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20. A BMOC Soapbox Moment
News: The Black Coaches Association announces it will encourage recruits not to sign with programs that fail to seriously consider minorities in their head coaching searches. Reaction: This is part of the BCA's big plan? This? The solution isn't to put players in the middle of this mess. Players can read. There's 117 Division I-A head coaching jobs. There's four African-American head coaches. What's there to figure out? In theory, the BCA is hoping to embarrass and sort of blacklist schools into hiring minorities. But how exactly do you determine to what degree of seriousness a program considered an African-American candidate? And even if you can kind of prove a program didn't do enough, does the BCA seriously think a high school kid who, say grew up wanting to play for Alabama, would ditch the Tide because of a political process? Certainly the BCA can do better than this. Can't it?
19. War Eagle
After a tag-team situation earlier in the season, Tuberville has handed the keys to Auburn's offense to sophomore quarterback Jason Campbell. Campbell still isn't completely comfortable with Bobby Petrino's system, but the Tiger coaches love his upside and his teammates love his attitude. With the upset win against LSU, Auburn is back in the SEC West race. It travels to Tuberville's former employer, Ole Miss, this week, gets a gimme against Louisiana-Monroe, faces Georgia at home, then finishes up with the annual Iron Bowl, this time at Alabama. And with 17 commitments, Tuberville is apparently on his way to another solid recruiting year.
18. Chucky Power However it shakes out, NC State will be a BCS factor in seasons to come. Here's why: as Wolfpack players made their way from to visiting locker room to the charter bus, several NC State assistant coaches were already leaving on recruiting trips. Several more left from Raleigh later Friday morning, and head coach Chuck Amato was scheduled to watch recruits Friday night. When you're undefeated and you've just crushed Clemson on ESPN, you take advantage of every possible recruiting opportunity. Amato and his staff are selling -- selling NC State's momentum, its TV exposure, its record, its facilities, its contention that Florida State is no longer the center of the ACC football universe. Amato is a coffee-for-closers kind of guy. He recruited player-rich south Florida for years as a member of Bobby Bowden's FSU staff. Name a high school in that part of the country, and Amato, in that raspy voice of his, can probably sing the team's fight song. He made Florida a recruiting priority when he got the NC State job in 2000 and now look at the roster: at season's beginning there were 22 Florida players in Wolfpack uniforms. Before he accepted NC State's offer, Amato negotiated a deal that allowed him to spend $1 million on assistant coaches. His first call went to West Virginia assistant John "Doc" Holliday, who spent more time in Florida than Jeb Bush. "If he can get them to Morgantown," Amato told me at the time, "he can get them to North Carolina State. We have to recruit Florida -- period, and we are. We have to have success there." Amato is no dummy. There are at least 200 legitimate Division I-A prospects available each year in Florida. North Carolina has its share of top-shelf recruits (hello, T.A. McLendon of Albemarle), but nothing like the Sunshine State. But with each win, with each moment spent on national TV, it gets a little easier for Amato and Holliday to recruit locally, regionally and even nationally. Sure, beating out FSU, Florida and Miami for a marquee kid is a stretch ("They're all selling Mercedes," he once said.), but no longer is it an impossibility. NC State has gone from family sedan to luxury model. A Mercedes? Not yet, but it's still nicely equipped. And few staffs commit more time to a recruiting plan than Amato and his assistants. Holliday told me the Wolfpack aspired to be Florida State one day. One day is on its way. Bowden himself says that few people know FSU's secrets better than Amato. Bowden beat Amato in 2000, but lost to him in Tallahassee last season. Chances are the Nov. 23 meeting between the two will determine the ACC winner and BCS entry.
17. Chucky Power -- Part II
And say what you want about the ultra-efficient Philip Rivers, but as true freshman McLendon and senior free safety Terrence Holt go, so does NC State. McLendon already has 14 touchdowns and only needs three more to break the single-season school record set in 1972, and six more to break the ACC record. He's rushed for 813 yards and done some of it wearing a cast to protect his a broken bone in his right wrist. Meanwhile, Holt does everything but conduct the NC State band at halftime. If you're an opposing special teams coach, you don't watch a frame of film without first identifying Holt. Thursday evening's win at Clemson began to answer some of the lingering questions about an NC State team that had previously beaten two I-AA programs and six other I-A programs with a combined 17-29 record entering this past weekend's play. Still left: Georgia Tech, at Maryland, at Virginia, FSU.
16. Rumor Of The Week "I haven't been contacted by any officials," said Strock, once he quit laughing. In addition, Strock says he has never met or spoken with Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley. Plus, Strock is pretty busy building FIU's program from scratch. If all goes as planned, Strock's Division I-AA program will probably declare its intentions to bump up to D I-A in 2004 and begin playing a full big boys schedule in 2006. The conventional wisdom has FIU joining the Sun Belt Conference. "They'd like to have us right away," Strock said. In the meantime, Strock continues to do all the usual construction work associated with going from no program, to D I-AA, to D I-A: fund raising, recruiting, coaching and, in this case, using South Florida and UCF as case studies. The Bulls needed five years to become a I-A program, while Central Florida went from Division III status in 1979, to D II in 1982, to I-AA in 1990, to I-A in 1996.
15. Instant Replay "It would be doable," said SEC supervisor of officials Bobby Gaston. Here's why:
"Even then, it's not failsafe," said Dave Parry, the Big Ten supervisor of officials. Parry said the Big Ten has toyed with the idea of instant replay in the past, but nothing serious was discussed. "We just flirted with a couple of different notions," Parry said. But given the difficulties of the league's crews this season, the flirting might be resumed at year's end. By the way, a yet-to-be-determined Big East crew is scheduled to officiate the Fiesta Bowl. But if Big East members Miami or Virginia Tech advance to the BCS Championship, the Big East crew would be replaced by a Big 12 crew. But if Oklahoma were to face Miami or Virginia Tech, the Big 12 crew would have to take a pass, too. Then a crew would have to be chosen from the Pac-10, SEC, Big Ten or ACC.
14. Police Blotter Oct. 5 -- The Razorbacks lose at Tennessee, 41-38, in six overtimes, the second-longest game in Division I-A history. Oct. 12 -- The Razorbacks dominate Auburn at Auburn, 38-17. Oct. 19 -- The Razorbacks lose at home to Kentucky, 29-17. Oct. 22 -- Team captain Jermaine Brooks is arrested after Fayetteville police find 7½ pounds of marijuana in his off-campus apartment. They also discover several handguns, rifles and $16,841 in cash, which probably didn't come from a Pell Grant. Charged with assorted felonies relating to alleged drug possession and distribution, Brooks is kicked off the Arkansas team the next day by coach Houston Nutt. "No one can believe it," Nutt told reporters. "(Fellow defensive lineman) Raymond House is probably the closest player to him on the team and he was just in shock. He had no idea. Jermaine has walked across the stage, he's won games for us. He has talked to kids about not using drugs. That's why we can't believe it." You'd think the Razorbacks would be an emotional mess. Instead, they beat Ole Miss, 48-28.
13. Players Of The Week Nugent, who still hasn't missed a field goal this season (18-of-18), had two against Penn State. Groom forced the Nittany Lions to start many of their drives deep in their own territory. In a close game like this one, Nugent and Groom were a key reason why the Buckeyes won, 13-7.
An interception return for a touchdown. Punt returns. A glove in man-to-man coverage. Out of necessity, Gamble has become a defensive force for the Buckeyes.
Runners-up Palmer throws five TDs and complete 31-of-42 passes for 448 yards in huge win at Oregon.
His numbers weren't mind boggling (18-of-29 for 222 yards and three TDs), but Banks made the big plays in the rout at Michigan.
A career-high 462 passing yards and two TDs in fourth-quarter comeback win at Fresno.
Leads Bulldogs (without three offensive starters) to win at Kentucky with four TDs.
Palmer said the 6-5 true freshman would create major matchup problems against Oregon's dinky cornerbacks. Williams finished with 13 catches for 226 yards and two touchdowns. It was the third-highest receiving total in Trojans history.
A 30-carry, 199-yard, two-TD day in win against Iowa State.
Started slow, but finished strong in win against West Virginia: a career-high 422 yards and two TDs.
From sixth on the depth chart to I-back heaven. Horne, a true freshman, had 128 yards and four TDs in the win at Texas A&M.
Career high 178 yards and 2 TDs in win over Clemson.
Honorable Mention
12. Coaches Of The Week Loses in OT to Florida, changes starting quarterbacks, beats then-No. 10 LSU.
Huskers recover nicely from upset at Oklahoma State with win against Aggies. His reward: NU faces Texas.
Loses star tailback Maurice Clarett after four carries. Buckeyes make like their coach and stay calm in win against Penn State.
Runners-up Irish were double-digit dogs to Florida State. Smart guys need to get CAT Scan. ND improves to 8-0 and should be 11-0 when it travels to USC Nov. 30.
We're not thrilled with Richt's decision to use two quarterbacks, but the Bulldogs beat Kentucky at Lexington despite the loss of three key offensive starters. UGA can clinch SEC East title with a win against Florida this Saturday.
Honorable Mention
11. Running Up The Hill
Beginning months ago at the ACC media days, Bowden semi-bristled at the idea of him being on the coaching hot seat. But facts are facts: the Tigers haven't beaten a team of consequence (losses to Georgia, FSU, Virginia and NC State), are no factor in this season's ACC race, and will need a decent finish to play in a low-to-mid-level bowl game. And by the way, Bowden is safe as a kitten. Barring a monumental meltdown or, say, an embezzlement indictment, Bowden isn't going anywhere. First of all, he has five years left on his contract after this season, and there's a costly buyout provision attached to the deal. So unless the more than 23,000 IPTAY contributors want to make a special donation to help underwrite a change, Bowden isn't going anywhere -- and he shouldn't. (Educational moment: IPTAY means, "I Pay Ten A Year," though the actual minimum these days is $100.) Aside from the financial ramifications of pink-slipping Bowden, new athletic director Terry Don Phillips understands that Clemson is on the wrong end of the ACC football facilities arms race. If programs such as FSU, North Carolina, Virginia, even Duke, are the U.S. of football facilities, then Clemson is Belgium. Fiscal responsibility is admirable -- and few big-time programs operated under a balanced checkbook like Clemson -- but there isn't a recruit in the world who wants to play at Death Valley because there's no debt load. It's borderline silly, but it helps -- a lot -- to have state-of-the-art facilities. And while Phillips won't say it publicly, the truth is Clemson needs some help there. That's one of the reasons Phillips was hired -- he helped raise funds and spearheaded about $65-million worth of new construction at Oklahoma State. Now he's in charge of a five-year, $82-million capital campaign to upgrade Clemson's athletic facilities. The short version is that Phillips thinks Bowden hasn't been able to compete on a level recruiting field. Plus, there's that pesky contract situation. This is Bowden's fourth season at Clemson. Should he be canned? Of course not. But Bowden knows how seating temperatures change at Death Valley. One day the whiz kid from Tulane. Four seasons later you're defending yourself. That's just how it is in Paw Country.
10. Nebraska Watch It's one thing to say Solich must go, but quite another to pull the financial trigger. According to the Associated Press, firing Solich this season would come with a $1.1-million-plus price tag. And if his nine assistants also are shown the Memorial Stadium door, it would cost another $1.9 million in severance pay. That's more than $3 million, which would buy a few John Deeres. Nobody really expects Nebraska to dump Solich after this season. The guy has been Mr. Positive despite the struggles. He recently showed his team a network news story on how trapped coal miners stayed together while facing great adversity. The message wasn't lost on the Cornhuskers. NU improved to 6-3 after the big comeback win against the Aggies in the fog at College Station. But no matter how the season shakes out, look for some offseason personnel discussion. Some staff changes? A near given. But to deep-six Solich a year after his team played in a national championship? Yikes. Everything is fair game these days at Nebraska, including the Cornhuskers' beloved option offense. In the glory days, Nebraska would Bogart you on the offensive line, then run you silly with an I-back or quarterback. Wide receivers were about as useful as a kegger at a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. When Eric Crouch won the Heisman last season, he was essentially NU's tailback. The temptation is to junk the option and move to a more balanced attack. Good luck. "Don't even think about throwing the ball 25 times a game there," says a top 25 coach. "You can't get the athletes. And the weather kills you up there. If they try to come in and throw the ball up there, they'll be changing coaches every three years." He's right. Nebraska has scuffled in recruiting its usual supply of big-uns and fast-uns. True freshman David Horne is a keeper at I-back, but Jammal Lord the answer at quarterback? Probably. Imagine trying to turn the battleship Cornhusker around and refitting it with a West Coast offense. Won't happen.
9. Rex-Speak Gee, do you think? Grossman has thrown for more interceptions (14) than touchdowns (13) this season. He has 2,039 passing yards, compared to 2,942 yards, 27 TDs and 10 interceptions after eight games a season ago. "When I think about what football smells like this season, I think about paint," he told Schad. "When you get sacked, you can smell the dirt and the grass and that white paint. That's probably what sticks with me more than anything else -- the paint. I've made too many bad decisions. I've smelled too much paint." And then came this little revelation: "Before the Tennessee game this season, (former Gators coach Steve Spurrier) left a message on my cell phone. It wasn't coaching or anything. He just said to make sure I go out and play relaxed, play the way I can play. That game was fun. I like to have fun." And finally. . . "I'd like to think that in five years, I'd be starting for a team in the NFL, familiar with a system, comfortable with where I am. To say where I'll be in one year is tougher."
8. Quote Of The Week
7. Stat Of The Week More compelling ND numbers:
6. Happy Ending A little more than two years ago the Penn State cornerback suffered a fractured cervical vertebra near the base of his neck while making a tackle in latter minutes of the game against the Buckeyes. Doctors gave him little chance of walking again, but six months later Taliaferro was doing exactly that. This is Taliaferro's second trip back to Columbus since the injury and subsequent spinal fusion surgery. He and his family returned last April to extend their thanks to medical personnel. "The people there basically saved my life," Taliaferro said earlier last week. "They helped me out a lot those first few days. It's going to be special to see them again." It was. Equally special was the standing ovation Taliaferro received from the Ohio State crowd. Taliaferro returned to Penn State as a full-time student last fall and now serves as a student assistant coach.
5. Soft Spot? The big BCS question: What happens when the Hurricanes face a team with a running game a real defense, such as Va Tech?
4. Shorties
3. Heisman Trophy Race
Moving up: NC State RB T.A. McLendon, USC QB Carson Palmer. On the radar: Washington State QB Jason Gesser, Penn State RB Larry Johnson, West Virginia RB Avon Cobourne, USC QB Carson Palmer, Arizona State DE Terrell Suggs. Slipping: Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett, Iowa State QB Seneca Wallace. Thanks for stopping by the booth: Texas Tech QB Kliff Kingsbury, NC State QB Philip Rivers, FSU RB Greg Jones, Kentucky QB Jared Lorenzen, Michigan State WR Charles Rogers, Cody Pickett.
2. Whatever Happened To. . . Is it a good thing when you're suspended from the team. . . and nobody notices? With or without Smoker, a preseason all-Big Ten pick, Michigan State lost again, dropping to 3-5.
One Hack's Weekly Elite Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He can be reached at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com. |
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