Southern California from the Pac-10, jockeyed for position in the national title chase.

      The Mountain West does not have an automatic bid to the BCS — it’s not considered a strong enough league to deserve one — but the Utes earned their way in.

      Utah was seventh in the final regular-season poll, but that perfect record looked much more impressive after the Utes beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl last week.

      The Pac-10 should do the right thing and bring Utah and BYU (or TCU?) into its conference. Then they could have a conference championship game and Utah and BYU (or TCU?) could show how good they really are.

      Imagine if the NFL had the same system college football has. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to witness one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time when the Giants beat the Patriots last year, because the Giants would have been ranked No. 6 in the polls.

      College Football, NFL

      Bill Romanowski makes pitch to become next Broncos head coach

      January 9, 2009 /

      Former NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski is openly campaigning to become the next head coach of the Denver Broncos.

      He said he sent Broncos owner Pat Bowlen a lengthy PowerPoint presentation touting his credentials and outlining the fresh ideas he would bring to the job that Mike Shanahan held for 14 seasons before his stunning dismissal last week.

      “I can’t stop thinking about this,” said Romanowski, who played for San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver and Oakland during a standout 16-year career in the NFL that was marred by a bad temper and his admitted use of THG, the designer steroid at the center of the BALCO scandal.

      “This may be a complete fantasy and that’s all right … At the end of the day, nothing may happen from it.”

      Romanowski has no official NFL coaching experience, just a knowledge from the players’ perspective.
      “For Pat to do something like this, it would take him being a visionary, thinking outside the box,” said Romanowski, whose coaching experience includes helping with his son’s football team. “Him hiring me, it’s a long shot. I understand that. I know that.”

      This makes zero sense. Never mind the fact that the guy openly talked about getting away with taking banned substances (he damn near bragged about it at the end of his career), but he also has zero experience as a coach – none, not even as a linebacker coach at some Podunk college.

      If he’s serious about coaching, then maybe the Broncos should give him a small role at first and go from there.

      NFL

      Oklahoma’s gaffs just more blown decisions by “Big Game Bob”

      January 9, 2009 /

      Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star took aim at Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops after several of his decisions in the national championship game cost the Sooners a chance to beat Florida:

      Bob StoopsBig Game Bob Stoops lost his fifth straight BCS game and third straight national-title game. He eschewed a chip-shot field goal and directed his Sooners to convert a fourth-and-goal situation. The Gators blew up the fourth-down run. In the final seconds of the first half, the Sooners stayed superaggressive with their passing game and tossed a critical interception with Oklahoma at the Florida 6.

      Big Game Bob left a lot of points on the football field Thursday night. He’ll be second-guessed in Oklahoma at least until he wins a second national title.

      I don’t think any coach should be criticized for being aggressive. If you’re Oklahoma and you’re scoring 60-plus points a game, you stay aggressive. But what’s the harm in calling a time out and talking about what you’re going to do? The momentum from play to play had just shifted to Florida after the stop on the third down, so when Stoops and his coaching staff decided to essentially run the same play on fourth, he sent Chris Brown right into the meat grinder.

      Oklahoma wasn’t going to fool anybody by lining up quick and running the same play. Stoops should have called a time out and first decided whether or not he wanted three or six points. If he wanted the six, he should have come up with a better call than the exact same play he ran the down before. It was a major gaff in a major situation. Did it cost the Sooners the win? Yeah, maybe.

      College Football

      Smoltz jets Atlanta for Boston – is Chipper Jones next?

      January 9, 2009 /

      The Red Sox have signed 41-year old veteran pitcher John Smoltz to a one-year contract, outbidding the Braves’ efforts to retain his services. Considering Smoltz played 21 years in Atlanta, several Braves (including Chipper Jones) are wondering when their time will be up in Hotlanta.

      “I’m [upset],” said third baseman Chipper Jones, using stronger language than that. “I’m really [upset]. … I’ve said all along, every dog has his day. Today, it’s Smoltz’s day. I dare say my day is not far off.”

      One has to think that the Braves are eventually going to part with all of their long-term players (like Chipper) and start moving towards the future. I would have never thought I’d see the day Smoltz dress in another team’s uniform, but that day is here and maybe Jones is right in saying his time is coming up.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      I must be an idiot on general principle

      January 9, 2009 /

      Greg Cote of the Miami Herald writes that there’s no question about it: the BCS got it right with Florida.

      Tim TebowLet there be no doubt, or sour-grapes discussion today, about a national championship left unresolved.

      Let there be no rote resumption of complaints against the Bowl Championship Series or a renewed cry for a playoff.

      The BCS got it right this time, and the right team won. The better one. The best one.

      Anybody who doubts that today must be from Texas or Southern Cal or Utah. Or perhaps an idiot on general principle.

      The Gators flat-out won this game and this title, and all the more impressively because it was less by Tebow’s magic (though he was voted game MVP) than by his defense defusing the other team’s epic offense.

      Bradford had thrown 48 touchdown passes this season. His offense ran on jet power.

      Florida made that offense look more like Oklahoma’s symbol: the Sooner Schooner, a covered wagon pulled by two small ponies of the type rented out for kids’ backyard birthday parties.

      Let me pause for a second to laugh…

      Anybody who doubts that today must be from Texas or Southern Cal or Utah. Or perhaps an idiot on general principle.

      Then punch me in the face and call me an idiot, Greg, because I certainly doubt that the BCS has ever got it right. And that’s not a knock against Florida because they were amazing after losing to Ole’ Miss earlier in the year, but how could anyone in their right mind say that the BCS got this right? Utah didn’t get a chance to play Florida and neither did Texas. And saying that the “Gators flat-out won this game and title” is a bit of a stretch considering that if Oklahoma converts in the red zone, I don’t know if Florida comes back with the way their offense played for most of the night. (Again, not to take anything away from the Gators’ defensive play.)

      No, no, no, no – NO! This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. There should be a clear cut winner and no debate that follows. Their should be a playoff, where all the deserving teams get a shot and then (and only then) can we say that a team “flat-out won this game and this title.”

      College Football

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