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.)
Hey Pete, I was
wondering how Wake Forest could be ranked 80th on SI's recruiting class
ranking after the amazing season that they had this past season. Is this
just Sports Illustrated nonsense or is there something more to it? -Ben in Austin
A: You’re complaining about being ranked 80th in the
recruiting classes? Without checking, has Wake Forest ever been ranked
higher? It’s not like the program has succeeded on a who’s who of
four-star talents, and last year proved that if you have a veteran team
full of smart players who don’t make a lot of mistakes, you can win. I
wouldn’t get too hung up about it. If Wake Forest, as a team, is ranked
80th going into next year, then you have something to beef
about.
How is Ron Zook able to recruit so well at Illinois with such a poor
football program and out of date facilities? I hear Illinois is going
to be remodeling their stadium and facilities but why would that entice
a recruit now? Can Zook turn lead into gold or something? – Chris
A: Some coaches are simply great salesmen. Illinois actually has a lot
to offer, and more than anything else, Zook can sell playing time. This
was a young, young, young team last year that thrived on all the
freshmen and sophomores getting plenty of work, but there’s still a long
way to go. If you’re a good player from the Chicago or St. Louis area,
you can play relatively close to home, and you’ll be in the mix for a
starting spot from day one. Now, can Zook actually coach all this
talent? That’s a whole other question.
A month or so ago some people were calling for a Michigan-Ohio State
rematch for the national title. Michigan and Ohio State were dominated
in their respective bowl games, and overall the big ten did not perform
so well during the bowl games. Was the big ten overrated, were OSU and
Michigan looking good because they were beating up bad teams in the big
ten? – Greg
A: First of all, let’s be fair to the Big Ten in the bowls. While
Michigan and Ohio State lost, there’s nothing that wrong about losing to
USC and Florida teams that were really, really good. Iowa had a nasty
matchup with Texas in San Antonio, Purdue was mediocre all year and got
beaten up by a good Maryland team, and Minnesota choked as bad as a team
can in the loss to Texas Tech. Even so, Iowa and Minnesota (for about
three quarters) performed well. Penn State’s win over Tennessee and
Wisconsin’s victory over Arkansas showed the league could play a little
bit, but you’re right; the Big Ten was overrated by many (not us) all
season long, and Michigan and Ohio State beat a lot of lousy teams to
look so great. Then again, outside of the SEC and Big East, name the
conference that had a great year? The ACC stunk, the Pac 10 was average,
and the Big 12 was no big deal. These things go in cycles.
#36; that's where you rate Hawaii pre-season 2007. I believe you are
just a LITTLE off. At the very least, they should be rated in the top
25, if not top 20. Oh, wait, I forgot. Hawaii is in the WAC, which is
not on the east coast, so naturally you would knock them down a few
notches. We'll see where they end up at the end of 2007 at 14-0 (sure,
go ahead and laugh, you probably would have laughed if someone had told
you at this time last year that Boise State would finish undefeated and
one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the country). – Kailua
A: Who was on the Colt Brennan for Heisman kick all year? Who gave the
Warriors all due credit for being fantastic on offense? We pumped up
this team more than anyone else. With that said, name the really, really
good team Hawaii beat last year, and name the good team it beat on the
road. Oh sure, Hawaii is a nightmare to deal with at home thanks to the
long flight, the weather, the location, the beach, etc., but it’s not
like the Warriors beat a who’s who of BCS teams. This year, it has to
replace a ton on defense and will have a nasty time replacing RB Nate
Ilaoa, who was the unsung all-around playmaker in the offense last year.
Yeah, Colt and the boys will throw up 45 points a game, but most good
offenses could put 50 on the board against this D. And by the way, Boise
State wasn’t one of the best five or six teams in the country last year.
I enjoyed your coverage. What is your final evaluation of Washington
State WR Jason Hill?? Too many WR's coming out so I imagine that hurts
him (he's often injured!!) Quality kid and I hope he gets some $$$$'s.
- GO COUGS, Mick
A: From what I hear, some are in love with his potential and some are
indifferent. I like him more than Anthony Gonzalez and some of the
others starting to creep up the boards, but he didn’t go lights out at
the Senior Bowl. His strength is as a deep threat, and no one really
pushed the ball deep during practices, and couldn’t in the sloppy game.
I see him going in the third round and making a great impact as a number
two receiver if he can stay healthy and if he times really, really well.
If it is determined that Reggie Bush accepted gifts while at USC, and
he is deemed ineligible, the NCAA would probably force USC to forfeit
the games that he played in. Should this happen, and should the BCS and
AP take back the national titles do you think they would leave the
titles vacant, or award it to Auburn or Oklahoma? – GT
A: I keep getting this question, so I’ll keep answering it. I don’t
believe in the forfeit after the fact for taking improper benefits (by
whatever that means according to the NCAA). If you want to force a team
to forfeit games after it discovered some of the top players were on
steroids, or some performance enhancers that actually changed the game
itself, then I have no problem with that. If you want to keep players
who take benefits out of games, then the NCAA can do that. But that’s
it.
Oklahoma and/or Auburn didn’t win the national title on the field in
2004, and they shouldn’t get it handed to them if Bush is guilty. Should
OU give up past wins because Rhett Bomar ended up taking payments from a
car dealership? That 2004 Auburn team was 100% squeaky clean … yeah,
right. Take away some USC scholarships, maybe punish them after the
fact, but just by making the games with Bush not count on the record
books does absolutely nothing. Everyone will still consider the 2004
Trojans the real national champions.
UCLA in the top 25? Give me a break. UCLA beat USC, but lost a lot of
games. That was a bad Florida State team that beat them badly in the
Emerald Bowl. They will be no better this year. Look for 6 wins if they
get lucky. – DP
A: Don’t like UCLA in the top 25? How about, possibly, the top ten? The
team is loaded with experience, and as shown against USC, it has the
all-around athleticism. Now it needs to put it all together and be
consistent from one week to the next. Most of the key players are back
on both sides of the ball, and there’s an abundance of riches at the
skill positions.
Six wins aren’t going to be a problem; nine should be the goal. As far
as the Emerald Bowl, that was a bad Florida State team throughout last
year, but it got better late in the year pushing Florida and getting
Lorenzo Booker more involved against the Bruins.
Acknowledging that my Wolverines will be overrated to start next
year, why do prognosticators always seem to rate teams with great
offenses higher than teams with great defenses? - Wolverine fan in
Canada.
A: Because it’s what they know. It’s hard to fill in the blanks and
realize how some teams, like Ohio State last year, can fill in the gaps,
and it’s hard to get too excited about defenses unless there are a ton
of obvious stars. Quick, name a LSU defensive player returning in 2007?
How about a Virginia Tech Hokie defender? Now, who are the top
quarterbacks coming back? You could probably list off ten without
blinking, and everyone knows who the Michigan skill players are, just
like everyone knew the Notre Dame skill guys going into last season. I
don’t think Michigan is going to have a lousy defense next season, after
all, it is Michigan. It’ll replace great players with other great
players.
I know it's really
early, but do you have any teams that will totally shock us by gaining
bowl eligibility?
– Eric
A: The schedule is a bear, but I really like Vanderbilt to be like
Kentucky of last year. Nine starters return on offense while the defense
should be even better. The team was just this close to being in
the post-season in the last two years, and if it can pull off a few
monster road upsets, it should get an extra game this year. Connecticut
gets 17 starters back and should be far more consistent on offense. Is
that enough to get to six wins? Maybe.
For a deep sleeper, Illinois and Indiana have the potential to shock and
get to a bowl. Both teams have dangerous skill players and should have
better overall defenses. From the mid-major ranks, SMU could pull a Rice
and be the Conference USA stunner thanks to QB Justin Willis and a
fantastic group of running backs. For a San Jose State from the WAC,
watch out for New Mexico State. Hal Mumme’s team is loaded with
offensive experience and should crank out 450 yards and 30 points a
game. The defense won’t stop anyone, but at least eight starters are
back.
