0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/16/2015
Our tribute to Stephen Orr Spurrier — a seminal figure in the history of college football — continues here at The Student Section. Spurrier’s achievements go beyond the realm of the specific. He didn’t just win a number of big games and conference championships, plus Florida’s first national title in football; Spurrier’s accomplishments were also […]
PALO ALTO, CA – OCTOBER 15: Francis Owusu #6 of the Stanford Cardinal’s catches a touchdown pass up against the back of Jaleel Wadood #2 of the UCLA Bruins in the third quarter of an NCAA football game at Stanford Stadium on October 15, 2015 in Stanford, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The Pac-12 South entered 2015 with a legitimate claim as the toughest division in college football, tougher than the SEC West. This might have had more to do with the SEC West faltering in bowl games than the Pac-12 South being transcendent, but the bottom-line debate was legitimate. If you lined up all seven teams […]
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – SEPTEMBER 3: Quarterback Travis Wilson #7 of the Utah Utes runs for a first down against the Michigan Wolverines at Rice-Eccles Stadium on September 3, 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/15/2015
Last weekend, with the night window exploding into all sorts of wonderful chaos — but, instructively, at the same time — we were treated to something incredibly intense and memorable. However, as college football fans and chroniclers, we were also forced to choose one or two games over another. The lingering problem with college football […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Take a bunch of 20 high-profile games, and what will you see? For week six, these are the games we statistically surveyed: Navy-Notre Dame Oklahoma-Texas Oklahoma State-West Virginia Northwestern-Michigan TCU-Kansas State Virginia-Pittsburgh Wisconsin-Nebraska Maryland-Ohio State Washington State-Oregon Arkansas-Alabama Florida-Missouri Michigan State-Rutgers Illinois-Iowa Indiana-Penn State Georgia-Tennessee Wake Forest-Boston College Georgia Tech-Clemson Miami-Florida State Boise State-Colorado State […]
Gary Danielson College Football SEC analyst. Photo Cr.: Craig Blankenhorn/CBS ©2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES; NO ARCHIVE; NORTH AMERICAN USE ONLY
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/14/2015
Gary Danielson joins Verne Lundquist this Saturday at 3:30, as the SEC on CBS broadcasts the Alabama-Texas A&M game from College Station. At Awful Announcing, read what Mr. Danielson had to say about the broadcasting side of his work. This piece focuses on Danielson’s football-specific insights. * When the name “Gary Danielson” is mentioned, what’s […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Earlier today, I wrote a general piece on the larger topic of quitting, in sports and various other theaters of life. The article was not a verdict on the subject so much as a series of questions meant to create a fresh discussion of the issue and its tension points. The act of quitting is, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
“I quit.” “I’ve had enough of this.” “I’ve seen enough. I’m through with this.” At some point in our adult lives, we’ve felt these thoughts. Maybe we haven’t acted on them, but we’ve felt them. We’ve also seen enough situations — maybe in our own experiences, maybe in the lives of others around us, maybe […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/13/2015
Stephen Orr Spurrier is a figure who demands and deserves treatment on many levels: yes, as a football coach, but also as a personality, a professional in a rough business, an innovator, and as an architect of two programs. Had he stayed at Duke for several more years, Spurrier could have built three different schools […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Plenty of great coaches come and go, winning games and receiving acclaim. In the history of the Southeastern Conference and the long existence of college football, better coaches than Stephen Orr Spurrier have walked the earth. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are the two men who most readily come to mind in the present tense. […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 10/12/2015
Most college football writers enjoy a few aspects of their job more than others. Transcribing. Posting viral videos of off-field incidents, knowing that it has to be done in order to drive traffic. Going through traffic to get to a game site. Those are not fun parts of the job. What IS fun? Writing about […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
In college football, it’s perfectly okay to be blown away by developments you don’t expect. It’s the nature of the sport. Chaos is a feature, not a bug. Allowing a feeling of surprise to have its way with you for 24 hours is perfectly reasonable. After those 24 hours, however, you need to come to […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It is so easy to develop tunnel vision in the business of college football coaching… and in college football writing as well. First, about coaching: It is so easy — and very understandable — for coaches to process situations through the lens of, “Let’s do what we can to keep playing, to continue to give […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Whenever it comes to light in our modern mass-media age that the head football coach at a major program: A) is drunk; B) is not reporting to practice; and C) needs substantial therapeutic and rehabilitative care… … it’s big news. It should be. Moreover, one can’t avoid the tsunami of reports on the subject, even […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The year was 2008. The Georgia Bulldogs began it by annihilating the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors so thoroughly in the Sugar Bowl that Colt Brennan’s well-being really did seem to be imperiled. Watching that massacre in New Orleans, it was hard to shake the feeling that Brennan and other skill-position players on the Hawaii roster were […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Randy Edsall was relieved of his duties as Maryland’s head football coach on Sunday. Regardless of what you might have felt about the firing — and whether it was merited or not — the move at least brought an end to a strange and uncomfortable form of coaching limbo in which Edsall was “going to […]
