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Friday, August 22, 2008
Crowe says Tech will win an ACC title
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s Friday and we’re only one week away from the first “Fearless Friday Forecast” of the 2008 season.
On Fridays I like to start this blog and see where the spirit will lead me. So here is some random stuff that just caught my attention this week:
1. Crowe says Georgia Tech will win an ACC championship under Johnson: Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe has every reason to say nice things about Paul Johnson, the new head coach at Georgia Tech. Crowe brings his Gamecock team to historic Bobby Dodd Stadium next Thursday night.
But Crowe said he is not just being nice when he predicts that Georgia Tech will win an ACC championship under Johnson. He’s just looking at the film.
“I can’t tell you when it’s going to be but I’ve seen Paul’s offense and I know how he coaches,” said Crowe, the former head coach at Arkansas. “He will finally get to run his system with a better caliber of athlete than he was able to get at Navy. People in the ACC will see the offense only one time each year and basically have only four days to get ready for it. That makes a huge difference.
“Give him some time to get his kind of players into his system. When his offense is run right, you can’t believe how much pressure it puts on a defense.”
2. An SEC officiating crew will work Alabama-Clemson: Somebody asked me this week which league, the SEC or ACC, would provide the officials for next week’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff between Alabama and Clemson game at the Georgia Dome. Normally, the league represented by the visiting school provides the game officials. When Florida plays at Florida State, for example, SEC officials work the game.
But this is a neutral site game. I did some calling around and it turns out that in the negotiations between Alabama and Clemson, it was agreed to make Clemson the designated home team and thus the Tigers get to wear their orange jerseys. In exchange SEC officials were chosen to work the game. It was no more complicated than that.
3. Alabama-Virginia Tech deal not done yet: I called Gary Stokan of the Atlanta Sports Council to see where things stood on next year’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff. Virginia Tech has already committed to play. Alabama coach Nick Saban wants to come back but there are still some scheduling issues that have not been resolved. Specifically, Alabama needs to move a road game with Tulane, set for 2009, to another season and find another home opponent. That would give Alabama seven home games in 2009 and leave one game free to come back to Atlanta.
A lot of people are starting to get involved in this one. ESPN may yet flex its muscles and become the ultimate broker.
“We’re working on it but we haven’t gotten it done yet,” said Stokan. “I just know that Nick wants to do it if the scheduling issues can be resolved.”
Prediction: The deal will get done because Saban knows the recruiting bump he’ll get by playing in this year’s game and next year’s game in Atlanta. Because of the corporate involvement by Chick-fil-A and The Home Depot, ESPN and College Game Day are locked in to this game as long as the match-up is strong. Too many people stand to benefit from this game. It will happen.
4. ESPN, SEC may be hatching another big deal: Last week the SEC made a 15-year deal with CBS to televise that league’s national game of the week. I’m hearing that ESPN is thinking seriously about also signing a 15-year deal with the SEC as well. But this deal may have an interesting twist. Under this deal ESPN would purchase all of the remaining television rights that CBS does not own.
Why would ESPN do this? Simple. If ESPN owned the remaining rights, it could put several SEC games on its various platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360) and then, whatever rights it had left and did not want, it could sell back to a group like Raycom or even Comcast. Distribution, however, could be an issue because a lot of cable systems do not carry ESPNU or 360 on their basic package. And those distribution issues could ultimately complicate the deal. Some of those distribution issues could be addressed by video streaming on the Internet, which is going to be a big part of these future TV deals.
Now to do all this ESPN would have to pony up some pretty big bucks over a long period of time. But the network has shown it is willing to pay handsomely for college football.
Stay tuned. As big as the CBS deal was for the SEC, this one will not be far behind if it happens.
And consider this: Last year the SEC made $50.6 million from its TV rights for regular season football. If this deal gets done, I’m hearing that that figure could almost double.
5. Warren a big get for Tennessee: The NCAA has finally cleared tight end Brandon Warren to play for Tennessee this season. Warren, you’ll remember, is from Alcoa, Tenn., just a short trip from Knoxville. He originally signed with Florida State and, after a freshman season in 2006 where he caught 27 passes for 301 yards for the Seminoles, wanted to come home and attend Tennessee. His mother had been diagnosed with cancer.
For reasons still unclear, FSU coach Bobby Bowden would not release Warren from his scholarship. That began a long and winding process to get Warren eligible for 2008. That process is now over.
Here is what matters now. If Warren plays as good as he looks in a uniform, he will be a great weapon for new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson. I talked to the coaches about Warren when I was there earlier this summer and saw the kid practice. With his size, speed and good hands, he is certainly the best tight end Tennessee has had since Jason Witten.
This Tennessee offense will be marked by its ability to move players around to create mismatches with the defense. Warren gives Clawson another tool that will enable him to do that.
