Chizik off to big start at Auburn
The nation's No. 1 high school football player is now considering becoming an Auburn Tiger. That's a big deal for the early tenure of Gene Chizik.
Wide receiver Rueben Randle isn't just considering a courtesy visit from Phenix City or Alexander City. His hometown of Bastrop, La., is 424 miles away, yet he's still considering a visit to check out the Tigers. A team that just finished the season 5-7. Then went through a messy divorce with Tommy Tuberville. Then weathered a near nuclear meltdown when Chizik and his 5-19 head-coaching record were introduced.
The chances that Randle will choose to play for Auburn and with a quarterback who has either struggled in the SEC (Kodi Burns or Chris Todd) or has never taken a significant major college snap (Neil Caudle, Barrett Trotter or some undetermined 2009 signee) are still no better than 20-to-1. But that doesn't diminish what his interest in the Tigers signifies.
The fact that Randle is even considering Auburn is proof that Chizik is off to a great start since arriving on the Plains, even if he isn't successful in immediately swaying top recruits away from rivals Alabama, LSU or Georgia.
First, he convinced Antonio Coleman to bypass the NFL draft and return for his senior season. Coleman is one of the top five favorites to be SEC defensive player of the year next season if the Tigers bounce back with even a respectable season.
It's true that losing junior Sen'Derrick Marks to the NFL is a blow, but keeping one of the two Mobile stars is a better-than-OK batting average.
A fresh start elsewhere for Tray Blackmon, Ryan Williams and Chris Slaughter — who struggled with a combination of on-field, academic and off-field issues while at Auburn — is probably a good resolution for the players and the Tigers. The ill-fated decision of undersized cornerback Jerraud Powers to enter the NFL draft is something he will probably regret but not a blow Auburn can't overcome.
Even more instrumental in the long-term success than Coleman's return is the staff that Chizik is assembling.
The reason Randle is now considering Auburn and not Oklahoma State is because Chizik hired Curtis Luper away from the Cowboys. It's the same reason one of the country's top uncommitted quarterbacks, Tyrik Rollinson of Sulphur Springs, Texas, is now considering a visit to Auburn.
It also doesn't hurt that Luper can help sell Gus Malzahn's unique and explosive offense. At Ladd-Peebles Stadium, less than a mile from where Coleman made his announcement to return to Auburn, Malzahn produced a three-hour Auburn recruiting video when his final game as Tulsa's offensive coordinator resulted in a clinic on how to pick apart a defense in the GMAC Bowl.
By using a scheme that spreads the field and also utilizes the power running game, Malzahn seems to have a chance to please recruits and the Pat Dye crowd at the same time.
Of course, the only way for Chizik to prove he's better than a 5-19 coach is to win on the field. But one month on the job, he seems to be making all the right moves.
(c)2009 Alabama Live LLC
What did Florida and Oklahoma do to deserve big game?
At this writing, the bowl season is just beginning in earnest and by the time this appears in the paper many more of the bowls will have just been played.
FSU has already had a big win and UGa will have played by the time this is printed. All of the bowls, of course, will lead up to the BCS National Title game between Florida and Oklahoma Thursday for all the marbles, or as some would call it, the "Asterisk Bowl," because obviously, neither the Gators nor the Sooners deserve to be there.
Seriously, what has either of these teams done to deserve to be there? Oklahoma has only scored 60-plus for five games in a row. Florida only beat the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide to end the season. They only each won their conference, widely thought of as the toughest two conferences in college football. Oklahoma only scored an NCAA record 702 points this season while the Gators rattled off nine straight impressive wins since a 1-point upset loss at home to Ole Miss (which turned out to be a pretty good squad who will play in this year's Cotton Bowl).
Honestly, I cannot believe at this point in the season that anyone would doubt the worthiness of either of the teams that will play in Miami for the BCS National Title, but there seems to be a few haters out there.
These are obviously the best two teams in the country and are playing at the top of their respective games - hopefully the game will live up to the hype the way the SEC title game did.
As for the game itself, I am looking forward to watching our speed against Oklahoma's pace. While no one doubts that our team is faster once the ball is snapped, it is going to be interesting to see if Oklahoma will be able to catch us unprepared for the pace of the game. Not only do they run the no-huddle almost exclusively on offense, they even play faster than that by not calling many audibles and by snapping the ball quickly after lining up. Our coaches are doing their best to prepare our team for the onslaught, but there really is no substitution for the experience of playing against a style like that. As long as we survive.
I still have not decided whether or not I'll be watching from the upper deck or from the couch. Ticket prices seem to be falling, but I am still not completely convinced that I'll be able to afford to pay for a scalped ticket and miss a few days of work as well.
Either way, our defense should be up to the task and I look for another win and a second title in three years. UF 41, Boomer Losers 35.
Congratulations to the Seminoles for their dominating performance over Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times that the Seminoles looked like the Seminoles of old in dispatching the Badgers 42-13. How quickly these fans have forgotten the 30-point home beat-down they took at the hands of the Gators on the last game of the season. The Seminoles never will be back until they move on from the Bowden era and even then there are no guarantees.
By the time this is printed, Trey's Dawgs will have already played on New Year's Day in the Capital One Bowl. I'll be rooting for them again and hope they'll bring home another victory for the SEC.
(c) Copyright The Florida Times-Union
Backup play eases pain as UF ends up in title game
Go back to early July.
Go ahead, I'll wait.
It's hot, it's sticky and football still seems a long way off. You feeling it? OK, the only preseason polls belong to magazines. The real ones aren't out yet. But you like your Gator football team.
I'm going to tell you something about the 2008 team.
Remember, it's early July and you just stepped off the golf course/sauna. You're not in the mood for any bad news because you have just lost 10 pounds in sweat. But there's something you need to know.
I know you like your tight end Cornelius Ingram. Great player. Came back for his senior year. Won't play a down for you. And he's not alone. You're going to lose your starting strong safety Dorian Monroe. Gone. Knee. You know that junior college tackle you're counting on? Knee. Troy Epps will be no factor. Brandon Antwine is going to battle back from a back injury and be a tremendous story. Until he blows out his anterior cruciate ligament.
No, I'm not making this up. You're going to lose nine players to season-ending knee injuries including two defensive tackles. You are going to be nicknamed ACL-U.
Oh and that's not all. Your best playmaker will miss the biggest game of the year. Yep, Percy Harvin. He'll also miss the first game. That prized tailback transfer Emmanuel Moody? An ankle injury will keep him out of the middle of the season. And your right guard, Jim Tartt. Could be all-SEC. Except he's hardly going to play. Neither will Maurice Hurt, his backup. Your outside linebackers are going to be banged up all year and Ryan Stamper is going to start much of the season with a broken hand.
So what do you think?
"I'm thinking 6-6, 7-6, something like that," said Urban Meyer. "But I never realized how much guys would step up. It's a credit to (strength coach) Mickey Marotti and their position coaches and mostly to those players."
Players like Ahmad Black. When the Gators lost their starting strong safety, Black stepped in and had a sensational year.
"He's a guy we were trying to run out of here a year ago," Meyer said. "Chuck Heater has one of those a year. A Reggie Lewis, a Ryan Smith, an Ahmad Black."
Hey, I realize every college football team goes through injuries. But I thought it was important to point out what you already knew but probably never stopped to absorb.
Where Florida is now considering what it went through is truly an amazing story. As Meyer said, a lot of people deserve credit, especially guys like Will Hill and Terron Sanders and Tate Casey and David Nelson. I think the head coach deserves some credit, too.
Because when they are filling out those Coach of the Year ballots, I don't think many of the voters consider what Florida lost this year.
"I saw where Coach (Nick) Saban said the only injury they had all year was losing (Terrence) Cody for two games," Meyer said. "You add them all up for us and it's 50, 60, 70 games. It's almost frightening."
Actually, it's more frightening than that. By my count - and I'm not including Jim Barrie, an offensive lineman who suffered a torn ACL but probably wouldn't have played anyway this season - I've got the injured Gators missing 103 games.
That's right, 103 games missed.
You can scoff at that and blow off John Curtis, Brendan Beal and Cody Worton, all ACL injuries but not starters. They'd have played on special teams.
"People don't talk about Cody Worton, but he was one of my best special teams guys," Meyer said.
Worton tore his ACL against Miami. And the hits, they just kept a comin'. In all, Florida starters (and I include Ingram and Munroe) missed 41 games this season.
Somehow, some way, the Gator coaching staff was able to patch it together.
And now they find themselves here, on the brink of a national championship game.
"I've been a head coach for eight years and I can't think of a team I've been more proud of," Meyer said. "I love this team."
Amazing.
You might have seen this in early July.
You didn't see this broken path.
Copyright (c) 2008 Gainesville.com
Hate Weis, But You Won't Outwork Him
When word came out last week that Charlie Weis had been shuffling along for the last three months on not one, but two bad knees, it reminded me of a side of him that was celebrated early in his career, but not talked about much the last two seasons.
Say what you will about Charlie Weis, but no head coach in college football cares more deeply about his program and puts in more hours to try and get it right, under any circumstances.
Mushy knees cut into Weis' sideline speed, but they never interfered with his work ethic, as nothing ever does. The results have obviously not been there the last two seasons, but the effort has. It's the only way he knows.
Weis needs surgery to stabilize his right knee before he can repair a more serious injury to the left knee that was severely damaged when he was run over during the Michigan game. One report said the left knee was injured so badly, it looked like Weis had been in a car crash. The disturbing video of the injury supports that report.
Yet, Weis postponed the surgery because there was too much work ahead, even if everybody, including his bosses, would have forgiven him for having the surgery done immediately after the devastating injury.
Weis chose to tough it out and stay on the job because it's the only way he knows. He showed the same dedication back in 2002 after complications from gastric bypass surgery almost killed him. Instead of taking time away to fully recover from the surgical complications, Weis, who was coaching in New England, was back at Patriots practice, making his rounds in a wheelchair and on a motor scooter, trying to help win another Super Bowl.
Charlie Weis is not as complex a guy as most people make him out to be. He freely admits it. This is a family man first, and a football coach second... there really isn't a third or a fourth.
He pours his heart into his two life occupations. And being the head football coach at Notre Dame and raising a daughter with special needs are two demanding endeavors. Either one, by itself, is a great test of fortitude, and Weis embraces both, while dealing with his own health problems.
The pain in his legs - and backside - took its toll this season. It looked like the coach aged 20 years from training camp to the end-of-season banquet. Weis already had trouble walking because of nerve damage in his legs, and now this. But the coach never complained. He just kept on working, often times going above and well beyond all other coaches in terms of dedication. It's all he knows.
At least one recent Irish coach seemed more interested in seeing what Notre Dame could do for him, rather than what he could do for Notre Dame. Recruiting became more of an inconvenience than a responsibility, and the belief that the "Notre Dame" name would win would recruiting battles instead of effort stalled the program.
Bad knees and all, Weis never shortened his workday and he never ducked anything on his to-do list, even making a couple of painful flights to Hawaii for a recruiting stop that not any Midwest head coaches would have taken on. It's the only way he knows.
A lot has changed since Weis started his Notre Dame career 19-4 and had autograph seekers lined up outside his office at about 4:30 a.m. The autograph seekers are gone, but Weis is still getting to work at 4:30 a.m. It's the only way he knows.
There is obviously much Charlie Weis still needs to learn about being a head coach. And whether he deserved another year to try and figure it out was the biggest debate in sports the last month or so.
ND AD Jack Swarbrick saw something he liked when he retained Weis for at least another week, and that something had to include a work ethic that always puts responsibility first, even ahead of injury.
Neil Hayes wrote a nice piece about Weis and his health this week for the Chicago Sun-Times. And in it, he said you don't have to like Weis, but it is crossing the line to make light of the health problems he has faced for the last six years, and especially this season. Weis is a husband and a father of two, not a target for folly. Save the venom and the ridicule.
Say what you will about Charlie Weis. Hold out hope for his future, or jump ship. There's a strong case for either one. But if a coach ever deserved a break for dedication and hard work, Weis is the one.
(c)2008 Fan Action, Inc
Playoff for college's top division would make sense, money
From the late stages of August to the opening week of December, college football provides the most exciting three-plus months in all of sports.
From the anti-climatic BCS selection show to the final whistle of the so-called national championship game, the excitement of the college football season turns into a month (or longer) of ho-hum matchups, all culminating with the only game that really seems to matter.
It is time for a change, and fortunately our president-elect agrees. So does most anyone who isn't affiliated with our college football bowl system.
There was a time when bowl games meant something. They were a reward for a great season, and only the best teams earned that distinction.
We now have 34 bowl games, which includes 68 teams. There are 119 Division I teams. That means just 51 schools didn't earn a bowl bid. Too bad. There should be other teams on the sidelines joining the likes of Michigan, Auburn, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Virginia, schools that didn't qualify for the postseason.
Thank goodness there aren't two more games. The only eligible schools not to get bowl bids were Louisiana-Lafayette, San Jose State, Bowling Green and Arkansas State. At least Lafayette would have brought with it the Rajun' Cajuns, one of the great nicknames in all of sports.
How watered down is the bowl system? The ACC was the worst of the BCS conferences this season, and it placed 10 teams in the postseason, including one six-loss team and four five-loss squads. Only Virginia and Duke were left out.
Bowl games used to be a reward for a special season. Now it's a reward for six wins and a .500 record. Nine schools with 6-6 records are bowling, including Florida Atlantic, Northern Illinois, Colorado State and even Notre Dame.
Do these teams really deserve to continue playing? Is really there excitement for an Independence Bowl that will feature Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois, a matchup made possible when the SEC didn't have enough teams qualify for the postseason.
There's also 17 teams still playing that compiled 7-5 records, while Hawaii finished with a 7-6 mark. Thirteen teams with eight wins are also bowling, but at least they only have four defeats, except for Buffalo, which has five.
Sure, all these games count to the teams that will play in them and their fans, many of whom will flock to wherever their favorite school lands. Of course, at this time next year, good luck finding anyone who remembers who won this month's Cotton Bowl.
That's not the issue with the BCS. Let the schools with the mediocre records have their bowl games, but give the other games a chance to mean something.
Who is to say that Florida and Oklahoma are the best teams in the land right now? There are slew of one-win teams that might beg to differ, including Texas, Alabama, Southern California, Texas Tech and Penn State. What about Cinderella? It works in basketball. Utah and Boise are undefeated, Ball State played one bad game. Give them a chance.
What about some of the two-loss teams? LSU won the BCS title last season with two defeats. Brigham Young, Texas Christian, Cincinnati and Ohio State only have two losses right now. Of course, in the Buckeyes' case, that's a good thing for all of us.
Every year it's the same thing. There are a collection of teams near the top, and we let computers decide who the best two teams are. It's happened again.
Apparently, Oklahoma is better than Texas even though the Longhorns beat the Sooners on the field in rather convincing fashion. Call that an oversight by the Big 12 to let the BCS rankings decide a divisional tie-breaker.
In most every other sport under the sun, there are playoffs. There is one in college football at every level, but the top. We've all heard the excuses, missed class time, difficulty of travel for fans and the length of the season.
Apparently, that hasn't been a problem for Richmond and James Madison, a pair of Virginia schools that advanced to the Division I-AA (or whatever it is called now) semifinals.
It all comes down to - as with everything else - money. The schools don’t want to lose the money that's thrown at them by these games.
Well, a playoff could make them even more money. The system is in place. An eight-team playoff would include the six conference winners and two at-large teams, exactly like it's done now. Seed the teams 1-through-8 and let's play ball.
True, someone will get left out, but that's part of our ESPN-ruled world. Just ask Graham Harrell, who wasn't invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremonies, like it's his fault the Texas Tech defense allowed 65 points to Oklahoma. Or, ask any bubble team that doesn't get invited to the NCAA Tournament in March.
Make the four major bowls the opening round of an eight-team playoff. The semifinals and a 'real' national title game would follow over the next two weeks. Done.
True, it would push the season further into January, put college football in competition with the NFL playoffs, and might make the big bowls swoon because their games might not have the same influence they once had. How is that different from what we have now?
How about cutting back on the regular season, and do we really need a month between games for Florida and Oklahoma? Two weeks between games for the Super Bowl is bad enough. We get four weeks (or longer) in college football.
Changes can and should be made. Will it happen? Well, Barack Obama has said he would 'throw his weight' around on the issue.
Combine Obama's influence with ESPN's money - they will control the BCS starting in 2011 - and it just might happen. After all, what television wants, they usually get.
(c) 2007, The Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Will Hokie Fans fill the Stands?
Tampa, FL - We're less than 24 hours away from the Hokies facing Boston College in the ACC Championship game. The winner heads to Miami to play in the Orange Bowl. With so much at stake, the economy is having an impact on Saturday's game.
It's being played for the first time in Tampa. We have more on what officials there are doing to make sure the stands are full. It's quiet here outside Raymond James Stadium, but officials are hoping for a much different atmosphere when the Hokies and Eagles kick it off Saturday afternoon.
Despite slumping ticket sales at both schools, officials here are hoping for a near sellout. What they don't want to see is a bunch of empty seats, like what happened the last couple of years in Jacksonville. Tampa has the game for the next two years, and they are trying to showcase the best entertainment.
Final work was completed at Fan Fest across the street from the stadium. While it's taken a year of planning, nobody expected the economy to suffer the way it has. The Tech ticket office reports a nearly 50 percent drop in advance ticket sales for the game. Officials here expect a big turnout from local football fans.
Rob Higgins, Tampa Bay Sports Commission - "There's no question that the current state of the economy isn't exactly where everybody wants it to be or as it would be in previous years. But at the same time we took that in to consideration from a ticket price standpoint and tried to create a ton of added value to make it more than just the football game, make it a 48 hour celebration of ACC football."
Those ticket prices start at $25, a large drop from $65 last year in Jacksonville. One of those new added benefits, a post-game concert with country star Blake Shelton, who takes the stage Saturday afternoon.
(c) WSET-TV, Inc
NCAA rule might limit State's bowl options
ACC bowl partners in Charlotte or Washington might want to invite N.C. State to their games, but the NCAA might not allow it.
Under ACC rules, N.C. State can play in any of the conference's bowl tie-ins except the Orange Bowl. Under a relatively new NCAA rule, N.C. State could end up left out of the conference bowl lineup and perhaps any bowl altogether.
The Wolfpack finished the regular season 6-6 overall, the minimum number of wins for bowl eligibility. However, the Pack is 4-4 in the ACC, which is either tied with or within one game of the nine other ACC bowl-eligible teams, and that technically opens the door from Atlanta (Chik-fil-A Bowl) to Washington (EagleBank Bowl) for the Wolfpack.
Here comes the confusing and potentially disappointing part for the Wolfpack: The ACC has 10 bowl-eligible teams and nine conference tie-ins. According to the NCAA Postseason Football Handbook, the ACC is required to fill its bowl slots with seven-win teams before six-win teams.
N.C. State is the only bowl-eligible team with six wins, which under NCAA rule, leaves the Wolfpack on the outside looking in.
The NCAA doesn't legislate the bowls, though. The bowls are contracted by the conferences, and the two sides -- not the NCAA -- determine which teams play where.
"We're in uncharted territory," said ACC associate commissioner Michael Kelly, who coordinates the conference's bowl contracts. "We have to get to the bottom of [the NCAA] rule and work with our bowl partners and the NCAA. It might be another seven days before we have an answer."
Will Webb, the executive director of the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, said he believes the NCAA rule is open to interpretation.
"It's really a matter of everyone working together," Webb said. "As long as the [ACC] can find a home for all of its 7-5 teams, [the ACC bowl partners] can take a 6-6 team."
The NCAA handbook explicitly states no such deal is allowed to occur, but the ACC might have a potential way around it. Sean Metcalf, the head of the first-year EagleBank Bowl, said Maryland (7-5) has informed him that the Terrapins cannot play in his game because the date, Dec. 20, conflicts with the university's exam schedule.
The ACC could work with the NCAA to put N.C. State in the EagleBank Bowl, which picks ninth in the ACC's bowl order, and broker a deal for the Terps.
"We're going to deal with that this week, once everything with the ACC gets cleared up," Metcalf said.
The good news for State is that there is a shortage of bowl-eligible teams in the SEC, Big 12 and Pac-10 conferences, which means there will be at least three potential bowls for the Wolfpack if it is frozen out of the ACC lineup.
If the SEC and Big 12 each send two teams to the Bowl Championship Series bowls -- and given Sunday's BCS standings, that's all but certain -- then there will be at-large openings in the PapaJohns.com Bowl, the Texas Bowl and both spots in the Independence Bowl. If Ohio State is picked for a BCS bowl, a fourth at-large bowl, the Motor City Bowl, would be available.
A 6-6 team cannot be chosen for at-large spot over a team with a record of 7-5 or better. That means one team from the Mid-American Conference -- 9-3 Western Michigan, 8-4 Central Michigan or 7-5 Buffalo -- has to fill one of the at-large spots. The MAC has bowl tie-ins for two of those teams.
If Arkansas State (6-5) beats Troy (7-4) on Saturday, the Sun Belt Conference would have two 7-5 teams and Troy would be locked into the PapaJohns.com Bowl.
If Troy wins, and the game is at Troy, the Sun Belt would only have one bowl team and the other at-large spots would remain open for the 6-6 teams.
N.C. State and Notre Dame are the only 6-6 teams from the BCS without a conference tie-in. Louisville (5-6) and Arizona State (5-6) could join them in the at-large pool with wins this week.
At best, N.C. State is looking at four open at-large spots. At worst, there could be two spots for four 6-6 BCS teams. There will be five 6-6 teams from outside the BCS conferences by the end of the week.
Wolfpack athletic director Lee Fowler has been working with Kelly and ACC commissioner John Swofford about his program's bowl future.
"We want the best situation we can find," Fowler said.
(c) Copyright 2008, The News & Observer Publishing Company
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