By
Pete Fiutak
Fire over your questions to me at
pete@collegefootballnews.com. I might not be able to answer them
all, but I promise they're all read. Any e-mails sent to this
address may be published or edited unless requested otherwise.
(Please put ASK CFN in the subject line, and PLEASE keep the
questions short ... it makes my life easier.)
ASK CFNs ...
Sept.
8 |
Sept.
15
|
Sept. 22 |
Sept. 29 | Oct.
6
What are the chances of
Michigan and Ohio State meeting in the BCS Championship game? Say USC
and West Virginia lose, and Michigan beats Ohio State on a last second
field goal (or vice versa). Is it possible that the loser stays at
number 2 in the BCS and they have a rematch in the Championship Game? I
thought I remember a rule that was put in a few years back that says you
have to win your conference to be eligible to play in the National
Championship game. Is that true?
– JD
A: Noooooo, no, no, no, nopity, nope, nope, nope. This was the single
most asked question of the week, and let me stop this in its tracks
right now; no way, no how, no chance the loser of the Michigan/Ohio
State game, assuming both are unbeaten before the epic rivalry, will
play for the national title. Realize this about the BCS above all else:
the human polls, at the end of the day, will mean everything to the
final poll. Remember, the Coaches’ and Harris polls count as 2/3rds of
this thing, and the humans won’t want to see a rematch between the
Buckeyes and Wolverines for the national title no matter how good the
showdown in Columbus is. Texas has a better chance of moving up to get
another shot at Ohio State, under the belief that the team is better now
than it was in early September. Things have changes since the
controversies of a few years ago. Whoever’s 1-2 in the human polls at
the end of the year will almost assuredly be in the national
championship.
Its looking more and more like 11-0 OSU vs. 11-0 Michigan will play
off for one of the BCS Championship slots. Do you see any way that
there could be a rematch in the title game? Would the voters give a
1-loss ND team the nod over a 1-loss Michigan team? What about a
1-loss Texas team over a 1-loss OSU team? Would this be the final straw
we need to get a playoff system in place? – ML
A: No one thing is going to force the powers-that-be to create a playoff
system. It’s going to take a mass revolution by the coaches and a few
university presidents who want it to finally happen. Look at the current
human polls this week and you’ll see that everyone appears to have a
short memory when it comes to what actually happened on the field, so if
the voters are putting Auburn ahead of Arkansas and Tennessee ahead of
Florida now, why will they whine if Texas gets in over Ohio State or if
Notre Dame gets in over Michigan?
If you truly believe Adrian Peterson is the best player in the
country, why not vote for him anyway? Come on! Start a campaign to make
the Heisman truly be an award for the best player in college football
and encourage voters to vote for the best player whether he's an
offensive lineman, a punter....or injured!! – SM
A: I’m going to wrestle with this one all year long. Adrian Peterson is
the best college football player in America, period. However, I
believe that only matters when it comes to the NFL Draft. I’m a firm
believer that the Heisman should go to the most outstanding player in
that season. That encompasses the idea of being the most outstanding
player, the most valuable player, and the signature perfumer. I voted
for Reggie Bush last year (and felt buyer’s remorse the second I sent in
my ballot) because when the votes were due, he was the player of
the 2005 season. Of course, had the Heisman voting been done after the
bowls, I’d have picked Vince Young. What happened to Peterson was a
shame, but I can’t in good conscience vote for a guy who’s going to miss
the entire second half of the season.
I got online today to look at the BCS rankings only to see the
nightmare of a ranking that was on my computer monitor! I was blown
away when I saw that Tennessee had been screwed over once again. My
question is how can #10 California can be ranked higher than #11
Tennessee even though Tennessee beat Cal? What other worthwhile
opponent has Cal played besides UT? It blows me away how "Good 'Ole
Rocky Top" always gets the Big Orange Screw no matter how well they
play?! No matter what happens, I say and always will say that "It's
Great to be a Tennessee Vol!!" – FW
A: “Screwed over once again?!” I always find it funny that every fan of
every team, from Ohio State down to Temple, believes his team is getting
hosed somehow. When was Tennessee wronged before? The first BCS
rankings, at least when it comes to the computers, means absolutely
nothing. The computers look at the entire season. If Tennessee wins out,
it’ll get far more credit from the cyber side once everything is thrown
into the mix. If both Cal and Tennessee have one loss at the end of the
year, and your Orange still is ranked lower than the team it beat, I’ll
scream for you.
If Auburn and Arkansas win out, would it be possible for Auburn to
get the Rose Bowl invite? – Mark
A: Not good because the Rose Bowl would take the Ohio State/Michigan
loser vs. Pac 10 first, with the second option being Notre Dame if USC
or Michigan isn’t in Pasadena. If Michigan beats Ohio State, and USC is
in the national title game, it’ll be the Buckeyes vs. the Irish. It’s an
unfair quirk in the system, but if Arkansas goes 11-1 and loses the SEC
title game and Auburn goes 11-1, the Tigers would have the better shot
of getting into the BCS. The four at larges will likely go to the Ohio
State/Michigan loser, Notre Dame, Boise State, and one mystery team. If
Auburn wins is that fourth team, it won’t play the SEC champ in the
Sugar Bowl (assuming it doesn’t win the title), and it likely won’t play
in the Fiesta with Boise State likely to stay on the west. My guess, in
this scenario would be Notre Dame to the Rose and Auburn to the Orange
against the ACC champion.
Why bother to play any good teams? You risk defeat, lack of style
points and greatly increase your risk of injury when you play the big
boys. I think that you know this leads to the big east. According to the
BCS SOS, West Virginia has played the #101 ranked schedule. Pitt is
#104, Louisville is #69 and Rutgers is all the way up to #54. Boise
State is at #67 and while not in the BE that is not worthy of the BCS
games even if they are undefeated. USC #2, Ohio St #4 and Michigan #5
have earn the right to be in the discussion as have Auburn and Florida
even with a loss. Why travel to Arkansas when you can bring in Temple
and get the same results? - David B
A: First of all, you risk injury against everyone. Second, I’m with you,
and that’s why strength of schedule needs to be a big part of the
formula and the computers need more influence. The BCS should be about
who deserves to be in, not who we think should be in. Opinions need to
be left out of the equation as much as possible, and being undefeated,
like West Virginia and Louisville are, blinds the humans.
Aside from Coker at Miami and maybe Mason at Minnesota, which coaches
are likely not coming back next season? - Mike in SF
A: Mason’s back and will be given another few years after spending this
year with a very, very young team. However, if the Gophers aren’t
rolling by the time the new stadium is ready for action, there might be
a change down the line. There aren’t that many on the hot-seat at the
moment, but that can change in a hurry. Outside of Coker, the guys who
won’t be back with their teams next year at this time are John Bunting
at North Carolina and John L. Smith at Michigan State. Dirk Koetter is
in trouble at Arizona State if the second half of the year isn’t better,
and Sylvester Croom will soon be on double secret probation at
Mississippi State. Tommy West should survive a rough Memphis season, but
it could be close. If Kentucky doesn’t get to a bowl, Rich Brooks might
not be around next year. And then there are the guys in the impossible
situations like Jack Bicknell at Louisiana Tech, Jeff Genyk at Eastern
Michigan, and Brent Guy at Utah State who’ll survive this year, but will
need to have big 2007s.
Do you think Michigan State can be considered one of if not the
toughest coaching jobs in the country? Setting aside the Indiana's of
the world the coaching job at MSU seems to be basically impossible. I
know Notre Dame may have more pressure but anyone can recruit there and
recruit nationally. Michigan State has to recruit directly against
Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame, three of the most successful
programs in college football history. There might not be the pressure
to win like these other programs but the pressure is there, just ask
John L. Smith. How does he or any coach become a consistent winner at
MSU? – SF
A: How does someone succeed at Michigan State? Change the "waiting for
the sky to fall" attitude. Michigan State has the fan base, the
resources, the talent and the athletic department that can field a
winner tomorrow. Everyone has to recruit against Ohio State, Michigan
and Notre Dame, especially in the Midwest, but MSU gets its share of
athletes. Wisconsin has to deal with recruiting against the superpowers,
so does Penn State, and so does Iowa, but they always field winners (and
Wisconsin has cranked out as many drafted players over the last few
years as anyone). You’re wrong about the pressure at MSU; it’s there
just like it is at any other top program, but there isn’t the recent
history of success to fall back on. I know what you’re getting at, but I
don’t think MSU is the most impossible situation out there for a
big-time program. Here are my Most Impossible Coaching Jobs broken down
by BCS conference limited to the big schools with high expectations (as
compared to a place like Duke, Northwestern or Baylor).
ACC – North Carolina
Mack Brown screwed that whole thing up expectation-wise by succeeding at
a basketball school. Talk about recruiting nightmares, that’s a crowded
area to get talent from.
Big East – Syracuse
Getting snubbed by the ACC killed the program’s mojo.
Big Ten – Minnesota
The Gopher football team falls behind the Vikings, Twins, and Gopher
hockey in the overall pecking order, but the pro town fans expect a
winner even though there’s little to no recruiting base to work with.
The big city campus doesn’t have the same feel of a place like Iowa or
Wisconsin.
Big 12 – Texas A&M
No program in America has the perfect storm combination when it
comes to having problems producing a consistent powerhouse. There's
sky-high expectations, a perfect college football setting to give the
sense that this should be one of the elite of the elite programs, and
number three program status in its own division. A&M can win a title or
two here and there, but Texas and Oklahoma will always be bigger. This
might be the biggest name program that hasn’t consistently won anything,
and it gets my vote as the toughest big-time, high-profile coaching gig
to build a consistent superpower.
Pac 10 – Arizona State
ASU has roughly the same problem as Minnesota, only it has
California to draw on for recruiting. ASU is in a pro town that expects
results and winners no matter what. UCLA might be the Pac 10 choice, but
I believe it has the potential to grow into a monster with just a few
USC-type stars to get the ball rolling.
SEC – South Carolina
Three words: Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee.
