Five Thoughts:
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Week
4
Week Five Thoughts
The importance of
being Irish
By
Pete
Fiutak
1.
In 1982, Penn
State, fresh off a fantastic 27-24 win over Nebraska, went into
Birmingham and got flattened by a decent Alabama team 42-21. Over the
next six games, the Nittany Lions went on a run to go 10-1 before facing
unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Walker Lee Ashley
and the Penn State D stopped Herschel Walker and the Dawgs 27-23 for the
win and the national title. Next year, Miami lost 28-3 to Florida in the
opener, but still went on to win the national championship. The
precedent has been set.
Notre Dame got its doors blown off by Michigan, but it came up with
decent wins, highlighted by a blowout of Penn State and the epic
comeback against Michigan State, to close out a tough September 4-1. If
things go according to plan, and the Irish walk through Stanford, UCLA,
Navy, North Carolina, Air Force and Army, and if USC does its part and
goes unbeaten until November 25th, don’t be the slightest bit shocked to
see Charlie Weis and the boys in Glendale on January 8th even
if Michigan’s only loss comes at Ohio State.
It’s not right, but it’s as much about when you lose as if you lose.
Notre Dame might have lost ugly to the Wolverines, but that appeared to
be forgotten about after the Michigan State win. Beating an unbeaten USC
at USC would be the huge victory to make everyone buzz loudly about
wanting the Irish to play for the whole ball of wax as long as there
aren’t two major unbeaten teams. Once again, I’m not saying it’s right,
and I would never agree with putting in a one-loss Irish team in ahead
of a one-loss Michigan squad, or someone like LSU if it runs the table
and finds a way to win the SEC title. I’m just saying to be prepared. It
could happen.
ASU needs Keller, but Keller could've used
ASU
By
Richard Cirminiello
2.
You think Sam Keller wishes he was still
in Tempe, playing for Arizona State? Yeah, me too. That's all I could
think about as the Sun Devils got scorched by a Pac-10 opponent for the
second straight week. A little more than a month ago, Dirk Koetter
tabbed Keller as his starter, changed his mind a few days later, handing
the job to Rudy Carpenter.
Oops. Not long after, football's version of a soap
opera broke out.
Accusations flew, Keller seethed and the Sun
Devils lost a terrific quarterback to Nebraska. Bad move by Koetter.
Worse move by Keller.
Sure, he'll do fine in Lincoln next year, but by
next year, he should've been cashing fat NFL paychecks. Had he swallowed
his pride and stayed at Arizona State, right now Keller would be the
hands-down most popular player on the Sun Devil roster--the backup
quarterback on a team that's crashing and burning. Carpenter has been a
complete mess the last three weeks, completing 46% of his passes,
throwing seven picks and losing his confidence along the way. Against an
average Oregon pass defense Saturday, he completed just 6-of-19 for 33
yards and an interception, the low point of his career. The bottom has
fallen out, and a trip to USC is next on the schedule. It wouldn't have
taken very long for chants of Kell-er, Kell-er, Kell-er to ring
throughout Sun Devil Stadium Saturday afternoon. Ahhh, Keller himself
couldn't have drafted a better script. Oh, and as shattered as Carpenter
is these days, there's no doubt Koetter would have obliged, giving his
senior the ball to the delight of the home crowd. The quarterback now
craves redemption and a chance to prove ASU wrong after feeling he got
shafted by his teammates and his coach. So determined is Keller to
redeem himself, he left a campus he loved and is taking a mandatory year
off from football. He didn't have to. Had Keller been patient and stuck
it out, he'd probably be enjoying the last laugh without ever leaving
Tempe.
It's up, and it's ... it's ... it's ... ?
By
Matthew
Zemek
3.
Florida kicker
Chris Hetland missed a field goal against Alabama by a hard-to-discern
margin. This kick seemed to travel just behind the left upright and
looked "good" to the naked eye in real time. The official on the ground
had the best view, however, and said no. This does raise the need for
networks--especially in big games--to either have cameramen or
automated/mechanized cameras on the ground directly under the uprights.
There's no reason why high placekicks that climb
over the top of the uprights shouldn't be subject to review. Fans,
coaches and replay officials deserve to get a clean, clear look at kicks
from the ground, so that if there's any dispute about whether or not a
high kick traveled above the upright--or just behind it, or just in
front of it--coaches can challenge it if they want to. What if Hetland's
kick was on the final play of regulation? Darn straight Urban Meyer
would want to challenge the ruling on the field. He should be able to
exercise that option. Get ground-level upright cameras into football
coverage, PRONTO!
The coaching cries will begin, but are
they warranted?
By
John
Harris
4. One game. One play. A 37 yard bomb. A 43 yard game winning
field goal in the final minutes. Five seconds before, a win is all but
locked up. Five seconds after, a man and his livelihood are in
question. But, that’s all it takes for one man to turn from genius to
goat. From 4-0 and ready to win the conference to 4-1 and the alums are
cueing up the “fire [insert coach’s name]” banner for the airplane.
This being the first
day in October, the “fire [insert coach’s name]” rants will be heard
loud and clear on the nation’s airwaves and message boards over the next
few weeks. Take Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione, for instance. If
instant replay doesn’t overturn an interception with a minute to go
against Texas Tech, the 12th Man would be lauding the huge
win at home. Instead, Coach Fran is as good as gone. At least in their
eyes. One play. Texas A&M played well enough to win – there was no
77-0 effort on that field yesterday. Mistakes? Sure, but it doesn’t
always go back to the coach. Case in point, in the second quarter, Tech
WR Robert Johnson caught a quick pop three yard pop pass from Graham
Harrell and turned it into a 21 yard touchdown. He wasn’t touched until
he got into the endzone. Why? The safety on that side of the field
Brock Newton turned and ran to the sideline, away from Johnson, AFTER
the ball was thrown and Johnson was running down the field. Is that
coaching? No, that’s a bad play by a young player. Cost A&M seven
points. A&M lost by four.
Michigan State head
coach John L. Smith will take the heat for not having his team ready for
Illinois. But, I ask you have you ever lost a heartbreaker like they
did against Notre Dame? It’s easy, right? Just get back to practice
forget about it – it’s a game, right? Uh, no, champ. It’s not easy to
get back up off the mat after a loss like that. This game is played by
18 to 22 year old young men, not paid professionals and lingering
emotion can and will influence the next game. Unfortunately, JLS’s
problem is that this has happened before and now it seems to be
happening again. But, then again, to place full blame on Smith would be
to slight Illinois QB Juice Williams who was nails down the stretch –
the kid was ready for his moment.
The point is that
coaches are going to be shown the door this winter. Maybe it’s the two
men above. Perhaps not. But, whether it’s right or not, who’s to say.
Aggie fans wanted RC Slocum’s head five years ago because he didn’t win
pretty. His offense wasn’t imaginative. He had gray hair. He spoke
funny. I don’t know. But, now the same people want Coach Fran’s head.
One play turned Fran from “Stay here a while and turn this around for
good, Coach” to real estate signs in his yard. Fair? Who knows what
fair is in this business? Not us anyway.
Plugging the
Leak
By
Pete
Fiutak
5.
In
Florida's Chris Leak, can you ever remember a legitimate Heisman
candidate that a fan base (for the most part) was so ready to get rid
of? Maybe he’s seen as Ron Zook’s quarterback. Maybe he’s not considered
flashy enough. Maybe it's the stoic demeanor compared to the fiery Tim
Tebow. Maybe Florida fans think the offense will go from great to
oh-my-goodness once Tebow gets the gig full-time. Just be careful for
what you wish for. Tebow appears to be the real deal, but over the
history of college football, the sure-thing prospect doesn’t always have
the better career than the rock-solid college star. Just ask Miami fans
if they’d rather have Ken Dorsey back than one-time super-recruit Kyle
Wright. Rhett Bomar was considered top recruit No. 1A along with Adrian
Peterson a few years ago, but how’d that work out for Oklahoma? Jason
White looks like a world-beater now. Leak might never be loved by the
Gator world like Danny Wuerffel or other great Gator quarterbacks, but
that might chance a wee bit if No. 12 leads the way to a national title.