College Football Week One – Doubleheader Thursday night on ESPN
And I Wonder, Still I Wonder,
Who’ll Stop the Tide?
Back in early 1970, CCR wondered, “Who’ll stop the rain?” But in the late summer of 2013, I’m wondering, “Who’ll stop the Tide?”
Alabama is the unanimous favorite to win the SEC West. The Tide is the unanimous favorite to win the SEC. And to add insult to injury, Alabama is the unanimous favorite to win the national championship. That would be Alabama’s third national title in a row – fourth in the last five years.
Long as I remember, The Tide been comin’ down.
Hold onto your hats college football fans. The 2013 season is about to begin. And from all appearances, it will be everyone else chasing Alabama. Whether or not anyone catches the Tide remains to be seen. But as much as everyone favors Alabama, the odds don’t favor the Tide.
Being ranked No. 1 at preseason is not a good omen. Teams ranked No. 1 in August rarely win the national championship. It’s only happened 17 times in 77 years and only nine times in the last 56 years. The last time a team ranked No. 1 at preseason won the national championship was nine years ago in 2004. That was USC and, ultimately, the Trojans had to vacate their title.
So that’s why I say, “Hold onto your hats college football fans.” It ain’t over till it’s over.
Still, I wonder.
But I don’t have to wonder much longer. The drama begins Thursday evening when the curtains rise in Columbia, South Carolina – The Tar Heels at the Gamecocks, starring Jadeveon Clowney in a four-quarter play. The action continues immediately afterwards in the second performance of the doubleheader night – Ole Miss at Vanderbilt.
If those two performances don’t satisfy your appetite, then hang around a little longer Thursday night for Rutgers at Fresno State, starring Derek Carr. The critics have been raving about Carr.
The drama festival continues Friday night, when Johnny Manziel and the rest of the country get to watch his former offensive coordinator perform in a new role. Kliff Kingsbury, the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M last year, coaches his alma mater – Texas Tech – in an encounter against SMU in Dallas. Can Mustang coach June Jones and former Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert upstage Kingsbury and the Red Raiders?
Saturday, take your pick from more than 40 features. There’s something for everybody, but five features highlight the day. The first of the five headliners begins in the afternoon with Mississippi State versus Oklahoma State from Reliant Stadium in Houston. Next up, Virginia Tech takes on national champion Alabama from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. And I wonder…..still I wonder.
That night, Aaron Murray and Todd Gurley lead Georgia against Clemson’s Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins at the Death Valley Theater. The action continues with LSU meeting TCU from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In the final marquee feature of Saturday, Boise State tangles with Washington in the refurbished Husky Theater in Seattle.
Sunday, the Labor Day weekend drama festival continues from Kentucky, where Tyler Tettleton leads his Ohio Bobcats against Teddy Bridgewater and the Louisville Cardinals. Monday night, the five-day festival comes to a close. In the finale, Florida State, with its promising new quarterback Jameis Winston, plays Pitt at the Heinz Theater in Pittsburgh.
For football lovers, the Labor Day weekend action is hard to beat. But before you watch it, you need to be familiar with the seven new rules in place for 2013:
1. Targeting fouls: Players will automatically be thrown out of the game for targeting and initiating contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, elbow or shoulder. This has been a personal foul since 2008. Now it will include automatic ejection, plus a 15-yard penalty. The ejection can be overturned by a review play. However, if the ejection is overturned, the penalty still will be marked off. If a player is ejected in the second half or in an overtime, he also remains suspended for the first half of the next game.
2. Offensive blocking below the waist: This rule establishes a zone for the offense that extends seven yards on either side of the snapper toward each sideline and goes five yards into the defensive secondary and into the other direction all the way to the offensive team’s end line. Within this zone, an offensive back who is stationary inside the tackle box and an offensive lineman inside the seven-yard zone may legally block below the waist until the ball has left the zone. Everyone else on the offensive team may legally block below the waist only if the block is clearly to the front of the opponent. This only-from-the-front rule also holds true for everyone on the offensive team once the ball has left the zone. In addition, no one on the offense is allowed to block below the waist if the block is directed toward his own end line.
3. Expansion of the 10-second runoff: If a player is injured within a last minute of a half, and this is the only reason for stopping the clock, the opponent may choose to have 10 seconds subtracted from the game clock. The injured player’s team can preserve the 10 seconds by using a timeout.
4. A player may remain in the game via a timeout after his helmet comes off: The rule requiring a player to leave the game for one down if his helmet comes off has been modified to allow a player to remain in the game if his team is granted a charged timeout to adjust the helmet.
5. Minimum time to spike the ball: Teams will need a minimum of three seconds from a referee’s signal to “spike” the ball to allow for another play at the end of a half. Teams must still execute the spike but they will have a reasonable opportunity for another play. If the clock shows one or two seconds, a team will only have enough time to run a play without first spiking the ball.
6. Changing jersey numbers during a game: If a team wants to use a player at different positions during a game, and the player needs to change jersey numbers, the player must report to the referee who will in turn announce the change. In addition, two players who play the same position at different times in the game may not wear the same number during the game.
7. Uniform numerals must contrast with the color of the jersey: The color of the jersey number itself must be clearly and obviously in contrast with the jersey, regardless of any border around the number.
Now that you are familiar with the new rules, let’s take a look at each of the 10 FBS conferences and the Independents. Who is favored, who’s a contender, who’s a dark horse and who can forget it in 2013.
SEC East: Georgia is the general favorite to win the East Division of the SEC. But South Carolina and Florida are serious contenders. Vanderbilt is the dark horse. Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky can forget it.
SEC West: Over in the West Division, Alabama is the hands down favorite. Texas A&M and LSU are serious contenders. Ole Miss is the dark horse. Miss State, Auburn and Arkansas are the peasants.
SEC Champ: Alabama is the favorite to win the SEC championship.
Big 12 Champ: Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma are the favorites to win the Big 12. TCU is a serious contender. Baylor and Kansas State are the dark horses. Texas Tech, West Virginia, Iowa State and Kansas are the peons.
Big Ten Leaders: Ohio State is the solid favorite to win the Leaders Division of the Big Ten. Wisconsin is a contender. Penn State is the dark horse. Indiana, Purdue and Illinois are the runts.
Big Ten Legends: In the Legends Division, Michigan and Nebraska are the favorites. Michigan State is a contender. Northwestern is the dark horse. Iowa and Minnesota can write it off.
Big Ten Champ: Ohio State is the choice to win the Big Ten championship.
Pac-12 North: In the North Division of the Pac-12, Oregon and Stanford are dead even favorites. Oregon State is a contender. Washington is the dark horse. California and Washington State are garbage.
Pac-12 South: UCLA is the favorite to win the South division of the Pac-12. USC and Arizona State are contenders. Arizona is the dark horse. Utah and Colorado are sniffin’ glue.
Pac-12 Champ: Oregon and Stanford are equally favored to win the Pac-12 championship.
ACC Atlantic: Clemson is the favorite to win the Atlantic Division of the ACC. Florida State is a serious contender. N.C. State and Maryland are dark horses. Wake Forest, Syracuse and Boston College are on Ambien.
ACC Coastal: In the Coastal Division, Miami is the favorite. Virginia Tech is a contender. North Carolina and Georgia Tech are dark horses. Pitt, Virginia and Duke are out of it.
ACC Champ: Clemson is the favorite to win the ACC championship.
MWC Mountain: Boise State is the overwhelming favorite to win the Mountain Division of the MWC. Utah State is a contender. Air Force is the dark horse. Wyoming, Colorado State and New Mexico are the gophers.
MWC West: In the West Division, Fresno State is the unanimous favorite. San Diego State and San Jose State are contenders. Nevada is the dark horse. UNLV and Hawaii are the tadpoles.
MWC Champ: Boise State is the favorite to win the MWC championship.
AAC Champ: In the newly named American Athletic Conference (AAC), Louisville is the unanimous favorite to win it all. Cincinnati and UCF are contenders. Rutgers is the dark horse. Houston, Connecticut, SMU, South Florida, Memphis and Temple are the piss ants.
MAC East: Bowling Green and Ohio are equally favored to win the East Division of the MAC. Buffalo and Kent State are contenders. Miami is the dark horse. Akron and Massachusetts are the cellar dwellers.
MAC West: Over in the West Division, Northern Illinois is a heavy favorite. Toledo and Ball State are contenders. Western Michigan and Central Michigan are dark horses. Eastern Michigan is the rug rat.
MAC Champ: Northern Illinois is favored to win the MAC championship.
C-USA East: In the East Division of C-USA, East Carolina is the favorite. Marshall is a contender. Middle Tennessee is a dark horse. Southern Miss, UAB, Florida Atlantic and Florida International are out of it.
C-USA West: Tulsa is the solid favorite to win the West Division of C-USA. Rice is a contender. Louisiana Tech is a dark horse. UTEP, North Texas, Tulane and UTSA are the dwarfs.
C-USA Champ: Tulsa is favored to win the C-USA championship.
Sun Belt Champ: Louisiana-Lafayette is favored to win it all in the Sun Belt Conference. Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky and Arkansas State are all contenders. Troy is a dark horse. Texas State, South Alabama and Georgia State are just pea-pickin’s.
Independents: Notre Dame is the class of the Independents. BYU is a contender. Navy is a dark horse. Army, New Mexico State and Idaho are pawns.
And while we are on the conferences, the AAC (American Athletic Conference) is the new, or renamed, Big East Conference.
There are two new terms to get familiar with – the Big Five and the Little Five. No, they are not new conferences. But they are a collection of conferences. The Big Five refers collectively to the FBS schools of the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. The Little Five refers to the FBS schools of the AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC and Sun Belt.
You can sort of think of the Big Five as what we have known as the BCS conferences, except there are only five and not six conferences in the group. The AAC (formerly Big East), a BCS conference, is not part of the Big Five. 2013 is the last year for the BCS. Next year we move into the four-team playoff formula, which will be controlled by, but not restricted to, the Big Five conferences.
There also has been recent speculation about the Big Five breaking away from the FBS and forming its own division – even more radical speculation of breaking away from the NCAA. But the latter won’t happen. However, change is coming. Stay tuned!
The Big 12 will have eight officials on the field this fall. The game is becoming so fast that many believe an additional official is needed to catch everything that happens on the field. Others think the eighth official will result in more flags.
The youngest coach in the FBS this fall is Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck. Fleck, 32, will turn 33 on the 29th of November. Exactly one-year older than Fleck is Toledo coach Matt Campbell, who will turn 34, also on the 29th of November. Kliff Kingsbury, the new coach at Texas Tech, is the third youngest coach. He just turned 34 earlier this month.
Speaking of coaches, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen must be feeling the pressure in Morgantown. Driving to work one morning last week, Holgorsen was cited for hazardous driving. Must have been thinking about his defense.
And speaking of coaches, I was thinking about new Western Kentucky coach Bobby Petrino. WKU opens against Kentucky Saturday and I’m wondering if the Hilltoppers will take the field riding motorcycles and bouncing volleyballs?
Nebraska did some work on Memorial Stadium during the off-season. Seating in the Huskers’ stadium has been increased from about 86,000 to 92,000. Washington, which played in the Seattle Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field last year, will be back in their refurbished Husky Stadium this fall. Kansas State’s stadium – Bill Snyder Family Stadium – also was renovated during the off-season.
FBS increased by one this year. Georgia State became the 125th FBS team, moving up from the FCS level. The Panthers will compete in the Sun Belt Conference. There are a number of schools playing football for the first time this year. Four of them are in the southeast – Charlotte, Florida Tech, Mercer and Stetson. Actually, Mercer and Stetson are resuming their football programs.
Charlotte begins play as an FCS school. But the North Carolina team will move up to FBS next season. Mercer and Stetson will compete at the FCS level – both in the Pioneer Conference. Mercer, located in Macon, Georgia, dropped its football program 70 years ago. The Bears will join the Southern Conference next year. Stetson too is reinstating its football program. The Hatters, located in Deland, Florida, played football from 1901 to 1955. The school dropped the program in 1956.
Florida Tech, located in Melbourne, Florida, will compete as a Division II school, playing in the Gulf South Conference.
That’s about everything you need to know to get you into the 2013 college football season. Everything that is, except: Who’ll stop the Tide?
Still I wonder……
Touchdown Tom
August 26, 2013
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
P. S.
My friend, and football counterpart, Rockledge Gator lost his father two weeks ago. I have been meaning to write something, but wanted to wait until it was an appropriate time to do so. That time has come.
Not long after Rockledge texted me with the news of his father’s passing, I called my next door neighbor, Betty “The Duchess of Indialantic” Pappas, and asked her to save the obituary for me when it appeared in the newspaper.
A couple days later, I walked over to Betty’s house to get the newspaper. She had quarter-folded that section of the paper to the obituary, which also contained a picture of Rockledge’s father. As Betty handed me the paper she said, “He was a good looking man.”
Betty’s comment made me think of the first time I met Rockledge’s father. It was at the wedding of Rockledge’s older son Ryan in 1996. At the reception, following the wedding, I told Rockledge that his father looked younger than him. Rockledge laughed and told me that I had to tell that to his dad. A short time later, I shared my comment with Rockledge’s father. He too chuckled. He got a kick out of it.
Peace, my friend. Your father was not only a good looking man, but more importantly, he was a good man.
Quotes of the Week
“It’s become quite trendy today for all of the Johnny Manziel apologists and the reform-minded revolutionaries and even the righteously converted college football coaches to stand on their soap boxes and tell us how today’s college athletes should be paid to play” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“It’s going to take some time, but Tennessee is going to come back. We always come back,” former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer.
“Our next 10 coaching searches, we’ll never have another resume like this one. I just felt like this was a moment in time for us,” Western Kentucky athletic director Todd Stewart, on why he hired the controversial Bobby Petrino.
“What was Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp doing when he blindly defended Johnny Manziel? Well, never mind about that. I know what he was doing. He was blindly defending the biggest cash cow on campus,” CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel.
“Manziel can’t be guilty, because one of the reporters who broke the story (ESPN’s Darren Rovell) is an idiot,” Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp.
“Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp is an idiot,” CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel.
“Academics and winning mesh perfectly at Stanford,” CBSSports.com columnist Dennis Dodd.
“College football is the biggest game in the United States, in terms of overall impact. The NFL is enormously successful, but it is only 32 franchises. College football is everywhere in terms of the passions it invokes,” Jeffrey Benedict, co-author of the book “The System: The Glory and the Scandal of Big-Time College Football.”
“I fear for college football. It’s a runaway train,” Armen Keteyian, co-author of the book “The System: The Glory and the Scandal of Big-Time College Football.”
“College football is a coach’s sport, and I suspect this is one reason it inspires its most intense loyalty in the Deep South. The South, like certain post-Soviet republics, has long had an inclination for the autocrat, the personality cult, the Big Daddy. Huey Long, George Wallace, Leander Perez, the white-suited planter baron, the omnipotent small-town sheriff. Bear Bryant, of course,” Campbell Robertson, New York Times national correspondent.
“A.J. McCarron’s national profile may be lower than his girlfriend’s, but his play approaches a cold-eyed precision: last year he was college football’s most efficient passer, a quintessential Saban statistic,” Campbell Robertson, New York Times national correspondent.
Touchdown Tom’s Predictions for
Opening Weekend’s 15 Biggest and Most Intriguing Games.…and then some
GAME OF THE WEEK: 1. Georgia at Clemson – (SEC vs. ACC) (TV: ABC, 8 p.m. ET, Saturday) – Mark Richt or somebody in the Georgia athletic department must really love the State of South Carolina – Clemson this week and the Gamecocks next week. My, my – that’s a mouthful. Richt could choke on Tiger and Chicken. Something tells me the Tiger meat may go down easier. It’s well-marinated, tender and covered with a little Dabo sauce. Uga’s licking his chops, thinking about Tiger ribs – Georgia 32, Clemson 24.
RUNNER UP: 2. Virginia Tech vs. Alabama – (ACC vs. SEC) (TV: ESPN, 5:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, Georgia Dome, Atlanta) – Frank Beamer has an easy out in this one. After the Tide beats the Hokies, all Beamer has to say is, “The devil made me do it.” Several matchups this weekend between the ACC and the SEC. Looks like the ACC takes it on the chin again. Beamer has sympathy for the devil – Alabama 31, Virginia Tech 15.
REST OF THE BEST: 3. TCU vs. LSU – (Big 12 vs. SEC) (TV: ESPN, 9 p.m. ET, Saturday, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas) – Wonder how many tricks Les Miles has up his sleeve this season. Think he can pull a Frog out of a hat? Meanwhile, Gary Patterson may have a few tricks of his own – Plunk your magic twanger Froggy. This is shaping up to be a defensive struggle. The offenses may need a few tricks and some magic. Mike doesn’t fear the Frog – LSU 17, TCU 13.
4. North Carolina at South Carolina – (ACC vs. SEC) (TV: ESPN, 6 p.m. ET, Thursday) – Steve Spurrier gets his two most hated foes all in the first two weeks of the season – North Carolina this week and Georgia next. When Spurrier was the coach at Duke, he learned to hate the Tar Heels. He learned to hate Georgia while he was playing football for Florida. Actually, when Spurrier coached at Florida, FSU probably replaced North Carolina as his second most hated foe. But that’s a different story, at a different place and at a different time. This is South Carolina and this is now. Spurrier doesn’t need to fire up his Gamecocks. South Carolinians hate North Carolinians and vice versa. By the way, which one is The Carolina? Well, we know which one James Taylor had in his mind. But whose moon was Gene Austin singing about in his No. 1 hit in 1928 – the North’s or the South’s? Clowney moons the Smurfs – South Carolina 28, North Carolina 14.
5. Boise State at Washington – (MWC vs. Pac-12) (TV: Fox Sports 1, 10 p.m. ET, Saturday) – The battle for the Northwest. Boise State from the Little Five takes on Washington of the Big Five. At the end of the game, it’s the team from Idaho that will be doing the high five – Boise State 29, Washington 26.
6. Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi State – (Big 12 vs. SEC) (TV: ABC/ESPN2, 3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, Reliant Stadium, Houston) – Okie State is one of the favorites to win the Big 12. Miss State is one of the favorites to finish at the bottom of the SEC West. Sounds like the Bulldogs have a lot to prove in this encounter. They’ll be out to slobber all over the Cowboys. But the Cowboys are sittin’ high in the saddle. Head ‘em up, move ‘em out – Oklahoma State 27, Miss State 19.
7. Ole Miss at Vanderbilt – (SEC vs. SEC) (TV: ESPN, 9:15 p.m. ET, Thursday) – Ole Miss, the dark horse of the SEC West takes on Vanderbilt, the dark horse of the SEC East. This has the makings of a good one. Both teams are up-and-comers. Hugh Freeze ignited a spark in the Rebels last year. James Franklin has the Commodores on the rise. Vandy sets sail, as the Rebels yell – Vanderbilt 27, Ole Miss 24.
8. Florida State at Pitt – (ACC vs. ACC) (TV: ESPN, 8 p.m. ET, Monday) – Somebody has to initiate Pitt into the ACC. That honor falls upon the Seminoles. Problem is, the Noles have to conduct the initiation at Pitt. One forecaster I read thinks the Panthers have a chance of pulling off the upset. You can forget that. He must have been suffering from hallucinations. I’m not sure Jimbo Fisher would be allowed back in Tallahassee if FSU lost to Pitt. Noles dance around the fire pit – Florida State 33, Pitt 14.
9. Rutgers at Fresno State – (AAC vs. MWC) (TV: ESPNU, 10:30 p.m. ET, Thursday) – Tough opener for both schools, but tougher for Rutgers. Those guys have to travel 3,000 miles. Plus, those guys have to face Bulldog quarterback Derek Carr. A bad night for the Knights – Fresno State 33, Rutgers 28.
10. Toledo at Florida – (MAC vs. SEC) (TV: SEC Network, 12:20 p.m. ET, Saturday) – If you are going to open your season against a team from the MAC, then by golly do it against Eastern Michigan or Akron – somebody like that. Don’t open against Toledo. The Rockets can be dangerous. They can cause problems. They can cause an opposing coach to pull out his hair. I’d hate to see a bald Will Muschamp. Seriously, Toledo could be nasty. And it’s a scary thought when Florida is saying that Jeff Driskel may be the best running back the Gators have. Albert may have bitten off more than he can chew. Fortunately, the Rockets fail to ignite – Florida 30, Toledo 22.
11. Ohio at Louisville – (MAC vs. AAC) (TV: ESPN, 3:30 p.m. ET, Sunday) – Louisville is favored to win the AAC. Ohio is one of the favorites in the MAC. Like I said with Florida, if you are going to open with a MAC team, make sure its Eastern Michigan, Akron or Buffalo – some team like that. Not one of the favorites. Ohio is capable of giving the Cardinals nightmares. But Teddy Bridgewater gives the Bobcats nightmares – Louisville 37, Ohio 19.
12. BYU at Virginia – (Ind. vs. ACC) (TV: ESPNU, 3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday) – This is a make-or-break season for Mike London at Virginia. A winning record and he hangs around for another year or so. A losing record and he’s no longer a Charlottesville resident. London’s bridge isn’t falling down (not yet at least) – Virginia 22, BYU 20.
13. Northwestern at California – (Big Ten vs. Pac-12) (TV: ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. ET, Saturday) – This is supposed to be a great year for Northwestern. Conversely, it’s supposed to be a terrible year for Cal. The Wildcats make Sonny Dykes look like Sonny’s Barbecue: smoked and pulled – Northwestern 30, California 19.
14. Nevada at UCLA – (MWC vs. Pac-12) (TV: Pac-12 Network, 10 p.m. ET, Saturday) – This could be the year of the Bruin. Jim Mora did great things for the Westwood Bears last year. They should be better this season. But they can’t take Nevada lightly. The Wolf Pack has a funky offense – the pistol. But, fortunately for the Bruins, the Wolf Pack has no defense. Bruins make the Wolf Pack drop their pistols – UCLA 40, Nevada 20.
15. Utah State at Utah – (MWC vs. Pac-12) (TV: Fox Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET, Thursday) – Utah State has a new coach – Matt Wells – and an exciting quarterback – Chuckie Keeton. This might be Kyle Whittingham’s last year coaching Utah if the Utes don’t beat the Aggies. The Aggies won last year, but the Utes take this one, barely – Utah 28, Utah State 26.
…AND ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON:
16. Texas Tech at SMU – (Big 12 vs. AAC) (TV: ESPN, 8 p.m. ET, Friday) – A new coach at Texas Tech. Kliff Kingsbury, who was Johnny Manziel’s offensive coordinator at Texas A&M last year, is now at the helm of the Red Raiders. Meanwhile, June Jones is still trying to establish a program at SMU. The Red Raiders put a kink in Jones’ establishment – Texas Tech 35, SMU 24.
YE OLDE STOMPING GROUNDS:
William & Mary at West Virginia – (Colonial vs. Big 12) (TV: Fox Sports 1, 12 noon ET, Saturday) – What was that movie about the two couples and all of their affairs? That’s what this game reminds me of – Bill & Mary & Wes & Virginia. Let’s hope Dana “Hal Mumme” Holgorsen has been having an affair with his defense during the off-season. Last year, Holgrosen not only didn’t know what defense meant, he didn’t even know how to spell or pronounce defense. We believe he has learned how to pronounce and spell the word. We’re not yet convinced he knows what it means. Time will tell. Wes & Virginia throw Bill & Mary out of bed – West Virginia 34, William & Mary 10.
Wyoming at Nebraska – (MWC vs. Big Ten) (TV: Big Ten Network, 8 p.m. ET, Saturday) – The Cowboys will come riding into Lincoln on their horses and they will go walking out on their feet, wagging their spurs behind them. What Wyoming needs is Liz Cheney on their offensive line and the Cowboys might have a chance. Meanwhile, Bo Pelini just wants to see Shawn Eichorst’s thumb facing upward. Taylor Martinez, Ameer Abdullah and the rest of the Husker gang have a field day. Herbie does a high five and Pelini still gets a thumb’s up from Eichorst – Nebraska 42, Wyoming 15.
North Carolina Central at Duke – (MEAC vs. ACC) (TV: None, 4 p.m. ET, Saturday) – You’ve seen the picture of the person at the swimming pool and they aren’t sure how warm the water is. So they stick their toes in and test the temperature. Then they stick a little bit more of their foot in. Well, that’s the Dookies and their opener. The Dookies aren’t real sure they want to play football this year so they are testing the waters with someone like North Carolina Central. If NCC isn’t too bad, then the Dookies might play someone a little tougher next week. Well, NCC isn’t that bad – Duke 45, North Carolina Central 12.
New Mexico State at Texas – (Ind. vs. Big 12) (TV: Longhorn Network, 8 p.m. ET, Saturday) – The Longhorn fans have been a little tough on Mack Brown in recent seasons. So Brown is going to get a little tough on New Mexico State. Sic ‘em Bevo – Texas 47, New Mexico State 12.
Purdue at Cincinnati – (Big Ten vs. AAC) (TV: ESPNU, 12 noon ET, Saturday) – Two teams – each with new coaches. But the similarity stops there. Butch Jones didn’t leave the cabinet bare at Cincinnati. Tommy Tuberville found it well-stocked. However poor Darrell Hazell is in a different boat at Purdue. Danny Hope didn’t leave a scrap for Hazell. Tuberville adds to his stock, while Hazell restocks. Bearcats have plenty to eat – Cincinnati 26, Purdue 17.
ELSEWHERE AROUND FLORIDA:
Florida Atlantic visits Miami (TV: ESPNU, 8 p.m. ET, Friday) …. UCF hosts Akron (TV: None, 7 p.m. ET, Thursday) …. South Florida entertains McNeese State (TV: None, 7 p.m. ET, Saturday) …. Florida International travels to Maryland (TV: Fox Sports Network, 12:30 p.m. ET, Saturday).
Florida A&M tangles with Mississippi Valley State in Orlando (TV: ESPN, 11:45 p.m. ET, Sunday) …. Bethune-Cookman plays at Tennessee State (TV: None, 8 p.m. ET, Sunday) …. Jacksonville U. is on the road at Delaware (TV: None, 7:30 p.m. ET, Thursday) …. Stetson resumes football at home against Warner (TV: None, 7 p.m. ET, Saturday).
In the Huddle
Elsewhere around college football . . . The Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, will commence following the 1914 season. The bowl will pit a MAC team against a Sun Belt team…. South Carolina and Texas A&M will open the 2014 season against each other on Thursday night, August 28 in Columbia…. The annual rivalry game between Louisville and Kentucky will move to the final week of the regular season, beginning in 2014.
Touchdown Tom
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
P.S.
Not directly college football related, but as the Labor Day weekend approached and college football fans were stoked for the start of another great season, the number one song in the country…
…70 years ago this week in 1943 was “In The Blue Of The Evening” by Tommy Dorsey
…65 years ago this week in 1948 was “You Call Everybody Darlin’” by Al Trace
…60 years ago this week in 1953 was “No Other Love” by Perry Como
…55 years ago this week in 1958 was “Little Star” by The Elegants and “Bird Dog” by The Everly Brothers
…50 years ago this week in 1963 was “Fingertips Part 2” by Little Stevie Wonder
…45 years ago this week in 1968 was “People Got To Be Free” by The Rascals
…40 years ago this week in 1973 was “Brother Louie” by The Stories
…35 years ago this week in 1978 was “Grease” by Frankie Valli
…30 years ago this week in 1983 was “Every Breath You Take” by The Police
…25 years ago this week in 1988 was “Monkey” by George Michael
…20 years ago this week in 1993 was “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by UB40
Not directly college football related, but on a sad comment, there were four passings of note last week – Elmore Leonard, Marian McPartland, Dean Meminger and Julie Harris.
Elmore Leonard, the crime novelist, whose characters, dialogue and prose style in novels like “Get Shorty,” “Freaky Deaky” and “Glitz” established him as a modern master of American genre writing, died last week in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. He was 87. Leonard, who started out writing westerns, had his first story published in Argosy magazine in 1951. Sixty years later he was turning out a book a year. Some of his earlier western novels became movies – “Hombre” starring Paul Newman in 1967, and “3:10 to Yuma,” twice, starring Glenn Ford in 1957 and Russell Crowe in 2007. Elmore John Leonard Jr. was born in New Orleans on October 11, 1925. His father moved the family to Detroit in 1934. Following a two-year stretch in the Navy (1943-1945), Leonard graduated from the University of Detroit in 1950.
Marian McPartland, an Englishwoman who became a fixture of the American jazz scene as a pianist and, later in life, hosted an internationally syndicated and immensely popular jazz music public radio show, died last week in Port Washington, New York. She was 95. Her radio show, produced by South Carolina’s public radio network, made its debut on NPR in 1978. Margaret Marian Turner was born on March 20, 1918, in Windsor, England. On a USO tour in 1944, she met the American jazz cornetist Jimmy McPartland in Belgium. They married in 1946 and the two moved to Chicago later that year.
Dean Meminger, a speedy guard who played for the New York Knicks 1973 NBA championship team, died last week in New York City. He was 65. Meminger played college basketball for Marquette where he led the Eagles to the 1970 NIT championship. A native of Walterboro, South Carolina, Meminger’s family moved to New York City when he was in the seventh grade. He went on to become an All-American at Marquette and was named the MVP of the 1970 NIT.
Julie Harris, one of the most decorated performers in the history of Broadway, died Saturday in Chatham, Massachusetts. She was 87. Harris had a lengthy resume as an actress with dozens of movie and television credits, including the 1955 film “East of Eden” with James Dean, and for eight years in the 1980s on the prime time soap opera “Knots Landing.” On Broadway, she earned 10 Tony nominations and won five times. Julie Ann Harris was born on December 2, 1925 in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. Some of her other movies included “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1962), “The Haunting” (1963), “Harper” (1965), “Reflections in a Golden Eye” (1967), “The Bell Jar” (1979), “Gorillas in the Mist” (1984) and “House Sitter” (1992). On television, she made appearances on “Family Ties,” “The Love Boat,” “Columbo,” “The Name of the Game,” “Tarzan,” “Medical Center,” “Rawhide,” “Laredo,” “Daniel Boone,” “The Big Valley,” “Bonanza” and “The Virginian.”
Monday, August 26, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
College Football Week – Preseason 2: How good is A&M’s backup QB?
Imaginary lover to the Gee meltdown,
Yet another entertaining off-season
And is Nick Saban really the devil?
There’s always a certain amount of sadness in early January when the college football season comes to a close. Knowing there won’t be another game to look forward to for seven months can be downright depressing.
Just when you think you won’t be able to make it through the seven months known as the off-season, something happens or somebody comes along that takes your mind out of the doldrums. You’re reminded that even though the football season is over, football still has a way of keeping you indulged, if not entertained, when there are no games.
This past January, that someone was Manti Te’o.
“Imaginary lovers, never turn you down
When all the others turn you away, they’re around
It’s my private pleasure, midnight fantasy
Someone to share my wildest dreams with me
Imaginary lover, you’re mine anytime
Imaginary lover, oh yeah”
Well, that was the Atlanta Rhythm Section in the spring of 1978. But Manti Te’o reprised the song last winter.
No sooner had the sun settled on the national championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame when we learned that the Irish linebacker’s girlfriend hadn’t died in September after all. She not only didn’t die, she didn’t exist.
The website Deadspin.com revealed that Te’o’s girlfriend and her reported death just prior to the start of the 2012 season was a hoax. She never existed. She was an imaginary lover. Te’o found out she was a hoax on December 6. Yet he talked about her at the Heisman Trophy presentation on December 8. He informed Notre Dame that she was a hoax on December 26. Yet he continued to talk about her prior to the national championship game in early January in Miami.
If Deadspin.com hadn’t revealed the hoax on January 16, was Te’o ever going to tell us?
Her name was Lennay Kekua. She was a student at Stanford. As the story went, they met at a Notre Dame game in California in 2010. It became an Internet and telephone relationship. They visited after the Notre Dame-Stanford game in Palo Alto in 2011. She visited Te’o in Hawaii. Then she was in a car wreck and later died of leukemia in 2012. But as it turned out, Te’o had never met her. He made up that part of the story. The telephone conversations and Internet exchanges were real. But they were being conducted by a guy in California who impersonated Lennay.
I always thought there was something screwy about Te’o when he showed up at the Heisman Trophy presentation with all that cilantro and Swiss chard around his neck. ESPN’s Desmond Howard said, “He looked like the Stanford mascot.”
And his father is just as screwy. After The Honolulu Star-Advertiser ran a picture of Alabama’s Ed Lacy running over Te’o in the national championship game, Te’o’s dad held a press conference, telling all subscribers to drop their subscription to the newspaper. Months earlier, the father told The South Bend Tribune that Lennay had visited Te’o in Hawaii. Yeah, right.
Alabama fan Michael Brown, a reader of this blog, commented that the first dance at Te’o’s wedding should be “Just My Imagination.”
Te’o wasn’t the only news in January. Looking for a new coach, The Philadelphia Eagles were spurned by one Kelly, but accepted by another Kelly. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said no the Eagles’ offer, while Oregon coach Chip Kelly said, “Yes, where do I sign.”
UNLV revealed plans for a new 60,000-seat football stadium. The stadium reportedly will have a 100-yard video screen. Only in Las Vegas. Price of the stadium: $800 million.
Then there was a report out of El Paso that USC players got into a brawl with each other in the locker room following the Sun Bowl loss to Georgia Tech. Apparently the younger players were blaming the older players for a lack of leadership. What’s that old adage? Leadership starts with the coach. When your coach doesn’t have it, your players don’t have it. Let’s see, who’s the Trojan coach? Oh yes, Lane Kiffin.
Has Syracuse become Penn State II? Or Penn State too? Syracuse sports media director Roger Springfield was fired for secretly videotaping the football players in the nude – this on the heels of Syracuse firing its assistant basketball coach for alleged pedophilia.
Remember John L. Smith, the bankrupt Arkansas coach who was fired at the end of last season? Well, in January, ole John L. was named the new head coach at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Fort Lewis is a Division II school.
Al Pacino will play Joe Paterno in a movie about Paterno called “Happy Valley.” I can’t wait to see the scene where Paterno tells Penn State president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley to keep their mouths shut about Jerry Sandusky.
At a news conference, new Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who took over the AD duties in Lincoln on January 1, gave football coach Bo Pelini a “thumbs up.” Of course, Eichorst failed to mention that he doesn’t have long thumbs.
So has anybody checked Nick Saban’s ears lately? Is he carrying a pitchfork? At a high school football banquet in Georgia, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin referred to Saban as “Nicky Satan.” Then, Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis, speaking to a group, said, “Muschamp coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three.” Davis was referring to the years that he and Will Muschamp were on Nick Saban’s staff.
On a sad note, three football biggies passed away – all within the first 16 days of April. Jack Pardee, a college and pro linebacker, and the only head coach to helm a team in college football, the National Football League, the United States Football League, the World Football League, and the Canadian Football League, died on April 1. He was 76. Pardee was an All-American linebacker at Texas A&M, and a two-time All-Pro with the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins. He coached the Chicago Bears, the Washington Redskins and the Houston Oilers in the NFL. In college ball, he coached Houston, where he produced the first African-American quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy – Andrew Ware.
The next day, April 2, Chuck Fairbanks died. He was 79. Fairbanks was a college and NFL coach. He played college football for Michigan State, and coached Oklahoma for six years from 1967 to 1972. Fairbanks coached the New England Patriots from 1973 to 1978, then returned to college, coaching Colorado from 1979 to 1981.
Two weeks later, April 16, Pat Summerall died. He was 82. Summerall played college and pro football, and was later a television sportscaster for CBS, Fox and ESPN. In addition to football, he also announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall was born and raised in Lake City, Florida. He played college football for Arkansas. Summerall played in the NFL from 1952 to 1961 for the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants.
In addition to Pardee, Fairbanks and Summerall, Mal Moore died on March 30. He was 73. Moore was a former athletic director at Alabama where he played and coached football. He was an assistant coach at Alabama and Notre Dame. Moore became athletic director in Tuscaloosa in 1999. He retired as AD just 10 days before he died.
A meltdown occurred in Columbus, Ohio, and it wasn’t a nuclear reactor. It was the nuclear president of Ohio State – Gordon Gee. Going back to December, the Buckeye prez made a number of statements that resulted in his retirement on July 1.
On Notre Dame, Gee said, “The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week. You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday.”
On Big Ten expansion, “The top goal is to make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity. So you won’t see us adding Louisville. We wouldn’t be adding Kentucky either. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers will give the Big Ten 40 to 50 million more viewers and make the Big Ten Network worth more money than God.”
On the SEC, reacting to Big Ten expansion, “You tell the SEC when they learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing.”
On the former Wisconsin coach, “Someone was saying to me, ‘Well, you know, Bret Bielema leaving….that was a blessing for Wisconsin.’ He was under tremendous pressure. They didn’t like him. Barry Alvarez thought he was a thug. And he left just ahead of the sheriff.”
Eventually, when I think Gee realized he had gone too far, he said, “What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher. I have no business talking about college football.”
This is the same man who a couple years ago said Ohio State doesn’t play the “Little Sisters of the Poor.” Ohio State doesn’t pay poor either. Gee’s meltdown earned him a hefty $5.8 million retirement package. I think Gee had the last laugh.
South Carolina commitment Arden Key must have been hanging out with Gordon Gee during the summer. Key, a high school defensive end, said one of the reasons he committed to the Gamecocks is because it’s hard to flunk out of South Carolina. “It’s like you have to try to fail.”
There was never a dull moment in Florida this summer. In Miami, Florida International football players provided beach goers with a “full monty.” The FIU football team had a barbecue party on the beach to conclude their summer conditioning program under the supervision of the strength and conditioning coach. Following the workout, the players went to the exposed public showers on the beach where they proceeded to expose themselves while they changed clothes for the barbecue. FIU coach Ron Turner issued a public apology to the people of Miami.
It was almost as bad in Gainesville where Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison was arrested for barking at a police dog. I kid you not. And, I can just hear what Morrison’s plea must have been, “But officer, I thought it was a Georgia Bulldog.” Charges were later dropped. The dog must have felt sorry for Morrison.
Did West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen and some of the Mountaineer players throw former WVU quarterback Geno Smith under the bus? Last week, Holgorsen and some of the players said the team was lacking leadership last year. What’s that old adage, again? Leadership starts with the coach. When your coach doesn’t have it, your players don’t have it.
Every year, you know that the college football season is about to begin when Princeton Review’s annual Top 20 Party Schools is released. This year, Iowa holds the distinction as the No. 1 party school in the country. The Top 20 are (1) Iowa, (2) UC-Santa Barbara, (3) Illinois, (4) West Virginia, (5) Syracuse, (6) Florida, (7) Ohio, (8) Wisconsin, (9) Penn State, (10) Lehigh, (11) Georgia, (12) Florida State, (13) DePauw, (14) Ole Miss, (15) Texas, (16) Miami (Ohio), (17) Maryland, (18) Tulane, (19) Vermont, (20) Oregon.
Eighteen of the 20 schools play football. The SEC is losing out to the Big Ten. The Big Ten placed four schools in the Top 10 – unbelievable. Florida was the only SEC school to make the Top 10. West Virginia, No. 1 last year, fell to No. 4. The Mountaineers must have graduated some top partiers.
Understatement of the off-season: Back in January, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mark Stoops told a radio show host that Johnny Manziel might have problems staying out of trouble during the off-season.
I just hope Johnny Manziel never meets Anthony Weiner. Carlos Football?
Touchdown Tom
August 19, 2013
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
Quotes of the Week
“If I get Manziel disease, I want every one of y’all to just get your mics and start hitting me on the head,” Florida State freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, responding to questions from the media.
“If your family is in a burning house, don’t send a wide receiver in there to save them,” former NFL and college wide receiver Cris Carter.
“We have to develop leaders. It was a big issue on last year’s team – in a bad way,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.
“Last year we didn’t have, you know, a lot of leadership,” West Virginia running back Dustin Garrison.
“I feel like last year, we fell apart. At certain moments where we needed to be a team, we weren’t a team,” West Virginia running back Andrew Buie.
“They used to hang people at Centre County courthouse. Frankly, I would have been okay with that. Hell, give us the rope and we’ll do it for you,” former Penn State linebacker Mike Mauti, on handling Jerry Sandusky.
“Joe Paterno was a doddering senior citizen, who confused the situation, got players’ names wrong or just yelled at them by their numbers,” John Bacon, author of the new book Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football.
“Johnny Football is really Johnny Paycheck,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“The NCAA needs to come down and come down hard on Manziel,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“If Texas A&M has any integrity, the Aggies themselves should recognize that Manziel blatantly broke the rules and immediately suspend him for the season, Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
The Teams – 2013
Every season, I average together the results of several preseason polls and come up with CFW’s Composite Top 40. This year I sourced 14 polls (AP, Coaches and 12 others) to create the 2013 Composite Top 40.
To what should be no one’s surprise, (1) Alabama is the No. 1 team in this year’s CFW Top 40 poll. The Tide was a unanimous No. 1 in all 14 polls I sourced. Second place goes to (2) Ohio State, followed by (3) Oregon, (4) Stanford and (5) Georgia. Of those four teams, only Oregon placed in the Top 10 of all 14 polls. Ohio State was 11th in one poll, as was Stanford in another poll. Two polls placed Georgia outside the Top 10 – 12th in both.
The bottom half of the Top 10 is composed of (6) Texas A&M, (7) South Carolina, (8) Clemson, (9) Florida and (10) Florida State. Texas A&M finished 17 points behind Georgia. The second 10 is led by (11) Louisville, followed by (12) Notre Dame, (13) LSU, (14) Texas and (15) Oklahoma State. The Cardinals, Irish and Tigers were each separated by only two points. The Longhorns and the Cowboys were further back.
Another Big 12 school, (16) Oklahoma, was next, followed by (17) Michigan, (18) TCU, (19) Nebraska and (20) USC. Only two points separated the Horned Frogs from the Huskers. Filling out the Top 25 were (21) Boise State, (22) Wisconsin, (23) UCLA, (24) Michigan State, with (25) Oregon State and (25) Virginia Tech in a tie for 25th.
(27) Baylor came next, followed by (28) Northwestern, (29) Miami (Florida) and (30) Ole Miss. Only one point separated the Bears and the Wildcats. The first half of the final 10 teams in the poll consisted of (31) Arizona State, followed by (32) Fresno State, (33) Kansas State, (34) Vanderbilt and (35) Washington. The Commodores and the Huskies were separate by one point.
The final five teams in the CFW Composite Top 40 were made up of (36) North Carolina, followed by (37) BYU, (38) Georgia Tech, (39) Cincinnati and (40) Penn State. Just missing the Top 40 were (41) Mississippi State and (42) Northern Illinois. (43) Arizona was a distant 43rd.
The SEC came in as the strongest conference with eight teams in the Top 40 – an amazing five of those teams (Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Florida) in the Top 10. The Pac-12 and the Big Ten each placed seven teams in the Top 40. But the Pac-10 had two teams (Oregon and Stanford) in the Top 10, while the Big Ten only had one (Ohio State).
The Big 12 and the ACC each had six teams in the Top 40. No teams from the Big 12 made the Top 10, but the conference placed four teams (Texas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and TCU) in the Top 20. The ACC only had two teams (Clemson and Florida State) in the Top 20. However, both were in the Top 10. The only other two conferences to place teams in the Top 40 were the AAC and the MWC with two each. Two Independents made the Top 40 – Notre Dame and BYU.
The MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt had no members in the Top 40. The highest ranked MAC team was Northern Illinois at 42. C-USA’s best was Tulsa at 44, and the highest positioned Sun Belt team was Louisiana-Lafayette at 79.
Last year, LSU was No. 1 in the CFW Composite Top 40 poll and USC was No. 2. But as we all know, Alabama and Notre Dame finished the season in the top two spots and played for the national championship. At preseason last year in the Composite Top 40 Alabama was No. 3 and Notre Dame was No. 26. If this year’s poll holds up, Alabama will play Ohio State for the national championship. Stay tuned!
The Running Backs – 2013
In a year when there are not a lot of big name running backs, four stand out from the others, making the marquee at preseason. They are Georgia sophomore Todd Gurley (6-1, 218), Alabama sophomore T.J. Yeldon (6-2, 218), Arizona junior Ka’Deem Carey (5-10, 197) and Baylor junior Lache Seastrunk (5-10, 210).
In 2012, Gurley was the second leading rusher in the SEC, tallying 1,385 yards and 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.2 yards-per-carry. Yeldon, who shared duties with Eddie Lacy last year at Alabama, rushed for 1,108 yards, averaging 6.3 yards-per-carry. He scored 12 touchdowns. Carey led the Pac-12 in rushing last season, amassing 1,929 yards and 6.4 yards-per-carry. He scored 23 touchdowns for the Wildcats, while averaging a whopping 148.4 yards-per-game. Seastrunk netted 1,012 yards and averaged 7.7 yards every time he carried the ball.
Six more runners are gathering their fair share of attention at preseason. Oregon junior De’Anthony Thomas (5-9, 176) averaged 7.6 yards-per-carry every time he got his hands on the ball in 2012. Miami (Florida) sophomore Duke Johnson (5-9, 194) came on strong as a freshman last year, rushing for 947 yards. Washington junior Bishop Sankey (5-10, 200) rushed for 1,439 yards and scored 16 touchdowns last season. He averaged 110.7 yards-per-game.
In the Big Ten, Northwestern senior Venric Mark (5-8, 180) made a splash in 2012, rushing for 1,366 yards and 105.1 yards-per-game. Oklahoma senior Damien Williams (5-11, 214) galloped for 946 yards last season. And finally, USC senior Silas Redd (5-10, 200) a transfer from Penn State, chalked up 905 yards last year.
Looking at running backs elsewhere around the country, the Big Ten has some powerful ball carriers in addition to Venric Mark. Nebraska junior Ameer Abdullah (5-9, 190) rushed for 1,137 yards last year. Wisconsin has two strong backs – sophomore Melvin Gordon (6-1, 206) and senior James White (5-10, 197).
Penn State has a winner in junior Zach Zwinak (6-1, 234), as does Iowa with junior Mark Weisman (6-0, 225). Three other talented backs in the Big Ten, returning in 2013 are Minnesota junior Donnell Kirkwood (5-10, 219), Indiana senior Stephen Houston (6-0, 225) and Illinois junior Donovan Young (6-0, 220).
Along with Todd Gurley and T.J. Yeldon, the SEC has a few other running backs of note. Mississippi State senior LaDarius Perkins (5-10, 195) and Auburn junior Tre Mason (5-10, 196) each rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2012. Ole Miss senior Jeff Scott (5-7, 170) is looking good at preseason. Georgia has a second top running back in sophomore Keith Marshall (5-11, 216).
The MAC is loaded with running backs and two of the best are at the same school – Kent State. They are senior Dri Archer (5-8, 175) and junior Trayion Durham (6-0, 250). Last year, Archer scampered for 1,429 yards (9.0 yards-per-carry), and Durham added another 1,316 yards. Toledo senior David Fluellen (6-0, 205) averaged 124.8 yards-a-game, rushing for 1,498 yards total in 2012.
Ohio senior Beau Blankenship (5-9, 202) and Central Michigan senior Zurlon Tipton were impressive as well last season. Blankenship rushed for 1,604 yards and Tipton 1,492. Ball State has a star in junior Jahwan Edwards (5-10, 230). Edwards tallied 1,410 yards last year. Four more excellent running backs in the MAC are Western Michigan senior Dareyon Chance (5-5, 169), Eastern Michigan junior Bronson Hill (5-10, 208), Akron junior Jawon Chisholm (6-1, 190) and Buffalo senior Branden Oliver (5-8, 203).
In addition to Lache Seastrunk and Damien Williams, the Big 12 has its share of good backs. Two of the top ones are Kansas senior James Sims (6-0, 202) and Kansas State senior John Hubert (5-7, 191). Other running backs with preseason notoriety in the Big 12 are Texas Tech junior Kenny Williams (5-9, 219), Texas sophomore Jonathan Gray (5-11, 207) and Iowa State senior James White (5-8, 192).
West Virginia has three backs who could make some noise in 2013. They are Houston transfer and senior Charles Sims (6-0, 213), junior Andrew Buie (5-9, 190) and junior Dustin Garrison (5-8, 182). Sims could bring some immediate help to the WVU backfield.
Already loaded with Ka’Deem Carey, De’Anthony Thomas, Bishop Sankey and Silas Redd, the Pac-12 has three other running backs of note. They are Oregon State sophomore Storm Woods (6-0, 197), Colorado sophomore Christian Powell (6-0, 240) and Arizona State senior Marion Grice (6-0, 199).
Along with Duke Johnson, the ACC lists a talented corps of running backs. Two of the featured backs are Syracuse junior Jerome Smith (6-0, 217), and Virginia junior Kevin Parks (5-8, 200). Smith rushed for 1,171 yards in 2012. Two more quality backs in the ACC are Boston College senior Andre Williams (6-0, 220) and Georgia Tech senior David Sims (6-0, 222). Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Florida State is expecting a lot from junior Devonta Freeman (5-9, 209) and junior James Wilder (6-2, 226).
Conference USA has a ton of quality running backs, heading into the 2013 season. For starters, Tulsa senior Trey Watts (5-11, 190), and Louisiana Tech sophomore Kenneth Dixon (6-0, 215) are hard to beat. Both rushed for more than 1,100 yards last season. Two more who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last year are UAB junior Darrin Reaves (5-10, 210), and East Carolina senior Vintavious Cooper (5-9, 200). Tulsa has another good back in senior Ja’Terian Douglas (5-11, 189).
Five who could stir up things are UTEP junior Nathan Jeffrey (5-11, 205), North Texas senior Brandin Byrd (5-10, 216), Middle Tennessee sophomore Jordan Parker (6-1, 220), Florida Atlantic senior Jonathan Wallace (6-1, 210), and Rice senior Charles Ross (6-1, 230). Marshall is expecting good things from sophomore Kevin Grooms (5-10, 168).
The Mountain West Conference has its share of good running backs. Topping the list are New Mexico senior Kasey Carrier (5-9, 185), and San Diego State junior Adam Muema (5-10, 205). Last year Carrier rushed for 1,469 yards, averaging 122.4 yards-a-game, while Muema tallied 1,458 yards. UNLV is looking good with senior Tim Cornett (6-0, 210). Cornett scrambled for 1,232 yards in 2012. And finally, Colorado State has two good runners in senior Chris Nwoke (6-0, 216) and sophomore Donnell Alexander (5-11, 205).
The AAC only has three marquee running backs at preseason, but that could change. The three biggies are Connecticut junior Lyle McCombs (5-8, 169), Louisville junior Dominique Brown (6-2, 226) and Memphis senior Brandon Hayes (5-8, 205).
Western Kentucky senior Antonio Andrews (6-0, 219) leads the pack of running backs in the Sun Belt Conference. Last year, Andrews rushed for no less than 1,728 yards, averaging 133 yards-per-game. Three other strong running backs in the Sun Belt are Arkansas State senior David Oku (5-10, 195), Louisiana-Lafayette junior Alonzo Harris (6-1, 220), and Louisiana-Monroe senior Jyruss Edwards (5-11, 198).
Among the Independents, three running backs stand out at preseason. They are Army senior Raymond Maples (6-1, 218), New Mexico State senior Germi Morrison (6-0, 195), and BYU sophomore Jamaal Williams (6-0, 190). Maples rushed for 1,215 yards in 2012.
TT’s Top Ten Favorite Running Backs at Preseason:
1. Todd Gurley – Georgia
2. T.J. Yeldon – Alabama
3. Ka’Deem Carey – Arizona
4. Lache Seastrunk – Baylor
5. De’Anthony Thomas – Oregon
6. Venric Mark – Northwestern
7. Bishop Sankey – Washington
8. Duke Johnson – Miami (Florida)
9. Damien Williams – Oklahoma
10. Silas Redd – USC
And keep an eye on:
Raymond Maples – Army; Dri Archer – Kent State; Melvin Gordon – Wisconsin; Vintavious Cooper – East Carolina; Ameer Abdullah – Nebraska; Keith Marshall – Georgia; Jerome Smith – Syracuse; David Fluellen – Toledo, and Trayion Durham – Kent State.
The Other Positions – 2013
Wide Receivers
Fifty years ago it was the running back. Thirty years ago it was the quarterback. Today it’s the wide receiver. The wide receiver is the most compelling position on a football team. Every kid today wants to be a wide receiver. Those were the comments of former NFL and Ohio State receiver Cris Carter on the “Morning Joe” show last week.
This season, college football has several compelling and darn good wide receivers. Three of the best are USC junior Marquise Lee (6-0, 195), Alabama sophomore Amari Cooper (6-1, 202), and Clemson junior Sammy Watkins (6-1, 205). Also from the SEC are Vanderbilt senior Jordan Mathews (6-3, 205), Texas A&M sophomore Mike Evans and Ole Miss junior Donte Moncrief (6-3, 216).
The MWC has two excellent wide receivers in Fresno State sophomore Davante Adams (6-2, 200) and San Jose State senior Noel Grigsby (5-11, 175). Oklahoma State has two top receivers in junior Josh Stewart (5-10, 185) and senior Tracy Moore (6-2, 215). Also in the Big 12 are Texas senior Mike Davis (6-2, 193) and Baylor senior Tevin Reese (5-10, 170).
The Big Ten is well-represented at the wide receiver position with Penn State junior Allen Robinson (6-3, 204), Wisconsin senior Jared Abbrederis (6-2, 188) and Nebraska junior Kenny Bell (6-1, 185). Two more ace receivers from the Pac-12 are Oregon State junior Brandin Cooks (5-10, 181) and Washington junior Kasen Williams (6-2, 216). Completing the roster of the best wide receivers are Maryland sophomore Stefon Diggs (6-1, 185), Rutgers junior Brandon Coleman (6-6, 225), and BYU senior Cody Hoffman (6-4, 215).
Tight Ends
Nine players make the best of the tight end list. Four of the nine are from the Big Ten. They are Wisconsin senior Jacob Pedersen (6-4, 241), Michigan sophomore Devin Funchess (6-4, 228), Penn State sophomore Kyle Carter (6-3, 240), and Iowa senior C.J. Fiedorowicz (6-7, 265).
Together, the Pac-12 and the ACC have four of the best tight ends. They are Washington junior Austin Seferian-Jenkins (6-6, 266), Arizona State senior Chris Coyle (6-3, 222), Florida State junior Nick O’Leary (6-3, 238) and North Carolina junior Eric Ebron (6-4, 235). Also among the best of the tight ends is Georgia senior Arthur Lynch (6-5, 258).
Centers
The cream of the crop of the centers include Oklahoma senior Gabe Ikard (6-4, 298), Arkansas senior Travis Swanson (6-5, 314), Oregon junior Hroniss Grasu (6-3, 294), and Florida State senior Bryan Stork (6-4, 312). Also, Kansas State junior B.J. Finney (6-4, 303), North Carolina junior Russell Bodine (6-4, 310), and Toledo senior Zac Kerin (6-5, 300). Last but not least, Oregon State sophomore Isaac Seumaio (6-3, 300) and Utah State senior Tyler Larsen (6-4, 312).
Offensive Guards
The Big Ten has three of the best offensive guards in Nebraska senior Spencer Long (6-4, 315), Ohio State senior Andrew Norwell (6-6, 319), and Penn State senior John Urschel (6-3, 300). Also on the list are two guards from the SEC: Mississippi State senior Gabe Jackson (6-4, 335) and Alabama senior Anthony Steen (6-3, 309). The remainder of the best guards includes Baylor senior Cyril Richardson (6-5, 335), Stanford senior David Yankey (6-5, 311), UCLA junior Xavier Su’a-Filo (6-3, 304), and Florida State junior Tre’ Jackson (6-4, 327).
Offensive Tackles
Tennessee has two of the best offensive tackles in junior Tiny Richardson (6-6, 332 and senior Ja’Wuan James (6-6, 323). Two more top tackles also from the SEC are Texas A&M senior Jake Mathews (6-5, 305) and Alabama junior Cyrus Kouandjio (6-6, 310). Three of the best tackles are from the ACC: North Carolina senior James Hurst (6-7, 305), Clemson senior Brandon Thomas (6-3, 305), and Virginia senior Morgan Moses (6-5, 325). One more of the best is Notre Dame senior Zack Martin (6-4, 305).
Defensive Ends
Over on the defensive side of the ball, the best and best-known defensive end is South Carolina junior Jadeveon Clowney (6-6, 272). Also from the SEC is Alabama senior Ed Stinson (6-4, 292) and Florida sophomore Dante Fowler (6-3, 263). Five of the best defensive ends in the country are out of the West Coast. Two of those are from Stanford – senior Henry Anderson (6-6, 282) and senior Ben Gardner (6-4, 275). The other three are Oregon State junior Scott Crichton (6-3, 260), Boise State junior Demarcus Lawrence (6-3, 244), and USC senior Morgan Breslin (6-2, 250).
The Big 12 has two excellent defensive ends. They are Texas senior Jackson Jeffcoat (6-5, 245) and TCU sophomore Devonte Fields (6-4, 240). For more of the best defensive ends are Notre Dame junior Stephon Tuitt (6-6, 303), Virginia Tech senior James Gayle (6-4, 253), Penn State sophomore Deion Barnes (6-4, 244), and South Florida sophomore Aaron Lynch (6-6, 244).
Defensive Tackles
Four of the best defensive tackles are from the SEC. They are LSU junior Anthony Johnson (6-3, 304), Florida senior Dominique Easley (6-2, 283), South Carolina junior Kelcy Quarles (6-4, 293), and Tennessee senior Daniel McCullers (6-8, 360). Two more of the best are from the Pac-12 – Arizona State senior Will Sutton (6-1, 288) and USC sophomore Leonard Williams (6-5, 270).
Three other top defensive tackles are Notre Dame senior Louis Nix (6-3, 326), Pitt senior Aaron Donald (6-0, 275), and Oklahoma State senior Calvin Barnett (6-2, 300). Also among the best are Florida State junior Timmy Jernigan (6-2, 298), Wisconsin senior Beau Allen (6-3, 333), and Kent State senior Roosevelt Nix (5-11, 267).
Linebackers
Alabama has three of the best linebackers in the country. They are senior C.J. Mosley (6-2, 232), junior Adrian Hubbard (6-6, 252), and junior Trey Depriest (6-2, 245). Other top linebackers from the SEC are Tennessee sophomore A.J. Johnson (6-2, 240) and Ole Miss sophomore Denzel Nkemdiche (5-11, 203).
Stanford and UCLA claim four of the best. They are Stanford senior Shayne Skov (6-3, 244), Stanford senior Trent Murphy (6-6, 261), UCLA senior Anthony Barr (6-4, 245) and UCLA junior Eric Kendricks (6-0, 228). And I can’t leave the Pac-12 without mentioning Washington sophomore Shaq Thompson (6-2, 225) and USC junior Hayes Pullard (6-1, 235).
The Big Ten has its share of top linebackers in Ohio State junior Ryan Shazier (6-2, 222), Wisconsin junior Chris Borland (5-11, 248), and Michigan State senior Max Bullough (6-3, 242). Four more of the best linebackers are from the AAC and the ACC. From the AAC are Connecticut junior Yawin Smallwood (6-3, 244) and Cincinnati senior Greg Blair. From the ACC are Miami junior Denzel Perryman (6-0, 236) and Florida State senior Christian Jones (6-4, 232).
And finally, the list of good linebackers would be incomplete without mentioning BYU senior Kyle Van Noy (6-3, 235), Notre Dame senior Prince Shembo (6-2, 250), Baylor junior Bryce Hagen (6-2, 235), Western Kentucky senior Andrew Jackson (6-1, 265), and Buffalo senior Khalil Mack (6-3, 244).
Cornerbacks
Five of the best cornerbacks in the nation reside in the SEC. They are Florida junior Louicheiz Purifoy (6-1, 185), Georgia junior Damian Swann (5-11, 189), Missouri senior E.J. Gaines (5-10, 195), Texas A&M junior Deshazor Everett (6-0, 185), and Vanderbilt senior Andre Hal (6-0, 184). Three more represent the Big 12. They are TCU senior Jason Verrett (5-10, 180), Oklahoma senior Aaron Colvin (6-0, 181), and Texas junior Quandre Diggs (5-10, 200).
The ACC has three star cornerbacks. They are Florida State senior Lamarcus Joyner (5-8, 195), Duke senior Ross Cockrell (6-0, 180), and Virginia Tech senior Antone Exum (6-1, 224). Four more outstanding cornerbacks are Ohio State junior Bradley Roby (5-11, 193), Oregon junior Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (5-10, 190), Michigan State senior Darqueze Dennard (5-11, 188), and San Jose State senior Bene Benwikere (6-0, 192).
Safeties
Five of the best safeties are out of the Pac-12 and two of those are from Stanford – senior Ed Reynolds (6-2, 205) and junior Jordan Richards (5-11, 208). The other three from the Pac-12 are USC junior Dion Bailey (6-0, 210), Arizona State senior Alden Darby (5-11, 192), and Washington State senior Deone Bucannon (6-1, 198). The SEC has three top safeties. They are LSU senior Craig Loston (6-2, 205), Alabama junior Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (6-1, 208), and Mississippi State senior Nickoe Whitley (6-1, 205).
The Big Ten has two marquee safeties. They are Northwestern junior Ibraheim Campbell (5-11, 205) and Michigan State senior Isaiah Lewis (5-10, 210). Four more key safeties are Kansas State junior Ty Zimmerman (6-1, 204), Louisville senior Hakeem Smith (6-1, 187), Fresno State junior Derron Smith (5-11, 194), and Florida State junior Jordan Richards (5-11, 208).
Kickers
Two of the best kickers in the country are out of Conference USA. They are Tulane senior Cairo Santos (5-8, 160) and Rice senior Chris Boswell (6-2, 200). Two more of the best kickers represent the Big Ten. They are Northwestern senior Jeff Budzien (5-11, 165) and Michigan senior Brendan Gibbons (6-1, 240).
Five remaining star kickers are Clemson senior Chandler Catanzaro (6-2, 195), Oklahoma junior Michael Hunnicutt (6-0, 175), Duke sophomore Ross Martin (5-9, 185), Vanderbilt senior Carey Spear (5-10, 190), and Toledo junior Jeremiah Detmer (5-8, 170).
Punters
And finally, last but not least, nine punters make the best in the nation list at preseason. From the SEC are Florida junior Kyle Christy (6-3, 193) and Alabama senior Cody Mandell (6-4, 213). From the ACC are Duke sophomore Will Monday (6-4, 210) and North Carolina junior Tommy Hibbard (5-10, 195).
From the Big 12 are Iowa State senior Kirby Van Der Kamp (6-4, 211) and TCU sophomore Ethan Perry (6-4, 230). The last of the best punters are Houston senior Richie Leone (6-3, 215), Michigan State junior Mike Sadler (6-0, 185), and Colorado junior Darragh O’Neil (6-2, 185).
In the Huddle
Elsewhere around college football . . . Cincinnati will play its 2014 home games in Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Nippert Stadium, home of the Bearcats, will be undergoing renovation throughout 2014…. Penn State and Virginia Tech have agreed to play a two-game, home-and-home series. The first game will be in Blacksburg in 2022. The second game will be the following year in State College.
Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky have signed up to a three-game series. Vanderbilt will host two of the games in 2015 and 2017. WKU will host the Commodores in 2016…. Shoulder surgery has apparently ended the career of Ohio State special teams player Adam Griffin. Griffin, a redshirt junior, is the son of two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
Touchdown Tom
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
P.S.
Not directly college football related, but on a sad comment, there were two passings of note last week – Tompall Glaser and John Germond.
Tompall Glaser, a key figure in country music’s outlaw movement of the 1970s, died last week in Nashville. He was 79. Glaser was one of four Nashville performers, along with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, featured on the 1976 album “Wanted! The Outlaws.” It was the first album in the history of country music to be certified platinum for sales of one million copies. Thomas Paul Glaser was born on September 3, 1933, in Spalding, Nebraska, and spent his childhood on a 1,200-acre farm northeast of there. He and his brothers performed widely in the eastern half of Nebraska, eventually hosting a radio show. Marty Robins hired them to sing harmony in his band. The brothers sang harmony on Robins’ 1959 No. 1 single “El Paso,” and on Johnny Cash’s 1963 hit “Ring of Fire.” The brothers formed their own band and were named the vocal group of the year by the Country Music Association in 1970. They disbanded in 1973. After briefly reuniting in 1979, they had a No. 2 country hit in 1981 with Kris Kristofferson’s “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).”
Jack Germond, an old-time newsman who informed Americans about the ups, downs and twisty turns of their nation’s politics as a newspaper reporter, syndicated columnist and television pundit, died last week at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia. He was 85. Germond became nationally known as an opinionated liberal on “The McLaughlin Group” and other public affairs TV programs. He and Jules Witcover wrote a syndicated column that appeared five days a week in more than 140 newspapers from 1977 to 2001. John Worthen Germond was born on January 28, 1928, in Boston. After briefly attending LSU, Germond joined the Army in 1951. Following his stint in the service, he earned a degree in journalism and history from the University of Missouri. He worked for several newspapers, but eventually joined the Baltimore Sun in 1981, where he worked until his retirement in 2001.
Imaginary lover to the Gee meltdown,
Yet another entertaining off-season
And is Nick Saban really the devil?
There’s always a certain amount of sadness in early January when the college football season comes to a close. Knowing there won’t be another game to look forward to for seven months can be downright depressing.
Just when you think you won’t be able to make it through the seven months known as the off-season, something happens or somebody comes along that takes your mind out of the doldrums. You’re reminded that even though the football season is over, football still has a way of keeping you indulged, if not entertained, when there are no games.
This past January, that someone was Manti Te’o.
“Imaginary lovers, never turn you down
When all the others turn you away, they’re around
It’s my private pleasure, midnight fantasy
Someone to share my wildest dreams with me
Imaginary lover, you’re mine anytime
Imaginary lover, oh yeah”
Well, that was the Atlanta Rhythm Section in the spring of 1978. But Manti Te’o reprised the song last winter.
No sooner had the sun settled on the national championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame when we learned that the Irish linebacker’s girlfriend hadn’t died in September after all. She not only didn’t die, she didn’t exist.
The website Deadspin.com revealed that Te’o’s girlfriend and her reported death just prior to the start of the 2012 season was a hoax. She never existed. She was an imaginary lover. Te’o found out she was a hoax on December 6. Yet he talked about her at the Heisman Trophy presentation on December 8. He informed Notre Dame that she was a hoax on December 26. Yet he continued to talk about her prior to the national championship game in early January in Miami.
If Deadspin.com hadn’t revealed the hoax on January 16, was Te’o ever going to tell us?
Her name was Lennay Kekua. She was a student at Stanford. As the story went, they met at a Notre Dame game in California in 2010. It became an Internet and telephone relationship. They visited after the Notre Dame-Stanford game in Palo Alto in 2011. She visited Te’o in Hawaii. Then she was in a car wreck and later died of leukemia in 2012. But as it turned out, Te’o had never met her. He made up that part of the story. The telephone conversations and Internet exchanges were real. But they were being conducted by a guy in California who impersonated Lennay.
I always thought there was something screwy about Te’o when he showed up at the Heisman Trophy presentation with all that cilantro and Swiss chard around his neck. ESPN’s Desmond Howard said, “He looked like the Stanford mascot.”
And his father is just as screwy. After The Honolulu Star-Advertiser ran a picture of Alabama’s Ed Lacy running over Te’o in the national championship game, Te’o’s dad held a press conference, telling all subscribers to drop their subscription to the newspaper. Months earlier, the father told The South Bend Tribune that Lennay had visited Te’o in Hawaii. Yeah, right.
Alabama fan Michael Brown, a reader of this blog, commented that the first dance at Te’o’s wedding should be “Just My Imagination.”
Te’o wasn’t the only news in January. Looking for a new coach, The Philadelphia Eagles were spurned by one Kelly, but accepted by another Kelly. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said no the Eagles’ offer, while Oregon coach Chip Kelly said, “Yes, where do I sign.”
UNLV revealed plans for a new 60,000-seat football stadium. The stadium reportedly will have a 100-yard video screen. Only in Las Vegas. Price of the stadium: $800 million.
Then there was a report out of El Paso that USC players got into a brawl with each other in the locker room following the Sun Bowl loss to Georgia Tech. Apparently the younger players were blaming the older players for a lack of leadership. What’s that old adage? Leadership starts with the coach. When your coach doesn’t have it, your players don’t have it. Let’s see, who’s the Trojan coach? Oh yes, Lane Kiffin.
Has Syracuse become Penn State II? Or Penn State too? Syracuse sports media director Roger Springfield was fired for secretly videotaping the football players in the nude – this on the heels of Syracuse firing its assistant basketball coach for alleged pedophilia.
Remember John L. Smith, the bankrupt Arkansas coach who was fired at the end of last season? Well, in January, ole John L. was named the new head coach at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Fort Lewis is a Division II school.
Al Pacino will play Joe Paterno in a movie about Paterno called “Happy Valley.” I can’t wait to see the scene where Paterno tells Penn State president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley to keep their mouths shut about Jerry Sandusky.
At a news conference, new Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who took over the AD duties in Lincoln on January 1, gave football coach Bo Pelini a “thumbs up.” Of course, Eichorst failed to mention that he doesn’t have long thumbs.
So has anybody checked Nick Saban’s ears lately? Is he carrying a pitchfork? At a high school football banquet in Georgia, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin referred to Saban as “Nicky Satan.” Then, Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis, speaking to a group, said, “Muschamp coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three.” Davis was referring to the years that he and Will Muschamp were on Nick Saban’s staff.
On a sad note, three football biggies passed away – all within the first 16 days of April. Jack Pardee, a college and pro linebacker, and the only head coach to helm a team in college football, the National Football League, the United States Football League, the World Football League, and the Canadian Football League, died on April 1. He was 76. Pardee was an All-American linebacker at Texas A&M, and a two-time All-Pro with the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins. He coached the Chicago Bears, the Washington Redskins and the Houston Oilers in the NFL. In college ball, he coached Houston, where he produced the first African-American quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy – Andrew Ware.
The next day, April 2, Chuck Fairbanks died. He was 79. Fairbanks was a college and NFL coach. He played college football for Michigan State, and coached Oklahoma for six years from 1967 to 1972. Fairbanks coached the New England Patriots from 1973 to 1978, then returned to college, coaching Colorado from 1979 to 1981.
Two weeks later, April 16, Pat Summerall died. He was 82. Summerall played college and pro football, and was later a television sportscaster for CBS, Fox and ESPN. In addition to football, he also announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall was born and raised in Lake City, Florida. He played college football for Arkansas. Summerall played in the NFL from 1952 to 1961 for the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants.
In addition to Pardee, Fairbanks and Summerall, Mal Moore died on March 30. He was 73. Moore was a former athletic director at Alabama where he played and coached football. He was an assistant coach at Alabama and Notre Dame. Moore became athletic director in Tuscaloosa in 1999. He retired as AD just 10 days before he died.
A meltdown occurred in Columbus, Ohio, and it wasn’t a nuclear reactor. It was the nuclear president of Ohio State – Gordon Gee. Going back to December, the Buckeye prez made a number of statements that resulted in his retirement on July 1.
On Notre Dame, Gee said, “The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week. You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday.”
On Big Ten expansion, “The top goal is to make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity. So you won’t see us adding Louisville. We wouldn’t be adding Kentucky either. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers will give the Big Ten 40 to 50 million more viewers and make the Big Ten Network worth more money than God.”
On the SEC, reacting to Big Ten expansion, “You tell the SEC when they learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing.”
On the former Wisconsin coach, “Someone was saying to me, ‘Well, you know, Bret Bielema leaving….that was a blessing for Wisconsin.’ He was under tremendous pressure. They didn’t like him. Barry Alvarez thought he was a thug. And he left just ahead of the sheriff.”
Eventually, when I think Gee realized he had gone too far, he said, “What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher. I have no business talking about college football.”
This is the same man who a couple years ago said Ohio State doesn’t play the “Little Sisters of the Poor.” Ohio State doesn’t pay poor either. Gee’s meltdown earned him a hefty $5.8 million retirement package. I think Gee had the last laugh.
South Carolina commitment Arden Key must have been hanging out with Gordon Gee during the summer. Key, a high school defensive end, said one of the reasons he committed to the Gamecocks is because it’s hard to flunk out of South Carolina. “It’s like you have to try to fail.”
There was never a dull moment in Florida this summer. In Miami, Florida International football players provided beach goers with a “full monty.” The FIU football team had a barbecue party on the beach to conclude their summer conditioning program under the supervision of the strength and conditioning coach. Following the workout, the players went to the exposed public showers on the beach where they proceeded to expose themselves while they changed clothes for the barbecue. FIU coach Ron Turner issued a public apology to the people of Miami.
It was almost as bad in Gainesville where Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison was arrested for barking at a police dog. I kid you not. And, I can just hear what Morrison’s plea must have been, “But officer, I thought it was a Georgia Bulldog.” Charges were later dropped. The dog must have felt sorry for Morrison.
Did West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen and some of the Mountaineer players throw former WVU quarterback Geno Smith under the bus? Last week, Holgorsen and some of the players said the team was lacking leadership last year. What’s that old adage, again? Leadership starts with the coach. When your coach doesn’t have it, your players don’t have it.
Every year, you know that the college football season is about to begin when Princeton Review’s annual Top 20 Party Schools is released. This year, Iowa holds the distinction as the No. 1 party school in the country. The Top 20 are (1) Iowa, (2) UC-Santa Barbara, (3) Illinois, (4) West Virginia, (5) Syracuse, (6) Florida, (7) Ohio, (8) Wisconsin, (9) Penn State, (10) Lehigh, (11) Georgia, (12) Florida State, (13) DePauw, (14) Ole Miss, (15) Texas, (16) Miami (Ohio), (17) Maryland, (18) Tulane, (19) Vermont, (20) Oregon.
Eighteen of the 20 schools play football. The SEC is losing out to the Big Ten. The Big Ten placed four schools in the Top 10 – unbelievable. Florida was the only SEC school to make the Top 10. West Virginia, No. 1 last year, fell to No. 4. The Mountaineers must have graduated some top partiers.
Understatement of the off-season: Back in January, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mark Stoops told a radio show host that Johnny Manziel might have problems staying out of trouble during the off-season.
I just hope Johnny Manziel never meets Anthony Weiner. Carlos Football?
Touchdown Tom
August 19, 2013
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
Quotes of the Week
“If I get Manziel disease, I want every one of y’all to just get your mics and start hitting me on the head,” Florida State freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, responding to questions from the media.
“If your family is in a burning house, don’t send a wide receiver in there to save them,” former NFL and college wide receiver Cris Carter.
“We have to develop leaders. It was a big issue on last year’s team – in a bad way,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.
“Last year we didn’t have, you know, a lot of leadership,” West Virginia running back Dustin Garrison.
“I feel like last year, we fell apart. At certain moments where we needed to be a team, we weren’t a team,” West Virginia running back Andrew Buie.
“They used to hang people at Centre County courthouse. Frankly, I would have been okay with that. Hell, give us the rope and we’ll do it for you,” former Penn State linebacker Mike Mauti, on handling Jerry Sandusky.
“Joe Paterno was a doddering senior citizen, who confused the situation, got players’ names wrong or just yelled at them by their numbers,” John Bacon, author of the new book Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football.
“Johnny Football is really Johnny Paycheck,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“The NCAA needs to come down and come down hard on Manziel,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“If Texas A&M has any integrity, the Aggies themselves should recognize that Manziel blatantly broke the rules and immediately suspend him for the season, Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
The Teams – 2013
Every season, I average together the results of several preseason polls and come up with CFW’s Composite Top 40. This year I sourced 14 polls (AP, Coaches and 12 others) to create the 2013 Composite Top 40.
To what should be no one’s surprise, (1) Alabama is the No. 1 team in this year’s CFW Top 40 poll. The Tide was a unanimous No. 1 in all 14 polls I sourced. Second place goes to (2) Ohio State, followed by (3) Oregon, (4) Stanford and (5) Georgia. Of those four teams, only Oregon placed in the Top 10 of all 14 polls. Ohio State was 11th in one poll, as was Stanford in another poll. Two polls placed Georgia outside the Top 10 – 12th in both.
The bottom half of the Top 10 is composed of (6) Texas A&M, (7) South Carolina, (8) Clemson, (9) Florida and (10) Florida State. Texas A&M finished 17 points behind Georgia. The second 10 is led by (11) Louisville, followed by (12) Notre Dame, (13) LSU, (14) Texas and (15) Oklahoma State. The Cardinals, Irish and Tigers were each separated by only two points. The Longhorns and the Cowboys were further back.
Another Big 12 school, (16) Oklahoma, was next, followed by (17) Michigan, (18) TCU, (19) Nebraska and (20) USC. Only two points separated the Horned Frogs from the Huskers. Filling out the Top 25 were (21) Boise State, (22) Wisconsin, (23) UCLA, (24) Michigan State, with (25) Oregon State and (25) Virginia Tech in a tie for 25th.
(27) Baylor came next, followed by (28) Northwestern, (29) Miami (Florida) and (30) Ole Miss. Only one point separated the Bears and the Wildcats. The first half of the final 10 teams in the poll consisted of (31) Arizona State, followed by (32) Fresno State, (33) Kansas State, (34) Vanderbilt and (35) Washington. The Commodores and the Huskies were separate by one point.
The final five teams in the CFW Composite Top 40 were made up of (36) North Carolina, followed by (37) BYU, (38) Georgia Tech, (39) Cincinnati and (40) Penn State. Just missing the Top 40 were (41) Mississippi State and (42) Northern Illinois. (43) Arizona was a distant 43rd.
The SEC came in as the strongest conference with eight teams in the Top 40 – an amazing five of those teams (Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Florida) in the Top 10. The Pac-12 and the Big Ten each placed seven teams in the Top 40. But the Pac-10 had two teams (Oregon and Stanford) in the Top 10, while the Big Ten only had one (Ohio State).
The Big 12 and the ACC each had six teams in the Top 40. No teams from the Big 12 made the Top 10, but the conference placed four teams (Texas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and TCU) in the Top 20. The ACC only had two teams (Clemson and Florida State) in the Top 20. However, both were in the Top 10. The only other two conferences to place teams in the Top 40 were the AAC and the MWC with two each. Two Independents made the Top 40 – Notre Dame and BYU.
The MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt had no members in the Top 40. The highest ranked MAC team was Northern Illinois at 42. C-USA’s best was Tulsa at 44, and the highest positioned Sun Belt team was Louisiana-Lafayette at 79.
Last year, LSU was No. 1 in the CFW Composite Top 40 poll and USC was No. 2. But as we all know, Alabama and Notre Dame finished the season in the top two spots and played for the national championship. At preseason last year in the Composite Top 40 Alabama was No. 3 and Notre Dame was No. 26. If this year’s poll holds up, Alabama will play Ohio State for the national championship. Stay tuned!
The Running Backs – 2013
In a year when there are not a lot of big name running backs, four stand out from the others, making the marquee at preseason. They are Georgia sophomore Todd Gurley (6-1, 218), Alabama sophomore T.J. Yeldon (6-2, 218), Arizona junior Ka’Deem Carey (5-10, 197) and Baylor junior Lache Seastrunk (5-10, 210).
In 2012, Gurley was the second leading rusher in the SEC, tallying 1,385 yards and 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.2 yards-per-carry. Yeldon, who shared duties with Eddie Lacy last year at Alabama, rushed for 1,108 yards, averaging 6.3 yards-per-carry. He scored 12 touchdowns. Carey led the Pac-12 in rushing last season, amassing 1,929 yards and 6.4 yards-per-carry. He scored 23 touchdowns for the Wildcats, while averaging a whopping 148.4 yards-per-game. Seastrunk netted 1,012 yards and averaged 7.7 yards every time he carried the ball.
Six more runners are gathering their fair share of attention at preseason. Oregon junior De’Anthony Thomas (5-9, 176) averaged 7.6 yards-per-carry every time he got his hands on the ball in 2012. Miami (Florida) sophomore Duke Johnson (5-9, 194) came on strong as a freshman last year, rushing for 947 yards. Washington junior Bishop Sankey (5-10, 200) rushed for 1,439 yards and scored 16 touchdowns last season. He averaged 110.7 yards-per-game.
In the Big Ten, Northwestern senior Venric Mark (5-8, 180) made a splash in 2012, rushing for 1,366 yards and 105.1 yards-per-game. Oklahoma senior Damien Williams (5-11, 214) galloped for 946 yards last season. And finally, USC senior Silas Redd (5-10, 200) a transfer from Penn State, chalked up 905 yards last year.
Looking at running backs elsewhere around the country, the Big Ten has some powerful ball carriers in addition to Venric Mark. Nebraska junior Ameer Abdullah (5-9, 190) rushed for 1,137 yards last year. Wisconsin has two strong backs – sophomore Melvin Gordon (6-1, 206) and senior James White (5-10, 197).
Penn State has a winner in junior Zach Zwinak (6-1, 234), as does Iowa with junior Mark Weisman (6-0, 225). Three other talented backs in the Big Ten, returning in 2013 are Minnesota junior Donnell Kirkwood (5-10, 219), Indiana senior Stephen Houston (6-0, 225) and Illinois junior Donovan Young (6-0, 220).
Along with Todd Gurley and T.J. Yeldon, the SEC has a few other running backs of note. Mississippi State senior LaDarius Perkins (5-10, 195) and Auburn junior Tre Mason (5-10, 196) each rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2012. Ole Miss senior Jeff Scott (5-7, 170) is looking good at preseason. Georgia has a second top running back in sophomore Keith Marshall (5-11, 216).
The MAC is loaded with running backs and two of the best are at the same school – Kent State. They are senior Dri Archer (5-8, 175) and junior Trayion Durham (6-0, 250). Last year, Archer scampered for 1,429 yards (9.0 yards-per-carry), and Durham added another 1,316 yards. Toledo senior David Fluellen (6-0, 205) averaged 124.8 yards-a-game, rushing for 1,498 yards total in 2012.
Ohio senior Beau Blankenship (5-9, 202) and Central Michigan senior Zurlon Tipton were impressive as well last season. Blankenship rushed for 1,604 yards and Tipton 1,492. Ball State has a star in junior Jahwan Edwards (5-10, 230). Edwards tallied 1,410 yards last year. Four more excellent running backs in the MAC are Western Michigan senior Dareyon Chance (5-5, 169), Eastern Michigan junior Bronson Hill (5-10, 208), Akron junior Jawon Chisholm (6-1, 190) and Buffalo senior Branden Oliver (5-8, 203).
In addition to Lache Seastrunk and Damien Williams, the Big 12 has its share of good backs. Two of the top ones are Kansas senior James Sims (6-0, 202) and Kansas State senior John Hubert (5-7, 191). Other running backs with preseason notoriety in the Big 12 are Texas Tech junior Kenny Williams (5-9, 219), Texas sophomore Jonathan Gray (5-11, 207) and Iowa State senior James White (5-8, 192).
West Virginia has three backs who could make some noise in 2013. They are Houston transfer and senior Charles Sims (6-0, 213), junior Andrew Buie (5-9, 190) and junior Dustin Garrison (5-8, 182). Sims could bring some immediate help to the WVU backfield.
Already loaded with Ka’Deem Carey, De’Anthony Thomas, Bishop Sankey and Silas Redd, the Pac-12 has three other running backs of note. They are Oregon State sophomore Storm Woods (6-0, 197), Colorado sophomore Christian Powell (6-0, 240) and Arizona State senior Marion Grice (6-0, 199).
Along with Duke Johnson, the ACC lists a talented corps of running backs. Two of the featured backs are Syracuse junior Jerome Smith (6-0, 217), and Virginia junior Kevin Parks (5-8, 200). Smith rushed for 1,171 yards in 2012. Two more quality backs in the ACC are Boston College senior Andre Williams (6-0, 220) and Georgia Tech senior David Sims (6-0, 222). Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Florida State is expecting a lot from junior Devonta Freeman (5-9, 209) and junior James Wilder (6-2, 226).
Conference USA has a ton of quality running backs, heading into the 2013 season. For starters, Tulsa senior Trey Watts (5-11, 190), and Louisiana Tech sophomore Kenneth Dixon (6-0, 215) are hard to beat. Both rushed for more than 1,100 yards last season. Two more who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last year are UAB junior Darrin Reaves (5-10, 210), and East Carolina senior Vintavious Cooper (5-9, 200). Tulsa has another good back in senior Ja’Terian Douglas (5-11, 189).
Five who could stir up things are UTEP junior Nathan Jeffrey (5-11, 205), North Texas senior Brandin Byrd (5-10, 216), Middle Tennessee sophomore Jordan Parker (6-1, 220), Florida Atlantic senior Jonathan Wallace (6-1, 210), and Rice senior Charles Ross (6-1, 230). Marshall is expecting good things from sophomore Kevin Grooms (5-10, 168).
The Mountain West Conference has its share of good running backs. Topping the list are New Mexico senior Kasey Carrier (5-9, 185), and San Diego State junior Adam Muema (5-10, 205). Last year Carrier rushed for 1,469 yards, averaging 122.4 yards-a-game, while Muema tallied 1,458 yards. UNLV is looking good with senior Tim Cornett (6-0, 210). Cornett scrambled for 1,232 yards in 2012. And finally, Colorado State has two good runners in senior Chris Nwoke (6-0, 216) and sophomore Donnell Alexander (5-11, 205).
The AAC only has three marquee running backs at preseason, but that could change. The three biggies are Connecticut junior Lyle McCombs (5-8, 169), Louisville junior Dominique Brown (6-2, 226) and Memphis senior Brandon Hayes (5-8, 205).
Western Kentucky senior Antonio Andrews (6-0, 219) leads the pack of running backs in the Sun Belt Conference. Last year, Andrews rushed for no less than 1,728 yards, averaging 133 yards-per-game. Three other strong running backs in the Sun Belt are Arkansas State senior David Oku (5-10, 195), Louisiana-Lafayette junior Alonzo Harris (6-1, 220), and Louisiana-Monroe senior Jyruss Edwards (5-11, 198).
Among the Independents, three running backs stand out at preseason. They are Army senior Raymond Maples (6-1, 218), New Mexico State senior Germi Morrison (6-0, 195), and BYU sophomore Jamaal Williams (6-0, 190). Maples rushed for 1,215 yards in 2012.
TT’s Top Ten Favorite Running Backs at Preseason:
1. Todd Gurley – Georgia
2. T.J. Yeldon – Alabama
3. Ka’Deem Carey – Arizona
4. Lache Seastrunk – Baylor
5. De’Anthony Thomas – Oregon
6. Venric Mark – Northwestern
7. Bishop Sankey – Washington
8. Duke Johnson – Miami (Florida)
9. Damien Williams – Oklahoma
10. Silas Redd – USC
And keep an eye on:
Raymond Maples – Army; Dri Archer – Kent State; Melvin Gordon – Wisconsin; Vintavious Cooper – East Carolina; Ameer Abdullah – Nebraska; Keith Marshall – Georgia; Jerome Smith – Syracuse; David Fluellen – Toledo, and Trayion Durham – Kent State.
The Other Positions – 2013
Wide Receivers
Fifty years ago it was the running back. Thirty years ago it was the quarterback. Today it’s the wide receiver. The wide receiver is the most compelling position on a football team. Every kid today wants to be a wide receiver. Those were the comments of former NFL and Ohio State receiver Cris Carter on the “Morning Joe” show last week.
This season, college football has several compelling and darn good wide receivers. Three of the best are USC junior Marquise Lee (6-0, 195), Alabama sophomore Amari Cooper (6-1, 202), and Clemson junior Sammy Watkins (6-1, 205). Also from the SEC are Vanderbilt senior Jordan Mathews (6-3, 205), Texas A&M sophomore Mike Evans and Ole Miss junior Donte Moncrief (6-3, 216).
The MWC has two excellent wide receivers in Fresno State sophomore Davante Adams (6-2, 200) and San Jose State senior Noel Grigsby (5-11, 175). Oklahoma State has two top receivers in junior Josh Stewart (5-10, 185) and senior Tracy Moore (6-2, 215). Also in the Big 12 are Texas senior Mike Davis (6-2, 193) and Baylor senior Tevin Reese (5-10, 170).
The Big Ten is well-represented at the wide receiver position with Penn State junior Allen Robinson (6-3, 204), Wisconsin senior Jared Abbrederis (6-2, 188) and Nebraska junior Kenny Bell (6-1, 185). Two more ace receivers from the Pac-12 are Oregon State junior Brandin Cooks (5-10, 181) and Washington junior Kasen Williams (6-2, 216). Completing the roster of the best wide receivers are Maryland sophomore Stefon Diggs (6-1, 185), Rutgers junior Brandon Coleman (6-6, 225), and BYU senior Cody Hoffman (6-4, 215).
Tight Ends
Nine players make the best of the tight end list. Four of the nine are from the Big Ten. They are Wisconsin senior Jacob Pedersen (6-4, 241), Michigan sophomore Devin Funchess (6-4, 228), Penn State sophomore Kyle Carter (6-3, 240), and Iowa senior C.J. Fiedorowicz (6-7, 265).
Together, the Pac-12 and the ACC have four of the best tight ends. They are Washington junior Austin Seferian-Jenkins (6-6, 266), Arizona State senior Chris Coyle (6-3, 222), Florida State junior Nick O’Leary (6-3, 238) and North Carolina junior Eric Ebron (6-4, 235). Also among the best of the tight ends is Georgia senior Arthur Lynch (6-5, 258).
Centers
The cream of the crop of the centers include Oklahoma senior Gabe Ikard (6-4, 298), Arkansas senior Travis Swanson (6-5, 314), Oregon junior Hroniss Grasu (6-3, 294), and Florida State senior Bryan Stork (6-4, 312). Also, Kansas State junior B.J. Finney (6-4, 303), North Carolina junior Russell Bodine (6-4, 310), and Toledo senior Zac Kerin (6-5, 300). Last but not least, Oregon State sophomore Isaac Seumaio (6-3, 300) and Utah State senior Tyler Larsen (6-4, 312).
Offensive Guards
The Big Ten has three of the best offensive guards in Nebraska senior Spencer Long (6-4, 315), Ohio State senior Andrew Norwell (6-6, 319), and Penn State senior John Urschel (6-3, 300). Also on the list are two guards from the SEC: Mississippi State senior Gabe Jackson (6-4, 335) and Alabama senior Anthony Steen (6-3, 309). The remainder of the best guards includes Baylor senior Cyril Richardson (6-5, 335), Stanford senior David Yankey (6-5, 311), UCLA junior Xavier Su’a-Filo (6-3, 304), and Florida State junior Tre’ Jackson (6-4, 327).
Offensive Tackles
Tennessee has two of the best offensive tackles in junior Tiny Richardson (6-6, 332 and senior Ja’Wuan James (6-6, 323). Two more top tackles also from the SEC are Texas A&M senior Jake Mathews (6-5, 305) and Alabama junior Cyrus Kouandjio (6-6, 310). Three of the best tackles are from the ACC: North Carolina senior James Hurst (6-7, 305), Clemson senior Brandon Thomas (6-3, 305), and Virginia senior Morgan Moses (6-5, 325). One more of the best is Notre Dame senior Zack Martin (6-4, 305).
Defensive Ends
Over on the defensive side of the ball, the best and best-known defensive end is South Carolina junior Jadeveon Clowney (6-6, 272). Also from the SEC is Alabama senior Ed Stinson (6-4, 292) and Florida sophomore Dante Fowler (6-3, 263). Five of the best defensive ends in the country are out of the West Coast. Two of those are from Stanford – senior Henry Anderson (6-6, 282) and senior Ben Gardner (6-4, 275). The other three are Oregon State junior Scott Crichton (6-3, 260), Boise State junior Demarcus Lawrence (6-3, 244), and USC senior Morgan Breslin (6-2, 250).
The Big 12 has two excellent defensive ends. They are Texas senior Jackson Jeffcoat (6-5, 245) and TCU sophomore Devonte Fields (6-4, 240). For more of the best defensive ends are Notre Dame junior Stephon Tuitt (6-6, 303), Virginia Tech senior James Gayle (6-4, 253), Penn State sophomore Deion Barnes (6-4, 244), and South Florida sophomore Aaron Lynch (6-6, 244).
Defensive Tackles
Four of the best defensive tackles are from the SEC. They are LSU junior Anthony Johnson (6-3, 304), Florida senior Dominique Easley (6-2, 283), South Carolina junior Kelcy Quarles (6-4, 293), and Tennessee senior Daniel McCullers (6-8, 360). Two more of the best are from the Pac-12 – Arizona State senior Will Sutton (6-1, 288) and USC sophomore Leonard Williams (6-5, 270).
Three other top defensive tackles are Notre Dame senior Louis Nix (6-3, 326), Pitt senior Aaron Donald (6-0, 275), and Oklahoma State senior Calvin Barnett (6-2, 300). Also among the best are Florida State junior Timmy Jernigan (6-2, 298), Wisconsin senior Beau Allen (6-3, 333), and Kent State senior Roosevelt Nix (5-11, 267).
Linebackers
Alabama has three of the best linebackers in the country. They are senior C.J. Mosley (6-2, 232), junior Adrian Hubbard (6-6, 252), and junior Trey Depriest (6-2, 245). Other top linebackers from the SEC are Tennessee sophomore A.J. Johnson (6-2, 240) and Ole Miss sophomore Denzel Nkemdiche (5-11, 203).
Stanford and UCLA claim four of the best. They are Stanford senior Shayne Skov (6-3, 244), Stanford senior Trent Murphy (6-6, 261), UCLA senior Anthony Barr (6-4, 245) and UCLA junior Eric Kendricks (6-0, 228). And I can’t leave the Pac-12 without mentioning Washington sophomore Shaq Thompson (6-2, 225) and USC junior Hayes Pullard (6-1, 235).
The Big Ten has its share of top linebackers in Ohio State junior Ryan Shazier (6-2, 222), Wisconsin junior Chris Borland (5-11, 248), and Michigan State senior Max Bullough (6-3, 242). Four more of the best linebackers are from the AAC and the ACC. From the AAC are Connecticut junior Yawin Smallwood (6-3, 244) and Cincinnati senior Greg Blair. From the ACC are Miami junior Denzel Perryman (6-0, 236) and Florida State senior Christian Jones (6-4, 232).
And finally, the list of good linebackers would be incomplete without mentioning BYU senior Kyle Van Noy (6-3, 235), Notre Dame senior Prince Shembo (6-2, 250), Baylor junior Bryce Hagen (6-2, 235), Western Kentucky senior Andrew Jackson (6-1, 265), and Buffalo senior Khalil Mack (6-3, 244).
Cornerbacks
Five of the best cornerbacks in the nation reside in the SEC. They are Florida junior Louicheiz Purifoy (6-1, 185), Georgia junior Damian Swann (5-11, 189), Missouri senior E.J. Gaines (5-10, 195), Texas A&M junior Deshazor Everett (6-0, 185), and Vanderbilt senior Andre Hal (6-0, 184). Three more represent the Big 12. They are TCU senior Jason Verrett (5-10, 180), Oklahoma senior Aaron Colvin (6-0, 181), and Texas junior Quandre Diggs (5-10, 200).
The ACC has three star cornerbacks. They are Florida State senior Lamarcus Joyner (5-8, 195), Duke senior Ross Cockrell (6-0, 180), and Virginia Tech senior Antone Exum (6-1, 224). Four more outstanding cornerbacks are Ohio State junior Bradley Roby (5-11, 193), Oregon junior Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (5-10, 190), Michigan State senior Darqueze Dennard (5-11, 188), and San Jose State senior Bene Benwikere (6-0, 192).
Safeties
Five of the best safeties are out of the Pac-12 and two of those are from Stanford – senior Ed Reynolds (6-2, 205) and junior Jordan Richards (5-11, 208). The other three from the Pac-12 are USC junior Dion Bailey (6-0, 210), Arizona State senior Alden Darby (5-11, 192), and Washington State senior Deone Bucannon (6-1, 198). The SEC has three top safeties. They are LSU senior Craig Loston (6-2, 205), Alabama junior Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (6-1, 208), and Mississippi State senior Nickoe Whitley (6-1, 205).
The Big Ten has two marquee safeties. They are Northwestern junior Ibraheim Campbell (5-11, 205) and Michigan State senior Isaiah Lewis (5-10, 210). Four more key safeties are Kansas State junior Ty Zimmerman (6-1, 204), Louisville senior Hakeem Smith (6-1, 187), Fresno State junior Derron Smith (5-11, 194), and Florida State junior Jordan Richards (5-11, 208).
Kickers
Two of the best kickers in the country are out of Conference USA. They are Tulane senior Cairo Santos (5-8, 160) and Rice senior Chris Boswell (6-2, 200). Two more of the best kickers represent the Big Ten. They are Northwestern senior Jeff Budzien (5-11, 165) and Michigan senior Brendan Gibbons (6-1, 240).
Five remaining star kickers are Clemson senior Chandler Catanzaro (6-2, 195), Oklahoma junior Michael Hunnicutt (6-0, 175), Duke sophomore Ross Martin (5-9, 185), Vanderbilt senior Carey Spear (5-10, 190), and Toledo junior Jeremiah Detmer (5-8, 170).
Punters
And finally, last but not least, nine punters make the best in the nation list at preseason. From the SEC are Florida junior Kyle Christy (6-3, 193) and Alabama senior Cody Mandell (6-4, 213). From the ACC are Duke sophomore Will Monday (6-4, 210) and North Carolina junior Tommy Hibbard (5-10, 195).
From the Big 12 are Iowa State senior Kirby Van Der Kamp (6-4, 211) and TCU sophomore Ethan Perry (6-4, 230). The last of the best punters are Houston senior Richie Leone (6-3, 215), Michigan State junior Mike Sadler (6-0, 185), and Colorado junior Darragh O’Neil (6-2, 185).
In the Huddle
Elsewhere around college football . . . Cincinnati will play its 2014 home games in Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Nippert Stadium, home of the Bearcats, will be undergoing renovation throughout 2014…. Penn State and Virginia Tech have agreed to play a two-game, home-and-home series. The first game will be in Blacksburg in 2022. The second game will be the following year in State College.
Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky have signed up to a three-game series. Vanderbilt will host two of the games in 2015 and 2017. WKU will host the Commodores in 2016…. Shoulder surgery has apparently ended the career of Ohio State special teams player Adam Griffin. Griffin, a redshirt junior, is the son of two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
Touchdown Tom
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
P.S.
Not directly college football related, but on a sad comment, there were two passings of note last week – Tompall Glaser and John Germond.
Tompall Glaser, a key figure in country music’s outlaw movement of the 1970s, died last week in Nashville. He was 79. Glaser was one of four Nashville performers, along with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, featured on the 1976 album “Wanted! The Outlaws.” It was the first album in the history of country music to be certified platinum for sales of one million copies. Thomas Paul Glaser was born on September 3, 1933, in Spalding, Nebraska, and spent his childhood on a 1,200-acre farm northeast of there. He and his brothers performed widely in the eastern half of Nebraska, eventually hosting a radio show. Marty Robins hired them to sing harmony in his band. The brothers sang harmony on Robins’ 1959 No. 1 single “El Paso,” and on Johnny Cash’s 1963 hit “Ring of Fire.” The brothers formed their own band and were named the vocal group of the year by the Country Music Association in 1970. They disbanded in 1973. After briefly reuniting in 1979, they had a No. 2 country hit in 1981 with Kris Kristofferson’s “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).”
Jack Germond, an old-time newsman who informed Americans about the ups, downs and twisty turns of their nation’s politics as a newspaper reporter, syndicated columnist and television pundit, died last week at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia. He was 85. Germond became nationally known as an opinionated liberal on “The McLaughlin Group” and other public affairs TV programs. He and Jules Witcover wrote a syndicated column that appeared five days a week in more than 140 newspapers from 1977 to 2001. John Worthen Germond was born on January 28, 1928, in Boston. After briefly attending LSU, Germond joined the Army in 1951. Following his stint in the service, he earned a degree in journalism and history from the University of Missouri. He worked for several newspapers, but eventually joined the Baltimore Sun in 1981, where he worked until his retirement in 2001.
Monday, August 12, 2013
College Football Week – Preseason 1: Are we at two-a-days yet?
Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
From casinos in Oklahoma, to popping bottles of champagne, to angry and frustrated tweets, to NBA basketball games, to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to posing with Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, to concerts in Canada, to Cabo San Lucas, to MLB baseball games, to golfing at Pebble Beach, to parking tickets, to more angry and frustrated tweets, to appearances in country music videos, to being sent home from camp, to the ESPYs, to pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, to attending University of Texas fraternity parties, to alcohol counseling and therapy – all in seven months.
No, I’m not talking about Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen. I’m talking about Johnny Football, who in the past seven months has been acting more like Johnny Goofball, Johnny Freefall, Johnny Airball and Johnny Outlaw.
What an off-season it has been for Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel – never a dull moment. The kid is definitely full of himself. He’s no “Johnny Angel.” Sometimes he makes you want to say, “Johnny be good.”
Earlier this summer, Manziel, along with Texas quarterback David Ash, Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron and others were invited counselors at the annual Manning (Archie, Peyton and Eli) family quarterback passing camp. But Manziel didn’t make it through the week. The Mannings sent him home before the camp was over.
It seems that Manziel failed to make it to the morning meetings at the camp. He was sleeping in. Manziel told reporters the battery on his smart phone expired and the alarm didn’t go off. To which ESPN college football commentator Paul Finebaum responded, “What 20-year-old lets the battery expire on his smart phone?” Others hinted that Manziel’s late night drinking and partying was the reason for his oversleeping. Whatever, the Mannings sent him home.
A few weeks later, Texas coach Mack Brown made hay of the incident. Speaking at a Gridiron Kickoff luncheon in Austin, Brown told the crowd that Longhorn quarterback David Ash was a “great counselor” at the Manning passing academy.
It’s well-known, that growing up in Texas, Manziel was always a Longhorn fan – not an Aggie fan. He wanted to play quarterback for Texas. But Brown never offered Manziel a scholarship.
Manziel, however, still prefers Austin over College Station. Last spring, he tweeted
“I can’t wait to leave College Station.” Then in Cabo San Lucas in March, he was photographed sporting a fake Texas Longhorn tattoo.
When Manziel wants to party, he goes to fraternity parties at Texas. He was thrown out of a frat party at the University of Texas on a Friday night in late July. Then Manziel turned up the next night at another frat party in Austin, wearing a Tim Tebow jersey. This after some in the sports media wrote and said he should be “more Tebow-like.”
Poor Johnny Manziel. Well, no, he’s not poor. Manziel comes from a wealthy Texas oil family. They wallow in their money. From many accounts, his parents are often just as immature as he is. Maybe Manziel is just a spoiled brat. Maybe he is just a spoiled rich kid, who just happens to be a damn good quarterback and a Heisman Trophy winner – a freshman Heisman Trophy winner none-the-less, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
In spite of his behavior, many Texas A&M fans think the media has been too harsh on Manziel. They believe he has been unfairly criticized and scrutinized, saying the media needs to give Manziel some space – he’s just a kid. If anything, the fans think Manziel should stand up to the criticism. They are singing:
Oh Johnny get angry, Johnny get mad
You’re the best damn quarterback A&M’s ever had
We want a brave man, we want a cave man
Johnny, tell us that you care, really care for the Aggies
A.J.’s bringing his Crimson Tide to town
You’ve got to put those Bama boys down
So, Johnny get angry, Johnny get mad
You can party later after Alabama’s been had
Now, it has been reported that Manziel is being investigated by the NCAA for selling autographed memorabilia and collectibles to brokers. Manziel doesn’t deny that he signed the items, but contends that he was never paid for his autograph. Should the NCAA find proof that he was paid, then Manziel may have to sit out several games, if not the entire season.
What? Didn’t Brenda Lee tell Aggie fans, “that he’s known as Johnny One Time?”
Chances are Manziel won’t have to sit out any games. NCAA investigations are not known for being expeditious. But on a newer note, Manziel’s parents have put their College Station home up for sale. This was a spare house they purchased two years ago to live in while they were in College Station for football games. Could this be Manziel’s last year playing for the Aggies? Stay tuned.
Manziel’s bizarre behavior during the past seven months leads me to believe that it is the result of one of two things: (1) Manziel thrives on this type of lifestyle. It drives and feeds him to be more competitive. He’ll have another great season in 2013; or (2) This is a situation where Manziel has been collapsing under the stress and pressure of his status and he will be a disaster in 2013. One thing is for sure: you just know those SEC defenses will be targeting him this season. It won’t be easy.
If the Aggies beat Alabama on September 14 in College Station and Manziel goes on to have another great season, then Texas A&M fans will be singing:
“When Johnny comes marching home again
Hoorah! Hoorah!”
If not, then Aggie fans might be saying: “Johnny we hardly knew ye”
Meanwhile, with all the running around and traveling Manziel was doing from January to May, I’m just trying to figure out when he had time to go to class. Yeah, I know – online classes.
All Aggies are crazy about that Johnny lad
Although, he’s been very, very bad
Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
Touchdown Tom
August 12, 2013
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
Quotes of the Off Season (from January to August)
“It’s about education and we’ve got to help Johnny and the family with the transition into being a Heisman award winner. There are things you have to learn and we have to help them with that,” Texas A&M athletic director Eric Hyman, telling Johnny Manziel and his family to behave themselves.
“No institution is living a bigger lie than Notre Dame,” Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock.
“Muschamp coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three,” Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis, referring to Alabama coach Nick Saban.
“Devilish Nick Saban doesn’t deserve an apology from UF. On behalf of the University of Florida, I would like to apologize for the apology the university issued to Alabama football coach Nick Saban,” Orlando Sentinel columnist George Diaz.
“The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week. You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on Notre Dame.
“The top goal is to make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity. So you won’t see us adding Louisville. We wouldn’t be adding Kentucky either,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on future Big Ten expansion.
“You tell the SEC when they learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on comments from SEC fans that the Big Ten doesn’t count.
“Best idea I’ve heard for solving the Washington Redskins’ nickname controversy. Instead of making the team change its nickname, why not just change the logo to a redskin potato?,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“Let’s see if I’ve got this straight: Rutgers fires its basketball coach for abusing his players and then hires an AD who was once a coach who abused her players? This is the most incompetent case of collegiate hiring since Tennessee fired Phil Fulmer and gave his job to Lane Kiffin,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“Someone was saying to me, ‘Well, you know, Bret Bielema leaving….that was a blessing for Wisconsin.’ He was under tremendous pressure. They didn’t like him. Barry Alvarez thought he was a thug. And he left just ahead of the sheriff,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on former Wisconsin coach (now Arkansas coach) Bret Bielema.
“The addition of Maryland and Rutgers will give the Big Ten 40 to 50 million more viewers and make the Big Ten Network worth more money than God,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee.
“What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher. I have no business talking about college football,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee.
“What do the moon and Texas A&M have in common? They both control the Tide,” Texas A&M athletic director Eric Hyman.
“Bullshit like tonight is a reason why I can’t wait to leave College Station,” Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“SEC Media Days: If it’s July, it must be circus time,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jeff Schultz.
“In both situations, we were turned in by Ohio. We didn’t do anything wrong. The University of Florida didn’t do anything wrong. And so we appreciated our friends from Ohio making sure we’re compliant with NCAA rules. They certainly know a little bit about that subject,” Florida coach Will Muschamp, on Ohio State reporting Florida to the NCAA, claiming the Gators had violated NCAA rules. (Note: The NCAA investigated and found no substance to Ohio State’s claims.)
“How much does current Florida Gators football coach Will Muschamp dislike former Gators coach Urban Meyer? Well, let’s put it like this: He dislikes him so much, Muschamp wouldn’t even mention Meyer or Ohio State by name at the Southeastern Conference Media Days,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“It was sort of quiet. I thought it would be louder. I looked around the room at 9:30 and half of them had already left. I said, ‘Where did everybody go?’,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, on his 50th high school reunion this summer.
“You can see in his eyes that he is scared of our D-line. He is scared every time we play them,” South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, on Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd.
“In a matter of months, Johnny Football has transformed into Johnny Freefall. His popularity is plunging to a point where he has become the Lindsay Lohan of college football,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi, on Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“I’m still a sophomore in college. I’m still going to do things that everybody in college does, and I’m going to continue to enjoy my life. Hopefully, people don’t hold me to a higher standard than that,” Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, responding to his off-field antics.
“I would hope that I’m a better passer than Tim Tebow,” Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“He is not on the hot seat. I’m behind Lane Kiffin one hundred percent. I have great confidence in him. He’s a very hard-working, detail-oriented coach. He’s a dynamic play-caller in my estimation and he’s an exceptional recruiter. He knows USC and he knows what it takes to be successful here,” USC athletic director Pat Haden, when asked if Kiffin was on the hot seat this season.
“UGA has only three things going against them: Richt, Boo Boo and Fatboy Grantham,” an anonymous on-line responder to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Quarterbacks – 2013
There is not a shortage of good, talented and exciting quarterbacks in 2013. College football is loaded with them. However, five quarterbacks headline the position at preseason. They are Texas A&M sophomore Jonny Manziel, Ohio State junior Braxton Miller, Alabama senior A.J. McCarron, Louisville junior Teddy Bridgewater and Clemson senior Tajh Boyd.
Manziel (6-1, 200) not only passed for 3,706 yards in 2012, but he also rushed for 1,410 yards – the leading rusher in the SEC. The Aggie quarterback averaged 395 yards-per-game in total offense. He completed 68 percent of his passes, while throwing for 26 touchdowns. The Buckeyes’ Miller (6-2, 215) is also a runner. In addition to passing for 2,039 yards last year, he rushed for 1,271 yards. Miller threw for 15 touchdowns and completed 58 percent of his lobs.
McCarron (6-4, 214) led the SEC in passing efficiency last season, throwing for 2,933 yards. He completed 67 percent of his passes and threw for 30 touchdowns. And just as impressive, he only threw three interceptions. Bridgewater (6-3, 220) passed for 3,718 yards, averaging 286 yards-per-game. He completed 68 percent of his throws, passing for 27 touchdowns.
And finally, Boyd (6-1, 225) led the ACC in passing efficiency in 2012, lobbing for 3,896 yards, averaging 273 yards-per-game. He threw for 36 touchdowns and completed 67 percent of his passes.
Looking around the country, the SEC has the most impressive list of quarterbacks returning in 2013 – nine starters back to reprise their 2012 performances. In addition to Manziel and McCarron, Georgia senior Aaron Murray and South Carolina senior Connor Shaw are the top two. Murray (6-1, 210) was second in passing efficiency in the SEC last year, while Shaw (6-1, 204) was third. Murray passed for 3,893 yards, completing 64 percents of his throws, and Shaw threw for 1,956 yards, completing 67 percents of his passes.
Ole Miss returns junior Bo Wallace (6-4, 204), Miss State has senior Tyler Russell (6-5, 220) back and Florida has junior Jeff Driskel (6-4, 236) returning. The impressive list is complete with LSU senior Zach Mettenberger (6-5, 230), and Missouri senior James Franklin (6-2, 230). Before leaving the SEC, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a backup quarterback who established himself last year – South Carolina junior Dylan Thompson (6-3, 212). The Gamecocks are blessed with two good quarterbacks.
After the SEC, I’m impressed with a solid and exciting group of six quarterbacks returning in the Mountain West Conference. The group is led by San Jose State senior David Fales (6-3, 220) and Fresno State senior Derek Carr (6-3, 210). Last year Fales passed for 4,193 yards and 33 touchdowns, completing 72 percent of his throws. Meanwhile Carr threw for 4,104 yards, 37 touchdowns and completed 67 percents of his passes.
Two more top-notch quarterbacks in the group are Nevada junior Cody Fajardo (6-2, 210) and Utah State junior Chuckie Keeton (6-2, 200). Fajardo not only passed for 2,786 yards but he also rushed for another 1,121 yards. Keeton threw for 3,373 yards, leading the Aggies to an 11-2 season. Completing the group in the MWC are Wyoming junior Brett Smith (6-3, 195) and Boise State senior Joe Southwick (6-1, 202). One more talented quarterback returning in the MWC is UNLV sophomore Nick Sherry (6-5, 235).
The Pac-12 has a talented corps of seven quarterbacks back in 2013. Leading the group are three sophomores – Oregon’s Marcus Mariota (6-4, 211), UCLA’s Brett Hundley (6-3, 227) and Stanford’s Kevin Hogan (6-4, 220). Mariota led the Pac-12 in passing efficiency last year. He also rushed for 752 yards. Hundley passed for 3,740 yards, and Hogan completed 72 percent of his passes.
Oregon State has not one, but two excellent quarterbacks – senior Cody Vaz (6-1, 202) and junior Sean Mannion (6-5, 214). Both saw action last season. Arizona State junior Taylor Kelly is a top passer – 3,039 yards in 2012, and Washington is in good shape at quarterback with senior Keith Price (6-1, 202).
The Big Ten has a number of good quarterbacks in addition to Braxton Miller. For starters, there is Nebraska senior Taylor Martinez (6-1, 210). Last year Martinez passed for 2,871 yards and rushed for another 1,019. Northwestern is blessed with two top quarterbacks – senior Kain Colter (6-0, 190) and junior Trevor Siemian (6-3, 210). Colter had 894 yards rushing in 2012.
Michigan junior Devin Gardner (6-4, 210) led the Big Ten in passing efficiency last season, while Illinois senior Nathan Scheelhaase (6-3, 200) was the runner-up. Michigan State senior Andrew Maxwell (6-3, 209), Indiana junior Cam Coffman (6-2, 203) and Minnesota sophomore Philip Nelson (6-2, 222) all have the talent to make some big noise in 2013.
Next to Tajh Boyd, the ACC’s two best quarterbacks may be North Carolina senior Bryn Renner (6-3, 215) and Miami senior Stephen Morris (6-2, 214). Last season Renner passed for 3,356 yards, 28 touchdowns, completing 65 percents of his throws. Morris passed for 3,345 yards.
Three more quarterbacks to keep an eye on in the ACC are Virginia Tech senior Logan Thomas (6-6, 257), Boston College senior Chase Rettig (6-3, 213) and Wake Forest senior Tanner Price (6-5, 205). Florida State has an up-and-comer in redshirt freshman Jameis Winston. Big things are expected from Winston this season.
The Big 12 Conference enters the season short on big-name quarterbacks. However, three Big 12 schools each have two talented quarterbacks with experience. TCU has senior Casey Pachall (6-5, 230) and sophomore Trevone Boykin (6-2, 215). Pachall, the former starter, returns to action after a year away from the team. Boykin was the starter last year. Texas is loaded at quarterback with junior David Ash (6-3, 228) and senior Case McCoy (6-2, 200). Ash passed for 2,699 yards last year, completing 67 percent of his throws.
Oklahoma State is in good shape with senior Clint Chelf (6-1, 210) and sophomore J.W. Walsh (6-2, 205). Both saw action in 2012. At West Virginia, the question is: Will Florida State transfer and junior Clint Trickett (6-3, 185) beat out redshirt freshman Ford Childress and junior Paul Millard (6-2, 219) for the starting position? Stay tuned.
The MAC, as always, has several exciting quarterbacks, led by Northern Illinois senior Jordan Lynch (6-0, 216). Last year, Lynch led the MAC in both passing efficiency and rushing. He passed for 3,138 yards and rushed for another 1,815. Lynch directed the Huskies to a 12-2 season in 2012. Right behind Lynch are Ohio senior Tyler Tettleton (6-0, 200) and Toledo senior Terrance Owens (6-4, 205). Tettleton passed for 2,844 yards last year and Owens had 2,707 yards passing.
Three other MAC quarterbacks with experience who could make some noise this year are Bowling Green senior Matt Schilz (6-3, 220), Massachusetts sophomore Mike Wegzyn (6-5, 215) and Eastern Michigan junior Tyler Benz (6-3, 215).
The two top quarterbacks in C-USA are Marshall junior Rakeem Cato (6-0, 182) and East Carolina junior Shane Carden (6-2, 218). Cato was impressive last year passing for 4,201 yards, 37 touchdowns, completing 69 percents of his lobs. Carden threw for 3,116 yards, completing 66 percent of his passes. UAB has two experienced quarterbacks in sophomore Austin Brown (6-1, 208) and senior Jonathan Perry (6-2, 210).
Three more experienced quarterbacks in C-USA are UTSA senior Eric Soza (6-0, 205), Florida International junior Jake Medlock (6-3, 220) and Middle Tennessee senior Logan Kilgore. Three who could turn up the heat are Rice senior Taylor McHargue (6-1, 215), North Texas senior Derek Thompson (6-4, 220) and Tulsa senior Cody Green (6-4, 247).
In addition to Teddy Bridgewater, the AAC sports a solid quarterback in UCF junior Blake Bortles (6-4, 227). Bortles threw for 3,059 yards and 25 touchdowns last season. Along with Bortles, look out for Rutgers junior Gary Nova (6-2, 225). Cincinnati has two experienced quarterbacks in senior Brendon Kay (6-4, 233) and senior Munchie Legaux (6-5, 197).
Connecticut, SMU and Houston each have solid and experienced quarterbacks in junior Chandler Whitmer (6-1, 195), senior Garrett Gilbert (6-4, 223) and junior David Piland (6-3, 192) respectively. And finally, two more AAC quarterbacks to keep an eye on are Memphis senior Jacob Karan (6-0, 205) and Temple senior Chris Coyer (6-3, 230).
The Sun Belt has three quarterbacks who have made a name for themselves and will create more excitement in 2013. They are Louisiana-Lafayette junior Terrance Broadway (6-2, 205), Louisiana-Monroe senior Kolton Browning (6-1, 203) and Troy senior Corey Robinson (6-2, 209). Last year Broadway passed for 2,842 yards and rushed for another 769. Browning threw for 3,049 yards and rushed for 488. Robinson had 3,121 yards passing. Two other Sun Belt quarterbacks who could make some noise this year are South Alabama senior Ross Metheny (6-3, 205) and Georgia State sophomore Ben McLane (6-1, 210).
Among the Independents, there are two quarterbacks of note. They are Navy sophomore Keenan Reynolds (5-11, 199) and Notre Dame senior Tommy Rees (6-2, 210). Reynolds led Navy with 898 yards passing and 649 rushing in the Middies triple option offense. Meanwhile, Rees is back in the saddle again in South Bend.
TT’s Top Ten Favorite Quarterbacks at Preseason:
1. A.J. McCarron – Alabama
2. Braxton Miller – Ohio State
3. Johnny Manziel – Texas A&M
4. Teddy Bridgewater – Louisville
5. Tajh Boyd – Clemson
6. Taylor Martinez – Nebraska
7. Jordan Lynch – Northern Illinois
8. Marcus Mariota – Oregon
9. David Fales – San Jose State
10. Rakeem Cato – Marshall
And keep an eye on:
Derek Carr – Fresno State; Tyler Tettleton – Ohio; Aaron Murray – Georgia; Bryn Renner – North Carolina; Cody Fajardo – Nevada; Brett Hundley – UCLA; Kain Colter – Northwestern; Shane Carden – East Carolina; Connor Shaw – South Carolina; Stephen Morris – Miami (Florida); Chuckie Keeton – Utah State, and Keith Price – Washington.
Also, Zach Mettenberger – LSU; Casey Pachall – TCU; Devin Gardner – Michigan; Kevin Hogan – Stanford; Terrance Broadway – Louisiana-Lafayette; Terrance Owens – Toledo; Kolton Browning – Louisiana-Monroe; Clint Chelf – Oklahoma State; Blake Bortles – UCF; Jeff Driskel – Florida; Matt Schilz – Bowling Green; Bo Wallace – Ole Miss, and David Ash – Texas.
The New Coaches – 2013
Thirty-one schools will begin the 2013 season with new head coaches. Fourteen of the new mentors were existing head coaches who made the jump from one school to another. Among the 14, there are some big and well-known names in the coaching ranks – Tommy Tuberville, Bret Bielema, Skip Holtz, Butch Jones, Gus Malzahn, Steve Addazio and Sonny Dykes. That group has some pretty good pedigree and some pretty good experience.
Tuberville, a onetime Ole Miss and Auburn head coach, is the new chief at Cincinnati. He made the jump to Cincy from Texas Tech. Or was it an escape? Bielema, who coached Wisconsin to a 68-24 record in 7 seasons in Madison, is the new head man at Arkansas. That move shocked many in the football world. Holtz, who was canned at South Florida at the end of last season, found a new life at Louisiana Tech. The son of Lou Holtz, Skip is also a former head coach at Connecticut and East Carolina.
Jones is the new coach at Tennessee. He left Cincinnati where he coached the Bearcats to a 23-14 record in three seasons. Prior to Cincy, Jones was the head coach at Central Michigan for three seasons, compiling a 27-13 record. After a year’s absence, Malzahn returns to Auburn where he had been the Tigers’ offensive coordinator. Last year Malzahn coached Arkansas State to a 10-3 season.
Addazio begins a new career at Boston College, after coaching Temple for two seasons, compiling a 13-11 record. He was previously an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Florida – and not a very popular offensive coordinator at that. Dykes takes over at California, having made the jump from Louisiana Tech where he was 22-15 in three seasons with the Bulldogs. Dykes is the son of former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes.
The other seven head coaches who made the jump to another school are all young, up-and-comers, moving up the ladder. Two of the biggest moves were made by Gary Andersen and Dave Doeren. Anderson left Utah State to become the coach of Wisconsin. At Utah State, he was 26-24 in four seasons. But last year, Andersen coached the Aggies to an 11-2 season. One of the two losses was by only two points to Wisconsin. Doeren is the new coach at N.C. State. He previously coached Northern Illinois for two seasons where he compiled a 23-4 record. Last year he coached the Huskies to an 11-1 season and a berth in the Orange Bowl. The one loss was to Iowa, 18-17.
Mike MacIntyre is the new head man at Colorado, after coaching San Jose State for three seasons where he compiled a 16-21 record. Last year San Jose State finished 11-2. Darrell Hazell takes over the reins at Purdue, moving up from Kent State. In two seasons coaching the Golden Flashes, Hazell was 16-10 – an impressive 11-3 last year. The new coach at South Florida is former Western Kentucky coach Willie Taggart. Taggart was 16-20 in three seasons at WKU.
Ron Caragher is the new head coach at San Jose State. Caragher coached the University of San Diego for six seasons, compiling a 44-22 record. He succeeded Jim Harbaugh at San Diego when Harbaugh left to take the job at Stanford. And finally, Trent Miles assumes the duties at Georgia State. Miles made the move from Indiana State where he was 20-36 in five seasons coaching the Sycamores.
Two of the new head coaches this season are back in the saddle again, following a period of absence. And both were controversial selections. The new coach at Western Kentucky is none other than Bobby Petrino. Petrino is a former head coach at Louisville, the Atlanta Falcons and Arkansas. He was fired from Arkansas prior to the 2012 season, after his motorcycle romp with a volleyball player. I can’t imagine any parent wanting their child to play for Petrino.
The other strange selection was Ron Turner at Florida International. Turner has a record of 42-69 after one year at San Jose State and eight years at Illinois. But he has not been a head coach since 2004, the year he was fired at Illinois. Most recently, Turner was the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Seven of the new head coaches this season were most recently offensive coordinators. Three of them are remaining at the same school as they step up to the top position. Mark Helfrich is the new coach at Oregon, formerly the OC for the Ducks. Matt Wells takes over the reins at Utah State where he had been the OC. Likewise, Doug Martin moves up from the OC slot to head coach at New Mexico State.
Kliff Kingsbury returns to his alma mater where he was once the quarterback. Last season, Kingsbury was Johnny Manziel’s offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. This season he is the head coach at Texas Tech. Ted Monken is the new coach at Southern Miss. He was the OC at Oklahoma State. Brian Harsin, formerly OC at Texas, is the new coach at Arkansas State. Paul Petrino, brother of Bobby, is the new coach of Idaho. Last year Paul was the OC at Arkansas.
Three new coaches were defensive coordinators last year. Perhaps the most well-known of the three is Mark Stoops, who left the DC slot at Florida State to become the head coach at Kentucky. Mark is the brother of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. Scott Shafer remains at Syracuse, moving up from DC to head coach. And Paul Haynes, formerly DC at Arkansas, is the new coach of Kent State.
Three new coaches made the jump from offensive line coach to head coach. Former Pittsburgh Steelers OLC Sean Kugler is the new coach at UTEP, and former New York Giants OLC Matt Rhule is the new coach of Temple. Meanwhile, Rod Carey stays at Northern Illinois, stepping up from the OLC slot to head coach.
Brian Polian is the new coach at Nevada. Last season, Polian was the special teams coach at Texas A&M. And finally, P.J. Fleck is the new head coach of Western Michigan. He was the wide receivers coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs. At 32, Fleck is the youngest coach in FBS college football.
All 10 conferences and two of the Independents have new head coaches this season. C-USA (Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss and UTEP) and the SEC (Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee) have the most at four each. The AAC (Cincinnati, South Florida and Temple), ACC (Boston College, N.C. State and Syracuse), MAC (Kent State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan), MWC (Nevada, San Jose State and Nevada), Pac-12 (California, Colorado and Oregon) and the Sun Belt (Arkansas State, Georgia State and Western Kentucky) all have three new head coaches.
The Big Ten (Purdue and Wisconsin) and the Independents (Idaho and New Mexico State) each have two new head coaches. The Big 12 (Texas Tech) only has one new head coach.
Coaches on the Hot Seat – 2013
There are a number of coaches, perhaps as many as 25, who are entering the season in a precarious position. Win and they are fine. But finish the season with a losing record and they are likely to be banished from their lofty coaching spots.
After having four of its coaches dumped at the end of 2012, the SEC should hold onto most all of its coaches this season. Most all that is except for one – Missouri’s Gary Pinkel. Pinkel is definitely on the hot seat in Columbia. He is 90-61 after 12 seasons coaching the Tigers – not bad. But the going has been tough recently.
Likewise, the coaches in the AAC (formerly the Big East) appear to be secure in their jobs in 2013. All that is except for one – Connecticut’s Paul Pasqualoni. After two seasons with the Huskies, Pasqualoni is a cool 10-14. He needs to finish 2013 with a winning record.
The ACC stands to lose three coaches at the end of the year, depending on how the ball bounces for each of them. Heading the list is Maryland’s Randy Edsall – 6-18 in two seasons. The Terps need to finish on the positive side for Edsall to hang onto his job. Not far behind Edsall is Virginia’s Mike London. In three seasons, London is 16-21 with the Cavaliers. He needs a booster shot this season.
Starting to teeter in Winston-Salem is Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe. Although a popular coach with some early success, Grobe has been slipping lately. His record at Wake is 73-74 after 12 seasons. The patience of Demon Deacons fans is wearing thin. Grobe can feel the heat.
The Big Ten has three coaches withering on the vine – Minnesota’s Jerry Kill, Indiana’s Kevin Wilson and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. Kill and Wilson have been with the Gophers and Hoosiers respectively for two years each. Kill is 9-16 and Wilson is 5-19. Anything short of a winning season in 2013 is curtains for both. Ferentz has had some success at Iowa, but not much lately. He is 100-74 in 14 seasons with the Hawkeyes.
A fourth Big Ten coach – Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio – isn’t really on the hot seat per se, but there is some warmth building in East Lansing. Dantonio has been a better-than-average to good coach – 51-28 in six years, but he never has brought home the bacon. Some Spartans fans are getting a little antsy.
Two coaches are feeling the heat in the Big 12 – Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads and Texas’ Mack Brown. Short of a winning season, Rhoads will be gone by December. He is 24-27 in four years with the Cyclones. Then there is the Texas situation. Brown has been sputtering a bit of late. And he ain’t getting any younger. Although 150-43 in 15 seasons with the Longhorns, Brown could use a banner season.
In the Pac-12, two coaches are teetering on the high wire and a third is feeling some heat on the rise. The teetering coaches are USC’s Lane Kiffin and Washington’s Steve Sarkisian. Trojans fans demand the best and they haven’t been getting that from Kiffin. Entering his fourth season, Kiffin is 25-13 in Troy. Although athletic director Pat Haden says he’s got Kiffin’s back, he’ll be backing Kiffin out the door if 2013 isn’t a good season.
Steve Sarkisian took over the Washington program, promising to get the job done. After four seasons, he is only 26-25 with the Huskies. That’s not quite getting the job done. Sarkisian better hope he gets lots of wins in 2013. Then there is some heat building on Kyle Whittingham at Utah. In the Mountain West Conference, Whittingham couldn’t lose. But since the Utes have been in the Pac-12, he can’t win. Whittingham is a very respectable 71-32 after eight seasons in Salt Lake City. But the recent years haven’t been so respectable.
Speaking of the Mountain West Conference, UNLV’s Bobby Hauck and Wyoming’s Dave Christensen may be experiencing their last season in the MWC. After four years in Las Vegas, Hauck is a measly 6-32. That’s not cutting it. Although Christensen has done better at 22-28 in four seasons, he’s been up and down – no consistency. If either Hauck or Christensen has a losing season in 2013, they are off to the happy hunting ground – gone.
The MAC, which often loses good coaches to higher-profile schools, could lose four coaches this year due to lower-profile performances. The MAC coach in the biggest danger is Eastern Michigan’s Ron English. A 10-38 record after four seasons doesn’t cut the mustard. The other MAC coaches in jeopardy are Central Michigan’s Dan Enos, Buffalo’s Jeff Quinn and Miami’s Don Treadwell. Enos and Quinn are 13-24 and 9-27 respectively – both after three seasons. Treadwell is treading the water at 8-16 in two years with the RedHawks.
Two coaches need some help in C-USA – North Texas’ Dan McCarney and Marshall’s Doc Holliday. McCarney is 9-15 after two years, and Holliday is 17-20 in three seasons with the Herd. Holliday has had some success, but he hasn’t been consistent. Herd fans are expecting a lot in 2013.
The Sun Belt has two coaches on the border line – Texas State’s Dennis Franchione and Troy’s Larry Blakeney. Granted, Franchione has guided Texas State from FCS to FBS, but he needs a winner this season. Franchione is 23-23 in four years with the Bobcats. Blakeney, a legend at Troy, has fallen off the horse of late. Troy hasn’t been the Troy it used to be. With a 168-99-1 record in 22 seasons, Blakeney’s armor probably can’t be penetrated yet, but a losing record this season could cause some rumblings.
Among the Independents, only Army’s Rich Ellerson is in any kind of trouble. In four years, Ellerson is 17-32 in West Point. But, perhaps worse, in four years he has not beat Navy. He must beat Navy in 2013 or else.
In the Huddle
Elsewhere around college football . . . Former Florida quarterback Chris Leak is a graduate assistant coach on Will Muschamp’s staff this season. Leak will help coach the Gators offense…. Former Florida defensive end Duke Lemmens has also been named a graduate assistant coach for the Gators. Lemmens will help coach the Florida defense.
Stan Wilcox, a former sports administrator at Notre Dame and Duke and a former deputy commissioner of the Big East Conference has been named the new athletic director at Florida State…. LSU and Wisconsin have agreed to play two neutral site games. The first game in 2014 will be played at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The second game in 2016 will be played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin…. Alabama and Wisconsin are scheduled to meet at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 5, 2015.
After five years at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, the Military Bowl is moving to Navy’s Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, this year…. Frank Beckman, the “Voice of Michigan Football” announced his retirement, effective at the end of this season. Beckman has been doing the radio play-by-play for Michigan football games since 1981, when he took over the position from the legendary Bob Ufer.
Touchdown Tom
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
P.S.
Not directly college football related, but as the summer was winding down and college football fans were anticipating the start of another exciting season, the number one song in the country…
…70 years ago this week in 1943 was “You’ll Never Know” by Dick Haymes
…65 years ago this week in 1948 was “Woody Wood-Pecker” by Kay Keyser
…60 years ago this week in 1953 was “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You)” by Les Paul and Mary Ford
…55 years ago this week in 1958 was “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson
…50 years ago this week in 1963 was “So Much In Love” by The Tymes
…45 years ago this week in 1968 was “Hello, I Love You” by The Doors
…40 years ago this week in 1973 was “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern
…35 years ago this week in 1978 was “Miss You” by The Rolling Stones
…30 years ago this week in 1983 was “Every Breath You Take” by The Police
…25 years ago this week in 1988 was “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood
…20 years ago this week in 1993 was “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by UB40
Not directly college football related, but on a sad comment, there were three passings of note last week – Art Donovan, Karen Black and Eydie Gorme.
Art Donovan, a 300-pound tackle for the Baltimore Colts, whose talent propelled him to the Hall of Fame and his team to two championships in the 1950s, died last week in Baltimore. He was 89. Donovan’s humor-laced tales about himself and the game of football also made him a celebrity. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968. Arthur James Donovan Jr. was born June 5, 1924 in New York City. He played at Notre Dame for one year before enlisting the Marines and fighting in the South Pacific. After the war, he played for Boston College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1950. Following his retirement from pro football, Donovan owned liquor stores and the Valley Country Club in Baltimore. He was also a popular sports commentator on local radio stations.
Karen Black, an actress whose rolls in several signature films mostly in the 1970s, died last week in Los Angeles. She was 74. The cause was cancer. Black’s movies included “Easy Rider” (1969), “Five Easy Pieces” (1970), “Drive, He Said” (1971), “Portnoy’s Complaint” (1972), “The Great Gatsby” (1974), “Airport 1975” (1974), “Rhinoceros” (1974) “Nashville” (1975), “The Day of the Locust” (1975), “Family Plot” (1976) and “Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” (1982). She also made guest appearances in several television shows. Karen Blanche Ziegler was born in Park Ridge, Illinois on July 1, 1939.
Eydie Gorme, a popular nightclub and television singer as a solo act and as a team with her husband Steve Lawrence, died Saturday. She was 84. Gorme, who also had a huge solo hit in 1963 with “Blame it on the Bossa Nova,” died at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, following a brief illness. She and Lawrence were married in Las Vegas in 1957. Gorme had another big hit in 1964 with “Amor” which was recorded in Spanish. Edith Gormezano was born on August 16, 1928, in New York City. She grew up speaking English and Spanish.
Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
From casinos in Oklahoma, to popping bottles of champagne, to angry and frustrated tweets, to NBA basketball games, to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to posing with Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, to concerts in Canada, to Cabo San Lucas, to MLB baseball games, to golfing at Pebble Beach, to parking tickets, to more angry and frustrated tweets, to appearances in country music videos, to being sent home from camp, to the ESPYs, to pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, to attending University of Texas fraternity parties, to alcohol counseling and therapy – all in seven months.
No, I’m not talking about Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen. I’m talking about Johnny Football, who in the past seven months has been acting more like Johnny Goofball, Johnny Freefall, Johnny Airball and Johnny Outlaw.
What an off-season it has been for Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel – never a dull moment. The kid is definitely full of himself. He’s no “Johnny Angel.” Sometimes he makes you want to say, “Johnny be good.”
Earlier this summer, Manziel, along with Texas quarterback David Ash, Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron and others were invited counselors at the annual Manning (Archie, Peyton and Eli) family quarterback passing camp. But Manziel didn’t make it through the week. The Mannings sent him home before the camp was over.
It seems that Manziel failed to make it to the morning meetings at the camp. He was sleeping in. Manziel told reporters the battery on his smart phone expired and the alarm didn’t go off. To which ESPN college football commentator Paul Finebaum responded, “What 20-year-old lets the battery expire on his smart phone?” Others hinted that Manziel’s late night drinking and partying was the reason for his oversleeping. Whatever, the Mannings sent him home.
A few weeks later, Texas coach Mack Brown made hay of the incident. Speaking at a Gridiron Kickoff luncheon in Austin, Brown told the crowd that Longhorn quarterback David Ash was a “great counselor” at the Manning passing academy.
It’s well-known, that growing up in Texas, Manziel was always a Longhorn fan – not an Aggie fan. He wanted to play quarterback for Texas. But Brown never offered Manziel a scholarship.
Manziel, however, still prefers Austin over College Station. Last spring, he tweeted
“I can’t wait to leave College Station.” Then in Cabo San Lucas in March, he was photographed sporting a fake Texas Longhorn tattoo.
When Manziel wants to party, he goes to fraternity parties at Texas. He was thrown out of a frat party at the University of Texas on a Friday night in late July. Then Manziel turned up the next night at another frat party in Austin, wearing a Tim Tebow jersey. This after some in the sports media wrote and said he should be “more Tebow-like.”
Poor Johnny Manziel. Well, no, he’s not poor. Manziel comes from a wealthy Texas oil family. They wallow in their money. From many accounts, his parents are often just as immature as he is. Maybe Manziel is just a spoiled brat. Maybe he is just a spoiled rich kid, who just happens to be a damn good quarterback and a Heisman Trophy winner – a freshman Heisman Trophy winner none-the-less, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
In spite of his behavior, many Texas A&M fans think the media has been too harsh on Manziel. They believe he has been unfairly criticized and scrutinized, saying the media needs to give Manziel some space – he’s just a kid. If anything, the fans think Manziel should stand up to the criticism. They are singing:
Oh Johnny get angry, Johnny get mad
You’re the best damn quarterback A&M’s ever had
We want a brave man, we want a cave man
Johnny, tell us that you care, really care for the Aggies
A.J.’s bringing his Crimson Tide to town
You’ve got to put those Bama boys down
So, Johnny get angry, Johnny get mad
You can party later after Alabama’s been had
Now, it has been reported that Manziel is being investigated by the NCAA for selling autographed memorabilia and collectibles to brokers. Manziel doesn’t deny that he signed the items, but contends that he was never paid for his autograph. Should the NCAA find proof that he was paid, then Manziel may have to sit out several games, if not the entire season.
What? Didn’t Brenda Lee tell Aggie fans, “that he’s known as Johnny One Time?”
Chances are Manziel won’t have to sit out any games. NCAA investigations are not known for being expeditious. But on a newer note, Manziel’s parents have put their College Station home up for sale. This was a spare house they purchased two years ago to live in while they were in College Station for football games. Could this be Manziel’s last year playing for the Aggies? Stay tuned.
Manziel’s bizarre behavior during the past seven months leads me to believe that it is the result of one of two things: (1) Manziel thrives on this type of lifestyle. It drives and feeds him to be more competitive. He’ll have another great season in 2013; or (2) This is a situation where Manziel has been collapsing under the stress and pressure of his status and he will be a disaster in 2013. One thing is for sure: you just know those SEC defenses will be targeting him this season. It won’t be easy.
If the Aggies beat Alabama on September 14 in College Station and Manziel goes on to have another great season, then Texas A&M fans will be singing:
“When Johnny comes marching home again
Hoorah! Hoorah!”
If not, then Aggie fans might be saying: “Johnny we hardly knew ye”
Meanwhile, with all the running around and traveling Manziel was doing from January to May, I’m just trying to figure out when he had time to go to class. Yeah, I know – online classes.
All Aggies are crazy about that Johnny lad
Although, he’s been very, very bad
Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!
Touchdown Tom
August 12, 2013
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
Quotes of the Off Season (from January to August)
“It’s about education and we’ve got to help Johnny and the family with the transition into being a Heisman award winner. There are things you have to learn and we have to help them with that,” Texas A&M athletic director Eric Hyman, telling Johnny Manziel and his family to behave themselves.
“No institution is living a bigger lie than Notre Dame,” Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock.
“Muschamp coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three,” Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis, referring to Alabama coach Nick Saban.
“Devilish Nick Saban doesn’t deserve an apology from UF. On behalf of the University of Florida, I would like to apologize for the apology the university issued to Alabama football coach Nick Saban,” Orlando Sentinel columnist George Diaz.
“The fathers are holy on Sunday, and they’re holy hell on the rest of the week. You just can’t trust those damn Catholics on a Thursday or a Friday,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on Notre Dame.
“The top goal is to make certain that we have institutions of like-minded academic integrity. So you won’t see us adding Louisville. We wouldn’t be adding Kentucky either,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on future Big Ten expansion.
“You tell the SEC when they learn to read and write, then they can figure out what we’re doing,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on comments from SEC fans that the Big Ten doesn’t count.
“Best idea I’ve heard for solving the Washington Redskins’ nickname controversy. Instead of making the team change its nickname, why not just change the logo to a redskin potato?,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“Let’s see if I’ve got this straight: Rutgers fires its basketball coach for abusing his players and then hires an AD who was once a coach who abused her players? This is the most incompetent case of collegiate hiring since Tennessee fired Phil Fulmer and gave his job to Lane Kiffin,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“Someone was saying to me, ‘Well, you know, Bret Bielema leaving….that was a blessing for Wisconsin.’ He was under tremendous pressure. They didn’t like him. Barry Alvarez thought he was a thug. And he left just ahead of the sheriff,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee, on former Wisconsin coach (now Arkansas coach) Bret Bielema.
“The addition of Maryland and Rutgers will give the Big Ten 40 to 50 million more viewers and make the Big Ten Network worth more money than God,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee.
“What do I know about college football? I look like Orville Redenbacher. I have no business talking about college football,” Ohio State president Gordon Gee.
“What do the moon and Texas A&M have in common? They both control the Tide,” Texas A&M athletic director Eric Hyman.
“Bullshit like tonight is a reason why I can’t wait to leave College Station,” Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“SEC Media Days: If it’s July, it must be circus time,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jeff Schultz.
“In both situations, we were turned in by Ohio. We didn’t do anything wrong. The University of Florida didn’t do anything wrong. And so we appreciated our friends from Ohio making sure we’re compliant with NCAA rules. They certainly know a little bit about that subject,” Florida coach Will Muschamp, on Ohio State reporting Florida to the NCAA, claiming the Gators had violated NCAA rules. (Note: The NCAA investigated and found no substance to Ohio State’s claims.)
“How much does current Florida Gators football coach Will Muschamp dislike former Gators coach Urban Meyer? Well, let’s put it like this: He dislikes him so much, Muschamp wouldn’t even mention Meyer or Ohio State by name at the Southeastern Conference Media Days,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi.
“It was sort of quiet. I thought it would be louder. I looked around the room at 9:30 and half of them had already left. I said, ‘Where did everybody go?’,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, on his 50th high school reunion this summer.
“You can see in his eyes that he is scared of our D-line. He is scared every time we play them,” South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, on Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd.
“In a matter of months, Johnny Football has transformed into Johnny Freefall. His popularity is plunging to a point where he has become the Lindsay Lohan of college football,” Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi, on Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“I’m still a sophomore in college. I’m still going to do things that everybody in college does, and I’m going to continue to enjoy my life. Hopefully, people don’t hold me to a higher standard than that,” Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, responding to his off-field antics.
“I would hope that I’m a better passer than Tim Tebow,” Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“He is not on the hot seat. I’m behind Lane Kiffin one hundred percent. I have great confidence in him. He’s a very hard-working, detail-oriented coach. He’s a dynamic play-caller in my estimation and he’s an exceptional recruiter. He knows USC and he knows what it takes to be successful here,” USC athletic director Pat Haden, when asked if Kiffin was on the hot seat this season.
“UGA has only three things going against them: Richt, Boo Boo and Fatboy Grantham,” an anonymous on-line responder to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Quarterbacks – 2013
There is not a shortage of good, talented and exciting quarterbacks in 2013. College football is loaded with them. However, five quarterbacks headline the position at preseason. They are Texas A&M sophomore Jonny Manziel, Ohio State junior Braxton Miller, Alabama senior A.J. McCarron, Louisville junior Teddy Bridgewater and Clemson senior Tajh Boyd.
Manziel (6-1, 200) not only passed for 3,706 yards in 2012, but he also rushed for 1,410 yards – the leading rusher in the SEC. The Aggie quarterback averaged 395 yards-per-game in total offense. He completed 68 percent of his passes, while throwing for 26 touchdowns. The Buckeyes’ Miller (6-2, 215) is also a runner. In addition to passing for 2,039 yards last year, he rushed for 1,271 yards. Miller threw for 15 touchdowns and completed 58 percent of his lobs.
McCarron (6-4, 214) led the SEC in passing efficiency last season, throwing for 2,933 yards. He completed 67 percent of his passes and threw for 30 touchdowns. And just as impressive, he only threw three interceptions. Bridgewater (6-3, 220) passed for 3,718 yards, averaging 286 yards-per-game. He completed 68 percent of his throws, passing for 27 touchdowns.
And finally, Boyd (6-1, 225) led the ACC in passing efficiency in 2012, lobbing for 3,896 yards, averaging 273 yards-per-game. He threw for 36 touchdowns and completed 67 percent of his passes.
Looking around the country, the SEC has the most impressive list of quarterbacks returning in 2013 – nine starters back to reprise their 2012 performances. In addition to Manziel and McCarron, Georgia senior Aaron Murray and South Carolina senior Connor Shaw are the top two. Murray (6-1, 210) was second in passing efficiency in the SEC last year, while Shaw (6-1, 204) was third. Murray passed for 3,893 yards, completing 64 percents of his throws, and Shaw threw for 1,956 yards, completing 67 percents of his passes.
Ole Miss returns junior Bo Wallace (6-4, 204), Miss State has senior Tyler Russell (6-5, 220) back and Florida has junior Jeff Driskel (6-4, 236) returning. The impressive list is complete with LSU senior Zach Mettenberger (6-5, 230), and Missouri senior James Franklin (6-2, 230). Before leaving the SEC, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a backup quarterback who established himself last year – South Carolina junior Dylan Thompson (6-3, 212). The Gamecocks are blessed with two good quarterbacks.
After the SEC, I’m impressed with a solid and exciting group of six quarterbacks returning in the Mountain West Conference. The group is led by San Jose State senior David Fales (6-3, 220) and Fresno State senior Derek Carr (6-3, 210). Last year Fales passed for 4,193 yards and 33 touchdowns, completing 72 percent of his throws. Meanwhile Carr threw for 4,104 yards, 37 touchdowns and completed 67 percents of his passes.
Two more top-notch quarterbacks in the group are Nevada junior Cody Fajardo (6-2, 210) and Utah State junior Chuckie Keeton (6-2, 200). Fajardo not only passed for 2,786 yards but he also rushed for another 1,121 yards. Keeton threw for 3,373 yards, leading the Aggies to an 11-2 season. Completing the group in the MWC are Wyoming junior Brett Smith (6-3, 195) and Boise State senior Joe Southwick (6-1, 202). One more talented quarterback returning in the MWC is UNLV sophomore Nick Sherry (6-5, 235).
The Pac-12 has a talented corps of seven quarterbacks back in 2013. Leading the group are three sophomores – Oregon’s Marcus Mariota (6-4, 211), UCLA’s Brett Hundley (6-3, 227) and Stanford’s Kevin Hogan (6-4, 220). Mariota led the Pac-12 in passing efficiency last year. He also rushed for 752 yards. Hundley passed for 3,740 yards, and Hogan completed 72 percent of his passes.
Oregon State has not one, but two excellent quarterbacks – senior Cody Vaz (6-1, 202) and junior Sean Mannion (6-5, 214). Both saw action last season. Arizona State junior Taylor Kelly is a top passer – 3,039 yards in 2012, and Washington is in good shape at quarterback with senior Keith Price (6-1, 202).
The Big Ten has a number of good quarterbacks in addition to Braxton Miller. For starters, there is Nebraska senior Taylor Martinez (6-1, 210). Last year Martinez passed for 2,871 yards and rushed for another 1,019. Northwestern is blessed with two top quarterbacks – senior Kain Colter (6-0, 190) and junior Trevor Siemian (6-3, 210). Colter had 894 yards rushing in 2012.
Michigan junior Devin Gardner (6-4, 210) led the Big Ten in passing efficiency last season, while Illinois senior Nathan Scheelhaase (6-3, 200) was the runner-up. Michigan State senior Andrew Maxwell (6-3, 209), Indiana junior Cam Coffman (6-2, 203) and Minnesota sophomore Philip Nelson (6-2, 222) all have the talent to make some big noise in 2013.
Next to Tajh Boyd, the ACC’s two best quarterbacks may be North Carolina senior Bryn Renner (6-3, 215) and Miami senior Stephen Morris (6-2, 214). Last season Renner passed for 3,356 yards, 28 touchdowns, completing 65 percents of his throws. Morris passed for 3,345 yards.
Three more quarterbacks to keep an eye on in the ACC are Virginia Tech senior Logan Thomas (6-6, 257), Boston College senior Chase Rettig (6-3, 213) and Wake Forest senior Tanner Price (6-5, 205). Florida State has an up-and-comer in redshirt freshman Jameis Winston. Big things are expected from Winston this season.
The Big 12 Conference enters the season short on big-name quarterbacks. However, three Big 12 schools each have two talented quarterbacks with experience. TCU has senior Casey Pachall (6-5, 230) and sophomore Trevone Boykin (6-2, 215). Pachall, the former starter, returns to action after a year away from the team. Boykin was the starter last year. Texas is loaded at quarterback with junior David Ash (6-3, 228) and senior Case McCoy (6-2, 200). Ash passed for 2,699 yards last year, completing 67 percent of his throws.
Oklahoma State is in good shape with senior Clint Chelf (6-1, 210) and sophomore J.W. Walsh (6-2, 205). Both saw action in 2012. At West Virginia, the question is: Will Florida State transfer and junior Clint Trickett (6-3, 185) beat out redshirt freshman Ford Childress and junior Paul Millard (6-2, 219) for the starting position? Stay tuned.
The MAC, as always, has several exciting quarterbacks, led by Northern Illinois senior Jordan Lynch (6-0, 216). Last year, Lynch led the MAC in both passing efficiency and rushing. He passed for 3,138 yards and rushed for another 1,815. Lynch directed the Huskies to a 12-2 season in 2012. Right behind Lynch are Ohio senior Tyler Tettleton (6-0, 200) and Toledo senior Terrance Owens (6-4, 205). Tettleton passed for 2,844 yards last year and Owens had 2,707 yards passing.
Three other MAC quarterbacks with experience who could make some noise this year are Bowling Green senior Matt Schilz (6-3, 220), Massachusetts sophomore Mike Wegzyn (6-5, 215) and Eastern Michigan junior Tyler Benz (6-3, 215).
The two top quarterbacks in C-USA are Marshall junior Rakeem Cato (6-0, 182) and East Carolina junior Shane Carden (6-2, 218). Cato was impressive last year passing for 4,201 yards, 37 touchdowns, completing 69 percents of his lobs. Carden threw for 3,116 yards, completing 66 percent of his passes. UAB has two experienced quarterbacks in sophomore Austin Brown (6-1, 208) and senior Jonathan Perry (6-2, 210).
Three more experienced quarterbacks in C-USA are UTSA senior Eric Soza (6-0, 205), Florida International junior Jake Medlock (6-3, 220) and Middle Tennessee senior Logan Kilgore. Three who could turn up the heat are Rice senior Taylor McHargue (6-1, 215), North Texas senior Derek Thompson (6-4, 220) and Tulsa senior Cody Green (6-4, 247).
In addition to Teddy Bridgewater, the AAC sports a solid quarterback in UCF junior Blake Bortles (6-4, 227). Bortles threw for 3,059 yards and 25 touchdowns last season. Along with Bortles, look out for Rutgers junior Gary Nova (6-2, 225). Cincinnati has two experienced quarterbacks in senior Brendon Kay (6-4, 233) and senior Munchie Legaux (6-5, 197).
Connecticut, SMU and Houston each have solid and experienced quarterbacks in junior Chandler Whitmer (6-1, 195), senior Garrett Gilbert (6-4, 223) and junior David Piland (6-3, 192) respectively. And finally, two more AAC quarterbacks to keep an eye on are Memphis senior Jacob Karan (6-0, 205) and Temple senior Chris Coyer (6-3, 230).
The Sun Belt has three quarterbacks who have made a name for themselves and will create more excitement in 2013. They are Louisiana-Lafayette junior Terrance Broadway (6-2, 205), Louisiana-Monroe senior Kolton Browning (6-1, 203) and Troy senior Corey Robinson (6-2, 209). Last year Broadway passed for 2,842 yards and rushed for another 769. Browning threw for 3,049 yards and rushed for 488. Robinson had 3,121 yards passing. Two other Sun Belt quarterbacks who could make some noise this year are South Alabama senior Ross Metheny (6-3, 205) and Georgia State sophomore Ben McLane (6-1, 210).
Among the Independents, there are two quarterbacks of note. They are Navy sophomore Keenan Reynolds (5-11, 199) and Notre Dame senior Tommy Rees (6-2, 210). Reynolds led Navy with 898 yards passing and 649 rushing in the Middies triple option offense. Meanwhile, Rees is back in the saddle again in South Bend.
TT’s Top Ten Favorite Quarterbacks at Preseason:
1. A.J. McCarron – Alabama
2. Braxton Miller – Ohio State
3. Johnny Manziel – Texas A&M
4. Teddy Bridgewater – Louisville
5. Tajh Boyd – Clemson
6. Taylor Martinez – Nebraska
7. Jordan Lynch – Northern Illinois
8. Marcus Mariota – Oregon
9. David Fales – San Jose State
10. Rakeem Cato – Marshall
And keep an eye on:
Derek Carr – Fresno State; Tyler Tettleton – Ohio; Aaron Murray – Georgia; Bryn Renner – North Carolina; Cody Fajardo – Nevada; Brett Hundley – UCLA; Kain Colter – Northwestern; Shane Carden – East Carolina; Connor Shaw – South Carolina; Stephen Morris – Miami (Florida); Chuckie Keeton – Utah State, and Keith Price – Washington.
Also, Zach Mettenberger – LSU; Casey Pachall – TCU; Devin Gardner – Michigan; Kevin Hogan – Stanford; Terrance Broadway – Louisiana-Lafayette; Terrance Owens – Toledo; Kolton Browning – Louisiana-Monroe; Clint Chelf – Oklahoma State; Blake Bortles – UCF; Jeff Driskel – Florida; Matt Schilz – Bowling Green; Bo Wallace – Ole Miss, and David Ash – Texas.
The New Coaches – 2013
Thirty-one schools will begin the 2013 season with new head coaches. Fourteen of the new mentors were existing head coaches who made the jump from one school to another. Among the 14, there are some big and well-known names in the coaching ranks – Tommy Tuberville, Bret Bielema, Skip Holtz, Butch Jones, Gus Malzahn, Steve Addazio and Sonny Dykes. That group has some pretty good pedigree and some pretty good experience.
Tuberville, a onetime Ole Miss and Auburn head coach, is the new chief at Cincinnati. He made the jump to Cincy from Texas Tech. Or was it an escape? Bielema, who coached Wisconsin to a 68-24 record in 7 seasons in Madison, is the new head man at Arkansas. That move shocked many in the football world. Holtz, who was canned at South Florida at the end of last season, found a new life at Louisiana Tech. The son of Lou Holtz, Skip is also a former head coach at Connecticut and East Carolina.
Jones is the new coach at Tennessee. He left Cincinnati where he coached the Bearcats to a 23-14 record in three seasons. Prior to Cincy, Jones was the head coach at Central Michigan for three seasons, compiling a 27-13 record. After a year’s absence, Malzahn returns to Auburn where he had been the Tigers’ offensive coordinator. Last year Malzahn coached Arkansas State to a 10-3 season.
Addazio begins a new career at Boston College, after coaching Temple for two seasons, compiling a 13-11 record. He was previously an assistant coach and offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Florida – and not a very popular offensive coordinator at that. Dykes takes over at California, having made the jump from Louisiana Tech where he was 22-15 in three seasons with the Bulldogs. Dykes is the son of former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes.
The other seven head coaches who made the jump to another school are all young, up-and-comers, moving up the ladder. Two of the biggest moves were made by Gary Andersen and Dave Doeren. Anderson left Utah State to become the coach of Wisconsin. At Utah State, he was 26-24 in four seasons. But last year, Andersen coached the Aggies to an 11-2 season. One of the two losses was by only two points to Wisconsin. Doeren is the new coach at N.C. State. He previously coached Northern Illinois for two seasons where he compiled a 23-4 record. Last year he coached the Huskies to an 11-1 season and a berth in the Orange Bowl. The one loss was to Iowa, 18-17.
Mike MacIntyre is the new head man at Colorado, after coaching San Jose State for three seasons where he compiled a 16-21 record. Last year San Jose State finished 11-2. Darrell Hazell takes over the reins at Purdue, moving up from Kent State. In two seasons coaching the Golden Flashes, Hazell was 16-10 – an impressive 11-3 last year. The new coach at South Florida is former Western Kentucky coach Willie Taggart. Taggart was 16-20 in three seasons at WKU.
Ron Caragher is the new head coach at San Jose State. Caragher coached the University of San Diego for six seasons, compiling a 44-22 record. He succeeded Jim Harbaugh at San Diego when Harbaugh left to take the job at Stanford. And finally, Trent Miles assumes the duties at Georgia State. Miles made the move from Indiana State where he was 20-36 in five seasons coaching the Sycamores.
Two of the new head coaches this season are back in the saddle again, following a period of absence. And both were controversial selections. The new coach at Western Kentucky is none other than Bobby Petrino. Petrino is a former head coach at Louisville, the Atlanta Falcons and Arkansas. He was fired from Arkansas prior to the 2012 season, after his motorcycle romp with a volleyball player. I can’t imagine any parent wanting their child to play for Petrino.
The other strange selection was Ron Turner at Florida International. Turner has a record of 42-69 after one year at San Jose State and eight years at Illinois. But he has not been a head coach since 2004, the year he was fired at Illinois. Most recently, Turner was the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Seven of the new head coaches this season were most recently offensive coordinators. Three of them are remaining at the same school as they step up to the top position. Mark Helfrich is the new coach at Oregon, formerly the OC for the Ducks. Matt Wells takes over the reins at Utah State where he had been the OC. Likewise, Doug Martin moves up from the OC slot to head coach at New Mexico State.
Kliff Kingsbury returns to his alma mater where he was once the quarterback. Last season, Kingsbury was Johnny Manziel’s offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. This season he is the head coach at Texas Tech. Ted Monken is the new coach at Southern Miss. He was the OC at Oklahoma State. Brian Harsin, formerly OC at Texas, is the new coach at Arkansas State. Paul Petrino, brother of Bobby, is the new coach of Idaho. Last year Paul was the OC at Arkansas.
Three new coaches were defensive coordinators last year. Perhaps the most well-known of the three is Mark Stoops, who left the DC slot at Florida State to become the head coach at Kentucky. Mark is the brother of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. Scott Shafer remains at Syracuse, moving up from DC to head coach. And Paul Haynes, formerly DC at Arkansas, is the new coach of Kent State.
Three new coaches made the jump from offensive line coach to head coach. Former Pittsburgh Steelers OLC Sean Kugler is the new coach at UTEP, and former New York Giants OLC Matt Rhule is the new coach of Temple. Meanwhile, Rod Carey stays at Northern Illinois, stepping up from the OLC slot to head coach.
Brian Polian is the new coach at Nevada. Last season, Polian was the special teams coach at Texas A&M. And finally, P.J. Fleck is the new head coach of Western Michigan. He was the wide receivers coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs. At 32, Fleck is the youngest coach in FBS college football.
All 10 conferences and two of the Independents have new head coaches this season. C-USA (Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss and UTEP) and the SEC (Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee) have the most at four each. The AAC (Cincinnati, South Florida and Temple), ACC (Boston College, N.C. State and Syracuse), MAC (Kent State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan), MWC (Nevada, San Jose State and Nevada), Pac-12 (California, Colorado and Oregon) and the Sun Belt (Arkansas State, Georgia State and Western Kentucky) all have three new head coaches.
The Big Ten (Purdue and Wisconsin) and the Independents (Idaho and New Mexico State) each have two new head coaches. The Big 12 (Texas Tech) only has one new head coach.
Coaches on the Hot Seat – 2013
There are a number of coaches, perhaps as many as 25, who are entering the season in a precarious position. Win and they are fine. But finish the season with a losing record and they are likely to be banished from their lofty coaching spots.
After having four of its coaches dumped at the end of 2012, the SEC should hold onto most all of its coaches this season. Most all that is except for one – Missouri’s Gary Pinkel. Pinkel is definitely on the hot seat in Columbia. He is 90-61 after 12 seasons coaching the Tigers – not bad. But the going has been tough recently.
Likewise, the coaches in the AAC (formerly the Big East) appear to be secure in their jobs in 2013. All that is except for one – Connecticut’s Paul Pasqualoni. After two seasons with the Huskies, Pasqualoni is a cool 10-14. He needs to finish 2013 with a winning record.
The ACC stands to lose three coaches at the end of the year, depending on how the ball bounces for each of them. Heading the list is Maryland’s Randy Edsall – 6-18 in two seasons. The Terps need to finish on the positive side for Edsall to hang onto his job. Not far behind Edsall is Virginia’s Mike London. In three seasons, London is 16-21 with the Cavaliers. He needs a booster shot this season.
Starting to teeter in Winston-Salem is Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe. Although a popular coach with some early success, Grobe has been slipping lately. His record at Wake is 73-74 after 12 seasons. The patience of Demon Deacons fans is wearing thin. Grobe can feel the heat.
The Big Ten has three coaches withering on the vine – Minnesota’s Jerry Kill, Indiana’s Kevin Wilson and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. Kill and Wilson have been with the Gophers and Hoosiers respectively for two years each. Kill is 9-16 and Wilson is 5-19. Anything short of a winning season in 2013 is curtains for both. Ferentz has had some success at Iowa, but not much lately. He is 100-74 in 14 seasons with the Hawkeyes.
A fourth Big Ten coach – Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio – isn’t really on the hot seat per se, but there is some warmth building in East Lansing. Dantonio has been a better-than-average to good coach – 51-28 in six years, but he never has brought home the bacon. Some Spartans fans are getting a little antsy.
Two coaches are feeling the heat in the Big 12 – Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads and Texas’ Mack Brown. Short of a winning season, Rhoads will be gone by December. He is 24-27 in four years with the Cyclones. Then there is the Texas situation. Brown has been sputtering a bit of late. And he ain’t getting any younger. Although 150-43 in 15 seasons with the Longhorns, Brown could use a banner season.
In the Pac-12, two coaches are teetering on the high wire and a third is feeling some heat on the rise. The teetering coaches are USC’s Lane Kiffin and Washington’s Steve Sarkisian. Trojans fans demand the best and they haven’t been getting that from Kiffin. Entering his fourth season, Kiffin is 25-13 in Troy. Although athletic director Pat Haden says he’s got Kiffin’s back, he’ll be backing Kiffin out the door if 2013 isn’t a good season.
Steve Sarkisian took over the Washington program, promising to get the job done. After four seasons, he is only 26-25 with the Huskies. That’s not quite getting the job done. Sarkisian better hope he gets lots of wins in 2013. Then there is some heat building on Kyle Whittingham at Utah. In the Mountain West Conference, Whittingham couldn’t lose. But since the Utes have been in the Pac-12, he can’t win. Whittingham is a very respectable 71-32 after eight seasons in Salt Lake City. But the recent years haven’t been so respectable.
Speaking of the Mountain West Conference, UNLV’s Bobby Hauck and Wyoming’s Dave Christensen may be experiencing their last season in the MWC. After four years in Las Vegas, Hauck is a measly 6-32. That’s not cutting it. Although Christensen has done better at 22-28 in four seasons, he’s been up and down – no consistency. If either Hauck or Christensen has a losing season in 2013, they are off to the happy hunting ground – gone.
The MAC, which often loses good coaches to higher-profile schools, could lose four coaches this year due to lower-profile performances. The MAC coach in the biggest danger is Eastern Michigan’s Ron English. A 10-38 record after four seasons doesn’t cut the mustard. The other MAC coaches in jeopardy are Central Michigan’s Dan Enos, Buffalo’s Jeff Quinn and Miami’s Don Treadwell. Enos and Quinn are 13-24 and 9-27 respectively – both after three seasons. Treadwell is treading the water at 8-16 in two years with the RedHawks.
Two coaches need some help in C-USA – North Texas’ Dan McCarney and Marshall’s Doc Holliday. McCarney is 9-15 after two years, and Holliday is 17-20 in three seasons with the Herd. Holliday has had some success, but he hasn’t been consistent. Herd fans are expecting a lot in 2013.
The Sun Belt has two coaches on the border line – Texas State’s Dennis Franchione and Troy’s Larry Blakeney. Granted, Franchione has guided Texas State from FCS to FBS, but he needs a winner this season. Franchione is 23-23 in four years with the Bobcats. Blakeney, a legend at Troy, has fallen off the horse of late. Troy hasn’t been the Troy it used to be. With a 168-99-1 record in 22 seasons, Blakeney’s armor probably can’t be penetrated yet, but a losing record this season could cause some rumblings.
Among the Independents, only Army’s Rich Ellerson is in any kind of trouble. In four years, Ellerson is 17-32 in West Point. But, perhaps worse, in four years he has not beat Navy. He must beat Navy in 2013 or else.
In the Huddle
Elsewhere around college football . . . Former Florida quarterback Chris Leak is a graduate assistant coach on Will Muschamp’s staff this season. Leak will help coach the Gators offense…. Former Florida defensive end Duke Lemmens has also been named a graduate assistant coach for the Gators. Lemmens will help coach the Florida defense.
Stan Wilcox, a former sports administrator at Notre Dame and Duke and a former deputy commissioner of the Big East Conference has been named the new athletic director at Florida State…. LSU and Wisconsin have agreed to play two neutral site games. The first game in 2014 will be played at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The second game in 2016 will be played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin…. Alabama and Wisconsin are scheduled to meet at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 5, 2015.
After five years at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, the Military Bowl is moving to Navy’s Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, this year…. Frank Beckman, the “Voice of Michigan Football” announced his retirement, effective at the end of this season. Beckman has been doing the radio play-by-play for Michigan football games since 1981, when he took over the position from the legendary Bob Ufer.
Touchdown Tom
www.collegefootballweek.blogspot.com
P.S.
Not directly college football related, but as the summer was winding down and college football fans were anticipating the start of another exciting season, the number one song in the country…
…70 years ago this week in 1943 was “You’ll Never Know” by Dick Haymes
…65 years ago this week in 1948 was “Woody Wood-Pecker” by Kay Keyser
…60 years ago this week in 1953 was “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You)” by Les Paul and Mary Ford
…55 years ago this week in 1958 was “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson
…50 years ago this week in 1963 was “So Much In Love” by The Tymes
…45 years ago this week in 1968 was “Hello, I Love You” by The Doors
…40 years ago this week in 1973 was “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern
…35 years ago this week in 1978 was “Miss You” by The Rolling Stones
…30 years ago this week in 1983 was “Every Breath You Take” by The Police
…25 years ago this week in 1988 was “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood
…20 years ago this week in 1993 was “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by UB40
Not directly college football related, but on a sad comment, there were three passings of note last week – Art Donovan, Karen Black and Eydie Gorme.
Art Donovan, a 300-pound tackle for the Baltimore Colts, whose talent propelled him to the Hall of Fame and his team to two championships in the 1950s, died last week in Baltimore. He was 89. Donovan’s humor-laced tales about himself and the game of football also made him a celebrity. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968. Arthur James Donovan Jr. was born June 5, 1924 in New York City. He played at Notre Dame for one year before enlisting the Marines and fighting in the South Pacific. After the war, he played for Boston College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1950. Following his retirement from pro football, Donovan owned liquor stores and the Valley Country Club in Baltimore. He was also a popular sports commentator on local radio stations.
Karen Black, an actress whose rolls in several signature films mostly in the 1970s, died last week in Los Angeles. She was 74. The cause was cancer. Black’s movies included “Easy Rider” (1969), “Five Easy Pieces” (1970), “Drive, He Said” (1971), “Portnoy’s Complaint” (1972), “The Great Gatsby” (1974), “Airport 1975” (1974), “Rhinoceros” (1974) “Nashville” (1975), “The Day of the Locust” (1975), “Family Plot” (1976) and “Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” (1982). She also made guest appearances in several television shows. Karen Blanche Ziegler was born in Park Ridge, Illinois on July 1, 1939.
Eydie Gorme, a popular nightclub and television singer as a solo act and as a team with her husband Steve Lawrence, died Saturday. She was 84. Gorme, who also had a huge solo hit in 1963 with “Blame it on the Bossa Nova,” died at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, following a brief illness. She and Lawrence were married in Las Vegas in 1957. Gorme had another big hit in 1964 with “Amor” which was recorded in Spanish. Edith Gormezano was born on August 16, 1928, in New York City. She grew up speaking English and Spanish.
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