Category: College Football (Page 57 of 296)

      Arkansas has Sugar Bowl win in its hands…then drops it.

      January 5, 2011 /
      Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett (15) is chased from the pocket by Ohio State defensive lineman Cameron Hayward (97) during first half action of the 77th Annual Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana January 4, 2011. UPI/A.J. Sisco

      Here are five quick-hit observations on Ohio State’s wild 31-26 win over Arkansas in the 2011 Sugar Bowl.

      1. From the opening play of the game, Arkansas blew its opportunities.
      Little did Arkansas know that the first play from scrimmage would be an omen for the rest of the game. Ryan Mallett threw a perfectly timed spiral to streaking receiver Joe Adams, who beat the coverage and would have had a touchdown had he hung onto the ball. It was the first of six dropped passes for the Hogs on the night, most of which came in crucial situations. And the drops weren’t the only opportunities Arkansas missed on the night. From Dane Sanzenbacher’s fluke fumble-recovery-turned-touchdown in the first quarter to the missed scoring opportunity after Boom Herron’s fumble late in the fourth quarter to Colton Miles-Nash’s inability to pick the ball up cleanly on teammate Ben Buchanan’s blocked punt to Solomon Thomas’ interception of Mallett in the final minute, the Razorbacks blew it time and time again. Wisconsin was heavily criticized for missing opportunities to beat TCU in the Rose Bowl last Saturday, but that was nothing compared to what Arkansas did Tuesday night. Their fans will need a lobotomy after watching that game.

      2. Cameron Heyward will make one NFL team very happy some day.
      Heyward is an absolute monster and he and the rest of his defensive linemates deserve major praise for harassing Mallett all night. He manhandled Arkansas offensive tackle DeMarcus Love and he didn’t allow Mallett to set his feet for many of his throws. When Mallett had to step up in the pocket to pass, he was widely inaccurate, often throwing the ball at his receivers’ feet. His wideouts didn’t do him many favors, but the Buckeyes’ defense really brought the heat on third down and made life uncomfortable for the Razorback signal caller. If it weren’t for Heyward and crew, Arkansas may have scored 40 points.

      3. The SEC curse is over for Ohio State.
      Try as they did to lose the game, the Buckeyes finally got the SEC monkey off their backs. The win snapped a nine-game bowl losing streak against SEC teams. OSU also saved some face for the Big Ten, which went 0-4 on New Year’s Day. Terrelle Pryor threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, while also rushing for 115 yards on 15 carries. On a night when Herron only gained 3.6 yards per carry and couldn’t get anything going on the early downs, Pryor stepped up several times when the Buckeyes’ offense faced third-and-long. He also picked up a huge first down on a quarterback sneak late in the game to shed time off the clock and keep the ball in OSU’s possession while they tried to preserve the lead. For the second year in a row, Pryor was special in a BCS bowl.

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      College Football, External Sports

      Michigan fires head coach Rich Rodriguez

      January 4, 2011 /
      Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez shouts instructions in the 1st half of their NCAA BCS bowl football game against Mississippi State at EverBank field in Jacksonville, Florida January 1, 2011. UPI/Mark Wallheiser.

      Just three days after Michigan suffered its worst bowl loss in school history, the university has decided to fire head coach Rich Rodriguez according to FOX News Detroit.

      Rodriguez finishes his three-year stint at Michigan with a 15-22 record. He lost a school-record nine games in his first year and went 5-7 after starting 4-0 last season. He also managed to turn a 5-0 start into a 7-5 finish in 2010 and apparently Michigan AD David Brandon had seen enough after Mississippi State embarrassed the Wolverines 52-14 in this year’s Gator Bowl. (Michigan was also 1-10 against ranked opponents and was a combined 0-6 against Ohio State and Michigan State under RichRod.)

      This news hardly comes as a surprise. Rodriguez was a freaking embarrassment to a proud program like UM and obviously a total mismatch for the Big Ten. He found a gem in quarterback Denard Robinson but his offenses struggled against top competition year in and year out. When a team racks up 65 points on Bowling Green or 42 on Indiana but only scores 17 against Michigan State and 7 against Ohio State, there’s an obvious problem with consistency. Making matters worse, Michigan’s defense was brutal this year and special teams were an absolute embarrassment. (Brandon should demand that the coaches he interviews bring a place kicker with them for on-the-spot tryouts.)

      That said, if UM doesn’t land Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh (who is currently mulling over his choices after his team destroyed Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl), then whom will they get to replace Rodriguez? Brady Hoke? No offense to the current San Diego State head coach but would he really be the right fit to turn around a program in disarray?

      Regardless of whom Brandon hires, the next head coach has a long journey ahead of him. Not only does he have to recruit heavily on the defensive side of the ball, but he also has to work with offensive players that Rodriguez handpicked to run his offense. Brandon will no doubt go with a “Michigan Man” as his next head coach, which means someone who will implement the run-heavy attack that they employed before Rodriguez was hired. It’s tough to go Power-I when your personnel is built for the spread-option.

      Just because UM has rid itself of Rodriguez doesn’t mean its problems will be instantly fixed.

      Update: Check that: TheWolverine.com reports that RichRod has not been fired. What the devil?

      Update on the Update: Okay, now Michigan has officially fired Rodriguez.

      College Football, External Sports

      Was Orange Bowl final game for Harbaugh and Luck at Stanford?

      January 4, 2011 /
      Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh (above) celebrates with players including quarterback Andrew Luck (R) after they defeated Virginia Tech in the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl NCAA football game in Miami, January 3, 2011. REUTERS/Hans Deryk (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Here are three quick-hit observations from Stanford’s 40-12 rout of Virginia Tech in the 2011 Orange Bowl.

      1. Will this be Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck’s final hurrah at Stanford?
      If it was, they certainly went out with a bang. Luck completed 18-of-23 passes for 287 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in the win, while Harbaugh left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he can coach in big games, small games or sandlot games. If Luck, a redshirt sophomore, were to declare for the NFL draft he would be the No. 1 pick in April. The Panthers aren’t going to pass on taking a quarterback, but Luck said last week that he’s leaning towards staying for his junior year. Harbaugh, on the other hand, is probably moving on. He’s gone as far as he can go at Stanford and if he wants to coach his alma mater, I doubt Michigan would think twice about telling Rich Rodriguez to shove off in order to make room for him. If Harbaugh wants to go to the NFL, the 49ers have already expressed interest and I’m sure the Panthers will/have as well. Harbaugh says he won’t rush any decision, but I’m sure one is forthcoming.

      2. What a bad night for the entire Virginia Tech program.
      The Hokies kicked a field goal right before halftime to cut Stanford’s lead down to 13-12 and then they forgot to come out for the second half. Their offense couldn’t sustain drives, their defense couldn’t limit the big plays and after the Cardinal went up by two touchdowns late in the third quarter, VA Tech completely checked out mentally (even though there was still a quarter to go). Tyrod Taylor made a couple of great plays with his arm and legs, but struggled keeping drives alive because he was always in third-and-long thanks to his running game (or lack thereof). Give credit to Stanford’s defense – they came to play.

      3. You’re right BCS, this is way better than a playoff.
      Three BCS bowl games are in the books and two of them were blowouts. The TCU-Wisconsin game had an exciting finish, but the Oklahoma-UConn game was a dud (as expected) and the second half of the Orange Bowl was like watching Stanford scrimmage against its scout team. The BCS obviously can’t control what happens after the opening kickoff, but they hype these five games as if they’re the best five games fans will see all year and so far they’ve been lousy. The title game and the Sugar Bowl can still save the action but the BCS can’t look anyone in the eye and say this is better than a playoff. Maybe VA Tech and UConn would have been blown out in a playoff game too, but at least Stanford and Oklahoma would be moving on to the next round. At least we’d still have more football to enjoy instead of: Stanford 40, Virginia Tech 12 – hey, thanks for coming out!

      College Football, External Sports

      Edsall leaves UConn in a bad situation, becomes Maryland’s next head coach

      January 3, 2011 /

      Some Connecticut fans will criticize Randy Edsall for leaving the program to become the next head coach at Maryland. But that’s not fair. Edsall must have believed he went as far as he could go at UConn and Maryland offers him a new challenge and a different opportunity.

      Ask yourself this before you criticize his decision: If you were given the same opportunity in your career, would you make a move as well? People often point out that loyalty doesn’t exist anymore in sports and while that’s true, times have changed. Even in a down economy, there’s more money to be earned and now more than ever, you don’t move up the corporate ladder by staying in one spot.

      That said, I think it’s open season on Edsall for how he left Connecticut.

      If the reports are true and he gave almost no indication to anyone at UConn that he was leaving the program, then ditched his team to hop a plane to Maryland after the Fiesta Bowl, then I don’t blame anyone associated with UConn for being a little salty right now. Fans will forever be grateful for what Edsall did for the Huskie program (and not just for what he accomplished this season), but they won’t soon forget how he ditched them for a bigger conference but not necessarily a better team. (Nobody would have blamed Edsall for going to the SEC to coach someone like Kentucky. But Maryland? Come on.)

      The timing of Edsall’s departure makes sense for him. His stock will never be higher than it is right now after leading the Huskies to a BCS bowl and if he didn’t want to coach at UConn for the next 10 years, now was the time to leave.

      But he certainly didn’t do the Huskies any favors on the way out. They just lost by four touchdowns on national TV and if Edsall didn’t inform AD Jeff Hathaway that he was leaving until he signed the dotted line at Maryland, then it’s not like Hathaway is prepared to find his replacement quickly. It’s a bad deal all the way around for Hathaway.

      Selfish is probably too strong a word to use here, but Edsall definitely didn’t have UConn’s best interests in mind when he hopped a plane to College Park following the loss to Oklahoma. And if he never parlays the Maryland gig into a bigger job, then I wonder if he’ll regret ever leaving the friendly confines of East Hartford.

      College Football, External Sports

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