Too early for college football? ('09 Version)

EatingTheRoad


What do Elin and USC have in common?

Both beat up Tigers this weekend

Not USC, California in Berkeley booed him at the Stanford game I hope all in good spirit.

Hindsight is 20/20. It's easy to say NOW that the ND officials made a mistake. But that's easy picking and an easily defended point of view since it turned out the coaches failed. But no one could've really predicted that, especially given how each coach had winning seasons and went to prestigious bowls.

See, in hindsight it was a bad idea to think about letting go of Joe Paterno - but at the time when PSU was floundering with back to back losing seasons along with PSU's worst season ever for a JoePa team, it seemed he had lost touch.

If JoePa had left, we'd never know he'd win 4 straight bowl games and go to 2 BCS bowls following that period. We wouldn't know what a mistake it would've been.

Only after history reveals itself can we make comments like, "mistakes were made."

Thanks for the name, Brian Kelly, it kept leaping out of my mind. ugh - my brain is slowing.

Paterno did indeed recover. Bobby Bowden didn't. He's had a consistently downward trend in his coaching record now over many years. Is it him or the shifting trends, prestige and strengths in conferences?

As for hindsight, yes, it is good for examining and looking forward. The common denominator in all those Notre Dame coach hirings were gambles they would pan out. None of them had consistent big time top tier collegiate head coaching records. All I am saying is look at that record of hiring and change courses. Do what Alabama and Florida did in recent years. If you want to be the best go after the best available. After all, in firing Weis, Notre Dame did say money was no object.

Speaking of Florida - is Urban Meyer in the mix for ND?

Bob Stoops? who said, "I don't need an interview, my record speaks for itself." or something of that nature.

My guess is that Meyer is not in the mix.  He's got a pretty nice set-up at Florida.  It would be a heck of a lot of work to build ND up again.  Then again, nothing would surprise me, but Notre Dame hasn't been a premier job for over 10 years.

I agree saps, that Meyer shouldn't move. Neither should Stoops. I'm sure, if Steve Spurier could go back in time, he wouldn't have left Florida.

This week, in an interview with former Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson with the Syracuse Post Standard, he inferred that leaving Syracuse was a mistake. I thought so too, at the time.

Back when the ACC added 3 teams, the conference had visions of a climactic championship game in a sold-out NFL stadium and massive tv ratings. Maybe it would have a regular role in determining a participant in the BCS National Championship Game. Now its 2 teams that lost to middling SEC teams last week, playing in a likely half-empty Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. There may be four more important games this week, with Oregon and Oregon State, Cincinnati and Pitt, and the SEC and Big 12 Championship games determining BCS berths.

I heard Skip Holtz's and Randy Edsall's name as possible ND head coach.

Bobby Bowden is available.

Oregon-Oregon St game was great.

Sorry Joe but no deal-----
Bobby Bowden is almost as old as JoePa-----he can not coach a young vibrant
team like Notre Dame ----they are on their way up, while Bo and Jo are "Old Farts"
on their way out. 

But, we might hire the guy who just got fired or quit at Kansas,  he makes Charley 
Weis look very thin.  

I like Dan McCarney----------a very, very, long shot.
Or Harbaugh
Or Pat Fitzgerald

Will settle for the Boston Irish guy--Kelly


 

Well Old Fart JoePa's team posted a 10-2 record and is going to play in a bowl on Jan 1.

the ancient mariner


To Bill Voss, Scorereader and anyone who thinks Notre dame is "Irrelevant"
and only for "Old Farts"

On ESPN.com Monday---ND is mentioned in 5 of the top 10 articles --including
Bobby Bowden's retirement and Tiger Wood's indiscretions.

On a day when Bowden and Wood should have dominated the sports headlines-
the simple firing of a mediocre coach in South Bend is the top story.

ESPN had a reporter standing by on campus at ND all day Sun and Mon.

You are not irrevelent when USA Today has you on the front page 4 out of 7 days.

And ------OLD FARTS like me do not sit on the computer reading and twittering (or whatever it is called) ---we don't even understand 1/2 of it.  No, it was YOUNG
FARTS who are ND Fans that closed down the ND websites, blogs, etc.  because of overloads. 

The Irish will rise again.  Irish since 1936.  Go Irish !!!!!!

Old farts never switch---once a fan always a fan----it is something called
being faithful.  Davy will be a Minnesota fan forever---Joe Rogo will love PSU through
thick and thin------and Notre Dame haters will always hate.  

though my son is a basketballer, not a footballer, he is almost 17 and knows about and plays sports.
I'm just telling you the word on the street.
Norte Dame does not not have the same aura to young folks. Scorereader is right as far as what the BCS has done. Notre Dame's imperial attitude has come back to bite them in the butt.

Notre Dame, though bowl eligible, may turn down a bowl game this year.

Oregon St. vs Oregon. I was disappointed. You could add Oregon State as my west coast favorite team. My son spent his junior year as an exchange student there.

the ancient mariner


But, we might hire the guy who just got fired or quit at Kansas,  he makes Charley 
Weis look very thin.  

I can't see Mangino as a hot commodity right now, not with the unresolved allegations against him.  He'd poison the recruiting process.
 
Brad

bill voss


Scorereader is right ...

 
this may very well the first time I've heard that on this site.
 
 
somebody pull out the ice-skates, we're going to hell.
 

Great game last night. This Duck fan is happy the young men are going to play in Pasadena.

Anybody have an opinion on the Kansas coach who got fired? I don't know very much about him other than his girth.

Young people have no allegiance to anything or anybody.  Mr Voss you will find that out.  Pay no attention to anything they say, they can be twisted around and around by winning seasons.  A few years from now you and everything you love will be irrelevant to them. 

In NY the Mets were Kings for a while, but now the Yankees own the place.  Funny thing--it is the same young guys who go to their closet and take out the "Jersey of the Day"  ------- who cares what 17 year olds think ?????  Their brain is still being formed.

It is the same young guy, who thought Weis would be the greatest thing that ever happened, who turned on him after two losses in a row.  They are front runners---and I have had 10 of them to deal with------thank God they grow up and return to 
reality.   

Mangino resigned, actually.  If you click on the link in my previous post the Sports Illustrated sites has a few more stories about the situation.  He does have his supporters, though.

I hadn't heard of him until KU went 12-1 2 seasons ago and suddenly he was all over the place.

Last Saturday I was listening to the Kansas-Missouri game and KU had the ball with a 1-point lead and a couple of minutes to go.  For reasons that I just can't fathom they ran 3 straight passing plays that wound up being 3 incompletions, and UM wound up with enough time and timeouts to go down the field and kick the winning FG.  I'm still puzzled by the playcalling decisions...

Brad

the ancient mariner



In NY the Mets were Kings for a while,

 
Are you kidding? I really like you ancientmariner. You're spirited and have a big heart. But this comment only shows how out of touch you are with sports reality. The Yankees are, have been, and always will be king in NY, EVEN if the Mets win the world series and the Yankees miss the playoffs. The Mets are the kid brother, who they'll cheer for out of local loyalty, but the true NY team is the bronx bombers, not the kids from Queens.
 
 
 
 
 

the ancient mariner


Young people have no allegiance to anything or anybody.  Mr Voss you will find that out.  Pay no attention to anything they say, they can be twisted around and around by winning seasons.  A few years from now you and everything you love will be irrelevant to them. 

Painting everyone with the same brush like that is a very narrow minded thing to do.  I see the point of your argument, but lumping everyone that is "young" into that category is unfair.  I have been loyal to my sports teams from the days I started rooting for them, for better, and for worse.

Remember folks, ND got to the top by winning games.   Nobody stays on top forever.  But, as sure as the sun comes up in the morning, ND will be back.  So will Florida State and Miami, etc.  Just like PSU did.
 
BTW, when someone as eloquent as my buddy The Mariner talks, everyone should just listen and learn 
 
 

I'm not young nor am I ancient just yet. At least when I went to my cardiologist appointment this afternoon they didn't slap me on a gurney and wheel me into the operating room after.

Davydd


I'm not young nor am I ancient just yet. At least when I went to my cardiologist appointment this afternoon they didn't slap me on a gurney and wheel me into the operating room after.

Now that's a good thing

This is pretty funny: ("I smell roses")
http://ducks.fandome.com/...-Have-A-Rap-Scene/?q=c

The scoops on Stoops

He will be Irish (his mother and father were too) on Monday or Tuesday.
Mark it down.  Hayden Fry's boys get to South Bend one way or another.
The Big-10 didn't want ND when ND wanted to join----now the Big 10 comes to ND.

Stoops is 49, so if he coaches at ND for 30 long years he will still be 4 years younger than JoePa is now----Joe will be 83 this month. 

Thank you Joe Rogo for the kind words, I am blushing, but you can't see
it behind a 4 day growth of beard---my disposal razor died after a month--it ain't workin' no good no more.  And, I don't wanna go out to the store in this cold weather---it is only 64. 

Now a word for Scorereader ---I didn't know you liked me, actually I thought you hated me.  But here is the word on the cursed Yankees.  During the 80s the Mets were HOT the Yankees were NOT.  I lived right there during that wonderful few years.  The Mets outdrew the Yanks almost 2-1.  Mets hit 3 mil while Yanks were as low as 1,600,000 one year.  The media was all Mets.   

In those days the "young farts" were all Met fans, but it didn't last---in the 90's the Bronx guys came back and the "Young Farts" went with the winners-----by 98 when Brian Cashman took over the Yankees were kings again.  And as long as Brian is there it will stay that way.  But for 6 to 8 glorious years the Mets owned NYCity.  And thats the name of that tune.  

By the way there is a great cage fight on TV today at 4pm and NASCAR also I am sure.
Pull up a Bud and watch cars go around and around.  Reminds me of my first train set------------ it went around and around the Christmas tree. 

I can look out my window and see cars go round and round the traffic circle ----same thing in slo-motion.  

Go Irish-------- Bob Stoops to Conquer !!!!!!!!  

Nittany Lions Post Highest Graduation Rate Among AP Top 25 Teams 
 
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., - The Penn State football team has the highest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and federal graduation rate among teams ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, according to data recently released by the NCAA. The No. 1 academic ranking comes on the heels of Tuesday's announcement by CoSIDA that Penn State led all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams with three first team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans®. Penn State football student-athletes that enrolled in the University in the fall of 2002 earned a federal graduation rate of 89 percent, easily the best among the teams ranked in the November 22 AP poll. Alabama and Miami (Fla). were tied for second at 75 percent. Penn State's 89 percent federal graduation rate led all Big Ten Conference institutions and was 34 points above the 55 percent FBS average, according to the NCAA. The Nittany Lions also lead all AP Top 25 teams with a program record 85 percent Graduation Success Rate. The figure was based on Penn State football student-athletes entering the University in the fall of 1999 through 2002. North Carolina (80) has the second-highest GSR among AP Top 25 teams, followed by Cincinnati and Miami (Fla.) at 75 percent. Penn State's 85 percent Graduation Success Rate was significantly higher than the 67 percent FBS average and was second to Northwestern among Big Ten Conference institutions, according to the NCAA. The Graduation Success Rate data includes only student-athletes receiving athletic aid and is generated from four years of graduation data. The GSR data also includes student-athlete transfers to Penn State that receive athletic aid. The strong NCAA graduation dates is the latest success in a long line of academic achievement for members of Joe Paterno's program, who consistently are near the top nationally in academic success: - Three Nittany Lions repeated their Academic All-America® accolades, as announced Tuesday: senior linebacker Josh Hull (Millheim), senior kick snapper Andrew Pitz (Bettendorf, Iowa) and junior center Stefen Wisniewski (Bridgeville). Hull and Pitz were 2008 first team honorees and Wisniewski was a second team selection last year. Texas was the only other school in the nation with more than one first team honoree.
Last year, a program record five Nittany Lions were selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® team. Penn State has had 12 Academic All-Americans® over the past four years. During Joe Paterno's tenure, Penn State has had 45 Academic All-Americans®, with 34 earning first team honors. The Nittany Lions' all-time total of 47 Academic All-America® football players ranks third among all FBS institutions and leads all Big Ten schools. - Nine players on the 2009 Penn State squad had graduated prior to the season, the nation's fifth-highest total. Another 10 members of the current team are on schedule to graduate in December. Paterno's squad (10-2) is ranked No. 13 in this week's Bowl Championship Series standings, No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches and Harris Interactive polls and No. 12 in the Associated Press poll. Penn State concluded its regular season with the convincing victory over Michigan State, posting Paterno's Football Bowl Subdivision record 21st season with at least 10 victories. The Nittany Lions are 50-13 (79.3) since the start of the 2005 season, the nation's No. 8 winning percentage over that span. Penn State is awaiting the destination and opponent for its 36th bowl game under Paterno, who is the all-time leader in post-season appearances and victories (23-11-1 record). For the 2009 NCAA Graduation rate data go to: www.ncaa.org
 
http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112509aaa.html

Yeah Joe ROGO-------
and Joe Pa

Stoops to ND ------- ND Will Rise Again !!!!

Keep Kelly and his def. co-ordinator in CinCin------

Don't forget cage fighting at 4 PM---big match, even Nero
will be watching.  Loser gets thrown to the Lions---

Go Irish !!!!!!!!

Awesome. Because the really important number is one that isn't in the article; that 97.6% of college football players never get a shot at the NFL... and of the 2.4% that do get a shot, only about 2/3 stick... and of the 2/3 that stick, the average NFL career is 3.5 years... so, factoring Brett Favre and all those guys who play 5-15 years, most pro football players play a year or two at the NFL minimum salary and then hit the world on their own.

Better get that degree, and thank you for the responsible shepherding of your players, Coach Paterno.

Would Notre Dame Stoops so low?   I read that Cincinnati had the highest graduation rate of the Top 10 teams which surprised me and would have made Kelly a good match. But I doubt that is true no more after today and Cinci played like a clone of a Weis  coached team.

After the game today ABC showed a graphic stating that if ND wanted to talk Kelly would "listen".

Brad

Cincy did great-----even if it was only by a point----------I'll take Kelly
or Murphy, or O'Brien, or Garibali or Ginsberg as long as they can coach and win.
But, the coach has nothing to do with graduation rates. 

Notre Dame had the highest graduation rate of all teams and were #1 in 8 of the
classifications---I.E--football, baseball, basketball, women's basketball, etc.
In the other 2 they came in second and third.  It really is a great University whether
they win all their football games or not. 

Having no rooting interest in the game, I could watch the Cinc./Pitt game & just enjoy one heckuva football game. However if I was a fan of either team, I think I would have needed some strong drink to get thru that one, mid-afternoon or not.

cavandre


Having no rooting interest in the game, I could watch the Cinc./Pitt game & just enjoy one heckuva football game. However if I was a fan of either team, I think I would have needed some strong drink to get thru that one, mid-afternoon or not.

I am a Cincinnati alumni fan and I spoke too soon. I was at a Sears store in a lengthy 2+ hour wait getting a new battery installed in my pickup truck and following the game on my iPhone through ESPN Scoreboard. I got a tad disgusted and almost smashed my iPhone. I wasn't home to watch the game to see how Cincinnati pulled it out. I only watched the first quarter. That running back, Lewis, from Pittsburgh was something else. I think I'll stand by my comment that he could be a Weis clone in game coaching winning 45 to 44. Cincinnati will be going to a BCS bowl. Yay! OK, back to my bottle of bourbon.

Has Cincinnati expanded the football stadium since you were there, Davydd?

cavandre

However if I was a fan of either team, I think I would have needed some strong drink to get thru that one, mid-afternoon or not.

I don't drink, but I could use one after that game.  What a choke job by the Panthers, although you have to give full credit to Cincy for a great comeback.

trzhotel


Has Cincinnati expanded the football stadium since you were there, Davydd?

That game was at Pittsburgh. Cincinnati plays in Nippert Stadium, a traditional horse shoe stadium on campus that is the 4th oldest playing field in the country. The Bengals played there the first year of their existence the fall after I graduated so I think it was more than big enough even though I can't say how many it held. I guess they had a minor expansion in 2005 according to this site...

http://www.gobearcats.com...archive/080206aad.html

The basketball arena at the time only held about 8,000 and it was definitely too small for those great national championship teams and the preceding Oscar Robertson era. Basketball was king when I was on campus.

My graduation ceremony was in Nippert Stadium outdoors. There were about 4,000 of us in total and I was shocked that when I walked up to get my diploma that it was actually mine. That had to take organization. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking, was the commencement address speaker.

It is looking like Alabama is putting an exclamation point on who is number 1 with no doubts. If Texas wins big tonight there will be no question that the BCS championship game will be the true championship game after all. Florida just didn't show up to play.

Southern Cal sunk to a new low losing to Arizona. No fluke with Oregon going to the Rose Bowl.

....uh oh...I think I hear saps coming....this oughtta be fun

Davydd


It is looking like Alabama is putting an exclamation point on who is number 1 with no doubts. If Texas wins big tonight there will be no question that the BCS championship game will be the true championship game after all. Florida just didn't show up to play.

Southern Cal sunk to a new low losing to Arizona. No fluke with Oregon going to the Rose Bowl.

Boise State says Huh? 4 undefeated teams should put a nice wrench in the BCS propaganda.

Davydd


It is looking like Alabama is putting an exclamation point on who is number 1 with no doubts.

Tomorrow at least one newspaper in that state will run a "Sweet Dome Alabama" headline.

Florida might've put forth a subpar effort but Alabama's defense deserves a lot of credit.  They made Tebow less than comfortable on a lot of plays and forced Florida out of its usual offense.

Brad

There's really not a whole lot to say here.  Great players play great in big games.  Tebow didn't.  Florida was beaten in just about every facet as well, and outcoached as well.

Wow, and the night is capped by an amazing defensive battle with Texas-Nebraska! Low scoring games can be boring, but there was so much great defensive play on both sides, I have to say we were riveted to our seats. The announcers were giving the officials the business, but I do believe that when the defensive back pushes the receiver out of bounds, the pass interference call is mandatory, and both the PI calls were that situation. And as much as I would have loved "BCS MADNESS", the clock call at the end was obviously correct. A great end to a day of great games!

Alabama won a decisive victory.  Florida should have just played the secondary; Tebow wouldn't have had to cry on national TV in that case, and the outcome couldn't have been any worse.

Texas was super-sorry.  NE should have won the game.  I watched the game in a bar filled with half Nebraska fans, and none of us TX fans celebrated at the end.  It was so embarrassing, I actually apologized to the NE fans sitting next to me. 

I've said for years that Mack Brown is the most overpaid human on the face of the earth, and it was proved again tonight.

After everything has shaken out, I still think Colt McCoy deserves the Heisman, but Ingram may get it, and that would not be undeserved.

I think Toby Gerhart from Stanford should get it.  He's the best running back in the country and the most consistent player from beginning to end.  If they actually let defensive players win it once in a wnile, Suh from Nebraska would have to be strongly considered.

Wow. Any lingering shred of respect I might have been able to drag up for Charlie Weis has been snuffed forever. I'm no Pete Carroll fan, but that was wrong, truth regardless. Weis has always had the rule that his private life is off limits; too bad he can't respect that for others.

Boise State could very well legitimately say, "huh". In trying to decipher relative strength by looking at schedules and scores one gets the impression that even though there are a lot of undefeated teams this year there is also a lot of parity from top to bottom in the Top 25. This year I trust the computer rankings more than the opinion rankings. If anything does Boise State in it will be their schedule. You have to play somebody. Beating Oregon early in the first game of the season might have been a stroke of luck for them, and correct me if I am wrong but wasn't that the only BCS school they played.

I missed the Texas vs Nebraska game but have seen Texas two other times. My suspicions are despite being undefeated they may be overrated. I felt the same about Florida all along and Alabama proved that correct. Alabama left little doubt for the season they are number one. If they play Texas it might not be much of a championship game. But you never know because like Florida, Alabama hasn't played anyone out of the southeast region to compare. This would have been a great year for a play off like the lesser divisions do. I think there would be a lot of surprises. TCU and Boise State both have a case. Even though Cincinnati probably played a tougher schedule and a more national schedule than most, I think their defense would do them in in a playoff situation.

Colt McCoy's substandard performance despite Texas winning probably did him in for the Heisman. In quality per touches I would rate Tebow's performance over McCoy. In running and passing per play effectiveness Tebow averaged 6.78 yards to McCoy's 6.48. Tebow, of course, is not going to get the Heisman trophy again.

Gerhart at Stanford had great running stats but Ingram at Alabama had a per yard carry of 6.2 to Gerhart's 5.6 to get it back to apples to apples. Again that is a comparison of quality per touch.  Bottom line is Ingram does deserve the Heisman in that he is best running back IMO and also led his team to Number 1 with his toughness being the heart and soul of that team. That's they way I see it for what it's worth.

Too early---no way, I'm ready---it's never too early for college football----
coach, or no coach ND goes 10-2 in 2010.  Wake up the echos !!!!!!!

Just for kicks----Jan 7th, 2010--from the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif
         Alabama 35 Texas 7----McCoy sacked 5 times.

the ancient mariner


Too early---no way, I'm ready---it's never too early for college football----
coach, or no coach ND goes 10-2 in 2010.  Wake up the echos !!!!!!!

Just for kicks----Jan 7th, 2010--from the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif
         Alabama 35 Texas 7----McCoy sacked 5 times.

Whatever happened to that job in Vegas?  You were supposed to be the guy setting the odds
 
Who care about the Rose Bowl.  It's obvious that the Capital One Bowl is the important one this year.

The only bowl game that shouldn't happen with two 6 and 6 teams playing each other. Minnesota vs. whoever in the Insight Bowl. No other bowl has two 6 and 6 record teams playing each other. Notre Dame at least had some self respect and dignity left not to bother. Would you want a bow game where one team (Minnesota) lost the final four games and didn't score a touchdown in the last two games?

The team Minnesota is playing against had 5 wins against powerhouse programs like North Dakota State, Army, Kent State, Colorado, and Baylor. The Insight Bowl is run be the Fiesta Bowl committee, and all the homers in Iowa thought they would pick Iowa for the Fiesta after taking Iowa State for the Insight Bowl. Iowa's SID claimed there are nearly a million former Iowans near Arizona. The Insight has a significant payout, more than many other bowls with better teams. They chose ISU over Missouri with an 8-4 record, expecting better ticket sales.

The state of Iowa has a population of about 3,000,000, and about 1,000,000 above and beyond that have left and moved into the Southwest?  That sounds odd.

saps


The state of Iowa has a population of about 3,000,000, and about 1,000,000 above and beyond that have left and moved into the Southwest?  That sounds odd.

Have you been to Iowa? 

How about FSU going to Gator Bowl? Backroom, good ol' boy deals going on.  What a scam.

Davydd-

Do you know what the difference is between an Iowa girl and a bullhead?

One has whiskers, smells bad, and eats garbage, and the other is a fish.

saps


Davydd-

Do you know what the difference is between an Iowa girl and a bullhead?

One has whiskers, smells bad, and eats garbage, and the other is a fish.

Typical sap contribution. Did you come up with that one all by yourself?  pb

If the choice for new ND coach comes down to
Brian Kelly and Jim Harbaugh

I will go with Harbaugh----------one tough SOB as a player

3 excellent years as head coach at San Diego St and

now doing a good job with Stanford.

Even though he was a Michigan QB, I will take him anyhow. 

Kelly is a close second.  But I still like Coach Dan McCarney.

porkbeaks

saps


Davydd-

Do you know what the difference is between an Iowa girl and a bullhead?

One has whiskers, smells bad, and eats garbage, and the other is a fish.

Typical sap contribution. Did you come up with that one all by yourself?  pb

 
No- It's an old joke that actually has a lot of variations.  There is a rivalry between Minnesota and Iowa people and they would fire off these types of jokes back and forth, all done in good fun.
 
I'm glad that you posted.  I was missing all of the attention that you like giving to me.
 
Have a good rest of the day.
 

 

the ancient mariner


Just for kicks----Jan 7th, 2010--from the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif
         Alabama 35 Texas 7----McCoy sacked 5 times.

Alabama will win the game, but unless Saban recruits Suh before then, McCoy won't get sacked 5 times.