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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
TONY BARNHART’S BCS GAME PREDICTIONS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mr. College Football has spoken. Now it’s your turn. Give us your BCS bowl projections below.
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP
Jan. 8, 2009, Miami
Georgia (SEC champ) vs. USC (Pac-10 champ)
ROSE BOWL
Jan. 1, 2009, Pasadena, Calif.
Ohio State (Big Ten champ) vs. Arizona State (at-large)
ORANGE BOWL
Jan. 1, 2009, Miami
Clemson (ACC champ) vs. Oklahoma (at-large)
FIESTA BOWL
Jan. 5, 2009, Glendale, Ariz.
Missouri (Big 12 champ) vs. BYU (at-large)
SUGAR BOWL
Jan. 2, 2009, New Orleans
Florida (at-large) vs. West Virginia (Big East champ)
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An early look at Jacksonville State
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jacksonville, Ala. - A week from tomorrow, Georgia Tech will open the 2008 season against Division I-AA Jacksonville State. There will two major story lines in the game:
• Georgia Tech’s first game under new coach Paul Johnson.
• The debut of Jacksonville State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, the transfer from LSU.
Perrilloux was the MVP of the SEC championship game last December when LSU beat Tennessee 21-14. Had he remained at LSU, Perrilloux would now be the starting quarterback for the defending national champions. But he didn’t stay. He was kicked off the team.
On Tuesday I had lunch with Perrilloux and his new head coach, Jack Crowe. I’m working on a story for next week about Perrilloux’s long and winding road to Jacksonville State and how much he is looking forward to next week’s game with Georgia Tech. But for now I want to share five nuggets of information with you about Jacksonville State that will not make the story:
1. Georgia Tech got a good deal: Crowe made the deal to play at Georgia Tech because of his old friend, Chan Gailey, the Yellow Jackets’ former coach.
“Financially, we need to play a BCS team every year if we can,” Crowe said. “When I can play my friends I like to do that.”
And Georgia Tech got the good friend discount when it signed a two-game deal with Jacksonville State.
Jacksonville State is receiving a guaranteed payment of about $200,000 to make the two-hour drive and play next week. In today’s market that is a steal.
Division I-AA Appalachian State got $400,000 to play at Michigan (and beat the Wolverines) last season. App State is getting $550,000 to open the season at LSU. Sun Belt conference teams are getting as much as $1 million from SEC schools for a single game.
“In future contracts we’re going to have to get a bump,” said Crowe.
Jacksonville State is supposed to come back to Georgia Tech again in 2009. But if the school gets a better offer from an SEC school, don’t be surprised if it tries to buy its way out of the deal.
2. Crowe asked Richt for advice: Crowe, a former assistant at Auburn and Clemson and (briefly) the head coach at Arkansas, has been head coach at Jacksonville State since 2000 and won the Ohio Valley conference championship in 2003 and 2004. But after three straight seasons at 6-5 he saw the program slipping. The problem, as he saw it, was in leadership.
“I just thought there was something missing,” he said. “We were losing close games because we just didn’t have the leadership that a program should have. And as coaches we weren’t developing leadership.”
So Crowe consulted two coaches he believed excelled when it came to teaching leadership: Mark Richt of Georgia and Mack Brown of Texas.
“We adopted a lot of their principles and we immediately have been able to tell a difference,” Crowe said.
3. There will be two No. 11s against Tech: When Perrilloux arrived in May, No. 11 had already been given to freshman quarterback Marques Ivory from Warner Robins. Marques had made it very clear during his recruitment that he wanted to wear No. 11.
Perrilloux wore No. 11 at LSU and has been wearing the number since junior high football and basketball.
“I was pretty attached to my number,” Perrilloux said.
So Crowe decided that both players would wear No. 11 this season.
“Maybe we’ll play both of them and no one will notice the difference,” Crowe said.
Doubtful. Perrilloux (6-3, 235) kind of stands out in a crowd.
4. Ivory will get on the field against Tech: Ivory has the distinction of never having lost a game that he started as a quarterback. He was 30-0 and led Northside High School to back-to-back state championships in 2006 and 2007.
There are only three quarterbacks on scholarship at Jacksonville State: Perrilloux, Ivory, and Brooks Robinson, another freshman. Crowe plans to get Ivory (6-1, 235) on the field against Georgia Tech.
“I like to work my backup into the game about the third series so that he’s not under time pressure,” Crowe said. “Ivory is a good athlete and we’re excited about what he can do.”
Understand this. When Perrilloux agreed to come to Jacksonville State, there was not a scholarship quarterback on campus. Crowe had kicked his projected starter off the team. So Perrilloux came here knowing he was the starter from day one. That, as we will explain in next week’s story, is a big reason why he is here.
5. Crowe worried about Tech DL: When the discussion came to the Georgia Tech game, Crowe spent a lot of time praising the Yellow Jackets’ defensive line.
“If they are not the best defensive line the country, I’d be afraid of who is,” said Crowe.
We talked about Tech’s two great tackles, Vance Walker and Darryl Richard, and end Michael Johnson, who a lot of people believe is going to have a huge season.
“And people are telling me the young guy (sophomore end Derrick Morgan) is a really good young talent,” Crowe said.
Crowe is concerned because the youngest part of his team is the offensive line.
“I wish we were a little older up front, especially going against those guys at Tech,” he said.
A few bonus nuggets about Jacksonville State:
• Despite the youth on the offensive line, Crowe says this is the most talented team that he’s had at Jacksonville State. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about us,” Crowe said. “We respect Georgia Tech but we won’t be intimidated from a talent standpoint.”
• Jacksonville State, located about 20 minutes north of Anniston, is the only school in the history of the NCAA to have national championships in football, basketball and baseball. Only six other NCAA schools have won championships in football and basketball (Michigan, Michigan State, Florida, Ohio State, North Alabama and Wittenberg).
• Remember Ashley Martin? The native of Sharpsburg, Ga., was the first female in history to score a point in an NCAA football game. She kicked a couple of extra points for Jax State in a 72-10 win over Cumberland on Aug. 30, 2001.
• Randy Owen, the lead singer for the country music group ALABAMA, is a JSU grad and a member of the school’s Board of Trustees.
