College Confidential

Thoughts from Saturday

A few thoughts about Saturday's games while waiting for the (drum roll please) first announcement of the BCS standings about 3:40 p.m. today on Fox.

1. Texas will probably be third in the first BCS rankings behind Florida and Alabama, especially with Virginia Tech's loss. Anything lower will be a shock. It will be interesting to see how the computers view the Longhorns. Texas proved it could win a defensive game against Oklahoma even though it registered few style points. The next two games, at Missouri and at Oklahoma State, will define the Texas regular season.

2. We don't know if we've seen Sam Bradford's last game in an Oklahoma uniform. That's his call. Hopefully, we did. He came to Oklahoma when he could have been a Top 10 (and maybe higher) NFL pick. He bounced from a serious shoulder sprain to return, showing grit. Now he's hurt again. He has nothing left to prove at OU and nothing he can prove to the NFL. Shut it down, heal, get surgery if necessary and get ready for the draft.

3. A couple of weeks ago, the pirate ship at Texas Tech looked to be taking on water. Now, the Red Raiders can make a legitimate claim, along with Oklahoma State, to being the second best team in the Big 12. (Hey, both lost to Houston). Backup QB Steven "Sticks" Sheffield was unfazed by a road start in Lincoln. And the defense - yes, the Tech defense - absolutely dominated with five sacks. Ndamukong who?

4. Speaking of a ship that may be sinking ... yeah, that's a transition to Texas A&M. At worst, I figured the Aggies could get two or three wins against the worst of the North and get to a bowl. After Saturday's 62-14 loss at Kansas State, the Aggies could be descending beyond the 2008 depths. "We got our butt kicked every which way," A&M coach Mike Sherman said. Unless Michael Bishop just gained some more eligibility, this isn't exactly a vintage Bill Snyder team. The Wildcats were coming off a 66-14 butt kicking of their own at Texas Tech.

5. SMU is 3-3 but could easily be 5-1 and a win away from bowl-eligibility. The Mustangs held second-half leads against Washington State and Navy and then lost in overtime in both games. SMU could still cobble together six victories, if it can post home wins against Rice, UTEP and Tulane. 

6. TCU has done pretty much everything it has needed to do as a potential BCS Buster. The Horned Frogs' biggest test comes Saturday at BYU, which has regrouped since that loss to Florida State. Since joining the Mountain West, TCU has split at Provo, winning 51-50 in 2005 and losing 27-22 in 2007. A win over Max Hall and Co. would be a major boost as TCU tries to climb past Boise State.

-- Chuck Carlton

TCU's OU experience might have helped Florida

TCU might have been a major help in how Florida's defense attacked an Oklahoma offense that had scored 60 or more points in five consecutive games entering the BCS National Championship.

Before Thursday night's game, Gators coach Urban Meyer said in a news conference that there was more to decoding OU's offense than watching it on videotape.

"You don’t understand you have substitution limitations because of tempo, you have the fatigue factor and you have the chaos factor where you like to line up", Meyer said. "The positive is we’ve had three weeks to prepare and we’ve been operating at a very high level of chaos on defense trying to get lined up and be ready to go. They create a lot of plays because teams are misaligned.

"TCU is a perfect example. They were playing their tails off and even the coach, Gary Patterson, made a comment he screwed them up because he was talking when the play was snapped. We have to get lined up and get ready to go. That’s a problem."

Maybe that warning was why you didn't see Florida looking at the sidelines a lot while the Sooners went through their play selection at the line of scrimmage.

Patterson publicly flogged himself after the Oklahoma game, saying "I didn’t get some guys lined up in time. When I stopped being a 'guru,’ we played better."

The Horned Frogs, in fact, held the Sooners to 116 yards and one touchdown in the second half of the game Sept. 27 in Norman. And that was with Sam Bradford playing into the final minutes. OU, however, led 28-3 at halftime, burning the Frogs on the very kind of vertical strikes that the Gators were able to avoid, or dodge, Thursday night.

Here's hoping for some drama with OU-Florida

In my mind, I think it could be exciting.
It could come down to the final minute. One big play. One big stop.
But then in reality, I remind myself, "Don't bet on it."
I'll be watching the BCS National Championship with some friends on Thursday night, and I hope Oklahoma and Florida put on a show. I want a USC-Texas type game from a few years ago.
Will it happen? Possibly.
You have two tremendously talented teams, two great coaches, lots of speed, lots of athleticism. On paper, you could say this matchup is a push.
But then again, part of me says I'm in for a letdown. Watch Oklahoma, and you'll notice that often the defense can't tackle properly and the offense will go conservative for no reason. Watch them in bowl games, and it's even more disappointing.
With the exception of Vince Young's Superman performance against the Trojans, most of the BCS national title games have been boring. Sure, you can go back to Michael Vick's game against Florida State and the Miami-Ohio State game (which are really the only other two that have been entertaining), but have you really been left in amazement??
Maybe I'm asking for too much. But then again, I was there for the Carroll-Trinity playoff game, and I was in Austin when Kentucky and Michigan State went to double overtime in the Sweet 16.
You'd think this game could join that group.
Something tells me that won't happen. -Trae Thompson

BCS commish not flinching

The Arizona Republic had an article the other day about the BCS, which included a quick comment from BCS commissioner John Swofford, who continued to say the BCS is "the best system to determine a national champion."
Check out this shot, though, from CBS' Tim Brando:
"It's not the bowl games at fault. It's the commissioners and presidents who have turned this into an elitist sport that looks down its nose at potential Cinderellas of the world. They say unless you're a brand name (team), we don't care, you have no chance of winning the title (via playoff). I'm not anti-bowl, I'm anti-BCS. I think the bowls should stay in place and have the regional tradition they used to have so New Year's Day means something again."

I totally agree there. -Trae Thompson

Tebow back for an encore? Possibly

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Could Tim Tebow come back for his senior year and possibly try for another national championship?
The Florida quarterback didn't rule it out, and said he and linebacker Brandon Spikes have talked about the possibility of returning. Tebow admitted he admired what members of the Gator basketball team did when they returned to defend their national title.
"It was exciting, it was fun. It's definitely something I thought about,'' he said. "It's something they needed to do and wanted to do. I think it's something we'll look at. We'll look at our situations and see what arises in the next few months and what we feel is the best decision for us."
Tebow addressed a number of other topics yesterday, including offensive coordinator Dan Mullen, who was hired at Mississippi State. Tebow said "it's a concern, but not a big one" in terms of preparing for the BCS National Championship with Oklahoma, and was confident head coach Urban Meyer won't let it be a problem.
Being the defending Heisman Trophy winner, Tebow also get a vote for this year's winner. He said it was a decision he wrestled with early, but it's not caused any stress lately, adding that both Oklahoma's Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy at Texas are deserving as well.
Entering his second national championship, Tebow said he's also faced with new challenges.
"For me I have a lot more pressure and a lot more to do and a lot more to get ready for," he said. "It's different in that way, but they're both huge games and I think I know more (about) what to expect of the week and preparation and everything that goes on in the national championship game. That gives me a little bit of a boost."

Beyond difficult
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford called it "an honor" to be mentioned with Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy for the Heisman. With Tebow having a vote, the question was posed to Bradford: If he had a vote, who would he vote for?
"It would be an hour long process to figure out who I'd vote for,'' he said. "...It's a good thing I'm not a voter, cause I don't know how I'd vote."

Job well done
Ole Miss offensive lineman Michael Oher, considered a top prospect in next year's NFL Draft, praised Stephenville graduate Jevan Snead for the work he's done in his first year as the Rebels' starting quarterback.
"He's come a long ways,'' Oher said. "He started developing in the spring and hasn't looked back.'

-Trae Thompson 
 

Mullen, Florida and the The Game

Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen's acceptance of the head coaching job at Mississippi State injects a sidebar into next month's BCS national championship game against Oklahoma, and Gators coach Urban Meyer said he had not yet formulated a new game plan while talking to reporters on Wednesday.

''Dan complicates things a little bit,'' Meyer admitted.``I know you have questions about [how it affects] the bowl and about this and about that -- I don't know. The immediacy of it is to make sure our team's ready to play on January 8th.''

Meyer and Mullen have been together for almost a decade. They were assistants under Bob Davie at Notre Dame and Mullen has been with Meyer at stops along the way--Bowling Green, Utah and Florida. Meyer said he did not know at the moment whether or not Mullen would be on the sidelines against the Sooners.

''The thing about Dan is he's very professional. The other thing is we have a very veteran quarterback,'' Meyer said. ``We have a very functional and very talented offensive staff. And I'm very involved.''

This is not an unusual situation in college football. Sooner fans need only recall the Mike Stoops-to-Arizona situation when OU played LSU for the championship in 2003. Successor Brent Venables handled the defense, but Mike was on the sideline and had some input into the game plan. Defense played well enough in the 21-14 loss. The problem was the offense and the undisclosed mysterious foot injury to quarterback Jason White.

Given Meyer's expertise, I don't see Mullen's situation as being a big deal.--Mike Jones.

--Mike Jones.

TCU-Boise State ranked fifth

Sports Illustrated has ranked all the bowl games, and TCU's matchup with Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl is fifth. Personally, I'd move it up a spot, maybe two. The Sugar Bowl just isn't near as intriguing.

-Trae Thompson

Staff stability: the key to consistency

Football coaches frequently cite staff stability as a key in building long-term success at major-college programs. As we put the wraps on the 2007 college football season, here’s a little chart that reinforces that premise. In the decade of the ‘Aughts’ (2000-2007), nine programs have won 10 or more games at least five times. Among those nine schools, seven have had their current head coach in place for at least seven consecutive seasons (Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, USC, Georgia, Ohio State and TCU). The only exceptions, LSU and Boise State, have been long-term winners under multiple coaches for more than a decade. Although assistants come and go, stability in college football is measured by how long the head football coach remains in power at his school. By and large, that is the secret to the success of the schools that have posted the most 10-win seasons from 2000-2007. In that eight-year stretch, these schools have earned at least a share of seven national championships. A school-by-school breakdown, with 10-win seasons and national titles won in the past eight years: Texas (7 seasons with 10 wins, 1 national title) Oklahoma (7 seasons with 10 wins, 1 national title) USC (6 seasons with 10 wins, 2 national titles) Virginia Tech (6 seasons with 10 wins, no national titles) Boise State (6 seasons with 10 wins, no national titles) LSU (5 seasons with 10 wins, 2 national titles) Ohio State (5 seasons with 10 wins, 1 national title) TCU (5 seasons with 10 wins, no national titles) Georgia (5 seasons with 10 wins, no national titles) _ Jimmy Burch

Leach's true calling: NCAA football czar

There are days, like today, when Texas Tech coach Mike Leach seems to be in the wrong job. That doesn't mean he is falling short in his current duties. Far from it. Leach did a fine job this season of maximizing the available talent and getting the Red Raiders (8-4) into a Jan. 1 bowl.

But his forward-thinking approach to solving the annual BCS mess in college football is refreshing. Leach, a longtime playoff proponent, would be an ideal fit as the NCAA Football Czar -- the man in charge of cleaning up this BCS foolishness and getting a meaningful playoff system started. Like, tomorrow. With 64 teams, modeled after the Texas HS playoff system.

Leach says college football needs to go straight to a playoff system, rather than dabble with the "plus-one" model that college administrators mention as the next step needed to clear up the BCS' annual trainwreck the day its final standings are released that pair the top two teams in the BCS title game.

During this week's Big 12 coaches conference call, Leach called the plus-one proposal "a complete waste of time" and, once again, outlined how he would improve the current system. Short version: Trim the regular-season to 10 games, then give everyone a week off and seed the best 64 teams. Play it off from there. Those who drop out along the way can fill bowl slots. The two left standing in the title game will have earned their spot and will play their 16th games -- just like HS teams in Texas -- in the BCS title game.

Can such a system work? Sure. Why does Leach think so?

"Just the fact that it works at every other level of football," Leach said. "It works in high school, it works in Division 3, it works in Division 2,it works in Division 1-AA and it works in the NFL. To me, it's obvious."

Agreed. It's time to make Leach the NCAA Football Czar and give him total autonomy in solving the BCS'  annual mess. He's certainly the man with the plan that would appease the masses and get the best college football teams on the field in the season's biggest game.

-- Jimmy Burch

 

Backyard bawl for West Virginia?

The Backyard Brawl could be turning into a Backyard bawl for West Virginia.

The Mountaineers lost quarterback Patrick White to a broken hand midway through the second quarter.

Reserve QB Jarret Brown will need to rally West Virginia, which trails Pitt 10-7 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

-- Wendell Barnhouse