College Football Weekly Rant - Week 14

COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKLY RANT

JUST SAY NO TO ALABAMA

I believe that to get a spot in the College Football Playoff you should have to earn it.  How do you earn it?  You beat good football teams.  Anybody can go 12-0 or 11-1 or 10-2 and beat a bunch of nobodies in the process.  Honestly getting double digit wins is something to hang your hat on, but it doesn’t prove you are the best.  Penn State is 10-2 this season, they are 0-2 against teams in the Top 20.  Good season?  YES!  Should they be considered one of the best teams in the country? NO WAY!

This brings me to Alabama.  This is not your daddy’s Alabama football team, and this has not been your daddy’s SEC this season.  Alabama has been pushed around in the trenches in ways we haven’t see in Tuscaloosa since Nick Saban arrived.  The SEC is ridiculously top heavy this year too.  There are a lot of not good football teams playing in that conference this season.  Including Alabama, there are 3 teams of note in the SEC.  Alabama has only played 1 of the other two this season and was dominated.  This happened last week in the Iron Bowl against rival Auburn.  What exactly has Alabama done this season to earn that #5 ranking in the newest CFB Playoff Rankings? 

Consider this, Alabama’s best wins are against #17 (AP) LSU and #24 Mississippi State.  Another 11-win team has wins over the #16 and #23 teams in the AP and they are ranked 9 spots behind Alabama in the CFB Playoff Rankings.  Oh yea, and UCF has ZERO losses!

Do I think UCF should be in the playoff? No.  And neither should Alabama.  They had their chance to prove their worth last week and came up empty.

Every team that is playing this weekend has a chance to get that big win on their resume that they might be lacking.  They also have the opportunity to claim a conference championship.  Both things that Alabama does not have this year and won’t get, as they are sitting at home watching football this Saturday. 

The College Football Playoff Committee needs to do the right thing, JUST SAY NO TO ALABAMA!  

WHAT I LEARNED IN WEEK 13

*Upsets Makes College Football Great.  Pitt beats an undefeated Miami team to shake up the rankings almost 10 years to the week of them doing the same thing to #2 West Virginia.  Both wins came in down years for Pitt, 4-7 going into both games., and both wins knocking the #2 team in the country out of National Championship contention.  Miami has an opportunity to get themselves back in contention by beating Clemson this Saturday in the ACC Championship Game.  West Virginia didn’t have that luxury.

*Rivalry Games Make College Football Great Too.  Obviously, the Iron Bowl was the biggest rivalry game on the schedule, but The Game between Michigan and Ohio State was good too, until the Buckeyes realized that Michigan didn’t belong on the same field as them.  You also hated great annual rivalry games like Clean Old-Fashioned Hate, the actual name of the game between Georgia and Georgia Tech.  The Apple Cup, which helped decide the PAC 12 North.  All of these games and many more rivalry games are just one of the things that make college football and all of college sports so much fun.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK

*Quality Championship Games. We have a great lineup of games this weekend, beginning with the PAC12 Championship on Friday night.  It isn’t just limited to the Power 5 conference championships either.  Lane Kiffin, in his first year at FAU, has the Owls playing the C-USA Title game.  Scott Frost, in possibly his last game at UCF, is trying to remain perfect on the season and win the AAC Championship.  Oh yeah, the Saturday schedule of those Power 5 games is pretty great too.  All 4 games on Saturday will have major impact on the final CFB Playoff Rankings that will come out on Sunday.  I do wish that they would do a better job at staggering the starts of these games.  Both the Big XII (12:30p) and the SEC (4p) will have all eyes on them, while the ACC and Big Ten both kick off at 8p, meaning viewers will be giving their remote controls a workout Saturday night.  To me, playing those games at 12p, 3p, 6p, 8p makes a lot of sense, but whatever.  Enjoy the games!

*Rankings.  This year has been so unpredictable, why would the final week be any different?  I am now hoping the Top 4 just win on Saturday and they remain the same for the final rankings.  I don’t think Alabama or Ohio State deserve a shot in the playoff, so the best way to keep them both out is for the Top 4 to win.  That said, I will be very interested in seeing how the committee adjusts if there are upsets on Saturday.

COACHING CAROUSEL

WOW…  Where to begin?

As I sit hear writing this late Thursday night, I feel like no matter what I write in this section pertaining to Tennessee will be outdated by the time most of you read it, but at the same time it is something that must be discussed.  If that is the case, I will do my best to keep this updated.  Let’s get to the other schools that have hired coaches already first however.

UCLA Bruins – As I wrote last week, UCLA had 1 target in mind and it was the Big Fish in this year’s coaching pool, Chip Kelly.  The Bruins reeled him in.  This is a great hire by UCLA.  It brings Kelly back to the PAC 12 and to a program desperate for success.  In Southern California Kelly should have a field day recruiting the type of players he needs to run his exciting offense.  Being in LA it also gives the Bruins a Face of the Program, while also allowing Kelly to not have media barring down on him 100% of the time, like it would have been had he taken one of the SEC job.  This was a great job by UCLA and is a perfect fit for Kelly.  It won’t happen next year, because the roster is going to need turned over to fit his style, but Kelly will have the Bruins competing for the PAC12 South Title soon!

Florida Gators – The Gators lost out on the Chip Kelly Sweepstakes and chose not to wait around for Scott Frost and UCF to play this weekend in the AAC Championship Game, so they moved ahead and swiped away former Gator assistant and current Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen.  Mullen has been in the SEC for the past 13 seasons, starting at Florida when Urban Meyer took over the Gators job.  Mullen had been with Meyer at his two previous stops as well, Bowling Green and Utah.  Mullen was a good hire and a safe hire by the Gators, which might be exactly what they needed.  Florida has been looking for stability at the position since Meyer retired in 2010.  I still believe waiting for Scott Frost would have been a more dynamic hire and certainly one that would have re-energized the fan base.  I also think that Willie Taggart would have been a great hire at UF had Mullen decided to stay at Mississippi State.

Mississippi State Bulldogs – Speaking of… I love the hire by Mississippi State to replace Mullen with Joe Moorhead.  Moorhead, a Pittsburgh native, was the offensive coordinator at Penn State the last two seasons and the brains behind the dynamic offense that gave scoreboard operators nightmares.  Moorhead, like Mullen when he was hired at Miss St, is a younger up and coming offensive coordinator that was on a lot of AD’s radars this year.  Credit the Bulldogs for wasting no time and getting their man.  A bonus on Moorhead is that he even comes with a head coaching background.  Moorhead inherited a 1-11 Fordham team and in 4 years went 38-13, never having a losing season.

Oregon State Beavers – Scott Barnes at work ladies and gentlemen… It was believed last week that Barnes had lined Beau Baldwin lined up to be the next head coach at Oregon State.  Baldwin is the Associate Head Coach at Cal this year and was a widely successful Head Coach at both Central Washington and Eastern Washington, who he turned into an FCS powerhouse.  Baldwin has tons of recruiting ties in the Pacific-Northwest and was a slam dunk hire.  He was also recommended by the Reitmeyer Coaching Search Firm (check my twitter for other recommendations).  Then Scott Barnes happened.  Barnes, paying nearly $200K to the same search firm that helped him hire Kevin Stallings at Pitt, did a complete 180 as he backed away from Baldwin to hire Jonathan Smith.  I’ll give you a few minutes to Google him to find out who the heck he is… Smith is a former Beavers QB and was the OC at Washington, one most UW fans are thrilled to see go (sound like Stallings leaving Vanderbilt).  The only thing that makes me understand this hire is that Scott Barnes made it.

Mississippi Rebels – Without much room to bargain for any head coach the Rebels did the wise thing and named interim Head Coach Matt Luke the new Head Coach.  Luke is a Mississippi native and played for the Rebels.  He is well aware of the pending NCAA sanctions set to come down any day and is willing to be the guy to battle through the sanctions and try to rebuild Ole Miss.  By the way, Mississippi spent $137K for a search firm to tell them to hire the guy they already had!

Nebraska Cornhuskers – Although I don’t get it at all, it seems that Nebraska is going to get their Golden Boy Scott Frost to come home and attempt to save the dumpster fire known as Nebraska Football.  Nebraska was willing to do what Florida wasn’t, which was just simply WAIT.  Frost wasn’t doing anything before the AAC Championship Game and Nebraska was fine with that.  I think Frost could have (and still could) do much better than Nebraska, but this seems like a done deal after reports came out this week that Nebraska Legend Tom Osbourne called Frost and told him that it was time to come home.  This is a great hire by Nebraska, I will just never understand why Frost would take this job at this point in his career.

Texas A&M Aggies – Speaking of better jobs that Scott Frost is passing over for Nebraska… Texas A&M.  The Aggies are all-in right now on Jimbo Fisher and it looks like it might payoff. Reports are out there that they are willing to pay $75M over 10 years for the current FSU head coach.  The bad news is that if Fisher backs out and stays at Florida State, the Aggies could have a huge drop off in options. (UPDATE: Jimbo Fisher has resigned from FSU and will be the next head coach at Texas A&M.  We will include Florida State is next week’s addition of the carousel.)

Arizona State Sun Devils – All reports currently have the Sun Devils playing to win everygame next season and hiring former NFL head coach Herm Edwards.  Nothing shady about this possible hire, as the current ASU AD is the former agent of Edwards, hmm.  Edwards hasn’t coached college football since he was the DB Coach at San Jose State in 1989.  Another hire, if it happens, that makes no sense.

Arkansas Razorbacks – The Arkansas search has been oddly quiet for as long as it has been going on.  It seems like there is no one that actually knows what is going on there.  They are also in need of an AD.  Reports earlier in the week had big money boosters reaching out to agents and even directly to coaches, while the school, with their interim AD conduct their own search.  If Tennessee wasn’t the mess that it is, I have a feeling a lot more people would be talking about the bizarre search going on at Arkansas.

Tennessee Volunteers – AND HERE IT IS…  The worst coaching search in the history of all coaching searches… The 2017 Tennessee Volunteers.
We all laughed when they thought Jon Gruden was going to Knoxville and when he turned them down, it was expected.  What wasn’t expected was the list of other candidates they would miss on.  Here is the complete list (as of Thursday Night).
Jon Gruden
Dan Mullen
Scott Frost
Greg Schiano (a whole other disaster)
Jeff Brohm
David Cutcliffe
Jim Bob Cooter (no, I did not make up that name just to see if you were paying attention. He is a former Vol and current OC with the Detroit Lions.)
Mike Gundy
Dave Doeren
Kevin Sumlin
Lane Kiffin (not officially pursued, but he has made it clear via social media that he has no interest and is actually enjoying the mess going on in Knoxville.)
Tennessee never even considered the coaches that were recommended by the Reitmeyer Coaching Search Firm, although none of the coaches I mentioned (James Franklin, Justin Fuentes & Dana Holgerson) would go near that mess at this point.   Who knows where Tennessee turns next.  (UPDATE:  As if this couldn’t get any worse, Tennessee has fired their AD John Currie, who had been on the job for 8 months.  This was apparently done while Currie was meeting with Mike Leach about the position.  And to top it off, reports have former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer sabotaging the entire coaching search from the start because he wants the AD job.  WOW!!!) (UPDATE #2: It worked… Phil Fulmer is the new AD at Tennessee, unreal!)

PLAYOFF PICKS

I now release my RantRankings the day prior to the CFB Playoff selection releasing their updated rankings.  Be sure to check that out.

That is all this week.  Make sure the refrigerator is stocked, the spare remote-control batteries are nearby and enjoy the games!

Rant Rankings 11-27-17

Only 1 week remaining until the real, official, important rankings come out. Until then however, I’ll continue to act like mine actually matter!

1. Oklahoma Sooners (11-1) Oklahoma has been dominant recently.  They control their own destiny going into the Big XII Championship Game vs TCU (12:30, FOX), but in all honesty, I think the Sooners are deserving of a Top 4 Ranking even if they lose Saturday afternoon.

2. Clemson Tigers (11-1) Clemson, like Oklahoma can still get into the playoff even with a loss in the ACC Championship Game to Miami (8pm, ABC).  Clemson has conference wins over Virginia Tech and Louisville and that week 2 win over Auburn keeps looking better and better.

3. Auburn Tigers (10-2) Auburn is on a roll right now.  They are healthy and everything is clicking for their offense.  They dominated Alabama in the trenches last week, something that is not said very often when talking about the Crimson Tide.  Auburn will have to beat Georgia (4pm, CBS) for the 2^nd time in 4 weeks if they want into the playoff, otherwise that midseason loss to LSU, which they blew a 20-0 lead could come back to haunt them.

4. Georgia Bulldogs (11-1) Georgia gets Auburn in their backyard this time, in Atlanta.  If the Bulldogs can avenge their only loss of the season, they will make their 1^st appearance in the College Football Playoff.

5. Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1) It actually pains me to put Alabama this high because I don’t think they are actually this good.  They have been vulnerable in the trenches all year and finally played a team that could expose them on Saturday.  Alabama needs help to get into the CFB Playoff, but they are still very much alive.  I don’t like the fact that a team can go without winning their division, let alone conference and make the playoff, but Ohio State set that precedent last year.  Then again, Ohio State had some very nice resume wins last year, Alabama doesn’t.

6. Miami Hurricanes (11-1) As much as I enjoyed it, Miami losing to Pitt last week really screwed things up.  Not only does it really hurt the chances of the ACC getting two teams into the CFB Playoff (still possible, but not likely), but it also opens to door for teams like Ohio State and Alabama to get in.  Neither in my mind is deserving.

7. Wisconsin Badgers (12-0) All the Badgers have done is win every game on their schedule.  It may have been an awful schedule, but they are the lone undefeated Power 5 football team with 1 week left before the playoff committee announces their 4 teams.  If Wisconsin beats Ohio State (8pm, FOX) in the Big Ten Championship Game, it will give them a grand total of 1 impressive win, but that will be enough.

8. TCU Horned Frogs (10-2) I think that TCU is the most underrated team in playoff discussion.  The Horned Frogs play defense in the Big XII.  That alone should make them stand out, but instead people point out that they don’t have a dynamic offense like the rest of their conference.  The other thing that hurts TCU is that they don’t have a dynamic win either.  Their road win against Oklahoma State looked a lot better in September, when it happened, then it does today. Beating OU on Saturday would be a nice feather in their cap however.

9. Central Florida Knights (11-0) The Knights lead the nation in scoring and have only Memphis (NOON, ABC) keeping them from an undefeated regular season.  UCF already beat the Tigers 40-13 this season and will look to duplicate that result on Saturday.

10. Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) Ohio State is the odds on favorite to win the Big Ten (6-6/5 point favorite in Vegas vs Wisconsin), but by no means does that mean they should get into the CFB Playoff.  You have to be held accountable for your losses and the Buckeyes have 2 big ones.  They lost by 15 at home to Oklahoma, their only possible resume-building game in the non-conference portion of their schedule.  Then they went on the road THIS MONTH and lost by 31 to an Iowa team that finished with a losing record in the Big Ten this season.  I’m sorry, but I cannot overlook that loss in particular when selecting my Top 4 teams.

11. USC Trojans (10-2) The schedule has hurt USC repeatedly this season.  Not only did they not get a BYE week until the very last week of the season, they also missed Washington and Oregon on their PAC 12 schedule this season, giving them less of a chance to accrue resume wins.  Now they are looking at a 2^nd game against Stanford (8pm FRI, ESPN) in the PAC 12 Championship game instead of possibly revenging a loss to Washington State, a loss that once again, you could blame on the schedule.  USC played Washington State on a short week as the 2^nd part of 2 straight road games.  Call it an excuse if you want, but someone making the PAC12 schedule seems to have had it out for USC this season.

12. Stanford Cardinal (9-3) Stanford is out of the playoff discussion (think they would like that Week 3 loss to San Diego State back right now), however they could play spoiler for a 2^nd straight week.  USC has a very slim chance at the playoff already, but a Stanford win would completely eliminate that.  Stanford’s win over Notre Dame, eliminated whatever small hope the Irish had at the playoff.

13. Washington Huskies (10-2) A loss to Stanford 3 weeks ago is the only thing keeping Washington out of the playoff conversation.  Had that game gone differently, it would be the 1-loss Huskies taking on USC on Friday night with a chance to go back to the CFB Playoff. 

14. Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2) Penn State lost to the good teams on their schedule and beat the bad ones.  That isn’t a bad thing.  There are a lot of teams in the country that wish they had beaten all the bad teams on their schedule.  The problem with this is that Penn State played a lot of bad teams.  I can’t think of a 10-2 team in recent history that was an average as Penn State is this season. 

15. Oklahoma State (9-3) This was supposed to be the year for Oklahoma State.  Mason Rudolph and James Washington both decided to come back and play their senior years together to finally win the Big XII.  Instead, they didn’t even make the conference championship game.  There can be no other way to describe this season for the Cowboys than saying it was a disappointment.

16. LSU Tigers (9-3) LSU started the season out terribly.  The Tigers got blown out by Mississippi State, and then barely beat Syracuse at home, before losing to Troy.  LSU has rattled off 6 of 7 since that point, including a win over Auburn.

17. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-3) Notre Dame had been living off a close loss to Georgia for the 1^st portion of the season, then the Irish came out in back to back weeks and punch USC and NC State in the mouth, with dominating wins.  Unfortunately Miami then did the mouth punching and the Irish haven’t been the same since.  They struggled with Navy at home, then got run over by Stanford last week, knocking them out of playoff talk.

18. Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3)

19. Northwestern Wildcats (9-3) Maybe it was their schedule or maybe it just finally clicked for the 2017 Wildcats, but after losing 3 of their first 5 games, Northwestern has been on a tear.  Winners of 7 straight, Northwestern looks destined for a New Year’s Day Bowl.

19. Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3) November has not been kind to the Hokies this season.  A 2-2 mark, but more importantly the offense went into hibernation.  When you average 15 points in 2 wins, you should consider yourself lucky.

20. Michigan State Spartans (9-3) When Sparty lost to Notre Dame 38-18 in Week 4, I’m sure people were thinking about last season’s 3-9 season all over again.  They righted the ship however, winning 4 in a row before a 3OT road loss to Northwestern.  I’m sure the folks of East Lansing never saw a 9-3 season coming after that ND game.

21. Fresno State Bulldogs (9-3) Talk about a turnaround.  Fresno State didn’t beat an FCS opponent last year.  This year their only losses are to two teams ranked above them (Alabama and Washington on the road) and a conference game vs UNLV.  Fresno St beat Boise State in the season finale on Saturday, but will have to beat them again in the MW Championship Game Saturday night (7:45, ESPN) to claim the conference title.

22. South Florida Bulls (9-2) The Bulls played right with UCF on Saturday in the season finale, with the winner going to the AAC Championship Game, but just fell short.

23. Memphis Tigers (10-1) Memphis will look to avenge their lone loss of the season, a 40-13 blowout to UCF, on Saturday.  If they can, they might also find themselves in a New Year’s 6 Bowl Game.

24. Washington State Cougars (9-3) I went all in with Washington State and got burned.  The Cougars had everything in front of them and even had a chance to sneak into the playoff.  All they had to do was win the Apple Cup.  Instead they laid an egg and Washington won for the 5^th straight season.