Category: College Football (Page 132 of 296)

      Notre Dame fires Charlie Weis

      November 30, 2009 /

      In a move that will shock next to nobody, Notre Dame fired head coach Charlie Weis on Monday according to NBC Sports.com.

      In the end, Weis went 35-27 in his five years as Irish head coach, a .565 winning percentage that was worse than the .583 posted by his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie. They were both fired, too. He leaves with one of the worst winning percentages of any Fighting Irish coach: Only four of Notre Dame’s previous 27 coaches won at a lower percentage.

      Among the people considered likely candidates are Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, TCU coach Gary Patterson and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. The task for athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who is in his second year on the job, is to find a coach who can end the longest title drought in Notre Dame history.

      It’s amazing to think that when it’s all said and done, Weis was one of the worst to ever coach at Notre Dame. He got off to such a promising start, but his crop of recruits never panned out (save for quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate), especially on the defensive side of the ball.

      It’ll be interesting to see where Weis will wind up after this. My guess would be in the NFL as an offensive coordinator, but I’m sure smaller programs would love to have him as their head coach. If he does stay in the collegiate ranks, it would be interesting to see if he would have any success or if his future is in the NFL as a coordinator.

      I would like to see what Brian Kelly could do at Notre Dame. The man turned little known Grand Valley State into a D-3 powerhouse, Central Michigan in a MAC champion and Cincinnati into a national title contender. That’s not to say that he’ll have success at Notre Dame too, but give him three years and I’m willing to bet that he’ll make a winner out of the Irish yet again.

      That said, it would also be nice if a coach like Kelly showed a little loyalty to his program. He left CMU in the lurch right before the Motor City Bowl a couple years ago and to coach at Notre Dame, he would have to do the same to Cincinnati. I realize the opportunity to coach at Notre Dame doesn’t come around often for head coaches, but the Bearcats finally have something brewing and Kelly is the reason for that.

      Again, it would be nice to see a college coach stick around for longer than 2-3 years before screwing their program.

      College Football

      What would a college football playoff look like this year? (Version 4.0)

      November 30, 2009 /

      For the last two weeks, I’ve constructed an eight-team bracket for a “what if” college football playoff.

      Here are my assumptions:

      1. The six BCS-conference champs get an automatic bid unless they are ranked outside the top 15. There would need to be some sort of ranking system used. For now, we will use the BCS.

      2. If a conference champ is ranked lower than #15 in the rankings, they give up their automatic bid and it becomes an at-large bid. (This rule is to ensure that the regular season keeps its meaning and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

      3. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings need to be tweaked to place more of an emphasis on head-to-head matchups, but they are fine for now. If an at-large team has a better BCS ranking than a conference champion, they will get a higher seed.

      4. There will be three rounds of playoffs. The first round will be held at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals and the final will rotate amongst the four BCS cities (Miami, Pasadena, Tempe and New Orleans), so that those cities don’t lose the revenue from the bowl games.

      5. If a conference champion is ranked behind a non-BCS school, and have a head-to-head loss to that team, then they give up their playoff bid to that team. This is the “I Drink Your Milkshake!” rule.

      Georgia Tech lost to Georgia this week. How does that affect our bracket?

      Continue reading »

      College Football

      How the BCS breaks down heading into championship week

      November 30, 2009 /

      After Florida, Alabama and Texas all escaped rivals week with victories, the BCS standings remained unchanged this week. The Gators still hold the top spot, while the Crimson Tide are second and the Longhorns are third.

      Heading into the final week of the season, here is how everything breaks down for each of the five BCS title contenders:

      Florida: Tim Tebow and the Gators play Alabama in the SEC championship on Saturday and with a win, they’ll play in the title game. There’s always an outside chance that even if Florida losses this weekend, they could still play for a national title if Nebraska beats Texas and voters don’t rank an undefeated TCU or Cincinnati team in the No. 2 spot.

      Alabama: A win over Florida on Saturday would catapult the Tide into the top spot in the BCS standings, which means they’ll play for a national championship. And just like Florida, ‘Bama still has an outside shot to play in the title game if Texas losses and voters decide to screw TCU or Cincinnati.

      Texas: A win over Nebraska in the Big 12 championship would mean that the Longhorns would take on the winner of the SEC title game. A loss to the Cornhuskers would mean Texas has little to no shot of playing for a national title because the loser of the SEC champ game or undefeated TCU or Cincinnati would get the bid.

      TCU: It’s now a waiting game for the Horned Frogs after they finished the regular season 12-0. They’ll be rooting for Texas to lose and they wouldn’t mind seeing either Florida or Alabama get blown out in the SEC title game in order to endure themselves to voters. A Cincinnati loss to Pittsburgh wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

      Cincinnati: The Bearcats might be able to improve their ranking by beating Pittsburgh for the Big East championship on Saturday. With TCU idle, a good showing against a good Panthers team might convince voters that Cincinnati should leap frog over the Horned Frogs if Texas losses. That said, the Bearcats are still hoping for a miracle when it comes to playing in the title game.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Football

      Tempers flare as USC defeats UCLA 28-7

      November 29, 2009 /

      USC

      His team on defense and trailing 21-7 with 44 seconds remaining, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel called for a time out. Back on the field, USC quarterback Matt Barkley took the snap and connected with receiver Damian Williams for a 48-yard touchdown. The Bruins looked completely dumbfounded on the play, leaving Williams with plenty of room to make an easy grab. Of course, Neuheisel and his team didn’t seem too pleased.

      The Trojans (8-3, 5-3 Pac-10) followed Williams’ dramatic score by jumping and yelling on their sideline before moving onto the field in unison. They appeared to be taunting the Bruins (6-6, 3-6), who then came across midfield to challenge them before coaches and officials kept them apart.

      After the game, Neuheisel and USC coach Pete Carroll exchanged possibly the shortest handshake in the history of college football. The announcers on the Fox Sports telecast were trying to blow up the situation and I hope people don’t buy into it. Both coaches live to compete and this type of stuff is expected.

      The bottom line is that Neuheisel called a meaningless timeout when his team was obviously beaten. Sensing Neuheisel intended to keep this game going, Pete Carroll went for a final score. I have no clue why the Bruins neglected to play defense on Williams’ touchdown. If Neuheisel did indeed call the timeout to discuss a defensive strategy, then his team failed to listen. On the other hand, if he just wanted to irritate the Coliseum (which is how it looked), then Carroll had every right to order a deep pass.

      College Football

      Gerhart leads Stanford to 45-38 win over Notre Dame

      November 29, 2009 /

      Weis

      Even though Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis probably had the pink slip in his wallet, the guy would have appreciated a win today against Stanford. Unfortunately for him, Toby Gerhart is an amazing football player. With less than 6 minutes left in the game, Gerhart carried seven times for 54 yards on the Cardinals’ winning drive.

      On a night when Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate put on an aerial show for the Irish (6-6) in a showcase for Weis’ offense, it was Gerhart who won the game for Stanford (8-4) and possibly earned a trip to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist in two weeks.

      After Stanford stopped Robert Hughes on third-and-2 from the Irish 35 with less than 6 minutes left, Gerhart carried seven times for 54 yards on the winning drive, bowling over would-be tacklers before scoring his 26th rushing touchdown of the season. The fans chanted “To-by! To-by!” throughout the drive.

      Clausen and Tate weren’t done, driving to the 24 before Chase Thomas sacked Clausen at the 31. On the final play, Clausen’s desperation heave into the end zone was batted down by Michael Thomas, giving Stanford its first win against Notre Dame since 2001.

      Earlier today, I took the train through Palo Alto en route to San Jose. I was sitting by a few Notre Dame fans. They couldn’t have been less excited. Their team was hours away from losing, but they looked as if they were solemnly preparing themselves for a sour outcome.

      College Football

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