0 comments by Matt Zemek on 12/7/2015
If Clemson has the best head coach in college football for 2015, Oklahoma has the best assistant. If Dabo Swinney deserves to be the 2015 Coach of the Year in the FBS, Lincoln Riley deserves to be the recipient of the 2015 Broyles Award, given to the top assistant in the sport. As is the […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The college football regular season — save Army-Navy — is over. It is time to honor the year’s best, and few topics are more paramount at this point on the calendar than the best coach over the past three months. Saturday, the Big Ten and ACC Championship Games matched the four best power-conference coaches in […]
0 comments by Yesh Ginsburg
One of the main stated goals of the College Football Playoff was to restore the primacy of New Year’s Day in college football tradition. Part of this is obviously the two semifinal games. Another important part, though, is the collection of New Year’s Six games, which are supposed to provide top-level matchups between highly-ranked teams. […]
Rich Rodriguez now faces the central task of making sure his players don’t lose faith after a classic Arizona stomach-punch loss against USC. The one original Pac-10 member without a single Rose Bowl appearance has to stay the course. If it does, the Pac-12 South is still there for the taking. The winner of this division will probably have at least two conference losses by season’s end. Arizona can overcome just about any scoreboard obstacle, but the Wildcats’ offense needs to be able to score more than 13 points through three quarters at home. The Wildcats were stuck on 13 after 45 minutes in home games against California and USC. The Wildcats overcame the Golden Bears. They weren’t able to make one last kick against USC. Start-to-finish consistency on offense is what Rich Rod has to cultivate over the next month and a half.
0 comments by Terry P. Johnson
Rich Rodriguez did the right thing by turning down the South Carolina job. Had he accepted the job, it would have been an even bigger mistake than bolting West Virginia for Michigan. Make no mistake about it: South Carolina isn’t the glamorous job some in the media are making it out to be. Sure, it’s […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The bowl selection process demands improvement. It demands improvement for reasons that go far beyond the reality of seeing Georgia State play 5-7 San Jose State in Orlando on CBS Sports Network before Christmas. Yes, bowl matchups can and should be better, but it’s about so much more than that. I have long believed bowl […]
COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 21: Ezekiel Elliott #15 of the Ohio State Buckeyes runs into Damon Knox #93 of the Michigan State Spartans and Riley Bullough #30 of the Michigan State Spartans at the line of scrimmage in the second quarter at Ohio Stadium on November 21, 2015 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
0 comments by Phil Harrison
The final College Football Playoff rankings are out, and according to almost everyone in the media and beyond, there was an absence of controversy this year. Notre Dame tapped out last week and all the conference championship games went to form, leaving a somewhat drama-free, status quo four-team selection with Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State and […]
0 comments by Bart D
Let’s get one thing out of the way: there is no such thing as too many bowl games. If you think there are, I don’t want to hear you kvetching in July when it seems like meaningful sports will never occur on your Saturday night, especially that of the football variety. For the most part, […]
0 comments by Joe Dexter
In the College Football Playoff era, if you don’t win the game everybody circled before the season, there is no reason to feel left out when the committee overlooks you on the day the tickets were handed out to the Dance. This is true even if you were king a year ago. The Ohio State Buckeyes entered […]
0 comments by Yesh Ginsburg on 12/6/2015
Last year, the College Football Playoff selection committee threw us a huge, if not completely unexpected, curveball on Selection Day. No one was sure how the committee would deal with the TCU/Baylor/Ohio State debate. TCU was expecting to be in because they were sitting at No. 3 the previous week, but we have learned in […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
What to make of the now-concluded push for the College Football Playoff? Four teams clearly made the cut, but that’s not the same thing as saying that we know these are the four best teams in college football for the 2015 season. Is Alabama better than 11-1 Ohio State? Is Oklahoma better than 10-2 Notre […]
STILLWATER, OK – DECEMBER 7: Quarterback Blake Bell #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners walks off the field after the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys December 7, 2013 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Oklahoma State 33-24. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
0 comments by Bart D
The CFB Playoff committee will get on television one final time this season and act as though the end result of picking this year’s playoff participants was akin to splitting the atom, much like a bad auto mechanic using a bunch of terms he thinks the customer doesn’t understand to drive up the price of […]
0 comments by Yesh Ginsburg
Bubble Watch The original plan was to have a Bubble Watch here for any teams that would be debated for the final Playoff spot. Well, there aren’t any. The four Playoff teams are locks. I was thinking of presenting Stanford’s resume for comparison against Michigan State’s and Oklahoma’s resumes, but there really is no point. […]
0 comments by Phil Harrison on 12/5/2015
According to multiple reports, Ohio State Co-Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash will be named head coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football program, pending the school’s Board of Governors approval. Ash, the former defensive coordinator for Bret Bielema at Wisconsin and then Arkansas, was brought to Ohio State after the 2013 season to sure up a […]
AMES, IA – NOVEMBER 14: Quarterback Mason Rudolph #2 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys breaks away from linebacker Willie Harvey #16 of the Iowa State Cyclones as he scrambles for yards in the first half of play at Jack Trice Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Mason Rudolph; Willie Harvey
0 comments by Matt Zemek
History breathes so deeply in college football, this realm in which schools carry the memories of past glories and slights with a passion the pros can’t match. History acquires a larger shadow and a longer life than in professional sports. Ancient feuds, special seasons, crushing heartbreaks — they’re all harbored with more concern and care. […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
The first AAC championship would clearly be decided by one aspect of the competition: Houston’s offense against Temple’s defense. Yet, the other matchup ultimately told the tale of why Tom Herman’s first regular season as a collegiate head coach became a complete success. Houston’s offense and Temple’s defense lived up to the billing on Saturday, […]
