Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Hello...Art Briles, Goodbye...Art Briles

Art Briles has left the University of Houston to take the opening at Baylor

Briles was 34-28 with Houston, leading the Cougars to a 8-4 record and berth in the Texas Bowl in 2007.

Briles contract at Baylor is for 7 years at a salary of $1.2 million a year.

He will attempt to post the first winning season at the Big XII's only private university since 1995 and take the Bears to their first bowl since 1994.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Goodbye...Bill Doba

This happened last night but I missed it in my coaching carousel coverage..

Bill Doba (30-29 over 5 seasons) gets to move out of Pullman, Washington.

This was...and still is...Bill Doba

Hello...Houston Nutt

A day after resigning as head coach at Arkansas, Houston Nutt has agreed to become the head coach at Mississippi

Nutt is now the fourth coach in the SEC West to have coached at two schools in the division.

Tommy Tuberville (Mississippi, Auburn)
Sylvester Croom (Alabama as an Assistant, Mississippi State)
Nick Satan (LSU, Alabama)

The coaching carousel in the SEC West has become...dare I say...incestuous!

Tuesday Morning Superhangover: The Firings

As the regular season has ended for many teams, so has the coaching tenures for many coaches. Whether they were fired, resigned, retired or bought out, the truth is they used to coach at universities that if they wanted them would have retained them, so for simplification let's just call of these partings "firings" and comment on them as so...

Dennis Franchione 32-28...Nobody didn't see this coming. The perennial mediocrity at Texas' second largest university and an e-mail fundraising scandal sealed Coach Fran's fate.

Bill Callahan 27-22...Your school hiring a predecessor you once called a "crusty old fuck" as your boss to replace your old boss because of a performance by your defense, is as good of a sign as it seems. Reportedly the meeting between Tom Osborne and Bill Callahan was 15 minutes. 15 minutes? What was talked about in the 14 and a half minutes after the words "You know why I brought you in here".

Ed Orgeron 10-25...This was the first surprise of the coach firing season. When a coach recruits as well as Coach O did (and I'll be able to read about how he did so this Christmas, hopefully), schools usually give you the rope needed to see that recruiting through. Ole Miss didn't win an SEC game however and blew a fourth quarter lead to rival and once on the hot seat Mississippi State and Sylvester Croom. That embarrassment must've been the nail in Coach O's coffin.

Chan Gailey 44-32...now starts the parade of coaches fired because of failure to meet expectations whether they be high...

Ted Roof 6-45...low...

Jeff Bower 119-82-1... or somewhere in-between Anyway, this is by far the most surprising firing of the past week. Technically a forced resignation, Southern Miss I guess expected a Hawaii-like season from Bower this year, unless Coach O feels like contending for Conference USA titles, Southern Miss will end up regretting this decision as East Carolina did in the years after firing Steve Logan.

Sonny Lubick 108-74...Lubick has reportedly been offered an Assistant AD job which may be more of an olive branch than anything else. Lubick has been contemplating retirement all year but if you can get a buyout after what you decided was going to be your last season anyway, wouldn't you?

Houston Nutt 75-48...Nutt was reportedly offered a 2-year extension but turned it down as he had seen the writing on the wall. Off-the-field issues and the Mitch Mustain fiasco had more to do with Nutt's leaving than anything on the field, Nutt and Arkansas can only benefit from this parting which is sure to not be the last of what is turning out to be an offseason heavy in coaching turnover.

Tuesday Morning Superhangover: The National Championship Picture

As we thought it would, the National Championship game picture is a lot clearer than it was last week and thanks to Arkansas, and Missouri, some teams previously left for dead are now very much alive. This weekend two games will ultimately decide which two teams play in the BCS National Championship game in New Orleans:

Pittsburgh at West Virginia and Oklahoma vs. Missouri in Kansas City in the Big XII Championship Game. West Virginia and Missouri being the teams in line to play for the National Championship. But this season the theme has been that as soon as a team warrants our attention they quickly are proven to be an afterthought. That said here are the scenarios:

1) If West Virginia and Missouri win: West Virginia vs. Missouri (I know sounds too easy)

2) If West Virginia wins and Missouri loses: West Virginia vs. Ohio State (and this game is as much of a laugher as last year's and NOT in the Buckeyes favor)

3) If West Virginia loses and Missouri wins: Missouri vs. Ohio State (I'll get back to ya)

4) If West Virginia and Missouri lose: Breathe...take a deep breath. Ohio State would be in, that much is certain. Then you take your pick from this pool: Kansas (only one loss but recent with as poor a non-conference schedule as you'll find) West Virginia (having just lost to an unranked opponent, not likely), Missouri (would have the same record as Oklahoma having lost to them twice so not over Bob Stoops' dead body), Oklahoma (would have to leap a lot of teams but if they dominated Missouri it wouldn't be impossible), and either Georgia or LSU (If LSU won the SEC Championship, they could get to New Orleans after all)

One would think West Virginia has an easy road to New Orleans at home vs. Pittsburgh. But the "Backyard Brawl" is tricky, and you don't need me to tell you that stranger things have happened.

Tuesday Morning Superhangover: The Games

Thanksgiving is known for three "vices", Overeating, Overdrinking, and Overfootballwatching. I did all three but my fourth vice, blogging had to be neglected as when you're entertaining and visiting family its tough to get away to a computer even on what was the most important college football weekend of the year. But now that the weekend is over I should probably give some thoughts on the weekends events, this being a college football blog and all. Let's start with whats most important; the games, or at least the ones I was able to watch...

USC 44, Arizona State 24- There may come a year that these two are battling for Pac Ten titles year after year. Arizona State wasn't quite "Ready for Prime Time" but this was fun game to watch for reasons other than the hot tail on the sidelines.



Colorado 65, Nebraska 51 Its sad what has happened to this rivalry, once an Orange Bowl playoff game. Now we need gimmicks like Eric Cartman introducing Colorado to get people to watch. And when did the Big XII become the WAC?



Arkansas 50, LSU 48 Of course Les Miles is getting second guessed for some of his play calls in this one. That's what happens when your Les Miles. Its just too bad Glenn Dorsey couldn't be at 100% to add to this matchup vs. Darren McFadden. As it was Run DMC almost single-handedly beat the #1 team in the country. Simply an amazing performance.

Hawaii 39, Boise State 27 If you're seeing more "Vili the Warrior" and less Chrissy Johnson, that ain't good if you're a Bronco fan or a heterosexual male. Boise State needed more tackling practice but this was an impressive win for a team that I rarely watched sober and played two Division I-AA teams, Idaho, and Utah State. This win and a win over Washington should be enough to get Hawai'i into a BCS Bowl.

BeautyBeast

West Virginia 66, Connecticut 21 Ladies and Gentlemen you now need to start paying attention to the 'eers. A brutal matchup for any lucky DC that should have to play them. But of course now that you're paying attention they are twice as likely to lose.

Tennessee 52, Kentucky 50 Another SEC classic. Even as a Yankee I have always loved this conference and the games seem to get better each year. Now is it politically incorrect to expect Andre Woodson to run those last three yards into the endzone?

Missouri 36, Kansas 28 This was a fun one even if Mizzou seemed in control throughout. Chase Daniel is making the "Best player on a winning team" argument for the Heisman Trophy which will be discussed much more next week.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Pride and The Pageantry Index November 20, 2007

Rank Team Conf W L OW OL OOW OOL TPTPI
1 LSU SEC 10 1 66 56 703 622 0.63040604
2 Georgia SEC 9 2 65 55 661 540 0.61297246
3 Oregon Pac Ten 8 2 60 47 588 561 0.608311169
4 Florida SEC 8 3 69 50 634 560 0.604481217
5 Ohio State Big Ten 11 1 67 72 777 695 0.602137176
6 West Virginia Big East 9 1 53 57 651 551 0.601308425
7 Missouri Big XII 10 1 58 65 689 566 0.600296081
8 Arizona State Pac Ten 9 1 50 56 622 512 0.597974277
9 Virginia Tech ACC 9 2 62 58 618 588 0.590988241
10 Boston College ACC 9 2 61 59 628 580 0.588679009
11 Tennessee SEC 8 3 67 54 668 642 0.586158602
12 Illinois Big Ten 9 3 75 64 751 728 0.584228054
13 Texas Big XII 9 2 61 61 683 659 0.581780924
14 South Florida Big East 8 3 64 54 604 573 0.581296891
15 Oklahoma Big XII 9 2 59 64 700 655 0.573534144
16 Cincinnati Big East 8 3 62 55 593 579 0.573268621
17 Kansas Big XII 11 0 45 76 671 556 0.57266598
18 Clemson ACC 8 3 62 58 620 582 0.569103262
19 Virginia ACC 9 2 56 65 691 627 0.567020216
20 Auburn SEC 7 4 66 55 643 564 0.564999623
21 Kentucky SEC 7 4 65 54 625 565 0.563502674
22 Connecticut Big East 9 2 53 66 635 557 0.56041406
23 Penn State Big Ten 8 4 74 65 812 782 0.560206289
24 Michigan Big Ten 8 4 73 66 771 703 0.560023216
25 Wisconsin Big Ten 9 3 66 73 765 705 0.555012113
26 Nebraska Big XII 5 6 76 44 655 669 0.553981278
27 Brigham Young Mountain West 8 2 50 59 529 539 0.553187386
28 Oregon State Pac Ten 7 4 61 55 589 539 0.552562724
29 Florida State ACC 7 4 62 59 723 602 0.551704351
30 Oklahoma State Big XII 6 5 70 51 612 607 0.55113255
31 Southern California Pac Ten 8 2 45 63 650 494 0.550378788
32 Wake Forest ACC 7 4 62 59 706 616 0.54879909
33 South Carolina SEC 6 5 67 53 637 560 0.548571239
34 Alabama SEC 6 5 68 52 618 582 0.54844697
35 Mississippi State SEC 6 5 67 52 622 570 0.548329262
36 Michigan State Big Ten 7 5 77 62 799 793 0.548282856
37 Texas A&M Big XII 6 5 69 52 603 612 0.545561677
38 California Pac Ten 6 5 65 52 654 597 0.544836858
39 Rutgers Big East 7 4 60 58 594 583 0.539496422
40 UCF Conference USA 8 3 56 65 652 678 0.535779531
41 Washington Pac Ten 4 7 74 43 636 624 0.533338883
42 Colorado Big XII 5 6 73 50 656 697 0.531596452
43 Texas Tech Big XII 8 4 62 70 698 653 0.530678734
44 Utah Mountain West 8 3 53 67 660 637 0.529868169
45 Boise State WAC 10 1 42 77 573 589 0.527022145
46 Maryland ACC 5 6 67 51 601 582 0.524542276
47 North Carolina State ACC 5 6 68 52 612 591 0.524151742
48 Georgia Tech ACC 7 4 55 65 652 554 0.523415121
49 Tulsa Conference USA 8 3 53 67 633 692 0.522085477
50 UCLA Pac Ten 5 5 56 51 613 532 0.520525038
51 Air Force Mountain West 9 3 53 75 648 640 0.520307648
52 Arkansas SEC 7 4 53 65 641 540 0.519357273
53 Louisville Big East 5 6 66 53 606 577 0.519011531
54 Purdue Big Ten 7 5 68 71 760 720 0.518816028
55 Indiana Big Ten 7 5 68 71 757 723 0.518309272
56 Vanderbilt SEC 5 6 65 56 649 565 0.515880499
57 Troy Sun Belt 8 3 50 69 583 599 0.515210168
58 East Carolina Conference USA 6 5 61 59 643 682 0.511851058
59 New Mexico Mountain West 7 4 56 64 566 624 0.511331805
60 Hawaii WAC 10 0 30 77 448 477 0.511267997
61 Wyoming Mountain West 5 6 67 52 599 696 0.510786034
62 Arizona Pac Ten 5 6 61 54 590 532 0.510315431
63 Kansas State Big XII 5 6 64 58 652 580 0.50823664
64 Fresno State WAC 6 4 51 55 475 551 0.506306778
65 Mississippi SEC 3 8 74 46 611 593 0.503383922
66 Washington State Pac Ten 4 7 65 51 631 605 0.498710955
67 TCU Mountain West 6 5 57 64 653 659 0.49632918
68 Northwestern Big Ten 6 6 67 72 758 717 0.494481771
69 Iowa Big Ten 6 6 67 73 831 769 0.494129464
70 Ball State MAC 6 5 58 65 595 665 0.49019155
71 Pittsburgh Big East 4 6 59 52 548 557 0.489747666
72 Miami (Fla.) ACC 5 6 58 62 710 620 0.488761677
73 Stanford Pac Ten 3 7 58 47 582 536 0.481333589
74 North Carolina ACC 3 8 68 52 620 578 0.480897455
75 San Diego State Mountain West 4 6 55 54 532 532 0.477293578
76 Iowa State Big XII 3 9 77 56 678 691 0.475786686
77 Notre Dame Independent 2 9 76 48 682 698 0.475456883
78 Bowling Green MAC 7 4 48 75 611 650 0.475346881
79 Houston Conference USA 7 4 46 74 655 666 0.474716698
80 Central Michigan MAC 6 5 54 68 581 663 0.474435562
81 Florida Atlantic Sun Belt 5 5 49 62 614 593 0.472895534
82 Navy Independent 7 4 44 75 607 595 0.470212779
83 Louisiana Tech WAC 5 6 56 63 556 607 0.468448968
84 Southern Mississippi Conference USA 6 5 51 69 574 643 0.466776537
85 Syracuse Big East 2 9 71 50 675 661 0.465152855
86 Miami (Ohio) MAC 6 5 49 73 693 662 0.465043087
87 Akron MAC 4 7 63 60 631 741 0.461984786
88 Louisiana-Monroe Sun Belt 5 6 53 65 572 607 0.459501863
89 Army Independent 3 8 66 55 570 644 0.458289651
90 Baylor Big XII 3 9 71 60 664 675 0.457465481
91 Duke ACC 1 10 76 46 657 687 0.456412504
92 Nevada WAC 5 5 46 63 506 559 0.454788517
93 Toledo MAC 5 6 55 67 571 678 0.453337633
94 Western Michigan MAC 4 7 60 62 585 672 0.453159179
95 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 5 7 58 70 600 689 0.447098445
96 Memphis Conference USA 6 5 45 76 587 633 0.442600935
97 UNLV Mountain West 2 9 67 52 599 701 0.442159458
98 Temple MAC 4 7 58 64 609 745 0.441058618
99 San Jose State WAC 4 7 55 62 524 615 0.440964995
100 Marshall Conference USA 2 9 73 57 587 724 0.438161229
101 Minnesota Big Ten 1 11 82 56 697 772 0.43655289
102 Buffalo MAC 4 7 55 68 662 704 0.435642988
103 UAB Conference USA 2 9 66 55 569 652 0.434684685
104 Ohio MAC 5 6 49 72 577 646 0.434063372
105 Arkansas State Sun Belt 5 6 46 72 619 675 0.428142035
106 Texas-El Paso Conference USA 4 7 55 67 545 677 0.427816472
107 Kent State MAC 3 8 58 63 576 661 0.424261911
108 Eastern Michigan MAC 4 8 59 73 638 728 0.423582457
109 Tulane Conference USA 4 7 51 69 573 635 0.421993528
110 Colorado State Mountain West 2 9 59 60 591 604 0.416993872
111 New Mexico State WAC 4 8 56 72 523 638 0.414701766
112 La.-Lafayette Sun Belt 3 8 52 66 559 622 0.406852723
113 Utah State WAC 1 10 63 57 594 706 0.399458042
114 Rice Conference USA 3 8 51 71 573 665 0.392909036
115 Florida International Sun Belt 0 10 62 50 556 661 0.391000998
116 North Texas Sun Belt 1 9 55 55 522 670 0.384479866
117 Idaho WAC 1 10 54 53 450 593 0.382925658
118 Southern Methodist Conference USA 1 10 58 62 581 733 0.374934274
119 Northern Illinois MAC 2 9 50 73 575 671 0.364075759