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Rules Of Thumb: College Edition
Authored by Jeff Risdon - 17th October, 2006 - 5:31 am
With John Herrera standing to his right dressed in black and appearing not unlike an undertaker, Lane Kiffin sat down at the podium for Sunday's postgame news conference.
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An awarding of midseason thumbs for the NCAA football season so far…
Thumbs Up
To the Big East unbeatens. Louisville, West Virginia, and Rutgers are all still perfect, and the supposedly weak Big East remains the only BCS conference with more than 2 unbeaten teams. The critics bemoan the loss of power teams Miami, VA Tech, and Boston College, but all three teams have looked very strong against decent competition. And they are all looking up in the Big East standings at Pittsburgh, which has an extra conference win and only one loss overall. By virtue of the strong records at the top of the conference, it’s very likely that one of the teams playing in the BCS Championship game will come from the allegedly downtrodden Big East. My pick would be Louisville.
To the State of Ohio. Ohio State is the consensus #1 team in all polls and computations, and deservedly so. They have so many different guys who can beat you on both sides of the ball, and their defensive line is the single most disruptive force in college football. But the surprise is my beloved alma mater, Ohio U., with its stunning victory at Illinois. It’s just the second victory over a Big Ten school for the Bobcats in the last 23 years and the only victory by a MAC school over a Big Ten school this season.
To Terry Hoeppner. Indiana’s Head Coach had surgery last month to remove a brain tumor, the second such operation in 9 months. That Hoeppner was able to come back to the sidelines at all is cause for a thumbs up, but when his Hoosiers upset 16th ranked Iowa on Saturday, now there’s not enough thumbs to stick up in the air. Indiana has long been a football pushover, but thanks to a remarkable coach and his inspirational devotion to his team, they sit in position to make a rare bowl appearance.
Thumbs Down
To the victims of overzealous preseason hype. That would include the aforementioned Iowa Hawkeyes, who now must travel to Ann Arbor to face mighty Michigan in a game that has lost major luster. It also includes Georgia, which lost its second in a row, this one to lowly Vanderbilt. They also barely eked out a win over winless (at the time) Colorado, a game in which the Bulldogs were favored by 31. Virginia Tech, Arizona State, and TCU all meet the criteria here as well.
To Adrian Peterson. The Oklahoma RB is a major talent, but his questionable decision to showboat into the end zone after an outstanding TD run ended his season with a broken collarbone. The NFL scouts already had some reservations about his ability to stay healthy and his personal discipline. A superfluous dive into the end zone during a blowout that breaks a major bone isn’t going to help AP on either front.
To Florida coach Urban Meyer. I know Florida fans don’t want to hear this, but Chris Leak is far and away the best QB in the SEC. Yet Meyer continues to take the ball from his best player and force freshman sensation Tim Tebow into the mix during key situations. It’s not that Tebow isn’t talented, or that it hasn’t always worked. But in an offensive system that depends so much on rhythm and precision, yanking your senior leader and team leader is not a good idea. It showed during the loss to Auburn, where it seemed every time Leak started getting some momentum, in came Tebow.
Thumbs Twiddling
To USC. The Trojans remain undefeated and #2 in the BCS standings. But they’ve not looked anywhere near as good as the recent Pete Carroll teams, and they’ve struggled mightily to eke out victories against inferior teams. They still have to face Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame all ranked in the top 15. We’ll know how good these injury-plagued Trojans are after that home stretch.
To the Heisman Trophy. The clear front-runner is Ohio State QB Troy Smith, the best player on the best team. But his stats are unspectacular and his highlight reel paints a picture of efficiency, not awe-inspiring excitement. Of the other legit candidates, only Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn poses any real threat, and he’s widely considered to be in the midst of a disappointing season. The other early season candidates have all fallen away, be it lousy performance (Drew Stanton, Drew Tate), injury (Mario Manningham, Kenny Irons, Adrian Peterson), or a bad time for a bad game (Garrett Wolfe, Marshawn Lynch).
Thumbs Sucking
To the Miamis. The Florida version further validated themselves as the least disciplined, most outlaw and reprehensible college football program with the ugly brawl against FIU. When your team captain is seen repeatedly stomping on a player’s leg and another prominent player is swinging his helmet as a weapon, it’s time for a major shakeup. Remember, this is a program that gave a 13-time convicted high school star a scholarship and whose alumni take pride in being thought of as violent, renegade soldiers. The Ohio version has fallen mightily as well. Big Ben’s alma mater, traditionally a MAC power, finally entered the win column with a 37-31 squeaker at Buffalo. That’s the same Buffalo team they’ve beaten a combined 187-20 the past 4 seasons and has chalked up a 5-35 record over the last 4 years, one of the worst programs in the country.
To the state of Virginia. The Hokies made the Thumbs down for their decline from prominence, but what is perhaps just as striking about VA Tech’s hiccup is the overall falloff of premier talent within the program. They’re down because Coach Frank Beamer isn’t developing the all-conference studs that have clustered his roster the past few years. Maybe it’s just a down year, but the way some of the young guys have played, it might stretch into another couple of down years. And then there’s UVA, led by former NY Jets coach Al Groh. The Cavaliers are 2-5 this year and have failed to crack the ACC elite despite having loads of quality NFL players the past few seasons. D-II Virginia State is also having its worst season in years. At least Richmond and James Madison are both I-AA contenders.
