The Round Up

By Heismanpundit on August 21, 2006 in Uncategorized

Woo-wee, there is a of stuff on the docket today:

Another fiasco at ASU is in the works as Dirk Koetter abruptly changed his mind and made Rudy Carpenter the starting quarterback over Sam Keller, who then left the team. This after 19 players came to Koetter to protest Keller being named the starter a couple days ago.

There is clearly something fishy in Denmark with this story. No way does Koetter reverse himself unless the players revealed something very damaging about Keller in that meeting. I’m sure there is more to come on this.

In the meantime, Keller is in a bind and must decide whether to transfer and sit out a year, or go play right away for a 1-AA school.

And ASU is left without a legitimate backup quarterback, some team dissension and a coach who apparently has no clue about the pulse of his team.

Should be a helluva season.

Mandel concurs.

I find the whole obsession with Notre Dame’s team speed amazing.

Former Heisman winner Paul Hornung said that the Irish needed to ‘recruit the black athlete’ to bring more speed to the team and he was (appropriately) lambasted for his insensitivity.

But now, the entire offseason has been replete with references to Notre Dame’s lack of speed after Ohio State put on a track meet in the Fiesta Bowl against the Irish.

Never mind that Ted Ginn and Santonio Holmes would run by any secondary in college football, the Irish–and only the Irish–need to get faster.

I mean, clearly the Irish defense was just fast enough to go 9-3 last year and lose two of those games by extremely close margins.

It wasn’t Michigan State’s speed that beat Notre Dame in overtime, but a high-powered offensive scheme captained by a very good quarterback in Drew Stanton.

It wasn’t USC’s speed that beat Notre Dame (and who could stop Reggie Bush anyway?), it was a crazy pass with eyes that would have landed on the turf had it been just one inch closer to Ambrose Wooden’s outstretched fingers.

And for all the talk about the Fiesta Bowl fiasco, Notre Dame was down just seven with a few minutes left and was hurt further by a controverial call that should have resulted in another touchdown–a defensive one at that.

Is Notre Dame’s defense a particularly fast one? No. But it’s no slower than West Virginia’s defense or almost any number of defenses in the top 25.

The obsession with Irish speed makes me wonder if people may have taken what Hornung said to heart after all.

The AP Poll came out and it is an improvement over the Coaches Poll. As expected, there is a wide discrepancy in the two polls over how Oklahoma is ranked–though not perhaps as wide as it should be.

I still don’t understand Florida State being ranked so high, but go figure.

Tom Dienhart has stuck his neck out and makes some upset predictions for the year, including Hawaii over Alabama.

I’m sure he didn’t get much email over that one. Good luck, Tom.

On to the blogs….BN has revised its minimum acceptable losses for the season to five (scroll down)…So now losing 5 games and beating USC is the new goal…Proving that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, a group of blogs are planning on awarding their own Maxwell Award to the best player in college football…Apparently, the same people who don’t watch any games and yet still vote in the Blogpoll can now cast votes for some of the players they don’t watch, too…Huzzah!

A really interesting study here on which teams produce the most successful NFL players. Right now, Florida State is No. 1.

North Carolina is No. 10–who woulda thunk that?

CFN has its Best Offenses for 2006 list and, while it’s a decent effort, a few things are askew.

First of all, no way is LSU the fifth best offense, especially since CFN itself admits that the offensive line will be ‘significantly worse’ than last year and two of the running backs are coming off of ACL injuries. Most likely, this ranking is a residual effect of Fiutak calling the Tiger offense ‘the most talented in the country’ the last couple years. Clearly, that was wrong (hello? USC? Texas?) and this ranking is a way to save a little face.

There is talent in Baton Rouge, but LSU as the No. 1 offense in the SEC? What about Auburn?

Another ranking that is off: Florida State No. 10. Does CFN realize that Jeff Bowden is still the offensive coordinator? Or that the Seminoles haven’t been able to run the ball for the better part of this decade?

If you want to go on talent alone, this isn’t a bad list. But more goes into an offense than just talent.

My list of top offenses, taking into account both talent and scheme:

1. Notre Dame
2. Ohio State
3. Louisville
4. Arizona State
5. USC
6. Auburn
7. Texas Tech
8. Michigan State
9. Florida
10. Cal

Just in the time I’ve written this, a new rumor emerges that Sam Keller may be heading to Nebraska. Stay tuned.

About Heismanpundit

Chris Huston, A.K.A. ‘The Heisman Pundit‘, is a Heisman voter and the creator and publisher of Heismanpundit.com, a site dedicated to analysis of the Heisman Trophy and college football. Dubbed “the foremost authority on the Heisman” by Sports Illustrated, HP is regularly quoted or cited during football season in newspapers across the country. He is also a regular contributor on sports talk radio and television.