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.)
There are
still a few games left, but who’s the biggest winner this bowl
season and who’s the biggest loser?
– KM
A: Even with the Fresno State win over Georgia Tech, the biggest
loser is probably the WAC. Nevada got shut out by New Mexico in
the worst bowl game of the season, Boise State lost to East
Carolina in Hawaii, and Hawaii looked like it didn’t belong in
D-I compared to Georgia. It’s one thing to lose in the Sugar
Bowl to a great team, and it’s another to be that bad.
The ACC didn’t do much better. The league has yet to make a dent
in the new BCS era with Virginia Tech losing to the Big 12’s No.
3 team, Kansas, in the Orange. BC was supposedly a national
title level team during the season, and it had to battle to deal
with a mediocre Michigan State. Clemson losing to Auburn in the
Chick-fil-A didn’t help, and coaching issues aside, Georgia Tech
shouldn’t have lost like it did to Fresno State in the
Humanitarian.
No one seems to care, but the Mountain West had a terrific bowl
season with New Mexico shutting out the high octane Nevada
offense, BYU getting by UCLA, Utah beating Navy, TCU hanging on
against Houston, and Air Force battling well in a loss to a far
more talented Cal. At a lower level, it’s what the conference
needed to confirm that it’s the best of the non-BCS leagues.
The Pac 10 redeemed itself for an awful second half of the year
with USC, Oregon, Oregon State and Cal coming through. Arizona
State brought things down, but it was still a nice few weeks for
the league.
The Big 12, outside of Oklahoma, might be the biggest overall
winner for the health of the league. The way Kansas and Missouri
won will be a huge boost for the much-maligned North, Texas
needed a statement win, and it got it against ASU in the
Holiday, and Texas Tech’s win over Virginia and Oklahoma State’s
dominant performance against Indiana only made the league look
top-to-mid-level stronger.
(in reference to my
Fiesta Bowl Stream of Consciousness Quarter By Quarter Game
Notes) Could you possibly be more biased? Ooooh,
I’m sooo sorry your beloved Sooners got their butts whipped and
now you have to see what a real team is like. I can’t believe
you actually wrote that your an OU fan, how do you have a job?
No wonder CFN always hates West Virginia. I’ll never read this
garbage again, and I’ll tell everyone else to do the same.
A**hole. – Mountaineer Jeff
A: I welcome all chest-thumping, arguing, and good-natured
banter when fans are fired up about their team. It’s what the
bowls are all about. But the one thing that always gets under my
skin is when something I write gets taken out of context,
someone spins it the wrong way on a message board somewhere, and
then people who don’t actually read what I wrote bomb me with
angry e-mails (the above was a kiss on the cheek compared to
what I received throughout Thursday from most Mountaineer fans).
Yes, I said I liked Oklahoma as a kid, mostly because I liked
J.C. Watts’ hair. I also liked Major Harris, Lik-em-Aid, and
Valerie Bertinelli. That was over 20 years ago. It doesn’t mean
I was watching the Fiesta Bowl in a Tony Casillas jersey while
wearing a Bob Stoops OU visor. I actually was worried about the
backlash from the OU fans. I reread what I wrote later and
thought I was a bit too harsh at times on the Sooners for that
performance.
If you’d have read the site over the last year, you’d have
noticed we picked West Virginia to go 11-1 in our preseason
Preview, and spent all of November saying things were setting up
perfectly for West Virginia to play for the national title with
the way it was dominating down the stretch. We always give
credit when credit is due.
(On my
5 Thoughts comment that no one predicted the Fiesta Bowl
outcome and that we didn’t get any arguing on our prediction of
an OU win from the West Virginia fans)
Will you and everyone else finally start giving West
Virginia credit for being worthy of playing for the national
title? You didn’t hear anything from us because we quietly knew
we were going to beat up the Sooners, but no one gave us any
credit or respect. Maybe now everyone will learn their lesson!
– KJ
A: You can’t have it both ways. You can’t come up with one of
the biggest chokes in college football history, lose your head
coach in a painful, dramatic soap opera that appeared to be the
ultimate distraction, and then get all high and mighty that no
one thought your team had a chance to beat an Oklahoma team that
supposedly had a chip on its shoulder. I’d actually go the other
way. If West Virginia was really that great, how come it didn’t
show up against Pitt with the national title on the line? So
either WVU really was that good and stunk it up when the
pressure was on, like the program has done several times and
several ways over the years, or it stood on its head and
outplayed and outclassed the Sooners. Again, you can’t play both
sides. The M.O. continues for WVU; when it’s the underdog and no
one’s paying attention, it’s almost unbeatable. It’s fantastic
in the “no one believes in us” games. When it’s time to step up
to the big boy table when everyone’s expecting it to finally
turn the big corner, it folds.
What do you think of Tim Tebow as a pro prospect? - HK
A: It’ll be interesting to see how the perceptions unfold over
the next few years. The jury is still out on spread quarterbacks
on the next level considering Alex Smith has been a mega-flop of
a No. 1 overall pick, and Vince Young took a step back in his
second year. Granted, neither has weapons around him to throw
to, but it’s not like they’ve elevated their respective teams.
Tebow might end up suffering in the 2009 or 2010 NFL Draft if
Smith and/or Young don’t break the mold. Tebow isn’t the runner
Young is, but he’s a far, far better NFL passing prospect. I
think he does a little of everything better than Smith, who I’m
still stunned became a top overall pick.
Quick questions, if I may, with regards to Pat Hill and
Fresno State. With the number of returning players next year,
and the way they finished the season, can the Bulldogs finally
win the WAC, and make a serious BCS run next year? – Gary
A: It seems like the program turned another corner this year as
Hill was able to show that 2006’s disaster was just an
aberration. Fresno State certainly appears to be the class of
the WAC going into next year with Hawaii certain to take a major
step back, especially if June Jones goes to SMU, and Boise State
looking good, but not special. If QB Tom Brandstater can be
consistent, this could be a special team. However, the Bulldogs
have to go on the road to face UCLA and Kansas State and has to
play Wisconsin. It’ll take wins in all three games to begin
dreaming about the BCS.
The return of Kevin Smith to UCF obviously makes them a C-USA
favorite in 2008. Does the return of a marquee player such as
Smith boost recruiting for the current year of a school? –
Brett
A: It only really helps to keep the spotlight on the program for
another year to boost the school’s overall profile. You’re not
going to get too many, if any players who’ll want to come to UCF
just to play with Smith for a year. Obviously they might not be
ready to roll as true freshmen, and it’s just not the type of
thing to tip the scales for anyone. However, if you’re a good
back and you see what Smith is doing, maybe you’d pick UCF
knowing that if you can produce, you’ll get fed the ball like he
did and maybe spending a redshirt year as an understudy wouldn’t
be a bad thing.
Will a non-traditional power ever turn the corner in the BCS
era??? I've been watching college football for about 15 years
rooting for the upsets and hoping that a non-traditional power
can win a national title. I've spent years routing for the WVU's
Cal's and Va Tech's of the world, hoping desperately to see at
least one of them get it done. West Virginia ripped my heart out
when they completely choked that game away against Pitt. A few
weeks later, Rodriguez leaves his home for a traditional power.
It seems that only 7% of college football teams matter. A part
of me just died inside. – JR
A: It depends on what you mean by “turned the corner.” West
Virginia fans would argue that their program passed that point
after beating Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl. Ohio State,
Michigan, USC and Texas will always be among the biggest of the
big names, and nothing will change that, but remember, LSU
wasn’t LSU like it is now until relatively recently. It
was great back in the day, but it slipped big-time until Nick
Saban turned it around. “Traditional” powers like Florida State,
Miami, Alabama and Nebraska haven’t been able to maintain their
success recently. Remember, USC has only won one BCS title under
Pete Carroll. Texas has only won one championship under Mack
Brown. It’s hard for the big names to win it all, much less the
mid-range guys. Don’t blame the system. Missouri and West
Virginia controlled their own destiny to play for the title and
blew it. The same goes for Kansas.
Any chance that Rich Rodriguez at Michigan will have a
similar end result as Bill Callahan at Nebraska? I worry that U
of M fans won't have a lot of patience with the time it might
take to turn a traditional power running / drop-back pass
offense into a spread attack. Do you agree? – Steve in
Cleveland
A: Rodriguez isn’t Callahan, but I’m not 100% sure he’s Urban
Meyer or Jim Tressel, either. Kind of like the Nebraska
situation, which wasn’t bad before the system was blown up,
Michigan wasn’t bad under Lloyd Carr. It’s easy to forget that
the Wolverines were 11-0 going into Ohio State in 2006 with a
shot to play for the national title. Rodriguez has more to live
up to than just beating Ohio State; he has to take Michigan to
the next level and play for national titles. Anything less will
be a failure. It might not seem fair, but that’s Michigan, Ohio
State, USC, Texas, or any of the other really, really big
places.
Pete, with ESPN still arguing that Les Miles will be the head
coach at Michigan (even 3 hours before Rodriguez took the job),
will any official statement ever be made to apologize? I know
that every LSU fan hates ESPN with a passion now that they have
tarnished our coach's name by publishing several articles
calling Miles a liar. – CB
A: Not likely. Remember, ESPN was sort of right. If LSU wasn’t
playing for the national title, Les Miles would probably be
wearing Maize and Blue right now. Remember the circumstances.
Miles wanted the Michigan job, had to say all the right things
about LSU before the SEC title game, and was in constant, daily
contact with the Wolverine brass. Never in 100 million years did
Miles guess that West Virginia would lose to Pitt AND Missouri
would lose to Oklahoma AND LSU would leapfrog everyone else and
play for the national title. Then Miles was stuck. He couldn’t
go after the Michigan job with LSU playing for the national
title. Michigan was stuck because it needed to move on. Had LSU
been going to the Sugar instead of the title game, he could’ve
said he changed his mind and no one would’ve been shocked. That
extra week, along with the stakes that go with playing for the
national title changed around everything.
