College Football Saturday open thread

This is the one we’ve been waiting for: The Mad Hatter vs. Dr. Evil. LSU (#4) vs. Florida (#1) under the lights at Death Valley. Will recently-concussed Florida QB Tim Tebow play? Of course, he’s going to play. Will LSU, despite all odds (8 point dogs), find a way to manufacture a victory? This is what keeps us up at night.


Gaming advice of the day: Take Wisconsin getting 16 points on the road at Ohio St.

When this posts, we will be at the Whole Foods in LaJolla participating in the buy-cott so we may check back in later with pics of the event. Otherwise, please enjoy the rest of your college football Saturday.

It's Rivalry Week and yes, Evil walks among us once again.

Because of some scheduling shifts and down years for fabled programs (Michigan vs. Ohio St.), this year’s Rivalry week ain’t what it once was but… it’s still Rivalry week.

First, the BCS rankings going into this weekend:

1. Alabama .9787
2. Texas Tech .9698
3. Texas .8911
4. Florida .8755
5. Oklahoma .8388
6. USC .7873
7. Utah .7643
8. Penn St. .6957
9. Boise St. .6559
10. Ohio St. .6154

Obviously, the biggest game this weekend is the defacto BCS quarterfinal matchup between Texas Tech and Oklahoma in Norman. If Tech wins then it’s on to the defacto semis in the Big 12 conference championship against Missouri and then to the BCS title game. Tech, of course, controls its own destiny but does Oklahoma? Will an Oklahoma victory (currently, a 6-1/2 pt. favorite) vault them over Texas to whom they lost by 10 earlier this year? We’re going to find out because we like Oklahoma at home though we’re finding it difficult to root against the magic carpet ride that has been Tech’s season thus far.

We're ready. Consider it done. After contemplating this move since before last season, we’re pleased to confer “Evil” status upon Florida Gator head coach, Urban Meyer. After a 56-6 pasting of South Carolina and the last coach to hold “Evil” status, Steve Spurrier who also coached at Florida while wearing the crown, the symmetry was too perfect to pass up. Just one year seperated from winning the BCS title, Meyer has reloaded, is absolutely crushing his opponents since that loss to Ole Miss at the end of September and is ready to get back to the BCS title game with victories over the Citadel(?), Florida State and ‘Bama in the SEC championship game. Obviously, there are no guarantees but Florida is, as they say in the biz, “playing the best football in the nation, right now”.

But, “USC fatigue”…? Stewart Mandel of SI.com points out that the country’s infatuation with Pete Carroll’s Trojans has faded somewhat as the Big 12 South has garnered, and rightly so, the lion’s share of the country’s affection. No superstars (Bush, Leinart), a weak conference and more baffling in-conference losses the past 2-3 seasons have the viewing and voting public casting their gaze elsewhere. Look, SC is still a hottie but college football fans are always looking to upgrade.

And for all you BCS haters out there and we know you are legion there appears to be a simple solution to all the potential confusion, particularly for those non-BCS conference teams like Utah and Boise St. who, should they win out, might find themselves conveniently air-brushed from history.

"Yes, Boise State and Utah are undefeated, but if there are no such teams as Boise State and Utah, considering them for a national title shot becomes a nonissue," said David Frohnmayer, chair of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, who acknowledged that many BCS voters already used a limited version of the technique."

Oh, don’t laugh, Oklahoma. You may be getting the same treatment should you go all chaos on the BCS and beat T-Tech on Saturday. More here from The Onion.

Enjoy the games!

As the sun slowly sets over the most non-descript day of the week..

There’s not a lot going on this evenings so…. how about some football?

The college football BCS poll is out and indeed Texas Tech lept all the way to #2 behind Alabama and just in front of Penn St.
Here’s the Top 10:

1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Penn St.
4. Texas
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. USC
8. Utah
9. Oklahoma St.
10. Boise St.

USC actually drops two spots after its 56-0 drubbing of Washington. A lot has to happen for USC to get back into this thing and this speaks to having one bad half up in Corvalis earlier in the year, playing in a conference that is having a horrible year and then not getting any strength of schedule help… thanks Virginia… thanks Notre Dame.

Florida coach Urban Meyer was asked why he called two timeouts with under a minute remaining in the Gators’ 49-10 blowout of Georgia. “(Emanuel)Moody was running the ball real hard and I wanted to get him a couple of more carries. He deserved it.” And then when asked if he was trying to rub it in, Meyer responded: “No. Just trying to win the ballgame”.

We like Meyer. We believe he’s got quite a bit of “evil” in him… Florida Gators-vintage Stever Spurrier-like “evil”. A thirty-nine point whacking of an arch-rival and top-10 foe “evil”. An “evil” that inspires hilarious videos like this (please be patient as it may take a moment to load but it is one of the funniest things we’ve seen in a while.) No, Georgia coach Mark Richt did not enjoy his Halloween weekend.

And regarding the Southern Cal and Florida programs, here's what we had to say prior to last season:

"If trends continue as they have, we are looking forward to a nice little silent rivalry between USC and Florida in years to come. One can sense that since Meyer took over in Gainesville, the two programs have been eyeing each other, seeing what the other is up to. The locales, the coaches, the talent pools in which they reside… its all there. Stay tuned."

If USC can figure out how to win on the road in conference, we're going to get this epic matchup in the BCS title game sooner than later.

More great matchups abound this weekend as #1 Alabama goes to Death Valley to take on #16 LSU, USC is at home against #21 Cal, #8 Utah takes on #12 TCU on Thursday and in the prime time Saturday night, Texas Tech tries on its #2 ranking against the #9 ranked ‘Pokes of Oklahoma St.

In with a Bang.... (Updated)

The following is an update to a post from last August, the original which can be found here.

Over the past 20 years there have been 9 coaches to win a national championship within the first 3 years of taking over at head coach of their respective college program, and outside of one, Pete Carroll at USC, that coach never won another one (Urban Meyer won it two years ago so we will have to wait and see, Les Miles (pictured) won it last year and we feel comfortable will never win it again and Pete Carroll won it in his 3rd and 4th seasons. The rest of the lineup is as follows:

Lou Holtz – Notre Dame ’88 (3rd Year)
Gene Stallings – Alabama ’92 (2nd Year)
Lloyd Carr - Michigan '97 (3rd Year)
Bob Stoops – Oklahoma ’00 (2nd Year)
Larry Coker – Miami ’01 (1st Year)
Jim Tressel - Ohio St. ‘02 (3rd Year)

Obviously, each data point has a different backdrop and context from the others…. Holtz continued to field national championship caliber teams after ’88, though the last 3 years were mediocre (23-11-1) by Tying Irish standards. Stallings also, had very good on-field success after his lone championship, though he stepped down in ’96 after an exhaustive 2 yr. investigation of the ‘Bama program which did result in sanctions. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, though, has not only not won another national title but was perceived as heading a program in gradual decline and was fired, er, stepped down at the end of last season as a result.

Also in the 90s, one has examples conversely of this alleged phenomena where ironically it was two ball coaches that had been at their respective schools for years before winning their first championships in the persons of Bobby Bowden at Florida St. and Dr. Tom Osborne at Nebraska. In fact, those two pretty much owned the decade by combining for 5 National Championships.

Things get a little juicier with this next set. Tressel won in his 3rd year and had a chance to win the title in the last 2 consecutive years before being upset by Florida and Urban Meyer, a 2nd Year guy at the time and then Les Miles of LSU, a year 3 guy. No shame, that.

Larry Coker is the poster-old man for this post. After winning the championship in his very first season with the ‘Canes, his win totals declined thereafter until he was dismissed two years ago. And though by no means is he in the hot seat, Sooner Nation, is getting a little anxious for Bob Stoops to get back to the BCS title game... or least show-up at a BCS bowl game where they have lost their last 4 of which they appeared.

Again… not sure if there are enough data points to lead to anything more conclusive than perhaps that each of the above won primarily with the last guy’s recruits.

We would be remiss if we did not hand out an Honorable Mention-type award as well: Kirk Farentz of Iowa has seen his win totals in steady decline after winning the Big 10 title in both '02 (4th season) and '04 (6th season). And both Ralph Friedgen of Maryland and Chuck Amato as HC at NC State who were fired at the end of the ’06 season, shared similar career arcs starting at the beginning of the decade in the ACC.

It will be interesting to see how Tressel, Stoops, Meyer and Miles, coaches who man one of the 7 or 8 mega-programs in the nation, fare in the coming years.