Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1314 of 1503)

In the wake of Michigan hiring former West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez (and his spread offense), quarterback Ryan Mallett has decided to leave the school after only his first year.

“He’s on his way home,” Jim Mallett told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We don’t know where he’s going to go yet, but we need to do something quick. We’re going to visit three, four or five schools.”

The former Texas Class 4A offensive player of the year may end up at Tennessee, which is considering hiring former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and quarterbacks coach Scott Loeffler.

Losing Mallett is big for Rodriguez and Michigan. Mallett is a prototypical drop back passer with an NFL arm and a huge ceiling. Rodriguez is currently trying to recruit hotshot high school quarterback prospect, Terrelle Pryor, to run his spread option attack, but if he can’t land him, the Wolverines might have a huge setback. Changing offensive schemes – especially when it’s going from a pro-style to a spread – isn’t like turning a light switch on and off.

In the wake of the Buckeyes’ 38-24 loss to LSU in the BCS title game, Ohio State president Gordon Gee felt the need to make it public knowledge that he’s not in favor in of a “plus-one” playoff format for college football.

Gee said he hasn’t had formal discussions on the matter with other Big Ten presidents and said he wasn’t familiar with all the nuances of a plus-one proposal. But at first glance, he said he would not be in favor of any model that jeopardizes the Big Ten-Pacific 10 tie-in to the Rose Bowl or could diminish “the existing bowl structure.”

“People might say the Big Ten, the Pacific 10 and the Rose Bowl are being greedy,” he said. “No, there would be more money to be made. But it’s not about money, it’s about preserving history.”

First and foremost, if Gee isn’t fully familiar with all the nuances of a plus-one proposal, then why is he shooting it down publicly? I realize he isn’t full rejecting the proposal, but do the research first before being opposed to an idea as big as a playoff format in college football

Secondly, preserving history is one thing, not making the sport better is another. Sports are about tradition and history, but more so it’s about fans and what we want. Most college football fans want a playoff system and if it means sacrificing the “tradition” of the Rose Bowl, than so be it. To most fans, the Rose Bowl doesn’t hold the same meaning as it used to anyway, and how could it with the games being as bad as they have the past two years? Plus, on a much smaller level, it’s a home game for the Pac-10 every year. So does it really mean that much to the Big Ten if college football scarifices that game for the sake of a playoff?

Thanks in large part to quarterback Matt Flynn’s three touchdown passes and another stifling performance by their defense, LSU soundly defeated Ohio State 38-24 in Monday night’s BCS National Championship Game.

The Tigers didn’t give the Buckeyes different looks or rely on secret magic that only a SEC team possesses. They just lined up and took it to the Buckeyes for 55 minutes (the first five minutes were dominated by OSU). It also helped that LSU limited mistakes and capitalized on the Buckeyes’ miscues. OSU’s defense didn’t help matters by putting on a horrible tackling performance, either.

Somewhere, some writer has already written how the SEC is a more dominating conference than the Big Ten because its players are faster, they’re more physical or that their cheerleaders are better looking. It’s not true. Forget the conferences – LSU was just better and made less mistakes, both mentally and physically.