NCAA Football '11-'12

[PDH]

Yeah, only a homer could think an extra $20 million/year would not suck.

If anyone is having second thoughts about Utah to the Pac-12, it is the Pac-12...not Utah.

Don't try and justify your outrageous and indefensible homerism.

[Valmy]

Don't try and justify your outrageous and indefensible homerism.

But seriously Utah and Colorado: clearly the PAC 12 hit the jack pot there.

[PDH]

The New Mexico Bowl Trophy - Woohoo!

[Berkut]

Yeah, only a homer could think an extra $20 million/year would not suck.

If anyone is having second thoughts about Utah to the Pac-12, it is the Pac-12...not Utah.

Don't try and justify your outrageous and indefensible homerism.

Did you see Arizona this year?

Outrageous Pac-12 homerism is all I have!

[Valmy]

Did you see Arizona this year?

Outrageous Pac-12 homerism is all I have!

You have Rich Rod now so all will be...better I guess.  I hope he recruits better than Stoops.

[grumbler]

Did you see Arizona this year?

Outrageous Pac-12 homerism is all I have!

You have Rich Rod now so all will be...better I guess.  I hope he recruits better than Stoops.

Unfortunately for 'Zona, RR is reassembling his Michigan coaching staff there.  The defensive backs coach who coached a squad that RR claimed "couldn't have been coached into competence if Vince Lombardi himself coached them" and went from 108th-best to 18th-best in the country with said coach's departure?  You got 'im.

The offensive line coach and strength coach are outstanding, though.

[dps]

Don't try and justify your outrageous and indefensible homerism.

But seriously Utah and Colorado: clearly the PAC 12 hit the jack pot there.

Utah went 4-5 in conference, so they may be "meh" but they clearly aren't punching above their weight.  Colorado is another story.

[Valmy]

Utah went 4-5 in conference, so they may be "meh" but they clearly aren't punching above their weight.  Colorado is another story.

Oh did they?  Good for them they must have come on strong at the end.  I know they started off with a bit of a losing streak.

[Berkut]

Utah went 4-5 in conference, so they may be "meh" but they clearly aren't punching above their weight.  Colorado is another story.

Oh did they?  Good for them they must have come on strong at the end.  I know they started off with a bit of a losing streak.

They played Arizona, which got their confidence back.

[Berkut]

Hey grumbler, did you read "Three and Out"?

It is getting a lot of positive press on the Arizona board, including plenty from a batch of Michigan fans who've shown up recently...

[Ed Anger]

The New Mexico Bowl Trophy - Woohoo!

I think I shat in one of those in Europe.....

[OttoVonBismarck]

Hey grumbler, did you read "Three and Out"?

It is getting a lot of positive press on the Arizona board, including plenty from a batch of Michigan fans who've shown up recently...

I've heard it's a good read as well, I've probably read 3-4 sports books in my entire life (all baseball oriented), and only then when they are massively recommended by lots of non-sports people. Most books about a coach or about a team are just boring/poorly written, but I've heard Three and Out might be worth a read.

Personally I think the importance of coaches is dramatically overrated at all levels of sports. All I can say is the importance of a coach is somewhere between "not important at all" and "as important as everyone thinks it is." That's an un-intellectual cop out, but the way I've seen it is lots of coaches (especially in the NFL) get dropped into horrible situations and get fired and you never hear about them much again, and a lot of the famous coaches get dropped into situations where a lot of other guys would have succeeded as well.

Let's take for example Butch Davis, he never won a national championship at Miami. After his final season, Larry Coker takes over in 2001 and immediately wins a national championship and the next season he returns to the national championship and loses a close game with OSU.

Was Coker a better coach than Butch Davis? How does the fact that Coker's teams only got steadily worse factor in? Was that just bad luck or a sign he genuinely lacked whatever ephemeral skills there are that allow a coach to build a good team.

Urban Meyer, he had success everywhere but in every place he went he left pretty quickly, what would Florida have looked like in year 20 of a 20 year Urban Meyer tenure? Would he have continued to win national championships or would he have ended up being quietly "retired" (with dignity out of respect for bringing home the big prize 2 times.)

His first NC was almost entirely with players he didn't recruit, and his second NC was almost entirely attributable to what can only be said to be good luck. Tim Tebow was one of the top QB prospects in the nation, he was heavily recruited all over the country, but he grew up in Florida and ended up going to the best football school in the state. That's not a sign of any magical recruiting ability, I'm pretty sure Tebow was going to play for the Florida Gators regardless of who was their head coach.

I'm not trying to single in on Meyer, but I genuinely wonder how do you evaluate someone with no real material record out there of long term success. With guys like Beamer, Bowden, Hayes, Schembechler, even Stoops, the consistently high level of player year in and year out, stretching into the decades, that to me "smooths out" the random "luck." Frank Beamer got lucky in his career with Michael Vick, but he's still had a high level of success at a school not known for being a football power before his arrival, and that success has been consistent for 2 decades. That to me says we know Frank Beamer really has the stuff that builds dynasties.

The fact that Urban Meyer has done things at his short tenure that his predecessors couldn't, and mostly with their players, tells me Meyer has something too, but it may not be the same skillset of a Bowden and a Beamer. It may not just be that Meyer has moved a lot, it may be that he has to move a lot because he lacks the ability or the particular skillset required to build a long term dynasty...

[grumbler]

Hey grumbler, did you read "Three and Out"?

It is getting a lot of positive press on the Arizona board, including plenty from a batch of Michigan fans who've shown up recently...

I've read so much about it at mgoblog.com that I'm not in a big hurry to read it.  Probably over Christmas.

The whole Practicegate thing apparently turns out to be a minor bookkeeping issue blown out of proportion by the Detroit News in search of a story.  It is irritating that it went so far, but that is mostly the fault of the GA who was supposed to keep the records and ended up lying to cover the fact that he didn't know how.  That's a bit of a black mark on RR, but not so bad as to warrant the sanctions handed down.

[jimmy olsen]

San Diego does have a pretty cool team name though, I'll give them that.

Racist.

How is that anymore racist than naming a team the Spartans or the Vikings?

[grumbler]

San Diego does have a pretty cool team name though, I'll give them that.

Racist.

How is that anymore racist than naming a team the Spartans or the Vikings?

No more racist, but as racist.