Category: College Football (Page 169 of 296)

      Georgia Tech most intriguing team heading into 2009?

      August 7, 2009 /

      In his “Five questions as college football camps open” piece for the Los Angeles Times, Chris Dufresne writes that Georgia Tech is the most intriguing team heading into the 2009 season.

      4. Which is the most intriguing team out there?

      Georgia Tech. First-year coach Paul Johnson did something last year that first-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez failed to do: He took over a team, junked the scheme, and won anyway.

      Georgia Tech finished 9-4 operating Johnson’s unique triple-option offense. The Yellow Jackets flourished despite finishing 116th nationally in passing — talk about old-school. Johnson basically now has Navy, where he previously prevailed, only with more quality players. There’s no reason to think Georgia Tech can’t wreck the winnable Atlantic Coast Conference.

      The only concern I see for the Jackets are the losses the sustained along the defensive line. Defensive end Michael Johnson, as well as tackles Darryl Richard and Vance Walker are all gone and those are significant pieces to lose on one line.

      Anthony Barnes, Sedric Griffin and Kyle Jackson return to give Tech’s linebacker corps some stability and safety Morgan Burnett leads a solid secondary, but if the front four can’t generate any pressure on the quarterback, I worry about the Jackets’ defense over the long haul.

      Still, as the article notes, their triple-option offense will certainly be fun to watch again this season.

      College Football

      USA Today Preseason Polls: Florida No. 1

      August 7, 2009 /

      The USA Today Coaches’ Top 25 college football coaches’ poll has been released and to no surprise, Florida ranks No. 1.

      Here’s the top 15 (via ESPN.com):

      1. Florida
      2. Texas
      3. Oklahoma
      4. USC
      5. Alabama
      6. Ohio State
      7. Virginia Tech
      8. Penn State
      9. LSU
      10. Mississippi
      11. Oklahoma State
      12. California
      13. Georgia
      14. Oregon
      15. Georgia Tech

      The most intriguing team to watch this year in the top 15 is Ole’ Miss. The have a solid quarterback in Jevan Snead a true playmaker in Dexter McCluster, a couple of quality receivers and several capable rushers. But the one thing that could keep the Rebels from taking that next step is the play of the offensive and defensive lines. They lost two significant pieces of both lines last year when Michael Oher and Peria Jerry were drafted into the NFL. Can they replace both of those players and make some noise in the SEC?

      Another team to at least keep an eye on this year is North Carolina, who is ranked 20 in the preseason poll. They lost receivers Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Tate to the NFL, but their offense is still chockfull of potential and their defense was incredibly opportunistic last year. I’m not saying the Heels will challenge for a national title this season, but they’ll be competitive.

      The Heisman race is going to be fun to watch all year, too. Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy and Terrelle Pryor hold the edge going into the season, but watch out for sleepers like Evan Royster, Jonathan Dwyer and Jahvid Best.

      College Football

      Joe Montana’s son leaving Notre Dame

      July 26, 2009 /

      Nate Montana, son of former NFL legend Joe Montana and walk on quarterback at Notre Dame, has decided to transfer from his old man’s alma mater to transfer to Pasadena City College.

      It is nothing nefarious or worthy of hand-wringing, but Notre Dame football once again will be without a Montana at quarterback this fall.

      Nate Montana, son of Irish and NFL legend Joe, has elected to spend the fall semester at Pasadena City College in order to get playing experience at the quarterback position.

      Team spokesman Brian Hardin said the departure has nothing to do with grades or discipline issues — it is simply a matter of Montana, a walk-on, knowing he’d be buried on the depth chart and in practices this fall. Montana is expected to return to Notre Dame for the spring semester.

      Not that the Irish are hurting for talent under center. Jimmy Clausen returns as a third-year starter, ballyhooed sophomore Dayne Crist is the backup and Evan Sharpley, a former starter fresh off a summer of minor league baseball, is expected to return for a fifth season as insurance at the position.

      I don’t know the entire situation, but this sounds like a smart move by Nate. If he’s going to be stuck behind Clausen, Crist and Sharpley, he might as well transfer and get some much-needed playing time. I hope it works out for the young man.

      College Football

      MLB Trade Rumors: Kazmir, Halladay and Lee

      July 24, 2009 /

      – ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that the Angels have interest in Rays’ starter Scott Kazmir, although its unclear at this point if this could be a precursor to a trade for Tampa, who apparently has their eyes on Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.

      – Sticking with the Angels theme, owner Arte Moreno tells the L.A. Times that he remains interested in landing one of the top arms on the market, which includes Halladay and Lee. Apparently he’s also willing to pay a hefty price to acquire one of the big names.

      – Speaking of Lee, ESPN’s Jayson Stark says he is available, but it appears that the Indians would have to be overwhelmed by a deal. Stark is also reporting that the Reds will listen to offers for starter Bronson Arroyo.

      – According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twins are interested in Oakland shortstop Orlando Cabrera and reliever Michael Wuertz.

      – The Padres are making Heath Bell available.

      – SI.com’s Jon Heyman is reporting that the Rays are kicking the tires on possibly acquiring Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez.

      – Brian Anderson has asked the White Sox to trade him according to MLB.com.

      College Football, MLB, Rumors & Gossip

      Spurrier the one who didn’t vote Tebow All-SEC

      July 24, 2009 /

      One of the greatest unsolved crimes in sports history now has a resolution. We can now put our children to bed at night without this shroud of mystery hanging over our heads and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that a major villain has been outed for his crime against humanity.

      That’s right, folks: We now know the one person who didn’t vote for Florida’s Tim Tebow as All-SEC quarterback. And it wasn’t that punk Lane Kiffin, nor was it that weasel Bobby Petrino either. Hell, it wasn’t even Nick Saban, who can’t step one foot inside Baton Rouge or Miami without somebody wanting to shove a first down marker where the sun don’t shine.

      Nope, it was Steve Spurrier…well, kind of. Apparently it wasn’t actually him, but the director of football operations he had vote for him. Whoops.

      Spurrier explained that his director of football operations had filled out the ballot and brought it in to him. Spurrier said he glanced at it, signed off on it, and then realized his mistake much later.

      The ballot submitted to the SEC from South Carolina had Mississippi’s Jevan Snead as the first-team quarterback, and not Tebow.

      “I take full responsibility,” he said, emphasizing that he believed Tebow to be one of the best quarterbacks in Florida history. “I’m embarrassed about it, I feel badly about it … I apologize to Tim Tebow.”

      SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom confirmed to ESPN.com that Spurrier called within the past 24 hours and asked that his ballot be changed to include Tebow as the first-team quarterback. Spurrier told Bloom that his initial ballot, with Snead as the first-team quarterback, was a mistake.

      If you couldn’t tell by the sarcasm I used at start of this article, I don’t think this is a big deal. It’s just a preseason honor and I highly doubt Tebow is losing sleep over this. It’s nice that Spurrier tried to correct the mistake and owns up to it, but again, this is hardly worth getting upset about.

      But perhaps an underlying issue (and Pat Forde touched on it in the ESPN article) here, is that these coaches continue to let other people in their programs vote for things like all-conference nominations and even the USA Today Coaches Poll. So you have a director of operations having a stake in which teams could potentially play for a national title, and not the coaches themselves.

      This is just reason No. 1,900,340,000 why the BCS system is an absolutely joke. We need a playoff.

      By the way, how does Jevan Snead feel right about now? If I’m him I’m like, “A mistake? Gee, thanks Spurrier – tell me how you really feel you son of a bit…”

      College Football

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