SINCE WE LAST SPOKE: 12-4-14

SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK Including openings after the 2013 season at Texas and USC you could make a strong argument that 5 of the Top-10 CFB jobs in America have hung out help wanted signs in the last two seasons with Florida, Nebraska and Michigan joining the fray. With only the Wolverine precinct yet to report those most coveted jobs were filled by Steve Sarkisian, Charlie Strong, Jim McElwain and Mike Riley. Barring the highly unlikely event that Michigan is able to lure Jim Harbaugh away from the NFL they will likely fill their position with a soon-to-be-burnout (Bob Stoops, Les Miles), a second chance reach (Greg Schiano) or another underwhelming selection that will fall short of initially igniting their fan base. Who knows any of the above may prove to be hugely successful but I –and I’m sure most of the five teams listed above’s faithful- expected much more. The truth is the coaching profession as a whole has gotten so rich, fat and satisfied that true homerun hires are either out-of-date or out-of –everyone’s price range. I’m not saying that any of the programs above should have waited to make a move and I am certainly not one of Phillip Fulmer’s “who ya gonna get” apologists but there is more credence today than ever that before you swim in the coaching hire waters you better be sure that the boat your currently in is taking on water rapidly.

GOOD FOR COLORADO STATE… for holding Florida and Jim McElwain’s feet to the fire on his reported 7.5 million dollar buyout. Why should he or the Gators not be responsible for it if that was the contractual agreement? Coaches can’t have it both ways. They –and their drain the budget agents- have hood winked fans -and more importantly college administrators-into believing that it is imperative they get at least 5 years guaranteed multi-million dollar money in order to talk 18 year old mega stars into playing football while getting a free education if they choose to pursue it. Then they want to be paid every cent regardless of how much carnage they leave in their wake after in many cases failing miserably. Here’s the deal; the next time Brainiac Coach X agrees to wave their buyout money after being fired for destroying Program Y THEN schools should consider not holding them to the EXACT terms of the contract when they decide to bolt for greener pastures and not a second before.

WHAT WE LEARNED IN WEEK 14:

NATION:

RICH-ROD’S BETTER OFF:January 6th 2015 will mark the four year anniversary of Rich Rodriguez’ firing as Michigan’s Football Coach. That would qualify as a “blessing in disguise”. Rodriguez abruptly left an ultra-successful run (60-26 in 7 seasons) at his alma-mater West Virginia -where he was a perfect fit- to take a job at Michigan where I’m not sure any amount of wins would have ever ingratiated himself or his approach to a large faction of the Go Blue Nation. Much like Cuonzo Martin here –minus Cuonzo’s team’s penchant to frequently check out mentally- he was simply the wrong guy, playing the wrong style at the wrong time at the wrong place. Flash forward to the present and Rich-Rod is doing just fine thank you. His Arizona Wildcat’s win over arch rival Arizona State -coupled with UCLA’s loss to Stanford- means he will coach in the PAC-12 Championship Game Friday night versus Oregon while Michigan begins a search for a yet another new coach. Last Saturday’s victory assured the Wildcats of a 10 win season in Rich’s third year in Tucson a feat that required five seasons in Morgantown. Wildcat fans can take pride in the fact that if this run is anything like his time at WVU the fun has just begun. Once he reached double-digit wins there two more immediately followed before a frustrated error in judgment led him to Ann Arbor. My guess is he has learned his lesson and will be perfectly happy in the desert for a number of years to come.

HUSKER’S HAVE HAD ENOUGH: "We weren't good enough in the games that mattered against championship quality opponents. We won a bunch of games but didn't win the games that mattered most. I think we gave [Pelini] ample time to get that done."

With that blunt yet honest statement Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst ended Bo Pelini’s tenure in Lincoln and began the process of trying to restore the luster to Cornhusker Football. Just as Florida gave their job to a candidate known for high-flying offense I thought Nebraska would try and return to their glory days of ground-n-pound. Two of the first names mentioned upon the job coming open were Jerry Kill whose Minnesota squad outrushed the Cornhuskers 281-174 just two weeks ago in Lincoln and Scott Frost who knows a thing or two about Nebraska Football. I can’t help but wonder what two other would-be-potential candidates are thinking right about now and both are intrinsically linked. Brett Bielema curiously left Wisconsin two seasons ago which led to Gary Andersen’s departure from Utah State to replace him. If not for being only two years into their present assignments and probably hesitant to leave because of it both would seem to have been outstanding fits in Lincoln and would have almost certainly been among the lead candidates. I’m no mind reader but I would almost bet both are thinking they jumped a couple years too early. Especially after seeing the job go to the ancient and underwhelming Mike Riley

SEC

ACC>SEC EAST: Look no further than the ACC’s 4-game sweep last Saturday to determine the depths to which the SEC East has fallen. Georgia Tech, Louisville, Clemson and Florida State all bested their in-state SEC rivals with the Yellow Jackets even going on the road to do so. Admittedly the Bulldogs were the only SEC team favored in the four matchups though in reality that is probably a further indictment rather than any form of justification. I guess even SEC fans must come to the realization that CFB is cyclical in nature. This season however the eastern side of the league would be more appropriately labeled as sick-lical.

MIZZOU CAN CLOSE: Give the relative new kids on the block credit for this; they know how to win. From the time Georgia finished off Auburn and their SEC regular season at 6-2 placing Missouri in a win-or-else situation the Tigers have made the 4th Quarter their personal playground. They outscored Texas A&M, Tennessee and Arkansas 35-8 in the last stanza of their must three game sweep winning the trio of games by a combined 23 points. Don’t trust my math since I was a PE Major but I believe that means their 4th quarter advantage led directly to a date with Alabama this Saturday in the Georgia Dome.

STATE LAID THE GOLDEN EGG: These are the times when I’m glad I’ve been deprived of a true in-state rival during the majority of my fandom. I was literally ill watching Tennessee struggle versus what coming into the contest appeared to be an all-time bad Vandy team with only a lower-tier bowl bid on the line. I can only imagine how sick Mississippi State fans are feeling after losing not only a game that sticks in their craw for the next 365 days to the team they despise but a likely spot in the inaugural CFB Playoff as well. Ole Miss’s dream season ended with a two game losing streak (@LSU, Aub) when October spilled over into November. State’s became a nightmare a month later and unfortunately it’s one you never wake up from until the next Egg Bowl.

WHAT WE WILL LEARN IN WEEK 15:

WHO IS MIZZOU? Brother Fab-5 piqued my interest with his call to the Smartway/Dalton Bearing 5th Quarter Show following the Vols win over Vandy last Saturday evening. His question was who is Missouri? We know that they are the two-time SEC East Champion and they have won 10 straight road games including every SEC regular season game (8) played away from Columbia the last two years. Those accomplishments combined with their ability to make plays necessary to win close contests cannot be diminished. As Freddy correctly pointed out and Briney Boy Hartman elaborated upon on the Monday edition of the Tony Basilio Show however there has been some good fortune involved in terms of who they have accomplished their two-year run against. This season they were fortunate to draw SEC-West bottom feeders Arkansas (6-6; 2-6) and Texas A&M (7-5; 3-5). They also beat only two SEC teams that finished with winning overall records (Florida 6-5; A&M 7-5) and none with plus-.500 records within the conference. Georgia –who would be considered the most challenging conference opponent on this year’s Tiger slate- throttled Mizzou 34-0. Last season the Tigers beat one SEC opponent that finished with a winning conference record (Georgia 5-3) and lost in OT at home to South Carolina prior to surrendering over 500 yards rushing and getting totally dismantled by Auburn in the SEC Championship Game. The questions that need to be answered are:

Is Missouri better equipped defensively to challenge Alabama than they were this time a year ago versus Auburn?

Or

Are they once again a paper Tiger simply good enough to win the watered-down SEC East?

DUCKS NEED A CHANGE OF SCENERY? Oregon and Arizona will square off in San Jose this Friday night for the PAC-12 Championship. It will be the third meeting between the programs in a little over 365 days and you can bet the Ducks are hoping “third time’s a charm” and that “a change of scenery will do you good". Oregon was spanked in Tuscon by Arizona 42-16 on November 23rd of last year shortly after severely damaging their National Championship hopes with their second consecutive loss to Stanford two weeks earlier. There were some rumblings at the time that Oregon players weren’t thrilled with the prospects of “another” Rose Bowl appearance and failed to be properly motivated. That doesn’t explain how slightly over 10 months later the Wildcats went into Eugene and won again 31-24. Rich Rod was running the spread when most everyone else in America looked at it as a gimmick along the lines of the service academies running the Wishbone and won’t be surprised by anything the Ducks throw at his team. The question is can Oregon clear the final hurdle placed in front of them prior to Sunday’s CFB Playoff pairings announcement? If not it will appear that Arizona is the new Stanford when it comes to dealing out misery to the folks in green and gold.

OLD SCHOOL vs NEW WAVE: Like contrasting styles, approaches and coaching backgrounds? Then Saturday in Waco is your cup of tea. Art Briles (58 yrs. old) took the relative fast-track to a College Head Coaching job with only 8 of his 36 seasons as a coach spent as an assistant (5 in HS; 3 as Texas Tech RB Coach), was never a coordinator and seemed to appear out of nowhere as the University of Houston’s Head Coach in 2003. He likes to spread opponents and score with lightning-like quickness. Bill Snyder (75) on the other hand spent three seasons as a HS assistant, three at North Texas State and 10 as Iowa’s OC prior to his arrival in Manhattan in 1989. The only thing sudden about Snyder was his reemergence from retirement after three seasons to reestablish Kansas State as a Big-12 Title contender. As you would surmise from his age he is much more conventional in his approach favoring defense and ball control while being innovative enough offensively to challenge opponents defenses along the way. This Saturday’s challenge in Waco will take all the guile that the wily Snyder can muster. The Bears will be looking to put up a big number to impress the CFB Playoff committee and the home team has won 6 of the last seven meetings.

OLD SCHOOL VS NEW WAVE II Georgia Tech and Florida State will wage another matchup of divergent styles in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte. Georgia Tech is as close to old school as you get playing 1970’s-like football in a spread-em-out age. So old school that they are 4th in the nation in rushing (333.8 ypg) and 122nd in passing (135.3).Whether you view them as Nebraska-light or Service Academy-heavy they run a hard to prepare for system in an error-free manner ranking 1st in the ACC in Turnover Margin at +11. Florida State is 13-8-1 all-time versus the Yellow Jackets but in a strange twist for conference mates the teams have met only three times since 2003 with Tech winning two of those (2008, 2009). FSU won the last meeting in 2012 21-15 and had won 12 in a row in the series prior to Tech’s 2008 breakthrough.

COMMITTEE CONUNDRUM: If the play on the field fails to sort out the logjam for the 4th and final CFB Playoff spot the committee has some serious work ahead. Does a head-to-head win mean more than a schedule strength advantage? Baylor and TCU will be dying to know. Does an injury to a key player diminish a team’s chances? Ohio State is waiting to find out. Does TV appeal and fan travel have any place in the decision-making process? Buckeye fans certainly hope so while Horned Frog and Bear fans do not. Regardless of how these and other questions are weighed and answered it has been a fun ride in this inaugural playoff season. One thing we know for sure; playoff opponent’s long-time assertion that a playoff would diminish and rob drama from the importance of the regular season was and is total hogwash. The season has never been more fascinating.

WHAT WE MUST SEE FROM VOLS PRIOR TO BOWL GAME:

GET HEALTHY: The Vols are a M*A*S*H unit some of which even a month off won’t fix. Hopefully however Jason Croom, Mac Crowder and Jalen Hurd will be back to provide Josh Dobbs and Pig Howard some much needed support.

PUT THE TE PAGE BACK IN THE PLAYBOOK: Realizing that the offensive staff has used more of the max-protect packages we were clamoring for earlier -which means less routes for TEs- I can’t believe the only time they can be involved in the passing game is out of FG formation. Ethan Wolf, Alex Ellis, Daniel Helm or a combination need to jump back off the milk carton and give us a between the hash marks threat.

CLEAR-N-SNAP: Barring Crowder’s return O-Line Coach Don Mahoney needs to paraphrase one of Butch’s platitudes and make sure that Dylan Wiesman Clear-N-Snap. As in clear your mind and accurately snap the flippin ball. In an offense that relies so heavily on exact timing a north, south, east or west snap is a play killer. Wiesman, I’m sure has many things on his mind but his initial responsibility is to deliver the ball to Dobbs on-time and on-target so Josh can do the same.

DON’T AVOID THE MIDDLE MAN: A.J Johnson along his high-volume production is not coming back. The staff needs to take whatever steps necessary to assure that the drop-off is minimized. In this instance the decision on who mans the MLB position should not be based on long-term program gains but who gives you the very best chance to win a bowl game and avoid a dubious program record five straight losing seasons. If Jacob Johnson is the best short-term answer so be it, coach him up and leave him in there. If not slide Curt Maggitt, Jalen Reeves-Maybin or whoever necessary inside to assure we can plug what was at times a gaping hole the last two games.

GET ALIGNED: Football as every coach who ever lived will preach ad nauseum is won up-front. What most understand as well is that is usually accomplished on the offensive front with two tackles. Get Brett Kendrick out of timeout and back at LT where he belongs which in-turn will get Kyler Kerbyson back at guard where he belongs.

DOBBS THROWING DARTS And I don’t mean at some club on the strip at 3 in the morning. Josh Dobbs has shown how critical he is to the team and the Butchjakian attack going forward. Now he needs to refine his fundamentals and skill set to assure that he doesn’t leave quite so many plays on the field. With a patchwork offensive line there will be only so many opportunities to turn the game in our favor offensively. When the receiver is there and he has time to deliver he must be on target at a more regular clip than we’ve seen the last two weeks.

IN A PERFECT WORLD: The Vols would get a gold watch location and opponent for their 50th bowl appearance.

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