Saturday Football Fever

This is garbage.

ECU got fined for fans being on the field after the upset of West Virginia.

Does Conference USA not understand college football?  Fans are emotional - the sport is emotional.  When your team beats a top 10 opponent for the first time in a long time, they are likely to rush the field.  Why?  Because they are excited about their teams win.  Don’t punish ECU and their fans for embracing the part of the game that separates college football from the NFL.

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Tags: conference usa, east carolina pirates, west virginia mountaineers

Well, it looks like there will be no plus-one game for college football.  And that sucks.  I think the plus-one format would have been a better way to figure out who the “true” national champion is and it would have been one step closer to a true play-off system.

I’m convinced that one day the BCS commissioners and Notre Dame will realize that they can have all their bowl games and they can have a play-off at the same time.  And I’m pretty sure that they could make more money than they do now.

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Tags: bcs, bowl game, national champion, notre dame, play-off, plus-one

Mitch Mustain must be pissed.

First, he had his parents (along with some others) raise a stink about Houston Nutt at Arkansas. When he didn’t get what he wanted (namely, a new coach and a better offense), he transferred to USC. He sat out he entire year, thinking that he’d be able to land the starting job. Then spring rolls around and he gets beat out by Mark Sanchez.

From prep superstar and top recruit in the country to back-up QB for the mighty Trojans. Think he wishes he had stayed at Arkansas now that Petrino has showed up?

Filed under: Conference News, Spring Practice | No Comments

Tags: arkansas razorbacks, bobby petrino, houston nutt, mark sanchez, mitch mustain, pac 10, usc trojans

The question was posed to me today - “Can Georgia Tech succeed in the ACC running the triple option that Paul Johnson employed at Navy?”

I say yes it can.

Just about any offense can succeed in college football if you have the right players, the right coaching and excellent execution (except for the West Coast offense…but that’s another story).

We already know that Johnson can coach. Anyone who can make Navy football semi-relevant again has to have some coaching skills. He doesn’t have the perfect players to run the triple option, but that is easily remedied through recruiting (which will take a few years). And once he’s go the players, it’s simply a matter of repetition and good coaching and they will have the execution part down as well. So yes, you can succeed running the triple option.

The big knocks against the triple option are that A) you can’t recruit players for that offense (i.e. no one wants to play in that offense) and B) there is too much speed in the major BCS conferences to be successful.

The first point is ridiculous. Go watch any 5 high school games in your area on any given Friday night. You know what kind of offense they are running? A variation of the triple option. Nebraska was able to recruit top high school players to run that offense until they stopped running it in 2004. There are always going to be good players who will fit into and are willing to play in the triple option. And if Johnson can convince a kid to play football at Navy (and thus, enroll in the service) then I think he can convince a kid to come to Georgia Tech (despite the 600:1 guys to girls ratio).

The second point is even more ridiculous. Nebraska was successful up through 2003 (they won 10 games and even played in the 2001 BCS championship game) running a variation of triple option. The Big 12 has lots of speed and Nebraska was successful. If the speed thing were true, then all those spread options would fail as well. They are both based on the quarterback’s ability to read the defense and either pitch the ball or run with it. With the right QB, you can neutralize much of the speed issue with any iteration of the option.

What it boils down to is that Johnson can flat out coach, he’ll get the players to run the option and he’ll be successful in the ACC running the triple option.

If you don’t believe me, remember this: everyone said that Urban Meyer’s spread option wouldn’t work in the SEC because of all the speed on defense.

And I think things have turned out pretty well for Urban Meyer and his Gators thus far.

Filed under: Conference News | No Comments

Tags: acc, bcs, florida gators, georgia tech yellow jackets, national championship, navy midshipmen, nebraska cornhuskers, paul johnson, sec, spread option, triple option, urban meyer, west coast offense

Normally, I wouldn’t care about what happens in the Kansas spring game. But given their success last year on the gridiron, a little more attention will be paid to the Jayhawks this year.

I don’t think that you’ll see the same level of success from Mark Mangino and the Jayhawks again. For starters, they have a much tougher schedule this year. Their conference slate is much more difficult this season, as they play at Oklahoma and Texas and Texas Tech at home. Throw in a game at an improved (and pissed off) Nebraska and a tough game against Missouri and the Big 12 schedule is brutal. Add non-conference opponent South Florida and you can guess that Kansas won’t be 12-1 again next year.

You also have to consider that they lost a ton of talent on both sides of the ball. First team All-Americans Aqib Talib and Anthony Collins; second team All-American James McClinton; receiver Marcus Henry and leading rusher Brandon McAnderson. Even the USC’s and Ohio State’s of the world don’t bounce back easily from player attrition like that.

Finally, Reesing will have the weight of the offense and the team on his shoulders. If Reesing fails to deliver (like he did in the spring game), then Kansas will crumble. Their fate rests on his ability to take his game to a higher level. Not an easy feat.

Even if all goes poorly for Kansas this season, they’ll always be able to say they won the basketball national championship.

Filed under: Conference News, Spring Practice | No Comments

Tags: anthony collins, aqib talib, big 12, brandon mcanderson, james mcclinton, kansas jayhawks, marcus henry, mark mangino, missouri tigers, nebraska cornhuskers, ohio state buckeyes, oklahoma sooners, south florida bulls, texas longhorns, texas tech red raiders, todd reesing, usc trojans

Urban Meyer took his goal of having the “fastest team in America” to new heights at this year’s spring game. He made the bold prediction that if a student from the Gator population could beat one of his players in a foot race, he’d give them a full scholarship.

After some shady race officiating, the Gator players came out on top. And Urban Meyer came up with another creative way of widening his recruiting base by having ESPN there to broadcast the whole thing.

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Tags: espn, florida gators, urban meyer

Ah, spring.

This can only mean the start of warm weather and spring games.

It’s a bittersweet time in the hearts of college football fans everywhere. Spring practice and games give us our college football fix following recruiting. But they also signal the down period in college football from May to August. Four months of rehashing recruiting and trying to figure out how the incoming freshmen will integrate into the game plans shown during the spring game.

For me, there is only one spring game that counts…Alabama’s.

Last year, with the start of the Nick Saban era, 92,000+ showed up at Bryant-Denny to watch a scrimmage. This year, 78,000+ showed up. Clearly, there is still some excitement in Tuscaloosa around Saban’s process.

The Crimson team (1st team offense, 2nd team defense) defeated the White team (2nd team offense, 1st team defense) 24-14. It was an aerial show, with John Parker Wilson throwing for 265 yards and 3 TDs.

To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of this. Has JPW improved so much that he can take over games like this? Did the loss of Simenon Castile and others decimate our secondary? We probably won’t get an answer for sure until the fall, but I know this. JPW looked more comfortable in the pocket and didn’t seem to bail out and throw off his back foot, which he did too much of last year. Add that to an offensive line that has had a year to gel and a solid running game and I think that Bama’s offense will be much improved and more consistent this year. I just can’t wait until Julio Jones and the rest of the freshmen class show up.

And that’s all I can do now. Wait for August to roll around.

Filed under: Conference News, Spring Practice | No Comments

Tags: alabama crimson tide, bryant-denny, john parker wilson, julio jones, nick saban

I was all excited about seeing Ryan Mallet lead the Wolverines this year, only to watch him disappear to Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks. He was rather untested, but seemed solid. What Big Blue is left with is a bunch of brand new faces. ESPN breaks it down:

Filed under: Conference News, Preseason news | 2 Comments

Tags: arkansas razorbacks, bobby petrino, michigan wolverines, ryan mallet