Fourth and Dumb

In case you have been away from your information muse this week, the big news in college football, aside from Idaho converting a two-point conversion to win the Humanitarian Bowl and Nebraska beating the snot out of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl, is the firing of Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach. Leach was fired after he legally challenged his suspension from coaching in the upcoming Alamo Bowl. He was suspended because of his suspected treatment of one Adam James.

Note that this is not a simple Mark Mangino case. Mike Leach has no major anger management issues and no significant history of mistreatment of players. This Adam James is no ordinary James; he is the son of Craig James, a former running back at Southwest Conference rival Southern Methodist University who is better known by young whippersnappers as a college football analyst on ESPN and ABC. There is no doubt the heft of Adam being the son of an influential person play a major role in how this went down. Had Adam James been the son of a nobody, this never would have seen the light of day. Leach also has had run-ins with the administration, such as his wandering eye for other jobs and contentious contract negotiations. Perhaps the administration saw fit to get rid of this thorn in their side when they had a convenient out. The administration is now going to get its worst from Leach, who promises extensive legal action over his firing with cause.

As for the bigger picture, this is a serious blow to the Texas Tech football program. Leach is forced out as only the best coach is school history, with an 84-43 record in ten years. Barring a home run hire in the next few weeks, if there was any chance the Red Raiders would become a regular contender in the Big XII South, that chance is gone. While Texas Tech never achieved the elite level of Texas and Oklahoma except for 2008, they consistently served as a major thorn in the side of those programs, always good for an upset to derail conference or national championship hopes. The Raiders were the third best program in the division. With that status likely to be forfeited, there is now room for a new program to step up and consistently challenge the Longhorn-Sooner hegemony. Will it be Oklahoma State under Mike Gundy? Will Mike Sherman help Texas A&M recover from a mediocre decade? Will Art Briles lead Baylor (Baylor!) to division glory?

As for Leach, he is still young (48 years old) and he is the singular kind of coaching talent that schools on the fence about keeping their coach would dump their guy for in a Lubbock minute. That is, if potential suitors are not scared off by his anti-establishment persona. Even if he sits out 2010 while the legal process plays out, the Cap’n is sure to be back on the sidelines in 2011, enriching our college football experience both on and off the field.

After three weeks, the entirety of our pickers are within one game of each other. I don’t think I’ve seen this much parity since the 2008 ACC. Is that a good thing?

Last week’s guest picker, Craig Barker, took a couple gambles and kept the guest spot at a perfect .500 record.

This week’s guest is James Quintong. James is an editor and occasional writer for ESPN.com’s fantasy section and also was on the original staff at CNNSI.com (now SI.com). He was a longtime member of TRASH before moving to other side of the buzzer, and is currently part of the reigning TRASHionals champions. In short, he’s everything that the good chunks of the blogosphere and quizbowl world apparently dislike. Oh yeah, he helped form Northwestern’s quizbowl team back in the mid-’90s, right around the time the Wildcats went to the Rose Bowl, and also graduated the same year as current head coach Pat Fitzgerald (but isn’t sure if that makes feel old or young).

Want to join us as a guest? Leave a comment with an email address, and we’ll get in touch.

On to week 4!

Read on for commentary and analysis. Continue reading ‘Pick ‘Em – Week 4’ »

Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot.

Ole Miss didn’t just beat Texas Tech, they handled them on both sides of the ball. This is the same TT offense that scored a ton of points on Texas and got over 30 on Oklahoma, but the Rebels got tons of pressure on Harrell and gouged them with the run game. Does this tell us that Florida will be able to run consistently on Oklahoma and get pressure on Bradford with just the front four, allowing LBs and DBs to stay in coverage?

But wait–what about Utah dominating Bama? The Utes got seven sacks on JP Wilson and locked down Glen Coffee in ways that the Gators clearly couldn’t.

Maybe none of this tells us too much. I know I was personally annoyed at the ass-kissing that Brent Musburger and my wife’s favorite sportscaster, Kirk Herbstreit, laid on the Trojans, continually suggesting that USC had gotten screwed and would frighten either Oklahoma or UF. Sure, it sucks that USC lost the one-loss beauty pageant, but their loss was indeed to Oregon State, a team that got whipped by Oregon and also lost to Utah, who is most obviously the team that has gotten screwed this year. And now we hear a lot about how the Pac 10 went undefeated in the bowls, but look at the opponents: OSU beat Pitt in the snorefest of all snorefests, Oregon won a very entertaining game over Okie State, though after TT’s loss that may not look quite as impressive, Arizona beat an overrated BYU, Cal beat a lackluster Miami team, and USC earned the honor of laying the traditional holiday ass-whupping on the Big 10 champ. Big deal.

In case you have been away from your information muse this week, the big news in college football, aside from Idaho converting a two-point conversion to win the Humanitarian Bowl and Nebraska beating the snot out of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl, is the firing of Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach.  Leach was fired after he legally challenged his suspension from coaching in the upcoming Alamo Bowl.  He was suspended because of his suspected treatment of one Adam James.

Note that this is not a simple Mark Mangino case.  Mike Leach has no major anger management issues and no significant history of mistreatment of players.  This Adam James is no ordinary James; he is the son of Craig James, a former running back at Southwest Conference rival Southern Methodist University who is better known by young whippersnappers as a college football analyst on ESPN and ABC.  There is no doubt the heft of Adam being the son of an influential person play a major role in how this went down.  Had Adam James been the son of a nobody, this never would have seen the light of day.  Leach also has had run-ins with the administration, such as his wandering eye for other jobs and contentious contract negotiations.  Perhaps the administration saw fit to get rid of this thorn in their side when they had a convenient out.  The administration is now going to get its worst from Leach, who promises extensive legal action over his firing with cause.

As for the bigger picture, this is a serious blow to the Texas Tech football program.  Leach is forced out as only the best coach is school history, with an 84-43 record in ten years.  Barring a home run hire in the next few weeks, if there was any chance the Red Raiders would become a regular contender in the Big XII South, that chance is gone.  While Texas Tech never achieved the elite level of Texas and Oklahoma except for 2008, they consistently served as a major thorn in the side of those programs, always good for an upset to derail conference or national championship hopes.  The Raiders were the third best program in the division.  With that status likely to be forfeited, there is now room for a new program to step up and consistently challenge the Longhorn-Sooner hegemony.  Will it be Oklahoma State under Mike Gundy?  Will Mike Sherman help Texas A&M recover from a mediocre decade?  Will Art Briles lead Baylor (Baylor!) to division glory?

As for Leach, he is still young (48 years old) and he is the singular kind of coaching talent that schools on the fence about keeping their coach would dump their guy for in a Lubbock minute.  That is, if potential suitors are not scared off by his anti-establishment persona.  Even if he sits out 2010 while the legal process plays out, the Cap’n is sure to be back on the sidelines in 2011, enriching our college football experience both on and off the field.

Chris Borglum, ladies and gentlemen. You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.

He is…dare I say it…en fuego.

Commentary and analysis after the jump. Continue reading ‘Pick ‘Em – Bowl Week Extravaganza – Part 3’ »

What’s this? Chris wins the week AGAIN?!?!?!

Also, DanGr finishes one game away from being our first 0-7.

#1 Alabama (-3) at #16 LSU, Saturday 3:30pm CBS
Chris: I hate that it’s true, but I want/need Bama to win as a Gator fan, but outside of the Georgia and Clemson games, they really haven’t been very impressive against average competition. They’re a loss waiting to happen. And LSU has a ton of pride they want to salvage.
DanGr: Georgia crushed LSU. Alabama crushed Georgia. By the law of transitivity: roll tide!

#9 Oklahoma State (+3.5) at #2 Texas Tech, Sat 8pm ABC
Chris: This will be a super game to watch, with tons of passing and points. I pick the Cowboys purely on hunch.
DanGo: The economy may not be strong, but this Red Raider offense is unbelievable. Not many teams can hang with them for 60 minutes, but Oklahoma State will give it their damnedest.

#12 TCU (-2) at #8 Utah, Thursay 8:00pm CBS College Sports
DanGr: If you want an indication of how good this TCU team is, look at its margins of victory, especially compared to those of the same teams against BYU and Utah. They simply manhandled BYU a month ago. The Horned Frogs are not going to kick Utah to the curb so easily, but their defense will lead the way and their offense will make sure this one is over midway through the fourth quarter.

#21 California (+21) at #7 USC, Saturday 8:00pm ABC
Chris: Just like every year

#20 Georgia Tech (+3.5) at #19 North Carolina, Saturday 12:00 Raycom
DanGr: The totally awesome triple option will get the job done for the Ramblin Wreck, while the defense will leave UNC flat on their back.

Clemson (+5.5) at #22 Florida State, Saturday 3:30 ABC/ESPN
Chris: Bobby gets payback on them what done his boy wrong!

Cincinnati (+7) at #25 West Virginia, Saturday 7:00pm ESPNU
It’s a concensus, the Bearcats don’t stand a chance on the road.

Dan Greenstein wins the week, going an impressive 6-1 to clear DanGo by a full game.

#1 Texas (-4.0) at #7 Texas Tech, Saturday 8:00pm ABC
Fred: Madden scoring in this game, folks. I’m looking forward to it, if only so I can have a passing-induced seizure that makes Porygon look kid friendly.
DanGr: This is the biggest test the Longhorns will face in 2008. The game will come down to how well the defenses can stop the offenses. Texas has the better defense, so they will prevail in a shootout that comes down to the last five minutes.

#24 Oregon (+2.5) at California, Saturday 3:30pm ABC
Fred: Did you know that Donald Duck is one of the mascots of the Ducks, and Disney is signed on with this? The More You Know (NBC tone).
DanGr: The Golden Bears will grab momentum and end Oregon’s conference hopes before a sharp impulse next week at USC ends Cal’s conference hopes. It will be close, but Cal will lay better at home than Oregon will play on the road.

#8 Florida (-6.5) at #6 Georgia, Saturday 3:30pm CBS
Chris: The big story here is going to be the Gator pass rush and run defense; the former will keep Stafford off balance, so the question is whether the latter can slow Moreno. I think they can, and I think that Demps and Rainey will break off some long ones in the second half to lead the Gators to a comfortable win. But yeah, like you’d expect me to say anything else.
DanGr: It will be a shootout between the teams that hung half a hundred on LSU. Georgia will come closest to repeating that feat as the Matt Stafford-A.J. Green connection makes the difference.

Miami (FL) (+2.5) at Virginia, Saturday 12:00pm Raycom Sports
DanGo: I don’t know what’s going on in Charlottesville, but somehow these guys have moved themselves to the top of the Gordian Knot that is the ACC Coastal Division. The Wahoos are 4-1 at home this year, and I don’t see any reason for that to change.
Fred: At some point Virginia has to be terrible like they’re supposed to be.
Right? Right?

#16 Florida State (+2) at Georgia Tech, Saturday 3:30 ABC/ESPN
DanGo: Another ranked ACC team is the underdog versus an unranked conference foe. The ‘Noles are probably better than everyone gives them credit for; their defense played well against Virginia Tech last week, especially against the run, and the Yellow Jackets are averaging only about 115 passing yards per game. Look for the Florida sweep this week with a win in Atlanta.

Pittsburgh (+5) at Notre Dame, Saturday 2:30 NBC
Chris: No analysis: I just hate the Domers.
Fred: This is more of a “holy hell Pitt’s a mess” pick than a “yeaaaaaaaaaaah Notre Dame” pick.

Northwestern (+7.5) at Minnesota, Saturday 12:00pm ESPN2
We’re all just taking a blind pick at this one; there’s really not a lot of positive things worth commenting about for either team.

This is gonna be an exciting weekend of football to watch.

Posting picks quickly prior to the Auburn – WVU kickoff. Commentary to follow.

Fred and I split last week, each going 5-2. Fred made a great pick with Texas Christian; the Horned Frogs devoured a previously-undefeated BYU team.

#3 Penn State (-1.0) at #9 Ohio State, Saturday 8:00pm ABC
Chris: Joe Pa’s teams have a hard time winning in the Horseshoe, and this time will be no different.
DanGr: The Buckeyes looked great last game, but it helps to play against a subpar defense. The Penn State defense, while not as stout as that of OSU, is a parsec better than Michigan
State’s defense.

#7 Georgia (+1.5) at #13 LSU, Saturday 3:30pm CBS
DanGo: I’m going with a hunch on this one. Georgia’s a slight underdog on the road, in one of the most intimidating place to play in the country. The Tigers D gets in some shots on Moreno, and wins a close one.
DanGr: Georgia has the better offensive stars, but LSU has a significant advantage on the lines. The Bulldogs keep their dreamsalive by winning a close one.

#8 Texas Tech (Pick ‘Em) at #23 Kansas, Saturday 12:00pm ESPN
DanGo: This is the Red Raiders’ warmup prior to next week’s game with Texas that will probably determine who wins the Big 12 South. Kansas is good, but their defense won’t be able to slow down the Red Raiders, whose biggest question lies with their kicking game.

Auburn (+5.0) at West Virginia, Thurdsay 7:30pm ESPN
DanGr: West Virginia over Auburn. The executives at ESPN are crying in their beer about a late non-conference game they thought would involve two Top 15 teams. This will not be ugly as Auburn’s baseball match with Mississippi State, but it will be a snoozefest. West Virginia wins based on the home field advantage and the Tigers still being in disarray.

Virginia Tech (+6.0) at #25 Florida State, Saturday 3:30 ABC/ESPN2
DanGo: As much as I hate to pick against the Hokies, I was incredibly unimpressed by the passing game of the Hokies last week; their lack of a willingness to throw the ball to the team’s young receivers meant that Tyrod Taylor had to do it all, and the BC defense was able to keep him in check for at least part of the day. Ponder’s developing well and should lead the ‘Noles to a close victory.

#6 Oklahoma State (+10.5) at #1 Texas, Saturday 3:30 ABC
DanGr: Who is Zac Robinson? That is the question America will be asking after he tears it up against the Longhorns. But it will be for naught as Texas remains undefeated behind a monster day from Colt McCoy in a shootout.

Cincinnati (-2.5) at Connecticut, Saturday 12:00pm ESPN Plus
DanGr: This Huskies team has fallen apart after an excellent start to the season. Both teams have injury issues. Cincy’s are less devastating, and they will win.

Memphis and Florida State make the difference, pushing Fred out front to win the week (again).

Only one game between ranked teams this week in the pick ‘em, but lots of close games. In the words of Keith Jackson, “Whoa Nellie!”

This week’s featured commentator is DanGr – mostly because he wrote more than anyone else.

#7 Texas Tech (-7) at Kansas State, Sat 3:30pm ABC
The Wildcats have done nothing to impress me thus far. That said, the Red Raiders have done nothing to impress me thus far. However, Texas Tech has the much better quarterback working in the much better offense. This one will be a shootout blowout that Graham Harrell will ensure will be over by the end of the third quarter.

Florida State (+2) at Miami (FL), Sat 3:30pm ABC/ESPN2
Florida State’s offense showed some life last week, but Colorado is no Miami. The Miami defense will keep the Seminoles down, while the Hurricane offense will do enough to win a defensive struggle.

Rice (+16) at Tulsa, Sat 8pm CBS College
Do you think this game will be the highest scoring tilt in the Football Bowl Subdivision this year? You better believe it. The Golden Hurricane will remain undefeated because their offense has a higher degree of prolificity than the offense of the Owls. However, this will not be over until deep into the fourth quarter when Tulsa finally pulls away.

Illinois (+2.5) at Michigan, Sat 3:30pm ABC/ESPN2
Both teams had a good Week 5, with Michigan coming up big against Wisconsin and Illinois having a good but ultimately losing showing at Penn State. I just have the feeling that the Wolverines are the hotter team right now; they will pull away late to secure victory. They are not better than Illinois right now, but they will be a month from now.

#14 Ohio State (-1) at #18 Wisconsin
Ohio State is back. They may not win the Big Ten this year (or will they?), but they have a winning combination with Terrelle Pryor and Chris Wells that will get them back to the BCS Championship Game (in the near future) only to get smashed by some SEC team. They will show it at Camp Randall in a close win.

Navy (+5) at Air Force, Sat 4:00pm Versus
Oh noes! Both of these teams run the totally awesome triple option! How ever shall I decide? By taking the home team to end their five-game losing streak against the Midshipmen.

Arizona State (+9) at California, Sat 3:30pm ABC
Jeff Tedford reopened the quarterback competition this week after Kevin Riley played poorly against Colorado State. In addition, their top tailback is on the shelf. Uh oh. The Sun Devils are rested, steamed after getting crushed by Georgia, and have a no-questions, veteran quarterback in Rudy Carpenter who will rip apart the Golden Bears.

Now that the college football season has drawn to a close, it’s time to look at what this postseason (I’m not using that word until we get an actual playoff system, and I’m sure I’ll be long buried before that happens) bowl season has brought to us.

The gory details, and my analysis, below the jump.
Continue reading ‘The Best (and Worst) Bowl Games of 2007’ »