0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/20/2015
At the beginning of the bowl season, I wrote about why bowl games are so great: They encourage more coaches to be uninhibited in their decision making, compared to the regular season. There’s nothing about that piece I’d want to walk back or retract, but there was and is something incomplete about it: I should have […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
No, I did not expect to use an NFL game as the source of column material this week, but much as another Green Bay-Seattle game from a few years ago — the “Fail Mary” game — magnified what I had written about a college football controversy, this latest Packer-Seahawk tussle also says something important about […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/19/2015
The Student Section’s review of the 2014 college football season rolls along, item by item. In this piece, we tackle the 10 best offensive coordinators from the past season. * 10 – LANE KIFFIN, ALABAMA Kiffin’s arrival at Alabama was greeted with predictable scoffing and laughter after his failed tenure as USC’s head coach. However, […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
What’s part of any attempt to set the table for the next college football season, while also taking into account what’s happened in the just-concluded season? There are many answers. One of them is a rankings list of all the head coaching hires from the latest winter spin on the carousel. Here we go: * […]
0 comments by Kevin McGuire on 1/18/2015
With Jim Harbaugh no the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines the expectations are high for the program in the coming years. How soon Harbaugh can manage to turn Michigan into a true national title contender remains to be seen, which is why one Michigan fan may have decided now was as good a time […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer on 1/16/2015
While he has the arm strength and the leadership makeup that are needed in an elite signal caller, Marcus Mariota severely lacked something during his time at Oregon: the proof that he can make NFL throws. While Mariota is far beyond just a system-made quarterback, the Oregon offense did Mariota no favors in his preparation […]
0 comments by Bart D
Follow TSS @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart The 137th episode of Seinfeld is called The Bizarro Jerry, where Kramer gets a real job (or at least goes to work at one), Elaine breaks up with a guy who is totally cool and just being friends, and George dates a woman who’s beautiful enough to get him into […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen some brand-name programs and their established head coaches fill vacancies at the coordinator positions, either offense or defense. This discussion does not concern new coordinators under new head coaches or new coaching staffs. This is a focus on programs with firmly-placed head coaches needing to adjust their staffs […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/15/2015
In looking back at the 2014 season, several coaches looked down the barrel of Old Demon Pressure and produced some of their best work. Paul Johnson, Kyle Flood, Bret Bielema, Mark Helfrich, Gary Patterson are primary examples of coaches who had a lot to prove to their critics last season, and promptly answered the bell. […]
Paul Johnson has done so much this season at Georgia Tech, and yet, things being what they are, a loss to an SEC West team would allow the Yellow Jackets to unfairly be seen as “not ready for prime time” or something to that effect. The rewards of victory are real for the Jackets; so are the costs of defeat. This is why the Orange Bowl is so compelling.
0 comments by Matt Zemek
The season’s over. There’s not much of a need for a prelude here. Just what were the 10 best coaching performances in the sport over the past four and a half months? The envelope, please: 10 – P.J. FLECK, WESTERN MICHIGAN The Broncos definitely “rowed the boat” for their young and excitable coach. Much as […]
0 comments by Ryan Palencer
With the recently completed College Football Playoff crowning the clear best team in the nation, the excitement around college football is erupting, surging to all-time highs… at least as a measurement of cable television viewers. With this in mind, what better time to think about the four teams that will compete for a title next […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 1/14/2015
The 2014 college football season, now over, is only beginning to be processed. This was a major transitional moment in the sport’s 146-year history. It marked the passing of the baton from the Bowl Championship Series — 16 years of tumult and upheaval — to the College Football Playoff. We all had a sense this […]
0 comments by Bart D
Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart Well, we’ve come and gone through one year of the CFB Playoff, and we survived to tell about it. Some of the myths were debunked … like folks not tuning into the regular season with as much fervor … but we learned a lot this year. Most of […]
0 comments by Bart D on 1/13/2015
Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect Author @TheCoachBart The world has now had a day to digest the finality of the first College Football Playoff, which ended with an Ohio State championship. You’ve probably read a healthy amount about those Buckeyes … and rightfully so. This will never happen again, a third-string quarterback coming off the […]
ARLINGTON, TX – JANUARY 12: Running back Thomas Tyner #24 of the Oregon Ducks gets stopped at the 1 yard line in the second quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium on January 12, 2015 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
0 comments by Terry P. Johnson
Even though the Ohio State offense will receive most of the credit for its victory over Oregon in the College Football Playoff’s first title game, it was the Buckeye defense that won the national championship. Make no mistake about it: the Scarlett and Gray offense turned in another outstanding performance in this contest. Cardale Jones […]
