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Tuesday, January 1, 2008
The Gators didn’t plan on a loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some final New Year’s Day observations as we head into tonight’s Sugar Bowl:
The Gators didn’t plan on a loss: The Capital One Bowl was supposed to be Florida’s launching pad for a run at the national championship in 2008. I’m not saying that the Gators can’t win it all with Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin as juniors. But at 9-4 Florida may not start next season in the top five. In fact, if Georgia beats Hawaii late tonight and finishes 11-2, the Bulldogs will probably be ahead of Florida in the preseason polls this summer. Now that will start a lively debate.
Kudos for Lloyd Carr: Having said all that about Florida, you have to give credit to Michigan. Those players wanted to send Lloyd Carr out as a winner and they played at a high level from the opening kickoff on. I think Florida was surprised by their intensity. You have to feel good for Carr, the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year.
Great win for Tennessee: The Vols actually played well enough to beat Wisconsin a lot worse than they did (21-17), but we shouldn’t be surprised that it was a close game. That was the way that Tennessee won all season. The Vols lose quarterback Erik Ainge, who was great in his final game, but have a lot of good young talent coming back. Now Fulmer has to go out and hire a new offensive staff. Don’t be surprised if he makes at least one change on the defensive side of the ball as well.
The Hogs were worse than disappointing: I really thought Arkansas would compete in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri much better than they did. Those players had been through so much you would think they would be excited about playing on New Year’s Day. They didn’t look very excited to be there in the second half. Missouri is good, but they’re not that good (38-7).
Interim coaching staffs don’t win: The problem at Arkansas on Tuesday is the problem a bunch of teams are having this bowl season. Try as they might, interim coaching staffs and lame duck head coaches find it very difficult to hold things together. Going into tonight’s games, interim and lame duck coaches are 1-7 with Michigan’s Lloyd Carr being the only winner. The losers thus far are: Georgia Tech, Arkansas, UCLA, Navy, Texas A&M, Southern Miss, and Houston.
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Five burning questions as we begin New Year’s Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New Orleans—Happy New Year folks! If you’re a college football fan this is the most fun day of the year with wall-to-wall games, ending with our Sugar Bowl match-up tonight.
When New Year’s Day gets here I always have a lot of questions. Here are my top five. What are yours?
I’ll come back with an update at the end of the day and give you some final thoughts before tonight’s Sugar Bowl.
1. Can the SEC go 9-0? Auburn’s dramatic overtime win over Clemson in last night’s Chick-fil-A Bowl gives the SEC a 4-0 record in the bowl season thus far as Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Alabama have also won. Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, and Georgia all play today. LSU plays for the BCS championship here on Monday night. At the end of this day the SEC could be 8-0 in bowls after going 7-1 last season. It’s a long shot, but it could happen.
2. Will Tim Tebow be more fired up than normal?: The Florida quarterback isn’t into smack talk, but he is an intense competitor, one of the most intense I’ve ever seen. So when Michigan linebacker Shawn Crable says that Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner, “is just a quarterback” you have to wonder if the big fella may play pretty well today in the Capital One Bowl. Shawn, my man, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
3. Will Darren McFadden step up? Arkansas running back Darren McFadden will be one of the top three picks in the NFL draft even if he were to sit out today’s Cotton Bowl with Missouri. And it has not been a fun week for McFadden as charges swirled that he obtained a car from an agent in violation of NCAA rules. McFadden was cleared of those charges but you have to wonder where his mind is as this game begins. Does he run with a chip on his shoulder? Or does hold back?
4. Will West Virginia care? We know the Mountaineer fans don’t care about the Fiesta Bowl because they turned back so many tickets. Traditionally West Virginia fans travel better than anybody, but it’s been a tough month for them. West Virginia lost a chance to play for the national championship with the inexplicable collapse against Pittsburgh on Dec. 1. Then coach Rich Rodriguez bolts to Michigan in what has become a very messy divorce. Forgotten in all of this, as is usually the case, are the players. What is their mindset going to be when they take the field against Oklahoma? Oklahoma, we should point out, is very, very good. Think the Fiesta Bowl people are wishing right now that they had taken Hawaii?
5. What is the over and under on how many times Colt Brennan will get hit? Trust me when I tell you that, win or lose, Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan will need to spend some time in the hot tub Wednesday morning before he goes back to Honolulu. Georgia is going to keep it clean, but every time the defense gets a chance to give him a love tap, they will. Try to keep score at home tonight and see now many times he gets “nudged.” I will say this: He is a tough kid and he’s used to getting hit. But I don’t think he’s used to getting hit by SEC defenses.
