Sorry for the light posting, the holidays have done a number on me. Working on getting back in the saddle and should have things rolling soon.
In the meantime, there are a few things I’d like to point out:
—I’ve been a big defender of the Pac-10 on this blog for years, but I’ve always maintained that bowl records don’t have a huge bearing on the conference rankings. Now that the Pac-10 is 5-0, I’m not changing my tune at all. The Pac-10 was still the worst I’d seen it in over 10 years. Now, that doesn’t mean some other conferences weren’t down, too. The SEC wasn’t as good as it was supposed to be and the Big Ten continued to struggle. All in all, it was a bit of a down year for college football after a raucous 2007.
—If I had to guess a preseason No. 1 next year, it would have to be Texas. They have some of the best players in college football coming back. We all know about Colt McCoy, who was 2 seconds from the Heisman AND a berth in the BCS title game. But there’s also great talent at wideout with Jordan Shipley and the up-and-coming Malcolm Williams. The other side of the ball features Sergio Kindle, who should be on everyone’s All-American squad. When you take into account the strong possibility that Sam Bradford will go pro, you wonder who–outside of Oklahoma State–will be able to challenge Texas in the Big 12 next year. I don’t think anyone will and so there’s a good chance that McCoy pulls off the feat he was so close to achieving this year.
—Everyone thought Florida’s loss to Ole Miss was bad. Turned out it was just a sign of things to come. Houston Nutt has taken all that talent recruited by Ed Orgeron and made it a real force in the SEC. It helps that there are probably minimum four first rounders on the squad (Snead, Jerry, Hardy, Oher). If you are wondering how Ole Miss got it done, this might be a good time to take a gander at Bruce Feldman’s excellent account of it all: Meat Market.
–Speaking of Feldman, I thought he put in the most dominating performance at the Under Armour High School All-Star game in Orlando the other day. Both Feldman and Tuberville were being interviewed regarding recruiting and it was pretty clear that the guy who had never coached had a far better grasp of what was going on with recruiting than the guy who had. For instance, when asked which position is the most difficult at which to project talent, I found it amazing that Tuberville said ‘quarterback’ instead of the correct answer, given by Feldman: ‘offensive line’. That’s just a no-brainer, right? Tuberville also provided lousy reasoning for an early-signing period while Feldman’s answer was sound and cogent. Just goes to show you that being a coach doesn’t ensure that you have all the answers, while someone who has never coached can provide valuable insight.
—Will USC ever break out of its current cycle? Each of the past three seasons, the Trojans have opened strong in non-conference play, only to slip up in conference, then rebound to beat an out-manned Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl. I think next season, for better or worse, will be different for USC. In my opinion, less will be more for the Trojans, who have been a bit overtalented of late (yes, you can have too much talent). Pete Carroll is at his best when he has to scrape the barrel a bit. I also think the likely addition of Carl Smith on the offensive staff–and the departure of coordinator Steve Sarkisian–could result in more consistency on that side of the ball. That’s important: Consistency on offense is probably the only thing that prevented USC from playing in the last three title games.
—I think LSU really mismanaged its season. Clearly, the Tigers were trying to save Jordan Jefferson for 2009 in an attempt NOT to scare away incoming uber-recruit Russell Shepard. So LSU played the disastrous Jarrett Lee, knowing it would take some lumps. There were too many lumps, though. Jefferson’s performance against Georgia Tech makes it clear that he should have been playing much earlier. Perhaps if he had, then LSU goes 9-3 instead of 7-5 and is ready to make a serious run at an 11 win season in 2009. Instead, that 9-3 will probably come in 2009 and then 2010 will be the big year. Didn’t need to be that way.
—I think Utah has a good case for No. 1. The Utes beat Michigan at the Big House (yes, Big Blue sucked, but you have to give Utah credit for scheduling the game), UNLV (which beat ASU), Air Force (a bowl team), Oregon State (which beat USC and won 9 games), Colorado State (another bowl team), New Mexico (which beat Arizona), TCU (which could finish in the top 10), BYU (which should finish in the top 20) and a top-five Alabama team. Granted, the overall schedule has some cupcakes, but the resume is as impressive as some past teams that have won titles. I think Utah should just declare itself national champs. In a sport where no official title exists, who is to say they are wrong?
—I’m really looking forward to Jan. 15, which is when the NFL has its draft declaration deadline. We will know so much more about the race for the 2009 Heisman and national title. If Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford go pro, I think McCoy and USC’s Mark Sanchez will be the two front runners. If most of them come back, we could have another doozy of a Heisman race, this time with a couple guys from the West (Sanchez and Cal’s Jahvid Best) to balance out the Big 12 and SEC guys.
