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.)
I’m a die-hard Texas fan. I bleed orange, I go to every game,
and most of the away games, and I cried my eyes out in joy when
Vince pulled off the national championship. So, of course, I
hate Oklahoma with every fiber of my soul. However, I found
myself rooting for the Sooners (at least I was on the inside)
against Florida in the BCS Championship. I wanted Kansas to beat
Memphis for the basketball national title last year. Am I wrong?
I’m a Big 12 fan, even against the teams I normally hate.
– B.M., Dallas
A: Team, Conference, God, Country.
I had a friend who is a live-and-die Michigan fan who hated
it any time any Big Ten team succeeded. His view was that any
time a conference team did well, there was a chance it would
take a recruit away from his beloved Wolverines. Of course you
want to root for your conference because a win by someone in
your league ends up making you look stronger down the road. The
league respect does nothing but help your team when it comes to
the rankings.
But here’s the rub. It might be one thing
for a Texas fan to want to see Missouri, Nebraska, or even
Oklahoma State win a big game against some team from another
school. It’s another to root for Oklahoma, even in a national
title game against the SEC. Why? Because if the Sooners would’ve
won, at some point, some OU fan would get all chest-thumpy,
you’d come in contact with a boisterous alum, Billy Sims would
be somewhere yelling BOOMER!, and/or it would be brought up by
the media that Bob Stoops has two national titles and Mack Brown
one. At that point, any time that Sooner win would be brought up
you’d be grouchy.
Is home field overrated? Who has done the best job with their
home field advantage? – G.K. Dayton
A: As far as pure
production, over the last six years, Boise State has been the
best home team in college football going 38-1 with Oklahoma a
close second going 37-1. USC has gone 35-1. In terms of winning
percentage, the top 25 home teams over the last six years are 1.
Boise State (38-1), 2. Oklahoma (37-1), 3. USC (35-1), 4. Ohio
State (38-4), 5. Texas (33-4), 6. TCU (31-4), 7. Virginia Tech
(34-5), 8. Texas Tech (32-5), 9. Troy (29-4), 10. LSU (37-6),
11. Louisville (30-5), 12. Wisconsin (34-6), 13. Florida (33-6),
14. California (30-6), 15. West Virginia (32-7), 16. Iowa
(32-7), 17. Georgia (31-7), 18. Missouri (30-7), 19. Kansas
(31-8), T20. Hawaii (33-9), T20. Penn State (32-9), 22. Tulsa
(28-8), 23. Auburn (34-10), 24. Boston College (30-9), 25. Navy
(25-8).
Is home field advantage overrated? It depends on
the team. Florida, USC, or Texas could play in Timbuktu with
three people watching and they’d still do just fine. Idaho could
play all the top 25 teams at home and it wouldn’t matter.
(In response to my
article pointing out that several of Bobby Bowden’s wins might
not be worthy of being counted towards the overall total.)
Both have been great
coaches, BUT to overcome the Degree of Difficulty that Bobby
Bowden faced when he took over Florida State is unparalleled.
Joe Paterno never faced practically insurmountable obstacles.
– George
A: One thing needs to be made very, very clear
about my analysis of the records of Bowden and Paterno. I’m not
trying to say in any way, shape, or form that Bowden is anything
less than a living legend. He’s on my personnel Mount Rushmore
of the greatest college football coaches ever, along with Knute
Rockne, Bear Bryant, and Paterno. Pete Carroll is making a bid
for a spot, but he’s missing another ten years or so on the
résumé. What Bowden did to make Florida State a superpower was
extraordinary, but personally, I don’t think his body of work
quite compares to what Paterno has done. Take a look at the
year-by-year record (Joe
Paterno's Game-By-Game Wins). It’s amazing
considering it’s all been done at one school. Yes, Paterno did
inherit a better situation, but Penn State was a mediocre 11-9
in the two years before the JoePa era began.
Just curious, what odds
do you give Ole Miss winning the SEC West? The national
title? They obviously would have to go undefeated, but they get
their big games at home. I sincerely believe that they can win
the National Championship. Is this expectation totally ludicrous
considering we probably have the most complete team in the West
with the best QB? - Andy- Jackson, MS
A: I’m not so
sure about that “most complete team in the West” thing, but it
might be close. LSU has holes to patch, but it could turn out to
be more talented. Alabama might also have a beef with your
claim. The Rebels need work in the secondary and have to replace
OT Michael Oher, but you’re right; the team is fantastic.
The schedule is as nice as can be expected and the
non-conference slate is a joke playing Memphis, SE Louisiana,
UAB, and Northern Arizona. There’s a trip to South Carolina
early on, and don’t dismiss the road game to Vanderbilt. The
Commodores will be better than last year if the secondary can
rebuild. As you said, all the big games are at home against
Tennessee, Alabama, and LSU, and there’s no Florida or Georgia.
The national title is a bit lofty a goal considering the Rebels
would still have that big matzo ball hanging out there in
Florida if they can win the West.
But anything less than ten wins would be a major
disappointment.
I
was interested to see the list of the 10 best wins for both
Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno. Each man has some truly
outstanding wins listed. The question I have for you is,
in your opinion, is there any coach with a better list of top 10
wins then either of them? And does anyone have a better
top 2 then Paterno? I would imagine that those two bowl
wins rank high on the overall list of all-time wins by anyone.
– Greg J.
A: There’s a summer article here. For now, as
far as the best list of wins ever by a coach, it has to start
with the most impressive wins by a coach, period.
I’ll do
more research on this later, but for now, it’s hard to come up
with a better top ten than what John McKay came up with at USC.
10. USC 20 – Notre Dame 17, 1964
9. USC 10 –
Michigan 3 (1970 Rose Bowl)
8. USC 14 – Indiana 3 (1968 Rose
Bowl)
7. USC 55 – Notre Dame 24, 1974
6. USC 38 – Notre Dame 28, 1970
5. USC
42 – Wisconsin 37 (1963 Rose Bowl)
4. USC 14 – UCLA 12, 1969
3. USC 42 – at Alabama 21, 1970 (Sam Cunningham game)
2. USC 42 – Ohio State 17, (1973 Rose Bowl)
1. USC 18 – Ohio State 17, (1975 Rose Bowl)
Who really deserved the 1990 National Championship? – CP
A: Colorado
over Georgia Tech according to the CFN All-Time Ranking Formula. The
Buffs went 11-1-1 while the Yellow Jackets went 11-0-1, but the CU
schedule was better. Colorado tied a good Tennessee in the season opener
and lost 23-22 to an Illinois team that finished 8-4. There was a nice
win at Texas (who finished 10-2), a win over Washington (10-2 record),
Oklahoma (8-3), and at Nebraska (9-3). The Buffs finished the season off
with the 10-9 Orange Bowl win over Notre Dame, even though there was a
phantom penalty that negated a Rocket Ismail kick return for a score. Of
course, the real problem was the fifth down win over Missouri that
should’ve been conceded after the fact. It wasn’t, it goes in the record
books as a Buff win, and so it has to be counted in the all-time ranking
equation we do.
Georgia Tech beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and
beat a strong Clemson team that finished 10-2 and the classic 41-38
thriller over Virginia. That was about it. The lone blemish was a 13-13
tie against North Carolina, and while there were seven wins over D-I
teams that finished with winning records, there weren’t as many big ones
as Colorado came up with.
Suppose that for some crazy
reason every BCS conference felt the need to expand and add 2 mid-major
teams to each of their respective conferences. In your opinion who would
go where and why?? – devin
A: The reasoning for each would be
a combination of geography and the potential for instant rivalries with
nearby schools. School-size and fan base is also part of the equation;
it’s not just wins and losses.
ACC: East Carolina and Florida
Atlantic
Big East: UCF and Marshall
Big Ten: Notre Dame (I’m
making ND a mid-major for purposes of this question. I can’t come up
with a second team, but if I had to pick one I’d take Northern
Illinois.)
Big 12: Houston and TCU
Pac 10: BYU and Utah (But I’d
also add Boise State and Fresno State)
SEC: Memphis and Southern Miss