Category: College Football (Page 212 of 296)

      Next coach has tough task at Tennessee

      November 4, 2008 /

      Phillip FulmerPhillip Fulmer said Monday that he would step down as head coach at Tennessee following the 2008 season. And as Geoff Calkins at the Tennessean writes, the next head coach will have his hands full turning around that program.

      Should Tennessee really have a better program than Florida or Alabama? Should it have a better program than Georgia or LSU?

      Three of those schools (Florida, Georgia and LSU) have a much richer recruiting base than Tennessee. The other school (Alabama) may have the best college coach in the universe.

      Potential coaching candidates understand all this. So stop the talk about bringing in Butch Davis or Bob Stoops, OK? The Tennessee job isn’t as appealing as some fans seem to think. It may not even be as appealing as some of the other jobs that are open this year.

      Clemson might not have the stadium that Tennessee has, but it’s in a much softer league. So is Washington, for that matter. Would you rather succeed Fulmer or Tyrone Willingham?
      So this is going to be tricky. This is going to be difficult for Hamilton to get right.

      Fulmer is gone. The next guy could be better.

      Unless, of course, he’s not.

      Besides the tough SEC slate that he will face on a yearly the basis, the next head coach will have issues putting talent on the field, too. Anyone who has watched the Vols play this year with any regularity has seen a team that has struggled mightily with offensive cohesion and an overall lack of talent on the roster. Even when UT has moved the ball this year, they’ve often capped the drive off by turning the ball over or failing to reach the end zone. That program is a mess right now and the firing of Fulmer is only the beginning.

      College Football

      A road map to the BCS title game

      November 4, 2008 /

      Graham HarrellHere is who the top six BCS teams currently have left to face:

      1. *ALABAMA: at Louisiana St.; Mississippi St.; Auburn
      2. *TEXAS TECH: Oklahoma State; at Oklahoma; Baylor
      3. PENN STATE: at Iowa; Indiana; Michigan State
      4. *TEXAS: Baylor; at Kansas; Texas A&M
      5. *FLORIDA: at Vanderbilt; South Carolina; The Citadel; at Florida St.
      6. *OKLAHOMA: at Texas A&M; Texas Tech; at Oklahoma State
      *-may also play in league championship

      Just based on the remaining schedule, it looks like the title game will probably come down to the league championship weekend, which only benefits Penn State since the Big Ten doesn’t have a championship game.

      But what’s interesting is that all six of these teams have potential pitfall games that could sink them before championship weekend. ‘Bama has the toughest road to travel with LSU and Auburn still left on its schedule, while Texas Tech has two dangerous games back to back in OK State and Oklahoma, while Florida-Florida State is always interesting. Penn State and Texas have arguably the easiest schedule, although Iowa and Michigan State could catch the Nittany Lions napping.

      Something I don’t want to hear this year his how championship week is essentially a playoff. That is the most exciting week in college football, but it’s not a true playoff system and it’s a joke when BCS supporters try to pedal it as such.

      College Football

      Barack Obama is in favor of a college football playoff

      November 3, 2008 /

      Maybe we’ll get that playoff system after all!

      Barack Obama said in an interview that he favors a playoff system in college football over the BCS system.

      Democrat Barack Obama tells ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” it’s time for college football to pick a champion with a playoff system while Republican John McCain wants to put an end to performance-enhancing substances.

      On the eve of the election, the two presidential candidates were interviewed via satellite by ESPN’s Chris Berman. The taped interviews were to air during halftime of game between the Washington Redskins and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

      Both candidates were asked to name one thing they would change in sports.

      “I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I’m fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams — the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a National Champion,” Obama said.

      I’d love to see him pull this off.

      College Football

      Nick Saban threatens reporters with “chewing” if they bring up his LSU past

      November 3, 2008 /

      Nick SabanAlabama head coach Nick Saban doesn’t want to focus on the past. That’s why he warned reporters not to bring up his LSU past this week as his No. 1 Crimson Tide prepare to face his old team, the LSU Tigers.

      “It’s going to be about our players and about our team,” he said after Saturday’s game. “I don’t care how hard anybody tries to make it about something else, it’s not going to be. I’m kind of giving you a little forewarning.

      “If somebody wants to get a you-know-what chewing this week, that’ll be a good way to get it.”

      Saban coached the Tigers from 2000-05, going 13-1 in 2003. His homecoming to the school he spurned for a two-year stop with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins just happens to coincide with what certainly appears to be his best team since then. Saban’s return to an SEC West rival makes a warm welcome by LSU fans highly unlikely.

      “It’s not going to be about that,” he said of facing his former team. “This team is 9-0 and has played extremely well all year long. LSU has a very, very good football team. They were national champs last year, they’ve lost to two top-10 opponents this year, and we’ve got to play them on the road.

      “And it’s going to be about our players and their players and the players on the field. That’s what it should be about. If anybody makes it about something else, then you’re not really being fair to the players.”

      Sorry Saban, but it’s reporters jobs to ask questions like, “Hey Nick, remember when you gave the middle finger to LSU so you could stroke your ego in the NFL for two years only to come back to college football, but help build a different SEC program?”

      Saban is trying to make the ‘Bama-LSU game about his players, which it should be. But journalists have to seek out the story and the story this week is his return to Baton Rouge. If he doesn’t want to be asked hard questions than maybe he should work on having a less shady past.

      College Football

      Penn State vs. Texas Tech

      November 2, 2008 /

      If Alabama, Penn State and Texas Tech win out, we’ll be hearing plenty of arguments over who should be facing Alabama in the National Championship game. Call it this year’s BCS mess.

      In today’s BCS standings, Texas Tech has jumped Penn State to take the #2 spot, mostly due to better computer rankings even though Penn State is #2 in the polls. That’s not too surprising given Texas Tech’s win over Texas, tough that’s little consolation to Penn State fans.

      It’s hard to have much sympathy for Penn State, however, given their embarrassing non-conference schedule – Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, Syracuse and Temple. Would it kill Joe Paterno to schedule some national powers?

      But, Texas Tech’s non-conference schedule is even worse – Eastern Washington, Nevada, SMU and Massachusetts. Pathetic. Of course, Texas Tech is playing in the Big-12, which has some very good teams this year, even if the entire conference seems to have forgotten how to play defense. In the end, playing in this conference will save Texas Tech.

      Or will it? They still have to face #9 Oklahoma State and #6 Oklahoma on the schedule, not to mention the Big-12 championship game. If they win out, they deserve to play for the BCS championship. It will be a tough road.

      Which brings us back to Penn State. If Joe Paterno and an undefeated Nittany Lions team get left out of the title game, it might be enough of an outrage to finally force a playoff format.

      College Football

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