Georgia president Michael Adams, and chairman of the NCAA executive committee, has been outspoken this week about the need for a playoff in college football. In Adams' eyes, the NCAA should create an eight team playoff, seed the teams into four bowl games and eventually crown its first football champion in the organization's history. And as he goes about trumping for big change, he's picked up one prominent supporter in Athens.
Illinois has been in this situation before. Big underdog, in an environment that's going to be anything but friendly, against one the best defenses in the nation. And the last time Illinois found itself in a game like Tuesday's Rose Bowl they did the unthinkable.
Honolulu is not where Boise State wanted to finish its 2007 season, but for the darlings of college football, circa 2006, they'll have to settle for a few days in paradise and a matchup with East Carolina in the Hawaii Bowl.
Quite unfairly, Jeff Bower takes to the sidelines for his final game as the Southern Miss coach. And ironically it's happening in the same city - Birmingham - that his tenure with the Golden Eagles began back on Dec. 20, 1990.
It's been just about two weeks since the pairings for the BCS bowls were announced and the sting that Georgia felt, having been left out of the BCS Championship game, is long gone.
Back in the summer I tried predicting - as accurately as possible, not just a bunch of stabs in the dark - the matchups in each of the 32 bowl games. So now that we know who's playing who, I figured I'd look back and see if I got any even half right. The results, I have to say, are pretty. Pretty pathetic.
Few things in life are easy. And predicting, analyzing and understanding college football is not one of those things because Saturday night we saw more of the unexpected and more of the chaos that has come to exemplify the 2007 season.
Rules changes have become the norm in college football, most especially those involving tweaks to the clock the past few years. So after the NCAA's attempts to speed up the game last season were met with dismay and disgust from many of the nation's coaches, the NCAA changed the rules again this past off-season in an effort to drive down the times of these marathon-like games. But after 10 weeks it looks like it's time for the to go back to the drawing board.
No. 16 Hawai'i is sitting pretty. The Warriors have the nation's top-ranked scoring offense, a Heisman-hopeful quarterback that is setting records left and right (when his sprained right ankle isn't keeping him on the sideline) and a nationally-televised game against a 3-3 San Jose State team that ranks 70th in the nation in scoring defense (to Hawai'i's No. 1 scoring offense). Plenty of eyes will be on the Warriors tonight, but the most important will belong to Tostitos Fiesta Bowl team scout Steve Horrell, who will be in attendance at Friday night's WAC matchup and meet with conference officials during the day. The Fiesta Bowl is looking for this year's Boise State, and they hope they have found it in Hawai'i.
Despite it's undisputed status as the premiere conference in the country, the SEC hasn't been immune to criticism, especially when talk has turned to the league's non-conference schedule.
A few weeks after coaches around the country submitted their ballots for their own Preseason Top 25, it was the writers' turn as the Associated Press released its Preseason Top 25 poll Saturday and there's practically no difference between them.
Just when I was about to say that Boise State needed a big play before the half to stem the momentum change that was beginning to occur, the Broncos got it.
Sometimes you leave a movie theater feeling high. Sometimes you leave a move theater feeling low. And sometimes you leave it emotionally drained, but smiling as you make your way to the exit. That was the case for me Thursday evening after I had the chance to catch a special screening of Warner Bros. new release, “We Are Marshall,” in Midtown Manhattan.
It doesn’t get much worse than 2-9 finish in Year 1 for a coach taking over a former Pac-10 perennial power. But Tyrone Willingham has gotten his Huskies off to a surprising start in Year 2 with Washington staked out to a 3-1 record. With wins already over San Diego State, Fresno State and UCLA, it didn’t take long for Willingham to surpass 2005’s win total.
It should be pretty clear now who the No. 1 team in the nation is. Ohio State, behind quarterback Troy Smith, showed the country they are the best team with a 24-7 win over the Longhorns on the road and I think it's safe to say we learned some things from this game.
The rules changes went over without any major gripping or complaining from the majority of Big East coaches Monday. No one felt the rules were a hindrance or a pain, but some noticed more of a difference than others.
Well, a win’s a win and that’s what the Irish got Saturday. It wasn’t pretty and the offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders, but Charlie Weis’ squad got the job done. They won and survived, lived to face Penn State next without a loss hanging over them and still one of the favorites to make it to the national championship game. For that, they should be satisfied. For other reasons, there should be concern.
Since the season is officially here, I figured it was time to do what everyone else around the country has done: make the obligatory predictions. This way, I’m on the record and I’ll be able to look back in amazement about how poorly - or precisely - I predicted things would pan out.
