Ten thoughts that are racing to the top of my head as we're now less than 100 days until college football kicks off?
Sure, why not? Let's not waste time and get started.
1) Let's get Ohio State out of the way early. There's no need to tell the story again, so I won't. I'll just get to the point.
There needs to be a thorough cleaning of ship in Columbus. I'm not talking about just Jim Tressel, who finally resigned after delaying the inevitable, or Terrelle Pryor, who as I am writing this announced his departure from Buckeye Country. OSU President Gordon Gee has to get the pink slip and take embattled AD Gene Smith with him.
Who can forget Gee's ludicrous remark during a press conference when he said he hoped Tressel "wouldn't fire him." Really, Mr. Gee? There hasn't been a more clueless group of administrators seen since ESPN's 30 For 30 special "Pony Express." From the top down, the NCAA couldn't find a more obvious case of lack of institutional control if they tried. I thought Bruce Pearl's disastrous fall at Tennessee was bad. Ohio State has clearly shown that, for once, fair and square, they beat the SEC at something, and then some.
Think Pat Haden at USC isn't watching carefully what the NCAA does? If Ohio State gets the same slap on the wrist that Michigan's basketball program got for the Fab Four days, heads will roll in Los Angeles, among other parts of the country.
1a) If you thought "Legends" and "Leaders" were pompous division choices for the Big 10, after what has already gone down at Ohio State, now how do you feel?
2) I have to admit that I'm somewhat surprised with all the hype for Texas A&M this spring. Apparently, either the Cotton Bowl is a distant memory to many in the media, or LSU is getting even more hype just for manhandling A&M the way they did. While I have no doubts that Texas A&M will be a pretty good team in 2011, I'm still a bit skeptical at placing them among the 10 best teams in the country. Then again, despite all the skepticism, I look at their schedule and think they could easily go 10-2, losing to Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Maybe there's a BCS bowl invite yet for Aggieland. But, should the Aggies slip and lose to Missouri and get shocked by Baylor, going 8-4, that wouldn't surprise me either. There's really not a team in the country that is tougher to figure out than the Aggies.
3) Speaking of the Aggies, while Oklahoma/Texas will always have a special place in college football lore, the showdown between Arkansas and Texas A&M looms larger this year in Big D. Unless Texas surges back to prominence in a big way this season, the Sooners and Longhorns would have to take a back seat to the Southwest Classic, as the Razorbacks and Aggies both have high BCS aspirations heading into this season.
4) Georgia's Mark Richt needs to beat Boise State more than the Broncos need to beat UGA. Therefore, on a really early hunch, I'm taking the Bulldogs in the Georgia Dome to quickly snuff out any talk about Boise busting the BCS this year. However, I think Boise shouldn't have to play the role of potential BCS-buster every season, as I'll state later in this column.
5) It seems as though Mack Brown is going to retire soon at Texas. If you're looking for a potential candidate for the job, remember that Texas has a recent history of hiring coaches that have success at programs that aren't perennial winners. They plucked John Mackovic from Illinois, then grabbed Brown from North Carolina. Should history repeat himself, all signs point to Texas making a run at Mississippi State's Dan Mullen. It might seem a harder pull than you'd think; Mullen genuinely seems happy in Starkville. However, don't be surprised if the Horns place their first call his way.
6) The SEC's presidents and chancellors voted to lower football recruiting classes from 28 to 25 starting next season. While on the surface, this seems like a reasonable idea, I honestly think it matters none. If a recruit, or a recruit's parents, don't know by now that SEC teams tend to over-sign and that's part of the risk they take in committing, then who really is to blame?
7) I never wish for any player to get injured.
I really hope though that Andrew Luck doesn't get injured this year. While it seems absolutely crazy to turn down the chance of being the top pick in the NFL draft to return to Stanford (it seems less dumb each day the lockout continues though), a career-ending injury would be a heartbreaking end for a player with immense talent.
And yes, Luck is the undisputed, clear-cut Heisman front-runner. No doubts.
8) I doubt Urban Meyer goes to Ohio State next year. Really doubt it. He'd have to really have the coaching bug bad in him to consider it and even then, his family would have to be on board fully. The guy has nothing to prove in the ranks of college football; taking a long-term fat paycheck for a much less stressful gig at ESPN seems to be the better bet for the former Gator coach.
In fact, given the situation the Buckeyes are in, I wouldn't count on a big name coach coming into Columbus anytime soon.
9) Is it just me, or is it really odd that Notre Dame has been this much under the radar so far? Brian Kelly doesn't have all the pieces just yet to lift the Irish back up to the nation's elite, but if the eyes of the college football world stay off the Irish long enough, they'll come back to surprise many faster than most would expect.
10) As bad as the Big East has been in the BCS picture so far, I'm all for the Big East champ and the Mountain West champ meeting for a one-game playoff, held on the same day as the SEC and ACC title games, to decide for a slot in the BCS. Granted, the BCS complaints have died down somewhat with Utah's ascent to the Pac-12 and TCU's upcoming move to the Big East, but I think with Boise State around, the MWC has enough power right now to at least bring this up to gain some clout in the BCS picture.
Let's put it this way: UConn vs. Boise. UConn vs. Nevada. Who wins? Something tells me a large percentage has UConn losing at least one of those matchups.
The season's less than three months away. Get ready now!
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