2010 NCAA Football Thread

[GFB]

Instead of the Indiana or Notre Dame comparisons, why not look at the Nebraska program? They hire Bill Callahan and he takes Nebraska away from their power option running attack and tries to install the west coast offense. Huge mistake, they lose for 3-4 years, bring in Pelini who takes them back to the power run game and intimidating defense. Now they are a program on the rise. I see much more similarities there than I do with ND and that mess.

I knew the Nebraska comparison was coming, and you, sir, are mistaken. Yes, Callahan was not "one of us" regarding the Nebraska culture and tradition. Yes, Callahan was ultimately fired after 4 seasons. However, Callahan was fired in large part because he and his fate was tied to that of then athletic director Steve Pederson. Pederson sacked Solich and brought in Callahan so he could have "his own guy". Once Nebraska figured out he wasn't taking the entire athletic department in the proper direction after 6 years, his termination was mandated.

Additionally, Callahan's ouster came following a very disappointing season in which the defending Big 12 North Champions took on paper what was a very promising season and clearly and totally regressed into a 5 win team and the utter reduction of his defense to cinders by most of the Conference in the 4th year of his program. That's termination worthy in most places.

Finally, unlike Michigan, the local media and certain vocal segments of the fanbase didn't dedicate themselves to Callahan's utter destruction 30 seconds into his tenure. The Detroit Free Press's vendetta against Rodriguez has directly harmed the University, gone way beyond the bounds of most standards of journalistic propriety, and has generally been a disgrace to everyone involved; there is no analogue to that in Lincoln or Omaha. Nebraska fans, however, were willing by and large to give Callahan's program a chance until the complete and total collapse of his defense in 2007, and a relative stagnation of the once-promising offense. Which Pelini had to painstakingly rebuild over the next two seasons.

-----------------------------------------------------------

The Indiana fan in me would kill to have Rodriguez coaching the Hoosiers. The Nebraska fan in me desperately wants you guys to fire him so the Huskers can have free reign over the division for the next few seasons. It would be a mistake to fire him now that he has his QB in Robinson.

Michigan just replaced their Athletic Director as well. Rich Rodriguez was hired by Bill Martin, who retired last year. David Brandon, who was the president of Dominos Pizza, was brought in and has already brought in quite a bit of change including Michigan's first night game next year vs. Notre Dame, a 2012 opener in Dallas vs. Alabama, and pledges to improve the basketball facilities. Brandon now has the opportunity to put his stamp directly on the football team. And by bringing in a Jim Harbaugh/Brady Hoke/Chris Peterson, he will have the opportunity to bring the entire Michigan Mafia over to his side.

And its not as if Michigan was already down when he took them over. The 2006 team was one drive away from an appearance in the National Championship Game, then proceeded to beat Tebow's Gators the following year in the Outback Bowl.

I was a large supporter of Rich Rodriguez. I defended him in the past, saying he needed time, needed his players. I said Lloyd Carr left cupboard bare. I had visions of Oregon offense dancing around in my head with a legitimate Big-10 caliber defense to support it. Well, it has been three years, and I think I can see the direction this team is going. Sure, they move the ball at will up and down the field, but the team is plagued by injuries, turnovers, and mental errors. I don't know if those things are ever going to go away. And if the offense was so good, why did they find themselves down by 20+ midway through the MSU, Iowa, PSU, Wisconsin, and Ohio State games? It is not as if it were 45-24 in the second quarter. What good is 300 yards of total offense in one half when it only leads to 10 points? And I haven't even touched on that defense.

If you want to give him one more year with the offense, fine. He better be 9-3 with victories over MSU and Ohio State. But for now and at the very minimum, GERG Robinson and his/RichRod's 3-3-5 defense has to go. Now.

[GFB]

I hope this is the last half of the Rich Rod era. I don't care how much we lose by, I just want to be done.

Money well spent! Rodriguez's salary, plus his West Virginia buyout, totaled $14 million. That's almost a cool million per win during his tenure at Ann Arbor. (15 wins over three seasons)

Michigan would've gotten more 'bang for their buck' had they invensted in Can Newton.

I figure it like this. The last 3 years never happened

It could be much worse. See Miami Hurricanes.

Schnellenberger 5 seasons/16 losses

Johnson 5 seasons/9 losses

Erickson 6 seasons/9 losses

Davis 6 seasons/20 losses (under probation for )

Coker 6 seasons/15 losses

Shannon 3+ seasons/17 losses

Randy Shannon is considered "safe" by the president as he graduates players, they don't get arrested, and they win 7 games a year now. They have not sniffed the ACC title game and kept many Miami-Dade players in the last three seasons. Their recruits don't improve at all so much so that most damaging is what a Packers coach said of rookie CB Sam Shields:

Much of the credit for that goes to Whitt, who was at his wits' end when he found that Shields had no idea how to watch film, learn defenses or prepare for games at the cornerback position. So Whitt began at, well, the beginning.

"He had no clue. Trust me, no clue," Whitt said bluntly. "There was one day, I almost lost my mind."

To teach Shields, Whitt went back to an approach he used as an assistant at Louisville, where he helped turn two former offensive players ? Arizona Cardinals safety Kerry Rhodes and Philadelphia Eagles safety Antoine Harris ? into NFL-caliber defensive players.

"Basically, I got flash cards. I drew a formation on one side, I drew the check on the back side, just like you do in school," Whitt explained. "The next day, I come in, he has a stack of flash cards, two inches deep, and he has everything on it. And from that day on, it was a total transformation because he understood the defense from that day on because he understood how to study."

BTW, who gets the most unnecessary TV time for a fan: Big Nut, Fireman Ed, or those two guys in Penn St. uniforms with rubbermasks?

Oops.

Sources: Shannon and Staff To Be Fired Sunday

[rams80]

Michigan just replaced their Athletic Director as well. Rich Rodriguez was hired by Bill Martin, who retired last year. David Brandon, who was the president of Dominos Pizza, was brought in and has already brought in quite a bit of change including Michigan's first night game next year vs. Notre Dame, a 2012 opener in Dallas vs. Alabama, and pledges to improve the basketball facilities. Brandon now has the opportunity to put his stamp directly on the football team. And by bringing in a Jim Harbaugh/Brady Hoke/Chris Peterson, he will have the opportunity to bring the entire Michigan Mafia over to his side.

And that's something I don't get. This is a fanbase that, while not quite on the level of insanity with "tradition" that goes with Aggiedom, does seem to be rather set in its ways. Why aren't you guys hellbent on shanking Brandon for obviously messing with "tradition" when that has been the premise of going after Rodriguez (at least at first)? (Well, there was the screaming at him for signing off on somehow "delegitimizing" 'The Game' in the Big Ten realignment process)

As for your coaches, Harbaugh thoroughly slammed Michigan's organization from top to bottom a couple of years ago and is a possible (probable?) NFL flight risk (quite the Michigan Man there), Hoke has 3 seasons that are decent or better (out of 8) at a level of play that, shall we say, is not nearly on par with Michigan's, and Peterson has probably seen Michigan dedicate the last 3 years (or looked at another way, the dude's entire tenure) to driving out/making the dude's life hell the last "hot coach" out an upstart program they hired. He's got a good thing going in Boise, and he just may not want to trade that for the chance of instant persecution. (Plus he saw what happened to Dan Hawkins at Colorado.)

Honestly, you can say "winningest program EVAR" but at this point the Michigan job is not that attractive for coaches. Kind of like Notre Dame actually-they shoot for the moon, but elite coaches won't touch that program/fanbase with a ten foot pole now.

---------------------------------

EDIT

And its not as if Michigan was already down when he took them over. The 2006 team was one drive away from an appearance in the National Championship Game, then proceeded to beat Tebow's Gators the following year in the Outback Bowl.

And then Henne, Hart, Crable, Adams, and the entire left side of the offensive line graduated, Manningham and Arrington went pro, and Mallet did what most young QBs do in a coaching change and transferred. Meanwhile Carr left the backup cupboard rather bare. You were left with no offense for 2008. Carr had probably been planning on bailing after 2007 for years regardless, Appy State just publicly codified the pending regime change.

[bigmike]

Okay this Georgia-Gerogia Tech game is crazy. First off, the Yellow Jackets score a TD to tie and then they miss the extra point. Then they are trying to stop Georgia to get the ball back and the Dawgs put it on the turf. THEN Georgia Tech turns it over on downs and with 1:30 the Dawgs score a TD, why not kneel the ball? I don't think Georgia Tech will be able to come back but Georgia just gave them the opportunity to score 8 points to tie.

Georgia Tech is moving it but you can tell this QB is just designed to run instead of throwing.

Edit- Yep he throws a pick and the Dawgs of the SEC are bowl eligible!

[rams80]

Okay this Georgia-Gerogia Tech game is crazy. First off, the Yellow Jackets score a TD to tie and then they miss the extra point. Then they are trying to stop Georgia to get the ball back and the Dawgs put it on the turf. THEN Georgia Tech turns it over on downs and with 1:30 the Dawgs score a TD, why not kneel the ball? I don't think Georgia Tech will be able to come back but Georgia just gave them the opportunity to score 8 points to tie.

Georgia Tech is moving it but you can tell this QB is just designed to run instead of throwing.

Edit- Yep he throws a pick and the Dawgs of the SEC are bowl eligible!

I guess Richt is trying to get fired.

Also it looks like we'll be getting a "poetic" end to Nebraska's time in the Big XII-them vs. Oklahoma for all the marbles, one last time.

[knnhrvy16]

We've got a classic in Stillwater. The Cowboys just keep coming back, it's now 33-31 Oklahoma with 4:00 left. That's alot of time for something to happen.

EDIT: holy shiz. 40-38 after a huge OU TD and a subsequent OSU kickoff return TD. Wow.

[bigmike]

This weekend of College Football has just been crazy, oh man I hope Oklahoma State can find a way to pull this one out.

[infrared41]

I wouldn't say Boise's been lucky all year. In many games, the starters have been out by the second quarter and they've been well in the drivers' seat.

No not at all. They're a very, very good team. You won't agree with this but the thing that was going to screw them with the BCS was probably the very thing that screwed them last night; their schedule. There's just no way to play nine cupcakes in a row without it affecting your level of play. Boise hadn't played a competitive game in months. No one had given them a challenge in months. Last night, when they found themselves in a real fight they simply weren't used to it and it cost them. They couldn't just shift gears and run away from Nevada. I really believe the fact that they hadn't played in a competitive game in such a long time really hurt them last night. In my opinion, there's just no way Nevada is better than Boise State. But, Nevada had been dialed in on that game for weeks while Boise was looking at it as the last step in their BCS title drive. In other words, going in, last night was Nevada's season. Not so much for Boise State.

All that aside, I still think Boise has an outside shot at a BCS bowl. LSU losing today didn't hurt things for them and there are still some key games to be played. They shouldn't be out of the picture because of one loss. Especially when some dog - team from The Big East is going to get a bid. Which brings me to my final point...

Since the NCAA is too stubborn and stupid to adopt my absolutely perfect plan for a playoff and stick with the BCS then the least they could do is borrow a page from my plan. If you have a BCS bowl tie-in but your conference champ isn't in at least the top 15 in the BCS standings (top 10 preferably) then you have to step aside that season and give the bid to someone else. It is beyond absurd that teams like Stanford, Boise State, Michigan State, etc. may not get BCS bids while The Big East champ will be cashing a 14 million dollar check.

[RyanMcD29]

I was gonna say with everyone pissed at the Big East hogging a BCS bid that if there was a playoff, the Big East would still hog a tournament bid. That suggestion could work out well

On that note, Notre Dame finally beats USC and in the process more than likely takes away a Big East bowl bid because the Champs Sports Bowl can take a 7-5 Notre Dame team over the Big East #2. When it rains it pours in this conference. At least USF beat Miami so I guess all isn't lost in the Big Least, plus in about a month its back to Big Beast hoops anyway

[rams80]

And Oklahoma wins.

--------------------------------

Bob Stoops: I can see you Bo, can you seem me?

Bo Pelini: Stoops

Bob Stoops: Oh, now be honest, Bo, warrior to warrior. You do prefer it this way, don't you, as it was meant to be? No peace in our time. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends."

/This was how it was meant to be.

[LocalVulture]

Stanford: Orange Bowl here they come. Maybe.

[Punch]

Since the NCAA is too stubborn and stupid to adopt my absolutely perfect plan for a playoff and stick with the BCS then the least they could do is borrow a page from my plan. If you have a BCS bowl tie-in but your conference champ isn't in at least the top 15 in the BCS standings (top 10 preferably) then you have to step aside that season and give the bid to someone else. It is beyond absurd that teams like Stanford, Boise State, Michigan State, etc. may not get BCS bids while The Big East champ will be cashing a 14 million dollar check.

Could you provide me with a link to your perfect plan? I'm curious to see because I've recently become curious as to how a college football playoff would work.

Oh, and I completely agree with your statement about Boise. Although it's a valid explanation, it still comes off as just another excuse for Lights Out.

[dfwabel]

Shannon is done like a late dinner. Yes! He was terrible.

http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112710aaa.html

[ninersdd]

Just curious, do they allow teams with sub .500 records into bowls if there isn't enough .500 teams to fill them?

[NJTank]

I was gonna say with everyone pissed at the Big East hogging a BCS bid that if there was a playoff, the Big East would still hog a tournament bid. That suggestion could work out well

On that note, Notre Dame finally beats USC and in the process more than likely takes away a Big East bowl bid because the Champs Sports Bowl can take a 7-5 Notre Dame team over the Big East #2. When it rains it pours in this conference. At least USF beat Miami so I guess all isn't lost in the Big Least, plus in about a month its back to Big Beast hoops anyway

Good the Big East was beyond awful this year. I think the Mountain West is more deserving of the AG status, until the Big East gets better.

Lets look realistically there are no consistent powerhouses in the Big East any more, and you can certainly argue once Boise State joins the MWC next year it is significantly a better conference.

[dfwabel]

Thank you Dr. Donna Shalala! Shannon lost too many games. We need winners and by just getting the NW High School team is not getting winners.

[LocalVulture]

I'm thinking UConn loses at South Florida next week while West Virginia beats Rutgers to gain the Big East BCS bid with 9-3 record.

[WJMorris3]

Just curious, do they allow teams with sub .500 records into bowls if there isn't enough .500 teams to fill them?

We're good on that front - 70 teams are bowl-eligible as we speak.

[WJMorris3]

I was gonna say with everyone pissed at the Big East hogging a BCS bid that if there was a playoff, the Big East would still hog a tournament bid. That suggestion could work out well

On that note, Notre Dame finally beats USC and in the process more than likely takes away a Big East bowl bid because the Champs Sports Bowl can take a 7-5 Notre Dame team over the Big East #2. When it rains it pours in this conference. At least USF beat Miami so I guess all isn't lost in the Big Least, plus in about a month its back to Big Beast hoops anyway

Good the Big East was beyond awful this year. I think the Mountain West is more deserving of the AG status, until the Big East gets better.

Lets look realistically there are no consistent powerhouses in the Big East any more, and you can certainly argue once Boise State joins the MWC next year it is significantly a better conference.

But is a conference, plus Boise State, minus Utah and BYU, still deserving of that AQ status?

[GFB]

Michigan just replaced their Athletic Director as well. Rich Rodriguez was hired by Bill Martin, who retired last year. David Brandon, who was the president of Dominos Pizza, was brought in and has already brought in quite a bit of change including Michigan's first night game next year vs. Notre Dame, a 2012 opener in Dallas vs. Alabama, and pledges to improve the basketball facilities. Brandon now has the opportunity to put his stamp directly on the football team. And by bringing in a Jim Harbaugh/Brady Hoke/Chris Peterson, he will have the opportunity to bring the entire Michigan Mafia over to his side.

And that's something I don't get. This is a fanbase that, while not quite on the level of insanity with "tradition" that goes with Aggiedom, does seem to be rather set in its ways. Why aren't you guys hellbent on shanking Brandon for obviously messing with "tradition" when that has been the premise of going after Rodriguez (at least at first)? (Well, there was the screaming at him for signing off on somehow "delegitimizing" 'The Game' in the Big Ten realignment process)

As for your coaches, Harbaugh thoroughly slammed Michigan's organization from top to bottom a couple of years ago and is a possible (probable?) NFL flight risk (quite the Michigan Man there), Hoke has 3 seasons that are decent or better (out of 8) at a level of play that, shall we say, is not nearly on par with Michigan's, and Peterson has probably seen Michigan dedicate the last 3 years (or looked at another way, the dude's entire tenure) to driving out/making the dude's life hell the last "hot coach" out an upstart program they hired. He's got a good thing going in Boise, and he just may not want to trade that for the chance of instant persecution. (Plus he saw what happened to Dan Hawkins at Colorado.)

Honestly, you can say "winningest program EVAR" but at this point the Michigan job is not that attractive for coaches. Kind of like Notre Dame actually-they shoot for the moon, but elite coaches won't touch that program/fanbase with a ten foot pole now.

You touched on it earlier when you mentioned the vendetta that the Detroit Free Press has against RR for whatever reason. Ask any anti-RR Michigan fan why they feel that way and you'll get a variety of answers. Because he's not a "Michigan Man", because of the shadyness of his midnight flight from WV, because of the practice allegations, lack of success on the field, etc... I've lost count of all the reasons. As a fanbase, we're not afraid of progress, but it needs to be behind a man that they can believe in and trust and too much has transpired against Rich Rodriguez to be that man. Dave Brandon hasn't had that same negative press going his way, so he has had the ability to move the program forward.

As for the Michigan coaching job not being an attractive destination because of the trash thrown Rich Rodriguez's way, I don't think that one bad coaching experience is going to change the attractiveness of the position. In fact, whoever the new coach is going to come in riding a wave of support just because he's not RR. Anyone they bring in, the scene in Ann Arbor will look like Jesus entering Jerusalem for the Passover. And imagine if he actually wins some games... their name would be revered with the greats of Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr.

And if you go back and read my post, I said that I was a main defender of Carr leaving the cupboard bare. However, I don't see Rich Rodriguez doing much to restock it on the defensive side. Plus, there have been issues about the scheme. This season he or GERG have not put the players they do have in the best position to succeed and have failed to remove the players who haven't in time... *cough* Obi Ezeh *cough* It's to the point that I think if he had Lamaar Woodley, David Harris, or Brandon Graham, I don't think they would be successful either.