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.)
Will the Hokies
ever over-achieve enough to put them over the edge and into
another BCS title game?
– KC
A: There’s a theory college basketball coaches go by when it
comes to the tournament and getting to the Final Four. As long
as you keep taking good team after good team into the dance,
eventually it’ll be your turn. The same goes for college
football, to a point. If you keep fielding good team after good
team, and as long as you’re good enough to win your conference
championship first, you’ll eventually get the right breaks. This
year, Virginia Tech wasn’t that far off. If it had held on
against Matt Ryan and Boston College in Blacksburg, and had it
gone on to win the rest of its games like it did, it would’ve
played Ohio State for the national title. So sure, playing in
the ACC, and not the SEC, Virginia Tech could certainly play for
the whole ball of wax again in the near future.
Remember, though, it’s really, really hard to play for the
national title. Look at all the big name teams like Penn State,
Michigan, Auburn, Georgia, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Clemson and
Notre Dame that haven’t been in a BCS No. 1 vs. No. 2
championship game in the new era. You need to be really good,
you need a lot of luck, and you need everything to go the right
way.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON MISSOURI'S CHANCES OF GETTING INTO A
BCS BOWL NEXT YEAR? AND DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE A LEGITIMATE SHOT
AT THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP? STILL UPSET THAT KANSAS AND
ILLINOIS MADE IT RATHER THAN US. WHAT A JOKE!!! – GABE
A: YOU MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY UPSET ON BCS SELECTION DAY.
Remember, only two teams from the same league can be in the BCS,
so your beef isn’t with Illinois, it’s with Kansas. At least the
Jayhawks proved to be worthy with the win over the Hokies. With
Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman back, the nucleus
is there for the offense to keep on rolling. A running back has
to emerge to replace Tony Temple, and some key replacements are
needed on defense, but the Tigers will likely be the favorites
to win the North. The key, obviously, is the schedule, and it’s
not that bad. Opening up against Illinois in St. Louis will set
the tone for the season, while the rest of the non-conference
slate, SE Missouri State, Nevada and Buffalo, is a breeze. In
conference play, it’s at Nebraska, Oklahoma State, at Texas,
Colorado, at Baylor, Kansas State, at Iowa State, and vs. Kansas
in Kansas City. The road trip to Austin is the only bad break,
but playing Baylor makes up for it. A team as good as Mizzou is
supposed to be should be able to go 6-2, at worst, in conference
play. I don’t think the team will be good enough to get an
at-large bid, but if it can get to another Big 12 Championship,
it’ll obviously have its chance to earn its way in.
How is it that six years ago, most outside of Nebraska found
it blasphemous that an NU team that "didn't win their own
division" could be selected to play for the championship, even
considering that NU's regular season's resume was arguably
better than Oregon's, yet now there's all this fervor that
Georgia got "screwed" out of a title shot even though they
"didn't win their own division"? – SE
A: Georgia didn’t lose 62-36 to Chris Brown and Colorado on the
final game of the regular season. Oregon’s regular season was
certainly comparable to Nebraska’s, with the one loss coming to
a very good (yes, that’s not a misprint) Stanford team that went
49-42 while beating a Washington State team that went 10-2 in
Pullman, and beating good Utah and UCLA squads. The Ducks
weren’t dominant, but they were on a four-game winning streak
going into the bowls, while Nebraska’s only win of note came in
that classic game against Oklahoma. If you remember, the Huskers
got absolutely destroyed by the Buffs right after Thanksgiving,
and that’s what caused the uproar as much as not winning their
division. Georgia getting “screwed” is mostly coming from
Georgia fans who seem to have forgotten about the blowout
against Tennessee and the loss to South Carolina. The uproar is
more over USC not getting in.
Now that the bowl season has run
its course, why do we have to have FOX broadcasting the big
games when they have not done one college game all season? (I
think) It was just as bad as TNT doing the baseball play-offs.
I suppose it's who will pay the most, but aren't networks and
broadcasters who have called Big 10, SEC, Big 12, Pac 10, ACC,
and so on games all year more likely to do an accurate
broadcast? Just curious. –
FS
A: Obviously I’m not going to rip hard on Fox since that’s who
we work with, but if I really didn’t have anything nice to
write, I simply wouldn’t say anything at all and would’ve kept
my tongue to myself. I don’t think Fox was a problem as much as
it was that they had nothing to work with. If the games were
better, the broadcasts would’ve been better. Watch a replay of
the Boise State Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma from last year and
you’ll notice the broadcast was fantastic. Thom Brennaman and
Charles Davis were more than solid this season, while Kenny
Albert and Terry Donohue were fine. Barry Alvarez wasn’t as good
as he was last year, I was totally lost by the Jumper
thing, and I could’ve done without the endless shots of the
bands, but overall, Fox was more than fine and was certainly
better than TNT’s broadcast of the baseball playoffs. Again, the
games weren’t exactly riveting theater.
Will LSU hand back the AP (and possibly the Football
Writers & Grantland Rice) national champion trophy they received
this morning since only the BCS/Coaches trophy really matters?
I highly doubt it. They’ll find a spot in their trophy case as
well. – RF, USC Alum
A: There are a lot of bitter USC fans coming out of the woodwork
looking to chirp after LSU fans pooh-poohed the Trojans’ 2003 AP
title. The AP, FWAA, and Grantland Rice polls crown a national
champion, but it isn’t the national champion. The problem
for USC fans from 2003 is that the AP national championship is
hollow and empty and there’s nothing that can be done to change
that. It’s a frustration that Auburn fans felt the next year,
with no national title of any kind coming their way. Utah fans
felt it too. Georgia and USC fans are dealing with that this
year. Until there’s some sort of a playoff, there are always
going to be grouchy fans at the end of the year.
I would like to know your opinion on what it will take for
WVU to be considered an elite team? Every sports writer out
there still looks at us like we are division I-AA (who cares
what it is called now) any time we are playing an "elite" school
in a bowl game. Winning is obviously not enough to convince you
all that we have just as much talent as the teams that you
consistently blow the trumpets for. If winning was enough have
we not earned respect yet being BCS Champs 2 times the last
three year? Winning over UGA in their back yard? Winning over
Calvin Johnson, possibly the best overall athlete last year in
college? Winning over Oklahoma this year, a team many thought
was the best in the land prior to the BCS games? What does it
take? When will WVU be looked at and included in the group of
"elites"? – JK
A: Didn’t West Virginia get ranked third in the preseason AP
poll and sixth in the Coaches’ Poll? How much more “elite” in
the respect department do you get than that? You have a ton of
respect, but that Georgia team of three years ago was the SEC
Champion and red-hot. At that time, West Virginia had won
exactly jack squat when it came to big bowl games and didn’t
earn its way into any national love. Georgia Tech was a big
underdog without Reggie Ball, its starting quarterback, and this
year, no one picked the Mountaineers against OU because no one
had won a bowl game with an interim head coach and everyone
assumed the Sooners would be jacked up after what happened in
last year’s Fiesta Bowl. Yes, WVU played well and certainly
earned those huge victories, but you’re dead wrong when it comes
to talent level. 2005 Georgia and 2007 Oklahoma were far, FAR
more talented from top to bottom. WVU certainly has a few great
college players, but pro prospect-wise, it’s not even remotely
close to the other top teams. For example, the Mountaineers
didn’t have anyone drafted last year and had one player drafted
in 2006, Dee McCann, and he didn’t get taken until the sixth
round. By comparison, Georgia had 11 players drafted over the
last two years.
It will be a CRIME if Ohio State or ANY Big 10 team plays for
the BCS Title game next year. You would have 5 SEC teams (At
least) that would go undefeated if they played in the Big 10.
The Big 10 is a complete joke. – CY
A: SEC fans keep ripping on the Big Ten, like it owes them money
or something, without spelling out exactly why. You’re saying
the Florida team that lost to Michigan would’ve gone unbeaten in
the Big Ten? No. The LSU team that lost to mediocre Kentucky and
Arkansas teams would’ve gone unbeaten in the Big Ten? Unlikely.
Auburn, with that offense, certainly wasn’t a world-beater.
Georgia was totally beatable early on, and Tennessee was flaky
over the first half of the year with a defense that would’ve
been tagged by someone in the Big Ten along the way. No one, NO
ONE is saying the Big Ten is close to as good as the SEC, but
you’re blowing out of proportion what happened in the high
profile games, just like you probably did last year. USC
would’ve likely beaten anyone but LSU in the Rose Bowl. LSU
would’ve beaten everyone in the BCS Championship. You’re dogging
the Big Ten for losing to two of the three best teams in America
(assuming Georgia is the third)? LSU and Florida were national
champions for a reason. Losing to them isn’t a crime.
Are "conference bragging rights" ruining college football? I
couldn't help but note that fans were chanting "SEC" more than "LSU"
when the title game was wrapped up. In all the BCS games, teams
were referred to as "insert-conference-here" teams nearly as
often as by their own team names, which was kind of disgusting
to me. Roaming internet message boards, fans of most SEC schools
are bragging about the LSU win. Ummm... ok. Didn't LSU ruin
your own title hopes by winning the conference? To top it off,
prior to tonight I found a Michigan fan pulling for OSU, UCLA
fans hoping USC would win, Bama fans pulling for LSU, and
several Georgia fans rooting for Florida. What. the. hell.
What's your take? – CP
A: Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum
… SEC fans have always chanted S – E - C whenever one of their
teams wins something big. There are two schools of thought on
this. I used to work with a die-hard Michigan fan who hated it
whenever another Big Ten team did anything positive since it
might have meant one good recruit would be taken away from his
beloved Wolverines. If LSU is really, really good, doesn’t that
mean more top players might want to go there? As far as the
conference brotherhood, just because LSU won the national title,
that doesn’t mean Vanderbilt or Ole Miss are any good. That
doesn’t excuse Arkansas from getting whacked by Missouri. I take
a different approach.
By Florida winning last year and LSU winning this season, the
SEC will always get the benefit of the doubt in the polls and in
the BCS debates. If you’re a Michigan fan, you should hate Ohio
State with every fiber of your being, but for your own
self-interest, a Buckeye win over LSU would’ve helped the Big
Ten down the line. If Georgia, USC and Michigan go unbeaten,
take a wild stab at the two teams that’ll play for the national
title.
Another year, another few hours of my life spent wasted
watching countless plays reviewed by officials. So, 1) Have
officials become worse since replay was introduced, and 2) Any
ideas how to cut down on the time it takes? – Brad
A: Considering the officials aren’t professionals and are
stepping in from their jobs as lawyers, insurance salesmen and
mid-managers at a widget factory, they could use all the help
they can get. Replay is a good thing. It’s a very good thing.
There’s an easy way to remedy a lot of the problems as far as
time, efficiency, and accuracy. Make the replay official more
powerful. Instead of going through the process of bringing the
on-field officials into the mix, running to and from the phone
to discuss, etc., let the replay man always be able to make the
yeah or nay call by himself. If he needs to consult another
official on a really, really big play, fine, but if you make the
replay man more powerful, the process will be sped up.
I worry that the money in college
ball is so outrageous that it is ruining the sport. I used to
love collegiate sports far more than the pros - mostly because
kids played for their schools... coaches taught their players
more than just how to win by doing whatever it takes... and fans
cheered their teams even when they lost. Or maybe it was just
me. Maybe I was a fan of my favorite school, even though they
weren't really successful. So is there a cure? Could we just
take all bowl money for all bowls and divide it equally amongst
all NCAA schools? No? – DC
A: Yes, and back in the day a nickel would buy you a steak and
kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake and a
newsreel, with enough change left over to ride the trolley from
Battery Park to the polo grounds. Today, 90% of the players
still play for their schools and for the love of playing college
football. While there will always be a segment outside of the
true pro prospects with an overvalued sense of self-worth, and
with delusions of playing at the next level, most play for the
love of the game. That hasn’t changed. Yeah, fans of the average
football schools cheer no matter what, but the big-time places
have always had expectations, and more so. You might hate the
money aspect now, but compare that to the rampant cheating when
it came to recruiting that went on throughout the sports’
history up until the last decade or so. Of course it still
exists, but it’s not even remotely close to as bad as it was
before, say, 1990. At the end of the day, the money side of
things has made the sport better. Better coaches, better
facilities, better players, better stadiums, better TV coverage,
and a better all-around product.
If Rich Rod would have won the Pitt game and WVU would have
played in the BCS Title Game would Michigan have waited for Rod
until after the title game? AND If Rich Rod would have played in
the title game and lost to OSU would Michigan still want Rich?
– ST
A: I don’t know any of this for sure, but from the people I’ve
talked to, this is how things likely would’ve played out.
Michigan wouldn’t have gone after Rodriguez if West Virginia was
in the national title game against Ohio State, and losing to the
Buckeyes wouldn’t have mattered. Les Miles, who was out of the
running after the miracle happened and LSU made it to the BCS
Championship, would’ve worked things out with Michigan and
would’ve taken the job after the Sugar Bowl. After LSU got in to
the big show, Miles couldn’t go after his dream job, Michigan
had to move on, and Rodriguez is now in Ann Arbor. Had it been
Miles, Rodriguez would’ve stayed at West Virginia, would’ve been
in a dogfight with the administrators about facilities, bonuses
for the assistant coaches, and a variety of other things, and
the Mountaineers would be a preseason top five team in 2008.