Early Prediction on Clemson

The next head coach at Clemson will be Will Muschamp.

Tommy Bowden Fired

Many knew this day would come, but maybe not so abruptly.  Tommy Bowden is out as Clemson's head coach and assistant head coach/wide recievers coach Dabo Swinney has taken over as interim field boss for the Tigers.  Clemson came into the season with lofty expectations and great talent, but has underperformed from their first game to their last.  

Clemson more than likely won't name a full time replacement for Bowden until season's end, but if Tommy Tubberville gets the axe at Auburn, he could be the front runner for the Clemson job.  

Week 7: Stat Book Notes

>Vanderbilt was held to 107 total yards and 45 rushing yards against Mississippi State. MSU had previously allowed 438 rushing yards in their 38-7 loss to Georgia Tech.


>Army did not complete a pass on only three attempts in their win over Eastern Michigan. They ran for 341 yards on 59 carries (5.8 ypc). Clearly the Black Knights have fully committed to their option based running attack.


>Tennessee ran only 45 plays against Georgia.

>Georgia Tech was held to 1.7 ypc and 79 rushing yards against Gardner-Webb. They were only 3 of 10 passing. They needed a block field goal at the end of regulation to beat Gardner-Webb. A huge reason for the offensive ineffectiveness was that they were playing with their third string QB, a senior making his first career start who is 6-4, 235 lbs. He struggled making options reads and pitching.

>Northwestern ran 93 plays and out gained Sparty 459-297. Tyrell Sutton out rushed Javon Ringer 139-124. C.J. Bacher threw 61 passes, including 2 ints. Northwestern fumbled a kickoff that led to a 16 yard FG drive. Bacher then threw his first INT, leading to a 34 yard TD drive for MSU. Northwestern threatened to close the gap to 17-14 late in the first half, but Bacher threw an INT in the endzone. MSU then went on an 80 yard TD drive making it a 24-7 halftime score. The two played to a 13-13 second half with Northwestern ending the game on the MSU 6 yard line.

>Miami FL held UCF to 78 total yards.

>Stanford went to QB Alex Loukas for their final drive. He led them on a 62 yard TD drive for the 24-23 upset. He ran five times for 39 yards. Loukas won the tennis doubles state title for Deerfield HS (IL). He chose Stanford over Purdue.

>There were two big 4th quarters in the MAC that led to come back wins. Bowling Green scored 23 fourth quarter points for a 37-33 win over Akron. Western Michigan scored 22 fourth quarter points to beat Buffalo 34-28 in OT.

>True freshman quarterback Robert Griffin went 21 for 24 for 278 yards in beating Iowa State 38-10.

>Very uncharacteristically, Hawaii ran for 177 yards on 40 carries in beating Louisiana Tech 24-14.

Reaction to the Tony Franklin Firing

Let's be very clear about two things. Auburn's offense this season has been very bad and Tony Franklin was not allowed to install his full system. While the Tigers have run the spread, it is far from being the same offense that Franklin ran at Troy. Find an excellent explanation here.

For whatever reason, Tuberville did not allow Franklin to install his offense. The two obviously couldn't coexist and therefore the move will likely benefit both parties. Just what the source of consternation was will be the subject of many rumors for the coming weeks and maybe years.

One theory is that Franklin may have some personality issues. He was effectively blackballed after his Kentucky tenure due to his willingness to divulge information regarding recruiting violation that occurred while he was there. This is the second time that an off the field conflict has left Franklin in an awkward situation. That being said, greater coincidences have definitely occurred.

Franklin may have been in a very difficult situation. He wasn't able to bring in any of his own assistants and Tuberville hasn't always gotten along with everybody. Also, the huge amounts of press he garnished over the offseason could have rubbed his fellow coaches the wrong way.

Moving forward, given Franklin's lack of opportunity in install his full system, the jury is still out on how good of a coordinator he is. What will his next move be? Will he find a situation that allows for him to put in his full offense and find success? Or will he continue to be hampered by off the field conflicts?

Ripper Ramblings

Big 12 North. The division hit rock bottom when the regular season ended with Colorado being trounced 70-3 by Texas in the 2005 Big 12 Championship Game. It concluded a season that saw the North go 7-11 against their South Division counterparts. Only one team finished ranked, Nebraska at 24. It was six mediocre teams. Nebraska finished with the best record at 8-4 and Kansas State finished with the worst record at 5-6, mainly due to mediocrity cannibalizing itself. Flash forward to 2008 and only two coaches remain, Missouri's Gary Pinkel and Kansas' Mark Mangino. New blood has breathed life into the Division with the hiring of Dan Hawkins, Ron Prince, Bo Pelini, and Gene Chizik. Gunslinging QBs are abound in Chase Daniels, Josh Freeman, Todd Reesing, and Cody Hawkins. Four teams are currently undefeated. What a difference three years can make.

Washington. Ty Willingham's days are obviously numbered. Perhaps the most intriguing rumor has Washington throwing a lot of cash to bring Gary Pinkel back to Seattle to restore the once proud program. Pinkel spent 12 years as a Washington assistant. Historically, Washington has been the best challenger to USC in the Pac 10. Hiring Pinkel would likely make that be the case again.

Bowling? Not so easy. In this day and age where 68 teams will play in bowls, many people like to diminish the accomplishment that qualifying for a bowl is. Well, take a look at the list of schools that are in danger of not qualifying for a bowl and it should make programs like Boston College, Purdue, Georgia Tech, and Texas Tech happy that they have been going to bowls regularly. All of these historically top tier programs could end up home for the holidays: Florida State, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Michigan, UCLA, Washington, and Arkansas.

Passing in the night. One interesting game this weekend that will be little more than just a score at the bottom of the screen during the Alabama/Georgia game is Duke/Virginia. A year ago Duke won one game and Virginia played in the Gator Bowl. In under a year Duke has risen to being a 7 point favorite over the Wahoos and both programs appear to be headed in absolutely opposite directions.

Clock Rules. Much of the discussions concerning the new clock rules have been flawed. While its accurate that the number of plays is slightly down due to new clock rules, the wrong rule is getting blamed. Most people point to the new 40 second play clock as the reason for the drop in plays. However, that rule has little impact on the length of game, but simply provides more consistency in how a game is time. In my mind an improvement. The reason for the decrease in the number of plays has everything to do with the fact that the game clock now restarts after out-of-bounds plays once the ball is whistled ready for play.

Ranking the Conferences Week 4

After 4 weeks of football, and the majority of the out of conference season under our belt, it's beginning to become clear who the top conferences are in college football this season.  Here we'll rank the conferences up through the first 4 weeks.

1. Big 12........Surprise, surprise.  The idea that the Big 12 and not the SEC could be the dominant conference this season is just starting to gain momentum.  The conference as a whole has posted a 33-8 record in out of conference play.  The most notable victories for the conference include Colorado's overtime victory over West Virginia last Thursday, Missouri's season opening victory over Illinois, and Oklahoma humbling both Washington and Cincinnati this season.  The conference's top 3 teams (Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas) is superior to the top 3 of any other conference.  

Kansas suffered a rough loss at the hands of South Florida on the road earlier in the season, but they are still a force in the national picture.  Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, though unproven, continue to put up huge offensive numbers and could be very good.  To give a good indication on how far the Big 12 has come this season you need not look further than the Baylor Bears.  The notorious doormat of the conference beat up on the Pac 10's worst team Washington State by 28 points and took reigning Big East champion, UCONN, to the wire in Storrs just last weekend.  It hasn't been all roses however for the conference as Texas A&M has looked pathetic under Mike Sherman, and Kansas State looked very bad on the road vs Louisville last week.

2.  SEC....... The conference remains dominant, but they have had games that lead others to believe that they aren't necessarily a notch above the rest of the college football world.  The conference has posted a 25-4 record out of conference with Mississippi State accounting for half the conference's losses.  The most impressive out of conference performances put on display thus far have been the opening weekend coming out party for Nick Saban's Tide when they held Clemson to zero yards rushing in a 34-10 blowout and last weekend's Georgia thrashing over Arizona State in the desert.  As in most SEC seasons it remains a major crap shoot as to what teams will hold up for the course of the season.  As of now Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and LSU seem to be the class of the conference.  

Beyond that, many programs have looked shaky.  Tennessee dropped their opening weekend game to a bad UCLA team.  The following game UCLA got blown out by BYU in Provo 59-0.  Auburn has been overly disappointing this season following last week's loss to LSU.  Perhaps the biggest question mark about the conference comes from the 3-2 Auburn victory over Mississippi State.  At first many SEC fans can write that final off to "the depth of the SEC". The following week, however, Mississippi State got throttled by Georgia Tech from the ACC 38-7.  Despite the question marks, the SEC remains a very powerful conference due it's competitive advantage in coaches.

3.  Big 10........ After the top two conferences there's a significant drop off before the 3rd best conference, the Big 10.  The conference has been fortunate to dodge the embarrassing loss that in recent years has plagued them.  Schools such as Minnesota and Northwestern have remained unbeaten unlike the year before where they were knocked off by North Dakota State and Duke respectively.  So far the Big 10 is 31-8 on the year.  The only teams to beat the Big 10, however has been: Pitt, Cal, USC, Missouri, Oregon, Ball State, Utah, and Notre Dame.  With the exception of Notre Dame all these teams are very competitive and none of the losses were upsets with the exception of the two Michigan losses (Utah, ND).   

Penn State looks like they could be playing for the national championship this season and Wisconsin looks very strong thus far.  The perennial powerhouses have dipped with Ohio State getting blown out by USC, and Michigan feeling the pains of a coaching transition.

4.  Mountain West.........  The conference is refusing to be ignored this season.  It has three teams in the top 25 which is one less than the ACC, Big East, and Pac 10 combined.  BYU, Utah, and TCU all have the ability to be BCS busters this season.  BYU has shown to be the cream of the crop after their 59-0 annihilation of UCLA after the Bruins knocked off Tennessee their previous game.  Utah posted the most impressive victory of the season when they knocked off Michigan in the Big House week 1.  TCU has outscored opponents (Stanford, S.A. Austin, SMU, N. Mexico)  172- 31.  They will be tested this weekend when they square off against Oklahoma in Norman.  

The surprise of the conference however has been UNLV who has knocked off Arizona State and Iowa State both from BCS conferences.  It will be a shame if the conference doesn't get a team a BCS at large bid even if they have a loss on their record.

5. ACC..........  At first it seemed the conference would be battling the Big East for the worst BCS conference, but they have slowly but surely improved over the course of the past couple weeks.  The crown jewel of the conference has been Wake Forest who is 3-0 and has knocked off Mississippi, Baylor, and Florida State to start the season.  Wake Forest, however, is the only unbeaten school in the conference.  

Clemson was humiliated by Alabama on neutral soil in the first week and has played nobody significant since.  Maryland nearly lost to Deleware and then got knocked off by Middle Tennessee State the following week before pulling a shocking upset over Cal in week 3.  The high point of the conference thus far has been the improvement of Georgia Tech, Miami, and Duke through 4 weeks.  Georgia Tech could easily be sitting undefeated if it weren't for their loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburgh.  The Hokies had an embarrassing opening week loss to ECU, but will get a chance to redeem themselves when they square off with Nebraska in Lincoln on Saturday.

6. Pac 10.........  The Pac 10 looked very strong to start the season, but has faltered ever since.  The one exception to this is USC who has steamrolled Virginia and Ohio State in their first 2 games of the season.  They should be playing for a national title assuming they don't lose to Stanford again.  Cal seemed to be destroying the competition before they dropped a humiliating game to Maryland. Oregon State got shellacked by Penn State in Happy Valley45-14. 

Oregon has fallen on hard luck with the loss of their first, second, and third string quarterbacks.   Their injuries finally caught up to them when Boise State knocked off the Ducks in Eugene last weekend.  The most disappointing team in the conference thus far has been Arizona State who not only got destroyed by Georgia last weekend, but also dropped a game to UNLV the previous week.  

7. Big East........... For the years following the departure of Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Miami from the conference, the Big East remained surprisingly competitive.  Fueled by quality coaching, the Big East quietly knocked off major opponents and remained one of the stronger conferences in the nation.  Their time may now be up.  Almost every team from the conference looks worse this year than in 2008.  The departure of Rich Rodriguez has shown it's immediate effects on West Virginia as they have dropped back to back games to ECU and Colorado.  This was the year Pittsburgh was supposed to finally be the top team in the conference, but they lost their opener to Bowling Green from the MAC.  

Rutger's love affair with Greg Schiano may be waning as the Scarlet Knights have started the year 0-3 with losses to Fresno State, North Carolina, and Navy.  Syracuse is the worst BCS conference team in America.  They're 1-3 with losses to Akron, Penn State, and Northwestern and their only victory coming against Northeastern.  The two undefeated teams in the conference have looked shaky at best with UCONN almost losing to Temple and Baylor in their 4-0 start and South Florida needing overtime to beat UCF.  To the Bulls credit they did knock off a strong Kansas team at home, and will more than likely be the Big East's champ.

CFB Week 4 Hangover

Another fantastic weekend of college football is in the books, and there's a lot to digest.

• There are 2 definite front runners for the Heisman Trophy: Knowshon Moreno and Chase Daniel. Moreno is hands down the best running back in college football, and he shows up in the big games. Daniel has put up staggering numbers on a weekly basis, but he's yet to dive into the Big 12 schedule. The key to both their campaigns will ultimately be the success of their teams.
  
• Phil Fulmer's seat is getting toasty hot. Tennessee was embarrassed on the national stage when they were upset by a bad UCLA team, and Fulmer's inability to solve Florida may be the nail in the coffin. Tennessee is a team with all the talent in the world, but has consistently underperformed in recent years.
  
• Penn State is a team to be reckoned with. The spread HD is destroying the competition. They'll have by far their biggest teast of the year when Illinois comes to Happy Valley this weekend. As of now Penn State seems to be the class of the Big 10.
• Finally it would seem that West Virginia fans are getting the message that the rest of the college football world has been telling them for a long time: "Bill Stewart was a bad hire." Stewart legitimately lost that game for West Virginia on Thursday. His clock management on the final drive cost the Mountaineers any legitimate hope of a final scoring opportunity before halftime. Rich Rodriguez is what made West Virginia tick, Stewart was simply a coach on his staff.
• What does Georgia Tech's 38-7 blowout of Mississippi State say about the SEC? Certainly it doesn't say much about last week's 3-2 Auburn win over Mississippi State.
• It's becoming more and more clear that the downfall of the Big East is already underway. Rodriguez's departure has hit West Viriginia faster than anticipated, Rutgers has now lost to Fresno State and Navy, UCONN was taken to the wire at home by arguably the worst team in the Big 12, and Pittsburgh squeaked out a win against a middle of the road in the Big 10 Iowa team.