0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/4/2015
Saturday night in Charlotte, the Clemson Tigers and the North Carolina Tar Heels will play one of the two biggest games in the history of their ACC series. A thorough survey of the history of Tigers-Heels reveals only one other mountaintop moment the two schools shared on the gridiron. That it occurred 34 years ago […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
There will not be 20 games of significance this upcoming Saturday, so this marks the regular-season finale of 20 for 20. The box score of the week goes to Iowa-Nebraska. The Huskers piled up numbers. Iowa didn’t convert a single third down. However, Old Demon Giveaway doomed Big Red. It’s a tale as old as time: […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/3/2015
Remember when Virginia defeated BYU in a weather-interrupted season opener in 2013? Remember last year, when Texas A&M blasted South Carolina in a Thursday-night opener, seeming to suggest that it was ready to enjoy a huge season… only to flounder instead? At the end of a college football regular season, we’re left to recall and […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Some of them appeared on national television, even on Thursday or Friday nights. Some of them were conference games, which are naturally very important to both teams. It’s not as though “the games which shaped the 2015 college football season” weren’t important to the two teams at the time of kickoff. However, for purposes of […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/1/2015
In the realm of sports analysis, the “hot take” is a constant source of concern, frustration, or both. The easy opinion, the blurted-out incendiary statement, can gain so much traction even though (or perhaps, precisely because) its emphasis on creating an uproar militates against layered critical thinking. Throwing down opinions without care for the craftsmanship […]
Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost talks with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) before the game. The No. 2 Oregon Ducks play the California Golden Bears at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California on October 24, 2014. (Ryan Kang/Emerald)
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Frosty the Snowman, make way for “Frost — he’s the O-Man.” The “O” doesn’t just refer to Oregon or offense, either — it refers to both. The UCF Knights are reportedly set to make Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost their new head coach. The news broke Tuesday morning and was promptly confirmed by several outlets: […]
during the game at Faurot Field/Memorial Stadium on November 21, 2015 in Columbia, Missouri.
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 11/30/2015
Not too long ago, one of the most extraordinary weeks in the history of the University of Missouri football program unfolded before the eyes of a nation. From Saturday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 14, the Tigers endured (and to some degree created) a level of upheaval unmatched by any other program this season… and […]
0 comments by Joe Dexter
Welcome to the era of college football in which a coach that has won 77 percent of his games at an institution has to wait until the final play of an eight-win season (essentially nine, since a likely win was cancelled) to find out his fate. Les Miles was carried off the field Saturday, after […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
In our continuing Case Studies series at The Student Section, we present a team-specific examination through the eyes of a reporter. Joe Manganiello of the
0 comments by Matt Zemek
As you know, the very notion of a Carousel — the Coaching Carousel — conjures images of Mad Men and Don Draper’s most iconic sales pitch. Monday morning, a spot on the spinning Carousel was filled, and as a result, it’s impossible to resist another reference to a Don Draper moment in the conference room […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The NFL has Black Monday, the day after the regular season ends. For college football, the penultimate weekend of the full-length regular season (Army-Navy being on its own island, after the College Football Playoff and bowl announcements) marks the period of time when many coach firings occur. You’ve seen Tulane, Rutgers, Virginia, and Georgia fire […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
We have discussed the Bo Pelini Special and tied it to the firing of Mark Richt at Georgia. If another Big Ten coach wrested away the distinction of having an “empty 9-3 record” this season, Paul Chryst did the deed at Wisconsin. If Pelini vacated the spot (and Lincoln) a year ago, Chryst filled it […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 11/29/2015
Thanksgiving — it’s my favorite holiday of the year, one in which commercialism isn’t prominent… not until the day after, at any rate. Thanksgiving is a time when we celebrate the gift… not of jewelry or cars or toys, but the gift of being alive. Thanksgiving is a time when we celebrate the ability to […]
How Mark Richt fills the vacancy on his staff at the offensive coordinator position carries a lot of weight for the remainder of his tenure in Athens (however long that tenure will be).
0 comments by Matt Zemek
A year ago at this very time — following Thanksgiving weekend — Bo Pelini’s run at Nebraska was felt to be on its last legs. This turned out to be true primarily because of the friction Pelini created within the Nebraska athletic department. However, there was always a strong case to make that Pelini deserved […]
at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 28, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s easy to make USC’s 40-21 pounding of UCLA on Saturday another case study in the art of “BRUINING,” the new college football gerund for squandering prosperity and face-planting in season-making situations. That school in South Carolina? It now carries itself at a higher level and holds itself to loftier standards. UCLA is what Clemson […]
