AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 01
Monday, December 1, 2008
Big 12, not BCS, to blame for Texas-Oklahoma mess
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things we learned over the weekend:
1.Big 12, not BCS, to blame for Texas-OU mess: Oklahoma finished No. 2 ahead of No. 3 Texas in Sunday’s BCS Standings which means the Sooners will play in the Big 12 championship game against Missouri. The BCS will get blamed for this because the BCS gets blamed for just about everything that goes wrong in college football. In fact, this is the Big 12’s fault. Their fifth tiebreaker in the case of a three-way tie in the division is that the team with the highest BCS ranking wins the spot in the championship game. The SEC has an additional tiebreaker for this situation that simply says that if there is a three-way tie and the top two teams are within FIVE spots of one another in the BCS Standings, then the head-to-head game between those two teams will be the tiebreaker. Under that rule Texas would have gone to the Big 12 championship game because it beat Oklahoma 45-35 on a neutral field back on Oct. 11. Remember how all of us screamed when Florida State went to the BCS championship game over Miami in 2000 after the Hurricanes had won the game on the field? Head-to-head competition matters. Look for the Big 12 to change its rule and adopt the SEC model in the future.
2. Something is wrong at Georgia: Give Georgia Tech all the credit in the world. They beat Georgia, dominated the Bulldogs in fact, to win that game on Saturday. I picked Georgia Tech to win the game because what happened is exactly what I thought would happen. The Bulldogs’ defense was not mentally tough enough nor was it disciplined enough to slow down Paul Johnson’s offense. The issue is not that Georgia failed to meet expectations. Expectations are established by people and people can be wrong. Georgia was a preseason No. 1 but probably shouldn’t have been after the injuries of OT Trinton Sturdivant and DT Jeff Owens. Still, there is something missing in the Georgia program. This team made too many mistakes and penalties and never got better in that phase of the game. Willie Martinez is a good football coach but a team at this level should never get beat after scoring 42 points at home. Head coach Mark Richt says that he is not planning any staff changes. But it is the job of the head coach to identify the problem and fix it. Richt needs to examine every phase of his program because there is something wrong.
3. Lane Kiffin is a big risk at Tennessee: Every time Lane Kiffin’s name came up with the Tennessee job I only had one question: Why? I wish him well and there is no doubt that the 33-year-old Kiffin will have all the resources he needs to be successful in Knoxville. But the resume looks a little thin to be taking over one of the great franchises of college football in a league that has four coaches who have won national championships. Tennessee’s press release says that he was an assistant coach at Southern Cal (2001-2006) and spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator. Technically he shared that position and the play calling duties with Steve Sarkisian. Kiffin got the job with the Oakland Raiders only after Sarkisian turned Al Davis down. Kiffin gets credit for the recruiting structure at USC but the fact is the Pete Carroll has always been the Pied Piper who lured talent to that program. This may turn out to be a very good hire, especially if Kiffin’s dad, Monte, signs on as defensive coordinator. But it feels a little like Mike Shula to Alabama.
4. Mississippi State made a mistake: Sylvester Croom is an honorable man and so he is telling everybody that it was his decision to resign at Mississippi State. The fact is that the powers that be wanted him to make more staff changes than he thought appropriate so that he had no choice but to resign. Mississippi State had a bad season. No getting around that. But how can a man be the SEC Coach of the Year in 2007, leading the Bulldogs to an eight-win season, and then be shoved out the door just one year later? Croom took over a terrible situation at Mississippi State and got the program on a respectable footing in just four seasons. And as soon as there is another bump in the road, the new athletics director hands him a pink slip? Mississippi State is getting national criticism for this decision and it should.
5. Dabo Swinney is the right choice at Clemson: When Dabo Swinney, a former walk-on at Alabama, was named interim coach at Clemson I didn’t think he had a shot at getting the job full time. But he won over the Clemson players and he convinced me as well. Clemson was a different football team down the stretch. Swinney unleashed all that talent that we knew was there and at the end of the year Clemson was a happy, confident football team that is now going to a bowl game. In short, Swinney EARNED the job with his performance.
