College Football Week 17 – Early signing period: December 19-21

Review of the First-Year Coaches

Shows 8 Successes and 13 Failures

As we are getting into the bowl games and waiting for Christmas and New Year, this is a good time to pause and take a look at how the “first-year” coaches did this fall. I have broken them down into six categories – most successful, successful, barely successful, mild failures, failures and biggest failure.

Most Successful: UCF’s Josh Heupel (12-0).

Josh Heupel picked up where Scott Frost left off and coached UCF to another undefeated season, extending the Knights winning streak to 25 games. Now, all Heupel has to do is coach UCF to a win over LSU in the Fiesta Bowl on January 1.

Successful: Florida’s Dan Mullen (9-3), Georgia Southern’s Chad Lunsford (10-3), Mississippi State’s Joe Morehead (8-4), Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher (8-4) and Oregon’s Mario Cristobal (8-4).

Dan Mullen helped Florida forget its 4-7 record last year. He coached the Gators to a good win over LSU and a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl. Last year, Georgia Southern was 2-10. Chad Lunsford took over this season and coached the Eagles to a 10-3 record, including a big win over Appalachian State and a victory in the Camelia Bowl.

Joe Morehead kept Mississippi State on a winning track. He coached the Bulldogs to a good win over Texas A&M and a spot in the Outback Bowl. And speaking of Texas A&M, last year the Aggies were 7-6. Jimbo Fisher stepped in this year and coached A&M to an 8-4 record and good wins over Kentucky and LSU. He also has the Aggies playing in the Gator Bowl.

Mario Cristobal improved the picture at Oregon. Last season, the Ducks were 7-6. This year, under Cristobal, Oregon finished 8-4. He coached the Ducks to a good win over Washington and a spot in a bowl game.                                    

Barely Successful: Arizona State’s Herm Edwards (7-6), Louisiana’s Billy Napier (7-7),

Last year, Arizona State was chastised for hiring Herm Edwards. But Edwards defied his critics and coached the Sun Devils to a 7-5 regular season and a spot in a bowl game. Under Edwards, ASU had a good win over Utah. Last season, Louisiana was 5-7. Billy Napier stepped in this season and coached the Rajin’ Cajuns to a 7-6 regular season record and first place in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference. He also coached Louisiana to a bowl game.

Mild Failures: Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin (5-7), Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt (5-7), SMU’s Sonny Dykes (5-7), Ole Miss’s Matt Luke (5-7), Florida State’s Willie Taggart (5-7).

Kevin Sumlin took over the Arizona program with a lot of fanfare. He finished the season without any fanfare, especially after blowing a 19-point, fourth quarter lead in the final game of the season, losing to Arizona State. Under Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee finished the season at the bottom of the East Division of the SEC. In spite of a tough year for Pruitt, he did coach the Vols to two good wins over Auburn and Kentucky.

Under first-year coach Sonny Dykes, SMU’s 5-7 record this season was worse than last year’s 7-6 record. But Dykes did coach the Mustangs to a good win over Houston. Ole Miss took a step down this year under Matt Luke.

Florida State fans will tell you that Willie Taggart was a big failure. But the Noles were just one victory short of going to a bowl game. And they had a good win over Boston College near the end of the season.

Big Failures: Nebraska’s Scott Frost (4-8), UCLA’s Chip Kelly (3-9), South Alabama’s Steve Campbell (3-9), Arkansas’ Chad Morris (2-10), Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith (2-10), Kent State’s Sean Lewis (2-10), Rice’s Mike Bloomgren (2-11).

Everyone knew it would take Scott Frost a while to turn around the program at Nebraska. But few expected the Huskers would be as bad as 4-8 this season. However, the program showed signs of improvement as the season progressed. Nebraska had a big win over Minnesota and a good win over Michigan State.

Like Kevin Sumlin at Arizona, Chip Kelly took over the UCLA program with a lot of fanfare. But that fanfare fizzled out fast when the Bruins began the season 0-5. Still, feint hope was renewed in the latter half of the season as UCLA won 3 of its last 7 games, including a big win over crosstown rival USC.

South Alabama fans may be scratching their heads over the Steve Campbell hire. But you can’t judge a book by its cover. Like Scott Frost at Nebraska, everyone knew it would take Chad Morris a while to turn around the Arkansas program. But nobody thought this season would be as bad as it was – 2-10.  Unlike Frost, Morris didn’t show any signs of improvement as the season went along. The Razorbacks only got worse.

I don’t think anyone envies Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith. Turning around the Beavers’ program won’t be an easy task. Likewise for Kent State’s Sean Lewis and Rice’s Mike Bloomgren. Those three coaches will need lots of help. But miracles do happen.

Biggest Failure: UTEP’s Dana Dimel (1-11).

Analysts questioned the hiring of Dana Dimel at UTEP. From the results of his first season, it looks like the analysts were right.

Of the 21 new head coaches, eight finished in the successful area, while 13 ended up in the failure area. But the successful coaches have established a mark to live up to next season, while the failure coaches can only get better – and many of them will.

Speaking of coaches, there were 21 first-year coaches this past season and it looks like we will have 21 first-year coaches next season. To get you up to date on the coaching carousel, here’s a complete run down:

Bowling Green fired Mike Jinks and hired Boston College offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler. Maryland fired D.J. Durkin and hired Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. Kansas fired David Beatty and hired former LSU and Oklahoma State head coach Les Miles.

Louisville fired Bobby Petrino and hired Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield. Colorado fired Mike MacIntyre and hired Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker. Texas State fired Everett Withers and hired West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.

Massachusetts fired Mark Whipple and hired Florida State offensive coordinator Walt Bell. North Carolina fired Larry Fedora and hired ESPN analyst and former Texas and North Carolina head coach Mack Brown. Texas Tech fired Kliff Kingsbury and hired Utah State head coach Matt Wells.

Western Kentucky fired Mike Sanford and hired Tennessee offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tyson Helton. Georgia Tech fired Paul Johnson and hired Temple head coach Geoff Collins. East Carolina fired Scottie Montgomery and hired James Madison head coach Mike Houston.

Charlotte fired Brad Lambert and hired Austin-Peay head coach Will Healy. Central Michigan fired John Bonamego and hired Michigan receivers coach and former Florida and Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain.

Temple lost Geoff Collins to Georgia Tech and hired Miami (Florida) defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. Utah State lost Matt Wells to Texas Tech and hired Utah associate head coach and former Oregon State, Wisconsin and Utah State head coach Gary Andersen. Appalachian State lost Scott Satterfield to Louisville and hired NC State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Eli Drinkwitz.

Kansas State retired Bill Snyder and hired North Dakota State head coach Chris Klieman. Ohio State retired Urban Meyer and hired Ohio State offensive coordinator Ryan Day. Liberty retired Turner Gill and hired former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze.

And last but not least, Akron named Chattanooga head coach Tom Arth to be the replacement for the fired Terry Bowden.

Two fired head coaches have landed coordinator spots for next season. Kliff Kingsbury has been hired to be USC’s offensive coordinator. And fired Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre will be the defensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2019.

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn fired his offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and hired Memphis offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham. To replace Mike Locksley, Alabama coach Nick Saban elevated his associate head coach and quarterbacks coach Dan Enos to be the Tide’s new offensive coordinator. 

New Maryland coach Mike Locksley hired Alabama consulting coach and former Tennessee, Cincinnati and Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones to be Maryland’s associate head coach and tight ends coach.

Remember, last year, when Tennessee gave Greg Schiano the boot after initially naming him the new coach of the Volunteers? Schiano was and is the defensive coordinator at Ohio State.  At the time, Ohio State fans chastised Tennessee for bouncing Schiano, claiming the Vols couldn’t hope for a better coach.

Well, turnabout is fair play. This year Tennessee fans trolled Ohio State when the Buckeyes chose Ryan Day to replace Urban Meyer. If Greg Schiano is that good, why wasn’t he chosen to replace Meyer. That’s what Tennessee fans wanted to know.

And speaking of Ryan Day, Ohio State will pay him $4.5 million per year. Not bad for a guy who has never been a head coach.

This year marks second year of the early signing period for college football recruits. It runs for three days this week from December 19-21. If a player doesn’t sign this week then he has to wait until national signing day on February 6. Last year, 70 percent of the FBS recruits signed during the early signing period.  

Former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant ended the suspense when he announced that he will transfer to Missouri. Bryant will play for the Tigers in 2019 as a graduate transfer. After being benched and replaced by Trevor Lawrence in late September, Bryant visited and talked to several schools during the past two months. It came down to Arkansas, Auburn and Missouri and Missouri won out for Kelly’s talent.

And speaking of graduate transfers, where will Jalen Hurts play next season? Stay tuned!

Bowl Mania kicked off Saturday with the 24 Bowl Days of Christmas. On the first Bowl Day of Christmas my true love gave to me – Five Bowl Games. And in the first of the five, in the battle of the Bayou State, Tulane’s true love took care of Louisiana, 41-24, in the Cure Bowl in Orlando.

In the New Mexico Bowl, Utah State, playing under an interim coach, made the Mean Green look like the Kind Green. The Aggies walloped North Texas, 52-13.

In his first season, Herm Edwards coached Arizona State to a bowl game, but Herm couldn’t get the bowl win. Fresno State downed Arizona State, 31-20, in the Las Vegas Bowl.

In his first season, Georgia Southern coach Chad Lunsford not only coached the Eagles to a bowl game, he also coached them to a bowl win. But it was a thriller in the Camelia Bowl. Georgia Southern edged Eastern Michigan, 23-21.

In the final game of the first bowl day of Christmas, Middle Tennessee was no competition for Appalachian State in the New Orleans Bowl. The Little Mountaineers beat the Blue Raiders, 45-13. 

Five bowl games down, 34 to go. The 24 Bowl Days of Christmas continues tomorrow when Northern Illinois meets UAB in the Boca Raton Bowl.

So, the college football playoff committee was all set to pit Florida against UCF in the Peach Bowl and LSU against Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. However, Florida officials played politics and pulled some strings. As a result, we ended up with Florida against Michigan in the Peach Bowl and LSU against UCF in the Fiesta Bowl. In short – Florida didn’t want to play UCF. The Gators were afraid.

CFW Extra – Holiday Bonus will be posted this Friday morning, December 21. It’s the annual “What Year Was It?” I provide the college football events, the news, the happenings  and the music of a specific year. You guess the year.

CFW Week 18 will be posted on Friday morning, December 28.

Season’s Greetings..……….……Merry Christmas..…….………Happy Holidays

Touchdown Tom

December 17, 2018

https://collegefootballweek.blogspot.com

Review of the First Five Bowls

Tidal Wave (in the Cure Bowl) – Tulane 41, Louisiana 24 (Touchdown Tom said: Tulane 24, Louisiana 21). Tulane jumped out to a 24-7 second quarter lead. Then the Green Wave got a little sloppy as Louisiana rallied to pull within 3 points early in the fourth quarter. Tulane still led by just 3 points – 27-24 – late in the fourth. But the Green Wave got serious again, scoring 14 points in the final 3:49 of the game. Tulane dominated the stats – 28 first downs to 11 for Louisiana and 482 total yards to 258 for Louisiana. In time of possession, the Green Wave controlled the ball for an amazing 40-plus minutes. Tulane’s defense held the Rajin’ Cajuns to 84 yards rushing. Tulane finished its season with a 7-6 record. Attendance in Orlando: 19,0667

A lot of Love (in the New Mexico Bowl) – Utah State 52, North Texas 13 (Touchdown Tom said: Utah State 33, North Texas 27). Utah State led 38-7 at halftime and went into cruise control in the second half. The Aggies had 556 total yards to 313 for North Texas. Utah State quarterback Jordan Love passed for 359 yards and running back Gerold Bright rushed for 103 yards. When the Aggies had the ball, they scored fast, because North Texas dominated time of possession for 32-plus minutes. Utah State finished its season with an 11-2 record. Attendance in Albuquerque: 25,387

Rushing Rivers (in the Las Vegas Bowl) – Fresno State 31, Arizona State 20 (Touchdown Tom said: Arizona State 27, Fresno State 25), The game was tied 17-17 at halftime, but Fresno State shutdown Arizona State’s offense in the second half. The Bulldogs outscored the Sun Devils 14-3 in the final two quarters. Fresno State had 436 total yards to 293 for Arizona State. The Bulldogs running back Ronnie Rivers rushed for 212 yards. Fresno State finished its season with a 12-2 record. After two seasons with the Bulldogs, Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford is 22-6. Attendance in Las Vegas: 37,146

Down to the final second (in the Camelia Bowl) – Georgia Southern 23, Eastern Michigan 21 (Touchdown Tom said: Georgia Southern 25, Eastern Michigan 24). Eastern Michigan never led in the game until 3:33 to go in the fourth quarter. That’s when EMU went up on Georgia Southern, 21-20. But as time expired, Southern kicked a 40-yard field goal to edge EMU, 23-21. Georgia Southern had 331 yards rushing, but only 33 yards passing. Southern controlled time of possession for 37-plus minutes. Southern’s Wesley Kennedy rushed for 107 yards. Georgia Southern finished its season with a 10-3 record. Attendance in Montgomery: 17,710

Middle Tennessee couldn’t delete the App (in the New Orleans Bowl) – Appalachian State 45, Middle Tennessee 13 (Touchdown Tom said: Appalachian State 30, Middle Tennessee 23). Appalachian State couldn’t stop Middle Tennessee’s passing game. The Blue Raiders passed for 319 yards. But the Little Mountaineers did stop Middle Tennessee’s running game. The Blue Raiders only had 62 yards rushing. App State was balanced – 233 yards rushing and 215 yards passing. App State’s Darrynton Evans rushed for 108 yards. Appalachian State finished its season with an 11-2 record. Attendance in New Orleans: 23,942

First Five Bowl Picks: 4 correct, 1 fumble (80 percent)

Superlatives

Impressive Passers:  

Utah State’s Jordan Love – 21-43-1-359 (4TDs), and Middle Tennessee’s Brent Stockstill – 24-36-2-319 (1TD).

Impressive Rushers: 

Fresno State’s Ronnie Rivers – 212 yards (2TDs), and Tulane’s Darius Bradwell – 150 yards (2TDs).

Weekend Recap

FCS (Division IAA) Semifinals

North Dakota State 44, South Dakota State 21

Eastern Michigan 50, Maine 19

Celebration Bowl

North Carolina A&T 24, Alcorn State 22

Division II Championship

Valdosta State 49, Ferris State 47

Division III Championship

Mary Hardin-Baylor 24, Mount Union 16

Quotes of the Week

“As a head coach, you stay in your lane. You do everything you can to get it turned around. We’re going to do that,” embattled Auburn coach Gus Malzahn.

Touchdown Tom

https://collegefootballweek.blogspot.com

P.S.

Not exactly college football related, but during the pre-Christmas days of December as college football fans were drinking eggnog and eating fruitcake with visions of what ifs, bowl games and Santa Claus dancing in their heads, the number one song in the country…

…75 years ago this week in 1943 was “Paper Doll” by The Mills Brothers

…70 years ago this week in 1948 was “Buttons and Bows” by Dinah Shore

…65 years ago this week in 1953 was “Rags To Riches” by Tony Bennett

…60 years ago this week in 1958 was “To Know Him, Is To Love Him” by The Teddy Bears

…55 years ago this week in 1963 was “Dominique” by The Singing Nun

…50 years ago this week in 1968 was “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye

…45 years ago this week in 1973 was “The Most Beautiful Girl” by Charlie Rich

…40 years ago this week in 1978 was “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond

…35 years ago this week in 1983 was “Say Say Say” by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

…30 years ago this week in 1988 was “Look Away” by Chicago

…25 years ago this week in 1993 was “Again” by Janet Jackson

Not exactly college football related, but there were three passings of note last week – Nancy Wilson, Sondra Locke, Bill Fralic,

Nancy Wilson, whose approach to singing provided a key bridge between the sophisticated jazz-pop vocalists of the 1950s and the pop-soul singers of the 1960s and 70s, died last week at her home in Pioneertown, California. She was 81. In a long and celebrated career, Wilson performed American standards, jazz ballads, Broadway show tunes, R&B torch songs and middle-of-the-road pop pieces. Two of her signature songs of the 1960s were “Guess Who I Saw Today” (1960) and “Face It Girl, It’s Over” (1968). Her biggest hit came in 1964 with “(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am.” It reached No. 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Chart. Three years later, she became one of the few African-Americans of her day to host a TV show, the Emmy winning “Nancy Wilson Show,” on NBC. Wilson released more than 70 albums during a five-decade recording career. She won three Grammy Awards. Wilson was a lifelong civil rights advocate. Nancy Sue Wilson was born on February 20, 1937, in Chillicothe, Ohio. She became a TV actor, appearing on the hit series “I Spy” and “Room 222.”

Sondra Locke, an actress who received an Oscar nomination for her first film and starred in a series of movies with Clint Eastwood, with whom she had a relationship, died last week at her home in Los Angeles. She was 74. Locke was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her first film “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” a 1968 drama. She went on to star in several movies with Eastwood in the 1970s and 1980s, including “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “Sudden Impact.” Locke and Eastwood’s romance began on the set of their first film, and they lived together for more than a decade.

Bill Fralic, an outstanding offensive lineman for Pitt from 1981 to 1984, died last week. He was 56. At Pitt, Fralic was a three-time, first-team All-American. He finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1984 and eighth in 1983. Fralic was the first offensive lineman to finish in the top 10 in voting twice. He was drafted No. 2 overall in the 1985 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons and spent nine seasons with the franchise. Fralic played his final season in the NFL in 1993.