Category: College Football (Page 193 of 296)

      Monte Kiffin joining son at Tennessee next season

      December 15, 2008 /

      Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin has decided to join his son, Lane, at the University of Tennessee next season. The elder Monte confirmed the news following the Bucs’ 13-10 overtime loss to the Falcons on Sunday.

      “I made the decision last weekend and I went back and forth,” Kiffin said. “It was a very, very hard decision because of players, our fans. When you’ve been in a place since 1996, you don’t just jump ship. I’ve had other opportunities. There was one that came up last year that was a great opportunity and people don’t even know for sure about the whole thing. But I stayed here, decided to sign back up for two years. But the club was very good about giving me the option to go with my son.”

      Lane Kiffin recently took the job as head coach at Tennessee, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for he and his father to do something they’ve talked about for years: work together.

      “It boiled down to one thing: It was your son, and that’s what it is,” Kiffin said. “I love these players. I addressed it Wednesday. I told (General Manager) Bruce (Allen). Jon (Gruden) was the first person I told. The head coach, he should know first. I told the defensive staff before I went downstairs at a quarter ’til 4. We had a team meeting at 4 o’clock and the whole team was there.

      “I told them kind of what I’m telling you. I said, “Guys, this was a tough decision. I went back and forth. I said I just want you to know now. I didn’t think it was right to keep carrying it out.”

      Huge, massive, enormous blow for the Buccaneers. Monte Kiffin has consistently been one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL this decade and the teams in the NFC South must be celebrating after hearing this news.

      College Football

      Sam Bradford takes home the Heisman

      December 14, 2008 /

      Oklahoma Sooners’ quarterback Sam Bradford won the 2008 Heisman Trophy Award, edging out Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

      Sam BradfordBradford, who leads the nation in touchdown passes with 48, received 1,726 points. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was second with 1,604 and Tebow—who received the most first-place votes—was third with 1,575 points.

      “I was definitely surprised and I think it’s everything I imagined,” said Bradford, who raised the 25-pound bronze statue with his left hand still in a cast from a recent surgery. “I think it will take a couple weeks to set in.”

      Bradford got 300 first-place votes, McCoy 266 and Tebow 309. Not since 1956 had a player drawn the most first-place votes and finished third; Tommy McDonald of Oklahoma holds that distinction.

      Bradford was well-deserving, as was McCoy and Tebow. The only knock I had on Bradford is that he faced some pretty weak defenses in the Big 12 and the one stout defense he did play against (Texas), his team lost. But I guess you could have made the same argument for McCoy, who lost to a much weaker defense in Texas Tech.

      Regardless, Bradford was truly deserving of the award. His stats were off the charts and he led his team to the national championship. What else could you ask for out of a player?

      College Football

      Breaking down the Heisman race

      December 12, 2008 /

      Dan Daly of the Washington Times attempts to do the seemingly impossible: determine which candidate is most deserving of the 2008 Heisman Trophy.

      Colt McCoyIf you went purely by passing statistics, Bradford would be your man. He threw for 1,000 more yards than McCoy and almost 2,000 more than Tebow. He also did it against a schedule that included five teams ranked in the BCS top 25 (Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma State and Missouri) plus the Big East champ (Cincinnati). Here’s something else I found out: Only six of his 48 touchdown passes came in the fourth quarter, so he wasn’t padding his stats in all those blowouts.

      Tebow and McCoy are much different quarterbacks, though. Both rushed for more than 500 yards this season (compared with Bradford’s 65), so there’s another dimension to them. Colt actually led the Longhorns in rushing, much of it gained on scrambles. Many of Tim’s runs, on the other hand, are by design. The Gators run a kind of souped-up version of the old single wing, with him as the tailback.
      How do I break this tie? By reminding everybody that McCoy’s team beat Bradford’s 45-35, and Colt had a terrific game (28-for-25 for 277 yards and a touchdown). Sam also played well that day (28-for-39 for 387 yards and five touchdowns, with two interceptions), but it was Colt who made more big plays in the second half, when Texas rallied to win. That’s how I separate them, arbitrary as it may seem.

      That and the fact that Bradford has a better supporting cast. Not only does Oklahoma have two 1,000-yard rushers (Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray) it also has a tight end who could well be a first-round NFL pick (Jermaine Gresham). And that Sooners line … let’s face it, the OU offense is one of the greatest in college football history. It’s AVERAGING 54 points a game. McCoy is more of a one-man show than Sam is.

      Tebow, too, is surrounded by more talent. None of the Longhorns, for instance, does the things Percy Harvin does (8.8 yards a carry, 17 yards a catch, 16 touchdowns). Indeed, the Florida attack is almost perfectly balanced between the run (229.8 yards a game) and the pass (212.6). And let’s not forget: Tim had a better year last year, when he had a hand in 15 more touchdowns and was the Gators’ top rusher with 895 yards (331 more than this year).

      It’s an incredibly close call, admittedly, but my ballot read: McCoy, then Tebow, then Bradford. If it were up to me, the trophy would go to Colt – not a bad consolation prize for getting chop-blocked by the BCS computers. Tim and Sam, meanwhile, get to play in the national championship game … and prove me wrong.

      In efforts to not sound like a broken record, here’s my opinion on who should take home the prestigious award this season.

      College Football

      Auburn’s next head coach Texas’ DC Will Muschamp?

      December 12, 2008 /

      FOX10 News is reporting that Auburn’s next head coach will likely be Texas Longhorns’ defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

      FOX10 News sources have told us Auburn will likely name Will Muschamp its new head coach sometime Friday. Muschamp was Auburn’s defensive coordinator two years ago. WVUE in New Orleans first reported Muschamp would likely be the Tigers new coach.

      This season he was on the sidelines as the Defensive Coordinator for the Texas Longhorns. He was also named as the Longhorns Head Coach in waiting.

      If true, this would be a nice fit for Auburn. Muschamp has experience recruiting, knows many of the current Tiger players and overall is an energetic coach that could possibly breathe life back into the Auburn program. Some AU fans might have a gripe that the Tigers need an offensive mind to turn things around since their defense is already solid as it is. But still, this presumably would be a good hire.

      College Football

      Urban Meyer continues to say Notre Dame is his dream job

      December 12, 2008 /

      Even though he’s in the midst of preparing his Florida Gators to do battle with the Oklahoma Sooners in the national championship game, Urban Meyer isn’t backing down from saying that his ultimate dream job is still to coach at Notre Dame.

      Urban MeyerFour years after spurning Notre Dame to take over the Florida Gators program, Coach Urban Meyer called the Fighting Irish “still my dream job; that hasn’t changed” on a South Florida radio show on Wednesday.

      “Once my kids are done, maybe some day I’ll go coach there,” Meyer told 560 WQAM. “I don’t know that. That’s way down the road. Being a father and being able to recruit the best athletes in America within a 5-hour radius of my home, that’s why I came to Florida. I thought we could have a great chance at success.”

      “It’s just that time in my life — to be the head football coach of Notre Dame, you’re on a plane recruiting because you recruit San Diego as hard as you recruit New York as hard as you recruit Florida, Texas, Ohio,” Meyer said on the radio. “It’s a national recruiting base. I recruited there for six years, and I spent every night in a hotel in an airport. I’m going to be a good father first.”

      Granted he’s not saying that he wants to coach at Notre Dame next year, or the year after or the year after that. But one would think that he would pass on those questions during a time when all of his attention should be on winning another national title.

      He shouldn’t be vilified for being completely honest, but I’m not sure it’s ever the right time to talk about another job that 1) doesn’t have a vacancy and 2) you’re getting ready for the biggest game of the year at your current job. The timing just seems a bit off, but that’s not to say this should be made into a big deal.

      College Football

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